CLOSED
Market eateries are a hot trend for 2011, and Woodruff’s Artisan Foods & Cafe in Sebastopol is the second to open in recent in recent months (the first being Fresh by Lisa Hemenway in Santa Rosa). Part restaurant, part take-out, part gourmet food market and wine shop they’re hybrid culinary one-stops inspired by European food halls.
Housed in a former bowling alley, owner David Woodruff is an SRJC culinary grad embarking on his second career after 25 years in the automotive industry. Lending serious culinary cred is Luz Quiroz, a native of Colombia who was the private chef of both the Swarovski (as in crystal) family and Rush Limbaugh.
With a mix of grab and go sandwiches, cheeses, gourmet groceries and sit-down dining, the crew is hoping to keep you coming back. The seasonal, local menu changes up frequently, and Quiroz’s Latin flair — including fresh arepas, (toasted corn cakes) and homemade chimichurri — keeps things interesting.
At opening, the crew are serving up impressive breakfast, weekend brunches and lunches inside the cafe (named after Woodruff’s fiance, Marcella, who also helps in the kitchen) with plans to launch dinner within a year. Homemade breads and pastries are baked daily in house, and menu items include dishes like French Toast Souffle, fresh blueberry scones, ragu Bolognese, steak au poivre, savory bread pudding with applewood smoked bacon and Point Reyes blue cheese, homemade soups and lighter salads.
Breakfast entrees range from $4.25 to $9 and lunch is $6.95 to about $12.
Adding to the mix is David’s special passion for handcrafted beers, which he’s included in the grocery section, along with local artisan foods, cheeses and wines. All menu items can be taken to-go.
It’s a welcome addition to the neighborhood.
Woodruff’s Artisan Foods and Cafe Marcella, 966 Gravenstein Hwy S., Sebastopol, (707) 829-2141. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 7:30 am to 6pm, Sunday from 10am to 4pm. Menus and daily specials online at Woodruff’s Facebook page.
Excellent service and the food is outstanding! Will definitely go back since my husband and I live close enough to walk 🙂
Our party of 5 had a great lunch here last week. I had a crab stack which was to die for. The rest of my lunch buddies bragged how good their food was. We chose the 3 berries cobbler for dessert. It was delicious as well. The staff was friendly and courteous. We left with a dozen blueberry scones and a bottle of Corto extra virgin olive oil from Lodi,ca. & 2 bottles of David’s hand crafted beers to take home.
Wow! We just did a broadcast at nearby Bassignani’s Nursery with food catered by Woodruff’s Artisan Foods & Cafe. Everything was so delicious, from the amazing oregano based chimichurri sauce, savory bread pudding, warm arepas, delicate scones, and wonderful artisan beers. Everything had great flavor, I can’t wait to try it out at their location in the old bowling alley.
We took a walk down to Starbucks and ended up at Woodruffs instead! What a nice suprise. They open at 7:30 and are located back right, in the inner courtyard. We enjoyed a pot of french press coffee, frittata with chimichurri sauce, French toast souffle and applewood bacon. Luz greeted us with some housemade banana bread. Very satisfied and reasonable at $21. Lunch menu looks great. Local wines, cheeses, array of bottled beer. Looking forward to going back with friends. Nice “Village Bakery” type feel in the south part of town. Thank you.
Chef Luz is the Bomb!
Arepas????? I want some.
I hope the Steak Au Poivre is Minor’s !
The Steak au Poivre is very good. I liked the article, but there are a few typos, such as (s)moked bacon, fiance as finance, and argue sauce in place of Ragu sauce.
Yes. thank you. I put the “auto correct” on and didn’t look over my spellings very carefully. Appreciate the pointer.
And the country Ms Quiroz was born in is Colombia. Auto correct doesn’t work if the word you misspell happens to be the correct spelling for another word with a different meaning.
Who cares?
I had the baked pasta with an Irish cream sauce and ham and tasty breadcrumb topping. It was incredibly rich and flavorful, a decent sized portion and a pretty damn reasonable price for what it was ($7.25 I think?). Everyone was very nice and while the gourmet groceries side of things was rather small I still left with a couple purchases in hand (I highly recommend the Indian Ketchup..very tasty). I definitely plan on going back and would recommend everyone give them a try.