Author Archives{careysweet}

With almost two decades of writing about food, restaurants and the chefs that make them happen, Carey Sweet has won numerous national restaurant criticism and food writing awards, including First Place in the nation from the Society of Professional Food Journalists.

A near-native of Arizona, Sweet now lives in Sonoma County, splitting her time between Scottsdale and the North Bay, where she is active in professional food and wine memberships and activities.

She is a regular contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle (covering restaurants, food and wine), 944 San Francisco magazine (restaurants, chefs and food), and North Bay publications such as the Bohemian.

In covering Arizona's food industry, she contributes to numerous publications, including a weekly Dining News column for the Arizona Republic, plus regular restaurant reviews and food feature stories for the newspaper and its several affiliate magazines. She has a monthly food feature column in Phoenix Magazine, as well as regularly scheduled restaurant reviews and travel features emphasizing culinary adventures. Additionally, she is the Arizona editor for Gayot Guide's restaurant coverage, and contributes to the North Bay coverage.

A wine lover, she also consults for a boutique winery with vineyards in Chile and Argentina.

Sweet has been a longtime volunteer for C-CAP (Careers through Culinary Arts Program), a national organization which provides education, professional chef mentoring, national scholarships and job placement within the restaurant industry for at-risk high school students.

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Don’t Let it Rain on Your Wedding – Planning Ahead is Simple

less than an hour in Weddings.0 Comments

It’s the reality of any extra-special day – the weather can take an unexpected turn. Think about “Forces of Nature,” the movie that ends with Ben Affleck’s hurricane-fraught wedding. Sonoma County, even with its temperate Mediterranean climate, isn’t immune to finicky Mother Nature. At the same time, the landscapes in this magical county of ocean front, forested, vineyard carpeted and {…}

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Benziger Weiswasser to Open Glen Ellen Star

2 days ago in Dining.0 Comments

Glen Ellen Star Coming to, Yep, Glen Ellen The Glen Ellen Star will soon shine brightly in the cozy little burg of Glen Ellen. And though we are mourning the closure of the former Saffron Mediterranean restaurant that it replaces, the Star will give us delicious new reason to visit downtown. Think “refined rustic,” and you’ll get the idea of {…}

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Vintners’ Square Expanding in Santa Rosa

5 days ago in Insiders Guide.0 Comments

Cibo Rustico On its Way Soon, the aroma of wood oven pizza and grilled meats will marry with the intoxicating perfumes of wine and beer emanating from a most unlikely spot: an industrial parking lot at Cleveland and Ridgway avenues, next to the 101 Freeway. Wineyard at Santa Rosa Vintners’ Square just keeps on growing since the D’Argenzio family expanded {…}

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So You Want Wine at Your Wedding …

6 days ago in Weddings.0 Comments

Sonoma is Wine Country, of course. Yet, for the issue of wine served at wedding receptions, one question is often overlooked. “Is it possible to bring in my own beverages?” Many brides and grooms have a special wine they love. Yet for many party venues, wine selections can be restricted by the venue’s contracts with caterers or wineries. Other venues {…}

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Food Purveyor and Beer Brewer Join Barlow

1 week ago in Dining.0 Comments

Bring it on at The Barlow, with even more tenants signing up and construction finally underway on the downtown Sebastopol culinary center. Just joined are Terra Sonoma, and Barley and Hops/8-Bit Brewing Company, the latest in a growing number of food and drink businesses flocking to the 220,000-square-foot culinary and art center in the former Barlow Apple Factory at Sebastopol {…}

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Sonoma’s own Mark Stark to Cook at the James Beard House

1 week ago in Dining.0 Comments

Sonoma County chef Mark Stark is known for his sumptuous way around steaks – witness his classic American Stark’s Steakhouse at Railroad Square, which showcases corn-fed prime and dry aged steaks as well as all natural grass fed beef from around the country and abroad. Filet mignon melts on the tongue like buttah, baby. You can get it wrapped in {…}

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Make Your Wedding Relaxing with a Pre- or Post Massage

1 week ago in Weddings.0 Comments

While weddings are said to be one of the happiest days in most couple’s lives, they are also often an extraordinarily stressful time. Indeed, depending on the scale of the wedding, the travel needed and the relationships between the families involved, the event can be so pressure-filled that some life experience experts rank it up there with moving or job {…}

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Wine Country Cuisine is Naturally Good for You

2 weeks ago in Dining.0 Comments

It’s a New Year’s ritual just as significant as popping that cork of Sonoma sparkling wine at midnight. The vows, the promises, the visions of a healthy new life to come with a proper diet. Fortunately for Sonoma County residents, we already live that dream, year-round. Some of the healthiest food to be found is grown and cooked right here. {…}

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Fort Ross Bicentennial: 200 Years of History, Adventure, and the Birth of the Russian River

2 weeks ago in Itineraries.0 Comments

As early as the mid-1550s, Spanish explorers claimed vast areas of California land for Spain and spread tales far and wide about the glory of their new world.  This attracted explorers from countries around the world. By 1812, Russian fur traders in search of better food supplies for their northern settlements arrived. And then in the mid-1800s, Mexico gained independence {…}

Black Pig Salumi, zazu restaurant and farm

Sonoma County Restaurant Week Slated Feb. 27 – March 4

2 weeks ago in Deals.0 Comments

Is it too soon to start thinking about Sonoma County Restaurant Week, which runs Feb. 27- March 4? If this third annual event is like previous years, that answer is certainly not. In fact, it’s highly recommended that anyone who loves great food and great bargains start plotting strategy now. Basically, Restaurant Week works like this: Loads of top Sonoma {…}