Petaluma’s Table Culture Provisions hopes to take over the former Quinua Cocina Peruana restaurant (500 Petaluma Blvd. S.) for a new, more casual concept tentatively called, The Restaurant at Metro. It will be a sister restaurant to Table Culture Provisions, continuing to serve its critically acclaimed tasting menu at the tiny 20-seat restaurant that opened in early 2022.
Just a block away from chef/owners Stephane Saint Louis and Steven Vargas’ first restaurant (though the two did a longtime pop-up during the Covid-19 pandemic, where we first experienced their fried chicken), the larger 40-seat restaurant that Quinua occupied for eight years. The Peruvian eatery closed in January over a lease dispute, reopening recently in Santa Rosa.
“I really think I’m bringing the right concept to the right market,” said Saint Louis, a former chef for Della Fattoria and The Shuckery.
Currently, TCP offers “Social Hour” with a more relaxed a la carte menu on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. It’s been a laboratory for recipes at the new restaurant, including a fondant of melted Red Hawk cheese with rosemary croutons, shaved truffles and honey that will appear on the Metro’s menu.
Other items on a sample menu for The Restaurant at Metro include a la carte items like a French onion tart with crispy leeks, fish crudo with citrus granita, spot prawns with duck fat crostini, and larger shareable entrees including whole root cauliflower with braised greens, corn soufflé and Parker House rolls (the rolls are frequently on the TCP menu), bone-in rib-eye, with marrow-baked beans, and fire-roasted mushrooms, and Saint Louis’ signature Rhum Baba with caramelized pineapple.
“We want a way to bring folks in without committing to a tasting menu. One of the biggest issues with our current space is that we can only seat so many people. Having a bigger space will allow us to do more,” he said.
Though details are still in flux, he hopes to open the new restaurant in the fall of 2024 with his wife, Marta, and Vargas.
“This won’t just be another restaurant. I’m putting some very deep thoughts and research into it. I want to keep elevating the cuisine in Sonoma and Petaluma,” he said.
