Food, Wine, and a Safari? Only in Santa Rosa
Even though I've lived the majority of my life in the Bay Area, I had never been to Santa Rosa until this past month. When Visit Santa Rosa reached out regarding a curated day trip, I was more than excited about the opportunity to explore the city. Santa Rosa was the most affected city by the North Bay fires last October. Some parts of the city are still recovering from the fire damage but other parts were untouched. I didn't see any of the fire damage until we were driving to Safari West, which was extremely sad seeing entire neighborhoods burned down with only a few remains left. The best way to help the city rebuild is by visiting and increasing their tourism. Santa Rosa is only an hour away from San Francisco and an easy day trip. So if you're looking to escape the hustle and bustle of the city for a day, head up north to Santa Rosa for a day of food and fun! Read on for my day trip guide so you can start planning your own.
Brunch at River Vine Cafe - We left San Francisco around 9am and started our day with our first stop at River Vine Cafe, located at Vintners Inn. The inn and grounds are quite charming and I wish I could've stayed the night there but guess I'll just have to go back! We sat outside on the patio overlooking their terrace and vineyard while enjoying the Avocado Toast, Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, Eggs Benedict with avocado and oven roasted tomato, and Steak & Eggs. Definitely get the Benedict! The English muffin was perfect, the avocado and oven roasted tomato were a nice touch, and the potatoes that come on the side were sooo addicting.
Stroll Through a Farmers Market - If you need to kill some time after brunch before your next stop, head over to one of the many local farmers markets. Check out the website to see which ones are operating during your visit as well as their hours. We stumbled upon the Healdsburg Farmers Market since it was really close to River Vine Cafe. Since we had just eaten, I was glad to see that this farmers market had more than just food and produce, although I was tempted to try some of the food but decided it would be best to save space for our next stop. There was an entire row of craft vendors and instead of leaving with food, I actually ended up with 2 new handmade rings (this never happens)!
Sip & Savor at Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate & Gardens - This was the perfect midday stop to unwind and relax before continuing on with the rest of our plans. Kendall-Jackson is one of the most well-known names in California wine. The estate is surrounded by a large vegetable garden with a patio in the back. Kendall-Jackson offers quite a few different tasting options, which are all pretty reasonable. We opted for the 5-course Wine & Food Pairing since we were treating it as our lunch. However, if you're just looking for a snack, they have a Wine & Chocolate Pairing as well as a Wine & Cheese Pairing. My favorite savory courses from the pairing were the Hog Island Sweet Water Oysters with Strawberry-Rhubarb Mignonette (and I'm not even a fan of oysters normally) paired with their 2016 Grand Reserve Rose and the Yukon Gold Potato Gnocchi paired with the 2015 Jackson Estate Outland Ridge Pinot Noir. The dessert was a light and fluffy Creme Fraiche Cake along with a couple Canneles, which is one of my favorite pastries.
Tour Safari West - Who knew there was a safari right in my backyard?? Safari West is described as the closest thing to an African Safari outside of Africa and even though I've never been to Africa, I'd believe it. If there's one thing you do in Santa Rosa, this should be it. The tour is about is 3 hours long and starts with a 45 minute walking tour before the group takes a ride in the wagon. On the walking tour, we got to see various chimps, a lot of birds (you really don't realize how afraid of birds you are until you're stuck in a huge cage with them...or that might just be me), and cheetahs! Once we finished the walking tour, we took a quick break before jumping into the wagon. The wagon has a seat on the roof, which everyone gets the chance to ride on, but if possible, try to get the top seat first so that you'll be able to see the giraffes eye-to-eye. If you want to stay overnight with the animals, they have glamping tents that you can book. My pictures don't do this place justice and you really have to experience it for yourself, it's truly surreal.
Dinner at The Spinster Sisters - A few people recommended this place for brunch but we could only fit it into our schedule for dinner. But I have no regrets going for dinner instead of brunch. We sampled quite a few items on the menu (to the point where the waitress originally didn't think our entire order would fit on our table) and everything was delicious. I wish my stomach was bigger because there were still a lot of items I wanted to try but didn't order because #selfcontrol. The menu is split into bites, charcuterie/cheese, veggies, small plates, and large plates and changes daily based on seasonality. For our dinner we had the Seasonal Vegetable Pickle Plate, Roasted Fresh Garbanzos, Trout Tartine, Grilled Local Calamari, Roasted Garlic Chili Prawns, Italian Butter Beans & Braised Greens, and Local Seafood Bouillabaise. My favorite dishes were the Prawns and Bouillabaise, which I would highly recommend for all you seafood lovers. The Bouillabaise is a pretty large portion, so if possible, share it with the table so you can try other dishes as well (although it is so good, you might not want to share it). The team at The Spinster Sisters were so sweet they even sent me home with one of their books filled with recommendations by locals!
Dessert and a Show at Shuffle's Magical Ice Cream Shoppe - After dinner, we headed over to 4th street to explore Santa Rosa's downtown and we stumbled upon this ice cream shop, which also happens to be a magic shop. They have magic shows every weekend but we had just missed the one that night. Lucky for us, the magician was still there cleaning up and was nice enough to give us a short card show. Regardless of how old you are, I think we can agree that magic tricks are always entertaining. So if you're looking for something to do after dinner and want some ice cream, head over to Shuffle's (I know you're thinking I'm a nerd but it was really entertaining. Hah).
Other popular spots (that I didn't make it to):
Russian River Brewing Company - Santa Rosa is known for their breweries and Russian River is one of the most famous ones so if you like beer, add this to your list!
Perch and Plow - Looking for cocktails and happy hour? Here's your spot!
Want to go on your own Santa Rosa Day Trip? Go to www.visitsantarosa.com/daytrips to view their other itineraries! You can also win a $100 gift card to a Santa Rosa restaurant of your choice by posting your own photo on Instagram, tagging @visitsantarosa, and using the hashtag #SantaRosaDayTrip. Good luck! Let me know if ya win 😉
