I’ve lived in Guerneville for three harvests now and I’ve passed by this place many times. The logo is very eye catching and from what I could see the decor was interesting as well. I had tried to go on two occasions, but it was closed both times. Third time is a charm apparently as I was able to go her with my girlfriend the other night.
First impression wow this place is small. Ten or so small tables and a small, sense a theme? eating bar. The place was packed to the gills with a big crowd standing around outside.
Luckily for us we were the only two top waiting and we were seated almost immediately. Sadly this put us dead in the middle of a the dinning room, this had us beset on all sides by both servers and customers. In most cases I would have passed on this table. I am not at all a fan of being in the middle of a room like this. However looking outside and realizing that we would be waiting at least an hour for a table otherwise I decided to put up with it.
With the place being packed the noise level was really high. Usually I loathe loud restaurants, I like being able to hear the people I’m dinning with, but somehow it just seemed to work in Boon. The decor was simple but had nice little touches that made me like it.
Even with the place being packed the service we received was very good. They gave us our own carafe for water, but we never had a chance to fill out own glasses as the service was so spot on. I was very impressed how even with a full house the servers kept things running smoothly. The only thing that happened that annoyed me was when the server made a lame excuse blaming the kitchen for how long our food took to come out. The wait for our entrees was not excessive and required no explanation. As a former chef it always bothers me when a server blames the kitchen for something. There is something just lame about blaming people that can’t defend themselves. The place is packed of course food isn’t gonna fly out. This aside Boon’s servers provided us with some of the best service I’ve ever had.
We were super hungry and decided to order two appetizer. We got the burrata with beet pesto and the truffle fries. Both were quite good
I love burrata, it might be my favorite cheese, this was a very good example of it. Great taste and texture, it could have been a bit creamier however. The beet pesto was a new concept to me. I hesitate to call it a pesto because it has next to nothing in common with a standard pesto. Maybe it spent some time in a mortar and pestle like a pesto should and that’s how it earned the name. It was however delicious and actually upstaged the burrata. Where this dish fell down to me was the fact that they serve it with two rather small slices of grilled bread, We could have used at least double the bread for all the burrata they gave us. Bread isn’t expensive so I doubt it was a food cost issue. It’s a minor quibble, but it really did dampen my enthusiasm for the dish.
When the truffle fries came out I was less than impressed. They were pretty thick cut. I personally love thin fries and can generally do without thick cut fries. I also tend to find that for truffle fries they almost need to be thin or you lose the truffle taste in the bland potato taste. In this case I was happily surprised. The fries were cooked perfectly, just the right ratio of crispy to potatoey I’m looking for, this is almost unheard of in my experience, another example of how talented the chef is. The fries were served with a house made ketchup and a garlic aioli. I am not a ketchup person at all. I almost never use it and would have skipped it here if my GF hadn’t made try it. Man would I have missed out. If all ketchup was like this I would put it on almost everything. The garlic aioli was good as well, but it had nothing on that ketchup. Seriously they should bottle and sell it.
For our mains I ordered the Herb Roasted Chicken and the GF ordered a slow braised pork dish that was served over polenta. The presentation on both of the dishes was outstanding and really made you want to dive right in.
My chicken was an airline breast (wing on) and was served over toasted farro with grilled radicchio on the side. The chicken was perfectly cooked and seasoned It was super juicy with just the right amount of crispness on the skin. I adore farro and this presentation was spot on. The radicchio tasted burned, which was odd because it wasn’t. Maybe the grill imparted the flavor via something burning below it. Sadly it was basically inedible. The chicken and farro more than made up for it and the dish was still a winner.
I didn’t get to try much of the pork dish, my GF gave me a small piece to try, and the look on her face, rapture, told me not to ask for any more. Luckily for me, and unluckily for her, she forgot her left overs at my house and I got to eat them the next day. Even reheated this dish was great. The polenta was very creamy and perfectly seasoned, so often I find it to be under seasoned. The pork itself was melt in your mouth tender and tasted sublime.
Though we were both rapidly approaching food comas the food was so good that we had to try dessert. She ordered a peach and berry cobbler and I got the buttermilk panna cotta. I don’t like peach, so I only tried a small bite of the cobbler topping, but it was really good.
The panna cotta sounded really intriguing to me. First off I’d never heard of a buttermilk panna cotta so I was already interested, then I saw that it was served with a blueberry thyme compote. Thyme in a dessert? I had to have it. The panna cotta was so silky smooth and the slight tartness from the buttermilk perfectly accented the sweetness of the blueberry compote. The thyme brought an interesting counterpoint to the compote and was a welcome addition.
Boon eat & drink is a great place to eat. The food and service are wonderful. It is well worth braving the crowd and loudness when the experience is this good. In truth its worth a drive for this meal.
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