Social Club
132 Keller St.
Petaluma
(707) 238-0158
Rustic American
Dinner nightly, brunch Sundays
Entrées (dinner): $15-$26
Full bar, nice wine and beer list
Social Club has only been open a little over a year, but has certainly become quite the buzz in the Petaluma dining scene. And for good reason: The food, atmosphere, drinks and service are excellent. Wood furnishings abound and there’s a huge, stand-alone, square bar in the center of the large dining room. Patio seating and private dining are also available and there’s live music on Fridays and Sundays, and DJ entertainment on Saturdays.
The extensive wine, beer and spirits list has specialty cocktails called “Tuttle’s Elixirs,” named after the pharmacy that originally occupied the space. We tried the Ellison cocktail, which is made with Hendricks gin, muddled mint and cucumber with fresh lime juice—smooth and refreshing.
The menu offers starters, “social plates” (encouraging sharing), entrées and, of course, desserts, and there are daily specials on both food and drinks. At the bottom of the menu, it says “bread available upon request.” So yes, request it, because it’s soft, fresh house made sourdough served with sea salt-sprinkled sweet butter. Yum.
We started with corn soup, which had a buttery, rich flavor and a chile crème fraîche with a mild kick. Topped with fresh chives, it was light and flavorful—a nice start. Next up were local figs sliced into quarters and fanned onto the plate with Laura Chenel goat cheese, fresh arugula and—get this—house cured rib eye bacon. Yep, it’s made from beef and it’s totally the bomb.
The mussels and clams came with house made rye crostini, which was delicious, and chunks of beer sausage, with an edgy, beer-based sauce that we thoroughly enjoyed. It paired really well with 2011 Sheldon Grenache Blanc/Viognier/Rousanne (Sonoma Coast) and 2012 Tablas Creek Rose of Grenache out of Paso Robles.
The entrées are generously sized. We chose the daily fish special, which was cornmeal-crusted, fresh catfish with a golden, crunchy crust, served with sassy black eyed peas and roasted (almost caramelized) eggplant medallions. We also had the Niman Ranch pork chop, which was thick and tender, topped with green chile jam that was both sweet and mildly hot, with polenta, sweet and sour squash and fresh greens—a very delicious and comforting choice.
For dessert, we had house brioche pain perdu with strawberries and cream. It was perfectly toasted golden just on the outer edges. The salted caramel pot de crème won our hearts, however, with its rich texture and thick top layer of brown butter crumbles and fresh whipped cream. Thank you to chef Joseph Zobel for creating such great stuff, and to our server, Billy, who did a fantastic job as well.
