USA Today: January 24, 2002

Santi's Osso Buco One of "Top 20 Favorite Dishes"

Jerry Shriver, Food and Wine Critic for USA Today, has chosen Santi Restaurant's osso buco as one of the top 20 dishes of 2001. The dish, Osso Buco di Vitellino Tradizionale, is a Petaluma veal shank, braised with aromatic vegetables, sage, white wine and tomatoes and served with soft polenta and gremolata. When contacted by telephone after the selection was announced in the newspaper, Mr. Shriver said that he wanted to "give a nod to the restaurant. I had a great dining experience there. Really good service. I liked the atmosphere. Actually, the thing I liked most was the cherry liqueur made by one of the chefs-it was outstanding. It would definitely have been included if I'd done a 'Ten Favorite Drinks' list."

Thomas Oden and Franco Dunn, co-chefs of Santi, attribute the acclaim for their osso buco to the care they've taken with each component. The veal comes from a local dairy, an advantage available only to those living in a dairy environment like Sonoma County. "The polenta is the best in the United States, delivered freshly milled every week to the restaurant," says Oden. "Like coffee, the longer it sits in the ground state, the more the flavors degrade. I was taught to cook polenta in Bergamo, where polenta is the first solid food that babies eat." Finally, Dunn says, "We use the classic Italian techniques, especially the slow-braising method that results in the most tender meat."

Santi expects to see more of the USA Today writer. Shriver says that north Sonoma County "is my favorite wine region in the country. I've been to most of them and I love that slice of the state." And chef Dunn will be making that cherry liqueur again very soon.