Tiny Urban Kitchen

Exploring Food from Boston to Hong Kong and Beyond

  • About
    • About Me
    • Tiny Urban Kitchen’s Favorite Equipment
    • Press
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Asian
      • Chinese
      • Taiwanese
      • Thai
      • Malaysian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
    • Appetizers
    • Soups
    • Salad
    • Pasta
    • Noodles
    • Rice
    • Vegetarian
    • Meat
    • Sweets
      • Baking
      • Ice cream
      • Cookies
    • Misc
    • Kawaii (Cute)
  • Travel / Restaurants
    • United States
      • Boston
        • Jen’s Picks
        • Boston
          • Allston
          • Back Bay
          • Brighton
          • North End
          • South End
        • Cambridge
          • Kendall Square
          • Inman Square
          • Central Square
          • Harvard Square
          • Porter Square
          • North Cambridge
        • Somerville
          • Davis Square
          • Union Square
        • Greater Boston
          • Brookline
          • Arlington
          • Belmont
          • Watertown
          • Newton
          • Lexington
          • Concord
          • Burlington
          • Natick
        • Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Berkshires
      • Vermont
      • Maine
      • New York
      • Washington DC
      • Philadelphia
      • Orlando
      • Chicago
      • Las Vegas
      • California
        • Los Angeles
        • San Francisco
        • Napa
        • Sonoma
      • Seattle
      • Hawaii
    • Canada
      • Montreal
      • Canadian Rockies
      • Toronto
    • Argentina
    • Europe
      • United Kingdom
        • London
        • Oxford
      • Italy
        • Rome
        • Piedmont
      • France
        • Paris
        • Bordeaux
      • Spain
        • Madrid
        • Barcelona
        • Catalonia / San Sebastian / Girona
      • Germany
      • Belgium
        • Brussels
      • Switzerland
      • Greece
      • Finland
      • Norway
      • Denmark
    • Japan
      • Japan Guide
      • Tokyo
      • Osaka
      • Kyoto
    • China (Mainland)
      • Beijing
      • Chengdu
      • Shanghai
      • Shaanxi
      • Shenzhen
      • Xiamen
      • Yunnan
    • Singapore
    • Hong Kong
    • Malaysia
    • Taiwan
    • Thailand
    • Australia/New Zealand
  • Michelin
    • Formerly had a star
    • Michelin Recommended
    • 1 Star
    • 2 Stars
    • 3 Stars
  • Jen’s Eating Guides!
    • Boston Restaurants
    • Boston Dishes
    • Tokyo
    • Hong Kong
    • Las Vegas
    • Napa / Sonoma
    • Taiwan (night markets)
    • Taiwanese (casual eats)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part I)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part II)
    • Kitchen Equipment
  • Trip Reports
    • All trip reports
    • New England
    • New York
    • Washington DC
    • Las Vegas
    • California
    • Canada
    • Europe
    • Florida
    • Japan
    • China

Exploring Sonoma Plaza in Sonoma Valley

November 16, 2016 by Jennifer Che 4 Comments

Sonoma Plaza
This is the third post in the series titled Weekend in Sonoma + Napa. Other posts in this series include Cafe La Haye.

Most people know that “Sonoma” refers to a wine region in California north of the Bay area next to Napa Valley. However, it wasn’t until recently when I actually visited Sonoma that I began to appreciate the various nuances of what that word means.

There is Sonoma County, a large area with close to half a million people that includes the cities of Healdsburg, Santa Rosa (home of the Charles Schultz museum, Russian River Brewing, and much more!) and Sonoma. It includes the “American Viticultural Areas” (AVA) winemaking regions of Russian River Valley, Sonoma Valley, Dry Creek Valley, and more.
Sonoma Plaza
Sonoma Valley is an AVA region that is only about 17 miles long and includes the city of Sonoma as well as parts of Santa Rosa and the towns of Glen Ellen and Kenwood.

Historic Sonoma Plaza is the bustling town center in the city of Sonoma. It is filled with cute cafes, excellent restaurants, and numerous wine tasting rooms. It’s a lovely place to stroll around, enjoy some wine tastings, and a meal. Partly because of my long standing relationship with the Sonoma Valley Visitor’s Bureau, I have visited numerous times and always enjoy coming back. Here are some places that we have visited and enjoyed.

