SONOMA COUNTY’S ROADHOUSE REVOLUTION
A customer perused the beer list at Twin Oaks Roadhouse in Penngrove on a recent evening, and his forehead wrinkled a bit.
“Where’s the PBR?” he asked the bartender.
Most likely, he was kidding, because since Dean Biersch bought the 92-yearold joint in December, it’s been all about boutique microbrews here. Just as with Biersch’s other roadhouse-style restaurant-bars, HopMonk Tavern, with its three locations in Sonoma, Sebastopol and Novato, craft is king.
It’s the same scenario at other Sonoma County roadhouses, as new owners come in to gentrify what generally had declined into dives over the past century. Spaces are being spruced up, dining is elevated, and customers now range from the expected weathered ranchers to younger, hipster-bearded dudes.
Chalk it up to the charm of history, and a healthy dose of quirkiness. Since the mid-19th century, taverns, inns and way stations have stitched the sprawling Sonoma County landscape together. They sprang up along rural wagon roads traveled by settlers and Gold Rush dreamers; the clapboard buildings beckoned weary souls in with $1-a-night rooms, palatable food and stiff drinks.
Over the years, some roadhouses gained reputations as gambling halls, brothels and seedy bars. Others remained mannerly, however, such as Stormy’s Spirits & Supper House, built as a hotel in 1854 in Bloomfield on the edge of Petaluma/Two Rock. Time stands still at this charming destination owned by the Cramer family since 1961 — from the huge stone fireplace and dark wood bar to the $28 prime rib dinner complete with homemade clam chowder, salad, potato, vegetable and French bread.
Then, there’s Crush Roadhouse Bar & Grill, slated to open in late November in the former Kenwood Restaurant space in Kenwood. New owners Dean and Abigail Zimmerman Bordigioni have partnered with husband-and-wife team John Burdick and Catherine Venturini to revive what for many decades was a simple outpost in the small Wine Country town. For three years, the restaurant went fancy, but now the new team is bringing it back to its more humble roots.
“We’ve always loved the history of the building and the beautiful vineyards views,” Venturini said. “Having the ultimate locals’ roadhouse has been a dream we’ve lusted after, and our menu will showcase Sonoma County’s bounty plus homages to its past owners.”
Whatever an inn’s storied past, today’s travelers are increasingly appreciating tavern lore. Though they are now just as likely to arrive in a luxury sedan instead of a dusty truck, for this whole new generation of road trippers, rustic roadhouses are enjoying a resurgence.
Valley Ford Hotel, Valley Ford
One of the first Sonoma County roadhouse revivals, the hotel’s new chapter began in 2006 when Shona Campbell and Brandon Gunther purchased the 1894 property in the tiny town west of Sebastopol. They turned the quaint clapboard lodge into an elegant, seven-room oasis with the cozy, Cal-cuisine Rocker Oysterfeller’s restaurant and saloon on the ground floor.
Guests gather for baked local oysters smothered in arugula, bacon, cream cheese and corn bread ($3.50 each), and big plates of buttermilk-fried free-range chicken with whipped potatoes and Lagunitas Ale-caraway gravy ($21). They relax on the front porch with their pooches, then belly up to the wood bar inside, beneath hanging stained-glass lights, to quaff modern signatures like a Pimm’s Cup ($9) stocked with local fruits and vegetables and served in a preserves jar.
14415 Shoreline Hwy., Valley Ford, (707) 876-1983, www.rockeroysterfellers. com. Hours: 5-8:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 3-8:30 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Sunday.
Fremont Diner, Sonoma
After chef Chad Harris took over in 2009, he turned an ancient former burger shack standing amid dairies
and vineyards into a stylish farm-style spot serving a delicious twist on ranch cuisine.
Pacific Coast oyster sandwiches are topped with arugula, remoulade, bacon and juniper-pickled red onions ($13.99), while Nashville-style spicy fried chicken sits atop white bread and mac ’n’ cheese or a corn-sorghum waffle ($15.99). And nobody blinks if a guest sips a Sonoma Springs craft draft ($5.99) with his Hangtown Fry breakfast ($14.99).
2698 Fremont Drive (Highway 12/121), Sonoma, (707) 938-7370, www.thefremont diner.com. 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.
Washoe House, Petaluma
The staff here likes to tell ghost stories about the 157-year-old, two-story red clapboard roadhouse that, after its stagecoach stop days fizzled, housed a brothel, a butcher shop and then a post office. They point to the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tattered dollar bills tacked to the bar ceiling — courtesy of Gold Rush miners who put them there for safekeeping to ensure they had enough money for a drink when they returned — and explain how, in early days, no women were allowed in the bar.
