A culinary groundswell is afoot in one of Wine Country’s most underrated regions, and it’s over a decade in the making.
When chef Ari Weiswasser left New York for his wife’s native Sonoma Wine Country and opened the pizza-centric Glen Ellen Star in 2012, it was “a big culture shock.” The restaurant wasn’t on the burgeoning Sonoma Plaza, nor the Healdsburg Square. It was in Sonoma Valley, specifically the sleepy hamlet of Glen Ellen, an unincorporated community six miles northwest of Sonoma with less than 800 residents.
There were only three other restaurants on Glen Ellen’s two-block downtown at the time. “I think they would close at about 8 p.m.,” recalled Weiswasser. Yet the rustic restaurant “had a pretty rolling start,” luring diners from faraway metropolises like San Francisco and seating them as late as 9:30 p.m.
The small enclave remains largely under the radar — “it’s still difficult to get an Uber in Glen Ellen after 8,” Weiswasser said. And Sonoma Valley, the scenic backdrop of the two-lane Highway 12 that stretches 20 miles between Sonoma and Santa Rosa, is more of a thoroughfare than a tourist destination, despite the area’s dozens of wineries. But suddenly, this slice of Wine Country has transformed into an exciting culinary hub — and the movement could be a major turning point for the wine region.
Two years, six new restaurants
In the past two years, six new eateries have sprung up in Sonoma Valley, most of them second acts of other Wine Country hot spots, like Stella, a buzzy Italian restaurant featuring housemade pastas and a burrata bar that Weiswasser opened in March.
The start of the boom can be traced back to when the owners of the Sonoma Plaza’s Valley Bar + Bottle, one of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Top 100 restaurants, opened Valley Swim Club, a casual roadhouse inspired by New England clam shacks. Swim Club is located in the Springs, a more residential part of Sonoma where Valley’s co-founders, Emma Lipp and Lauren Feldman, reside. “These communities are underserved,” said Feldman…