Del Secco Gelato

With 40 flavors on the menu, Del Secco's gelateria's has the scoop on Sonoma County's sweet tooth. The recently opened Rohnert Park shop features exotic sorbet and gelato (kind of like ice cream, but creamier) flavors including blood orange, cantaloupe, gingerbread, 50-50(think Creamsicle) and snowflake--a mixture of white chocolate and coconut.

The gelato's not made onsite, but by the uber-popular, flavor-savvy Gelateria Naia folks from the East Bay. Hungry yet? Grab a spoon.

Del Secco's, 6285 Commerce Blvd., Suite 308, Rohnert Park, 585.1100, open daily.

Superburger Re-opens

Change is never easy to swallow, but it goes down especially hard when it involves your favorite lunch.

In January Santa Rosa's classic burger joint, Gayle's, was sold by owners Gayle and Doug Dowling after nearly thirty years in the biz. Their tried-and-true formula was simple: honest burgers, fries and onion rings served up in red plastic baskets around an old school lunch counter. Pies were homemade, as were the milkshakes. Folks from the neighborhood packed the place and the waitresses greeted regulars by name.

Recently re-opened under new ownership, at first blush, not much appears to have changed. In fact, aside from a fresh coat of paint, new fixtures and the conspicuous absence of the giant menu hanging above the grill, the place feels pretty much like it always has. Milkshakes are still made the old-fashioned way--with ancient looking Hamilton Beach mixers, milk and ice cream. The pie rack still has fresh-made pies (from Mom's). The burgers are still fried up to order and the King Burger is still a charbroiled half-pounder with all the fixings.

So, now for the changes. Hold on to your napkins, I promise you'll be okay.

The name has changed slightly from Gayle's Superburger to The Original Superburger-- the "original" having something to do with the current owner's girlfriend's family having run the restaurant way back in the day. Works for me. The menu's also changed up to include several new burger creations including the St. Helena Avenue (a burger with BBQ sauce, bacon, cheddar and onion rings, $7.95), the Montecito Avenue (with bacon, Jack and guacamole, ($7.95), the McDonald Avenue (with mushrooms and warm Gorgonzola, $7.95) and, the Town and Country ($8.95), two mini-sized versions of any of the burgers on the menu. Great for indecisive folks. Extra work for new owner/grillmaster Bill, who's manning the flames solo. That means that when things really get hopping, you may want to grab a paper and settle in.

Also on new to the menu are Schwarz dogs, kosher weenies made in San Francisco, served straight up or with corned beef, cheese and kraut. Kids get top billing, as well, with their own menu of mini burgers, toasted cheese or (and honestly, I want one of these) toasted peanut butter, bananas and jam for $3.

Which is not to say there aren't a few kinks to work out. BiteClub's heard from you, and not everyone's singing the new Superburger's praises. Doing my own recon well after the lunch crush passed, I waited a good long while for a "medium" burger that was almost raw on the inside. I'm not afraid of pink meat, but I was afraid the thing might start mooing. I'm willing to chalk it up to opening week jitters because the staff was practically falling all over themselves to fix their snafus.

Hey, not everyone can work a grill like Doug and Gayle. But served up with a nice glass of fresh Meyer lemonade and a smile, a little change can be a good thing.

We'll see how things pan out over the next few months.

The Original Superburger, 1501 Fourth St., Santa Rosa, 546-4016. Open 11am to 8pm Monday through Thursday, 11am to 10pm Friday and Saturday, closed Sunday.

Bear Foot Honey

I blame the bear for my indifference to honey. You know the one. It's that cute Yogi-inspired bottle that sits in every single one of our pantries filled with insipid, overly-sweet nectar. Blech.

Which is not to say there aren't some mighty sticky fingers around my desk this morning. (Would it be bad to eat 6oz. of raw honey in a single sitting? Just out of curiosity.) Because the Mint Thistle is about halfway gone. Raspberry Blossom's gone missing and Apple Blossom's being forked out of the bottle with alarming speed.

