The Fifty and The Familiar

Theoretically, buzzy and busy places with communal seating like the area's
Fox in the Snow locations will fall off the radar for me soon

My quest to expand my food horizons came relatively late in my life.  I can't do much nowadays about several dozen too many pursuits of Mickey D's Big Mac combo meals and other items I chose for frugality and convenience (but not necessarily taste) in my younger days, but I'm still firmly in "making up for lost time" mode.

However, like someone who's just pulled his fifth beer from the lone six-pack in the fridge, I've realized my time in this mode might be limited. As much as I'd like to be like a Simon Majumdar (who just celebrated his 55th birthday and is still going strong exploring the world and its cuisines), my body has sent signs it's ready to slow down a bit. Big portions, while nice, haven't been mandatory for my culinary pleasure for awhile.  Eventually, the doc will tell me that caffeine from my 1-2 cups of caffeinated coffee must go the way of the dodo bird, and my insides will eventually convince me that capsaicin and all its blazing, sweat-inducing glory isn't a good idea.

Interestingly, a recent opinion piece in the New York Times by Frank Bruni encapsulated this feeling quite well, saying that reaching the age of fifty has changed his perspective on dining.

Playing The Host: A Kid-Friendly Tour of Columbus (Pt. 1)

There's more than macarons to titillate the taste buds at Pistacia Vera,
a German Village standout and family destination

While we do not have any children to call our own, we both have gaggles of nieces and nephews with whom we play favorite aunt and uncle to whenever we can. Due to circumstances established well before we became a couple, we don't often get to host to other family members. However, when we do (in this case, my wife's sister and her two kids aged 13 and 10), it adds something special to the mix and also adds a rather fun challenge in catering a Columbus-based itinerary pleases all ages.

Brews and 'Ques: That's Unusually Dank, Roscoe

The downtown-located Coshocton Clerk of Courts Building

After our jaunt for antiques in downtown Coshocton at the Coshocton Antique Mall and some fine German brews at the very appealing Wooly Pig Farmhouse Brewery, we figured it was time to grab some food for lunch. And in less time than it takes to tell, we found something quite unusual down the road that did the trick.

Unusual Junction would fit right in along the famed Route 66, where the lore of the road trip and automobile mix with a sense of nostalgia and occasionally just a touch of cheesy goodness.  As it stands, this attraction resides along Ohio's US 36 as if it were dropped from the sky. Drivers can thank the McKenna family from Cleveland, whose patriarch Jerry purchased this farmland in the early 1970s.

X-Wings and Random Things: Mike's Place (Kent, OH)

First off, the weather in Ohio has rated as supremely comfortable right now for the last couple weeks. While mid-fifties temperatures may not threaten any high-temperature records for Columbus (the highest high temp for the month is a ridiculous 76 degrees back on December 3, 1982), they are more than enough reason for my spouse and I to venture out on a whim to undiscovered parts of the state.

It really didn't take all that long to figure out where to go either. With all things Star Wars creeping into our minds with the impending release of the sequel, a suggestion by my spouse to head up towards the Akron/Canton area rang a bell in my head about some kitschy diner up with a mock X-Wing guarding its front. After quickly searching for a picture of it on my mobile phone to show her, the decision had been made: lunch date at Mike's Place in Kent, Ohio.

An "I" on the Old School: A Platter of Midwest Dining

The center of this country is well known for gut-filling eats, and on our road trip, we decided we'd go with the flow with occasional breaks to at least look for healthier eats. This toothsome threesome covered in the post definitely has an "I" (as in three states we traveled through that start with "I") toward the hearty.

Flap-Jacks: I think every small town in the Midwest has a place like Flap Jacks. Located northwest of Indianapolis in downtown Brownsburg, this diner-styled-food mini-chain (four locations throughout the Indy area)  has all the trappings of small town America, with plenty of good old red, white, and blue, an appreciation to local law enforcement and the military, and support of sports teams both local and regional. This eatery is a definite hangout for the locals.

Case Study #3: Over The Counter (Worthington)

Though I didn't know it when I started, Worthington's Over The Counter is the third of a trifecta of places I had targeted in this mini-series. The first blog post, featuring Pat and Gracie's in the Graceland Shopping Center, is a great neighborhood-style hangout in an place I always expected to have a little more restaurant action than it does. Meanwhile, Old Beechwold/Clintonville-based Bareburger and its burgers that strive for something higher (grass-fed beef as well as more exotic proteins like elk, duck and boar) had been a bit on an culinary island in the metro but now find themselves surrounded by competition.

