When Graton Resort & Casino opened in 2013, its ambitious roster of chefs — Cyrus’ Douglas Keane, Martin Yan and pizza champion Tony Gemignani — suggested that dining would be as much of a draw as slot machines and poker tables.
That promise quickly faded. Keane and Yan departed, and Gemignani shifted his attention to other pizza ventures, leaving behind a restaurant lineup better suited to a quick bite between games than a destination meal.
Chef Roy Ellamar is betting AYA can restore some of that ambition.
In early May, Ellamar and his wife, Jennifer, opened the 28,000-square-foot restaurant in the casino’s new nonsmoking wing. Perched on the second floor, its expansive lanai looks east toward Sonoma Mountain across a 180-degree panorama.
Designed with Vegas-style glamour, the venue features a dedicated foyer, a short elevator ride and a glass wine tunnel stocked with $1 million in rare and collectible bottles. Beyond it are a candlelit bar and lounge, followed by an A-frame dining room with soaring ceilings, velvet booths and a warm amber glow.
It is hard not to be impressed. But striking design does not necessarily translate into a memorable meal, especially in Sonoma County, where diners have strong opinions and plenty of options.
The Ellamars spent nearly two years developing the menu, including short ribs that Roy Ellamar said required a year of research and testing. After arriving in Sonoma County, he spent months talking with locals about what they wanted and what they felt was missing.
The answer, he said, was remarkably consistent: a seafood restaurant with more ambition.
For Ellamar, the idea was personal. Sonoma County’s proximity to the coast and access to fresh fish reminded him of growing up in Hilo, Hawaii, where he spent his childhood fishing, hunting and foraging for wild ginger and mushrooms. Family gatherings centered on whatever had been caught, grown or gathered.
“I saw where all of our food came from as a kid, and that’s always been ingrained in the way I cook,” said Ellamar, whose menu draws on his Native Hawaiian and Filipino heritage.
That history appears throughout the menu, from his affection for calamansi, the tart citrus between a kumquat and a mandarin, to his mother’s banana bread and the process of massaging octopus until tender. There are riffs on Filipino classics such as sisig and lumpia, along with jeow som, a Lao sauce of chiles, garlic and fish sauce.
It is deeply personal food, filtered through the experience of a chef who has spent years in some of the country’s most demanding kitchens.
Before leaving Las Vegas for Wine Country, Roy and Jennifer Ellamar worked at restaurants including Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen at Caesars Palace, the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago and MGM Grand’s L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon. The Las Vegas restaurant earned three Michelin stars in 2008 and now holds two.
AYA is not in Las Vegas, and Ellamar was determined that it feel rooted in Sonoma County. He is building the menu around ingredients from Graton’s 40-acre farm on Stony Point Road and consulting with William Henpenn of Umbel Roots Farm, a former Michelin-starred chef who grows produce for some of the region’s top restaurants.
With near-daily trips to the farm, Ellamar has worked with the team on a wish list of ingredients, letting the seasons dictate the menu. Early-summer melons are paired with figs, cucumber, basil and peach aguachile, alongside grilled summer squash, salad greens and a stone-fruit salad with Santa Rosa plums.
Fruit trees, including finger limes, Meyer lemons and calamansi, have also been planted at the farm, though they will not bear fruit for several years. Ellamar is content to wait.
The couple has quietly reshaped the casino’s food program, starting with a vastly improved 630 Park Steakhouse and bringing greater structure to the property’s many kitchens and culinary teams.
AYA is the centerpiece of that effort, envisioned as a destination restaurant built around Sonoma County’s seasons and nearby waters — and perhaps the casino’s strongest culinary hand yet.
Best bets
Wok-charred octopus sisig, $26: Ellamar outfitted the kitchen with customized equipment, including a live-fire hearth, a specialized slow cooker and, notably, a wok — a tool he had not had in several previous kitchens. Sisig, the Filipino favorite traditionally made with diced pork, gets a seafood treatment with octopus massaged with salt, gently braised and tossed in the wok with onions and red chiles. Finished with cured egg yolk and calamansi, it balances comfort and refinement.
Crispy pork belly lechon, $26: Perfectly crisp, with just enough fat to stay succulent without feeling greasy. Wrap each bite in lettuce and basil with pickled vegetables and the addictive jeow som, rich with garlic, shallots and fish sauce.
Surf and turf fried rice, $20: Wok-fried with just a whisper of smoke, this version is studded with crab and flavorful end cuts of short rib. Leftovers never tasted so good.
Koji black cod, $36: Tender, flaky fish beneath a blistered miso glaze, served in kombu butter with purple ube, orange roe and fresh herbs. Think Japanese-inspired sole meuniere.
Fireplace short rib, $85: Twelve hours of smoking and a Korean-inspired sweet soy-sesame glaze transform Wagyu short ribs into meat that yields to the touch of a fork. The stripped bones prove little effort is needed to finish every bite. The table was divided over the intense richness of the marbling, but indulgence is clearly part of the point.
Ember-roasted carrots, $12: Simmered in coconut milk, then caramelized and served over silky carrot purée with macadamia nuts and fresh herbs.
Brown butter banana bread, $15: Don’t skip this understated dessert. Made from Ellamar’s mother’s recipe, the lightly sweet banana bread is seared in brown butter and served with roasted banana ice cream and banana caramel. Even banana skeptics may be converted.
Halo-halo, $16: I love this Filipino dessert, usually a jumble of shaved ice, condensed milk and jewel-colored ingredients including tropical fruit, coconut jelly and boba. Then there are the beans, which I do not like. This elegant version includes wisps of hand-shaved coconut milk, seasonal fruit, strawberries and a quenelle of purple ube ice cream in a glass dish. No beans.
Also worth ordering
Tuna sashimi, $16, with a vivid sesame-calamansi sauce, and grilled summer squash, $12, topped with an irresistible mix of fried chiles, shallots and garlic.
The fancy stuff
Premium Wagyu from Japan, the United States and Australia is a centerpiece of the menu, priced from $15 to $30 per ounce, with a 4-ounce minimum. Caviar service, accompanied by grilled Japanese milk bread, seaweed butter and chive crème fraîche, ranges from $130 to $275.
More details
The wine and cocktail programs are exceptional, as is the service. Gluten-free and plant-based dishes are available and thoughtfully prepared, though the menu centers on meat and seafood.
Reservations are strongly recommended, particularly for outdoor seating.
AYA is open 5-10 p.m. Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday; 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Monday.
288 Golf Course Drive W. at Graton Resort & Casino, Rohnert Park, 707-588-3750, ayasonoma.com