Good enough to eat right out of the jar, Sonoma County's own Bear Foot Honey (formerly Wine Country Honey) is some of the best raw artisan honey to be found. Setting up their bee boxes in lavender fields, apple orchards, raspberry patches and chestnut groves throughout the North Coast (and beyond), their delicately flavored honeys capture the essence of each. Make no mistake--the flavor of apple or raspberry isn't added to the honey by humans. Usually working within a short radius of the hive, the honey is flavored by the pollen of the nearby flowers.

Ranging in color from the lightest of yellows to darkest umber, visitors to their Guerneville Road store can taste through everything from chestnut and blueberry to mint thistle. Flavors change up from season to season and their rare chestnut honey usually gets snapped up in a hurry. Spring through late fall, owner Scott Nelson hosts twice-a-week tours and tastings for bee affectionados.

Adding to the mystique, Bear Foot is about to become biodynamically certified--the first in the country to do so. And though they can't control where the bees may roam (not are they expected to), owner Scott uses special boxes, handling and processing to make sure that the honey conforms to rigid standards.

Nelson, a former police officer, and sister Cheryl are both avid bee-fanatics, having grown up in the business and followed in their father and grandfather's footsteps. If they're not too busy, they'll talk you through each of the different flavored honeys and add plenty of colorful bee commentary. Ask them just how smart bees really are.

You can find Bear Foot Honey locally at Whole Foods, Pacific Market and other specialty shops, as well as at their production facility (which is currently under renovations, but open to the public) at 2971 Guerneville Rd, Santa Rosa. Tours will resume in the spring, but the tasting room remains open, and highly recommended. Bear Foot Honey, (707) 578-0797

Chloe's French Cafe

It’s rare that I’m speechless after a meal. Even rarer when that meal comes out of a take out box. But consider Ms. BiteClub stunned into a reverent silence for the now decimated container of Boeuf Bourgogne from Chloe’s French Cafe. Je suis dans l'amour.

Tipped off by a reader (thank you! thank you!), Chloe’s has been open for just a few weeks in the most unlikely of spots--the Landmark Executive building off Airway Drive in Santa Rosa. Both a sit-down cafe and take-away spot, there’s no exterior signage to tip eaters off to this bonanza of French brasserie-style fare: homemade croissants, brioche, sandwiches (including a hearty Nicoise and zut alor, Croque Monsieur--Béchamel sauce, baked ham and Gruyere on bread) and soups.

But it’s the weekly specials you’re here for, the Bourgogne this week, and at the whim of the chef, things like Coq au Vin and more, usually under $10.

The Bourgogne, which is basically a long-simmered beef and vegetable stew with a heavy dose of red wine, is served on a square of gratin potatoes. I usually really dislike the stuff, because the meat can get tough and gamey and the veggies mushy. With chunks of still-intact mushroom and carrot comingling with beef that literally falls apart in your mouth, BiteClub has is rethinking Bourgogne altogether. The dish should be on the menu through the week and will hopefully reappear throughout the winter.

It should come as little surprise that behind the restaurant are two French brothers, Alain (the pastry chef) and Marc (the sommelier) Pisan whose family have been artisinal bakers for generations. Alain’s wife, Renee (an American) heads up the café and catering kitchen, having immersed herself in the art of French cuisine.

With the remnants of a hazelnut crème puff still on my fingers, BiteClub can confidently report that desserts are Parisian-quality. Alain whips up feather-light éclairs, tarts and cakes each day, most under $3, and some under $2. Raspberry mousse tart? Please.

Marc is putting his wine skills to go use by offering up a happy hour each Friday evening from 4 to 6pm, featuring French and local wines. There are plans for cooking and wine pairing classes in the near future. Sign up for their newsletter at chloesco.com.

So okay, you have your marching orders, eaters. Get steppin’ to Chloe’s. Rapidement! I’ve still got some pastry-eating to do.

