Boon Fly Cafe
Now that I’m back in the saddle again, it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t bring you a restaurant review. I think I’ll ease into the things with the story of brunch this afternoon
Gail and I got a late start from home, heading for Sonoma. I decided to try the Boon Fly Cafe, part of the Carneros Inn Resort on Highway 12 between Napa and Sonoma, where you can get a marvelous cottage starting at $340/night, midweek and off season. The Inn is part of the Plumpjack group, meaning it’s owned by the Gettys and Lt. Governor Gavin Newson. This is some tall cotton.
The formal restaurant here is Farm, where we eaten some memorable meals. Today, we tried the more casual Boon Fly Cafe, and were suitably impressed.
The Cafe is in a freestanding building immediately inside the compound, fronting on the Highway. The decor is sort of 30’s roadside retro chic. The design is very fitting with the overall theme of the resort, but the hinges on the front door are on the wrong side. Getting in is needlessly clumsy. I may be the only person in the world who notices things like that.
The Saturday/Sunday menu offers brunch until 3pm, so there were both breakfast and lunch type meals to be had. The people next to us each had a flatbread–which is a very thin, fancy pizza for $15. The one with the two fried eggs and bacon looked awfully good.
Writing a menu is both an art and a science, but whichever part was in play, they got my complete attention , and order, wem they named this dish “Green Eggs and Ham”.
Poached eggs, ham, potatoes and lemon/leek cream.
Sam I Am would have no trouble getting people to try this dish. Every part was perfect, and the lemon/leek cream was a very different, but great, idea to add to eggs and potatoes.
Ever since we visited friends in Mexico City, Gail has been searching for the perfect plate of chilaquiles. She came exceedingly close today:
Chilaquiles with a fried egg.
Chilaquiles is just a fancy way of using up leftover tortillas and sauce. Chop up a few stale tortillas, sauté them with some leftover salsa, top with queso fresco and you’ve got a cheap breakfast, which becomes something upscale and exotic when it crosses borders and cultures to a chi-chi diner in the Napa Valley.
As you would expect from the location, the wine list is longer than the menu, and impressed even me with the classy mimosas made with vintage prosecco. The ice tea, though, is something weird. The lady at the next table sent hers back, and I think I should have, as well. Why can’t these places realize that ice tea drinkers don’t want the fancy, organic, passion flower-mango-hibiscus[broccoli tea and just dunk a bag of Lipton in some hot water, add ice and make the customer happy?
Service was not great, possibly because it was 2:30, nearly the end of the shift for the morning staff and she was tired. Props to management, though, for being willing to sell a half-glass of wine to Gail. Not everywhere is as accommodating.
Prices are steep, which you would expect from a 5 star resort like this. The food is excellent; I wish the service was just a bit better.
Totally Unauthorized 