Mouthful: Fun things to do around Sonoma County

Sonoma County Restaurant Week: Starting Monday, cafes and restaurants throughout Sonoma County will offer special menus, some at lunch, others at dinner, through March 15. This is the sixth annual Restaurant Week.

Here’s how it works. Participating restaurants select a price - $10, $15 or $20 at lunch; $19, $29 or $39 at dinner - and then offer either a fixed menu or one with choices. For example, Santa Rosa’s Belly Left Coast Kitchen and Tap Room is offering a two-course lunch for $15 and a three-course dinner for $29. Cafe Europe Restaurant, also in Santa Rosa, has two dinner menus, one for $19 and one for $29.

In Cloverdale, Piacere is featuring a $29 dinner menu, with a first course of shiitake mushroom ravioli, steamed clams, or barbecued oysters, followed by soup and salad. For a third course, the choices are jumbo prawns piccata, lobster ravioli, chicken in white wine sauce or New York steak. Everyone gets dessert, too, tiramisu.

Dozens of restaurants from Valley Ford, Petaluma and Sonoma to Healdsburg and Cloverdale are participating. For a full listing, with menus and contact information, visit sonomacountyrestaurantweek.org.

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VinOlivo Time: Sonoma Valley’s 10th Annual VinOlivo celebration takes place next weekend, March 13 to 15, with three days of events at more than forty wineries.

Friday’s winemaker dinner, taking place at the new Williams-Sonoma, is sold out but there are plenty of tickets for the Grand Tasting, which takes place from 7 to 10 p.m. on Sunday. Cost is $75 per person in advance and $85 at the door. If you’d like a VIP ticket, which gets you in at 6:30 p.m., it’s $95 per person. The tasting features more than fifty wineries, along with about a dozen food vendors.

A three-day pass to winery events is $50; for a single day pass, you’ll pony up $25. Events vary at each winery and you should study the selections for the best experience. Highlights include barrel tastings; food and chocolate pairings; discounts on wine; special tours and more.

For complete details and to buy tickets, visit sonomavalleywine.com.

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More Corned Beef, Better Corned Beef: You can, should you choose to, eat your fill of corned beef even before St. Patrick’s Day is here. On Saturday, March 7, Tara Firma Farms in Petaluma hosts a St. Patty’s Day fete with corned beef, salad, potatoes and other seasonal local foods, along with a tour of the farm. Cost is $60 for CSA members and $75 for the general public. You must be over 21 to attend. As of press time, tickets were still available at tarafirmafarms.com.

On Saturday, March 14, the Windsor Lions Club and Windsor Firefighters Association host an all-you-can-eat corned beef and cabbage dinner at Windsor Community Center (901 Adele Dr., Windsor). Cost is $15 per person, dinner is served from 5 to 8 p.m., there’s a no-host bar and all proceeds benefit local community projects.

For more information, call 838-4531.

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Jump Into the Fire: On Saturday, March 7, Shed (25 North St., Healdsburg) welcomes Lisa Murphy, founder of Sosu Sauces, based in Oakland. Murphy’s hand-crafted sauces have received rave reviews and her signature sauce, “Srirachup,” was named Best Local Gem by 7 x7 Magazine.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Murphy will explore how to use lacto-fermentation to create balanced hot sauces. The session will includes tastes of spices, chilies and sauces and participants will leaving with a starter jar and tips on making hot sauces at home.

Cost is $25. For tickets, visit healdsburgshed.com or simply stop by.

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One Restaurant Closes, Another Opens: Lydia’s Express, a vegan restaurant housed in the train car at Gravenstein Station in Sebastopol, closed on February 1. The company, Lydia’s Organics, which offers a line of fresh foods delivered throughout the Bay Area and a line of packaged foods distributed nationwide, remains open. For information, visit lydiasorganics.com.

Soon after Lydia’s Express closed, the Green Grocer opened in its place, with an outside set-up similar to the company’s popular farmers market booths. The menu, posted on a chalkboard, is the same, too. Service is both inside and outside. Chef Joe Rueter’s popular BLTs are back on the menu now that Parsons’ Homegrown Tomatoes, hothouse tomatoes grown by Kelley Parsons in Fulton, are available.

As the Green Grocer gets its sea legs in the new location -- and continues attending several farmers markets each week -- days and hours have been changing. Currently, it is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with cocktails and dinners on certain nights.

Check it out at 6681 Sebastopol Ave. in Sebastopol.

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Preview: Art of Gastronomy, a month long celebration of all things gastronomical, kicks off on March 18 and continues through April 19, with a juried art exhibition, a night of poetry, cooking opportunities, a closing tea and more.

The exhibition and several of the events take place at the Healdsburg Center for the Arts (130 Plaza St., Healdsburg) and is curated by Cheryl Itamura, herself an artist. Check back for details next week.

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Friday Night Soap Box: Last month, Francis Ford Coppola Winery launched a series of evening talks to kick off the weekend.

The first Friday Night Soap Box Series wraps up on March 13, with Fred Seaman, a master falconer, and Tony Mercell of Airstrike Bird Control talking about ancient sport of falconry and modern bird abatement.

This Friday, March 6, it’s yours truly, presenting “A Whole Lot of Salt, a Little Bit of Pepper,” an exploration of the world’s vast array of intriguing salts and the world’s finest peppercorns.

The talks, which take place in the upstairs Gallery Bar, get started at 6:15 and wrap up a bit after 7. Nibbles are provided and wine is available for purchase. Admission is free and all ages are welcome.

Coppola Winery is located at 300 Via Archimedes in Geyserville.

Michele Anna Jordan has written 19 books to date, including the new “More Than Meatballs.” Email Jordan at catsmilk@sonic.net. You’ll find her blog, “Eat This Now,” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.