La Salette Sonoma

My favorite restaurant in Sonoma is La Salette. In the three days of my trip to Sonoma, I ate at La Salette THREE times, and would have gone four times if they had been open for breakfast the day of my departure! With different servers on every visit, the professionalism and warmth of every server added to the joy of every meal. There is a (free) parking lot behind the restaurant with a small driveway entrance on the main square; it is the best place to park unless you get a spot in front. Today's post is an amalgamation of all the meals I ate at La Salette :)

Arriving in the early evening before a wedding week-end celebration, I knew that food was required before the cocktail reception held across the square to welcome all the guests, so I booked my first dinner based on location, and of course online reviews!

The Brussel sprouts with a mushroom medley was beautifully charred, lightly cooked, and perfectly seasoned.

Asparagus with ham and a poached egg, could have been a delightful breakfast, but we had it as a side vegetable dish.

I loved the wood fired octopus with potatoes with potatoes for $19

The braised pork belly with smoked apple gastrique, frisée and madeira glaze for $18 was a popular appetizer.

The house salad for $15 could have been a light lunch with a delightful sherry herb vinaigrette.

The whole branzino for $38 was enough to share, and lightly cooked with a refreshing herbs and tomatoes. Easily enough to share if you are feeling generous ;) 

The fisherman stew for $32 was GIGANTIC! Every morsel was properly prepared, with an addictive jus from all the shellfish and linguiça that will have you asking for more bread to get every drop.

The salt cod cakes for $17 are a classic Portuguese dish on the Portuguese leaning menu that embodies what they SHOULD taste like when done with a deft hand. The Moroccan black olive coulis added both a nice briny touch and an artistic flair to the presentation.

If you love scallops, the wood seared day boat scallops for $20 should definitely be on your radar.

After seeing several nearby tables order oysters, I succumbed and was happy to find them fresh, firm, and simply tasting of the ocean.

The trio of frigid desserts for $11 was enough for the table to share, with lightly sweetened and fruity flavors to satisfy the sweet tooth diners at the table.

After we ate dessert, they also offered a complimentary coconut ball that arrived with the bill. 

After drinking several glasses of their mineral forward vinho verde (I don't remember the name, but I do know they have another one that is fruity), I was glad I wasn't driving, and only had to navigate to the car parked 50 feet away!

Meal at the Old Mill in Glen Ellen

During my visit to Sonoma for a wedding, I stopped at the Old Mill in Glen Ellen for a stroll through the sculpture garden and a lovely lunch with excellent service. This was a functioning mill which has been transformed into a small commercial center that features eateries and professional services. There's plenty of parking and it's a lovely place to wander around just for the beautiful scenery.

The restaurant has a large outdoor patio, but the interior is just as welcoming especially with their personable and professional service, this is an easy place to spend an afternoon. I split a caesar salad and they added a bit more to the plate once they heard we were sharing!

The special of the day was a pork chop with lovely vegetables and mashed potatoes that was such a generous portion that we were glad we split both the salad and the entrée (the picture below is HALF of one portion).

As you meander around the Jack London Square property there are sculptures that dot the square extending to the parking lot and of course a history of the place.

Watch a video of the sculpture garden here.

El Pueblo Inn Sonoma

Going to a wedding in Sonoma was a good reason to revisit Northern California wine country and try out some new places. The wedding party suggested El Pueblo Inn as one of their suggested hotels, so after reading some reviews and looking at the location (midway between the wedding venue and downtown Sonoma) it was my chosen hotel. Rates were in the $200 range with free parking and breakfast, but that doubles on Saturday night! Very friendly staff, beautiful grounds, and easy access to both the downtown area of Sonoma and the road to other places since it sits at the intersection of the two main roads. 

Thankfully they had ADA rooms and the parking is literally next to the room, which featured a comfortable bed, fridge (that worked VERY well), safe, some biscotti, and a coffee maker. They offer a free breakfast in the morning until 10am, but I didn't wake up early enough to even try it once during my stay!

They had a beautiful fountain, small gym, jacuzzi, and pool, so if you are looking for a nice environment for your wine tasting trip, this place fits the bill. This is a nonsmoking place, with a designated smoking area in the parking lot. Lots of foreign travelers, so it felt very international, and I appreciated the water and coffee offered in the lobby.

 

Grand Hyatt SFO

The Grand Hyatt at SFO (NOT Grand Hyatt San Francisco) was such a pleasurable hotel stay that I may fly into or out of SFO overnight just to stay there again! A long road trip to Sonoma for a wedding required an overnight stay for me to recuperate enough to arrive at the celebration with a smile on my face :) 

After my usual stopover at Harris Ranch to refuel the car and my body, it was a relief to arrive to a beautiful, clean, comfortable, and new LEED hotel. The most challenging part of my arrival was figuring out how to drive into the hotel! Several employees said they also had trouble for a week or two when they started working there because it is very tricky if you are driving into the hotel. Most guests take the skytrain which comes in directly to the hotel from SFO, so there were flight crews mixed in with people with luggage checking in and out as they perused the very handy flight board behind the check in counter. Rooms during my 2 stays were about $350 including all taxes, fees, and valet parking (which I paid for in advance using the Hyatt app as a member, and it was a reasonable $36 a night with in and out privileges, as opposed to double price for hotel parking in SF proper).

