With the peak of summer heat in the rearview mirror and touches of autumn coloring the trees, this is a perfect time of year to explore Sonoma County’s most beautiful trails. From the shaded paths of Sugarloaf to the golden hills of Taylor Mountain and the serenity of Riverfront, here are some of our favorite spots to take a hike and enjoy fall’s arrival.
This harvest season, as he’s done every year for more than three decades, winemaker Greg La Follette will take a deep breath and blow into his bagpipes, serenading the grapes as they arrive for crush.
“I believe that wine reacts to the vibrations in music,” he says, referring to an American Journal of Enology and Viticulture study that analyzed the effects of different music genres on the fermentation process. “The heavy metal was tragic; the fermentation actually died. The Muzak worked as well as the control group. And the classical music — that fermentation performed the best.”
The magical union of wine and song has been time-tested for centuries, from traveling minstrels toting bota bags to the latest Bottle Rock festival. But some wineries are taking it a step further, experimenting with the effects of Beethoven or Miles Davis on the wine.
At Manzanita Creek Winery in Healdsburg, the barrels go to bed with classical music and jazz every night.
“The wines don’t like to be alone,” says owner Jack Salerno Sr. “They can’t see, but they can hear. I’m not a druid by any means, but it just seems that it helps the wine.”
Salerno was initially inspired by veteran winemaker Tom Montgomery, who cued up Van Halen one late harvest night over a decade ago as dry ice in Pinot Noir bins fueled a pink mist that rolled out of the winery and down the driveway.
After installing a state-of-the-art sound system, Salerno now prefers John Coltrane and Yo-Yo Ma to Eddie Van Halen. But that can change during harvest, when his son, cellar master Vincent Salerno, plays mostly metal deep into the night, falling back on classics like Dio as well as the latest “screamo” bands.
Likewise, a typical day at La Follette’s Alquimista Cellars might start out with Gregorian chants in the morning and turn to Puccini’s “Tosca” by midday, before giving way to the Beatles or Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, and maybe a little reggae to wind down.
“Beyond the vibrations, it’s about the people involved getting enthused,” La Follette says. “A lot of winemaking is about having the right environment for making the wine. I always make sure I have a good sound system wherever I make wine.”
I’m truly sorry to do this to you. Especially if you’re reading this hungry. Or on a diet. Or on a desert island. But you’re about to see so much cheeseburger porn that you may just pass out from happiness.
Personally, a burger without cheese always seems like a flower without petals. It needs that gooey, melty, cap to really sate my hunger. That’s why, we’re feeling a little like Wimpy these days. We’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a cheeseburger right freaking now….
Whether you’re lucky enough to live in Wine Country, or just visit on occasion, it doesn’t hurt to have daily reminders of what a truly beautiful and interesting place this is. Perhaps the best way to do that? Following these great Wine Country Instagram accounts, which showcase all the best this region has to offer.
From Tucker Taylor’s images of the produce he grows in Kendall Jackson’s culinary garden to Scott Schultz’s fun and honest peek behind the curtain at Jolie Laide Wines to the dramatic images photographer Adam Decker produces during harvest season, these are our picks for
who to follow on Instagram.
Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and tag @sonomamag in your Wine Country photos.
Sazon Peruvian Restaurant is a perennial favorite, constant Michelin Bib Gourmand winner and Santa Rosa’s oldest Peruvian restaurant. We continue to recommend it highly, after nine years of service.
You’re about to fall in love with leche de tigre. You just don’t know it yet.
The key to Peruvian hangover cures, this cousin to Clamato are the tart, briny, magical leftovers of ceviche-making. A sort of spicy fish juice, really, packed with eye-popping flavor. And the key to the best plate of ceviche you’ll find in the North Bay–still.
Kin to the popular San Francisco Peruvian restaurants, Fresca, Roseland’s Sazon is a clean, compact and modern spot awakening local tastebuds with their take on South America’s most multi-cultural cuisine.
Using native ingredients (corn, root veggies and beans) as their base, immigrant influences from China (rice), Japan (raw fish, seaweed), Spain (rice, wheat, beef), Italy and West Africa lend depth and complexity to contemporary Peruvian comfort cuisine.