Over The Counter (OTC, as I'll call them from here on out) turns out is in a location that I never even considered for a restaurant, but succeeds not only because of that location but also because of its quality-for-the-price comfort classics focus.

Where The Best Once Held Court: Delaney's Diner

One of the first and most fun "buzzy" Columbus eateries that my spouse and I became acquainted with shortly after my move here was Westerville's Best Breakfast and Sandwiches. This compact diner, located in a non-descript south side strip mall, was an example of an eatery that was able to punch above its dining category and achieve something a little more.

We didn't mind the typical wait when it meant we would be grabbing their corned beef hash, or adorning one of their omelettes with some of their specially produced hot sauce from local fiery condiment maker CaJohn's. At its peak, a pop-up taco shop (Yeah Baby Tacos) emerged during the week to offer diners an unorthodox destination to grab some Mexican-styled eats.

And then, a familiar narrative unraveled: a few not-as-complimentary reviews started appearing in the usual review websites, then a change in ownership, and even more buzz about things not being as they used to be.

And then...nothing: The Best Breakfast was no longer as of the summer of 2016.

Fast forward a year now. Other eateries, most notably a new branch of local favorite Northstar Cafe, have come in to fill the void. It is in this new environment where the space has come to life again in the form of Delaney's Diner, a place we were eager to try once we heard the word of its opening.

California Brunching (Pt. 2): Cabin Fever and a Keller Instinct

A look down at the cities of the East Bay from the Berkeley Hills

The second of my California breakfast/brunch posts for 2016 takes our first peek into the San Francisco Bay Area proper, where we enjoyed the a fine sit-down meal inside a vintage catalog house.  Also, a glance at a Wine Country town known worldwide for its gourmet restaurants and some of the prettier pastries you could ever lay your eyes (or taste buds) on.

You don't exactly go looking for log cabins within the urban landscape, nor would you expect to actually find one. However, Sam's Log Cabin, located along a main thoroughfare just outside of Berkeley proper, is worth seeking out for some scrumptious early day eats.

Built in 1930 from a Sears Roebuck catalog home kit, the space which houses Sam's has served many different capacities: speakeasy, roadhouse, and a gambling institution (as in off-track horse race betting.)  Current owners Mike Daillak and Rhasaan Fernandez took over the space in 2010 and have implemented a focus on organic and local food sources as well as an expanded backyard that doubles as a community/music event space and a customer waiting area.

A Tale of Two Diners (Westerville Grill and Fitzy's Old-Fashioned Diner)

Westerville's The Best Breakfast & Sandwiches in happier days

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

This well-known line from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" could easily apply to one our early favorite places for brunch after moving to the Buckeye State. Westerville's The Best Breakfast & Sandwiches, which featuring some of the best fresh corned beef hash in the area, special in-house hot sauces manufactured by local all-things-spicy gurus CaJohn's, plentiful portions, and some of the better diner-level coffee you can ever hope to get, proved to be a regular destination spot for us and many other locals.

Alas, an ownership change in 2014 brought warning signs via social media reviews that the place wasn't quite what it was. Indeed, our visits were a mixed bag - the corned beef hash was still good, but the portions seemed just a touch smaller, the service just a bit more scattershot and the coffee was on the weak side of the diner coffee ledger. We hoped that the eatery would find its footing again, but alas, The BB&S bit the dust officially summer of this year.

That begged the question: when we were in the area, where do we go when we want a good hearty diner-style meal?  What follows is a tale of two diners...

At The Diner On The Corner: Wildflower Cafe

The entrance to the Indianola Avenue-located Wildflower Cafe

Sometimes inexpensive home-style diner food is what you want, and Columbus has more than its fair share of options in that category.  During our move this year to a new house, we found our new travels to work and back took us by McCarthy's Wildflower Cafe on a regular basis, and we figured it was time to drop by for some regular visits during breakfast.

Started by members of the McCarthy family in the early 2000s, Wildflower Cafe's space is set back from the main street a bit, giving what looks to be a somewhat odd-looking parking lot a bit of unfortunate prominence in determining whether you want to drop by or not. However, this parking lot is often full of cars early in the day and especially on weekends, giving you the opposite dilemma of whether or not you think you can find a parking space.