If you go: Take the Mendocino exit off 101 and head down Hopper Avenue (look for the Kohl’s Department Store). Make a right on Airway Drive (you think you’re headed for a dead-end) and turn left into the Landmark Executive Center. Go to the far parking lot and enter through the main entrance. Chloe’s is on the left, just use your nose.

Chloe’s French Café, 3883 Airway Dr., Suite 145, Santa Rosa, 707.528.3095. Open 7:30am to 5pm weekdays. Closed on weekends.

Do you have a favorite restuarant you'd like me to know about? Email me at biteclub@pressdemo.com

Bistro Jeanty: So French you'll belch the Marseillaise

From pig's feet and escargot to jellied bone marrow, the French have an uncanny ability to drown pretty much anything in béchamel or brown butter and make it exceptional. But what keeps eaters beating a path to Chef Philippe Jeanty's Yountville restaurant is his elevation of rustic cuts and home-style French cooking from merely palatable to universally comforting.

A perennial vote-getter on the Chronicle's Top 100 Bistro Jeanty is oft-lauded as Wine Country's most authentic French country bistro. A native of Champagne and the opening chef of Domaine Chandon, Jeanty's menu features simple dishes like rabbit terrine, Coq Au Vin, cassoulet, Sole Meuniere, steak frites, foie gras pate, fried smelt and roasted bone marrow--classics informed by a mother's kitchen and hometown bistros. Classics that, to the consternation of some and comfort of others, remains constant. (Beef stew and cassoulet in summer? Really?)

In warm weather, the small patio is a favorite spot for sipping espresso and lingering over crepes Suzette. Inside, the restaurant is intimate and cozy, painted in a soothing tone of buttercup and plastered with vintage French adverts and Marcel Pagnol posters. Lace curtains adorn the windows and a country bicyclette sits parked outside with flowers in its basket. Calculated charmant, bien sur. Mais charmant.

Best bets on the lunch/dinner menu include the pork belly and lentils ($14), fried smelt, and Entrecote frites (a grilled rib eye steak with fries and Bearnaise sauce, $28), tomato soup in puff pastry ($8.75), and Coq au Vin ($16.50).

Daily specials supplement the menu--like a recent Sunday's addition of bone marrow. Not the easiest dish to approach, it's elegantly crude. High level stuff even for experienced gourmands, it amounts to gently scooping out the inside of a roasted cow femur, spreading the gelatinous goo on a crouton and moaning ecstatically. And while a silver spoon, civilized drip of Bordelaise and swig of Cotes du Rhone helps the process feel less flagrantly carnivorous, one can't help listening cautiously for the disapproving clucks of angry vegans.

With the opening of Jeanty at Jack in SF and PJ Steak (which has since closed) fans howled (as fans often do) that consistency had begun to suffer. Along those lines, the Sole Meuniere ($18.50) was the meal's only casualty. And while it was perfectly okay, the flavors were a bit muddy and tired. The brown butter seemed oilier and less nutty than expected. The citrus tang that I so love in this dish was only in the small bits of cut lemon I had to squeeze myself. And the capers were merely window dressing. Perhaps I should have followed the old adage about fish on Sunday and stuck with the steak.

Desserts keep the French accent with a focus on rich crème brule and delicate crepes Suzette with orange butter. For a change of pace, skip the sweet stuff and tuck into a nice slice of Epoisse (served a bit chilly for my taste, but nonetheless stinkily delightful) with candied walnuts and poached pear as you ponder post-modern existentialism and the brilliant humor of Jerry Lewis.

Bistro Jeanty, 6510 Washington Street, Yountville, 707.944.0103

Peter Lowell's: Sebastopol organic

Despite the construction dust, cardboard-covered floors and heady smell of fresh paint, things are cooking at the forthcoming Peter Lowell's Café in Sebastopol. Not so much the hearth-baked pizzas or braised rapini planned for their late-September opening; not the minestrone or fresh bagels listed on the first menu; not even a hint of dandelion greens. Instead, it's the sizzle and pop of a big idea about to be served.

