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Arts & Entertainment

Move Over Corn Dogs

Sonoma-Marin Fair to feature chef demos by local and regional masters.

Sonoma and Marin counties are ground zero when it comes to innovative farm-to-table cuisine and there is no shortage of award-winning chefs to prepare it.

This year, the Sonoma-Marin Fair will feature chef’s demos all five days beginning on Wednesday, June 22 at 3:30 p.m. with Twin Chefs, Lilly and Audrey Andrews, age 9 who have appeared on Good Morning America and cooked wood-fired pizzas with Wolfgang Puck.  They will show their pint-size peers how to prepare Asian vegetable spring rolls with almond coconut sauce, one of their specialties. They like inspiring families to get in the kitchen and cook together.

On Thursday at 5pm, Chef Josh Silvers (Petite Syrah and Jackson’s Bar and Oven) from Santa Rosa will be showing off his passion for fine food by preparing chicken and candied garlic sauce.

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Other local chefs include Steve Rose of The Vineyards Inn, Kenwood, Armondo Coronel of El Coronel Mexican Restaurant, Sebastopol, Christian Caiazzo of Pt. Reyes' Osteria Stellina and Angelo Sacerdote and Lina Hoshino of The Petaluma Pie Company. For a full schedule, check out the pdf on the right.

Sacerdote, a former filmmaker and Hoshino, a former graphic artist, have turned their talents to making superb pies.

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“We’re going to make a pie with something right from the garden,” said Sacerdote, who uses local ingredients for his savory and sweet pies. “I’m a little worried about working in a strange kitchen with the 30-minute time limit but we’ll pull it off.”

One of the more unusual items on the chef menus this year is caramel popcorn with Black Pit Bacon Salt offered by the “Prince and Princess of Porc,” Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Black Pig Meat Co. Their food and restaurants have been featured extensively in the media from Wine Spectator to Travel and Leisure.

Don’t fret if you’re a traditionalist when it comes to fair fare. The hot dog’s not going the way of the Dodo any time soon.  Crazy Abe Asay of Taps in Petaluma will be cooking up  specialty dogs to accompany delicious micro beers.

“We’re lucky to have such great chefs this year,” said Vicki DeArmon, marketing director for the fair.  “Most of our chefs are from Sonoma and Marin but we are thrilled to have Michael Tusk, chef and owner of Quince, one of San Francisco’s most critically acclaimed restaurants scheduled for our Sunday program.”

Tusk is the recipient of the 2011 James Beard Foundation Best Chef for the Pacific Region and Quince has been awarded a One Star Michelin Rating.

DeArmon also credits the generous sponsors for the success of this year’s chef lineup. Sponsors include (Rock Range, Rock Jr. and Rosie chickens), La Tortilla Factory, a Sonoma County family business that makes organic tortillas, Oliver’s Market, purveyor of specialty foods featuring 5,000 local products and servicing Sonoma County since 1963 and offering cooking classes such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding with chef Maria Vieages.

If you love to cook and want to see the best of the best demonstrating their craft, don’t miss the chef demos. All demos will take place in the Beverly C. Wilson building at the fairground beginning on Wednesday June 22 and continuing through Sunday, June 26th.

Foodies can text Foodwine 66746 on their mobile phones to receive reminders about the demonstrations.  For a complete list of all participating chefs and the demonstration schedule and purchase tickets ($15/adults, $10 kids up to 12), visit the Sonoma Marin  Fair site.

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