The haunting story is true, they say. A few years ago, a female bartender was joking about the no-ladies rule, and laughing that she shouldn’t mess with the ghosts. Suddenly, one of the dollar bills fell from the ceiling, landing straight up on its side in front of her. Written on it was, “Don’t mess with me.”
Today, the destination at Stony Point and Roblar roads attracts some visitors who hope to see phantom card players at the dining room tables, and bordello spirits peering from the upstairs windows. Some come for the hardly-betterthan-decent burgers ($10.50) or pork chop and polenta ($14.99).
But most converge for the potent drinks served to the eclectic crowd of late-morning imbibers, ranchers and, lately, fashionable types enjoying excellent Moscow Mules served in ice-cold copper mugs. 2840 Stony Point Road, Petaluma, (707) 795-4544. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
Twin Oaks Tavern, Penngrove
One of the best things owner Dean Biersch has done with this 1924 jewel is leave its bones alone. The low-slung, bright red wood-and-brick ranch house in this postage-stamp-size town on Old Redwood Highway still charms with its honky-tonk roots and slow-smoked barbecue pork ($10).
But it’s cleaner and prettier now, with a great new beer garden featuring trellis-shaded, dog-friendly patio dining, lush landscaping and a new outdoor live music stage for the many notable acts that love playing here.
The dim bar glows from neon signs, and there’s the requisite jackalope on the wall and a new dance floor next to the indoor stage. The menu entices, as well, with signatures such as a superb buttermilk-fried chicken sandwich served with crunchy slaw, homemade pickles and buttered corn on the cob ($11).
Just the thing to pair with pair with cold draft suds like HenHouse Chemtrails IPA from Santa Rosa ($6) or HopMonk Kellerbier Pilsner ($4) from owner Biersch himself.
5745 Old Redwood Hwy., Penngrove, (707) 795-5118, www.twinoakstavernpenn grove.com. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
Fork Roadhouse, Sebastopol
It’s hard to imagine that some 86 years ago, this cozy farmhouse was a bordello. These days, the clientele leans more toward cosmopolitan than cowboy.
Since January 2015, owner Sarah Piccolo has impressed with excellent Wine Country cooking, such as a brined pork chop in root beer barbecue sauce over buttermilk mashed potatoes ($24), or fried green tomatoes over grits with grilled corn, spinach and Parmesan ($18). The menu pairs well with boutique wines, and live music plays on the pooch-friendly slate patio overlooking a creek.
9890 Bodega Hwy., Sebastopol, (707) 634-7575. www.forkcatering.com. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday.
Crush Roadhouse Bar & Grill, Kenwood
Over the decades, the cottage-style retreat on Highway 12 operated as Bunny’s Country Kitchen (famous for its fried chicken with biscuits and honey), the Capri and, since 1987, Kenwood Restaurant. In late November, the 50table restaurant and lounge will reopen as this new roadhouse.
It’s a project from new managers Dean and Abigail Zimmerman Bordigioni and husband-and-wife team John Burdick and Catherine Venturini, owners of the now-closed Olive & Vine restaurant in Glen Ellen.
Until 2013, Kenwood was owned by Max Schacher, who sold it that year to restaurateur Bill Foss. So in tribute to Bunny and Schacher, Venturini plans some throwback menu items amid the pulled pork sandwiches and dry-aged rib eye.
Details are still in development, yet guests can expect California cuisine, craft beers, cocktails and local wines including varietals from the Bordigioni-owned Annadel Estate Winery nearby. Venturini also promises a 1930s flatbed truck parked near the backyard pond to serve as a live-music stage.
And as always, the best seats in the house will be in the dark, bricktrimmed bar, parked in front of the fireplace. 9900 Sonoma Hwy., Kenwood, (707) 833-6326. www.crushbarandgrill.com
Rossi’s 1906, El Verano
Celebrating its 110th birthday this year, the once-lively roadhouse was in serious decline by the time San Francisco nightclub owner Max Young purchased it out of foreclosure in 2013.
He started with a barbecue concept, bringing in boisterous live acts to play on a newly upgraded stage, and reopened the massive, stone-wall-enclosed garden patio to the side of the bar.
The reception has been good, Young said, but now he wants to install more of a full restaurant experience. So through December, he is shuttering the joint on the edge of Boyes Hot Springs and downtown Sonoma, and will reopen it in early 2017, as what he calls an “even more improved roadhouse.”
The antique ambience will remain, Young promised, including the original wood bar in the front room and the mural of Switzerland in the back dining room. Live music will be less “punkish” than it’s been before, he said.
And there will be a new menu to go with those craft cocktails, wines and beers. Young isn’t spilling the details on that yet, but he insists it will be a taste of “true Sonoma.” 401 Grove St., Sonoma, (707) 3430044, www.rossis1906.com