Nathaniel K.
Yelp
TLDR: Excellent Salmon, Surprisingly good beets!
Let's get started with the most surprising thing in our dinner, with a general statement, not too wacky or crazy, but here it is: I hate beets. I don't care for them, they taste awful, even if they are "sweet". There's just this strange after-taste that, if I can be a bit disgusting, makes me want to throw up. On the flip side, I LOVE risotto. If a risotto is cooked and done well, to me, that's the best thing on EARTH! So, what happens when a daring chef combines the one dish I LOVE with the one ingredient I HATE???? Keep readin' and find out!
So this place is quite small. I counted maybe no more than 15 tables. Let's play an old Arsenio Hall segment (yes, I'm carbon-dating myself), called "Things that make you go hmmm..." Why is there a raised platform in the back half of the restaurant? That's where we were sat. Why is there a 2person table where one person sits FACING THE WALL? That happened to a couple next to us. And also, why did we get served ice water in half-sized water glasses? Did they run out of clean drinking glasses??? But people who came in after us got normal sized drinking glasses. Hmmmm....
Our server was quite friendly, but she rushed through all the specials of the day, as if she might forget one at ANY second. It was a bit hard to hear all the stuff, but my ears perked when she said "RISOTTO". Unfortunately, it was paired with beets... I ordered it anyway, hoping that it would be just a few beet chunks, that I could easily pick out. My wife ordered the other special of the day, King Salmon. I also ordered the soup of the day, which was creamofbroccoliwithgruyerecheesewithsomeoilthatIcouldn'tquitehearsinceshetalkedlikethisdrippedintoit, while my wife, the BIRTHDAY GIRL, also got a gem salad.
My cream of broccoli soup was decent. Not sure what the oil was, as I mentioned earlier, the server spoke too fast for me to catch. I didn't like the oil though, so I just mixed it as best I could, hoping the soup would mask the taste better. I don't think I would order it again. My wife's gem salad on the other hand was super delish. I really really like butter lettuce. It's one of the few veggies (along with broccoli) that I earnestly like. The candied bacon on it was the accent that pushed the salad over the top. Truly excellent salad!
My wife's king salmon was pretty tasty, and not dried out at all. And the sauce it was sitting atop of was pretty yummy as well. It came on a bed of couscous, and my wife loved it. She said it was light and fluffy.
But that's not what you came to this review for... Can a risotto beat out beets??? The first hmmm thing was it was... pink. To my "dismay", there were chopped up bits of beets EVERYWHERE. There must have been a sale on beets, because at least 3 beets died making this risotto. But how does it TASTE??? Actually... not bad! It didn't make me want to throw up! I still don't like it that much, but at least I could eat it, which is a HUGE bonus. My wife actually liked the beets! Because normally, she can't stand beets either. The risotto itself was fantastic. It was creamy and smooth, and the rice was cooked al-dente, so it didn't taste like baby food. It had just a tiny bit of chew to it, which is what i really look for in a good risotto. I think if they had used any other ingredient, I would have given this a top 5 risotto award.
We finished the evening with a silk cake, with a birthday candle on top. I was secretly hoping it would be on the house, like some other restaurants we went to for birthdays (see my Town San Carlos review). But no... nothing is given for birthdays here... ah well.. The silk cake... is not a cake. I'm not sure if a silk cake is ever supposed to be a cake. It was more like fudge. There wasn't the light and fluffy cake texture you'd expect but, it was saved by the quenelle of home-made cream on the side. The cream really cuts through the dense chocolate, adding a lightness to it.
The service was decent. Several times my wife wanted more water, because to be honest, 2 sips was enough to drain the glass. The waitress eventually came around to top us off, 2x throughout the meal. The manager came to check on us as well to see how we were doing. That's nice. In the end, it was a good meal. Not perfect, but satisfying. And truly kudos to the one who made the beets palatable! That was a herculean task.
If you like this review and would like to see more of our Sonoma trip, you can check out my other reviews!
Lunch: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-girl-and-the-fig-sonoma?hrid=3fqPvMW_6wotKmv7ByL32Q
Snack: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sweet-scoops-homemade-ice-cream-sonoma?hrid=2CPxzTt
Dinner: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wit-and-wisdom-sonoma-sonoma-2?hrid=bH0BW-t9ubgEiUv1kU_i_w
Coffee: https://www.yelp.com/biz/harveys-gourmet-donut-bar-sonoma?hrid=VrsF5P2VAbBkTAVAGOz65A
Breakfast: https://www.yelp.com/biz/harveys-gourmet-donut-bar-sonoma?hrid=VrsF5P2VAbBkTAVAGOz65A