Breakfast

Sonoma Plaza
Stop by Basque Boulangerie, a bustling bakery that makes all sorts of crusty loaves, cakes, pies, and cookies. Try their signature dessert, the Beehive Cake, a sweet Danish cake made with custard and honey almond praline. Rachel Ray featured this dessert on her show, “Forty Dollars a Day.” You can buy a whole cake or order by the slice.

The bakery draws its inspiration from its founder who opened the bakery with the intent of bringing in traditional baking techniques from the Basque region in Spain. The original owners brought over old world European baking methods, producing beautifully crusty loaves using traditional stone hearth ovens.

_DSC7057

If you’re willing to drive just a little up the road from Sonoma Plaza, check out Crisp Bake Shop, a lovely bakery serving exquisite pastries, excellent coffee, and amazing cookies. It’s definitely worth the detour.

_DSC7054

Lunch

Sonoma Plaza
The Red Grape is a local favorite when it comes to thin crust pizzas. The family-friendly spot is filled with brick ovens churning out delicious thin-crust pizzas all day long. Voted as a favorite lunch spot in Sonoma, locals love this casual, low-key spot for its fantastic pizzas and excellent pasta dishes.
Sonoma Plaza

Dinner

_DSC3428
A plethora of excellent dining choices exist right in Sonoma Plaza. One of our favorites is The Girl & the Fig, a rustic, neighborhood restaurant serving local and seasonal ingredients executed with solid French techniques. It is the quintessential wine country dining experience. Cafe La Haye is another excellent choice. This cozy, romantic restaurant serves a constant-changing seasonally-inspired menu and rustic favorites at reasonable prices.
Sonoma Plaza
There are many other solid choices. El Dorado Kitchen, located inside the El Dorado Hotel, offers dishes made from farm-fresh ingredients. This very popular restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and includes a bar area as well as patio seats. Harvest Moon Cafe also focuses on sustainability and partners with many local sustainable farms. The above-mentioned The Red Grape is also open for dinner, and offers a casual, family-friendly environment for excellent wood-fired pizzas and Italian dishes.

Tasting Rooms

Kamen Estate Winery

_DSC3385
We love the wines from Kamen Estate Winery, so much so that we signed up as wine club members in 2013 after discovering their wine at Sonoma County Wine Weekend. The owner, Robert Kamen, is a Hollywood screenwriter. He has written tons of films over the last 20+ years, including the Karate Kid series, the Transporter series, The Fifth Element, and Taken.
_DSC3410
His viticulturist, Phil Coturri, is a genius when it comes to wine making and is well-respected in the area. All of the wines are made using biodynamic methods. The vineyard itself is stunning, and is definitely worth a visit (you can book a private tour, which they offer daily by appointment only).

Corner 103

Sonoma Plaza
When wineries in France or Spain can be hundreds of years old, there are many very new wineries popping up in California. Corner 103 is one of the newest, having opened their doors in April of 2015. Corner 103 is named after the corner at which the tasting room is located in Sonoma Plaza.

The founder, Lloyd, wanted to create a tasting room and wine experience that was inviting to everyone – regardless of whether one was a “wine person” or not.

Too often Lloyd sensed that some people think that they are not “wine people” and thus can’t tell the difference between a good wine and a bad wine. Lloyd’s philosophy is that everyone has an opinion and a palate. He tries to set up his tastings in a way that encourage everybody to really taste and discover what they like or don’t like.
Sonoma Plaza
Stop by the cozy tasting room and sample a variety of wines that Corner 103 is making. Because the company is relatively new, they only have wines that were released in 2015 (2012 vintage and aged for 3 years).

Sojourn Cellars

Sonoma Plaza
Sojourn Cellars is another newer winery, having come on the scene with its first vintage in 2004. Sojourn is best known for its Wind Gap Pinot Noir, a beautiful, balanced wine that tastes great on its own but also pairs beautifully with all sorts of food.
Sonoma Plaza
However, the winery makes a whole line of wines, everything from chardonnay to Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s fun to taste through a large part of their (still very manageable-sized) collection.
Sonoma Plaza
The tasting room at Sojourn is located inside a quaint house just a half block off the main square. One of the guides will take you through a tasting of their two white wines, their pinot noirs, and even one of their Cabernet Sauvignon (which is quite good, actually!).

