Bouncing Back February’s flooding was devastating but downtown’s restaurant scene is returning to normal.

Wine with Mission Equality Vines donates a portion of all sales to LGBTQ and women’s rights causes.

Building a Better Biscuit And you thought biscuits were just a butter delivery device.

We in the North Bay are “cursed.” There are too many good things to eat and drink. Dine, brunch, snack and sip all we want, we’ll go to our graves having never sampled a near-infinity of treats.

If we must try to eat everything in the North Bay, we may as well stuff ourselves for a good cause. In February, flood waters submerged much of Guerneville and displaced thousands of people along the Russian River. Thankfully, the town jumped into recovery mode the moment the waters receded. Just four months later, in June, the Stumptown Parade kicked off the summer tourist season and brought back some much-needed normalcy.

But Guerneville’s businesses, especially restaurants, still need help. And lending a hand turns out to be delicious. Here are my new favorites.

A ‘McMuffin’
for the Ages

At Coffee Bazaar, I queued up behind locals ordering breakfast. My first visit, I ordered the same thing as the patron in front of me—a breakfast sandwich and a medium coffee. The fresh sandwich arrived a few minutes later wrapped in wax paper. Inside, I found a McMuffin on steroids. It was huge. After just one bite, however, I discovered that I was eating a superior sandwich, one that featured a delectable runny egg.

Over the next hour, I watched locals come and go, and the barista knew just about everybody’s name. Conversations centered on trips to the river beaches and getting back into the swing of things after the 4th of July.

I also overheard some conspiracy theories about Bohemian Grove, but that’s another story.

Biscuit Heaven

I had a lot of eating ahead of me, so I had to pace myself. For the next 45 minutes, I took a long walk around town. The holiday weekend over, Johnson’s Beach had only a few visitors. On River Road, many enticing restaurants were closed until Wednesday. But I found “food” in unlikely places. Hanging outside the hardware stores were river rafts designed to look like donuts
and lollipops.

Seeing all that inflatable food, I followed the hobbits’ example and sought out a second breakfast. But what would I eat?

Growing up in Central Tennessee, I lived less than a mile from the Loveless Café, a local institution famed for its fluffy, moist and buttery biscuits. The creator of these heavenly puffs was the Biscuit Lady (Carol Fay Ellison), who perfected the Loveless biscuit recipe during her many decades in the kitchen. Although the Biscuit Lady passed away in 2010, her creations live on seven days a week alongside the Loveless’ southern comfort food.

I never thought I’d find a comparable biscuit on this side of the Rockies until I stepped inside Big Bottom Market. Every wall was covered with biscuit swag: biscuit mix in cloth bags, biscuit cookbooks and even cute biscuit plushies. A Southern gentleman such as myself had to know how Big Bottom’s signature biscuit stacked up.

Waiting for my biscuit to warm in the oven, I poked around the store’s wares. Besides biscuits, patrons can purchase local honey, olive oil and wine. Big Bottom’s kitchen also serves up filling breakfasts, sandwiches and salads.

Finally, it was time. My biscuit gave off a single puff of steam as I opened it. I spread on a little fresh butter and strawberry jelly before biting into the salty and flaky crust.

They should have sent a poet.

Lunch by the River

After even more walking, I traveled to The Farmhand, one of the many Guerneville restaurants recently reopened after post-flood renovations. They did a great job, as I couldn’t find any sign the restaurant had suffered damage. The restaurant, market and coffee bar gave off nice, rustic vibes, so I decided to dine inside.

If you’re in the mood for a sandwich or panini, you can’t go wrong at The Farmhand. Besides ordering from the menu, patrons can design their own sandwiches and select from dozens of local beers and many more non-alcoholic drinks. I ordered The Italian: salami, ham, tomato, onion, lettuce and pepperoncini on Italian bread. This filling sandwich paired excellently with a Barrel Brothers Naughty Hops IPA.

Outside, the grounds boast comfortable seating with excellent Russian River views. Stomach settling, I walked down to the deserted riverbank to watch the water make its journey to the Pacific.

Welcoming Wine

During my walk around town, I discovered Equality Vines, an organization that donates a portion of all sales to LGBTQ or women’s rights causes. In their small but intimate tasting room, hostess Alice introduced me to four wines—a Sauvignon Blanc, a rosé, a Pinot Noir and a Zinfandel—the names of which all referenced landmark events in LGBTQ or women’s rights history. My favorite was the aromatic rosé.

Equality Vines’ connection to the LGBTQ community goes much deeper than its generous philanthropy. Jim Obergefell—the plaintiff in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide—cofounded the label.

And unlike some other tasting rooms, Equality Vines doesn’t participate in the hard sell. If you want to buy a case of wine or join their wine club, that’s great. But if you just want to enjoy a tasting or have a glass of wine in the lounge, then by all means, pull up a chair.

Thanks, Alice.

Not So Curiously Strong Mints

I wasn’t done yet.

Like The Farmhand next door, Riverside Wellness Collective was waterlogged by the February flooding. Although the cannabis dispensary was running at only 25 percent capacity when I visited, much-needed cash and new fans brought in by the 4th of July tourist crowds will help this business get back on its feet over the coming months.

