Depot Hotel Restaurant in Sonoma, CA – update, dinner
Sample lunch menu: http://www.depotsonoma.com/Depot-Menu.html
Review date: May 2013

Almost two years ago to the day, we had a lovely lunch out on the patio at Depot Hotel. Just off the Square, even at the height of tourist season this is a quieter, more relaxed oasis compared to the throngs of people waiting for tables at the restaurants that face Sonoma Square. One wouldn't think two short blocks makes a difference, but it does.

Not that Depot Hotel is suffering. According to our very good waiter (who if I remember correctly was our server before), business has grown between 10-15% each year over the last two years. "We're not at 2005 levels, but we're close now," is how he put it. And indeed, it was a good thing we had inadvertently chosen lunch to make our OpenTable reservation, because a wedding reception was taking over the restaurant for the evening.

We ended up being a little late, but despite the great weather and the Tour de California bike race wrapping up right past the Square, there was hardly anyone here. Once again we were seated on the patio with its retro turquoise reflecting pool – the original color, trimmed with Spanish tiles, a couple of white painted concrete cherubs, with an electric fountain spray. All of it has been out of fashion for so long it's back in style again.

Carlos got the roasted beets, which were all golden beets, quartered and mixed with soft goat cheese, wild arugula, and a 20-year balsamic drizzled over the beets. They were good – honestly, they were. But that magnificent beet salad at Bravas a few days ago is ruining us for anybody else's beet salads. We keep measuring every plate of beets we receive against Bravas' amazing Ceylon cinnamon-beets, and nothing else even comes close.
 
I chose the grilled asparagus. The asparagus spears were expertly grilled, stacked atop thin slices of La Quercia prosciutto, decorated with a few airy leaves of arugula and small shavings of tasty Pecorino. The vinaigrette was mild and tasty. I couldn't taste any acid outside of the natural juices of the roasted cherry tomatoes. Drizzled with EVOO, it was a delightful early summer salad. Depot's meat-and-vegetable salad pairings have been outstanding both times we've come.

Carlos got the veal-ricotta crepes with tomato sauce and Vella brand Jack cheese. None of Depot Hotel's pasta dishes are going to rock your world, nor will they exercise your teeth. This is pasta the way it used to be at Italian-American restaurants, where al dente meant "cook it another four minutes" and tomato sauce means precisely that – tomatoes and salt and not much else. When I passed by another table, they had the kind of giant rigatoni-with-tomato sauce plate that looks exactly like every old-time North Beach dish.

In point of fact, Carlos happens to love this kind of old-fashioned pasta. So although he recognizes it is no longer fashionable or imaginative, he's quite happy with it. These aren't rich sauces or inventive creations. They are homemade versions of what Chef Boy-ar-dee made famous. This is comfort food that a lot of people who aren't Italian grew up with, and still enjoy. 

I'll stick with the mains, which Depot does very well in a more modern style. I ordered the CA wild swordfish as my entree, but a few minutes later the waiter came back and apologized saying it hadn't been delivered that morning. I looked over the menu again and told him if he could promise me the duck confit was well rinsed, I'd take that instead. 

It was well-rinsed, unlike the last four or five confits we've received, and was fabulous – rich, butter-soft duck texture instead of dried out saltiness. It was served with a panzanella, the Italian bread salad that is so refreshing in warm weather. Well-moistened croutons (essential!) with two types of decent cherry and grape tomatoes (it is only mid-May, after all), some capers, a bit of chopped raw red bell peppers (thankfully not too much), all tossed with EVOO and allowed to sit a while to let the flavors meld.

We decided to get dessert and coffee. Carlos chose the tiramisu, and I picked the limoncello poundcake. The coffee was strong and fresh, from Big River Coffee Company in Santa Rosa.

The tiramisu didn't look traditional. It was two rather thick yellow cake layers, stuck together with, and topped by, poufs of a mascarpone-enriched whipped cream. On the plate were two swirls of a thick chocolate sauce. Despite the lack of espresso syrup drenching, however, a fine layer of coffee flavor was atop each cake layer; strong enough to cut down any excess sweetness. The chocolate sauce was sweet dark chocolate toned down by some espresso. Although no one ever has enough booziness in their tiramisu for Carlos, he said it was a surprisingly good version that had all the right flavors in it, despite its odd appearance.

