Nestled in Sonoma’s historic MacArthur Place, Saddles steakhouse is part of what was once a 19th century, 300-acre vineyard and ranch. Today, the estate has been transformed into a luxury country inn and spa. Saddles sits inside the former barn and features two dining rooms, outdoor seating in warmer months and a small martini bar that offers a great list of specialty cocktails (when I visited, bartender Bob mixed me up a classic gin Gibson, although I was certainly tempted by the other choices).
Executive Chef Dana Jaffe and David Daniel, director of food and beverage, have put together a menu that focuses on prime cuts of beef and lamb, but also ventures to please those looking for other choices, including seafood and vegetarian meals. All steaks are aged at least 21 days and are hormone- and antibiotic-free.
Our meal began with fresh, sweet and meaty Marin Miyagi oysters with a tasty mignonette, which was a great start paired with brut rosé sparkling. Fresh bread, butter and three types of sea salt (from the Sonoma Coast, Hawaii and Peru—each with its own distinct flavor, color and texture) also adorned the table.
The Saddles salad is a mix of baby greens, candied walnuts, creamy goat cheese and cherry tomatoes dressed with delicious, sweet-tart apple thyme vinaigrette. We also had the crab cake starter, pan-fried crisp with a meaty interior and a mildly spicy chipotle aioli, which also came with a small salad.
The menu offers three sizes of prime rib and two sizes of filet mignon (as well as numerous other cuts), so we chose the 8-ounce filet. Served a true medium rare, it was incredibly tender, lightly seasoned and topped with a nice mix of wild mushrooms and a mild Cabernet demi-glace. Normally it’s served with garlic mashed potatoes, but we substituted some salted sweet potato fries for that. Everything went very well with a lush Deerfield Ranch Zinfandel.
One of the night’s specials was a perfectly cooked, pan-seared Alaskan halibut, served atop some garlic mashed potatoes, then topped with braised greens and surrounded with roasted red and yellow beets and accented with a rich lemon beurre blanc.
For dessert, we went for the mixed berry crumble, which had crisp baked granola on top and hot, big berries inside, topped with vanilla bean gelato. A second dessert of thick, spiced pumpkin organic gelato was served with a sugar cookie.
Thank you to our server, Sandy, who did an excellent job of making sure our experience was top-notch and delicious.
