Santé’s fabulous re-do at Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn
A few of us were invited to sample the new experience one finds at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn – a complete re-do of Santé restaurant, both in décor and menu.
When you head through the FSMI lobby, you see a seemingly much lighter set of rooms, loaded with white furniture and a generally moderne décor that brightens your time there, especially looking out at one of the most beautiful swimming pools in wine country.
Locally raised Chef de Cuisine Jennifer Venezio has created an innovative menu based on local-ish vegetables and meats, always with markings of gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, and vegan symbols accompanying each menu item.
We tasted pan roasted Petaluma Liberty duck breast with orange and citrus gastrique, with braised fennel, heirloom carrots and duck confit; sautéed petrale sole (my favorite); spring pea rolatini with Laura Chenel goat cheese and mushrooms; and Painted Hills New York strip steak with pommes frites.
Among the sides we indulged in were Provençal lemon cream potatoes, miso bagna cauda cauliflower, Della Fattoria Meyer lemon Rosemary bread, and haricot verts with butter.
From the larger menu, you can either select a four-course prix-fixe chef’s tasting menu ($110) or order a la carte, including Dungeness crab spaghetti; a divine tomato and artichoke farro; Niman Ranch lamb ribs, broccolini with Caesar dressing, a mixed green salad; popovers with herb butter, mushroom polenta and excellent Pacific bouillabaisse. ($10 to $59).
Desserts include a Paris Brest, strawberry shortbread tart, lemon lavender cheesecake, a warm chocolate kiss ($16), or gelato and sorbet of the day ($8).
Breakfast is also served daily at Santé, and a refreshing lunch is available at the Water Tower Bar by the pool.
I rarely comment but, to my taste, this food is definitely among the very best in Sonoma Valley. And you can sample it without breaking your piggy bank. 100 Boyes Blvd., Boyes Hot Springs. (707) 938-9000.
Place des Pyrénées sold
Sonoma realtor Daniel Casabonne has announced that the Guerras’ Place des Pyrynées just sold to a couple with a French background, and who own downtown Napa real estate and hospitality businesses.
Casabonne told me, “They (the buyers) have the ideas, energy, enthusiasm and experience,” needed for the site, that all current tenants will be staying, and “they are all happy…Francoise and her mom are happy and passing on the baton. Great memories, and now it’s time to let someone else create their own memories.”
Lily and Gratien Guerra had their bakery next door to Sebastiani Theatre. Eventually they bought the building that then housed the Arts Guild, where the Basque is today, a reference to their French Basque origins. Then they added the buildings in back, calling it Place des Pyrynées, aka Basque country. The Guerra family sold the bakery several years ago.
More to come very soon.
Mozaik’s “Golden Hour”
Miranda Ives has created the first “Golden Hour” in Sonoma, which is really two hours from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays when people “60+” get 35 percent off their table’s food bill, including starters, main courses and desserts. And you only have to have one person age 60 and better. They also promise deals on beverages.
The menu includes several salads, Thai green chicken curry, sea bass, Asiago stuffed gnocchi, wontons and prawns, a Umami burger, sweet and spiced carrots, French fries, Asian glazed sticky ribs, Kashmiri chicken tacos, Marrakesh Kafta (meatballs), and a grazing platter. ($12 to $38 before Golden discount). 31 East Napa St., Sonoma. (707) 934-8814.
Delicious Dish changes
Chef Lauren and Charles Cotner have closed their food operation on Fifth St. West but will still deliver dinners, starting May 4, featuring all of her local and tasty suppliers and recipes. Pick-up food is no longer available.
For more than six months, Cotner has had a private gig cooking for a prominent family of five in San Francisco’s Presidio Heights. To accomplish this, she will be sharing a kitchen in Marin County to service her San Francisco clients, as well as the Out-the-Door dinners and other private cheffing and catering here in Sonoma.
Lots of driving, but probably a great decision and scenario given the hospitality business situation everywhere.
Vintners & Growers news
A few of us in the media had the pleasure of experiencing Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance (SVVGA) executive director Robyn Sebastiani present an update on the SVVGA’s current and future plans. Some guests then toured Wing & Barrel Ranch ahead of a May 15 event there.
We all enjoyed artichoke beignets with lemon aioli, a spinach and avocado salad with toasted pumpkin seeds and goat cheese, a margherita pizza, a pesto pizza of many cheeses, a hot honey pepperoni pizza, and housemade chocolate chip cookies made with brown butter. Anaba’s Executive Chef Maria Lynn has served as resident chef at Sur la Table in Santa Rosa and Los Gatos, and resident chef at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, after getting her BA in Communications from San Jose State.
All of this was accompanied by Anaba’s 2022 JMcK Estate Vineyard Chardonnay, Sangiacomo Roberts Road Pinot Noir, and Turbine Red Rhône Blend. We were greeted with their 2025 Picpoul Blanc.
Sebastiani showed an excellent video that included photos of the girl & the fig’s hugely popular 20th anniversary dinner filling the paved horseshoe in front of Sonoma City Hall. She happened to slip in that SVVGA will put on a new Heritage Dinner, celebrating 200 years of winemaking in Sonoma, in the same Plaza location during the 2026 Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival. The girl & the fig will cater that event as well.
