Sonoma’s El Dorado Kitchen
After a wonderful morning of wine blending at Ravenswood Winery, the #Trafalgar2012 group hopped in the coach and headed into downtown Sonoma for lunch at El Dorado Kitchen.
It was another facet of Northern California guided vacation that I experienced with the amazing Trafalgar team – the total satisfaction of my inner foodie, okay who am I kidding…it's both inner and outer with me! The restaurants are carefully selected and vetted and they definitely don't disappoint!
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El Dorado Kitchen, on the main square in Sonoma and part of the El Dorado Hotel, is presided over by chef Armando Navarro, a man with an impressive culinary resume, this restaurant not only pleases the eye with beautiful design work (including reclaimed wood from a Vermont bridge) but completely satisfies the palette.
Our group was famished and dare I say a little tipsy since our wine blending and tasting had begun in the late morning and we quickly made our menu selections. First up for me was a warm wild mushroom tart with goat cheese and arugula which are two of my favorites.
I followed this up with a hearty steak salad with mixed greens, pickled vegetables, and taro root crisps with a cilantro-lime vinaigrette. I am not big on salads, but this one was “meaty” enough.
My dining companion and friend, Andi Perullo of My Beautiful Adventures is a vegetarian and she had the vegetable panini with eggplant, red bell pepper, arugula with mozzarella and goat cheeses, and pesto – it smelled divine!
For dessert, I already shared the amazing banana crisp, but I can't help throwing in the image again. This is my new favorite dessert, which is saying a lot for someone who loves chocolate!
A few others from our group also enjoyed the lemon pudding cake with fresh berries. I had a bite but couldn't be swayed from the crisp!
El Dorado Kitchen is a really good spot for dining in Sonoma and I will definitely be back again!
Disclosure: I was a guest of Trafalgar for a tour in San Francisco and Napa. I was not required to write this post, nor am I being compensated for doing so. All opinions are 100% my own.
Wow, a steak ‘salad’ has never looked quite so appetising! Fab mouth-drooling pics there Andi x
Your food photos are so gorgeous — they’re making me have food envy, and I was there!
All the pictures are so delicious dear. I think I shouldn’t see that because I’m getting hungry now ..!!
Mmm those food shots look heavenly! I’m waiting for my vegetable lasagna to be ready.
@Jennie, your food that you share on your blog is beautiful and looks incredibly yummy too!
I mean seriously!?! Your photos are magazine worthy!!! WOW! I can’t believe my camera battery died during this lunch and I couldn’t take any photos. So happy you got some STUNNING ones! That dessert was breathtakingly good!
@AndiP, thank you so much for the compliment, coming from you, someone with such a great eye when it comes to having a wonderful photographic style, I really appreciate it!
Ohhh Looks so fancy! I would love to try some of this. I will have to add this to a list.