John Ash & Co. At Vintners Resort 4350 Barnes Road Santa Rosa 707.575.7350 Vintnersresort.com/john-ash-co
Dinner served Wednesday through Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m.
ingredients in dishes created to complement wine earned him renown as the “father of wine country cuisine.” (Ash sold his stake in the restaurant to former Vintners Resort owners the Carano family in 2000; he continues to write his popular In the Kitchen column for NorthBay biz. ) Wine, of course, remains an important part of JAC; its cellar is extensive enough so that the wine list was provided digitally via tablet. As expected, local labels mix with international. A triptych of local valleys were recommended with our orders, from Alexander Valley (Ra Ra Wine’s melon de bourgogne) to Russian River Valley (Bucher Vineyard pinot) to Sonoma Valley (Gundlach Bundschu cab), while further afield a 2019 Ricasoli Chianti paired perfectly with pork sugo ($36), a cavatelli pasta under a sweetly rich slow-braised pork shoulder. (Howland is working on his second certification of Italian Wine Essentials from the Wine Scholar Guild, according to Vintners Resort.) Entrees of king salmon ($45) and short ribs ($46) followed, the former enhanced by a cauliflower puree, while the Akaushi beef ribs had that melt-in-your-mouth quality for which the Wagyu breed is known. By all indications, Howland and the new menu are off to a great start. Additional changes and renovations are in the works at Vintners Resort. As to its culinary offerings, there are plans to add cooking classes, garden tours and vineyard dinners—more food-and-wine experiences for guests and visitors. Big things are happening at the resort—for a taste, John Ash & Co. is serving as a delicious proving ground. t
Did You Know? Akaushi is known as the “Emperor’s breed” of Wagyu cattle. The Akaushi breed did not exist outside of Japan until the 1990s—and American Akaushi cattle are almost entirely derived from the original fullblood Akaushi herd imported to the U.S. in 1994, according to akaushi.com.
Jason Walsh is editor in chief of NorthBay biz magazine and northbaybiz.com. A North Bay native, he’s spent his career covering the news, lifestyles and people of Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties. When not up to his elbows in page proofs, you can find him and his family exploring all corners of the North Bay from their home base in Novato.
The menus will reflect the changing seasons.
November 2024
NorthBaybiz 45
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