Catherine and Joe Bartolomei have turned the Farmhouse Inn Restaurant and Spa into the career of their dreams.
What if you took the things you loved the most and turned them into your full-time job? Siblings Catherine and Joe Bartolomei did. Their love of food, wine and hospitality helped them transform the Farmhouse Inn, Restaurant and Spa from a little-known inn and restaurant to an international dining and travel destination.
The Bartolomeis are fifth-generation Sonoma County residents whose family has called the Russian River Valley home for more than 120 years. The sister-and-brother team were raised in Santa Rosa but spent their weekends on a Forestville ranch located just three miles up the road from the Farmhouse property. Their great-grandparents, Domenic and Catherine Giovanetti founded the ranch in 1911, and they often called on relations who lived in Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles to help harvest the hops, prunes, apples, pears and other crops. In addition to the produce, there were cattle, chickens, beehives and vineyards that needed tending. Friends and family were always greeted with open arms.
Farming was hard work, but relatives from the city welcomed the chance to help out and experience country living. As young children, Catherine and Joe remember sitting around a long, outdoor table with numerous members of their extended family sharing the bounty of the harvest, steaming platters of aromatic food and the echo of laughter filling the air. “There was a soul-satisfying feeling just being there,” says Joe. In adulthood, when Catherine and Joe talked about what they enjoyed most in life, the conversation inevitably centered on good food, wine and the warmth they experienced on the ranch surrounded by a large circle of family and friends. During one of those conversations, while Joe was living on the East Coast and his wife was finishing medical school, Catherine asked her brother, “What if we could do this as a job?”
Joe was intrigued by the idea and he didn’t have to wait long before his sister called him while he and his wife were on an extended trip to Italy. Catherine contacted him this time, to say she had found the perfect place to start their business. “You know the feeling when you walk into a house and you know you’re going to live there? When you can imagine exactly where you’re going to put all your things? That’s the feeling I had when I walked into Farmhouse,” says Catherine.
An extended family
When Joe saw the River Road property (which included the classic 1873 American farmhouse and its surrounding structures), he, too, saw the potential. As an architectural engineer (he graduated from UC San Diego in 1995), he knew the buildings had good bones, but they would need extensive renovations. On a shoestring budget and with the help of their father and stepbrother as silent partners, Catherine and Joe closed escrow in 2001 and immediately began redecorating the main building, where the restaurant and two upstairs guest rooms would be housed. They also began refurbishing the eight guest cottages.
While the Farmhouse was operating under its previous owners, Catherine and Joe had dinner there in a terribly decorated, smoke-filled room. Much to their surprise, they experienced some of the best food either of them had ever tasted. They wondered if they could convince the chef, Steve Litke, to stay and work for them.
Litke had been cooking at the old Farmhouse for about a year when the Bartolomeis took over and asked him to become their chef. Catherine and Joe credit the meteoric success of the restaurant to Litke, or “Steve O,” as they refer to him. Litke had more than 20 years of experience at major venues like Maxwell’s Plum in San Francisco, Gordon’s in Aspen and Hot Tomato in Hartford; he had even cooked in Italy.
Perhaps it’s his Italian work experience that makes working with the Bartolomeis so comfortable. “It’s all about Italian family. They take everything to heart,” says Litke when asked what it’s like working at the Farmhouse. Having grown up on a working farm in a time when you couldn’t get produce from Chile during the off-season, Catherine and Joe understand Litke’s passion for seasonal cooking. “I dislike seeing strawberries on a menu when they can’t be picked fresh,” says Litke, who feels what makes his cooking so unique is that everything on his menu is seasonal, local and fresh.
Catherine and Joe believe it’s the sense of family that keeps employees at the Farmhouse for long stints. When the restaurant first opened, the siblings were on such a tight budget that their 85-year-old grandmother and 85-year-old great-aunt helped with the kitchen prep by peeling potatoes and carrots. The Bartolomeis’ grandmother and Litke became so close, she willed him her car when she died. As they talk about staff camaraderie, their brother-and-sister banter flies between them as quickly as a ping pong ball during a tournament. “We bicker. We’re Italian,” Catherine says of herself and Joe. She says the entire staff squabbles, but always makes up—very much like family.
