Penngrove chef cooks with the luck of the Irish

Darby Tarantino can credit her rewarding career in the hospitality industry to the luck of the Irish.

Ireland beckoned her away from Sonoma County in 2007, when she worked as an escrow agent but wasn’t quite certain whether she and her career were a proper match.

So with an adventurous spirit and a leap of faith, she quit her lucrative job and headed to the lush landscape of County Cork, to a culinary school situated in the middle of its own 100-acre organic farm.

Tarantino, 39, could have applied to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris or even somewhere closer to home, like the renowned Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. Instead, she opted to learn to cook from the Irish.

“I was the butt of a lot of jokes,” she said, acknowledging the Irish aren’t particularly regarded for their culinary contributions.

The laugh, it turned out, wasn’t on her.

Her experience in Ireland helped shape a new career path, one rich with rewards and satisfaction. Today, she manages the tasting room and wine club at Meadowcroft Wines at Cornerstone Sonoma and serves as a wine educator and the official chef for various special events, including an authentic St. Patrick’s Day luncheon that typically sells out.

The four-course meal highlights an Irish cuisine rich with tradition, from goat cheese imported from an Irish dairy to a main-dish seafood pie celebrating a country surrounded by oceans.

And no, don’t expect corned beef and boiled cabbage.

“You don’t see corned beef anywhere in Ireland. If you see it, it’s a tourist restaurant and you should run for your life,” Tarantino quipped.

Born Darby Chandler to parents of Irish heritage (she takes her surname from her former husband), she long wondered about her ancestry; like so many others, her relatives fled their homeland during the great potato famine of the mid-1800s.

Tarantino finally traveled to the Emerald Isle in 2000, making the trek with two girlfriends. The trio arrived in Ireland with six “massive” suitcases, overpacked and overwhelmed as they tried to maneuver the hefty bags along Ireland’s many cobblestone streets.

What she remembers most, though, were the warm, welcoming people.

“I truly feel when I’m there, I’m home,” she said.

The Penngrove resident has since traveled to Ireland seven more times - with less luggage - most recently in January. She returned home wearing an engagement ring, after her beau, Christopher Keegan, proposed on bended knee on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in the picturesque County Kerry village of Dingle, which Tarantino considers “a little bit of heaven.”

Keegan is Irish, too, but the couple met not in a pub in the homeland but through a bowling league in Rohnert Park. They enjoy wine and Guinness in equal proportions.

Tarantino said the 12 weeks she spent in residence at the Ballymaloe Cookery School changed the course of her life. The experience as a student was so rewarding she stayed on for an additional 12 weeks as an instructor.

Waking at dawn to help milk the school’s Jersey cows or harvest produce for the day’s meals was “surreal,” Tarantino said. “It changed the way I looked at food and the way I eat. It’s about taking time to be more mindful and prepare your foods.”

She returned home with a fresh mindset and a new set of skills, far removed from the numerous headaches of her former career. Tarantino took a job as a chef at a bed-and-breakfast inn in Olema, only to discover she missed interacting with people.

“I realized very quickly I didn’t want to spend my time in the kitchen,” she said. “I’m a people person.”

She enhanced her love of cooking and entertaining by studying wine business and enology at Santa Rosa Junior College, where she earned an associate’s degree in science.

“I knew I wanted to do something involving food and wine. I wanted to give the wine industry a shot,” Tarantino said. She gained a great deal of knowledge about wine - enough to serve as a judge at various wine competitions - but lacked tasting room experience to start her career.

She eventually came across a job listing on Craigslist and the online posting opened doors she never imagined. She was hired at Meadowcroft Wines in 2010, just as it was establishing a tasting room in the Carneros region of Sonoma Valley.

Tarantino laughs that the job initially paid “peanuts” in comparison to her escrow work, but said it was rich in other ways. She is grateful she listened to her heart and headed to Ireland for inspiration.

“Every decision I made has led to something else,” she said. Had it not worked out, “At least I can say I tried.”

Her many trips to Ireland only affirmed what she first discovered there, and what she tries to bring to her life and her job.

“There’s a sense of home and community and friendship,” she said. “I want people to experience that when they come into my tasting room or my home.”

Beyond the spectacular Irish countryside, ancient landmarks and castles and breathtaking vistas from cliffs to sea, Ireland represents what matters most to Tarantino.

“Life is about being happy,” she said, “and sharing that happiness with other people.”

Darby Tarantino presents a classic ?St. Patrick’s Day lunch at noon on Saturday at Meadowcroft Wines, 23574 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. The fee is $78, including wine and gratuity. For reservations or information, visit meadowcroftwines.com or call 707-934-4090.

Tarantino will also host a “River Cruise for Wine Lovers” July 27 to Aug. 3 in Europe; fees vary. For details, visit winecruisegroup.com or call 877-651-7447.

Contact Towns Correspondent Dianne ?Reber Hart at sonomatowns@gmail.com.