Harvest Fair food awards draws new entrants, novel creations
The Sonoma County Harvest Fair Professional Food Competition drew fewer entrants this year for its annual taste-off of hundreds of local products, from bread and desserts to ice cream and olive oil.
But there were newcomers who rubbed shoulders with long-time participants such as Costeaux Bakery of Healdsburg, which took home the Best of Show award in Professional French Bread for its Sour Boule as well as the the Sweepstakes Bread award and Best of Show Cake/Pastry for its decadent Truffle Cake.
The contest only drew one entrant in the normally crowded Appetizer & Hors d’Oeuvres category: Tacos El Pelon of Santa Rosa took home four top awards and two double golds, including Best of Show Appetizer for its Cheese Tamal topped with Beef Tongue.
To reflect the pandemic’s required pivots for restaurateurs and caterers, the competition added a new category this year for Shelter in Place (SIP) entrees and side dishes.
“We have tried to keep current with the times,” said Anne Vercelli, competition coordinator. “The chicken enchiladas (from Mangia!) won for the Best of Show (SIP) entree, and a new vendor was creative with pretzels (for Best of Show SIP side dish).”
Patricia Rohrer of Mangia! in Santa Rosa staffs a corporate cafeteria for The Viavi Solutions at 1405 Thunderbolt Way and also offers curbside pick-up for the public out of her catering kitchen there.
The chef, who has been in the food business for 18 years, said her Best of Show SIP entree of Chicken Enchiladas was smothered in two different sauces.
“It’s a little of the green sauce, because that’s what I enjoy, and it has the red sauce as well,” she said. “Then there’s cotija cheese, rotisserie chicken, Jack cheese and cilantro.”
For the competition as a whole, Rohre entered 14 items, most of them in the category of Cakes & Pastries. By winning the most points for her gold and double gold baked goods, she also took home the Sweepstakes award for Cakes & Pastries.
“Sometimes the Best of Show and the Sweepstakes winner are not the same,” Vercelli explained. “But the Sweepstakes means that they did very well on many of the products they entered.”
Costeaux Bakery of Healdsburg won Best of Show Cake/Pastry for its Chocolate Truffle Cake, and Sonoma Sauces and Sonoma Cake Creations of Santa Rosa won Best of Show Decorated Cake for a wedding cake made with a base of Vanilla Cake layered with Mango PInot Gris Mousse and topped with buttercream frosting.
Rohrer’s gold-medal winning desserts included a Fresh Fruit Tart and an Apple-Cranberry pie, which she considers her signature baked good.
“The tart is elegant and pretty,” she said. “But if I were to do a throwdown with Bobby Flay, it would be the pie. ... It has Grand Marnier, orange zest and dried cranberries. It’s not the brown sugar, sugary apple pie. It’s more sophisticated and Sonoma County.”
Earlier in her career, Rohrner worked for Pearson & Co. in Santa Rosa, where she met her husband. She entered the harvest fair last year, and with this year’s success to buoy her, she plans to enter again next year.
Rohrer opened Mangia! in 2012. To order from her to-go menu of breakfast items, salads and sandwiches, go to mangiacaters.square.site or call 707-494-8563.
Pretzel logic for the pandemic
Clare Hulme of Wooden Petal in Santa Rosa moved to Santa Rosa five years ago from San Francisco, where she ran her own sandwich shop. She started catering here, while exploring the many facets of baking bread. A couple of years ago, she zeroed in on craft pretzels as her target product for pop-ups around the county.
“I was trying to figure out what my next move was,” she said. “I thought the pretzel idea was a good fit for breweries and wineries, and they’re versatile enough to keep me entertained. ”
In February, she started baking out of a small kitchen next to Dierk’s Parkside Cafe in Ssnta Rosa. Then in the midst of the pandemic, all her weddings and parties were canceled.
“I took a deep breath and decided to deliver to everyone who is stuck at home,” she said. “Now people are adding on my soups or my cinnamon pretzels.”
For the Harvest Fair competition, Hulme won Best of Show Shelter-in-Place Side Dish for an assortment of fresh-baked pretzels served with her signature cheese, mustard and spinach dips.
The box includes her three most popular flavors of mini pretzels (2 ounces each): sea salt, everything and cheddar cheese. That’s the same box her loyal customers often order for their families.
“If you want to crack open a few bottles of wine or beer, the adults go for the everything with the spinach dip,” she said. “The kids go for the sea salt.”
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