Two decades ago, successful chef, restaurant owner and caterer Deborah Blum would never have imagined that one day she would run a farm animal sanctuary where she provides a safe and loving forever home for all rescued animals.
Nor did she expect to eventually open a restaurant to fulfill her dream: the nonprofit Goatlandia Farm Animal Sanctuary, which she founded out of her Santa Rosa home in 2012. But she recently did just that, in a former Sebastopol barbecue joint, Bar B Que Smokehouse Bistro, known for its slow-smoked meats.
After nearly a year of private catering work, Blum’s Goatlandia Kitchen opened to the public in July. It focuses on plant-based cuisine, with proceeds benefiting her work rescuing farm animals, social work and education. Given the pretty interior, which features subway tile walls decorated with artistic goat portraits, the message is impossible to miss.
She calls it a “compassionate cuisine” but hesitates to call it vegan (the “V-word”), even though she advocates the ethic of not using animals for food.
“We try to avoid the word vegan because it carries so much moral weight. We’ve found that there are a lot of people, whether they’re vegetarian, vegan or omnivorous, who just want to eat good, whole foods,” Blum said. “They want grains, legumes and beautiful produce because they like them.”
And they want seasonal, organic ingredients of the highest quality. Goatlandia Kitchen updates its menu regularly. Blum reveals where she buys her ingredients each week. She points out that the mushrooms come from Mycopia in Sebastopol, the sourdough batard from Nightingale Breads in Forestville, the olive oil from Husary Olive Mill in Sebastopol, and the produce from numerous local family farms and FEED Sonoma.
In the Goatlandia kitchen
There’s an air of elegance in Blum’s small, chic barn-style eatery. High-quality picnic tables line the oak-shaded patio, and there are a handful of polished wood bistro tables inside.
Meals begin with an amuse-bouche made from whatever fruit Blum is particularly fond of, like my latest treat, a slice of Earthseed Farm’s spicy pluot, dolloped with homemade cashew whipped cream, cracked pepper and a mint leaf.
And there’s a lot of skill in these recipes. My job doesn’t allow me to be vegetarian or vegan, and it’s true that I always crave almost anything slathered with French salted butter or fine cheese. But with Goatlandia’s excellent dairy-free versions, I don’t miss them.
The first bite of Very Good Greens on the menu makes me smile, with its warm, rich miso butter sauce that makes my lips shine like the real thing. The dreamy deliciousness shimmers over roughly chopped, tender bok choy, kale, broccolini, shaved maitake mushrooms, peppery beets and pea shoots; below is a cake that looks like a Rice Krispy treat, crispy on the edges and soft on the inside, with pilaf soaking up the slightly sweet miso ($24).
“It took a lot of experimentation to get the sauce right,” said Blum.
Plant-based cheese has a long history behind it
The Kitchen also shows how remarkable recent developments in dairy-free cheeses can be.
The cheese plate ($24) is a real showstopper, garnished with Philadelphia-made Bandit Barncat (a cashew- and coconut-oil-based blue cheese doppelgänger with a white-molded rind and a layer of plant ash), Napa’s wild mushroom Nova Terra (a soft, flavorful wedge of cheese to spread on the plate’s sourdough crostini and crackers) and Petaluma’s Climax Blue (a mild, rich version with pumpkin seeds, coconut oil, lima beans and hemp protein powder).
The board is rounded off with caramelized nuts, fresh fruit and plant-based honey. Bees are living creatures and instead of stealing their work, we can drizzle on Mellody’s sticky, sweet plant-based honey made from natural fructose, glucose and plant extracts of red clover, jasmine, passionflower, chamomile and sea buckthorn.
Fried food is another of my favorite pastries, and Blum doesn’t disappoint. Her arancini involves five balls fried until crispy around a steaming risotto filling, the rice toasted, deglazed in white wine, and finished with shallots sautéed in olive oil and lots of melted cheese. A rich, slightly spicy marinara dip completes the whole thing ($15).
The spice has its own impact. A simple dish of warm olives is served, enhanced with citrus, garlic, bay leaf, lemon and a dash of sweet and spicy berbere ($8). The king trumpet mushroom ceviche is served with diced red onion and cucumber and topped with sweet and sour (fish-free) leche di tigre sauce and a handful of fresh cilantro leaves ($13).
