After six years of providing Capitol Hill with the best seasonal lunch and dinner using local ingredients, Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar decided to give our neighbors and regulars one more chance to enjoy fresh, local food: Starting on May 6th, Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar will open every Sunday for brunch.

Sundays from 11:30am until 2:30pm, we invite our guests to enjoy Chef Michael E Bonk’s distinct local and seasonal approach to cooking for a great brunch menu. Chef Bonk’s dishes will include creative house-made breakfast options such as Duck Hash with pulled duck confit, potatoes, onions, spinach and a deep fried coddled duck egg garnished with salsa verde. Or try Chef’s take on Steak and Eggs, with braised short ribs, pecorino polenta, greens, shallot chips and a farm egg.

If you prefer a sweeter start to brunch, try our house-made doughnuts, either filled with boston cream or apple cider. Or Chef’s Italian Toast, an Italian take on traditional french toast.

Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that our substantial artisanal cheese and charcuterie boards, delicious burgers and mushroom ‘burgers,’ and pizzas will also be available.

For many of us, brunch without a proper Bloody Mary is heresy, and that is why our recipe starts in the back-of-house – the kitchen. The somewhat secret recipe (yes, we’ll share it with you if you ask) features a house-made mix with fresh horseradish, a proprietary blend of fresh herbs and spices, and house-made pickled vegetables. Or try a delicious bellini with peach purée and Zardetto prosecco.

Bloody Mary’s and mimosas aside, we’re a wine bar, after all, and General Manager/Sommelier Patricia Ely suggests sparkling wines on their own as a great brunch pairing, especially Italian sparkling wines. Try Zardetto Prosecco with Sonoma’s house-made scrapple with roasted potatoes, apples, and onions.

For rose lovers, Loviosolo’s Vino Spumante Brut Rose pairs with Sonoma’s smoked salmon with a house made garlic bagel, citrus cream cheese, red onion marmalade and crispy capers. A still rose, like Canetele Negroamaro rosato from Puglia, would also pair with the salmon.

Enjoy Chef Bonk’s “bon chon” style fried chicken and biscuits with mushroom gravy with a glass of Quattro Mani Franciacorta, a traditional method sparkling wine from Lombardy, or perhaps a still white like Trefethen Chardonnay from Napa Valley.

Sonoma hosts a Heart’s Delight Dinner on Thursday, May 3rd, and will be at the main event on Saturday May 5th!

Heart’s Delight – an event that gathers master winemakers, culinary greats and our distinguished guests to the Nation’s Capital – is a four-day event celebrating food and wine. The event raises money for the American Heart Association, whose mission is to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

Sonoma will be hosting an intimate dinner on Thursday, May 3rd and will be participating in a blow out event on Saturday, which includes fun activities such as a virtual tours of Bourdeaux, meet & greet with Chateau owners and wine directors, seminars about wine, and food prepared by some of the nations’ top chefs. Chef Michael E. Bonk will be one of those lucky chefs serving food at the event. There will be large silent and live auctions to bid on travel, wine and more.

Don’t miss out on this great event! Get your tickets by clicking here.

Support Chef Michael E. Bonk as he competes to become the first ‘Hop Chef.’

and did we say chance to win free tickets?!?

Brewery Ommegang is throwing a really cool competition this weekend where chefs will compete to see who can make the best dish utilizing beer, either in a pairing sense, or using beer in preparation of the dish, or both!  You may not know this about Chef Bonk, but he is really into beer. He has even brews his own beer, so he is particularly excited about participating in this ‘hop chef’ competition.

We want to invite you to come out and enjoy food from some of D.C.’s best chefs, while giving support to our very own Chef Bonk! Tickets are still available AND, since you all are our friends and supporters, we’d love to offer you a $20 discount by entering the promo code “hops” when you make your purchase.

But wait, the deals don’t stop there. Chef Bonk also has TWO COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS! Just tweet to @sonomadc why you deserve the two tickets to the Hop Chef Competition before Friday at noon, and enter to win!

Also, if you attend the event, don’t forget to let us know what you think about Chef Bonk’s dishes by tweeting your opinions and comments to us at @sonomadc – and enter to win other great prizes!

The details:

What: BreweryOmmegang Hop Chef Competition

When: Saturday,April 28th, 2012 – 1:00pm-4:00pm

Where: AtlasPerforming Arts Center

1333H Street NE, Washington D.C., 20002

How to get tickets:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/237993

Event Details:

http://greatbeerdeservesgreatfood.com/2012/04/02/702/

Amuse: Strawberry, vanilla balsamic

1st: Burrata, strawberry, marcona almonds, bresaola

2nd: Grilled Sardines, farro, strawberry, spinach, pine nuts

3rd: Sirloin, grilled spring vegetables, strawberry syrah

Dessert: Yogurt Panna Cotta, strawberry, coconut brittle

Saturday April 21st

The third Locavore’s dinner is featuring local strawberries! Make your reservation now!