However, once inside, the space is smallish, cozy and bustling; on our visits, customers seem to stream in on a steady basis with only an occasional line-out-the-door effect like you often get at places like Northstar Cafe or Starliner Diner in Hilliard. The word "homey" and diner almost seem to go hand-in-hand; in Wildflower's case, its homey-quality is brought out by a combination of interior decor (a renovation to the building toned down the country kitchen touches but kept the down-home appeal, including subtle touches like stenciled floral designs from the owner's daughter), the friendly staff (service can be a bit slow at the back end when you're wanting to leave, but I've noticed groups here generally don't mind lingering a bit) and the clientele who dine there.

Wildflower Cafe features a smallish but otherwise homey interior space

As for the latter aspect, I've noticed plenty of family and friend groupings at Wildflower, often with a kid or two in tow, not surprising with the diner's nicely inexpensive kid-oriented menu. The random streams of conversation that I've caught (Wildflower can get loud at times, but really no louder than other places in town) have a hint of anticipation to them: a get together with the grandparents, a trip out to the Buckeye football game, a visit to a local festival or out of town to somewhere afar, and so on.  Not that Wildflower doesn't have a space for its solo diners - having done quite a bit of solo dining myself, I'm sure I'd feel right at home near the front at one their small number of counter seats.

The breakfast items we've had there are well-made, perhaps a half-notch higher than the Denny's or Scrambler Marie's of this world on an overall basis.  Considering the level, my spouse found their lox quite good (their bagel was of the Lender's variety, however) as well as their Sausage Gravy and Biscuits, and their Challah French Toast was a palate-pleaser to me. Their omelets and scrambles are also solid, if not particularly spectacular gut-fillers. Service can be a touch slow at times (more so on the back end when you're finished up) but Wildflower Cafe seems to be a place where diners like to linger a little longer than most.

From left to right clockwise: Wildflower Cafe's menu, Challah
French Toast with Ohio maple syrup, Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

Wildflower does have lunch and dinner options that tread the general home-style meal spectrum, with a few twists like the Indonesian Pasta Salad and Creole Shrimp and Grits. In addition, a daily special is available (including a Athens County Chicken and Egg Noodles on Tuesday and a Southern Fried Chicken, featuring chicken from Gerber Farms, special on Saturday) as well as a few vegetarian options.

Like many diners, their coffee tends to be on the weak side; we have found ourselves opting for other beverages here and grabbing a java later on in the day.  Beverages include all the usual diner juice and pop drinks as well as a select adult beverages (wine, cocktails and a small collection of domestic and locally-brewed craft beers (including Jackie O's and Columbus Brewing.) And of course, you can't possibly be a diner if you don't offer pie - an assortment of pies (including butterscotch and bourbon pecan), cheesecake and cakes are available by the slice or ordering to take home.

Wildflower Cafe
3420 Indianola Avenue (Clintonville)
Columbus, OH 43214
(614) 262-2233
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Ice Cream Chronicles (Vol. 19): In A South End Town and Dead End Road - Lombardi's Dairy Diner

Lombardi's Dairy Diner lies on the southern reaches of the Columbus metro

With all due respect to the Pet Shop Boys and, for that matter, the owners of Lombardi's, this roadside restaurant does not lie on a dead end road.

However, it's quite easy enough to drive right by this extreme southern Columbus metro area eatery on your way south on US 23 towards Circleville if you're not aware it's there. You may see it coming northbound on the same highway, but traffic at the closest intersection may discourage you to make that turn to get there (along with State Route 665 from the Grove City area, State Route 317 circles down from Southeast Columbus past the Rickenbacker Airport area to feed into this intersection.) Scioto Downs, just a half-mile north of Lombardi's, can add to the multitudes of automobiles that travel through this area.

Lombardi's offers a low-frills roadside diner experience, with the
usual menu items and a variety of ice cream options

But if you do veer off these main roads into Lombardi's parking lot, you will find a low-key, low-frills eatery that serving its roadside diner fare for over 40 years (according to the restaurant's website, the restaurant is open all year, but the hours vary with the season.) All the familiars are on the menu, from coneys to burgers, a variety of sub sandwiches to fried bologna, and pasta and pizza dishes. On this day, their restaurant sign touted their seafood options such as their lake perch, oysters and shrimp.

