Mendocino Coast Purple Sea Urchin Festival, pizza workshop and more

MENDOCINO COAST

The first-ever Mendocino Coast Purple Sea Urchin Festival will be celebrated June 17- 19 at various locations on the Mendocino Coast, including Fort Bragg, one of the biggest producers of sea urchin in the state.

During the three-day festival, educational events will be held in conjunction with the Mendocino Area Parks Association, Watermen’s Alliance, Noyo Science Center and Freedive Shop, providing instructional demos and hands-on experiences.

Urchinomics, a restorative seafood company, will supply restaurant partners with purple urchin (“uni”). Urchinomics aims to restore kelp forests by removing the overgrazing sea urchins, feeding them on land and selling them to distributors and restaurants.

The festival kicks off at noon June 17 with an outdoor demo and a five-course purple urchin tasting menu at the Harbor House Inn presented by Urchinomics and Chef Matthew Kammerer. Cost is $150, plus $90 for optional wine pairing. To reserve, go to theharborhouseinn.com/dine.

On June 18, there will be an uni demo and talk at 10:30 a.m. at Van Damme State Beach. Josh Russo from the Waterman’s Alliance and Greg Fonts of the Freedive Shop will demonstrate how to open and clean urchin. Participants will learn how to harvest urchin and the impact the purple urchin has on other fisheries.

At 3 p.m. June 18, sake expert Kerry Tamura of World Sake Imports will give a sake seminar at Little River Inn, served with uni snacks. Cost is $80. To reserve, go to bit.ly/3MAMKy1.

Natasha Benjamin and Ana Blanco, producers of the upcoming documentary “Sequoias of the Sea,” and Sheila Semans, executive director of the Noyo Center for Marine Science, will talk about the sea creatures of the California Coast at 10 a.m. June 19 in the Abalone Room at Little River Inn.

The weekend concludes at 7:30 p.m. June 19 with a live performance by folk singer Cheryl Wheeler and Kenny White in Abalone Hall at Little River Inn. Tickets are available through brownpapertickets.com.

Throughout the weekend, package deals and fresh-from-the-sea, urchin-focused menus will be served at the Little River Inn, Noyo Harbor Inn, Elk Cove Inn, Glendeven Inn & Lodge, Inn at the Cobbler’s Walk, Izakaya Gama and Harbor House Inn.

For more information, go to urchinfest.com.

SANTA ROSA

Tickets on sale for Farm to Pantry’s Summer Supper

Farm to Pantry, a nonprofit that collects food that would otherwise go to waste and gives it to people in need, is selling tickets to its annual Summer Supper.

The benefit dinner, hosted by Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, will be held at 5:30 p.m. July 29 at the Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate and Gardens.

Last year’s event sold out, and there will be limited seating this year. Cost is $250, including dinner and auction.

To reserve, go to farmtopantry.org/summer-supper. Kendall-Jackson is located at 5007 Fulton Road.

PETALUMA

Peter Reinhart to hold “Pizza Quest” workshop

Baking instructor and cookbook author Peter Reinhart will return to the Artisan Baking Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 4 for a hands-on pizza-making class based on his latest book, “Pizza Quest: My Never-Ending Search for the Perfect Pizza.”

In this five-hour workshop, students will learn to make three pizza doughs to take home: High Hydration Pan Pizza Dough, Naturally Leavened Sourdough and Classic White Dough.

Reinhart also will demonstrate how to make his all-purpose pizza sauce, his “Secret Sauce” pepper mash and a variety of “tribute pizzas” from all the categories covered in the new cookbook, including Detroit-style, New York-Style, sourdough focaccia and Sicilian, along with hearth-baked Neapolitan pizzas. The class concludes with a pizza party lunch.

Reinhart, a baking instructor at Johnson & Wales University, was the co-founder of the legendary Brother Juniper’s Bakery in Santa Rosa and is the author of 12 books on bread baking.

Cost is $220. To reserve, go to centralmilling.com and click on Baking Center. 1120 Holm Road.

Attendees will receive the current COVID-19 protocols in accordance with Sonoma County’s health orders and guidance in a pre-class email 48 hours before the class date.

ONLINE

Virtual cooking classes taught by “An Italian Dish”

Ellen Shick of Santa Rosa, who writes the An Italian Dish blog, will offer two virtual cooking classes this summer on Zoom.

Shick will provide a list of ingredients and equipment for the hands-on classes, allowing students to gather everything in advance. In keeping with Italian tradition, the classes will incorporate fresh local ingredients whenever possible.

A class on Piadine Romagna (Italian Flatbread filled with seasonal veggies and pesto) will be held 12:30- 2:30 p.m. on June 12. Cost is $35.

A class on Italian Cookies, including Pistachio Biscotti and Viennois-Spritz, will be held at 12:30 -2:30 p.m. on July 10. Cost is $40.

To reserve, go to anitaliandish.com.

Staff Writer Diane Peterson can be reached at 707-521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @dianepete56