Only the best
Prior to purchasing the Farmhouse, Catherine had extensive experience in the wine industry—and had worked at a winery with a culinary program—but her political science degree from UC Berkeley (1991), was a far cry from the restaurant and hospitality business. Without any restaurant or innkeeping experience, Catherine and Joe decided to build their reputation based on Litke’s magnificent food and hire skilled professionals to handle and grow the other aspects of the business. They would give employees full creative control over their domain, as they had done for Litke, and only reel them in if there was a concern with their work ethic or philosophy. They enthusiastically set about hiring staff that had the experience they lacked.
Their standards were high from the beginning. “We were naïve and arrogant at the time,” says Catherine about the formation of the business. “We said, ‘We’re going to operate like we’re a Michelin-starred restaurant.’ We thought the food was at that level, and we would just build up around it,” she continues. “We were both really passionate about this business,” says Joe, finishing her sentence as only a brother can do. In 2006, they received Zagat’s top restaurant rating in Sonoma County and a ranking as one of the top 100 restaurants in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Chronicle for the fourth year in a row; 2007 brought that coveted Michelin star. Since their opening, they’ve garnered media attention and accolades from such publications as Town & Country Travel, Wine Enthusiast and Travel & Leisure, just to name a few. Their most recent coup is a glowing review in May’s issue of Gourmet magazine naming them one of the world’s 36 best food destinations.
They hired individuals with impeccable credentials and a wide range of experience to fill the most visible roles at the restaurant. Their current staff members are no exception. Guest Services Manager Meilani Naranjo, for example, brings a wealth a firsthand experience to her position overseeing daily operations (she ran her own Wine Country inn for several years before joining the Farmhouse team). Dining Room Manager Andreas Willausch and Wine Director Geoff Kruth both have formal training and big restaurant names to back their credentials. Kruth, who is 32 years old, will soon be taking a test to become a Master Sommelier. Willausch also runs the restaurant’s cheese program, which includes artisan cheese made by his former neighbor, Soyoung Scanlan of Adante Dairy.
Other Farmhouse staff members have likewise developed personal relationships with local farmers and winemakers. Litke has become good friends with many of the suppliers of the locally grown, organic produce he uses. Mary Villamaire of La Bonne Terre says he calls her “his mom away from home.” Mary and her husband, Burt, have a half-acre planted and claim this garden is the last of their many careers. When they leave for their annual September trek to France, Litke harvests his own produce from their vegetable patch. If Litke has a request for a specialty item, they plant it for him; they also give him seeds to plant in his small on-site garden. This year, Burt planted purple asparagus, and Litke gladly took it for use in his culinary repertoire. The Bartolomeis know buying from surrounding farmers not only ensures the freshest and highest quality products, it also helps sustain the local agricultural community.
First class from the start
“The first night the restaurant was open we had two people,” Catherine remembers. But it didn’t take long before the press started reviewing the Farmhouse restaurant, and business grew rapidly. It’s first critique came from Jeff Cox, a restaurant reviewer for the Press Democrat, who’s now a regular customer. Soon, other diners started to write reviews, and national magazines started to show an interest. Catherine and Joe are fully aware of the power of the press and how the many awards and accolades help keep the customers coming.
Simple and inviting, the house and cottages are painted a soft, buttery yellow. The pair of dining rooms are cozy, seating just 48 people (total) at a time. Below the beveled ceiling, an artist has painted a canvas that sits atop the crown molding that encircles the larger of the two. It’s a banner-like mural, depicting various aspects of 1930s farm life. The scenes are taken directly from family photographs that line the small hallway leading up the stairs to the two guest rooms. The food that emerges from the kitchen is elegant but not pretentious, accompanied by an extensive, absolutely impressive wine list. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable and knows how to read the patrons; they recognize who would like to engage in culinary conversation and who would like to enjoy an intimate evening without interruption.
