After circling the restaurants in Healdsburg, CA and finding zero good coffee + dessert options, and then getting a recommendation on a dessert spot back in SF, we spent a long (almost 2 hour) car ride back to San Francisco, CA in search of sweets.
We ended up at one of my friend’s roomie’s fave spots in town – Park Chow . I loved the ambiance in Park Chow. The place seemed very local-centric, one-of-a-kind, and super chill. Park Chow would turn out to be the perfect spot for us – somewhere where we could relax and enjoy some dessert and coffee without feeling like the restaurant and/or waitress was rushing us out the door to turn a table.
I was also intrigued with the menu there, which I perused while my friend ran to the restroom, even though I knew we wouldn’t be having a second dinner. All over the menu were the buzzwords I’ve been looking for when I grocery shop: organic, local, + sustainable. I was so impressed! I want to eat a whole meal there next time so I can check out their regular eats.
My friend wanted to order a latte but didn’t see one on the menu. I suggested she just ask if they could make one and they said they could! Not only that, they could make what she really wanted – a soy latte. I’ve tried soy lattes before. I figured since I liked chocolate soy milk, I’d like a soy latte, too, but I wasn’t that impressed with them the first time I tried them. Fast forward to our SF dessert-meal and I figured I’d go with the flow and try a soy latte again.
I guess the 2nd time was the charm for me because it was love at first sip! That soy latte was one of the best lattes I’ve ever had…ever! I seriously savored every, single sip. Just look at that froth! I can’t believe they can get froth like that from soy sometimes.
As for dessert, the weather had been overcast and rainy all day, so I wanted something cozy and warm besides the soy latte. I thought about getting the cobbler, but my friend was ordering that, so I went with the Ginger Cake with Pumpkin Ice Cream. Turns out the Ginger Cake is served warm, too! Sweet!
My friend ordered the cobbler – huckleberry and (I think) apple a la mode! We shared a few bites of dessert with each other, following our sharing theme from dinner. I don’t think I’d ever had huckleberries before, but they were quite good!
The restaurant was busy and a bit loud, but also relaxing and casual. Our waitress gave us space but also gave us enough attention, which I definitely appreciated. My friend and I happily eased into our lattes and desserts and enjoyed some good conversation to round out an overall amazing day in California.
PS I am now officially addicted to soy lattes…especially vanilla soy lattes…mmm…so good! I am going to have to make sure I keep my Starbucks Mondays in check…seriously!
After wrapping up our *sniff* last wine tasting of the day at Rosenblum Cellars , we were seriously ready to get our eat on and headed back to Ravenous (Trentadue’s dinner recommendation) to see if they were open yet! It was Saturday night, sure to be a busy night for the restaurant, so we were lucky we got there early at around 5:15pm.
The restaurant was located in what looked to be a renovated house. I loved the interior – it was so cottage-y-cozy! I love these local-type restaurants – they are so fun to visit!
The place was empty when we got there, which was good because we beat the crowd. Ravenous had quite a few reservations booked up and I watched them have to turn away a couple groups. If you want to hit up this spot, I suggest reservations ahead of time or get there early! The bar area filled out since most of the tables seemed to be saved for reservations.
We grabbed a table with a half booth along the wall where my friend and I could both fit on the cushy booth-side and were promptly greeted by our waiter…
…and 2 copies of a hand-written menu, presumably by the chef. The selections all sounded so good, so my foodie friend and I happily split a few courses so we could try out more flavors.
The table had pitchers of water with lemon and (I think) cucumber slices.
The table also had a lovely loaf of bread – I think it was wheat sourdough.
We started with a mixed green salad – can you believe this is “half”?! The salad was really good – the dressing was so light that I hardly noticed there was any on the salad at all.
We also got an appetizer of crab cakes to share. These came with another little salad. My friend absolutely loved the crab cakes, but I couldn’t help but think the ones from Eclipse were better. Comparatively, these tasted almost a bit more “fishy“. Don’t get me wrong, they were delicious, as confirmed by my friend’s look of pure crab-cake-enjoyment I noticed as she munched on hers…I just thought the other ones were better.
Now, the entree was another story. We got the bravette steak – from the menu: “Creekstone grilled spice-rubbed bravette steak lime chipotle sauce peppers + onions…roasted potatoes.” The steak was a little cool (heat-wise) when it came out, but the flavor more than made up for it. The spice rub was subtle but delicious and paired well with the cilantro lime sauce that lightly flavored the meat. The roasted potatoes were nice, hot, and tender, but not too soft. The carrot and asparagus were good, too, as was the roasted red onion quarter. The steak was by far the star of this meal!
After our main meal was over, we received another hand-written menu for desserts. We looked it over but remembered another recommendation by Trentadue to try Hotel Healdsburg for dessert, so we got ready for some sweets (even though we were pretty stuffed!).
Before leaving Ravenous, I snapped a couple shots of the fireplace that added extra coziness to the atmosphere.
As we left, the restaurant was just picking up steam. The place was really filling up and must be popular with the locals.
We headed over the Hotel Healdsburg . The greenery above the sign were too cool, so I snapped a couple photos.
Look at those colors!
Pretty little flowers.
Once past the sign, we walked to the back door, only to learn *gasp* the entire hotel and the restaurant were closed for a private event! Bummer! We checked the other restaurants in Healdsburg to find a nice spot for coffee and dessert, but again, it was Saturday night and they were all swamped. My friend called her sweet-tooth-roomie and got a recc for a spot back in San Fran, so we hit the road in search of the perfect dessert-meal to end our most amazing day of wine-tasting, good food, and great friends.
