review: sonoma weekend (harvest moon, fremont diner, olive & vine, raymond cheese, taqueria guadalajara)

[artemis]

instead of hijacking an existing thread, i thought it best to make a new one. the SO and i went up to sonoma for a wedding last weekend and generally ate very well, with a serious disappointment at fremont diner.

1) harvest moon cafe. friday dinner.
i managed to leave work early, enabling us to leave the bay before traffic got super bad. we had reservations for 7:30, but we got to sonoma at about 5:30 and decided to try to get in early. they were happy to seat us early on their lovely back patio next to the fountain. we ordered 3 apps (tomato salad, roasted figs and gorgonzola w/ 25 year old balsamic, and a green salad), 2 entrees (chicken and ricotta ravioli and rock cod with corn succotash and lemon burre blanc), and 2 desserts (vanilla panna cotta and peach tart). overall, very good. my main advice is to make sure that your fork has a little bit of everything on your plate before you eat it. each of the ingredients was on the plate for a reason and the dishes were often imbalanced when we didn't take care to eat the dish with all the flavors at once. everything was good. the fig and gorgonzola app and the vanilla panna cotta (which ended up having a lovely hint of lemon and came with a ridiculously good and not sweet raspberry sauce) were utter standouts. the ravioli was imbalanced (bitter) when the fork wasn't properly laden, but great when you had a bit of everything. all ingredients were of impeccable quality and burst with flavor. friendly service, good wine. $160 for the listed dishes, plus three glasses of wine and a coffee. i'd go back.

2) fremont diner. saturday breakfast.
i wanted to love this place so very much, but it was a disaster. we got there around 9am. they were already out of fresh oj. i ordered the chicken and waffles. remembering rworange's glowing reviews of fried items, i thought the fried chicken was a good idea. the SO got the breakfast skillet, with eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, bacon, and a biscuit, plus an espresso milkshake. i also got a biscuit. the food took a long time, which was fine, but when we finally got it, it was mediocre at best, if not bad. my waffle was cold. my chicken was greasy, lukewarm, and had a soggy breading. the syrup with the waffles was definitely not maple. in contrast, the skillet was all burnt. the bacon was black, the eggs had black bottoms, and strangely, the potatoes were pale and steamed looking, with a slight browning on the bottom from the skillet, and tasted like nothing. the peppers were roasted hole and incredibly spicy (too spicy for the former new orleanian SO) and the tomato was burnt on the bottom and raw on the top. the biscuits were nice. the milkshake took forever and then was an incredibly thick eat-with-a-spoon blob of ice cream in a cup. wow. i was so disappointed. the best that can be said about my experience at fremont diner was that you could take a bottle of cold tap water to the table so i was able to fully hydrate for the day.

we did the tour at domaine carneros upon my request to do one mass market winery tour. it was a nice tour, fun to learn some of the trivia they keep throwing at you, and champagne #2 on the tour was good. we didn't end up buying any bottles, but it served its purpose.

we then went to gundlach bunschu because the SO being a new orleans alum had heard great things about their wine, including the wine with the katrina-recovery art. i ended up loving their gewurztraminer, though i usually do not like that type of wine. theirs wasn't nearly as sweet and had a wonderful fruity crispness. we also did a reserve tasting of the 2003-2005 bottles, and didn't much care for 2004, liked 2003, and really liked 2005, which had the new orleans art on it. sold.

3) olive and vine, raymond cheese. saturday lunch. we ordered an ahi tuna sandwich and a turkey club. the sandwiches took a while to make, so we happily wandered next door into raymond cheese. raymond cheese is a wonder to behold and i can't wait to go back. we tried a slew of cheeses and had a great time talking with a charming and knowledgeable employee who was not mr. raymond. all the cheeses were great, as was the fig cake. i wish i could remember what we ate. and as predicted by the cheese man, we adored the classico and bought a quarter pound of it to eat while zin tasting the following day.

the wedding was at a church, with a reception at landmark winery. absolutely gorgeous grounds, and good wine. definitely the best wedding wine i've ever had. i'd consider having mine there, except i will remember it as the wedding of our friends.

we grabbed odwallas and fruit at the oakville (?) grocery store before heading to deerfield ranch winery. had a great time, loved all the wine, and ended up joining as a member, bringing home eight bottles in the process. i lack the vocabulary to properly describe, but the wines were incredibly balanced and delicious. i particularly liked the merlot cuvee, the zin, the ladi's cuvee, and the 2002 pinot. wow.

then up to dry creek to passalacqua, which i didn't like nearly as much as deerfield. we were there only briefly and didn't get anything.

then to quivira, which was much more successful. we liked everything except a truly ghastly and on-sale-for-a-reason rose. we took home a wine creek zin, a syrah, and a grenache, a style we weren't familiar with before. i also liked the chardonnay and was impressed by the $20 zin; very drinkable for the price. but as both were commercially available, we decided to hold off on those two. they also have a lovely array of fruit preserves which made excellent gifts.

4) taqueria guadalajara. sunday late lunch. my blackberry managed to find this recommendation for me on chowhound (which is not a bberry friendly site), and it didn't disapopint. flavorful, really delicious, and right by the 101 on ramp. best mexican i'd had in a while.