Whether you’re single or taken, on a budget or looking to splurge, Sonoma County provides events and restaurant deals to make everyone’s Valentine’s Day. From the classic to the casual, and the luscious to the lavish, Santa Rosa Junior College students have options if they choose to spend Valentine’s Day enjoying the local fare.
Black and White Beer Ball
The third annual Black and White Beer Ball at the Veteran’s Building in Santa Rosa is a great way to spend Valentine’s Day for singles and couples over 21. It features beer from local craft breweries, beer art, local food, live music ad more. Matthew “Molotov” Bouvier will perform a sword-swallowing and dagger-throwing act.
Lagunitas, Anderson Valley Brewing, Lost Coast Brewery and Sonoma Beerocrats Homebrew Club are just a few of the 27 confirmed breweries at the event. This is a prime opportunity for SRJC students who are new to the area to taste unique beer from the Northern Bay Area’s flourishing micro-brew scene. Dapper black and white cocktail attire is recommended, but not mandatory.
Ales for Autism is a Sonoma County nonprofit organization putting on the ball as their flagship event. Tickets are available at www.ales4autism.org for $45.
The Villa Restaurant
For a classic date night experience, The Villa Restaurant in Santa Rosa serves traditional Italian-American dishes and offers a condensed menu on Valentine’s Day.
For an appetizer, you can order oysters, the ultimate aphrodisiac, and choose either Oysters Rockefeller, baked with spinach and bacon, or raw on the half-shell ($12.95).
Heart-shaped lobster ravioli with champagne sauce ($26.95) and filet mignon with shitake mushrooms and cabernet sauce ($39.95) are highlights on the list of entrees, which all include a soup or salad.
The dessert menu has Italian-style sorbetti and gelato (under $5) and zabalione, a light egg custard whipped with Marsala, served warm and big enough for to share ($14.95) over the gorgeous view of the sunset.
Rating: 3/5
Mombo’s Pizza
If riding home in your car with a warm box of pizza on your lap sounds better than sitting in a low-lit restaurant with a white napkin on your lap, Mombo’s Pizza has the romantic meal for your stay-in Valentine’s Day. Mombo’s, located across the street from the SRJC campus and at 560 Gravenstein Highway North in Sebastopol, serves New York thin crust pizza, calzones, soups and salads.
Mombo’s pizzas range from meat lover combinations like the Mombo Combo (pepperoni, mushrooms, bell pepper, onion and Italian sausage) to vegetarian favorites like the Florentine (mozzarella, ricotta and fresh spinach). They craft heart-shaped 12-inch pizzas for a Valentine’s Day special. You and your date can pick up a two-topping heart-shaped pizza and a cookie ($12.99).
Rating: 4/5
Jack and Tony’s Restaurant and Whisky Bar
Jack & Tony’s Restaurant and Whisky Bar in downtown Santa Rosa offers a four-course prix fixe (“fixed price”) menu estimated around $50 for all of the entrees, along with their regular menu on Valentine’s Day. The chef is still planning the prix fixe menu, but guarantees that a lamb chop, steak, and either salmon or trout will make an appearance.
The regular menu serves modern American comfort food with starters like orange-glazed roasted beets, goat cheese and extra virgin olive oil ($8) and entrees like pepper-crusted New York strip steak, potato puree and red wine-shallot butter ($24). Jack & Tony’s also holds one of the most robust scotch selections in Santa Rosa. Management staff recommends reservations for Valentine’s dinners.
Rating: 3.5/5
Costeaux French Bakery
You and your sweetie can pick up a variety of Valentine’s Day-themed baked goods at Costeaux French Bakery in Healdsburg.
They offer a cookie plate with 12 small shortbread cookies with frosted hearts, half with a chocolate topping and half with pink sprinkles ($16), or a cookie bag with one large shortbread cookie and candy hearts ($4).
Another Valentine’s Day special is a box of 16 petit fours in four different varieties ($18). A petit four, meaning “small oven” in French, is a miniature one-or-two-bite confectionery with alternating layers of pound cake and syrup.
If you are wondering how to impress that special person on Valentine’s Day, dropping a little knowledge of French pastry along with some sweet treats wont hurt. Bon courage!
Rating: 4/5
