Inn at Sonoma Review + My Favorite California Road Trip ’16 Eats

As a California transplant, I’m always in awe of how vast and beautiful this state is. Having been born and raised in New Jersey where you can drive from the top of the state to the bottom in a couple of hours, it’s amazing to me how massive California is. There are so many awesome places to visit and explore, and we’ve gone on many weekend getaways and vacations without even leaving state lines.

This was the case two weeks ago, when my hubby and I set off on a California road trip vacation. We traveled from San Diego up to San Francisco to meet my parents, who flew in from the East coast, stayed there a night, then headed into wine country for the remainder of the week.

We elected to stay in Sonoma at the Inn at Sonoma, which I was excited about because while I had wine tasted in the town before, I’d never spent a lot of time there.

In all of its beauty and awesomeness, Sonoma and Napa wine country are not cheap places to vacation, and nice hotels are usually pretty pricey. Luckily, I found a good deal at the Inn at Sonoma. I did all of the planning for this trip, so I was really hoping that the hotel would satisfy everyone in the group. Luckily, the Inn at Sonoma turned out to be a great choice!

The inn is located in the heart of downtown Sonoma, which was great. We were able to casually walk to dinner, and we explored downtown Sonoma one morning during the trip.

It’s full of little shops, restaurants and wine tasting rooms, and has a nice park and historic museum in the middle of it. I found downtown Sonoma to be a lovely, charming area.

Our room at the Inn at Sonoma was pretty, tidy and clean, complete with a fireplace and a balcony. It was nothing too elaborate, but it had everything we were looking for in a hotel.

The hotel has free cruiser bikes available to take for a spin at a first come, first serve basis. The first morning my dad, hubby, and I nabbed bikes to explore around the town. I loved this hotel touch because being active is important to me even on vacation, and I prefer to do so while exploring the area I’m in.

The only downside is that you can’t reserve the bikes ahead of time – so if you have your heart set on cruising around on a bike, get down to the lobby to get it early. The next morning we tried to get bikes for all four of us but all of them were already taken, so that was a bit of a bummer. The other downside concerning active living is that the hotel lacks a gym. Most of us didn’t mind this so much since my mom and I could do yoga in our rooms, and my hubby went for runs around the town each day, but my dad went on a mission to find a gym within the town of Sonoma to workout in one morning. We’re a healthy bunch!

Inn at Sonoma offers complimentary breakfast every morning – and not just a standard Continental breakfast. Their food is really homemade and fresh. Every morning there was fresh fruit, yogurt, and different types of muffins, potatoes, quiche and other egg dishes and homey goods – like bread pudding.

Photo via the hotel website

The inn also offers free wine, cheese and crackers every evening for a few hours. The hotel also keeps a jar of freshly baked cookies in the front, which is a nice little touch – especially when you have the munchies after a day of wine tasting! We took advantage of all of these offerings and definitely saved money throughout the trip in doing so. I somehow didn’t even snap any photos of the food there myself – I suppose I was too busy filling my belly!

Overall, I loved the Inn at Sonoma and would stay there again in a heartbeat.

Being the foodie that I am, I also thought it’d be fun to share with you my favorite eats of the trip. Food is a big part of any trip planning to me, and I did my research to find some yummy spots to eat at during our vacation!

On the road trip up to San Francisco, we made a stop at Crushcakes Cupcakes & Cafe in the cute beach town of Carpiniteria, which is a tad south of Santa Barbara. I may or may not have had cupcakes on my brain. 🙂

I ordered a bagel loaded with avocado, sprouts, tomato & pesto cream cheese; my hubby got a Mexico salad.

And of course, we took a few cupcakes to-go! A few hours later when our blood sugar was dipping, we spiked it right back up & devoured these babies while on the road. Both were so delicious, but the winning vote went to their Half-Baked cupcake – which had almond chocolate chip cake with chocolate chip cookie dough & chocolate frosting. Dessert heaven!  

For dinner on our night in San Francisco, we went to Gracias Madre – a vegan Mexican joint that I had been to once before and loved. I love when I can eat everything on the menu!

My entree, the lastly pictured bowl of braised lentils and mushrooms with peanut sauce and spinach on bed of coconut brown rice, was good but a bit too spicy for me. The above appetizers that we shared were definitely the highlight of the meal for me. There were lots of veggies & plant-based goodness in that meal!

Once in Sonoma, one restaurant I was really looking forward to trying was The Girl & The Fig – which specializes in French food with a California country twist.  I started off with a creamy asparagus soup…

…then ordered their panisse cake, which is a chickpea flour dish that originated in the south of France.

I had never had a panisse cake before, and it was fun trying out something different that I wasn’t familiar with. The dish was topped with roasted spring onions and shaved asparagus salad. My mom also ordered the panisse cake and wasn’t crazy about it, but I really liked the dish. It had a lot of flavor to it, and I thought that the salad and cheese on top complimented the chickpea cakes well.

For dessert, I couldn’t resist trying out their fig and port ice cream.

One more favorite dish from my trip was the vegetable risotto that I ate at Maya Restaurant my last night in town. Also located in downtown Sonoma, the restaurant had a festive Mexican vibe.

This was the first time I think I’ve ever ordered risotto at a Mexican restaurant, and it was delicious! What you see on top of the risotto was a delicious grilled cheese – cotija I believe. I didn’t finish the dish and didn’t take it to-go since we were heading out of town shortly after, but the next day I wished that I had taken the rest with me to eat on the road!

As you can see, there was no shortage of awesome food on my California wine country road trip. Stay tuned for another recap next week that highlights my favorite winery visits of this trip!

Tell me… What’s the best thing you’ve eaten lately? Do you scope out restaurants before you travel somewhere?