After grinding it out for years in San Francisco’s sanity-snuffing restaurant world, it’s not surprising that many of the city’s most established industry folks have treated themselves to homes in the less frenetic wine country. But what is surprising is that most didn’t head for trendy Healdsburg or fancy Yountville. Instead, the place to be is the low-key town of Sonoma — or “Slownoma,” as it’s affectionately called — where the main grocery store has senior days on Tuesdays and the town square has long had an easy-fit forward Chico’s.
Despite the unfussy environs, at least four prominent SF restaurateurs have bought homes in Sonoma in the past five years. Craig and Annie Stoll, owners of Delfina and Pizzeria Delfina, have a home off the square, with a farmlet where they grow vegetables for their restaurants. Adriano Paganini (Beretta, Wildseed, Flores, The Tailor’s Son, and just about every other restaurant in SF) and his wife have their own little garden and a vineyard where they’re tinkering with making pinot noir.
Charles Bililies, the founder of Souvla, and his wife, Jen Pelka, moved from their place in the Mission to Sonoma in part because it’s the location of Pelka’s business, Une Femme Wines. And Pete Sittnick, managing partner of Waterbar and Epic Steak, and his wife loved the small-town feel enough that what was initially a pandemic getaway became their main residence. Another bonus: The commute from the town of Sonoma to SF isn’t that far — just under an hour.
Dimitri Vardakastanis, co-owner of Gus’s Community Market, which has five locations in SF, has had ties to Sonoma longer than the others. His father, Konstantinos “Gus” Vardakastanis, who died in a hit-and-run in 2017, bought a home in Sonoma in 2011. “Our house was our father’s home away from home,” Vardakastanis says. “We operate a vineyard up there, and when we’re not juggling work and kids, we go up. It reminds us a lot of him and is a good reason to escape.”…