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HEALDSBURG LIBRARY TO CLOSE FOR EXTENSIVE REMODEL
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
January 11, 2024 Date, Date, 20202020
FACELIFT PLANNED FOR 35-YEAR-OLD CENTER STREET BRANCH Staff Report
Photo by Christian Kallen
New carpet, new furniture, new paint, new shelving— a thorough facelift for the Sonoma County Library branch in Healdsburg is planned to take place in the coming year. The downside: The library may be largely or completely closed for extended periods during the remodel, though the system is attempting to continue with services as best it can during the construction period. That may last as long as six months, according to Branch Manager Jon Haupt. “We will be able to offer limited service out of our Meeting Room, which has already been upgraded to some extent; and we are in talks with the city of Healdsburg about alternative locations for other public programming,” Haupt said. “We anticipate some combination of locations to accommodate the various activities we plan to offer.” Though the upgrades primarily affect the interior space at the regional branch, the exterior of the familiar building at the corner of Piper and Center streets will see improvements as well. These include adding windows to the south wall of the library facing Piper Street—windows that will allow more natural light into the 11,400-square-foot facility, opened in 1988. The $100,000 provided by the Friends of Healdsburg Library will support the windows and improvements to the children’s and teen areas. “Although we have the funding we need for the basic changes, the
NEW BAR Octavio Diaz stands before the new redwood bar at his Agave Restaurant in Healdsburg.
Agave Brings More Than Mole to the Table 15-YEAR-OLD MEXICAN RESTAURANT EVOLVES WITH THE TIMES By Christian Kallen
There’s a new bar in town. Not really new—it’s made from a 250-year-old redwood tree sustainably harvested in Humboldt County, and it has a certificate to prove it. The bar is wide and smooth, its leading edge the rough organic contours of the tree it came from. And it’s not in a new restaurant, but a long-standing Healdsburg favorite— the Agave Restaurant in Vineyard Plaza. “It’s a very eclectic piece of art for me. I like to support art,” said Octavio Diaz, the owner of Agave. Diners who came into the long-standing Agave Restaurant this week, after it was closed over the holidays, found a remodeled front room, with most
for several years. It was renamed as Gallina d’Oro this past year (128 Plaza St.). He, too, is ambitious and a skilled advocate of the cuisine of Oaxaca, the central Mexican state where both mezcal and mole originated. While Pedro opened Windsor’s El Gallo Negro (8465 Old Redwood Hwy) several years ago, brother Octavio had a more ambitious expansion in the works, an upscale restaurant in the East Bay called Agave Uptown. Premiering in the summer of 2016 as an entry in Oakland’s “buzzy dining scene” just a block from the Paramount Theater, Agave Uptown drew favorable reviews and positive response. But it was a lot of work, and Diaz recently withdrew from daily operations. (Agave Uptown is still open at 2135 Franklin St., Oakland.) “I was there for seven years,” said Diaz. “It’s a wonderful place, a beautiful, very community-oriented restaurant, just like
of the tables and chairs removed to the second room to give space for the new bar. “It smells good,” said Diaz of the bar. “All the lines that it has through there, it makes me think of what that tree had to go through in life. It makes us think, are we going to be good people, or not?” Kitchen Brothers Deep thoughts for a restaurateur, but Octavio Diaz, now 49, has long proved himself to be as much a visionary as a chef. From the beginning he focused Agave on mezcal, the smokey spirit made from the same cactus that gives the world tequila. That, and the spicy Mexican sauce known as mole, have become the signature flavors of much Mexican cuisine in Healdsburg, thanks in significant measure to Octavio Diaz and his younger brother, Pedro. Pedro Diaz, 48, took over the Farolito Restaurant in 2006 after working in the kitchen there
it is in Healdsburg.” Yet managing two restaurants and serving as executive chef at each took a toll. “But, you know, driving for seven years, we get tired,” Diaz said. “So I thought maybe I need to take a step back and spend more time in Healdsburg.” The Diaz brothers also run Casa del Mole at 434 Center St., a robust Mexican mercado with fruits, vegetables, a meat counter, a small-dish restaurant and a kitchen—where their mother’s signature Mole Diaz Bros. de Oaxaca is made for in-house and commercial distribution, and of course available in 16-ounce jars. Secret Recipe The fragrant sauce is made from 20 fresh ingredients, delicious on enchiladas or baked chicken (or, seasonally, turkey), and Diaz is quick to point out it’s vegan and gluten-free. But the recipe, he says, is still his mother’s secret. “She hasn’t shared it with us,” he said. “So I’m still trying to be the
➝ Local Library, 6
nicest kid …” He breaks into a wide grin. The mole his mother makes is mole negro, “the king of moles in Oaxaca” as Diaz pronounces it—which includes chocolate, chili peppers, onions, garlic and more. But it’s just one of several styles of mole that is used in Mexican cooking. “There are eight different regions in Oaxaca, and eight different moles,” Diaz said. So with the expansion of the dining area and the new, longer bar, Agave Healdsburg is expanding, too, its mole menu. Two new moles now appear on the menu: mole coloradito, built around cinnamon, allspice, cloves and cumin seeds, and the earthy mole pipián, which includes pumpkin seeds, sesame and peanuts. But different mole calls for different dishes, which Diaz will introduce in the coming months. “I think that people are ready for more moles,” he said. He’s considering a vegetable dish with white rice, the ➝ More Than Mole, 7
HEALDSBURG OFFERS NEW PUBLIC ART GRANTS FOR 2ND YEAR Photo courtesy of Jennifer Utsch
REPURPOSED Students from Marce Becerra Academy used
a $2,5000 arts grant to turn an old red bicycle into an abstract stop sign, to be installed along the Foss Creek Pathway.
$2,500 GRANTS PREFERRED, LARGER APPLICATIONS POSSIBLE By Simone Wilson
Local artists have until 5pm on Feb. 2 to apply for a slice of the $50,000 in public art funding that the city of Healdsburg plans to distribute in 2024. “We are
looking for artists who can bring unique and thoughtprovoking pieces to our public spaces,” city officials said in a recent Facebook post. This is the second year the grants are available. Last June, the first $50,000 went to eight local proposals out of 27 submitted, according to Garrett Perdigao, the city’s recreation supervisor. The 2023 winners included a series of Indigenous literary events at The 222 venue; the revival of the Prune Box Derby, an old Healdsburg tradition; dance performances by Healdsburg’s local ballet folklórico group; Art After Dark, the summer downtown art crawl; a new LED display outside the Healdsburg Museum; and three different art pieces along the Foss Creek Pathway through town. Of those projects, only
the museum lights and an abstract stop-sign sculpture along the pathway have yet to be completed, Perdigao said, although the Prune Box Derby is not scheduled until April 28, 2024. While city officials encourage individual artists to keep this year’s proposals under $2,500, and larger groups or organizations under $5,000, they stress that “these are guidelines only”—and that proposals can go as high as the full $50,000 grant pool. Indeed, last year, a single proposal received $20,000, or 40% of the pool. For that, the Voigt Family Sculpture Foundation and sculptor Ned Kahn installed an art piece called Running Line on the backside of the old E&M building along Foss Creek Pathway, near the roundabout. They completed ➝ Public Art Grants, 6