West Marin welcomes Giaco's Valley Roadhouse
A 40-year-old restaurant making a final exit can be rough on its regulars. But for West Marin resident Andrew Giacomini and his family who purchased Two Birds Café in San Geronimo from its founder and owner Tony Miceli earlier this year, preserving the restaurant's classic and beloved elements was paramount.
After a brief transition period, Giaco's Valley Roadhouse is now open and the Giacominis are continuing Miceli's legacy by offering locals and travelers on West Marin's rural gateway a country breakfast and lunch experience while introducing a few new modifications, including dinner on weekends.
“The whole vibe is the same and much of the staff remains, although we changed the music to Spotify playlists and put in a computer system for ordering,” Giacomini says.
He points out that the most notable difference is the menu that more fully embraces nearby growers, ranchers, dairies and fishermen, and supports the family's commitment to the agricultural community where he was raised. Menu partnerships include Straus Family Creamery, Star Route Farms, Equator Coffees, Tomales Bay Pastures, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co., Stemple Creek Ranch, Brick-maiden Breads and the Agricultural Institute of Marin farmers markets.
“It's a big focus of ours to support our local food shed,” says Giacomini, a prominent lawyer who is a Marin Agricultural Land Trust board member and resides in the
San Geronimo Valley with his wife, Susi, and their three children. Giacomini's extended family is well known for supporting environmental causes and land preservation in West Marin.
“My dad was an environmentalist, and all of my cousins are in the dairy and cheese business,” he says.
The restaurant's upgraded kitchen is managed by Alejandro Cano, who came to the United States from Mexico after high school. He worked his way up through a variety of restaurant positions, including at Insalata's and Marinitas in San Anselmo, and attended culinary school in San Francisco.
Cano works alongside many of Two Bird Café's long-term kitchen staff.
“Everyone's contributing,” says Giacomini about what he refers to as a farm-to-table California menu that also incorporates international influences from the team of cooks. This includes a Spanish-inspired garlic prawn appetizer with chile de arbol; Ital
ian dinner dishes, such as spaghetti carbonara and chicken marsala; and a Nicaraguan grandmother's recipe for huevos rancheros sauce.
Many of the desserts tap back to 1980s Kentfield and are made from recipes that Giacomini has held on to from his days running the dining room at the beloved La Lanterna, where he was employed during his 15 years in the restaurant industry when working his way through college and law school.
“The crème caramel is the best you'll ever taste,” Giacomini says. “And the tiramisu is layered with house-made pound cake.”
The dessert list also includes Cano's chocolate mousse and lemon olive oil cake. The restaurant offers a selection of draft beer and wines from its stocked cellar but will have a full bar with craft cocktails later this month.
Although most of the upgrades and renovations were done in the kitchen, and the antique furniture in the dining room has been polished but remains, the interior carpeting has been replaced with hardwood floors and an outdoor, dog-friendly patio with firepit is being installed. The rotating artwork from local artists was curated by Susi Giacomini, who is also managing the remodel of the neighboring Valley Inn that they anticipate will be ready for guests in July or August.
Giaco's Valley Roadhouse is open from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends and 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays at 625 San Geronimo Valley Drive in San Geronimo. Takeout picnic baskets will be available by advance order soon and a live music calendar is expected by June. Find more information or make reservations at giacosroadhouse.com or call 415-4880105.
Slurp it up
Souvla isn't the only San Francisco restaurant that's marking new territory at Larkspur's Marin Country Mart. Executive chef and restauranteur Charles Phan of the Slanted Door Group, who has garnered acclaim for his collection of the restaurants, is opening a noodle shop in the former Belcampo space at 2405 Larkspur Landing Circle.
It is expected to open later this year after an extensive renovation and will offer full service, indoor and outdoor lunch and dinner daily. The menu is still in the design phase, but Phan intends to share the flavors from the noodle card street vendors in Vietnam where he was born but will also incorporate the California ingredients and sensibilities he discovered after his family moved to San Francisco and he immersed himself in the city's food scene.
The plan is to keep it small and curated with six or so different noodle dishes and house-made cocktails from a full bar.
Stay apprised of updates at moonset-ca.com.
Bump it
If you've had a meal at Quince (owned by former Marin residents Michael and Lindsay Tusk), or Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, you may be familiar with the one of its former chefs, Jonny Black, who will be at the Bump Bar by California Caviar Co. in Sausalito for its first Caviar Supper Club at 5:30 p.m. May 15. The dinner will also serve as a preview for what's to come at chef Black's forthcoming seafood-centric restaurant Chez Noir that's set to open this spring in Carmel-by-the-Sea.
The multi-course tasting menu features caviar in California-sourced dishes like avocado sorbet; oyster gratin; king salmon tartar; Meyer lemon capellini; black bass; and brown butter ice cream. Search for the Caviar Co. at resy. com to purchase tickets ($325; optional wine pairings $175).
The Bump Bar is at 1403 Bridgeway in downtown Sausalito. Learn more about its a la carte, chef's tasting and beverage menus at californiacaviar.com.
`Top Chef' stars
Eight of this season's “Top Chef” contestants are preparing multi-course, one-night-only menus for a dinner series from 6 to 9 p.m. May 13 through 15 at Cavallo Point in Sausalito. All are contenders for the top prize of this season “Top Chef” series on Bravo and will share their culinary talents while showcasing California's seasonal bounty. The lineup includes former chef de cuisine at Cavallo Point's Murray Circle.
Find details about each chef and their full nightly menus by searching for Top Chef at cavallopoint.com, or search for Cavallo Point at Eventbrite.com to purchase tickets ($295 including gratuity and parking; $125 for wine pairings).
Leanne Battelle is a freelance food writer and restaurant columnist. Email her at ij.lbattelle@gmail.com with news and recommendations and follow on Instagram @ therealdealmarin for more on local food and updates on the launch of The Real Deal Marin restaurant guide