Stay tuned for more information and the menu!

Reserve your spot now for the next Locavore series! It will feature traditional Polish recipes with a modern twist, in honor of Chef Michael E. Bonk’s grandmother’s 90th birthday. And, of course, Chef Bonk will use the best local ingredients in his menu.

Stay tuned for more information!

And, here is a sneak peek of the upcoming Locavore dinners:

April 21st – Strawberry Season!

May 26th – Italian region – Veneto

June 23rd – Italian Region – Liguria

On April 1st, 2012, Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar will kick off a limited-run spring brunch series with Chef Mike Bonk’s distinct local, seasonal approach to cooking.

The seasonal brunch menu will also be available from 11am until 5pm on Easter Sunday, April 8th and again on Mother’s Day, May 13th,and on April 1st from 11AM to 230PM.

Chef Bonk’s menu features creative house-made breakfast options such as Duck hash with pulled duck confit, potatoes, onions, spinach, a deep fried coddled duck egg and salsa verde and the Chef’s version of Steak and egg, with braised short ribs, pecornio polenta, greens shallot chips and a farm egg.

If you prefer a sweeter start for breakfast, Chef will be firing up House-made doughnuts, glazed with apple spice or stuffed with boston cream.

Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that our substantial artisanal cheese and charcuterie boards, delicious burgers, mushroom burgers, and pizzas will also be available.

For many of us, brunch without a proper Bloody Mary is heresy, and that is why our recipe starts in the back-of-house – the kitchen. The somewhat secret recipe (yes, we’ll share it with you if you ask) features a house-made mix with fresh horseradish, a proprietary blend of fresh herbs and spices, and house-made pickled vegetables.

Bloody Mary’s and mimosas aside, we’re a wine bar, after all, and General Manager/Sommelier Patricia Ely suggests sparkling wines on their own as a great brunch pairing, especially Italian sparkling wines. Try Zardetto Prosecco with Sonoma’s House-made scrapple with roasted potatoes, apples, and onions.

For rose lovers, Loviosolo’s Vino Spumante Brut Rose pairs with Sonoma’s Smoked salmon with a house made garlic bagel, citrus cream cheese, red onion marmalade and crispy capers. A still rose, like Canetele Negroamaro rosato from Puglia, would also pair with the salmon.

Enjoy Chef Bonk’s “Bon chon” style fried chicken and biscuits with mushroom gravy with a glass of Quattro Mani Franciacorta, a traditional method sparkling wine from Lombardy, or perhaps a still white like Trefethen Chardonnay from Napa Valley.

Make reservations now for one, or all three dates, as they will fill fast, either by phone 202-544-8088 or online by clicking here. 

Come enjoy Chef Bonk’s amazing meatballs at Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar!

If you’ve ever met Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar’s Executive Chef, Michael E. Bonk, you’d know that he would not pass up the opportunity to celebrate a holiday all about meatballs. Not just because of the millions of potential jokes he could come up with while talking about his special, but more because Chef Michael E. Bonk makes simply incredible meatballs using the high quality ingredients: seasonal produce and naturally and humanly raised meats.

When he found out National Meatball Day was this Friday, March 9th, he jumped at the opportunity to create a few delicious meatball specials for our guests to enjoy.

Lamb Meatballs

Chickpea puree, agrodolce onions, oregano $8

Meatball Sub

Meatballs, kale, smokey tomato sauce, fontina, grilled baguette, salad $14

Spaghetti and Meatballs

House-made spaghetti, san marzano tomatoes, pecorino, gremolada $12

Meatball Pizza

Meatballs, sopressata calabrese, fennel, onions, grana padano $13

Pair those meatballs with a fantastic Italian wine, and you have a meal to remember. General Manager and Sommelier Patricia Ely recommends pairing the spaghetti and meatballs with the Antinori ‘Peppoli’ Chianti Classico, a classic Italian combination. Vinosia Aglianico is a bold red from Campania that she suggests with our lamb meatballs. Or, try the meatball pizza with a Sicilian wine, the Alcesti Syrah. Finally, Patricia recommends pairing Chef Bonk’s meatball sub with a rich and earthy wine like the Fattoria la Valentina Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

So bring your friends and family to Sonoma this Friday to celebrate the day over a plate of Chef Bonk’s gratifying meatballs and an exquisite glass of wine. We hope to see you Friday.