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El Dorado Kitchen

October 10, 2013 by Jennifer Che 6 Comments

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This is the second post in the “An Unforgettable Anniversary Weekend In Sonoma” series highlighting Sonoma and surrounding areas. Other posts in this series include Addendum.

Sonoma Valley is a 17-mile strip of land that includes many vineyards as well as the city of Sonoma. Many people (me included), confuse Sonoma Valley with Sonoma County, which is a much larger region that also encompasses several other cities (e.g., Petaluma, Healdsburg, and Santa Rosa), as well as other wine valleys, such as Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley (not to mention the Sonoma Coast!).

Within Sonoma Valley, the historic Sonoma Plaza is where most of the action is, including excellent restaurants, bakeries, tasting rooms, and wine shops.

One of the most popular restaurants within Sonoma Plaza is El Dorado Kitchen, which is located at the El Dorado Hotel. Helmed by Chef Armando Navarro (Larkspur, Auberge du Soleil, Redd), this restaurant’s farm-focused cuisine draws both locals and visitors alike. Because it’s in a hotel, it’s also open almost all day, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
_DSC3316
On the day we went, a wedding reception was going on outside, which meant we were not able able to enjoy the typically available outdoor seats. Nevertheless, we happily took seats inside, which were equally comfortable, spacious, yet warm and cozy at the same time.
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We began with the Truffle Parmesan Fries, which were excellent. I would almost hazard to say that they were on par with my favorite truffle fries in Boston. These were topped with a generous helping of fresh Parmesan cheese, which made the fries very cheesy, but in a good way. They were hot, flavorful, crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. We didn’t expect to polish off that whole bowl, but we did.
_DSC3302
I loved my starter, the Dungeness Crab Cakes, which were refined and consisted mostly of crab, not breading. They were served with a gorgeous summer heirloom tomato gazpacho, which was sweet, bright, and full of intense tomato flavor. This was accented with avocados, sweet 100 tomatoes, and pea shoots. I thought the dish was refreshing, with a lovely balance of flavors. I really appreciated the farm fresh ingredients.
_DSC3305
The Pork Belly, served with watermelon and pickled ramps, is one of their signature dishes and was executed very well. It was beautifully crispy on the outside yet juicy and flavorful on the inside. The compressed watermelon did a good job of cutting the richness of the belly. The pairing almost reminded me of a summer barbecue, but interpreted in a much more refined way.
_DSC3307
Similarly, the Pan Roasted Scallops were very good. In fact, the ingredients and flavor combinations were eerily similar to a scallops dish I had at Redd in Napa Valley a couple years ago. That dish also had a cauliflower puree, almonds, and raisins.  Here, grapefruit gelee, a curry cauliflower puree, grapes, Marcona almonds, and a caper raisin sauce came together and similarly worked really, really well to give a nice, balanced, sweet and salty combination of flavors.
_DSC3311
The biggest disappointment was probably the Niman Ranch Center Cut Pork Chop, which was served with braised Swiss chard, polenta, torpedo onions, roasted peaches, and whole grain mustard. The server had recommended this as one of her favorite dishes, and we weren’t sure why. The execution was fine, but there was nothing particularly interesting about the dish. When I asked Bryan what he thought of the dish, he said, “It’s fine. But I can get this in any gastropub in new England. I don’t think it’s as good as Bergamot or Will Gilson.”
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Our dessert, the Upside Down Plum Cake, was served with salt caramel ice cream and raspberries. I thought it was OK, though Bryan did not like it because “it reminds me of fruitcake.” We later realized it was the strong flavor of candied orange peels that made Bryan think of fruitcake. The restaurant was very kind and did not charge us for the dessert after Bryan told them his feelings.

Overall, we came away with mixed thoughts about the restaurant. Although some dishes, like the Parmesan truffle fries, crabcakes, and pork belly were quite good, others were fine, but did not blow us away.

All in all, however, the restaurant is solid and I can see why it’s one of the most popular ones in Sonoma Plaza. The menu is very approachable, portion sizes are generous, and the food is enjoyable.
_X1C6213El Dorado Kitchen
405 1st St
W Sonoma, CA 95476
El Dorado Kitchen on Urbanspoon

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Filed Under: California, Restaurant, Review, Sonoma, World Travel Tagged With: American, New American

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Comments

  1. Matthew says

    October 10, 2013 at 5:41 am

    lol at the girl in the last photo.

    Reply
  2. Jasmine says

    October 12, 2013 at 5:00 am

    Hi Jenn, Great blog post! I stumbled upon it before making my decision on my attempt to book this restaurant on my own. I wasn’t feeling pretty confident because I had a feeling that they might speak only Japanese! I have only basic japanese skills, I don’t even know if I am approaching conversational level… and my family of 5 (they do not speak japanese at all) are interested in trying the place during mid december. Do you reckon I can book a table without a local having to come to the restaurant with us (having to eat there per person would already be too expensive to hire another translator) ? I’ve read other blogs on this as well and they all had a japanese accompany them to the restaurant.

    Would love to hear from you!
    Jasmine

    Reply
  3. chris says

    October 12, 2013 at 7:18 am

    the waitress could have been upselling an old pork chop to you

    Reply
  4. Jennifer Che says

    October 14, 2013 at 9:19 am

    Hi Jasmine,
    Wow, family of five! You’ll take up most of the restaurant. 🙂 I have pretty basic Japanese skills (2 years in college) and I was able to get by OK. It helped that there happened to be another Japanese couple there that spoke decent English, so they helped.
    As for booking, I’m not sure. I’ve always done it through a hotel concierge, and it has never been a problem to get the reservation.
    Jen

    Reply
  5. Jennifer Che says

    October 14, 2013 at 9:20 am

    Ooh, tough question! Maybe I’d do Jiro just because he’s so old that you don’t know how much longer he’ll be around. Mizutani is fantastic as well, and I actually enjoyed that experience more since he’s a bit more friendly. It helps to speak a tiny bit of Japanese though. Food-wise, they are both phenomenal.

    Jen

    Reply
  6. matt says

    November 7, 2013 at 8:20 pm

    What an amazing and detailed article! I enjoyed reading it. I couldn’t get a reservation at the Ginza location so I tried the Roppongi one. I made a video of it as well: http://www.reformatt.com/blog/sukiyabashi-jiro

    Reply

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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