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Starlight Wine Bar & Restaurant 6761 Sebastopol Ave. Sebastopol (707) 823-1943 www.starlightwinebar.com
California-Southern |
Pullman Streamliner 2985, one of six club/lounge cars built in Chicago in 1949, ran Southern Pacific’s Golden State route until the 1970s. She now resides in Sebastopol, where owners Ted and Heather Van Doorn have reopened her as the Starlight Wine Bar. And the moment you step in you can feel her history.
Swing music travels through the speakers, and the interior is a classy, Deco-style dream. One of the coolest venues I’ve seen. Rich woods, rounded edges, chrome accents and—ya gotta love it—leopard-print carpeting. Both ends of the car have rounded bars, one of which is where you can pull up a stool and enjoy a drink.
My friend Justin and I started our meal with some wine (surprise!). He went for the Banyan Viognier, and I opted for a Rosso di Montalcino (Pian Cornello). These were, of course, to accompany our cheese plate, which consisted of Redwood Hill Bucheret from Sonoma County, “drunken” goat cheese from Spain and Torta D’Casar, a Spanish raw sheep cheese. They were served with a spiced chutney, candied (but not too sweet) spiced walnuts and several slices of toasted French bread.
We ordered the special salad, which included organic lettuce (a nice mix of sweet and tart greens), caramelized onions, and a mild cheese that was breaded and fried. I love that in a salad, because it adds an excellent fried/crispy/slightly-evil-for-a-salad texture. Yum. It also had the tiniest pine nuts ever. They were the size of small grains but were packed with flavor.
Next we enjoyed the pan-seared tournadoes of filet mignon with foie gras, Brussels sprouts and a wakame miso sauce atop thin-sliced cucumber. Beef and seaweed—an interesting combo for sure. It took my taste buds a few bites to figure out what was going on, but once they did they were happy to oblige. The filet was served medium rare (perfect!), and the foie gras was prepared just right, with a crisp exterior and a moist, insanely decadent interior. The sauce worked well to bring all the flavors together.
Chef Thaddeus Palmese ensures each dish is as easy on the eyes as it is on the palate. This included our second entrée, which Justin talked me into, the pork belly. Yes, I was wary, having never tried anything like it before. Boy, were we in for a surprise. It came out looking absolutely beautiful, two slices, both with a browned exterior, topped with a molasses and pomegranate reduction sauce with mushrooms. The pork had a thick layer of fat with tender meat underneath (the belly is the same part that’s used for bacon). Justin was still talking about it when we were driving home.
For wine, we’d moved on to a Pinotage for me (2001 Fort Ross) and the Provisor Dry Creek Valley Syrah for Justin. Pinotage is a South African varietal. Its parents are Pinot Noir and Hermitage. The owners of Fort Ross winery are from South Africa and brought clones with them to grow here. The result is a well-rounded wine with flashy red fruit flavors and hints of cedar.
To finish the meal we shared a Grahms 20-year tawny port along with a chef’s special dessert, upside-down creamsicle cheesecake. It came out with a graham crust pastry on top and tiny blood orange segments carefully placed about. It was dreamy and creamy with just the perfect amount of orange essence.
