There are a suspicious number of entries for Handline restaurant on my credit card statement this summer. They’re all for the same amount: $7.13, the price of a large chocolate-and-vanilla cone from the soft-serve window where I spend far too much time standing.
It has become my after-kayaking reward, hot-day cooldown and “I made it through Monday” consolation. And it is worth every darn cent as I sit in my car licking the brown-and-white Straus soft serve, made with 8% butterfat, before it melts down my hand.
Handline is synonymous with summer in western Sonoma County: beer-battered fish tacos, seasonal sweet-corn esquites, raw oysters, cheeseburgers, cold beer and a sprawling covered patio filled with dogs and sticky-faced children, many of whom are just as devoted to the soft serve.
Parking can be a challenge, but somehow everyone manages. And while the lines can be long, they move quickly…