SVVGA’s new Western Sonoma Valley Reserve event, on May 16, will be at Darius Anderson’s Wing & Barrel Ranch with rare local wines and food, live music, clay shooting, fly-fishing, bocce and archery. Tickets start at $225, with fishing and archery activities at $150 and clay shooting $250, all with instructors and equipment. Benefits SVVGA foundation grants. 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sonomavalleywine.com/westernreserve.
Stella adds bar menu
Stella restaurant, the younger sister of Glen Ellen Star, just started a special bar menu, available Monday through Thursday, but only at the bar.
Tasties include cheesy focaccia (love their focaccia), caccio e pepe fritti (pasta), calamari skewers, arancini, robiola fonduta (marinated tomatoes with garlic) and focaccia, and a breaded chicken cutlet ($9 to $18). Bar wine specials include Dane Cellars Malbec ($13) and Maclaren viognier ($11) per glass. 4:30 to 9:30. Walk-ins only.
Don’t forget special Sunday Supper menus at Stella ($49) and the new cooling patio cover should be functioning now on Stella’s patio. 9049 Hwy. 12, Kenwood. (707) 801-8043.
Patio update: Many of us felt as if Stella’s blue covering was either too hot or too cold for outdoor dining. Wow, have the Weiswasser and Waite families ever come up with a solution for all of us to enjoy!
According to Ashley Waite, “The new patio roof is a motorized louvered pergola made specifically for businesses by the company StruXure. We’ll be able to tilt open and close the slats in the roof during hot and cold weather, also keeping out rain. Heaters, fans, lights and chandeliers will also hang from the roof.” Fantastic and thank you!
Their Smash burger joint in the Taub Family Outpost at First Street West and West Napa Street will hopefully open quietly in early May.
Lily’s Outpost
With a Hawaiian theme and poster, reportedly designed by Jessie at Rosa Grande tattoos, Lily’s had “soft openings” last weekend with “Aloha Vibes,” cocktails and music where Starling Bar was last, a spot also once occupied by Pasali’s Card Room, and then Blue Moon Saloon, at the corner of West Spain Street and Hwy. 12.
Dead Letter teases
Girl & the Fig proprietor Sondra Bernstein is back from her artistic trip to Asia and is teasing us again with hints of what John Toulze and she are planning for their Dead Letter restaurant, evolving at the former Maya location at First St. East and East Napa Street.
My favorite feature is Bernstein’s Art-O-Mat, a repurposed vending machine that will dispense art. The initial exhibit at the new restaurant will include “over 100 international artists” many of which exhibit digitally. As she is always ahead of any trend, whether in culinary or visual arts, she is now a world leader in the world of digital art. Is the apparent logo of an abstract fish a hint?
Permits and construction have moved opening date goals to late spring or early summer. Can’t wait.
Angelo’s on Arnold to phase out
We have been very lucky to have Angelo’s here, on Arnold Drive just north of Cornerstone and across from Gloria Ferrer, with best variety of jerky in the Valley, but their presence might end sooner than we would like.
The Ibleto family has been leasing the building for years, but the property has been sold and Angela Dellinger says the new owner will not preserve the building. She also responded to my email saying, “We will not reopen.” But their Petaluma location will continue to thrive.
I know someone in our family who could not drive back to college or to an airport without stopping for Angelo’s jerky and a coke to keep him going.
Mother’s Day is May 10
Most restaurants will offer special Mother’s Day treats, but if you don’t want to go out, cook for your mother, friend, or parent in your life. Or cook for yourself in memory of your mother. Or plant a special plant, which I often do to honor my late mother.
B&V Whiskey Bar & Grille offers special fritto misto of crispy calamari, prawns and Castroville artichokes, eggs Benedict with Delta asparagus, crispy chicken with salad and roasted potatoes, and a double chocolate Basque cheesecake, plus their regular menu. 11:30 to 3:30. 400 First St. East, Sonoma. (707) 938-7110.
Roche Winery & Vineyards will feature brunch by Mara Roche of Aunt Momo’s Catering, with a buffet of Mara’s pastries, crab cakes, vegetable frittata, green salad, her Mom’s French toast, fresh fruit salad, a yogurt station, coffee, tea and juices, plus acoustic music with David Barker. Beautiful outdoor seating. $95 adults, $85 adult wine club members, $20 children 3 to 13. 11:30 to 2:30. 2209A Bonness Road, Sonoma.
Larson Family Winery presents complimentary glasses of Sparkling Rosé for moms, Michelle Lambert music, and a meal token to be used at the HopMonk food truck on site – choose whatever you feel like with veg, regular, and kids’ selections. $65 adults, $25 kids, club members get 10 percent off everything, 11 to 2. 23355 Millerick Rd., Sonoma. (707) 938-3031.
Songbird Parlour Executive Chef Miller McRae prepares his mom’s favorite short rib stroganoff with crème de ricotta and Creekside shiitake mushrooms over campanelle pasta ($42), in addition to their regular menu. 14301 Arnold Dr., Glen Ellen. 5 to 9 p.m. (707) 343-1308.
Stella adds to its regular menu a tiramisu pane fritto, a spinach, tomato and asparagus frittata with salad ($22 to $25), and a 24 oz. bone-in ribeye with saba al sugo and crispy potatoes. Not sure how many moms would order a 24 oz. steak, but some will happily share it ($135). 11 to 7. 9049 Hwy. 12, Kenwood. (707) 801-8043.
Happy Mother’s Day!
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