When was the last time you dined in Petaluma? This bustling Sonoma town with rich farming history on the border between Marin and Sonoma Counties is only roughly 32 miles from San Francisco. But that drive can be 35–40 minutes or a lot more, depending on the infamous Petaluma traffic jam due to the forever buildout of a third freeway lane on each side of the 101 through the town.
As that endless project finally looks to be on its final stretch, traffic is getting better. This is ideal given the rich blossoming of a town that has long had a movie-worthy historic main street, music venues and one of the county’s best bakeries, Della Fattoria, since 1995 (RIP Kathleen Weber). In recent years, Petaluma openings have been coming steadily (like Easy Rider, which I reviewed earlier this year), while the city’s craft brewery and distilling scenes are thriving, thanks to destination-worthy Griffo Distillery and breweries like HenHouse or pioneering Lagunitas.
Like many a Sonoma County town, it’s a good place to eat, housing rarities like Swedish Turkish food (you heard right) at Stockhome, all the more precious given the closure of the same chef/owners beloved (and original) Plaj here in SF, which was our best Scandinavian restaurant.
Now I present to you (arguably) Petaluma’s top tasting menu. The cliche goes that good things come in small packages and this treat is downright tiny. Blink and you’ll miss the Petaluma Boulevard storefront housing intimate, cozy, 10-table Table Culture Provisions (TCP) opened in the former Chili Joe’s towards the end of 2021.
Making this Lilliputian restaurant more intriguing, the husband/wife chef owners are from Haiti, NYC and Poland, partnering with a Petaluma native. Chef Stéphane Saint Louis hails from Haiti and New York, having cooked and/or taught (his alma mater being none other than Paul Bocuse Institute in France) everywhere from Shanghai to France, Miami to Copenhagen. Stéphane partnered with Petaluma native Steven Vargas (who worked for/with Stéphane at Della Fattoria and The Shuckery locally) and wife Marta, who grew up in Gdańsk, Poland (read more about all three here).
Like many, at first, TCP was a pop-up, launched temporarily in the Wishbone space in 2020, serving mostly takeout upscale comfort food. The team’s diverse backgrounds brought international influence to a menu with decidedly local roots.
It can be hard to justify feasting (especially with drink) on a drive to and from SF unless we’re staying north, so husband Dan and I squeezed in a reservation on a cool March night on a recent jaunt north to try their reasonably priced $95 tasting menu. But as our sweetheart of a server confirmed, we could order one tasting menu and supplement as we also wanted to try regular menu dishes (as ever, for maximum research and understanding of a menu, I try as many dishes as possible).
Sonoma County is a farming region, first and foremost. Of course, most notably for wine, but all manner of produce and those famed Gravenstein apples, too. The County is a core part of that blessed NorCal goodness of pioneering cheesemakers, cooks, growers and farmers ensuring superb food across the region. Local, farm ethos runs through the menu at TCP, certainly standard for Bay Area, leading farm-to-table since the 1960s.
We started with Delicata squash rings in onion dip, both on the tasting menu and larger portioned on the regular menu. They’re a must: consider it farm-to-table, NorCal “junk” food without the guilt. A “healthy” chips and dip or onion rings variation, if you will. It felt both playful and rootsy. The right start.
Raw fish is clearly one of chef Saint Louis’ strengths and a lighter start to the meal, highlighting local fish. Seabass tartare swimming in tiger’s milk (citrus-y leche de tigre) was followed by ahi tuna crudo of the day accented with mandarins, kumquats, seaweed salad and lemon caviar (caviar source being France’s Caviar Perlita). One was on the tasting menu, one a la carte, both standouts in the meal, scooped up with crispy house pomme gaufrettes chips, begging for a glass of sparkling wine.
Parker House rolls may have (over) trended the past decade, but these are yet more fluffy additions to the frey, lush with bone marrow fat butter, honey and nori salt. Vegetarians (and risotto lovers like me) will take to roasted butternut squash risotto contrasted with chimichurri, maitake steak mushrooms and pickled bok choy. It’s less Italy-perfect risotto, more farm-to-table, earthy goodness. Bucatini in cream sauce with Parmigiano cheese, clams, prawns, pea shoots and a decadent touch of truffle-infused caviar made me even happier, given its of-the-sea umami brightness, partnered with nicely al dente noodles.
I was hoping to taste mustard in the half brick chicken, but it was juicy and perfectly cooked, enhanced by fennel fondant and herb garlic butter. A partner of shoestring fries doesn’t hurt. A mustard-y kick would have made it stand out vs. a more straightforward, farm-to-table standard, but again, being done right helps. An off-bone porterhouse pork chop (smaller portion on the tasting menu) with endive gratin, quince and meaty-sweet sherry pork sauce, was the more interesting meat main for me, also juicy, sweet and savory by turns.
Many a Sonoma restaurant understandably veers local on their wine lists. They should, being in one of the best wine regions in the world. Given the small space, the wine list here is tight and focused, but also international, in keeping with chef Stéphane’s background. Wines move from local sips, like the fascinating violet and beer notes of Van Der Kamp Rosé of Pinot Meunière, to classically lean 2019 Domaine Mann Mouton Bleu Sylvaner from Alsace, France. Or a crisp Clos de la Briderie Cremant de Loire as the sparkling French wine, to a bold, earthy, cherry-and-slate-laden 2019 Birdhorse Barbera from California’s Amador County.
We were too full to finish dessert but bites of lemon sponge cake in lemon cream carried home, accompanied by “burnt crispy” meringue, tart and spongy the next morning with coffee.
Chatting with chef Stéphane briefly via the kitchen window gazing into the dining room before we left, I can see how his cooking from regions as far as France, China and Denmark lend that global eye. It’s also clear Sonoma’s agricultural core and “down home-ness” reigns on the menu.
While that may be what the locals want, I secretly hope as TCP evolves, we might see more of Stéphane’s Haiti heritage, Caribbean soul married to Sonoma bounty, his Western European technique with the nurturing nature of Eastern European food from his wife’s roots. Every chef has a chance to tell a story from the plate and I sense there is a deeper one waiting still to be told here that could unfold with some surprising and rewarding layers for all of us. As it stands early on, TCP is already a win for Sonoma and chef Stéphane and team are one to watch, support and encourage to take us there.
// 312 Petaluma Blvd. South, Petaluma; www.tcprovision.com
