Santa Rosa Restaurant To Be Featured on Check, Please!

The popular, award-winning KQED program features La Gare, a 45-year-old Santa Rosa staple, on July 24.


Check, Please! Bay Area,” KQED’s Emmy and James Beard award-winning restaurant review program, will feature Santa Rosa’s upscale French restaurant La Gare in an upcoming episode of its 19th season.

The episode — one in a series of four, each of which will explore three locals’ favorite restaurants in the Bay Area with host Leslie Sbrocco — will air at 7:30 p.m. July 24 on KQED 9.

The program’s announcement of the late July episodes described La Gare as “A romantic hideaway that stays true to its Swiss-French roots, serving decadent European fare since 1979.”

Swiss-born Marco Praplan, a former San Francisco chef, and his wife Gladys invested their life savings into building a new restaurant in Santa Rosa’s Historic Railroad Square District in the late 1970s. La Gare, or “the station” in French, opened in July of 1979.

Roger Praplan at La Gare
Chef Roger Praplan fires a to-go order just before pick up at the La Gare French Restaurant in Santa Rosa. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)

Today, their children Jackie and chef Roger Praplan, who’s also an instructor in Santa Rosa Junior College’s Culinary Arts Department, co-own the restaurant, continuing the family tradition of serving classic French and European cuisine.

Roger said he was honored to have the popular KQED show feature La Gare, though he regarded it as “just a regular day.”

“We treat everybody the same,” he said. “It’s what our customers expect.”

Roger said his favorite part of the experience — which entailed cooking frog legs, beef Wellington and rack of lamb as the TV crew filmed from 1-8 p.m. — was the nostalgia he shared with his sister Jackie as they recalled serving now four generations of customers, many of whom they know by name.

“La Gare has been our family’s passion and joy for 45 years and counting. And it’s this genuine love that we share with our community that truly makes the La Gare experience genuinely unique in such a wonderful way,” Jackie said.

She noted that restaurant staff form connections with guests through personable service and keeping old traditions alive, such as fruit flambés, steaks carved for two and Caesar salads prepared table-side.

La Gare restaurant Beef Wellington with carrots and green beans
Beef Wellington with carrots and green beans at La Gare restaurant in Santa Rosa. (Chris Hardy/The Press Democrat)

La Gare is among Sonoma County’s oldest continually operating restaurants, Roger noted, adding that the “traditional, Old World restaurant” is one of the last places around to include soup and salad with every meal.

The restaurant fed evacuees during the county’s wildfires, bridging Roger’s respect for his customers with his enjoyment of giving back to the community. He said the restaurant also forms that local connection through sourcing wines from small, family-owned businesses.

Roger was awarded “Best Chef” in Sonoma County by The Press Democrat readers in 2022 and 2023, and the restaurant was voted as the “Best Dining Experience” by readers in 2023.

The July 24 episode featuring La Gare will also include Berkeley breakfast go-to Eggy’s Neighborhood Kitchen and San Francisco Laotian spot Lao Table.

La Gare is open from 5-9 p.m. daily. Al fresco dining is available and the restaurant is dog-friendly. Takeout and curbside service is also available. Make reservations through OpenTable or by calling the restaurant.

208 Wilson St., Santa Rosa, 707-528-4355, lagarerestaurant.com