Slated for a May 15 opening is Pinoli Cucina Rustica at Guerneville’s Applewood Inn. But don’t expect a wait staff or other front-of-the-house folks.
Headed by Chef Christian Darcoli, chef/owner of Pinoli Ristorante in Puerto Rico, the plan is to have a chef-driven experience where guests are guided through a personalized food and wine menu by the restaurant’s chef staff.
“I feel that it is very important for our chefs to have the opportunity to interact directly with our guests. Allowing them to run the front-of-house as well as the back, gives them the opportunity to welcome our guests into the restaurant, share their love for and knowledge about food that we create,” said Darcoli, who hopes this kind of restaurant experience will be trend-setting.
The menu is still in the works, but will focus on Mediterranean-inspired dishes, as well as including fruit and vegetables grown on the property and locally sourced meats and seafood.
The restaurant will be open to the public for lunch and dinner.
Most recently, the restaurant was re-opened as Revival with restaurateur Crista Luedtke and Chef Ben Spiegel. The high concept restaurant got rave reviews but shuttered in 2016. Prior to that, the restaurant had been home to a number of top-notch chefs including SF Chef Brian Gerritsen, David Frakes (Lynmar), Brian Anderson (Bistro 29) Bruce Frieseke (most recently of County Bench), Jamil Peden, Ty Taube (forageSF) and Shelly Cerneant (Sonoma Country Day School) .
Best of luck. But, if loved and local great chef Jamil Peden could not turn this into a destination restaurant, Chef Darcoli will have his work cut out for him. The hotel is lovely and deserves a wonderful restaurant.
How can I make a reservation?
Give it up, with the succession of failures in that space (and the space itself is lovely) , it’s clear Guerneville addresses are mortal wounds for a fine dining establishment. The former owners of this hotel knew this, which is why they listed their address as “Pocket Canyon” instead.
Hopefully, this restaurant will change that.
Very exciting! We just returned from a lovely stay at Applewood enjoying our chats with charming Christian, as he was our server! He is focused on giving guests “an experience to remember” which begins with him telling his background story and restaurant concept. He is all too familiar with local sourcing with excellent connections in the works. Plans to turn the chef’s garden into a pre-meal al fresco tapas gathering is heavenly! Can’t wait to return to try it all!
“Jack of all trades; master of none” comes to mind.
5
Awesome! Can’t wait to try this new restaurant.
Thank You Suzie! We’re excited and can’t wait to start!