La Salette Sonoma – Modern Portuguese Cuisine

This is the second post in our series on Sonoma California! Other posts in this series include Harvest Moon Sonoma

It’s always interesting to see how a chef takes local ingredients and applies them to a cuisine that is not local to the area. It’s how food changes over history, and it’s fascinating to study.

Some cultures, primarily those from regions with rich, abundant produce, are heavily dependent upon local ingredients. The ingredients largely define the cuisine. It’s different when fresh food is less available. Then locals must depend a lot more on heavy spices and flavors to define the cuisine.

California is arguable the most bountiful region in the US. Therefore, cuisines that depend on fresh produce could thrive here, or also be changed a lot if the ingredients are different.

La Salette, a Portuguese restaurant located right in the center of Sonoma’s historic Plaza, tries to balance this mix by using Portuguese seasonings in combination with California’s bountiful produce.


During my last trip to Sonoma, I chose La Salette as the ideal location for catching up and re-connecting with some old friends.

First, it was conveniently located in Sonoma Plaza (a fun place to walk around either before or after the meal). Second, I had read several positive reviews about the place. Finally, it had a nice, relaxed, and pleasant ambiance where we could catch up on conversation about our lives.

We started out with a free amuse bouche which was a “shot” of two different types of blended beetroot. It was savory and lovely, though one of my friends did not like it.

We started out with the Tasca Board, which seemed to consist mostly of ingredients imported from Portugal, such as São Jorge cheese, Seranno ham, linguiça, and bread ($16 USD). The board was lovely, and we enjoyed sampling the different components both separately and together on the bread.

The wood oven seared Chouriço Crusted Day Boat Scallops ($16) were delicious. They were tender and came with a salsa of tomatoes, onions, and cilantro.

The Wood Oven Roasted Octopus ($15 USD) was quite flavorful thought a bit on the chewier side. It came with a sweet onion puree, fried tater-tot like potato cylinders, and red wine vinegar.

We ordered one item from the main course section, a Wild Mushroom Açorda ($24), which consisted of a large country bread “crouton” served in a mushroom broth with fresh mushrooms, scallions, and pine nuts and topped with a slow cooked egg. It was fine, but didn’t necessarily blow us away.
 
We ordered a few sides to round out our meal, asparagus and polenta.

General Thoughts – La Salette Sonoma

La Salette did turn out to be the perfect venue for our lunch. The atmosphere was relaxed and pleasant, the food was enjoyable, and we didn’t feel rushed at all. Afterwards, we walked around the plaza, shopping and stopping by some places for wine tasting.

The food is solid and the ingredients are fresh. I don’t think we were blown away by any of the dishes, but we still enjoyed the meal. If I come back again, I would try some of the more fusion-sounding dishes, such as the Spicy Piri Piri Chicken Salad (avocados, bacon, tomato, piri piri chicken) or the cassava-floured Fish and Chips made with piri piri fries. Then I will truly begin to appreciate how they are applying Portuguese flavors to Californian ingredients.

The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner daily. They do charge a split plate charge of $4, though they did not charge us a split plate charge when three of us ordered three appetizers, one entree, and two side dishes. They also have a nice small wine list of Portuguese and Californian wines plus Port and Madiera.

As of the time of this writing, you could book online via Opentable.

La Salette Sonoma [website]
452 First Street East, Suite H
Sonoma, California
95476

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