More on dessert next time!
by Diana on March 30, 2009
in Travel
After leaving Trentadue Winery, we headed over to Healdsburg, CA for a snack. It was about 4:30 pm and we’d had a late breakfast, but no other food…just lots of good wine. We got a couple recommendations for restaurants in Healdsburg by the peeps at Trenadue and decided on hitting up Ravenous where we heard they had a great burger. Unfortunately, we were a tad early and the restaurant didn’t open till 5!
Although we were a bit hungry, we decided more wine sounded like a good idea still, plus most wineries closed after 5/6 pm-ish, so we hit up Rosemblum Cellars. Rosenblum’s Healdsburg tasting room was actually in the city of Healdsburg, so the place was packed! We had to wait to get a spot for tasting. A spot opened up but the people on either side of it spread out so we couldn’t fit. Luckily, the nice man behind the counter kindly asked the gentlemen to help us make our way to the tasting counter. How nice!
The tasting room was super cute and there was wine everywhere!
There was a cozy sitting area across from the tasting counter, but this area stayed pretty empty while we were there.
Once we got a spot at the tasting counter, it was vino time! My friend and I each got the reserve wine samplings. I was most intrigued by the wine they said was for barbecues and grilling-out parties! Those wines really did taste like they’d go great with some nice, smoky summer-grilled foods! I didn’t get any bottles of these BBQ wines, but wish I did!
More etched-glasses! I loved how each winery had their own etched tasting glasses.
Seriously…wine everywhere!
Love those pour spouts.
Though this place was busy, we had a good time with our wine tasting. Oh, and do you see that decorative vase-looking-thing in the background?
I’m talking about this thingy – the blue, green, and yellow vase. If you’re not familiar with wine tasting, you may not know what this is. This receptacle is where you pour the wines you don’t want to drink any more. I know…it sounds almost impossible to not want to finish your wine! But, if you’re up for a serious day of wine-visiting, you can easily visit 5+ wineries, so at some point, you may wish to not finish your entire tasting glass, especially if you’re driving! In that case, simply pour your wine into this vase. Done and done.
Specials.
Rosenblum has a stimulus plan, too.
My friend and I wrapped up our wine tastings and even got to try some of their delicious dessert wines, including one that is flavored like chocolate!
I probably would have only been able to get 1 bottle of wine, but due to luggage space, not budget. Like I said, I had budgeted for some vacay shopping. Lucky me, the winery offered $5 shipping to select spots if you purchased 6 bottles of wine or more. Now, I say I budgeted money, but I didn’t budget 6 bottles worth! As it worked out, my friend got 3 and I got 3, which they let qualify my order for the shipping…yay! The peeps at Rosenblum were so nice! I picked up 2 dessert wines and 1 white. There they are on the counter while our wine helper prepares my goodies for shipment. I’ll post wine details once they arrive…should be any day now!
Friends at Rosenblum. 
Corks by the entrance/exit. Info on the wine club, too. Each of the wineries we visited had their own wine clubs, which I didn’t research, but seemed to get you free tastings and discounts on wine. If only I lived in Cali…I would be all about a wine club membership! In fact, my friend said she wants to retire in California wine country and now that I’ve seen what it has to offer…I want to retire there, too! It’s beautiful and so relaxing! Actually, I think it would be really cool to open a cafe or my own winery there. Maybe I’ll get lucky and win the lottery? *le sigh* Maybe one fine day?
After finishing our tasting at Rosenblum Cellars, we headed back to Ravenous for sustenance. More on dinner + dessert next time!
by Diana on March 30, 2009
in Travel
After leaving Bella Winery + Wine Caves, we headed over to the next stop on my friend’s winery list – Trentadue Winery . This was a winery my friend had never been to, but heard good things about. We lucked out that my friend happened to have a winery map complete with winery addresses, along with a GPS system so we could enter the addresses and get directions. I think I need a GPS, too! It was so cool!
We greeted at the main gate by a simple sign with some pretty orange flowers.
We passed the gate and drove down a red-leaved-tree-lined road towards the winery.
The wine tasting area was very fru-fru-looking from the outside.
I loved the fountain outside…especially the lions!
This winery had more counter space for us, so we grabbed a nice corner spot. Trentadue Winery offered free wine tastings from the left side of the menu – any choice of (about) 8 wines! Free wine tastings are always nice. See the etched wine glasses again?
My friend got the port tasting…
I got the regular wine tasting flight.
The glasses were totally different sizes! My friend’s glass was so cute and mini! I sampled a couple wines off the free list and all the ones on my tasting flight. I even got a couple sips of my friend’s port tastings. The wine tastings were all delicious. Additionally, I really liked the staff at Trentadue. They were very personable and energetic.
Yay for wine tastings with good friends!
The ladies next to us had the cutest doggie! This is (I believe) a Mi-Ki. I hear it’s a new breed? I’ve certainly never heard of it before.
They even showed us some of their dog’s tricks like how she could stand.
So cute!
After our entertainment, we wrapped up our wine-tasting and discussed wine-purchase-options.
I got 2 bottles! I purchased 2 reds:
I couldn’t decide between these 2 bottles of wine (both from the free list, surprisingly enough), and since they were reasonably priced, I figured it was ok to get both (especially since I had some spending money budgeted for the trip and wasn’t just charging up a storm). I can’t wait to enjoy them now that I’m home!
Anywho, after Trentadue Winery, we were off to Healdsburg, CA to get a snack, then more vino!
