California's Artisan Cheese Festival: Grand Tasting and Best in Cheese Competition
Held at the Sheraton Sonoma County Hotel in Petaluma, CA March 2014
Annual event: www.artisancheesefestival.com

My niece Suko enjoys this annual event, which goes for three days with a packed schedule of classes, farm tours, tastings, public marketplace and a chef's competition. It's open to all cheesemakers and creameries, although many are local. Sonoma County has an staggering number of small and artisanal food makers, despite the inevitable urban development creep spreading out like a fungus on either side of the 101 freeway which divides the county between east (Napa side) and west (Pacific ocean). 

Like her, we were intrigued by the Saturday evening event, where a collection of restaurants offer their own creative nibbles using cheese. Winemakers also participate, so for a flat fee of $75 one gets to graze on a dish from eighteen restaurants (you can return as many times as you'd like), drink as much or little as desired, and vote for which dish is the best.

This sounded like a fun way to try a number of different local foods/wines. We invited our friends Mel and Christie to join us for a weekend trip. Suko drove over separately, and we met up with her later in the lobby of the Sheraton Sonoma County in Petaluma, where the festival is usually held.

This event is spread over two areas: a ground floor conference room called the Great Blue Heron, and a mezzanine level open area called Snowy Egret. Suko went first to the Egret room. Our party of four started with the Heron room, which is a bit bigger with a few more vendors and a larger open center space with a few small bar-height tables (no chairs) for people to rest their wineglasses and talk. Waiters circulated around to collect used paper/bamboo plates and plastic flatware, with most vendors having a small trash can nearby as well.

Carlos and I were interested in the food, but Mel and Christie tried a few wines, including a CA port, as well as a cidermaker and a mead maker. We managed to try most of the food offerings, but we did skip one vendor in the Egret due to excessive crowds. We met up with Suko in the lobby in-between rooms, and exchanged quick recommendations before circulating around again.

Summary: This is an enjoyable way to graze through a number of restaurants and wineries without having to drive from place to place. It's not going to be five star food, but a lot of it is reasonably tasty and interesting, and the variety is fun. It isn't something you'd want to do more than once or twice, but it's a good intro to a region that gets much less press than Napa, undeservedly so*. For a moderate cost, it's a fun night out of AYCE (and drink).
(* We are admittedly biased; we infinitely prefer Sonoma to Napa)

We tried the following food and drink offerings:

Ahwahnee Hotel/Yosemite: oxtail and cheddar "bandage-wrapped" pirozhki. We had turned Mel and Christie into oxtail fans the previous afternoon when we had lunch together at Bravas Tapas/Healdsburg. This was like a Chinese siu mai, with a steamed, thin pasta circle, the top pinched slightly but still open, holding a small dollop of tasty braised oxtail and cheddar. We all liked this one, but found some other offerings that we preferred.

Corks Restaurant: Carlos and I have eaten at Corks/Forestville (just outside Santa Rosa) in March 2012 but weren't very impressed. The Apple Crisp Bars, cut into little squares, were a nice fruit bar, but it was very sweet and reminded us of nothing so much as a Mrs. Smith's frozen Dutch crumble apple pie. The goat cheese with porcini powder, squeezed in a tiny dollop on a radish quarter, was good but ordinary. This mirrors our experience when we dined at Corks: good, but nothing remarkable compared to the burgeoning competition.

Earth's Bounty Fine Foods: Little grilled cheese sandwich bites on thin-sliced French bread, with a filling of Chili Chevre, smoked goat cheddar, Chardonnay onion jam, and sliced fresh tomatillo. Tasty little bites, and I liked the combination of flavors (more than Carlos did). The smoked goat cheddar gave it an edge that subbed nicely for ham, and the onion jam was thinly used, giving it just a little sweetness instead of drowning the other flavors as often happens. The tomatillo added the necessary touch of acidity; we always use sliced tomatoes in our own cheese sandwiches at home.

John Ash & Co.: Another Santa Rosa restaurant we visited with less-than-impressive results in May 2013. Their ham & cheese croissant with blueberry balsamic jam was okay. I could taste some cheese in the pastry but no ham, and the jam was a typical sweet spread. I wouldn't have combined the two, and Carlos agreed; we don't care for sweetened fruit with salty/savory items. Carlos said he found some ham in his own individual croissant, so although not evenly distributed it was in there.

Suko liked it better than we did: The addition of balsamic was a nice touch with the jam. It wasn't too sweet and made it better with the salty ham and cheese than just jam would have done.