“What’s the best tasting edible you have?” I asked while reviewing the limited (for now) selection. After considering my options, I chose an old favorite: Petra Mints by Kiva Confections. With only 2.5 milligrams of THC in each piece, Petra Mints are some of the gentlest edibles on the market. Also, they’re perfect for a lightweight like me.

Of course, I didn’t enjoy my mints until I got home later that day. Always freshen your breath responsibly.

Mild weather, kind people and excellent dining make Guerneville a must for North Bay locals and tourists. Just don’t forget to bring an empty stomach.

Outstanding in his Field CEO and head gardener Christopher Adjani says Noci will offer u-pick fruit
and vegetables as well as activities like volleyball and movie nights.

Noci Sonoma interrupts the parade of vineyards stretching the length of Dry Creek Valley with a 24-acre patch of dirt that’s growing something new and quite different from its neighbors.

They call it an “edible garden adventure club,” which, if that isn’t perfectly clear, roughly translates as, “u-pick gone wild.” Heavily Instagrammable.

All that’s required to experience Noci is a membership or a tour, a handy set of clippers and a basket—both of which can be bought at the modishly minimalist, black-painted farm stand—and a pair of sensible walking shoes. And also, for now, a bit of an imagination.

Noci CEO and head gardener Christopher Adjani describes the work in progress as he leads visitors from the farm stand, past a noisy welding operation that will soon yield metal tables set around an outdoor cooking fire pit, down a boardwalk made of Brazilian teak and into lush, green avenues of clover and grass.

Where I see a large, muddy puddle, he sees a cascading series of ponds filled with water-purifying plants and capped with a 10-foot, functional waterfall. Where I see steel wire strung between a repeating theme of archways of rusty metal, he sees living walls composed of blackberries, raspberries, kiwis and wisteria, 12 feet high and hundreds of feet long. As Adjani describes gardens in terms of rooms, as private spaces for not only fruit picking and lettuce clipping, but also for hanging out and relaxing in—and Instagramming, natch—my mind begins to wrap around the concept like a vine tendril gripping a trellis wire, climbing for the sky.

Adjani leads the design-focused garden tours, while his wife and Noci cofounder Aria Alpert Adjani leads tours focused on culinary applications. The land was in a state of neglect when they purchased the property five years ago, Adjani says. The existing vineyard had been bulldozed, trellis and all, into the dirt. The couple spent the first year cleaning up the ground, which isn’t much good for wine grapes anyway, according to Adjani. Saturated for much of the year, the land is situated at the confluence of Dry Creek and a former waterway which was re-routed years ago. Instead of adding more asphalt for the parking lot, they put down circular pavers made from recycled plastic and set in gravel. Grass grows on top of the pavers, and drainage pipes underneath move rainwater toward the ponds where it filters through lily pads and other water plants.

We arrive at the back of the garden, which was planted earlier than the rest, and has more mature trees and beds of asparagus gone to ferns. Adjani points out a row of blueberry bushes, the first planting of all, which got him to thinking about the whole plan.

And what’s this, nearby, a rioting trellis of grapevines after all? They’re Concord grapes, good for making jam, and the tent-like structure that holds them would make a fun tunnel for kids to run through. The membership model, Adjani hopes, allows people to feel more at home in the gardens than simply stopping and shopping. “We’re not a farmers market,” Adjani says. Members can find out if their favorite fruit tree, of some 900 fruit trees, is in season from the “train station” styled schedule in the main farm stand, and then picnic at one of 18 black-painted, luxury resort-styled shade decks spread around the acreage. Activities will also be scheduled—jam-making classes, movie nights, volleyball on the lawn. “If we just had the garden, I don’t think people would use it.”

Also still to come is an architecturally striking root cellar that may or may not become an actual root cellar, but the partially grass-roofed structure will definitely include Noci offices on the second level and more space for…something. “Until we actually do something,” Adjani explains, “we don’t know how we’re going to use it.”

In the distance across the pond basin, I can barely make out two unmoving, silent sentry-like objects, but I get the feeling they’re watching us. They are—they’re big, shaggy sheep dogs. The Adjanis tried out a flock of sheep, but decided that pastoralism wasn’t going to work for them. Instead, the grassed pathways are mowed with a $10,000 electric mower that saves $10,000 a year on gasoline, Adjani says.

Doing a quick calculation on a Mac terminal at the farm stand, Adjani comes up with a figure of $6 per pound. That’s about how much the u-pick produce will cost members at any of the membership levels, at $150 to $400 monthly, if they pick the maximum pounds they’re allotted on each visit. Memberships are available now. Picnics and fun, shareable pictures aside, that’s on the dear side for, say, potatoes. But price-conscious pickers, Adjani notes, will get a real deal if they stick to the high-value items and load up to their heart’s content on cane berries, fresh flowers and herbs. Go wild.

2836 Dry Creek Rd., Healdsburg. Tours and picnicking open to the public by appointment, Friday–Sunday 10am–4pm. $25. 707.800.9806. nocisonoma.com.