On this day, however, I was here for the ice cream. And to borrow from the Pet Shop Boys again, Lombardi's offers visitors a hard or soft option: roughly 20 flavors of traditional ice cream, and vanilla and chocolate soft serve (a swirl of both is also available.) This soft serve option presented a mild dilemma on this day in that a combination of kid-like nostalgia, a nice price (a large will set you back only $2), and the fact that I just simply had not had a soft-serve cone in awhile was pulling me away from my usual sampling modus operandi. An added factor was my status on this day as a solo traveler.

But then I figured out something pretty quickly: why choose when you don't have to?

Which do you choose, a hard or soft option...how about both?

The butter pecan, my standard flavor choice, was quite good. But on this day, the soft serve won out as the favorite, though I downed both cones with equal pleasure.

I ended up quite full (yes, this was quite a bit of ice cream) after downing these frozen treats, and I semi-regretted it for just a slight while afterward. But since I don't go past Lombardi's and this south end town all too often, I figured this was, in the end, just a big down payment for the next time we pass this way again.

Lombardi's Dairy Diner
6251 S High St (US Route 23)
Lockbourne, OH 43137
(614) 491-7570
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Ice Cream Chronicles (Vol. 17): Crossing the Y(ummy)-Bridge - Tom's Ice Cream Bowl

Next to the Y-Bridge, Tom's Ice Cream Bowl might be
Zanesville Ohio's most familiar landmark

Founded by John McIntire in 1797, on land deeded by town namesake as well as father-in-law Ebenezer Zane, Zanesville stands as the largest Ohio outpost on the I-70 freeway between the Columbus metro area and the West Virginia border. Known historically for its Y-Bridge (in its fifth iteration since its original construction in 1814) and its renowned pottery industry, Zanesville also sports a top-ranked ice cream store as determined by USA Today in Tom's Ice Cream Bowl.

Originally known as Jack Hemmer Ice Cream when the business first opened in 1948, its current appellation as Tom's Ice Cream Bowl was finalized in 1957, four years after now-retired co-founder Tom Mirgon bought Jack's interest in the business. Current owner Bill Sullivan, the former store manager, agreed to keep the business pretty much the same. In fact, while other ice cream brick-and-mortar shops I have visited over the past couple years may have been in business longer, Tom's may be the one store (Johnson's Ice Cream in Bexley is also a contender here) that stays the most true to its bygone era of origin.

Dapper employees in white hats and aprons matched with black bow ties stand behind the counter within a distinctly soda fountain styled setup that probably hasn't changed all that much since the 1950s. The non-ice cream menu also stays firm to those classic 50's-era diner dishes (burgers, hot dogs and chili) with a few Ohio-area twists (shredded chicken and Rittberger fried baloney sandwiches.) To top it off, a line of nuts and candies from Canton's Ben Heggy's are available to take home for further snacking. We got the impression prior to our visit that large crowds are something of the norm at Tom's, and nothing from our experience dissuaded us from that line of thinking.

Tom's Ice Cream Bowl blends an ice cream soda fountain atmosphere
with diner dish favorites and Ben Heggy's nuts and candies

Of course, they wouldn't call it the "Ice Cream Bowl" if they didn't have ice cream, and we weren't dropping by simply to look at what flavors were on the board. Tom's sports both seasonal and standard flavors ice cream all made in-house, and we decided we both would go with one dip off both flavor menus (Tom's regular flavors are listed in two corners of the store.)

That's our bowl of absolute frozen deliciousness coming our way

True to the name, we received our ice cream in bowls, and there was a lot of it to be had. I ordered my standard Butter Pecan, which was good but I felt was trumped by the Coconut Chocolate Almond (it ranks up with the Coconut Chai from Cedarville's The Neapolitan as one of my favorites this year) I bagged as my second dip. My spouse's Maple Nut was also quite delicious, and she was also pretty pleased by her Chocolate Caramel Marshmallow Fudge. Prices for the ice cream and the menu as a whole fall on the inexpensive side of the ledger, making it fairly easy for the visitor to fill their bellies without breaking the bank...or bowl, in this particular case.