Mateo's Cocina Latina: Mateo himself was there, making miniature tamales with a local Jalapeno Queso Fresco cheese. Carlos and I aren't tamale lovers, so these left us unmoved although they were nicely spicy with an okay masa. We haven't gone to Mateo's/Healdsburg, but after this I'll have a hard time getting Carlos there. He didn't like these at all.

Suko agreed with Carlos: Rubbery masa, filling was spicy but no real flavor other than tomato.  Plus, at that size and being already unwrapped, it was cold and congealed by the time I ate it.

Nick's Cove: Sweet potato and chevre gnocchi. Although listed as coming with a rosemary brown butter, there seemed to be a last-minute change to a dollop of lavender cream, colored a raspberry pink with beet juice. Most were vegetarian, but a few were offered with a bit of Dungeness crab added. Carlos enjoyed the crab gnocchi; both Mel and I went back for returns on the vegetarian gnocchi. 

Suko didn't care for this at all: The gluey and too-large gnocchi were doughy and too sweet, which overwhelmed the delicate sweetness of the crab and made it taste fishy. Probably my least favorite dish of the night as in I took two bites and threw out the rest.

Tolay (the Sheraton's own restaurant): We ate here on one of our trips way back in 2010, when we were just too tired to go out. Although not cheap, that dinner was better than we expected. For the event, Tolay did a house-smoked brisket with an achiote rub, lean and sliced thin, with a variant of "hush puppies" made without corn or cornmeal, but instead with three types of cheese. The brisket was tender enough but plain. Everyone but Suko loved the hush puppies. They seemed to have the texture of aligot, the French dish which makes a virtue of the tendency of potatoes to turn into a gluey, sticky mess. Cut into balls, breadcrumbed and deep-fried, we found them yummy and potentially addictive. 

Suko's take: The brisket was dry and flavorless.  It was like the overcooked brisket you get in a bowl of pho without the benefit of sitting in the flavorful broth.  I like chewy but this was not tasty.  The hush puppies were okay and perfectly cooked, but very salty.  The celery root and apple slaw was good though.

Ram's Gate Winery: The fromage blanc gnocchi with braised pork cheek and rainbow chard stems, were good, liked by all. Everyone but Suko flipped over the accompanying gougères. Filled with a cheesy crème fraiche and lavishly sprinkled with a good dry Jack, they were crisp on the outside with a soft creamy filling. It was wonderful to see this French classic return for a new generation. Some of them were glazed with honey, and those I passed on, although Suko liked them. This won my vote as the best cheese dish.

Suko's review: The gnocchi were properly sized and seasoned, and the pork cheeks were flavorful.  The gougère was a tad too salty and rich, but the combo of gushy cheese and drizzle of honey was nice. 

Tomales Farmstead Creamery: A cheesemaker uses milk from their own herd; a creamery uses milk from a variety of contracted sources. TF made a goat cheese ice cream with sweet cherries, served in mini-sugar cones. Carlos, Mel, Christie and Suko voted this as their choice for best. Suko did point out that it was a really mild chevre; she likes the funkier, stronger ones even in desserts.

Suko agreed: Didn't taste much goat-y flavor but it was a very fine ice cream.  Not too sweet and the cherries were delicious.

Balboa Café: Lamb chili sprinkled with grated cheese. Carlos and I enjoyed this, but we preferred it without the cheese. Mel and Christie skipped this; they don't enjoy lamb. Suko said the café has offered this same dish on previous events.

Suko's review: I think they do this every year, I've had it before.  It's nice that it's actually a bit spicy and they use a lot of meat in it.  Plus they always seem to be next to a beer booth and I imagine that goes well together .

Food For Celebration: This vendor supposedly offered three different tapas, but we only saw one: pork paté on crostini with shaved onions and aged cheese. None of us liked this at all; in fact, Christie and I dumped ours into the trash after taking one bite.

Suko's review matched ours: Despite the wordy and florid descriptions, they tasted pretty bland.  If someone had told me I was eating Trader Joe's hummus quartet on bread, I would have believed them. I think the problem was the bread was too thick.  If the bread was thinner, I'd have tasted the toppings more.  They didn't have enough flavor to punch through an inch of tangy sourdough bread.

La Condesa: Glazed pork belly sopes with arugula, infused apple and Bleating Heart Cheese's Shepardista (a raw milk sheep's cheese: http://www.bleatingheart.com/cheese/shepherdista). Suko recommended this to us. I liked the combination without the sopes; I'm not fond of masa and sopes are too starchy for my taste. Carlos skipped this entirely; he's also not a masa fan and doesn't care for pork belly anyway.

