A staple for Sonoma County residents, Jeffrey’s Hillside Café offers traditional American breakfast and lunch. You’ll be reeled in by the fabulous pancakes, eggs, hashes and salads, to name but a few scrumptious dishes.
Chef and owner Jeffrey Madura left what many in the restaurant business would die for – a job as executive chef at John Ash & Company to start his own restaurant in 2008. The restaurant isn’t just limited to Jeffrey; his wife Diana manages and their son, Josh, works as a busser.
Just putting your name in for a table is a wonderful experience, as the waitstaff welcomes you with a smile, and can answer any question about the menu. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable and can accommodate any dietary restriction you can think of. They take great pride in their jobs, and it’s easy to tell. They are attentive and friendly, while the food is beautiful and artistically prepared, reasonably priced, and to top it off, it feels like home. The atmosphere is warm, and the restaurant never gets oppressively loud.
A couple of large tables are placed next to each other, which means you can strike up conversations with other customers. Jeffrey’s accommodates parties both large and small, but you might have to wait – it’s popular. Located at the Hillside Inn, hotel guests are able to grab a bite.
Jeffrey’s serves locally grown food from top farms and dairies in Sonoma County. The restaurant features coffee from Taylor Maid Farms; Clover-Stornetta and Laura Chenel supply dairy products, and Franco American Breads supplies pastries and breads.
That’s not even close to the full list of purveyors. Several well-known award-winning wineries like Ferrari Carano Winery, Rodney Strong Vineyards and Trecini Winery provide wine, and other well-known purveyors like Zoe’s Meats and King’s Nursery fill out the ingredients list.
The dishes you can’t go wrong with for breakfast are huevos rancheros, sticky-bun French toast and corned beef hash. The huevos rancheros come with eggs any style, unlike typical huevos rancheros, which come with eggs over easy. La Tortilla Factory corn tortillas function as a delicious way to scrape up left-over eggs and salsa. The sticky-bun French toast is a different version of an American pastry classic. It comes with caramelized pecans on top and seasonal local fruit on the side. The corned beef hash is amazing. It comes with house-made corned beef, grilled onions and bell peppers, perfectly done potatoes, two eggs any style and toast.
The brunch menu is equally appetizing, with amazing sandwiches like the Reuben, tuna melts and roast turkey sandwiches. The salads are tasty but large, like the Cobb salad, which is large enough for two to split.
If you go for lunch, the patty melt is perfectly sized. It’s a half-pound burger with melted jack cheese, sautéed mushrooms and caramelized onions, all of which are placed onto perfectly toasted light rye bread, with crispy french fries on the side. The tuna melt is served on focaccia, and the tartar sauce balances between salty and sweet.
In terms of affordability, Jeffrey’s has something for every budget.
Jeffrey’s is open seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Locals and hotel guests alike absolutely love this unassuming-looking restaurant in the heart of Wine Country. Their full breakfast, brunch and lunch menus are available on their website jeffreyshillsidecafe.com.
