Jacqueline's High Tea
203 Western Avenue, Petaluma, CA
http://www.jacquelineshightea.com/ 
Review date: August 2012

We love a high or cream tea – that is, I do. Carlos comes along for the tuna salad and egg salad sandwiches, LOL. I've gone with other friends to Lovejoy's in San Francisco, which so far rates as the best. But it's been several years since I've been there, so when I discovered that Petaluma has its own tea room, it seemed a natural choice for us to give it a try. 

This will give us a chance to compare it to our upcoming private tea at the Pardee House Museum (http://www.pardeehome.org/) next weekend. If we schedule a jaunt into SF to try Lovejoy's, we will be able to give a blow-by-blow comparison of three Bay Area tea shops.

Just off the main drag in Petaluma but still well within the historical district, Jacqueline's uses about one-third of its good-sized footage for selling teacups, pots, and various tea-related tchotchkes (new, not used). The dining room is larger than most, with a full height wall mural adding faux-patio warmth to the high-ceilinged space. Skylights bring in welcome light, with colorful upside-down paper parasols (see the photos, a rarity for me) adding a fun and charming touch. The tables are covered with white tablecloths and the chairs are comfortably upholstered. For all the Victorian patterning, Jacqueline's is actually less frilly than the usual, although still heavy on the flowery side.

Although extensive, while reading the tea list it seemed to me that most of them were from Republic of Tea brand. Now, we like Republic of Tea. We drink it at home. But they have almost completely dropped loose tea and gone to teabags. Sure enough, what you receive is teabags, not loose tea. Good quality teabags, but not premium loose-leaf.

Carlos got the Queen Elizabeth blend, which is very good despite being a bagged tea. It's a blend of Darjeeling and Assam, giving it the middle-note kick needed to stand up to the milk and sugar he likes to add to English black teas. It's from a different supplier than Republic of Tea: 
http://www.stuffedchocolate.com/tea_order_english_queen_elizabeth.htm.

I chose the Windsor Castle, which was mostly Darjeeling (my preference for black tea). Unlike Carlos I prefer it without milk or sugar. As I had ordered the "High Tea" triple-tier platter, having plain tea was preferable since these menus are always carb- and sugar-heavy. 

The owner, an escapee from Los Angeles, told us that Jacqueline's was his wife's retirement dream. He said they like to differentiate themselves by having a heartier menu than other tea shops. Also, people ordering the "High Tea" will each get an individual triple-tier server. Normally if two people order a "High Tea", there's only one triple server; they simply crowd more onto each plate.  

Carlos liked being able to order the "Gentlemen's Tea", which is a cup of soup, extra sandwiches, a side of green salad and fruit, minus the pastries and scone. This worked out well as I was able to share a number of my 'goodies' with him. There are two soups a day (served in porcelain teacups, of course!), so Carlos got the potato-leek and I got the tomato bisque. His tasted just like the Knorr foil-packet mix we both grew up with, which amused us. Mine tasted like Campbell's brief-lived canned tomato bisque mixed with light cream.

This is typical of tea shops, where quality comes second to the quaintness factor. One needs to be in the right mindset and not be expecting trendy locavore sourcing or organic everything. Jacqueline's is perfectly in line with its competition. 

The salad dressings are served on the side, a civilized touch that every restaurant should offer unless it's a composed salad. The greens were a basic mix, not ultra-fresh but adequate, and the blue cheese dressing was a good commercial brand. 

The "High Tea" was very substantial. There were three small crustless bread rounds, each the size of a half-dollar with a different cream cheese spread: plain, artichoke, and spinach. The crustless sandwiches, on soft white or whole-wheat, were egg salad (traditional), cucumber (ditto), and tuna salad with a bit of jarred pimentos. Tuna salad is an American touch, being cheaper than the ham it replaces. Jacqueline's skimps a little on the fillings, and isn't careful to spread the filling evenly out to the edges. They're decent tea sandwiches but no more than that.

Every day the scone changes, and today it was dried cranberry-orange. It's served warm and was tasty when spread with butter, strawberry jam, and an almond-flavored whipped cream. The fruit was a modest serving: a strawberry, two small slices of a good ripe cantaloupe, and a not-very-sweet orange slice. There were also two slices of green apple, which I ate with the tasteless pale cheese, of which there were several slices. I think it was a block mozzarella; it certainly bore no resemblance to cheddar or jack. The plate also held a small handful of dry-roasted mixed nuts. With the cheese, it did make a more substantial meal than the usual tea shop fare.

The third plate at the top always holds the pastries. Jacqueline's makes their own cakes and cookies. They are simple but a cut above average: light in texture and topped with light whipped cream, not buttercream. 

My plate held an almond cake with odd bright blue sugar sprinkles scattered through the yellow cake batter, topped with whipped cream. A second pastry was a brownie, more cake-like in texture than usual, with the same topping. A strawberry mini-cupcake was topped with pastel-colored whipped cream and round pink dragees. 

There was a tiny chocolate shell molded into an open heart, filled with the same almond whipped cream that was served with the scone. Two soft sugar cookies filled out the plate: one a plain white-sugar cookie, one a brown-sugar/lavender version.

All of them were sweet, although by English standards they weren't as sweet as they could be. None of them were the type of desserts we like, but as examples of tea shop pastries, they were all baked fresh that day, a cut above average for the genre.

It's said that Boomers are the most likely generation to attempt entrepreneurship. The tea shop concept is beloved of Angliophiles. It works in tourist locations like Victoria BC Canada and San Francisco. Whether it works in a commuter town like Petaluma....well, Jacqueline's has been around since 2007, so they're hanging on through these tough times. 

Let's hope there's enough grandmothers living nearby who are treating their prepubescent granddaughters to the civilized art of high tea. Jacqueline's High Tea isn't great food, it isn't even great tea, but it's a paean to slower, calmer times. Romanticized perhaps, but there's an element of reassurance to know that there are places where neither fast food nor pseudo-gourmet fads (foams, anyone?) holds sway.

Good service by a young waitress who was cheerful and hard-working.

Two people, lunch: two teas, with tip $65.