Take your dog to dinner.
Animal lovers and their dogs are welcome on the shady back patio overlooking the driving range LaDee’s Diner on Arnold Drive just south of Craig Avenue. Restaurant owner LaDawn Reichling and manager Lisa Galvan are both dog lovers – Reichling has three and Galvan, two – so running a doggie-friendly diner is a natural for them. The diner has expanded its hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and now features Happy Hour from 3 to 5 p.m. Dinner is served on those nights until 8 p.m. Happy Hour beer specials include Pabst Blue Ribbon, IPA or LaDee’s Pale Ale, starting at $2 a glass or $9 a pitcher. Appetizer specials include nachos, hot dogs and free popcorn. The dinner menu features all of LaDee’s favorites, such as burgers, ribs, chicken, briskets and salads. Stop by for a beer and smoked barbecue and bring Bowser, too. (We won’t tell if you give him a bite of your burger.)
The British are coming! The British are coming!
Canadians, Italians, Swiss, French, Germans, Scots, Dutch, and Portuguese, too, according to Shana Abele, general manager at Sonoma Creek Inn. This year, the inn has seen more foreign guests than ever before, she said, owing to the weak dollar and the power of Internet marketing. Just last week, in fact, four out of the inn’s 16 rooms were occupied by visitors from England. Abele wasn’t aware of any particular articles in the British press touting the inn, or if her English guests even crossed paths during their visits, but she enjoyed the mini-British invasion all the same.
Private baths, in-room refrigerators and the newly landscaped courtyard with a fountain seem to be high on the list of attractions for her foreign guests, said Abele, adding that some of them even appear to be downright surprised that they’re getting so much for their money. (Sonoma Creek Inn’s rates range from $99 to $149 per night during the summer.) No wonder. To put it in perspective, the inn’s co-owner, Dan Parks, just returned from a trip to Spain, where he paid 23 Euros, or about $40, for a light continental breakfast. Ouch.
Springs cornucopia.
Last month’s Springs Town Hall meeting was a relaxed, informal evening with perfect weather on the patio at La Luz. Several organizations including Vineyard Workers Services, Sonoma County Community Development Commission, UCRY and the Valley of the Moon Teen Center were on hand with information about their programs serving the Springs community. But the best part of the event, hands down, was the food.
Sheana Davis of Epicurean Connection outdid herself by coordinating a menu of items to highlight the diverse businesses in the Springs. Ceviche from Primavera Tamales, iced coffee and tea from Barking Dog Roasters, cotija cheese from Epicurean Connection, and fruits from The Fruit Basket and Chapala Carniceria were just some of the items offered. Terrific cookies from Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and La Morenita Market rounded out the bill. Davis pulled it all off with the sponsorship of Sonoma Valley Bank and a little help from her shopping apprentice, 15-year-old daughter, Karina.
Davis will coordinate the menu once again for the next Springs Town Hall meeting on Oct. 6 at the new Teen Center on Highway 12. Teen Center kids will work with Davis to prepare appetizers for the event in the center’s brand-new commercial kitchen. Don’t miss it.
