Former Healdsburg SHED Chef Takes Over Boonville Hotel Kitchen

Missing the SHED food? Make your way to Mendocino County.


Chef Perry Hoffman is getting back to his roots, returning to the kitchen at the Boonville Hotel in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley. The former SHED executive chef who also received a Michelin star for his work at Napa’s étoile at Domaine Chandon, grew up in a well-known restaurant family that includes Sally and Don Schmitt, the original owners of the French Laundry and the current owners of The Apple Farm in Philo as well as his uncle Johnny Schmitt’s Boonville Hotel.

Best known for his pristine sourcing and composed plates dishes that feature wildflowers, herbs, and other foraged food, it’s a, uh, boon to the Boonville Hotel’s restaurant program.

He’ll be tapping into hyperlocal foods like Steelhead tartar, with asparagus from Philo, celery, lovage, olive oil and preserved lemon; Mendocino purple sea urchin with asparagus, Koji and garden herbs; grilled local halibut with fermented green garlic and fingerling potatoes and, for dessert, Pennyroyal cheese tartine with herbs, bee pollen and local honey.

Dinner will be served Thursday through Saturday with a prix fixe menu or small plates ranging from $8 to $22. On Sunday, May 26, Paella dinners will return to the hotel courtyard on Sunday evenings.

“After cooking professionally for 20 years, it’s crazy to me that I didn’t see the writing on the wall, and return here sooner. Anderson Valley in its rural form couldn’t be a more beautiful place to cook,” said Hoffman. “I’m surrounded by artisans, farmers, family, and friends. I plan to cook for and with them, for the rest of my life.”

14050 CA-128, Boonville, 707-895-2210, boonvillehotel.com.