1st Anniversary: Madrona Manor

1001 Westside Road
Healdsburg, CA

(800) 258-4003

For our first anniversary, Jack and I were at a wedding, so Friday night before, I looked into over-the-top luxurious restaurants in the Sonoma area. I found what I was looking for in Madrona Manor. It was very near our hotel, in Healdsburg, and in an old house, it looked completely beautiful. I told Jack about six times a day that we could sleep there if we wanted, but true-to-form, we stayed with the wedding block which was fine.

Our cab was so expensive, we might as well have gone from Manhattan to Staten Island, but once there, we were glad we hadn’t driven. It was going to be a slow, delicious dinner and we weren’t going to think about anything that we didn’t want to.

The Maitre d’ met us at the door. A man who fit the part perfectly because he was so incredibly French. Just everything you picture from the old, career waiters in Paris; enthusiastic, gracious and incredibly concerned with everyone’s well-being. We learned all of this over the course of the evening as he visited often to fix the shades that blocked the sun just enough for those of us sitting on the porch, looking out over the manicured garden. Or when he asked about our reactions to the wine or a particular course.

He was just been being polite, but the sweet man asked if I was French. I mean, my French does improve with a few drinks, but not THAT much. Truth is, we fell in love with each other. He’d bustle over and ask this or that about the food, preparations or details of a dish and barely even look at Jack. The whole thing was pretty flattering AND funny. I promise, Jack thought it was funny.

And since we were feeling fun and relaxed, having survived a year of marriage before we could even blink, we decided to let the Chef have his way with us.

Completely in his hands (we did the “Grande Dame” menu), we got course after course, paired almost flawlessly well with wines from the area.

We had two courses of amuse bouche: an herbed ravioli that was small and comfortingly warm served alongside a cool creamy vichyssoise. Then, there was a pressed watermelon bite that neither of us adored, but it was so ridiculous as a teeny tiny bite on a great long fork, I had to take it’s picture.

Prawn Tartar with radish and shiso paired with a really nice Chenin Blanc

Veloute with a sous vide quail’s egg that ran just so when you poked it.

The Beets I remember well. They came in all textures, temperatures and colors. Frozen and ground like an Italian Ice, warm and room temperature. All with a Gorgonzola mousse that brought some bite and earth to the beets. Dr. Loosen is a somewhat sweet Riesling that Jack and I have always enjoyed. It was served with the beets and really allowed the Gorgonzola to ping through with a heightened brightness.

Lobster Roll, Not in a Roll was really fun for me, a little less so for Jack. It was a tempura-ed piece of lobster and a foam of some kind. I remember really liking it. Especially after Exuma and all the fried lobster we’d been loving there.

The Sea Bream was an adventure. We were getting a bit giggly by the time my friend, the Matire d’ rolled out a cart with a beautifully cooked, whole little fish on it. He introduced us to it, and then, wsk, whp, wsk, we were looking at sweet, innocent fillets. We said our thank yous, our oohs and ahhs, and as soon as he was gone, we burst out laughing. He went to TOWN on that fish. It had no idea when it was swimming that morning that magic would happen to it later that evening. There was a mild sauce that you could swirl the meat into. Just enough to love up the fish, not enough to cover a single flavor-cell.

Here you start to lose me.

Salmon, Squab (I told an old joke from The Tasting Room to our server about the squab. They didn’t find it as funny as we always had), and a small portion of Ribeye. I remember loving that, but being hugely grateful that it was about two bites.

The Cheese Course was really fun. We made a new friend in the guy who had presented a dish or two at our table, but who loved cheese and was clearly a food-freak. He found in us, some camaraderie. We discussed North Eastern cheese, California cheese, French cheese…New York restaurants, California restaurants…it just kept going.

Dessert was a serious production. They make ice cream in front of you! From the photo, it’ll look like a luxury witch’s brew, but it was dense and sinful. It was the one thing on the a la carte menu that I seriously thought about asking for and was ecstatic to see rolled up to our table. It was served with a Pedro Xeminez, always a family favorite.

By then, I was full of brilliant ideas so I asked for another PX, but older. Which did taste better, but I’m not sure it made a difference in the long run.

We had an absolutely wonderful night bookended with two weird-o cab drivers, and finished with a monster case of hicups. I signed some sort of guest book on our way out. I’m not sure I was supposed to but I’m positive I said that I’d had a truly brilliant evening and that I couldn’t wait to come back.

We rarely do huge degustation tasting menus anymore. They are complicated and my stomach doesn’t take them as well as it once did but on the rare occasion that you get all dressed up and eat till you forget what your drinking and drink till you have no idea what you’re eating except that it’s awesome, well that’s a great treat. I thought about not writing this post since it all blurred. I had too much fun getting book suggestions from our maitre d’-friend and cheese suggestions from our cheese-cart-friend to remember every bite. And sometimes detaching from your meal a bit, is really nice.

So happy anniversary Jack. The first year was so easy, I cannot wait for all of the magical, heart-stopping meals ahead of us. But it’s the simple ones (tonight is garlic olive oil and tomato dressed spaghetti with asiago before he runs 17 miles in preparation for the marathon) that get me excited to be married to you.

Awwwww. That’s embarrassing.