Artisan Smoked Olive Oil, “Fresh from the Sea” seafood, and custom backyard chicken coups, affirm Sonoma County’s bohemia feel. With morning coffees and re-useable grocery sacks in hand, we set off on an early May foraging excursion to the Saturday Farmers Market at Veteran’s Hall.
As we entered the gates, we stumbled upon a unique culinary taste:Smoked Olive Oil . Owners Al Hartman and Brenda Chatelain were providing tastings of their unusual and highly perfected product, smoked olive oil. Al brings 33 years of culinary smoking experience, he sources olives from nearby farms and produces this intoxicating elixir locally. Too good to resist, I purchase a small bottle to inspire future cooking creativity at home.
Navigating through the vendors we saw the early buddings of summer delights to come including fresh tomatoes and late spring vegtables, homemade pastas, freshly foraged mushrooms, and warm morning-baked breads from Full Circle Baking Company out of Penngrove, CA. Sprinked in amongst the food vendors, craft offerings included handcrafted beeswax products and exotic honey, french table linens, and custom made chicken coups! As we made our way through the market we came upon the unexpected (at least to us anyway), a local Santa Rosa seafood vendor with a prominent triple bay booth displaying beautiful fish on par with quality seen at the San Francisco Ferry Building’s Farmers Market. So moved, we dropped our purchases and began snapping up pictures of the displayed merchandise. See the tres amigos below:
After purchasing some veggies to go along with our smoked olive oil, we decided to enjoy the rest of our Saturday morning with a little breakfast at Dierk’s Parkside Cafe off Santa Rosa Avenue, just a few blocks away from the cute South A Neighborhood Arts District. Sitting down at the bar, with our favorite paper in hand, we split ordered the Country Benedict. The holladaise sauce married with the plump sundried tomato and fresh wilted spinach completed what could not have been a more perfect Santa Rosa Saturday morning.