Catherine and Joe agree their restaurant isn’t for everyone. Even though their grandmother helped out in the kitchen, Catherine says, it’s not the type of restaurant she would have frequented. Their grandparents were partial to “reasonably priced” Italian meals in Occidental. The Bartolomeis would like everyone to be able to savor the quality of local meat, dairy and produce as enhanced by the wizardry of Litke’s cooking, so they offer a three-course prix fixe meal in January, February and March for $39.
The Farmhouse has become a special occasion restaurant for locals, but guests at the Inn come from all over the United States. “Napa initially gets people hooked, but after a few trips there, they’re looking for something new. So, they visit us—and we reel them in,” says Catherine. They introduce patrons to opportunities that offer detailed and intimate encounters with Sonoma County. Joe and Catherine often acquaint their visitors with Sonoma County Farm Trails (an organization that’s committed to preserving the county’s rich agricultural heritage) where guests can visit a variety of participating farms and get a feel for a real farm experience by meeting the owners and getting a firsthand tour.
The luxuriously appointed cottages and guest rooms at the inn have large jetted or soaking tubs, saunas or steam showers, fireplaces, flat screen TVs, aromatherapy toiletries and soft linens. Catherine and Joe’s goal was to recreate their childhood farmhouse experience—complete with the kind of homey and welcoming feeling one gets from staying with family and friends—albeit with an upscale twist. They wanted their guests to know how people used to feel when they visited their great-grandparents’ ranch. “We aren’t an ‘anonymous property.’ We try to connect to every guest,” says Joe.
The right choices
“Every day, we’re aware of where we are, and we think, ‘How can we get better?’” says Catherine. In a business like theirs, it’s easy to chase opportunity, so once they became moderately successful, she and Joe really had to think about where they wanted the business to go. They considered what services they needed to provide the experience they wanted to give their customers. Ultimately, although weddings and private parties were lucrative, they decided to head in a different direction.
In the summer of 2006, the Bartolomeis spent $3,000 to build dividing walls and refurbished the interior of the spa. They incorporated yoga, Pilates, massage and therapeutic skin care using seasonal ingredients, and coordinated the spa menu with the restaurant. Spa earnings jumped from $600 in January 2006 to an incredible $12,000 in January 2007. By staying focused on what makes the Farmhouse special, they’ve created a strong, successful model that can grow through the years.
These siblings also feel their partnership gives them the ability to nurture other aspects of their lives, something that’s become doubly important to them since starting families of their own. Before having children, Joe worked 50 hours a week in his studied profession and put in another 20 at the Farmhouse. Now, he’s devoted all of his work time to the Farmhouse so he can spend more time with his wife and two young sons, ages 2 1/2 and 1. Catherine, who has a 2-year-old daughter and is pregnant with her second child, states, “I’m taking three months off when I have this baby.” It’s something she says she could never have done without Joe coming onboard full-time. Even though they both live close by (Catherine lives in her great-grandparents’ home just up the road, and Joe lives in neighboring Larkfield), they point out that unlike a husband-and-wife business team, they’re able to go home and leave work at work. They both have spouses who are employed elsewhere, and being able to get away from the Farmhouse, they agree, helps bring balance to their lives.
This duo set their sights on turning their favorite memories into a living, and success followed. “Our father says we’re just really lucky,” says Catherine with a grin—but Joe thinks it’s also timing. “It’s all happening at a time when the American consumer is waking up and going back to basics,” he points out.
There are quotes from Keats, Hemingway, Yeats and other authors painted on the interior walls of the cottages and in the restaurant . The words speak of love, laughter, food and wine—the essentials in life. That’s really what Joe and Catherine want to give their customers. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that their elegant and charming enclave happens to sit in the heart of a redwood forest, in the middle of Wine Country, where the harvest is always plentiful.
