Musings: Readers remember restaurants of Sonoma’s past

I received some great responses to my recent column about Plaza restaurants of old. I decided they should be included in a follow-up, along with some additional commentary.

Laurie O’Hare wrote: “How could you forget Bunny’s Country Kitchen in Kenwood (where Salt and Stone is today)? On Saturday nights nearly all of Kenwood, kids and adults alike, could be found there.

They presented fried chicken and glorious fluffy mashed potatoes with chicken gravy but best of all were all-you-can-eat buttermilk biscuits with delicious honey butter. We looked forward to going there all week. It was such a happy, popular place that they would run out of parking spaces in the parking lot. The cars would line the road along the highway and wait for spots to open so they could go into the restaurant. It was wonderful!.”

Bill: I agree, Bunny’s established in October of 1960 by Katherine “Bunny” Moore, was a very popular Kenwood restaurant. Unfortunately, I’d went away to college the fall that it opened, and didn’t get to dine there very often in the following years.

Nancy (Vernon) Garner wrote: “Thanks for your articles about old Sonoma and your fishing articles…our family went to the Swiss and El Dorado but we also went to the Vineburg Inn. We were very sad when it burned down.”

Bill: I remember my folks taking me to the Vineburg Inn, which changed hands several times before being sold in 1959 to Walter Reuchmuth, former owner of Little Switzerland in El Verano, who changed its name to Vineburg Swiss Chalet. In September of 1965 the restaurant burned down and was never rebuilt.

Steve Kyle wrote: “Holly and I really enjoyed the old Sonoma article in the paper today.

We moved here in the mid ‘70s and remember the Swiss Hotel and El Dorado with great fondness, and went to both often. Swiss was our favorite. Over time and many evenings having drinks in the bar, Helen and the Kyles became friends. We never got to know Ted very well but Helen enjoyed our company to the point where some nights, she’d hang the closed sign in the small window of the front door at 2 a.m. and we'd would continue into the early hours playing her favorite dice game. We were much saddened at her passing as she was a lovely lady with a wonderful spirit.

‘El Dorado was another fave with its huge dinner tables that would seat eight, large soup terrines filled with the best minestrone, followed by pasta, salad, bread and more food than you could put away.

“Great days shared with wonderful people in a town that made you feel at home and comfortable.”

Bill: Thanks, Steve. You captured the essence of dining out with friends and neighbors back then.

Mike Nugent wrote: “I love your Musings about the town I fell I love with over 40 years ago. The Swiss remains our favorite. We have had the same table for family lunch Christmas Eve every year since 1998. And before that, was it the short ribs or pot roast that brought in the crowds every Wednesday night? Remember ‘garlic salad’ blue cheese, iceberg lettuce and huge amounts of raw garlic? Loved it.

“And it was in the Swiss dining room that my daughter Trish (now with two boys of her own) told me it was the place she realized that she was growing up.

She said we were having dinner during my ‘single’ days before I met Therese. The waitress brought the plastic booster chair for her. Her epiphany was the fact that she could not squeeze into the damn thing.”

Bill: Thanks Mike. The blue cheese garlic salad was also our family favorite.

Victoria Melin wrote: “I remember Juanita’s at Verdier’s in El Verano and then in Fetters Springs. Then there was Au Relais, which was where Cornerstone in Schellville is now and later on Broadway. Also, the Ranch House on Broadway near Sonoma Materials.”

Bill: The story of Juanita Musson and her restaurants in Sonoma Valley could fill a book. Her first restaurant here opened in November of 1964 at the old Verdier’s Resort in El Verano. It was popular with locals and visitors, but was destroyed by fire in 1969. The irrepressible Juanita, whose use of profanity was as colorful as her persona then, opened a restaurant at the old Fetters Hot Springs Hotel. It burned down in 1975. Her story doesn’t end there, but it is perhaps for another column.

Au Relais is another great Sonoma Valley story. It started in Schellville at a restaurant formerly called Joe’s at the Pine Grove. In 1964 owner Paul Lorda changed the name to Au Relais, which means stopover in French. Eventually his chef, Harry Marsden, took it over and in 1972 completed remodeling of the former Bates, Evans and Fehrensen funeral home on Broadway in Sonoma and brought his French country-style cuisine into town (where HopMonk is today).

Judging from the response to my story about Plaza restaurants of the mid-20th century, I’m sure many local residents have tales of their own about the local eateries that they enjoyed over the years. Fortunately, the Sonoma Valley Historical Society with Kathleen Hill, Mike Acker and others, is working on an exhibit on local restaurants, bars and resorts for this coming summer.

So many stories and tasty memories.