BiteClub: Earth’s Bounty Kitchen and Wine Bar opens

Earth’s Bounty Restaurant Opens: There’s a reason you’re not going to see “America’s Top Caterer” anytime soon on the Food Network. Not because catering chefs aren’t as talented as the blustery toques waving chef’s knives and pork tattoos for the cameras. It’s because hard-working caterers - the amazing culinary wizards who can somehow make dinner for 400 inside a pop-up tent, with two broken burners and a crying bride - aren’t in it for the glory. They’re in it to make the food that makes the event.

And that’s why I have a special place in my heart for folks like Chef Christopher Ludwick, a longtime caterer (Grapevine Catering) who recently opened Earth’s Bounty Kitchen and Wine Bar in the former Fresh by Lisa Hemenway (5755 Mountain Hawk Way, Santa Rosa, 827-9700). Yeah, the name’s a bit of a mouthful, but so’s the food. Meaning there’s plenty to stuff your face with - and then some.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Where Hemenway’s combined restaurant/market/coffeeshop space felt a bit, well, confusing, Ludwick has created distinct spaces. There’s a deli and retail shop in front, the cozy wine bar/restaurant to the right and an enviable catering kitchen taking up much of the back.

Clearly food is the real star here. BiteClub fell to pieces over nearly everything on the compact and well-curated menu.

We loved the charcuterie board ($13) with a changing lineup of salamis, fight-over-the-last-bite pate, pickled veggies and Cabernet mustard (ours also featured duck rillettes and head cheese); a tiny iron skillet with pork cheeks, charred tomatoes and Vella Dry Jack ($10) cooked in the wood oven; the Earth’s Bounty Burger with violet mustard, Cabernet onion jam and Vella cheddar cheese on a Village Bakery English muffin ($13); “Mac and Cheese” ($12) which is less like Kraft and more like a creamy, dreamy dish of orecchiette, mushrooms, shallots, melty cheese and buttered crumbs; chicken and waffles ($18) with rosemary-bacon waffles, country gravy and collard greens (we could eat the collard greens for weeks); and most especially the ever-changing desserts, which include a homemade “Ding Dong” (Devil’s food cake, ganache, marshmallow cream and other wickedness), or a warm fruit crumble with mascarpone.

Perhaps we should mention the pizzas. The wood-fired oven has been moved into the restaurant, with its incredible heat doing double duty as pizza cooker and meat and vegetable roaster.

Neapolitan-style, thin crust with just a hint of bubbly burnt bits, the pizzaiolo spins everyday nibblers like the margherita or mushroom (with chevre and olive oil, natch) as well as pepperoni and specials like maitake mushroom, truffle oil, prosciutto and Toma cheese ($13-$16)

But don’t call Ludwick’s restaurant farm-to-table.

“We’re Sonoma Farm Country Cuisine,” says Ludwick with an eye roll. So okay, you’re farm country cuisine using 53 local farms and producers bringing of-the-moment ingredients to the doorstep. And your mouth.

Earth’s Bounty Kitchen, open for dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Sunday 11a.m. to 4 p.m. 5755 Mountain Hawk Way, Santa Rosa, 827-9700

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Shogun Sushi Revisited: BiteClub had a quick nosh at re-located Shogun in Santa Rosa. Folks missing their Montgomery Village space can find them in nearby Farmers Lane Plaza (1531 Farmers Lane, Santa Rosa). It’s an odd little spot between Togo’s and El Charro, but the sushi is still solid, with room-temperature rice - something hard to find. (Usually its far too cold for sushi aficionados.)

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Cucina di Rosa Italian Trattoria: A new restaurant opens this weekend at St. Helena’s Charles Krug winery.

Part of the $9.5 million restoration of the winery’s Redwood Cellar Building. Inspired by the winery’s matriarch, Rosa Mondavi, the menu will feature rustic panini sandwiches with basil, pesto and tomatoes from the Culinary Institute of America Greystone’s Student Farm at the winery (the CIA is just across the street), a mufaletta, roasted tri-tip sandwich and antipasti and salads made to pair with Charles Krug wines.

The menu was designed by Napa chef Richard Haake (Cakebread Cellars, Robert Mondavi Winery).

The winery will be open Friday through Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. 2800 Main St., St. Helena, (707) 967-2200.

Still hungry? Check out Heather’s food and dining blog at BiteClubEats.com.