Tom's Ice Cream Bowl
532 Mcintire Ave
Zanesville, OH
(740) 452-5267
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Sonoma Day-Tripping: Fremont Diner/Mission Sonoma San Francisco/Adobe Road Winery

Our California travels during the holidays, unlike other visits in the past, were marked by days or half-day trips instead of extended multi-day affairs. One of these excursions was marked with a quick road trip along Highway 12 into Sonoma, where we dropped by an old favorite, absorbed a little California history, and did a little wine tasting along the way.

The Fremont Diner has gained a loyal following since its opening in 2009

Fremont Diner - this roadside diner had been formerly the home of a long-standing roadside dive Babe's Burgers and Franks, which had a reputation for good burgers. After Babe's closed, over a year passed before the building was remade and reopened in mid-2009 by owner Chad Harris. Despite the cramped (though nicely nostalgically-decorated) interior space and window-only service, diners started to flock here as word spread the delicious Southern-styled eats being created here using locally sourced food purveyors.

I myself had been a frequent visitor of the diner while I was still residing in the Bay Area, and my spouse got the pleasure of tasting their wares on our first year dating anniversary trip out to California in 2011. Our last year's Christmas-time trip to California was our first chance for a revisit since then.

Exterior changes were the first thing that caught my eye on this return back to the diner. The hand-painted clumsy-in-a-charming way original Fremont Diner sign had been relegated to the back of the property. Even when this sign was up front, the restaurant was (and still is) easy to drive past if you aren't sure what to look for.

Clockwise from top left: Glass jugs of complimentary water; a "Greetings
 from Sonoma" mural from the now-enclosed outdoor seating area; a shot
of the Fremont Diner kitchen; and dishes of deliciousness ready to go

In addition, the outdoor grassy area with picnic tables next to the restaurant with had been enclosed, providing a shelter from inclement weather or extreme temperatures. With indoor seating packed as usual and cold temperatures (by California standards) that morning, it was a welcome sight this morning. This enclosed space had some additional neat features, including a natty Sonoma-oriented mural and play things for the kids (I spied two buckets of Mr. Potato-Head toys, amongst other items.)

Another welcome change was the switch to table service, which is a fairly recent change from the order at the window queue I was used to going through every time I dropped by for a visit. Being a bit chilly in the outdoor seating, we immediately ordered a pot of French Press coffee; the diner uses the roasts of San Francisco-based Four Barrel Coffee.

Clockwise from top left: Four Barrel French Press Coffee; Nashville Fried
Chicken and Mac 'N Cheese (from an earlier visit); and our breakfast this
morning: Black Pepper Brisket Hash and the Chilaquiles

While there are many delicious things to sample here at Fremont, my personal leanings are toward their Nashville-style chicken (yes, take note all you Hot Chicken Takeover fans who might be heading to the Bay Area soon) and anything involving pork. No chance for fried chicken this early in the morning (we did find an archival photo of their finger-licking version of this dish from a previous visit, as seen above), but we found some acceptably delectable substitutes in the Black Pepper Brisket Hash ($10.99) and their take on Chilaquiles ($11.99). The spouse was taken aback at first at not getting a corned beef flavor profile, but got in tune with the smoky profile of the brisket in her hash. The addition of pickled onions in my chilaquiles add both a bit of color and extra zing to Fremont Diner's otherwise solid take on this Mexican classic.

The Fremont Diner has a whole lot more to choose from, including craft ciders and beers, desserts (including butterscotch pudding and lemon chess meringue pie slices) and the recent addition of barbecue dinners spring of 2014. Perhaps the best advice if you decide to stop by is bring an appetite and/or bring a lot of friends: there's a lot of good stuff to be found in Fremont Diner's seasonally-oriented menus, and there is no real mystery why this place remains a favorite destination for many.

The Fremont Diner
2698 Fremont Dr. (CA Highway 12 - Google Maps)
Sonoma, CA  95476
(707) 938-7370
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The front of  Mission San Francisco Solano, the most
northernmost mission on the famed El Camino Real

Mission San Francisco Solano - there is no doubting the influence that Spanish settlers had in many areas throughout the Americas, and California was an area where that influence was profound. Much of this influence was brought on by those of the Catholic faith: from the mid-1700s all the way to statehood in 1859, representatives from the Franciscan Order, led by Father Junipero Serra, setup missions throughout the state with the idea to colonize the area as well as bring Christianity to the native peoples.

