Pink Apple Pizza Party with Chef Nicolaus Balla

Gold Ridge Organic Farms will host a Pink Apple Pizza Party featuring seasonal wood-fired pizzas from acclaimed chef Nicolaus Balla, best known for his work at San Francisco’s Bar Tartine, alongside Chef Seamus and team. Guests can enjoy live music by Andy Dru Rodgers and Sven Cameron Anderson of SoloRio, and explore artisanal offerings from FEED Cooperative partners, including KM Mushrooms, award-winning cheesemakers Toluma Farms and Tomales Farmstead Creamery, and the nonprofit ecology organization Teravana.

The menu highlights a Pink Pearl Apple and feta salad, three wood-fired pizzas, and desserts such as Straus vanilla ice cream with house-made apple cider syrup. Pair the meal with seasonal beverages, including an Apple Spritz or Pink Apple Slushie.

Visitors can also take guided orchard tours and trolley rides ($5 for all ages), sample award-winning extra virgin olive oils, and shop for gifts and gourmet items at the Farm Shop.

Menu highlights:

Salad: Pink Pearl Apple and Toluma Farms Koto’la Feta Salad with fennel, pee wee olives, and Big Sur red wine vinaigrette.

Pizzas: Classic Margherita; Super Hippy Veggie with mushrooms, zucchini, and salsa macha; and Summer in Bratislava with potatoes, sauerkraut, and smoked maitake mushrooms. Vegan options are available.

Desserts: Straus Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with apple cider or EVOO drizzle, and Blooms End Heirloom Apple Crumble.

About the chef:

Chef Nicolaus Balla grew up in rural Michigan and discovered a love of diverse cuisines through his family and time abroad in Hungary. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, he went on to lead kitchens in San Francisco, including O Izakaya Lounge, Nombe, and Bar Tartine, where he developed a preservation-focused culinary program and co-authored a James Beard and IACP award-winning cookbook. Balla later served as executive chef and project director of Coast Gallery and Café in Big Sur, and now lives in Sebastopol.