Biking Tour of Vineyards

_DSC3361
A super fun, slightly more active way of visiting the vineyards in the area is to explore by bike. You can rent bikes at Wine Country Cyclery, right in Sonoma Plaza, where they will also provide you with a map showing bike routes to nearby vineyards as well as discounts to tastings at those wineries. They have plenty of parking for cars, so it’s a convenient place to leave your car if you want to explore all day via bicycle. Click here for more details about which wineries are part of the bike route, as well as photos and our thoughts about the whole experience.

All in all, Sonoma Plaza is a fun square to visit. There are often festivals going on right in the middle of the square. The weekend we visited, we stumbled upon Oktoberfest right in the square. They had beer, all sorts of food, and live performances.

Disclaimer – I partnered with Sonoma Valley Visitor’s Bureau for this series. They helped me set up several of these visits. As a result, the places that I have or have not visited in Sonoma are inevitably influenced by this fact. Nevertheless, all opinions are my own. I did not pay for the experiences that were part of the itinerary and I was not paid to write any of these blog posts. 

Filed Under: California, Sonoma

« Cafe La Haye Sonoma
Has It Been A Year Already? Birthday Reflections »

Recent Posts

  • Fin de Siecle Brussels February 23, 2021
  • Happy Lunar New Year – a Different Celebration During an Unusual Year February 12, 2021
  • The Araki Hong Kong February 1, 2021
  • L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon Hong Kong January 18, 2021
  • Nostalgic Reminders of Home: Five Guys Hong Kong January 6, 2021
  • Elementary Hong Kong January 5, 2021
  • Happy New Year 2021! A Look Back at 2020 January 1, 2021
  • Restaurant Le George Paris December 29, 2020

Latest Chinese recipes!

Comments

  1. Kristen says

    November 16, 2016 at 3:45 pm

    I love Sonoma Plaza! The Girl and The Fig is amazing!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Harvest Moon Sonoma - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    July 31, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    […] Posts Weekend in Napa and Sonoma Exploring Sonoma Plaza Cafe LeHaye Sonoma Single Thread Farms Restaurant The Restaurant at Meadowood {All restaurants in […]

    Reply
  2. La Salette Sonoma - Modern Portuguese Cuisine - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    August 3, 2018 at 11:36 am

    […] Posts Weekend in Napa and Sonoma Exploring Sonoma Plaza Cafe LeHaye Sonoma Single Thread Farms Restaurant The Restaurant at Meadowood {All restaurants in […]

    Reply
  3. Saddles Steak House Sonoma - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    August 9, 2018 at 1:06 pm

    […] Posts Weekend in Napa and Sonoma Exploring Sonoma Plaza Cafe LeHaye Sonoma Baja Style Fish Tacos (recipe) The Best Guacamole Ever (recipe) Chili Mayo Sauce […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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!
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Archives

Categories

Awards

Saveur
PFB

BostonGlobe

Most Recent Posts

Fin de Siecle Brussels

Fin de Siecle Brussels

Happy Lunar New Year – a Different Celebration During an Unusual Year

The Araki Hong Kong

The Araki Hong Kong

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon Hong Kong

L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon Hong Kong

Five Guys Hong  Kong

Nostalgic Reminders of Home: Five Guys Hong Kong

Elementary HK

Elementary Hong Kong

Happy New Year 2021! A Look Back at 2020

Restaurant Le George Paris

Restaurant Le George Paris

Great Yakiniku and Fine Wine

Nice Yakiniku and Fine Wine Hong Kong

Merry Christmas 2020

France!

Yam'Tcha Paris
David Toutain Paris
Divellec Paris
Breizh Cafe Paris
Clamato Paris

Kawaii! (Cute)

Norway!

Food Advertising by logo

Chinese Recipes

Okra with Chicken
Food Advertising by logo

Shop & Support us!

Spain!

Girona Spain
Amelia San Sebastian

Japan!

Bulgari Il Ristorante Luca Fantin
Sukiyaki Imafuku Tokyo
Sushi Ishimaya Tokyo
Disney Sea Tokyo
Tempura Fukamachi Tokyo
Shinjuku Gyoen

Cambridge restaurants

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress