The Union Hotel’s history dates back to 1925 in Occidental, when the Panizzera family purchased the Union Saloon (est. 1891), renamed it and began serving home-cooked, family-style Italian cuisine. Today, it has three locations (Occidental’s original and two in Santa Rosa). The newest opened in East Santa Rosa in 2006, and offers an extended menu aside from family-style choices. It was there we paid our visit.
The large dining room features booths, a fireplace, adjacent banquet areas and a big patio. There’s a separate bar and lounge, and a counter where you can pick up take-out items or desserts. Historical family photos adorn the walls and serve to enhance the warm family atmosphere.
We started with a full bulb of roasted garlic and wedge of warm brie, which came with soft, toasted French bread, and there was plenty for a family to share. The fried calamari was also generous in size. Lightly breaded and fried, it was fresh, tender and crisp, and came with garlic aioli and cocktail sauce. Next was a spinach salad with baby leaves, roasted pear, red onion, crunchy candied walnuts and earthy blue cheese. It was dressed in a sweet Dijon balsamic vinaigrette.
The popular homemade ravioli (made by the Panizzeras’ daughter, Lucille Gonnella—I could taste the love in there) is filled with Swiss chard, onions, beef, pork, Parmesan cheese and sourdough breadcrumbs. Normally served with a choice of tomato meat or marinara sauce, we opted for pesto sauce instead—delicious and rich. This is definitely the place where you can order ravioli and get a lot.
There’s a wonderful amount of choices for pizzas and toppings, with thin crust upon request. We went for Chef Tracy Shepos’ Sonoma-roasted pear pizza, which had a tasty golden crust and was piled high with sautéed red onions, creamy goat cheese and roasted pears in a balsamic reduction. Even the individual size was filling (pizzas are offered in three different sizes).
The chicken cacciatore came with a white wine sauce with sautéed onions, whole black olives, celery and large chunks of mushrooms (my brother liked the sauce so much he wanted it as a soup), The 14-ounce New York steak was grilled medium rare and could certainly fill even those with the largest appetites. Both came with chunky garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed carrots, broccoli and squash.
Our favorite dessert was the tiramisu, which came in a huge bowl with thick layers of mascarpone cheese, chocolate mousse and sponge cake soaked in coffee and Kahlua—fluffy and light, it was a great adaptation of the classic Italian style. We also especially enjoyed the apple tart, spiced with cinnamon and served a la mode with a golden, crisp crust—filling and fun comfort food.
