I'm a sucker for French food and locally, few other places do it as well (sorry La Gare... not even close). This is my third trip back to Bistro 29 since they opened and each trip has been progressively better than the last with an expanding crepe menu and impressive wine list. We showed up on a Friday night with 7:30 reservations (and despite the fact that they apparently didn't have our reservations written down, we were seated within minutes). Armed with a few bottles of wine (2004 Enkindu Fazekas Petite Syrah, $32) and some friends, I was prepared to dive head long into a night of marathon eating and over the top indulgence.

I started with the foie gras, served on top of french toast with some pain d'epice. The flavor was good, the foie cooked nicely and the sauce was sweet. Unfortunately, the toast was soggy by the time it got to the table so there was no contrast in texture. Every bite was filled with fatty, creamy smoothness. I could have used a little crunch to counter that. Overall though, a good start to the night ($14, *** out of *****).

In between bites of the artery clogging foie, I shared a savory crepe filled with a homemade pork sausage, gooey Gruyere and apples. Maybe this is the French's way of combating pizza. Or maybe the chef sprinkled some crack in there. Either way, all I wanted to do was curl up inside of this cheesy, pork filled blanket and roll around in its goodness. ($10, *****) I forgot how incredible these were.

In between day dreaming of a crepe hammock for the backyard, I sampled my wife's escargot, which was bathing in a herb butter bath (my kind of soaking tub). Perfectly flavored, not to chewy and it was served with toast to soak up the green, buttery goodness that was left in the bowl after the snails food their way into eager mouths. My only problem was that there weren't enough snails and that a dish like this should be served with a spork- that way you can get a mouth full of the herbaceous compound with each bite. And plus, every time I grabbed my spoon to slurp up the sage colored liquid I kept getting dirty looks from our neighbors (maybe they were doctors concerned for my health...). ($10,****).

The first bottle of wine was on its last leg, so we popped open a Limerick Lane Syrah just in the nick of time, as our mains started showing up. A heaping bowl of mussels was placed in front of me, along with a cone of frites on the side. For me, eating the actual mussels is only half the fun. Mopping up the shellfish elixir at the bottom of the bowl with french bread is the other half of the equation. The mussels were just as I remembered them- plump, tasty and occasionally grainy. The frites on the other hand were limp and almost soggy. I'm a double fry kind of guy when it comes to my frites, so I was slightly unimpressed by this offering. The saving grace was the half a loaf of french bread on the table, waiting to be submerged in my pond of Pernod cream sauce. ($14, ***1/2)

Although I didn't order it, I still was able to try a few bites: Lamb Sirloin with mashed potatoes and English peas. Excellent flavor and the sauce was amazing. The lamb was cooked perfectly and my only criticism was the chef might have been a little heavy handed with the salt. Otherwise, a killer entree. ($24, ****)

For dessert, a crepe with apples and whipped cream, a trio of ice cream and a trio of sorbet. Now considering I don't make desserts, rarely eat desserts and on a whole, don't like sweets, I'll refrain from passing any judgment on these. That being said... the dessert crepe was fantastic.

Aside from loosing our reservation and our table having to beg for french bread 20 minutes after being seated (after the first loaf showed up, they kept bringing us bread non-stop), the night was a success and the four of us left equally stuffed and satisfied. I've yet to try RendezVous Bistro (the yelp reviews scare me), but as far as I'm concerned, for French dining in Santa Rosa, Bistro 29 is the place to beat. Now if only they could master the frites the way they perfected the crepes...

"So how long have you guys been open?" I asked Heather Van Doom, owner of Starlight Wine Bar. "Oh, about three and a half years." she replied. I was surprised that this little gem has been hiding here so long and I had no idea. And when I say hiding, I really mean hiding. The restaurant is located in a train car, located in a building, located in the Gravenstein shopping center near Coffee Catz. My first attempted at finding this eatery had me walk right by without noticing.

The good news is, once inside, ambiance, nostalgia and great cooking take over. This is the kind of place where you'd picture people sipping martinis, cigarette smoke clouding the air and Sinatra buzzing away softly out of a jukebox. Unfortunately, they lack a liquor license, smoking has been banned in California restaurants for quite sometime and I didn't see a jukebox (but there was some good music playing).

The best way to describe the menu would be seasonal, Californian paired with a little New Orleans flair. They also offer an early bird special which consists of an app, entree and dessert for only $25. My wife went this route, while I started with the mussels and then moved onto the gumbo.

The savory, corn beignes were the first to show up. We each grabbed one of these hot, corned filled little donuts and gave them a red aioli bath. They were perfectly crisp on the outside and once you bit into one, the corn filling provided a nice, unexpected contrast (**** out of *****). As we each polished off the first beignes the mussels arrived, soaking in a pool of spicy, red broth. The mussels were nice and plump, not over cooked and the sauce had a kick to it (some tomatoes, red pepper coulis, maybe a bit of saffron and garlic), perfect for submerging bread in ($15, **** out of *****).

The next two dishes were a showcase for chef Thaddeus Palmese and his New Orleans roots- BBQ Shrimp and Gumbo. The beautifully butterflied, tail on shrimp were swimming in a buttery, Worcestershire sauce. The only problem I had was I couldn't get the tails off fast enough. (****). Knowing the chef had done time in some big name restaurants (Emril's Delmonico being one of them) I had faith the gumbo would not be a let down. I was right. The roux was a nice, dark brown and the dish as a whole warmed you from head to toe the way a good scotch does. Shrimp, chicken and andouille sausage filled out the dish, along with white rice on top. If I wasn't so damn full at this point I would have ordered another bowl of this okra-file-roux masterpiece. (*****).