The poundcake was the winner. Depot Hotel's owner-chef Michael Ghilarducci makes his own limoncello, and it's shown in all its glory here. He's got the sugar level on the cake lowered so that the sweetness of the limoncello syrup soaking in doesn't make it oversweet. With it was lemon-flavored mascarpone, and two slices of the best Meyer lemon candied peel ever. It was made with limoncello, the bite of the alcohol cutting any excess sugar. There was no granulated sugar coating the peel, just the translucent syrup infusing it.

I usually leave candied citrus peel although Carlos loves the stuff. But I loved this idea; it's absolutely brilliant. The poundcake was excellent on its own, but that peel raised it up a whole level. We just wish there had been more of it!

The service at Depot Hotel is excellent, making a good meal even better. There's always that difference between those who see it as a career and those for whom it's just a job. Depot Hotel is an odd combination of the old and the new, with a slight Continental bent that we happen to enjoy. 

There are many people who profess disdain for the old Cal-Italian places. Often these same people insist they only eat "authentic" Chinese, or Korean, or Mexican, or whatever. 

But just as somebody's gotta be eating all those blue boxes of Kraft macaroni 'n' cheese, others must be eating Ragu spaghetti sauce and cans of Spaghetti-O's. Let's face it, if you took the frozen pizza section out of any major supermarket, you'd have the entire length of an aisle completely empty. 

Depot Hotel will never blow you away with something so creative and imaginative, you'll be talking about it for days (for example, as we keep referring to Bravas Tapa's incredible roasted beets). The kitchen does a good job on the heartier starters and all the mains, with a creativity and balance that isn't always evident in some of their other dishes, such as the pastas. But when you're sitting on that pretty little patio listening to the water splash into the fountain, eating good food with someone who appreciates it as much as you do, without needing to look around for a waiter for service or raise your voice to be heard by your fellow diners, it's hard to think of why you wouldn't want to come here sometime. 

Carlos agreed this is not a first-tier restaurant but like me, he really enjoys Depot Hotel.  It is, in its own way, similar to the now-gone Zatis/Oakland or the still-existing The Fat Lady/Oakland, or Docelunas/Kenwood. It's comfortable and easy; more than good enough for a moderate-cost dining out. There's no fuss or pretentiousness, or worry about whether you're dressed properly. The food (outside of the soft-cooked pastas) is a little more interesting and more generous than Girl & the Fig, which is down the street. 

And a lot less crowded – a positive not to be ignored when summer is coming along with all those tour buses seeming to arrive every hour at the Square. 

Despite the really awful BBQ class we attended here, the regular menu has been well above average for us. Depot Hotel stays on our list of favorites, we're happy to say. 

Two people, lunch: two starters, two entrees, two desserts, three beverages, with tip was a very moderate $101.

Depot Hotel Restaurant and Garden
241 First St. West, Sonoma, CA
http://www.depotsonoma.com/restaurant-menu.html
Review date: May 2011
 
Despite the name, this isn't a hotel, it's a restaurant located inside what was formerly a historic hotel. It is right on the corner of the Sonoma Bike Trail, a great walk/bike trail we discovered on our first extensive Wine Country trip last year. 

On previous visits we had walked by this place and scanned the menu. The menu is Italian, and reads a bit 'old school'. Few people ever mention this place in connection with dining around Sonoma Square, although it's less than two blocks off the Square. There's no exciting list of unusual ingredients nor unusual combinations, so our expectations were for a good, solid, basic Cal-Italian lunch with which to end our trip.

Boy, were we mistaken!
 
Why this restaurant has remained 'off the radar' can only be attributed to a deliberate attempt by Sonoma locals to hide their best downtown restaurant. Over the past year we have eaten at Carneros (terrible), Girl & The Fig (charming and simple), Cafe la Haye (very good), Estate (great chicken livers but flawed service and not every combination works), La Salette (great Brazilian food, uneven on a couple of dishes), and Doce Lunas in nearby Kenwood (cheap 2-star with some Hawaiian influences).
 
