A restaurant within a restaurant? Following the lead of places like SF’s Mission Chinese and the nearer-by Casino in Bodega, where guest chefs create secondary menus for existing restaurants, Santa Rosa’s Los Arcos is hosting Fancy Pants Fresh five mornings a week.
It’s a curious collaboration between the Mexican-style cooking Cris Ochoa (formerly of Su Casa) and Marin farm market’s Colin Watley of Fancy Pants Fresh, who brainstormed the concept after meeting at a coffee shop.
The idea: Watley has created a “healthy choice gourmet ” menu Wednesday through Sunday at Los Arcos featuring locally-sourced breakfast dishes like Peanut Butter and Apple Pancake Sandwich ($5.95 using buckwheat batter and local Pippin apples); delicious Sweet Hash Browns ($5.95, apple, sweet potato, onions, garlic and cinnamon) or Banana and Red Walnut Pancakes with homemade honey and pomegranate syrup ($6.95).
Bemused regulars can also get more traditional chilaquiles, breakfast burritos with chorizo or omelets — or two of Ochoa’s killer carnitas tacos should the mood strike. It’s a daring and clever mixture of two worlds, not to mention a nice additional to the breakfast desert in the immediate area.
1791 Marlow Road, Santa Rosa, 545-5858. Gourmet breakfast served 7am to 11am Wednesday through Sunday.