My wifes dessert course was next. When we ordered, we were told that it was a peach cobbler with a cream cheese ice cream. What showed up instead was another classic. One which I wouldn't have traded for anything peach related. Bananas Foster. For the record, I don't like desserts or sweets, but this was one of the best sugar laden things I've eaten in recent memory (****). Cinamon, bananas, sugar, banana liqour and ice cream all melted together in a neat bowl... a diabetic nightmare? Maybe. A perfect way to end a great dining experience? Hell yes.

So if you're like me and you haven't heard about this hidden culinary treasure, get out your gps immediately and set a course for Starlight Wine Bar.

It was a long weekend... Within a 16 hour time frame, 60 lbs of short ribs were cooked in my not-so-large kitchen, over 600 servings were plated and dished out in only a few hours (sous chef Matt to thank for that) and a trophy was taken home that says "Guys Can Cook Too Winners- Appetizer Category."

Gusy Can Cook Too is an event put on by the Sebastapol Rotary in which, amateur chefs (about 50 of them) compete and serve food to over 500 attendees. They are judged on taste, presentation and originality. Attendees place their votes and then professional chefs judge the food as well.

The cooking shenanigans started Friday afternoon when I picked up 60 lbs of massive short ribs from Joe at the Green Grocer. He was nice enough to hook me up with a deal on them and they looked beautiful. It was the equivalent of a local Kobe short rib. The marbling worked wonders for the taste and texture of the meat, but the high fat content proved to be problematic when it came to our sauces (more on that later).

All of Friday, and late into the night/ early a.m. was spent searing meat, sweating vegetables and making braising liquid. And then repeating. It felt like a never ending cycle and to make matters worse I was going to bed at 3am knowing that I'd have to wake up in 4 hours and do it all over again. I was going to have nightmares about dinosaur sized short ribs.


The initial plan at the competition had been to make a braised short rib topped with a little pear reduction. A few days prior to the event I realized that the dish needed some kind of textural contrast. Normally, when I braise short ribs I throw them under a broiler for a minute to develop a nice crust. This wasn't an option at this event. I contemplated bringing my creme brulee torch, but that just didn't seem practical. While shopping for short ribs at Safeway for a test run, I had an epiphany in the cereal isle... rice krispies with some Chinese five spice. These would provide the much needed crunch (and originality) to the dish. The Thursday before the event we did a test run with the krispies and pear reduction. The tasters seemed to approve but I felt it was missing something.

Fast forward to Saturday morning and I'm putting in the last batch of short ribs in the oven to braise. While putting the canola oil back up into the cabinet, I saw what turned out to be the possible saving grace for the dish... balsamic vinegar. I reduced a squeeze bottles worth, Matt (my friend/ sous chef for the day) came over, we packed up everything and we were off.


After getting our booth setup and our prep area worked out, we did a taste test- braised short rib bite, pear and balsamic reduction, Chinese five spice krispies and some of the reduced braising liquid... I didn't like it... At all. There was an overwhelming taste and mouth feel of grease and fat. I had botched it and added some of the non-skimmed pan juices into my braising liquid reduction from that morning. So the already skimmed sauce that was reducing on the stove, got a fresh injection of fatty fluids and what was left in my tasting cup and now in my mouth was a yellowish, fatty liquid. Not good. We decided right then and there to ditch the braising liquid and go with just the pear and balsamic reduction. This worked out perfectly in the end and we wound up with a crapload of votes for our dish, garnering us the Popular Vote winner in the apps category.

Matt, my sous chef was kicking tail with the prep work and pumping out portions like their was no tomorrow. It wouldn't have worked without him. Below is a modified version of the recipe we cooked. If you want to add the rice kripsies, simply cook a few cups in some canola oil and add a teaspoon or two of Chinese five spice and a sprinkle of sugar. Wait for them to almost caramelize. For the sauces you can reduce some pear juice and balsamic vinegar, or try without. Either way, have fun cooking it and pair it with some sake.

Enjoy.

Pear & Sake Braised Short Ribs

Serves 4-6

2 cups pear or apple juice
1 cup sake
1 cup mirin
½ cup sugar
1 cup soy sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
10 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons neutral oil, like corn or grapeseed
4 to 5 pounds short ribs
2 large onions, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
½ cup chopped scallions
4 cups cooked white rice.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, combine juice, sake, mirin, sugar, soy sauce, about 20 grinds of pepper, both forms of garlic, sesame oil and 1½ cups water. Bring to a boil, then simmer.
2. Put corn or grapeseed oil in a large ovenproof braising pan or skillet over medium-high heat and add ribs, seasoning them liberally with salt and pepper. Brown well on all sides, moving them around to promote even browning. Remove from pan and add onions and the carrots, stirring vegetables occasionally.
3. Ad ribs back to pan. Carefully pour braising liquid over meat and bake, bone-side up and submerged in liquid (add water or juice if necessary), covered, for 3 to 4 hours, until meat falls from bones. Cool ribs in liquid for 1 hour, then remove; strain liquid. At this point, ribs and liquid can be covered and refrigerated overnight.
4. Remove bones from ribs. In a pot, combine meat with braising liquid; heat to a boil then simmer, reducing liquid until syrupy. If it seems too thick, thin with a bit of water. While this is reducing make the white rice.
   
5. Taste mixture and adjust seasonings if necessary, then garnish with scallions and serve on rice