Great New Santa Cruz Eatery

[Marina Chang]

Just wanted to mention that we were blown away by the top flight food at the "Cellar Door" cafe for extremely reasonable prices. Chef Charlie Parker was trained by David Kinch in the Manresa kitchen. The approximately 6-month old restaurant shares space with the Bonny Doon tasting room.

I ordered the Prix Fixe for $32.00, which consisted of:

(fresh) Seared Sardines & Local Greens, Beets & Raisins,

Apple & Dolcetto Braised Veal Cheeks, Fork Smashed (smoked) Potatoes & Rapini,

dessert: Almond Stuffed Peaches with Stewed Blueberries & Brown Butter Shortbread

The sardine and greens were wonderfully fresh. The sardine skin was seared light golden and crispy, and the beets and raisins were perfect sweet and tart flavor bursts for the butter lettuce and fresh sardine.

When the veal cheeks arrived, I almost couldn't stop inhaling the aroma of the reduction in which the cheeks had obviously rolled. I almost swooned at my first bite of the cheeks, meltingly tender, juicy, unctuous, with a wonderful beef flavor and waft of roasted garlic. The smoked smashed potatoes imparted that dining-by-campfire taste and offset the richness of those incredible cheeks. (BTW, for $5.00 you can also get an order of smoked fingerling potatoes bathing in aioli.)

The Almond Stuffed Peaches and Stewed Blueberries were also delicious, with the nutty, the sweet, the tart, and the buttery crunch.

My husband orderd the Lamb Sugo, Potato Gnocchi & Braised Greens ($14) off the "small plates" menu list. I chided him for a pedestrian sounding dish. Besides receiving a good sized bowl of gnocchi, what arrived was no ordinary flabby gnocchi. The handmade gnocchi was delicate, yet not too soft, with lightly browned crispy edges. They were mixed in with tender large white beans, roasted garlic, with small hunks of lamb, and wilted greens (chard?), and all were coated with a flavorful lamb "sugo" reduction.

We washed the meal down with Bonny Doon '08 Vin Gris de Cigare, then some of the delicious Nebbiolo, and ended with glasses of the Viogner Port (found only at the winery). The port was an unexpected gift, as it is the exact same pink color as the Vin Gris de Cigare, and our server accidentally brought a "quartino" carafe of it instead of the Vin Gris. She initially whisked the port away and then brought the full glasses back for us to enjoy later. But, I digress...

At the end of our meal, my husband and I both agreed that the quality and craftsmanship of the food was astounding. We had recently dined at Cyrus (in Healdsburg), and felt Chef Parker's dishes were every bit as tasty as equivalent dishes at Cyrus. (And the folks we dined with at Cyrus considered it better than The French Laundry - so, does that make the Bonny Doon Cellar Door Cafe better than The French Laundry?!)