Charlie Palmer

Of the many crush celebrations open to the general public during the harvest, the most "insider" of them is the Healdsburg Crush Festival. It's an intimate, low-key fundraiser for a local school, and it's held in the school's gymnasium. Yet, some of the very best restaurants and wineries take part and serve up gourmet food and wine samples to the attendees.

During the October event, folks strolled around the gym and every couple of minutes someone would wave and call out, "Hey Charlie, howya doin'?" Or, "Charlie, congratulations on that star." Charlie would smile, wave back, shout a hello, and cut up and serve some more of his roasted pork loin over white truffle polenta.

"Charlie" is Charlie Palmer, the renowned chef and owner of a restaurant empire. Less than two weeks before the event, Palmer's Healdsburg restaurant, Dry Creek Kitchen, had been awarded a coveted star by the Michelin Guide. Some of the other restaurants serving up food in the St. John School gym were Bistro Ralph (also included in the Michelin guide) Bovolo (owned by the same couple as Santa Rosa's Zazu, which was also in the guide), Manzanita and Cena Luna, just to mention a few.

So, why do all these big names congregate at the gym? Many of their kids go to school there.