Where to find some great Bastille-Day treats.
Costeaux Bakery: The biggest Bastille day festivities are always at Costeaux Bakery in Healdsburg. From 7am to 4pm, the downtown restaurant is awash in pommes frites, escargot, desserts, kids’ Eiffel Tower cookie decorating, and more than a few rolling heads (aka bread boules) and guillotine-sliced baguettes. Keep a sharp eye out for Marie Antoinette and some saucy can-can dancers. 417 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg.
La Gare: After two week of vacation, the iconic Railroad Square restaurant reopens July 13. In honor of Bastille day La Gare will feature a $29 four course special for the whole week as well a new summer Lobster salad. 208 Wilson Street, Santa Rosa, 528-4355.
Chloe’s: Bastille Crepe menu available all week (July 11-16) includes crepe jambon Gruyere with roasted mushrooms, Parisian macaron and a glass of wine for $15.95. Celebrate on Saturday, July 16 from 11am to 6pm with a special celebration at the restaurant that includes singer Deborah Kuhl crooning French tunes.
Bistro 29: Three course prix-fixe includes a “fruit de mer” plat eof oysters, prawns and calamari or charcuterie board; beef daube or sauteed salmon and for dessert, a sponge cake with mascarpone cream. $59 per person, includes a glass of champagne. Add $34 pp for wine pairings. 546-2929 for reservations.
Rendez Vous Bistro:$29 three-course pre fixe menu, and a special drink of the day that salutes France.
French Garden: If you’re watching your francs, the bistro offers a prix fixe meal of
authentic boeuf bourguignon, slices of French baguette, and a glass of house Burgundy, for $17.89 (hint, the year of the French revolution was 1789). In the dining room, Chef Patrick Quillec serves a three-course ($35 pp) or five-course ($52 pp) French-themed dinner including chilled carrot ginger soup, rabbit pate, coq au vin, and raspberry Napoleon. Optional wine pairing $20. In the bar, French Garden Restaurant bartender Ian Kenealy makes Le Guillotine (Absinthe, Dan’s strawberries, lemon, chamomile); La Celebration (Grey Goose vodka, St. Germain, peach, champagne) and The Storming of the Bastille (Cognac, lemon, agave, house made vanilla syrup). 8050 Bodega Avenue in Sebastopol. Reservations are strongly encouraged by calling 824-2030.
Viva La Freestone Bastille Day Celebration: French cuisine by French Garden’s Patrick Quillec and wines from Graton Ridge Cellars, music and cedar-enzyme foot baths. Access to meditation gardens, tours and new hammock field is included. $25 per person.
Fun Facts from Chloe’s~
1- When the King and Queen were overthrown, the new leaders of France wanted everything to be different – including the calendar and the time. So they created a whole new calendar and a whole new way of telling time. They changed the days of the week from seven to ten. Each day was divided into ten hours. Each hour had 100 minutes and each minute had 100 seconds. Obviously, this time change did not last.
2- The King’s breakfast before he went hunting consisted of four chops, a chicken, six eggs poached in meat juice, a cut of ham and a bottle and a half of champagne
3- Marie Antoinette was considered such a woman of fashion, that once when she was at the opera, eight women were injured pushing others out of the way to see what she was wearing: three had their feet crushed, two had ribs broken and three had their arms dislocated. (Sounds like the Oscars)