Charlie Palmer
Looking for an excuse to get some R&R? Good, because March is the month to indulge in a getaway. In less than an hour-and-a-half drive from San Francisco, you’ll find yourself at the historic town square of Healdsburg located in the wine region of the three valleys—Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander.
The weekend of choice is March 20 and 21 when hospitality entrepreneur and celebrated chef Charlie Palmer will host his 4th Annual Pigs and Pinot Festival at his signature Dry Creek Kitchen restaurant at the Hotel Healdsburg. Visiting celebrity chefs Michael Mina (Michael Mina, San Francisco), Christopher Kostow (The Restaurant at Meadowood, Napa Valley), and Graham Brown (Cervena, New Zealand) will join forces with Palmer for two days of true epicurean wonderment.
We recently had the opportunity to spend some time with Charlie Palmer and learn more about the man who has received much critical acclaim for his signature “progressive American” cuisine.
Steven Oliver: What recipe are you best known for?
Charlie Palmer: I don’t feel any single one, actually, but rather the evolution that I have been able to archive. I do not believe that there is any better time in the culinary world to be cooking than right now, due to the awareness of the food that is being delivered and how we are presenting that to the guest.
What we are realizing in today’s sustainable climate is that there has to be a total honesty when cooking for the customer, who has become very versed in both food and wine.
One of the main reasons I decided to move from the East Coast to the Sonoma Valley was because of how lucky I feel here, being surrounded by and having access to such a bounty of food products from both the land and the sea.It’s incredible to be able to collaborate with [Dry Creek Kitchen chef de cuisine] Les [Goodman] on creating dishes with what’s in season from our local purveyors. That’s much different than at some of my other locations, such as Las Vegas and Dallas, where we create the menu and then figure out where we will source the ingredients.
When you need comfort food, what do you cook for yourself?
With four boys at home, it’s not what I want, but rather, what do they want Dad to fix for dinner? That can range from pot roast, macaroni and cheese to pretty much everything in between. For example, this morning they each had their own idea of breakfast. One fixed yogurt and fruit, one pancakes, one bacon and cereal, and the other was whipping up some egg mixture.
It’s just that type of kitchen in the mornings around our house, no questions asked!
Which celebrity chef would you most like to fix you a meal?
Emeril Lagasse. He truly is a great guy, and we would have one hell of a time fixing food and enjoying each other’s jokes and stories over a great meal.
If you could invite anyone in the world to dinner, who would that be?
That would have been my mother and father who were not alive when I opened my first restaurant, Aureole, in Manhattan in 1988. I have always held that with me, I wish they could have tasted my food and witnessed what I had accomplished. The other person who comes to mind is Luciano Pavarotti.
What is the oldest cookbook in your collection?
It is a book I picked up twenty-five years ago at a flea market in Paris from 1912, and it is all about butchering. Not really a cookbook, but something that I still look at as well as share with some of my chefs, even today.
Which restaurant do you think makes the best French fries?
I hate to admit this, but I’d pick my restaurant location at South Coast Plaza where my chef de cuisine uses duck fat to fry our Kennebunk potatoes, and they turn out fantastic.
What is your favorite meal for under ten dollars?
My guilty pleasure is right here in Healdsburg, the Singletree Café for its hamburger. For under ten dollars you can get the works: bacon, cheese, and whatever you can think of added on. And my boys love it; that’s a sure sign of what’s good!
Which meal do you remember as a revelation?
It was at the village of Vonnas, France, at the restaurant/hotel Georges Blanc along the eastern edge of the great Burgundian domains. This family-operated village food and lodging empire has been around since 1872, and it was truly one of my most amazing meals—roasted squab and porcini mushrooms. This may sound simple, but the preparation was outstanding, and for someone in this business it was a true revelation.
Though pigs and pinot offers especially delicious downtime, culinary options always abound in Healdsburg’s downtown square.
The Oakville Grocery has an outpost located here with a vast selection of meats, cheeses, olives, freshly made–salads, and snacks to stock your picnic basket for a day of wine tasting and enjoying the countryside.
On the north side of the square, Bistro Ralph, featuring classic California bistro fare, holds court as one of the town’s first stylish dining destinations. Chef/owner Ralph Tingle changes his menu weekly based on what is being sourced from his local farm connections. The friendly staff makes all guests feel like regulars, whether they’re dining on the heated patio, the eight-person counter (the locals’ favorite), or the intimate dining room. Bistro Ralph also subscribes to offering an all–Sonoma County wine list.
A new addition to the dining scene is Scopa, which has become a town favorite since it opened last spring. Located next door to Bistro Ralph, this intimate space, which serves up simple, rustic Italian fare, is the vision of chef/owner Ari Rosen & his wife, Dawnelise Regnery.
The feeling of the room is easy casual with servers in T-shirts and wine served in stemless glassware. Some of the “must have” dishes from Rosen’s menu are Larry Pacini’s house-made ciabatta bread with Dry Creek Olive Co. olive oil or burrata cheese with grilled bread, arugula, and roasted eggplant for starters; excellent entrée choices include spaghettini with tripe, calabrian chilis, cannellini beans, tomatoes, and basil; and grilled prawns and panzanella with a marinated cherry tomato, cucumber, and bread salad.
Barndiva, located one block off the square on Center Street, offers up a bohemian vibe in its lofty barn-size space and surrounding grounds. Owners Geoffrey & Jil Hales along with Lukka Feldman have crafted seasonal, sustainable menus featuring elements of celebration and tradition. “There are many noble reasons to only serve sustainably sourced food,” states Feldman, “but the best reason remains the simplest: it tastes better.”
Spencer Simons plays the role of bar chef and works closely with the kitchen on seasonal ingredients that he can mix into well crafted cocktails. Things to get you started off while you’re enjoying Simon’s version of a mojito, aptly called the Dope Hemingway (Matusalem rum with mint, muddled cranberry, fresh lime juice, cane syrup, and a trace of house-made velvet falernum), would be the Barndiva charcuterie, a selection of artisan salumi with house fig jam and breads, together with the goat cheese croquettes,house-made tomato jam, and local organic honey. Continuing on for dinner, try the grilled Wagyu beef,root vegetable gratin with truffle creamed spinach, and a comfort favorite: herbed spätzlewithgrilled apple, caramelized onion, golden chanterelle, black trumpet, and hedgehog mushrooms. An interesting twist with the menu here is that the dishes are labeled with a flavor profile indicating light, spicy, and comfort.
Whatever the pursuits of your palate, this quintessentially quaint getaway serves up savvy sumptuousness. Taste and enjoy!
