Northern California

I recently performed Celebrity Autobiography at the Wells Fargo Center For The Arts in Santa Rosa. I didn’t know where Santa Rosa was nor did I realize that the Welles Fargo Center was a hip destination and the setting for many legendary comedy albums. George Carlin and Bill Cosby to name a few.

My plane ticket had me spending the entire next day there with nothing to do because there were no direct flights back to Los Angeles. I asked the driver who picked me up what the local places featured. For Christsakes I was in wine country!! And that was the thing to do; tour wineries.  The problem was, I don’t drink…any kind of alcohol. I know, I’m a sissy.  

So, I decided that I’d rent movies that were still in the theatre, (The Apparition, Jewish Ghosts) have room service, read my Stephen Kind novel and sleep late!! Heaven in my book.  But there’s only so long you can do that.  I got antsy and looked at the hotel ‘things to do’ book to see if there were any restaurants to check out.

There was a map showing what areas were close to the hotel and it looked like the closest  place for food and shopping was in Healdsburg. I’m always scared to venture out in a town I don’t know because I can and have gotten lost in a parking lot, but I planned my route there and back as if it were for a five year old. Success!

What if your favorite restaurant was in the same state you were in but it was 9 hours away???

We really couldn’t take a vacation this summer but we did run off for a week-end to Mendocino (don’t laugh). It seemed like a good idea at the time. After an extensive google search of all the best restaurants in Mendocino, I discovered one that had been there forever (or at least a very long time and this was before Mark Bittman discovered it two months later....) There was something about the comments, the user reviews, the description that just made it sound like it might actually be the real deal.

The Ledford House, tucked onto a cliff, so the views are amazing, surrounded by a weathered redwood deck on which there are always really pretty girls smoking things that don’t look (or smell) at all like cigarettes, but hey it’s Mendocino and no one seems to mind.

But the interior of the restaurant makes you feel as if you’re in the South of France. So much so, that we almost left the first night we were there – too stodgy, we thought, too over the top. And then we glanced at the menu. In addition to home-made duck paté (they had me at the duck paté), they also had cassoulet? No one makes cassoulet any more. And cassoulet and me and Alan have a funny history.

It was my 33rd birthday and I decided to treat myself to a nice trip to Sonoma Valley. Some call it the “Jesus year”, but I like to call it another excuse to play in wine country! With all the choices for fine dining restaurants, I had quite a task to narrow it down to one. We are talking about one of the culinary meccas, people! While I knew I’d stay multiple days in Sonoma Valley, most nights were allocated to be spent with good friends, so that left me with one night all to myself. At the end of the day, I was extremely happy with my choice: Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen.

Charlie Palmer has made a name for himself since the 1980s with his first restaurant Aureole in New York. Ever since then, he’s won award after award, including two restaurants with Michelin stars (Aureole: New York, Las Vegas). Included in the restaurant bank of awards is Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg, California, which he opened in 2001, located in the northern Sonoma Valley. From the coat check to the final escort to my taxi, I was incredibly pleased with my dining experience.