On the menu: Papa a la Huanciana, a soft boiled potato with Huancaina sauce (a garlic cheese sauce), hard-boiled egg, olive and feta; Ceviche Mixto, a mix of prawns, scallops, fish, clams and squid “cooked” in citrus and served with the plate-lickable Leche de Tigre, Conzco corn (a sort of giant corn kernel), toasted cancha (a toasted corn) and roasted sweet potato. Chupe de Camarones is a creamy shrimp chowder packed with rice, corn, potatoes, and a poached egg. Delish.
Entrees are traditional homestyle foods — Lomo Saltado (fried tenderloin steak with onion, tomato, soy sauce, and fries tossed together); Polla a la Brasa (rotisserie chicken), Aji de Gallina (pulled chicken stew with rice) and Picante de Mariscos (a seafood stew with peas, cream sauce and rice). On the side, all manner of fried plantains, yucca and sweet potatoes, each with their own sauce.
None of the dishes are overly spicy, just for the sake of being hot, though native chilies bring a light tingle to some dishes. Expect lots of starchiness (rice, potatoes, yucca), which are staples of the diet along with bright, fresh citrus and herb notes.
Daily specials are worth taking a detour for — special fish dishes or seasonal delights — and pay off in spades.
The menu has expanded exponentially over the years, so it can be hard to choose from the dozens of dishes. A deli has opened next door (connected to the restaurant) for overflow seating as well as serving sandwiches and lunch fare.
Sazon, 1129 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa, 523-4346. Open daily from 11:30am.
A good salad is hard to find.
It’s a Goldilocks conundrum where they’re too big or too small, too hot or too cold, too fancy or too boring. Food Mechanic in Sebastopol, however, does salad just right.
Our favorite starts with perky little leaves of Little Gem lettuce that are sweet, crunchy and greener than spring grass. Add crumbles of Pt. Reyes blue cheese, thinly-sliced Asian pear, salty almonds, sweet golden raisins and sprigs of fresh dill, then casually (but artistically) compose in a rustic wooden bowl with purple peppers and creamy herbed dressing. Top with a smattering of roasted maitake mushrooms and it’s a light but filling meal you’ll dream about the rest of the week. Maybe longer.
Owners Shane Dykhuis and Anne Zuelke have created a bright, sunny little cafe with a modern, minimalist design that frames the Instagrammy, plant-forward dishes like roasted broccoli and red quinoa bowl with preserved lemon vinaigrette, sweet corn and cherry tomatoes with avocado and feta, heirloom tomato soup, spiced lentils or hearty chocolate chip cookies. It’s not a lengthy menu, but everything is gluten-free, mostly organic and sourced from local farms.
Both are graduates of Bauman College, which focuses on holistic, natural eating. Dykhuis gets his culinary chops from working at the Boonville Hotel and as a corporate chef while Zuelke manages front of the house.
“It’s high-quality portable food,” said Dykhuis. “People are on the move and everyone has places to be. Time is short, but eating well is important.”
Don’t miss the fruit jigglers, made with beef collagen. They’ll take you back to your childhood, with the added bonus of being healthy for your hair and nails.
Food Mechanic is at 980 Gravenstein Highway South, Sebastopol, 707-827-6044, foodmechanic.com. Open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
When in Wine Country, skip the conventional R&R and exfoliate your skin with the seeds of wine grapes, enjoy a modern take on the mud bath, or jump on the newest spa trend, CBD soaks and massages. We’ve rounded up the most unique spa experiences in Sonoma and Napa to make your visit extra memorable—and relaxing.
Just four months after opening in its new location, Willi’s Wine Bar feels like it’s always been part of the neighborhood. According to owners Mark and Terri Stark, Willi’s Wine Bar has settled into its new spot at Santa Rosa’s Town & Country center just fine, thank you.
It wasn’t exactly a cakewalk, but after two years of upheaval, emotion and devastation following the loss of their original Larkfield location in the 2017 wildfires, there’s no lingering sense of turmoil hanging over the restaurant.
