Sunflower Caffé
The kitchen puts smoked trout roe from Tsar Nicoulai on Lay's potato chips with creme fraiche and chives, $25. The garden runs out the back of Salvador Vallejo's old house on the Sonoma Plaza.2
Why go
The building is Historic Landmark #501 and the cafe's own account is that Vallejo lost it in a poker game.1 The kitchen buys close and lists who from: Straus Family Creamery and Clover Sonoma for dairy, Petaluma Poultry, Hobbs Smoked Meats, Rancho Gordo for beans, Model Bakery, Giusto's flours, Tsar Nicoulai for the caviar, and Vella Cheese from a few blocks up the street.1 The salt comes out of San Francisco Bay and the eggs are local and pastured.1 The back garden is the room people actually book, and it takes private parties.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the chips and
caviar
, $25. Smoked trout roe, Lay's potato chips, creme fraiche and chives.2 - Order: the mini bay shrimp rolls, $14, on house-made buttered brioche with cocktail-mayo, paprika and lemon.2
- Order: the zucchini-walnut mini loaf with whipped brown butter, $15, which the kitchen calls its signature.2
- Avoid: planning dinner here. The menu is a morning and midday one.
Good to know
- The kitchen bakes scones every morning and sends them out two ways, sweet with clotted cream and jam or savory with cultured butter and Maldon salt, $8 either way.2
- The garden takes private parties, booked through the events page.1
- No newspaper or magazine has reviewed this cafe. The praise on its own home page comes from Tripadvisor, Yelp and Google, so I have nothing citable to quote you.
Verdict
could-visit — The purveyor list is the argument and it is longer than the menu: Tsar Nicoulai roe, Hobbs smoked meats, Rancho Gordo beans, Straus and Clover dairy, and Vella cheese from four blocks up the street. You can see where it lands, in a $25 plate of smoked trout roe served on Lay's potato chips with creme fraiche and chives. The garden patio on the Sonoma Plaza is the other reason people book it for parties. No newspaper or magazine has written about the place, and the praise on its own site comes from Yelp, Tripadvisor and Google, so nobody outside the cafe has vouched for the cooking.