Petaluma Pie Co.: Carlos and I tried this vendor at its downtown Petaluma location in May 2011, but weren't any fonder of it this time. Their Cubano "sandwich pie" was a nice idea and the filling was good, but this vendor makes an absolutely awful crust. It's hard for me to believe people like it, but there are many on Yelp who rave about their dough. We find it tasteless in the quality of flour and butter, plus it lacks salt. This was another one-bite-then-in-the garbage-it-goes" dish.

Suko's take: The empanada was nice but what I really liked was the green dipping sauce.  It really made the empanada delicious by bringing out the meaty mustardy flavors of the "cubano" sandwich.

Rocker Oysterfeller: I love the name of this Valley Ford restaurant and have always wanted to try it, but there was nothing much distinctive about this offering of toasts topped with pea purée, ricotta with Meyer lemon, and a garnish of pea tendril and herb salad. They were also offering toasts with a bacon-shallot jam, but when we arrived the only person there was working frantically on toasting more bread, so we tried the vegetarian toast and then left.

Suko said: I loved this the first time I had it two years ago, but this time it was bland.  I don't know what happened.  Last time I had it, it was a delicate balance of fresh pea flavor, creamy ricotta and the perfect amount of toast.  This time it needed more salt and a touch of lemon.

Seared: Served neatly on a spoon with a dollop of fondue underneath, a perfect ball of pea and ham arancini surprised us. We've found almost all arancini to be grossly underseasoned prior to this. To get through the starch and cheese requires a hefty dose of saltiness, and these breadcrumbed balls did the job nicely without going overboard on the sodium. We were impressed, and Seared/Petaluma will go on our list of "try this place" restaurants for Sonoma Cty.

Seaside Metal Oyster Bar: An interesting and tasty cold salad of tender poached squid, asparagus, green garlic, aged chevre, and seasoned with a lemon vinaigrette, from this Guerneville restaurant. Suko really liked this and so did I. Carlos was so-so on it; Mel and Christie skipped it as they're not fond of squid.

Suko loved this one: An unusual combo and great balance on this one!  The squid was tender, the lemon vinegrette was tart without being acidic, the asparagus was perfectly cooked and sweet and nutty, and shaved cheese added a nutty funk that tied the squid and asparagus together.  I thought it was delicious.

Spinster Sisters: Broncha cream puffs stuffed with chicken apple salad, were a tasty cold biteful, but Carlos doesn't care for cold salads so he was "meh" on this. I returned for a second, however. I had to look this up as I'd never heard of broncha: it's a cow/goat milk cheese made by the Achadinha Cheese Company in Petaluma, formerly the Pacheco Family Dairy in Bodega. This would make them not cream puffs, but gougères, like the ones we tried from Ram's Gate Winery.

Duck Club Restaurant: Raclette with crab, pickled shallots, fingerling potatoes and chives. Raclette is a cheese specifically designed for creamy, easy melting. There was a huge crowd around its table which only got worse while we were there, so reluctantly we had to skip this despite making two go-arounds. This is the restaurant inside Bodega Bay Lodge; we used to be very fond of its sibling in Lafayette before it closed (Duck Club is an upscale mini-chain that locates its restaurants in leased spaces from four-star hotels).

Suko's final review: I tried everything else except the Duck Club's raclette and Dungeness crab.  The ones I didn't note were generally fine, just nothing worth noting as especially bad or especially good.

Wines:
Although Carlos and I didn't try any wine, we did try a few of the drinks Mel and Christie recommended.

Wandering Aengus Ciderworks: We were so-so on the hard ciders from this maker, who makes bone-dry, very tart apple, pear, and cherry ciders.

Crispin Cider: We loved this hard cider maker, and especially their Georgia cider! We were surprised to find the ingredients were peach and mint; Carlos normally doesn't like mint but we agreed we would look for this and buy some.

Heidrun Meadery: Not sure which one we tried, but this was a good dry mead. I believe it was made from Tupelo honey, which gave it a rich deep color. Carlos didn't care for it, he prefers sweet meads. 

Sonoma Portworks: A Petite Syrah port. I found it very sweet, without much depth. Mel and Christie enjoyed it, however.

Christie shared a good Belgian-style ale with us, but I didn't catch the name of the brewery, and couldn't find them listed on the brochure.

There were a lot of wineries participating at this event. As our small group was driving home on a Saturday night in three separate vehicles, we had to limit our alcohol intake!

Some of the participating wineries were:
Berryessa Gap Vineyards
Gloria Ferrer
Kokomo Wines
Navarro Winery
North Coast Brewing
Truett Hurst Winery
Acorn winery/Alegria Vineyards
Black Kite Cellars
Bucher Vineyards
Handley Cellars
Lagunitas Brewing