Instead, couples lounge on the convivial patio with dogs at their feet, Tunisian carrots and Moroccan lamb are as delicious as ever and wine glasses clink in every corner of the restaurant.
“We picked up where we left off, so it’s like moving into a new house,” said Terri Stark. “But we know who we are and what we’re trying to do.”
That means many of the same staff, the same kitchen crew and the same management who were so familiar. Regulars have returned, as well as a whole new batch of “regulars” says Stark.
Dishes like mac and cheese, curried crab tacos, mu shu bacon and flatbread are just as you remembered. The desserts are just as decadent and the truffle aioli with fries just as dangerous.
“The favorite dishes are still the favorite dishes,” she said.
The wine list is just as extensive and the inevitability that you’ll find someone you know sitting at the bar is just as likely.
Willi’s Wine Bar is a symbol for what we’ve all been through–rising from destruction, finding renewed community and trying to slowly regain our footing. Even though nothing is the same, we’re finding comfort in a new normal.
Best Bets: Willi’s isn’t about experimentation, because they’ve had more than 20 years to figure out the menu. The Starks know what works and what doesn’t, and though seasonal changes and surprises are always in the lineup, they follow the tried-and-true methods that have made the Starks’ restaurants go-to eateries.
Curried Crab Tacos, $14: Real crab smothered in creamy curry mayo with bright notes of cucumber and mint. Blistered wonton shells are the key to the crunchy, irresistibility of these babies.
Maine Lobster Creamed Corn, $14: Cream, lobster, sweet corn. What could go wrong? I could make a daily meal of this.
Skillet Bread with Green Olive Tapenade, $7: Yeasty soft rolls with a crispy, buttery bottom.
Goat Cheese Fritters with Smoked Paprika and Lavender Honey, $9: Pungent goat cheese melts into a soft, gooey puddle inside a crisp, salty exterior.
Cambozola Mac & Cheese with Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil, & Focaccia Bread CrumbsMac & Cheese, $11: Required. My favorite mac and cheese. (This was originally misidentified as “lobster mac and cheese”, which is not on the menu. Apologies.)
Tunisian Roasted Carrots with Pine Nuts and Mint, $10: One of the most beautiful dishes you’ll ever see. Just as tasty with hints of cinnamon and clove.
Pulled Duck BBQ with Polenta, $12: Ridiculously creamy polenta loaded so full of cream, butter and cheese it’s criminal (and so good). My only small gripe is that on one occasion the duck was a bit dry and gristly.
Morrocan Lamb Chops with Preserved Lemon Couscous, $17: Even if you think you don’t like lamb, you’ll like this. Seared, but rare lamb with citrusy couscous. You’ll be transported to another land.
Mu Shu Bacon with hoisin BBQ Sauce, $12: Pork belly with sweet hoisin sauce gives this bacon an Asian twist.
Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake, $9: The perfect lemon dessert.
Willi’s Wine Bar is at 1415 Town and Country Drive, Santa Rosa, 707-526-3096.
Fall is the best time to eat out in Wine Country. Local farms and gardens overflow with of-the-moment produce that makes its way onto restaurant tables throughout the county. It’s also a great season to explore the cuisines of other lands — German, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Mexican — that bring unexpected flavors and dishes to the table. Here are a few spots to savor this seasonal embarrassment of riches.
Click through the gallery for the yummy pictures.
Harkening back to her midwestern roots, Guerneville restaurateur Crista Luedtke’s homey German-style bratskellar just put the cherry on top of the town’s burgeoning food scene.
A mix of on-trend design, quirky charm, and classic Bavarian dishes, Luedtke and Chef de Cuisine Joey Blank have distilled the classic beer hall menu into a “best of” playlist that includes potato pancakes, spätzle, sauerbraten, schnitzel, creamed herring, and sausages. Mit kraut und bier. Lots of Deutsches bier.
The interior has been overhauled with added seating and thoughtful touches like a wall of cuckoo clocks and creative paneling to evoke the outline of the Alps. Old German movies play silently in the background, while an array of mason jars near the beer taps hold white asparagus pickle. It’s cute without feeling overly precious.