Not much action at the airport, but one waiter said every 2 months or so there is actually an event that calls for the emergency crews to scramble to this area.

The 2 story lobby atrium sculpture looks great both day and night, and from both above and below.

I asked for an ADA room without feathers and they delivered a wonderfully comfy bed, with 2 sets of robes, slippers, and a note from housekeeping saying that it was checked for feathers before my arrival!

The removable shower/tub seat was handy for getting in and out, and the handle bars were thoughtfully placed at different levels. The door also had a wheelchair level peep hole! All the bath products were natural and smelled fabulous! I loved the specifically marked makeup towel next the sink!

The room itself had a space for either a laptop or food tray, along with a safe, refrigerator, Nespresso machine, and tea kettle, along with coffee capsules, tea bags, and alkaline water bottles in metal containers!

Their in house restaurant was just one of the options for guests, including a lobby bar and self service 24 hour snack area (that was VERY expensive-$15 for 3 bags of snacks). But overall the restaurant prices were very reasonable from drinks to food, offering mostly Asian fusion cuisine and a full bar. Their menus are all on tablets, and their staff was universally professional, kind, and efficient.

Since I wasn't driving until the next day, I ordered a Grey Goose Dirty Martini and it was the perfect antidote after 6 hours on the road :)

Their tomato soup was a welcoming light comfort start to a meal.

I ordered the Bloomsdale spinach salad, which used crisp pork belly instead of bacon, for a hearty savory crunch, and this meal was very hearty and HUGE so it would have made for a great meal by itself.

Not knowing the portion sizes until I ordered, I also had the fried rice which was easily enough to feed 3 people!

On my return trip, I learned to order less, but again the gem salad was probably enough for a full meal, but I was hungry, so I ordered the fried chicken, which ended up being two meals with the gai lan and coconut rice on the side. The marketplace snack bar next to the lobby has a microwave, which the waiter recommended for heating up leftovers :)

Monta Factory Glendale

My previous review of their place in Pasadena was 5 years ago! Monta Factory, is one of the places that not only survived the pandemic, but expanded their presence to a bigger second location in Glendale. The new location is MUCH MUCH bigger with indoor and outdoor seating, a large parking lot, and big photos of the menu items. This is a very casual place, serving everything on either paper or foil plates, and everything is easily made to go.

I invited 2 friends who had never been to either location to join me, so we ordered the Hangry sized Monta platter for $20 with the works on it. We couldn't finish this platter because we also ordered the small tomato soup for $8 with monta, 2 salmon sandwiches with wild salmon for $15.50, and 2 orders of the cheese Booreg for $2.75 each.

On our visit, the salmon was overcooked in the sandwiches, but a squeeze of lemon helped. 

They offered us a complimentary samples of the Eech salad made with bulgar, tomatoes, red onions, jalapenos, olive oil and spices that was very light and refreshing.

Bianca and The Rose

I've enjoyed all my meals at Bianca, and brunch last week was no exception. Their seafood salad was one of the best I've ever eaten, with tender squid, shrimp, clams, and mussels, all perfectly seasoned and lightly cooked so that the pure flavors sparkled when hit with a squeeze of lemon for $26

The skirt steak sandwich was on special that day and a filling rendition with a nice balance of meat, vegetables, and bread, served alongside a small salad.

Eggplant parmigiana for $20 was exquisitely comforting in a vegetarian way ;) Service is always impeccable, and if you just keep your sights on the patio, you can image being in Italy instead of Culver City.

Since Bianca is not open everyday for breakfast or lunch, I went with a friend to The Rose in Venice. I think the first time I ate at the Rose was several decades ago, so the fact that this place is still open and still thriving is remarkable in terms of any business, but especially in the restaurant business, and even more so after the pandemic changed everyone's sense of what was necessary and what was valuable in life. 

Their side salad is a nice way to add some fresh greens when you order something that comes with chips or fries...

like their shrimp burger with a side of homemade chips! The shrimp burger had a nice shrimp shui mai texture, and the bun was good enough to eat on its own. I liked that they used a slice of heirloom tomato and a lively leaf of lettuce in the sandwich.

If you are coming from the gym around the corner, or simply want a power breakfast, they have a Gold's Special with egg whites, poultry sausage, great mushrooms, spinach, sweet potatoes, and half a ripe avocado!

Service was great from the wait staff and bus person, but terrible from the hostess made me give her my phone number to "waitlist me" and then seated us immediately since there was no one else  waiting for a table! It was a nonsensical move that added on to my displeasure of her ignoring us until we stood at the host stand for 5 minutes. On the plus side, they took care of a safety hazard at the front door that we mentioned upon arrival in the time it took us to eat!