High Five pops-up with Korean fried chicken in Guerneville

The itsy bitsy town of Guerneville, it’s Main Street lined with towering redwoods, seedy looking roadhouse-style bars, and small town gift emporiums, is one of those Wine Country towns that always leaves me wide-eyed in wonder.  In what feels like the middle of nowhere, here is a cute wine bar offering local Pinot and tasty small plates, a soaring storefront hawks lovely home furnishings, and good, inspired food can be found in small, thoughtfully designed spaces. Guerneville is about as far from Napa as a California Wine town could get, but in many ways just as delicious and way more authentic.

Here, chic San Franciscans and wine-thirsty tourists rub shoulders at the aforementioned dive bars with rough looking, tattooed locals, everyone sipping beverages — craft beer or stellar wines — from right the area.  The food scene would be impressive in many larger towns, but is especially here, where fun, chef-driven dining spots line the charming, sleepy, two-block, main drag.

Megan recently had this brilliant plan for a girl’s evening where we were all happily crammed in the car, heading out to Guerneville, an adventure to check out a pop-up restaurant called High Five.  We’d heard rumors of Korean fried chicken being served here and you know I’ll drive almost anywhere for fried chicken. Especially some spicy fried chicken.

By day, the space is a narrow, sparkling diner, open since the forties, called Pat’s.  Swivel stools line the counter on one side, and a neat row of comfy booths the other.  The space is a fun contradiction.  Old, new, dowdy, modern.  Behind the counter is an antique-looking shake-making blender and an old wooden sign announcing the ice creams of the day, which include a childhood favorite, a very 1960s orange sherbet, while each table is set with day glow plastic chopsticks and tall bottles of Siracha. And the hipsters waiting tables properly tattooed and pierced, of course.

The menu arrives and the first plan is to find something fun to drink!  A couple of small bottles of chilled sake seem appropriate to start, ordered from a smallish list that also includes local and Asian beers and a few Sonoma County wines.

“Ban Chan” are small dishes meant to be shared, so we ordered several to nibble while sipping our sake and planning the rest of our attack: a plate of Korean pickles included umami-rich mushrooms, house kimchee, and lip puckering peppers, all of which were really yummy with the sake.  Moon-shaped pierogies were stuffed with kimchee and puréed potato, and the surprise addition of “very Mexican” cotija cheese.  The dumplings were hot and wonderfully greasy; an authentic Chinese plum sauce was practically fought over.  Thin pancakes were filled with, yes, more kimchee.  Toasted strips of crisp seaweed were scattered about and was finished with a decadent drizzle of a sticky Indonesian soy sauce.

Bo Ssam is an ideal dish to share.  A glistening platter of saucy, spicy Kurobuta pork is meant to be spooned into leaves of romaine and garnished with more spicy, pickled goodness.  With chile-flecked, sticky sauce dripping down our arms, we moved on to a bottle of icy, un-oaked Chardonnay, the perfect call for spicy food.

The ensuing debate was not if we should order the Korean fried chicken, but just how much to order.  Nicknamed KFC, or ‘Korean fried crack,’ the chicken was settled into a kitschy, paper-lined, red basket.  The batter was a rust-colored concoction that shattered as my teeth sank into the most enormous chicken leg I have ever seen.  This chicken was a crack habit I would easily endorse, especially because of the gorgeous bowl of, sort of, but way better than, traditional-style slaw that accompanied it.  A side dish of Chinese broccoli was also beautifully prepared, bright green and tender, swimming in a shallow pool of chile-spiked XO sauce.  Sticky white rice soaked up all the delicious drippings from both.

I wish that there had been room for the ice cream adorned with pop rocks, but for a table of girls, I think we did pretty darn good.  I have been dreaming since that night of a rainy winter day of Russian River wine tasting, a dinner cuddled in a little booth, High Five’s massive, soupy, spicy, pork belly Udon noodle bowl between me and Mr. B.  Let’s pray that, come winter, High Five is still popping up at Pat’s!

High Five is located at 16236 Main Street, Guerneville, in Pat’s Restaurant. Call 707.869.9904 for hours and more information.

Kristin Jorgensen is one of Sonoma’s most passionate, food obsessed residents. In this weekly column, she covers all the delicious happenings, foodie events and restaurants in Sonoma, the rest of Wine Country and beyond.  Email her with comments, questions, or your food related events at [email protected].