Co-owned by former Seattle Chef Steven Peyer and Sebastopol native Lowell Sheldon, the back-story goes like this: Two young guys working in a Pacific Northwest restaurant start daydreaming about their own place--a place where they can express their mad passion for "produce-based" (read vegetarian with some local seafood thrown in for flexitarians) with an Italian flair.

Fast-forward three years and the two are putting the finishing touches on their 100 percent organic and sustainable café/pizzeria serving casual breakfast, lunch and dinner fare. Mission accomplished.

Tucked into a green-building community of live/work lofts still under construction (but scheduled for completion in the fall), the restaurant has a built-in audience of folks who get the whole green vibe. Which is exactly the idea. Peyer and Sheldon envision the café as something of a community kitchen where folks can stop by for coffee (Ecco, of course) and a bagel, a pizza or salad for lunch and fresh made risotto for dinner, along with a glass of biodynamic wine. (Sheldon's father happens to be the architect of the community.)

Sound familiar? After the launch of West County Grill, Rosso and Ubuntu in fairly short order (all of which owe much to Alice Waters' decades-old philosophies on food), the idea of gourmet pizzas, designer greens and personal relationships with producers does have that déjà vu all-over-again feel.

But Lowell and Peyer hope to differentiate themselves by, well, just being themselves--falling somewhere between earthy-crunchy and high-concept and focusing heavily on solid flavors. "Our slightly off-kilter attitude towards business -one where people, animals and the environment come before profits, where organic is a way of life and where the highest quality cuisine is a top priority--is in keeping with our community's standards," says their menu.

Watch for details on their opening. Meanwhile, you can peruse their website at www.peterlowells.com

Fig pizza con prosciutto e karma

This isn't a story about Ubuntu. But it starts there, on a very hot, very sticky Napa afternoon not so long ago--in fact last Friday. The story opens with BiteClub standing a the dark, all but empty restaurant wondering...um...exactly what happened to the breakfast and lunch service scheduled to start last week.

No dice. Maybe in a few weeks, they said. Maybe not. And so go restaurant openings.

Which wouldn't be a total tragedy but for the mouthwatering tales of fig pizza and Epoisse lavished on me by a girlfriend who'd eaten there just last night. Fig pizza. Epoisse. Say no more. "But I just kept thinking," she lamented, "that fig pizza would have been so much better with a little prosciutto on it."

Because, really, what isn't? But BiteClub regrets to inform readers that--at least on the opening menu at Ubuntu--"vegetable-inspired meals-to be enjoyed by both omnivores and herbivores" translate as vegetarian/vegan. No ham. No bacon. No prosciuitto. And on that hot afternoon, no lunch.

Cursing this second strike-out at the Napa newcomer, I called in my late-afternoon safety--the one valley spot that would definitely be open, definitely be packed and almost certainly have pizza (fig or not) to console my bruised karma: Bistro Don Giovanni.

Double-parked limos and cell-phone-yacking wine barons (this is crush after all) along the sidewalk belie the fact that Don Giovanni is, in fact, a pretty casual spot. It's Napa's hang-out--where everyone from the mommy-tracked to the fast-tracked rub elbows and chow on house-made focaccia, strawberry lemonade, bistro burgers and rustic pastas.

Around since 1993, the restaurant (owned by Donna and Giovanni Scala) has always fallen a bit below the radar of tourists despite having amazing patios, an impressive wine list and consistently impressive Cal-Ital (heavy on the Ital) dishes like carpaccio, lamb meatballs, lemon-cream ravioli and roasted chicken. Call it a blessing, though you'll often have to wade through locals crammed like sardines around the bar to get to your table. You'll live.

And alas, there on the menu was my edible Holy Grail (at least for today): A wood-fired fig pizza with gorgonzola, caramelized onions and, you guessed it, prosciutto. Ciao bella. Crispy, thin, smoky and savory with fresh slices of sweet fig. All the better with a crisp glass of rose and worth every bit of $14, mi amore.

Who needs karma? Just add prosciutto.

Bistro Don Giovanni, 4110 Howard Lane, Napa, 707.224.1090.