Brot — which joins Luedtke’s other ventures, boon eat + drink, El Barrio, and boon hotel + spa — translates as “bread” in German. For the stalwart entrepreneur, “brot” means more than a loaf of rye. It also means livelihood, and Luedtke has made it her mission to bring vitality to residents of the destination river town. That means a 20% service charge that allows her to pay the staff a living wage. In these days that offer a limited pool of local staff, surging food costs, and skyhigh rents for commercial space, many restaurateurs find themselves providing more of a public service than enjoying the largesse of a lucrative for-profit venture.
Though the menu itself can be daunting, with a heaping helping of umlauts and hard-to-pronounce words, the food itself is familiar and comforting with crunchy potato pancakes, an Alsatian pizza, spätzle (think tiny dumplings), and broasted chicken. With the addition of vegan sausages, the ever-popular schnitzel, and seasonal salads, there’s something for most everyone to enjoy.
Like any German restaurant worth its Märzenbier, Brot has an Oktoberfest-tastic lineup of Bavarian beers on tap. Luedtke has also gone to great lengths to have not only the proper glassware, but traditional wheat beers, lagers, and pilsners, many of which come from Bavarian brewmasters Schneider Weisse. They also serve incredible Rhône wines and desserts worth saving some room for. Brot is already a popular addition to the local melting pot of cuisines, and a testament to the fortitude that Luedtke continues to show in her adopted hometown. Plus, her mom — who helps in the kitchen — makes some truly legit potato pancakes.
Open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday at 5 p.m. 6218 Main St., Guerneville, 707-604-6102 brotguerneville.com.
Making cheap hamburgers comes at a high cost, according to Garrett Sathre, the owner of West — Handmade Burgers in Sonoma (technically Boyes Hot Springs).
A born and bred Sonoman, he’s a passionate advocate for grass-fed, sustainably sourced organic beef. He also understands that $20 for a burger, fries, and a milkshake is out of touch for everyday eaters.
That’s why he spent two years working with nearby Stemple Creek Ranch to source a great burger and try to keep surging costs at bay. It wasn’t an easy process, but he’s done it.
Instead of just buying ground beef, Sathre and his wife, Nicole Benjamin, purchase a whole cow each week from Stemple Creek. They flip patties for lunch and dinner daily and sell high-quality cuts of beef from a small refrigerator at the front of the restaurant. It’s your one-stop beef shop.
The restaurant offers five plays on their grass-fed burger, from simple to black-tie. There’s plain (homemade sauce, onions, tomatoes, butter lettuce, and homemade pickles and ketchup), cheeseburger, a Point Reyes Blue cheese burger, a smoked Cheddar and fried onions West Burger, and the luxurious truffle burger with truffle cheese. Fries and onion rings are far better than your usual burger bar along with homemade milkshakes.
18375 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma, 707-343-1479, facebook.com/WestHandmadeBurgers
Never far from their roots as tamale cart operators, the Morales family’s Windsor restaurant is all simple homestyle Mexican cooking. Unsurprisingly, their famous tamales are a key feature on the menu, served up a la carte or in bowls with red or green salsa. Hefty tacos guisados plates with shredded chicken, beans, and rice are under $10, and their chilaquiles are a perfect hangover remedy.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., you can get champurrado, a warm Mexican chocolate drink made with cinnamon and masa harina.
7238 Old Redwood Highway, Suite 128, Windsor, 707-657-7701, cocinamana.com.
Where to find adobo chicken, lumpia, halo-halo, or banana sauce? Larkfield’s Tambayan.
You’ll find both familiar and “what exactly is this?” Filipino dishes that blend traditional island flavors (taro, coconut milk, banana leaves, banana sauce, fish) with influences from China (egg rolls, rice, soy sauce, steamed buns), Spain (adobo), and America (Spam — you’re welcome).
The family-run restaurant isn’t fancy, but offers up cozy homestyle cuisine like rib-sticking breakfast (silog) noodle bowls, beef satay, and off-beat specialties like pan-grilled milkfish, pork sisig (minced pork with rice, onions, and mayonnaise), and laing with dried taro leaves, coconut milk, and pork.