This Spanish colonization had consequences both positive (mainly via introduction into California of modern agricultural technology and European vegetables, fruits and horses) and negative (particularly in relation to the decline and decimation of Native populations from exposure to diseases and the attempts to turn and keep individuals into Christianity.) An inexpensive way to dive into this chapter of California history lies in a visit to one of these sites.

The main mission building, restored after the 1906 San Francisco
Earthquake damaged the structure, contains many informational exhibits,

Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma, operated by California State Parks and part of the Sonoma State Historic Park, is the northernmost and last established (construction began in 1823) outpost along what became known as El Camino Real (translation: The Royal Highway). This road connected the 21 missions of what was then Alta California as well as assorted military presidios and pueblas such that a traveler could make it between outposts with one day's travel.

The only mission established while an independent Mexico ruled the region, Mission Solano San Francisco operated as such for only 11 years before it was officially closed in 1834. From there, the building underwent numerous ownership transfers and uses as well as increasing neglect until the property was bought by the California Landmarks League in 1903. Restoration efforts began several years after this purchase before the full transfer of the property to the state of California took place in 1926.

Various scenes from around the Mission, including the chapel and
the fenced-in courtyard behind the main building.

Admission to the Mission property will get you into several sites which now make up the Sonoma Historic Sites Park, including the Military Barracks and nearby Casa Grande Servants Quarters, the Toscano Hotel, and two homes associated with General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, who was influential in the military, business and political realm in the years just before, during after the Mexican-American War as well as the subsequent statehood of California.

Exhibits inside the Sonoma Barracks, including a original
California Bear Republic flag. We also dropped by the Toscano
Hotel and the Casa Grande Servants Quarters.

The Mission and associated Sonoma Historic Sites Park is open 365 days a year except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Sonoma State Historic Park
363 Third Street West
Sonoma, CA 95476
(707) 938-9560
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The interior of Adobe Road Winery, including their delicious wines.

Adobe Road Winery - I have a confession here to divulge: for all the years of residing next door to the most famous of the Bay Area's wine countries, I really was not much into wine tasting or drinking. My spouse and I have visited wineries since we've been together, but they never have been approached as enthusiastically as our pursuit of breweries.

Not that this visit to Adobe Road, located in the heart of Downtown Sonoma will change this tendency, but this was perhaps my first wine tasting where there was not a blah wine in the bunch. This was also a wine tasting that will guarantee a return visit at some point.for us.

This winery tasting room (the main winery is located in Petaluma), located on the main plaza in downtown Sonoma, is part of the boutique wine hobby/business of Kevin and Debra Buckler. Their prime business lies in auto racing, started in 1992 with the founding of their The Racing Group (TRG) race team (they now race under the banner of TRG-Aston Martin.) The Bucklers' have been quite successful at this prime venture, concentrating mainly on the Gran Turismo (GT) racing circuit with a brief dalliance with the NASCAR circuit in the late 2000s.

Their winery, started a few years after the founding of the racing team, has both received the same level of passion from the Bucklers and seen its own measure of success with highly-rated wines and various awards. On this visit, we had only been intending to grab a bottle of their old vine Zinfandel for my father-in-law, who had been wowed by it on a previous visit to the area. But as we got closer, we began to start thinking to ourselves, "Well, we're here...why not taste what they have?

Adobe Road Winery offers a standard tasting on weekdays of $15 and a tasting of their reserve wines on weekends for $25; both those fees are waived if you decide to purchase some wine. Our visit this day came with two bonuses, the first in the form of our host. Alec was a wonderful host, engaging in both his humor as well as his knowledge of the winery and the wines we were sampling. Our second bonus came in the day we visited: since we came on a Monday, we found out that the there were leftover wines from the premium tasting from the weekend. Since the wines would simply be tossed out due to oxidation, we were able to sample their entire available collection.

At the end of our wine tasting, my spouse and I agreed we could have been happy purchasing ANY of the bottles of wine they had for sale. Our fortune to sample the premium wines worked out for both us and Adobe Road, as we walked out with a bottle of their delicious Cabernet Franc along with the requested old vine Zinfandel for my father-in-law. This Cab Franc will definitely be a wine we save for a very special occasion.

Adobe Road Winery (Tasting Room)
481 1st Street West
Sonoma, CA 95476
(707) 939-9099
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