Meet Sonoma's New Restaurant: Gravenstein Grill

This restaurant hot spot in Sonoma County, California puts a new take on an older location. Sebastopol dining in the heart of town on the way out to the Sonoma Coast for the day. Perfect.

Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner items – the menu is influenced by California-cuisine and includes dishes ranging from eggs benedict to tasty salads to pimento burgers.

The redesigned building is fresh, bright and decorated in a rustic yet contemporary fashion with white tablecloths to signify that they care about your dining experience.

The eclectic and quite impressive wine list features hard to find gems from some fantastic small batch producers here in Sonoma County and surrounding areas. I can’t resist a restaurant with a good wine list plus great food to boot.

Service was on par with our server as well as attendants keeping a watchful eye on our table in order to cater to any need that may present itself. Now open for lunch & dinner 6 days a week, with Brunch specials on Saturdays & Sundays! With a large patio, spacious bar, and unpretentious service… Yes, please to the Gravenstein Grill.

Main dishes like: Smoked Pork Shoulder | The Pimento Burger | Pistachio Crusted Sonoma Lamb Loin | Grilled California Halibut | Seared Salmon.

It is California cuisine all right. All of which pairs well with the local wines. What grows together, goes together.

The interior of Gravenstein Grill features a centerpiece bar, a state of the art kitchen and plenty of outdoor seating. Guests can choose to dine under the trees, at the bar or in one of the dining room.

Chef Bob Simontacchi , Gravenstein Grill’s Executive Chef, has helped transform the location into a premiere wine country hot spot for locals and tourists alike. Chef Simontacchi has deep roots in Northern California, and brings his love of the region and its food to the dinner table.

For those looking for down home comfort food, this is the place for you. It was an interesting take on classy plating and comfort dining mixed.

Our group met in the restaurant bar area to begin, for a drink, and enjoyed some small bites from the menu. The wine list was well put together with local celebrities like Balletto Vineyards and Radio Coteau to choose from and all paired well with our plates.

Other regional vino sips that we enjoyed included Gloria Ferrer and Iron Horse sparkling wines to start… Turtle Vines Pinot Noir and Dichotomy Rose of Pinot Noir with the meal itself. The curry soup with kale was fantastic and I understand that Chef is quite famous for his yummy soup creations.

Sounds terrific… after returning home along the highway after a day in cold Bodega Bay… to stop into Gravenstein Grille for some award winning soup of the day. The grill is located along the highway coming in from the coast, how convenient!

I was pleased to see the new craft cider by Eric Sussman, one of my FAVORITE winemakers on tap here on site… I didn’t even know it was released yet!! The tap itself was hand carved by Mr Sussman himself and… might I add… the cider hand made as well.

I am a fan of everything that Eric puts into the glass and the Cider was no exception.
I am looking forward to finding it in bottles…

Just sayin’ Eric… Cheers.

The caesar salad was calling my name to begin the meal portion of our visit.

As we sat down in the dining room, Chris Sawyer, my favorite Sommelier and our host for the afternoon choose two fantastic bottles from the menu for us to try with our food.

We tried the risotto with shrimp and a wonderful lamb dish that was a special on the menu for the day with the lamb sourced locally. A trio of delights arrived to finish off our meal.

The desserts were almost sticky with sugar and I couldn’t get enough (truly, I have been craving the butterscotch ever since).

The wine list made me smile, the service and the new atmosphere brought compliments from all in our party, and dishes like the butterscotch pudding will keep us coming back for more.

Next time I find myself on the way to the coast and driving out through West County, I wouldn’t hesitate to stop by for another bite or two… plus most likely a glass of cider.