Go in with an open mind and hungry belly, because some of the best dishes require a bit of trust if you’re not used to having your meal on a banana leaf. Condiments are definitely part of the experience, and contrary to its name, banana sauce is a lot like sweet ketchup.
Save room for halo-halo. This traditional dessert combines crushed ice, evaporated milk, coconut strips, sweet beans, gelatin, and a scoop of purple yam ice cream.
600 Larkfield Center, Santa Rosa, 707-843-3824.
Tasty Vietnamese food at a donut shop? It’s a thing. Though it seems like an odd pairing, there’s a long history of immigrants from Southeast Asia opening donut shops that happen to also serve the foods of their homeland. You can thank Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee who is widely credited for not only building his own donut empire in the 1980s, but providing seed money for hundreds of other immigrants to purchase the high-profit-margin sweet shops throughout the state.
This spot had a slightly different trajectory, owned by longtime donut-maker Frank Whigham and his Cambodian wife, Champa, for more than a decade. The couple typically worked 18-hour days, sticking to fresh donuts of every stripe. At 89, Frank was ready to retire, recently transferring ownership to Kanha Kien, another Cambodian who owns Santa Rosa’s Yo Panda. That Corporate Center Drive cafe offers — you guessed it — donuts and Vietnamese food.
Go for the pho, barbecue pork banh mi, fresh rolls, and noodle bowls, but save some room for mango shaved ice, a specialty. Mango ice cream is shaved into impossibly thin stacked ribbons of flavor, topped with a pile of fresh mango and sugar syrup. They’ve also got a taro root version with strawberries that’s a more exotic take. Of course, you can’t leave without a couple donuts too.
4275 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa, 707-539-2416.
Neighborhood market meets specialty food shop meets bottle shop. And then there are the popup dinners and cooking classes.
Defying simple categorization, Miracle Plum embraces the idea of delicious things made well. The selection changes frequently, so one day you may find local honey and handmade pottery at a dumpling pop-up and the next time gelato and microbrews.
Owned by Santa Rosa natives Sallie Miller and Gwen Gunheim, the open space is constantly changing with the seasons and recent inspirations.
208 Davis St., Santa Rosa, 707-708-7986, miracleplum.com.
This blink-and-you’ll-miss-it restaurant in the tiny hamlet of Marshall was a charming seafood destination until it wasn’t. A popular fish house for nearly 70 years, families came from miles around for the bay-to-plate menu. By the time the restaurant changed hands in 2017, however, it was a fading relic from another era.
After a two-year remodel by the owners of Hog Island Oyster Co., Tony’s has been reborn as a vibrant, modern seafood house with some of the best food and best views of Tomales Bay.
Old oyster shells litter the ground on the strip of land south of the cozy restaurant, giving a satisfying crunch underfoot. The smell of brine is a companion for the mildly harrowing journey along Highway 1, but the reward is a cozy, modern room filled with sunlight and bowls of shells on every table.
Seafood is the main attraction, naturally, with mostly local clams, mussels, crab, and oysters. There’s also fresh Alaska cod, halibut, salmon, and anchovies along with a handful of seafood-free items like the Tony’s burger, or battered-veggies and local greens if you’re fish-averse.
Whatever you do, don’t miss the clam chowder. There’s no flour to thicken it and only fresh, shell-on clams from nearby Hog Island Oysters making it an interactive experience as well as a tasty one. This version is heavy on the good stuff with aromatic herbs, fresh cream, and bacon, and light on the fillers (potatoes and carrots). This is what chowder should always be and rarely ever achieves.
18863 Shoreline Highway, Marshall, 415-663-1107, tonysseafoodrestaurant.com.
Fighting climate change has become a top concern for many Sonoma County residents and visitors. But making a difference can sometimes feel like a difficult task — especially when you’re traveling or spending time away from home. If you’re looking to plan an eco-friendly vacation, many locally owned wineries, restaurants and hotels are embracing their responsibility to take care of our beautiful backyard. Click through the gallery for a peek inside Farmhouse Inn in Forestville, a lauded hotel and restaurant that is making sustainability a top priority.
Do you know a local hospitality business that is leading the eco-friendly charge in Wine Country? Let us know.
