Bite Club: Proper New Zealand meat pies in Windsor

BurtoNZ Bakery Opens: Meat pies for everyone!

I’m a sucker for all things Kiwi (aka from New Zealand) - from the All Blacks rugby team and their blood-chilling Maori haka dance to the lush landscapes featured in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and, of course, the meat pie. So, short of a rugby team showing up in my living room, the opening of a “proper” New Zealand-style bakery in Windsor was cause for celebration.

Seems about 400 other people had the same reaction on Monday, Dec. 1, the opening day of BurtoNZ Bakery in Windsor, overwhelming the owners and pretty much clearing out the bakery case by noon.

Owned by native New Zealander and Master Baker Warren Burton and his wife, Bobbi, the newly minted bakery is a labor of love by the couple, who raised nearly $40,000 on crowdfunding website Kickstarter from friends, relatives and supporters who wanted to see authentic meat pies - flaky-crusted mini pies with steak and potatoes, cheese and mushrooms or bacon and eggs stuffed inside - along with sausage rolls and Wattie’s sauce (a sort of spiced ketchup), custard pies, breads and other traditional bakery goodies arrive in Sonoma County.

Warren’s effusive down-under personality and, let’s be honest, killer breads and pastries (he gets help from a small staff and Bobbi), along with longtime ties to the wine industry, have made him a familiar figure in the Alexander Valley.

As he loads baguettes into an oven that costs twice what I paid for a new car, Burton chats with customers, friends and me, neglecting to put the signature steam venting slices into several loaves. As they come out of the oven a few minutes later, he tosses one of the hot but imperfect loaves at me. “See what you made me do?” he said, chuckling. “Now you have to eat it!”

Warm bread on a cold, rainy morning driving to work? Almost as good as a rugby team in my living room. Almost.

BurtoNZ Bakery, 9076 Brooks Road S. (near the Safeway), Windsor, 687-5455. Open from 5 a.m. to around 5 p.m., but call ahead to make sure or consult the Facebook page (facebook.com/BurtoNZbakery).

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Bistro 100 Coming to Petaluma: Chef Garrett Adair is planning a new restaurant in downtown Petaluma, slated to open in early 2015. The focus is on local ingredients, beer and wine sourced within 100 miles (of the restaurant). He’ll be opening in the former Blu Restaurant space in Theatre Square. More news as it develops.

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Shop Talk: Rosso Pizzeria and Wine Bar has hired a new wine director, Paul McBratney. Cheers!

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Winter Closures Are Starting to Be Announced: Solage’s Solbar in Calistoga will shutter for a revamp in January. The French Laundry in Yountville will also be undergoing a renovation in the last weeks of December into January, according to sources. There’s buzz about another high-profile Napa restaurant undergoing some major changes in early 2015, but so far no confirmations.

Zin Restaurant, as reported earlier, will shutter in Healdsburg at the end of December, with renovations starting up in early 2015. Stay tuned for more details.

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News has just broken that Charlie Palmer (Dry Creek Kitchen) will be rehabbing St. Helena’s Harvest Inn (which he purchased last winter) to make way for a new restaurant in his ever-growing stable: Harvest Table.

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Is Paleo Really Paleo? That’s the question Sonoma State University professor Carlos Torres asked himself recently. As a former restaurateur and now anthropology lecturer, he’ll be teaching Anthropology of Food & Wine beginning in December. The class, open to the public, will delve into a wide range of subjects, but Torres gave BiteClub a few fun facts he learned in creating the class:

Heirloom fruits and vegetables often are much more nutritious (higher in phytonutrients) than their modern equivalents.

One commodity alone, sugar, could be “held responsible” for creating slave trade in the Caribbean.

Winemaking seems to have originated in a number of areas around the Eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia. The process of fermenting berries or fruit may go back as far as “intelligence” in human beings.

Studies on class and social structure are now being applied to designer coffee and other “modern essentials.”

McDonald’s restaurants are popular in Russia, but only because Russian patrons demand homegrown produce for ingredients, and McDonald’s of Canada (not the U.S.) negotiated originally with the former Soviet authorities. For more details on the class, Anth490, go to sonoma.edu/exed.

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Finally, there are plenty of upcoming holiday dinners and events. I’ll be posting them online at BiteClubEats.com/events over the next several weeks. The results of the Holiday Cookie Contest are also online at BiteClubEats.com/cookie.

Still hungry? Check out tasty food pics, industry gossip and more at BiteClubEats.com.