Hometown Refreshment by Gene Skinner After 6 weeks out on the road, living on couches, spare beds and, most recently, in motel rooms, I have come to cherish the slightest opportunity to grab a bit (and a bite) of home. There are of course the times when food has been prepared by friends and family and those times can be amazing. Chinese food one night last week at my friend Mike's house and steaks or stuffed pasilla peppers at my parent's house in the North Carolina mountains. But these are the exceptions to six weeks of eating on the road. Fast food places have figured more into my culinary routine than I prefer to admit, second only to pub grub grabbed in brewpubs that also feature WiFi connections so I can do two things at once. Now that I'm back in Northern California, I am once again enjoying the amazingly rich culinary world that exists in the Bay Are. However, in the realm of basic daily food, three occasions stand out; a breakfast, a lunch and a dinner. The spectacular breakfast is really just coffee and pastry at Petaluma's Della Fattoria bakery and cafe. The pastry is a pan au chocolate that is heavy with the weight of its incredible semi-sweet chocolate surrounded by a pastry shell that is light as a feather and flakey as a snow drift. It is visually stunning (as is everything that is baked at Della Fattoria) and mouth watering. The accompanying coffee was a small French press pot of dark rich, slightly spicey coffee. This perfect continental breakfast is something that I never found equaled anywhere (not even in Paris many years ago). Della Fattoria also serves lunch and occasional dinners, bakes fresh bread and absolutely startling cakes daily. It is a touch of French sophistication in the "chicken capital of America." The perfect lunch occurred at one of my favorite haunts in Petaluma, Dempsey's Restaurant and Brewery, overlooking the Petaluma River. This perfect refugee lunch consisted of an Asian pork barbecue wrapped in potato flat bread that was a lot like Indian Nan; thick, soft and flavorful. The sandwich was accompanied by a crisp, slightly sour Asian cole slaw and homemade dill pickles. The whole package was topped off with a slightly sweet plum barabecue sauce, ostensibly for dipping, though I poured mine directly into the sandwich, piling some of the slaw in as well in a makeshift attempt to make a sort of hybrid Memphis sandwich, sort of a Memphis, Egypt sandwich. To accompany this mouth watering concoction I ordered a light, crisp wheat beer that had just come on tap and followed that with Dempsey's flagship Red Rooster ale, on tap in a new unfiltered incarnation that had a slight hoppiness that beautifully balanced the beer's usual medium bodied malty profie. For desert I splurged on a glass of 2002 Millenium Barleywine, a beer that, in my opinion, has no equal. Finally, the perfect dinner came about across the river in the Petaluma Sawmill shopping center, right on Petaluma's main boulevard, in a tiny little bistro called Sooze's Wine Bar. I had been absolutely dying for fish, something that when I am at home and can cook for myself I have at least two or three times a week. In the time since I left New Orleans I have had fish probably three times in total. I was on a seafood jones for sure. At Sooze, I started with a crisp and slightly sweet and very cirtusy Sauvignon Blanc from Villa Maria and ordered the night's special - a delicately baked Halibut filet topped with a savory Mango salsa. Accompanying the fish were French green beans and a couple of fresh baby carrots. The fish was cooked to perfection, flaky and fragrant and the salsa matched the fish perfectly giving a fruity mango bite but keeping the sweetness to a minimum. The salsa did not in any way overpower the fish as it does in many places and the al dente vegetables were both a visual treat, providing lovely color juxtaposition on the plate and a perfect taste complement to the richness of the fish and salsa. To accompany the fish I ordered a second, bone dry, Sauvignon Blanc from one of my favorite Napa Valley vintners, Frog's Leap. Sooze was also a delight as a location. The staff were all friendly and efficient and the tiny dining room provided a cozy, light-hearted atmosphere for an early evening supper. It might get a little crazy in this tiny place on a busy night, but in the middle of the week with only two other customers sharing the room it was the perfect combination of gastromical community and solitude. Three meals, three restaurants, all in Petaluma, and all providing great solace to my road weary spirit and palate.