Shrimp aguachile, one of chef Sergio Howland's signature dishes.
Meet the new John Ash & Company. Sonoma County’s quintessential farm-to-table restaurant is taking the initial steps in what is planned as a broad transformation of the 92-acre Vintners Resort—and if the refreshed JAC is any indication, the resort-wide changes ahead warrant high anticipation.
The resort and its restaurants—JAC handles dinner; the River Vine breakfast and lunch—were acquired in 2023 by Jackson Family Wines (partnering with luxury hotel operator Ensemble Investments) with a long-term vision for design and facility upgrades, new experiential offerings and potential brand repositioning. From what one can tell from the steps taken with John Ash & Co., the plan is to keep what has worked over the years to establish the restaurant’s stellar reputation—and improve everywhere else.
“A more modern John Ash” is the description used in last May’s announcement that Sergio Howland had been hired as resort executive chef, a few months following the departure of longtime chef Tom Schmidt. A native of Mexico and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Howland has spent much of his culinary career in restaurants at top luxury resorts, including kitchens in Los Cabos, Palm Beach, Cancun, Vail and the Auberge du Soleil Restaurant in Napa. He wants John Ash menus to “reflect the changing seasons”—a timely promise at the time of our visit at the beginning of October, as summer changed to fall, and Howland had recently debuted a new menu.
We started with a small plate of the Hog Island oysters ($24), served in a vinegar-based cucumber-shallot sauce (or “hogwash,” as dubbed at Hog Island Oyster Co., known for its long association with John Ash) with lemon wedges to add a touch of zest. Also recommended was the wild shrimp aguachile ($21), with its lime-marinated seafood in a tomatillo “broth” with cucumber, red onion, serrano pepper, cilantro and small cuts of orange. Howland came out to welcome us as the starters were served and described wanting to “lighten” the menu—a goal wholly reflected in our small plates’ flavor-enhancing use of citrus and fresh vegetables from the resort’s culinary gardens. (Howland believes the shrimp aguachile, a Mexican seafood specialty with origins along the Sinaloa coast, is the dish that “won him the job.”)
We were seated in the covered terrace with an open view to the vineyards—the brick-red square-tiled floor, arched entryways and all-white table linens retain the Mediterranean vibe the restaurant has nurtured throughout the years. The restaurant was founded in 1980 by namesake John Ash, whose pioneering use of local, seasonal ingredients in dishes created to complement wine earned him renown as the “father of wine country cuisine.” (Ash sold his stake in the restaurant to former Vintners Resort owners the Carano family in 2000; he continues to write his popular In the Kitchen column for NorthBay biz.)
Wine, of course, remains an important part of JAC; its cellar is extensive enough so that the wine list was provided digitally via tablet. As expected, local labels mix with international. A triptych of local valleys were recommended with our orders, from Alexander Valley (Ra Ra Wine’s melon de bourgogne) to Russian River Valley (Bucher Vineyard pinot) to Sonoma Valley (Gundlach Bundschu cab), while further afield a 2019 Ricasoli Chianti paired perfectly with pork sugo ($36), a cavatelli pasta under a sweetly rich slow-braised pork shoulder. (Howland is working on his second certification of Italian Wine Essentials from the Wine Scholar Guild, according to Vintners Resort.)
Entrees of king salmon ($45) and short ribs ($46) followed, the former enhanced by a cauliflower puree, while the Akaushi beef ribs had that melt-in-your-mouth quality for which the Wagyu breed is known. By all indications, Howland and the new menu are off to a great start.
Additional changes and renovations are in the works at Vintners Resort. As to its culinary offerings, there are plans to add cooking classes, garden tours and vineyard dinners—more food-and-wine experiences for guests and visitors. Big things are happening at the resort—for a taste, John Ash & Co. is serving as a delicious proving ground.
John Ash & Co.
At Vintners Resort
4350 Barnes Road
Santa Rosa
707.575.7350
Vintnersresort.com/john-ash-co
Dinner served Wednesday through Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m.
Did you know?
Akaushi is known as the “Emperor’s breed” of Wagyu cattle. The Akaushi breed did not exist outside of Japan until the 1990s—and American Akaushi cattle are almost entirely derived from the original fullblood Akaushi herd imported to the U.S. in 1994, according to akaushi.com.