None of these even comes close to Depot Hotel. We haven't had such a consistently excellent meal since....well, as we go out so often, at least several months. 
 
We had: 
•	Fried mozzarella
•	Duck pate with duck liver torchon
•	Penne carbonara
•	Pork tenderloin salad
•	Tiramisu
•	Barking Dog coffees, regular and decaf

The fried mozzarella were three squares of fresh mozzarella, so fresh mine squirted when I cut into it with a fork. Despite this the crust stayed crispy all the way through until we finished them off, which admittedly didn't take very long. They were served with an acidic fresh tomato sauce, which always goes well in adding interest to the fried cheese. 

The duck pate was a country style, stiff forcemeat wrapped around a duck liver that was as smooth as butter and perfectly luscious. It was served not with the usual pickle and mustard, but instead with a compote of dried fruits – bing cherries, apricots and prunes – reconstituted and tossed with black mustard seeds. Unusual, but very good. The sweetness of the compote wouldn't have worked with a richer goose liver pate, but was yummy with the duck.

Carlos loves carbonara and although he prefers fettucine or spaghetti with this recipe, he was fine with the penne and said it was one of the better carbonaras he's had. We noticed at least four out of six tables were ordering the fettucine Bolognese ragu, so that is clearly their most popular item. 

The pork tenderloin salad is new to the menu and so delicious that I sent the chef-owner, Michael Ghilarducci, my compliments. Two good-sized slices were grilled yet still wonderfully juicy, atop a modest handful of mixed greens with a drizzle of balsamic underneath. A fresh mango/red onion/chive salsa was scattered on top. The pork juices mingled with the balsamic, and were so yummy I made a point to sweep the plate clean using both the thick slices of fresh Italian bread from the table basket as well as the incredibly pungent, very thin slices of crispy garlic toast that came with the salad.

We ended by sharing a tiramisu, a dessert we enjoy but are so often disappointed in. We're partial to more coffee and liqueur than chocolate and sugar in our tiramisu**, with as much whipped cream as can be managed without the cake collapsing. Depot Hotel's version doesn't quite match the non-traditional but magnificent version done by Venezia/Berkeley, but it is clearly housemade. A tall slice of light cake layers, just enough espresso, and lots of lightly flavored whipped cream – Marsala? Frangelico? It was hard to tell – made for a nicely balanced dessert.

(** go to http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/60/The-Classic-Tiramisu-original-recipe for a fun recounting of a guy who tried to chase down the original recipe)

Barking Dog coffee is a local roaster and I LOVE their decaf especially. As strong and smooth as regular, and excellent with the tiramisu.

As the meal ended, Carlos said, "I can't remember the last time we had a meal that was flawless from start to finish."

That's a slight exaggeration – we've had outstanding meals at Café Beajolais, Fifi's, Bouchee, Bouchon, and Artisan – but this was one of those dreamy vacation experiences, where the food, the service, the weather, and the surroundings all combined for a gustatory experience that couldn't have been bettered.

It reminded us of our perfect lunch on the patio at Auberge du Soleil, except that this was half the price and we were looking at a modest turqoise swimming pool with a fountain, instead of a sweeping vista of the Napa Valley. But heck, for that small amount of money it was worth trading a grand view for a modestly charming one.  

Depot Hotel restaurant is family run, and the owner's wife runs a cooking school. They were advertising a Texas BBQ class in a couple of weeks, so we immediately signed up...not to BBQ, but to eat! You can check out the description of the class at: http://www.depotsonoma.com/cooking-classes.html

Two starters, two entrees, one dessert, three beverages, with generous tip came to $89. It felt like a bargain, and was a terrific ending to our fourth trip through the Wine Country during this past year. 

We do want to try Barndiva again, having had a wonderful lunch/awful dinner there, but so far, Depot Hotel outranks all the others we've tried in the Sonoma County area.