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Garden Spa Suites
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The suites come with a hydrotherapy tub, while outside in the private garden, a deep teak tub for two is nestled inside a wooden roofed hut; the hut is open on one side. A waterfall and outdoor shower give the suites a Hawaiian feel. In contrast to the sleek garden spa suites are snug, country-style rooms in the 1850s manor house -- legacy of a long-gone pioneer ranch.
Not new, but worth a visit, are MacArthur Place's seven-acre grounds, with their whimsical, oversized sculptures, boxwood maze and flowering plants.
The
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa, the valley's best-known hotel, has been a wine-country institution since the Roaring '20s. It, too, has updated offerings (707-938-9000).
Chief among the updates is the revamped and expanded spa. It is one of California's best hotel spas, with a lovely waiting area and dramatic staircase, well-appointed treatment rooms and soothing ambience. Spa treatments range from a 100-minute Swedish massage ($295) to a personal, 50-minute nutritional counseling session ($135).
The hotel also boasts the superb restaurant Sante, which features fresh, local produce, artisan cheeses and fresh fish, some caught off Sonoma's Pacific coastline. Sante does fish and meats expertly and has one of the valley's best restaurant wine lists. (Dinner for two with wine: $150). Like most Sonoma restaurants, it showcases Sonoma and Napa vintages -- 500 in all.
El Dorado Kitchen is another destination restaurant, run by chef Ryan Fancher, who formerly cooked at Thomas Keller's
French Laundry.
Three years after remodeling and moving into a space in the El Dorado Hotel once occupied by a chain restaurant, EDK lures a prosperous clientele of wine country deal-makers. The contemporary, French-influenced restaurant has a cool cocktail lounge adjoining the dining room; both are typically packed, even on Mondays (when most Sonoma eateries close).
Dinner for two -- grilled, sweet-fleshed sea bass with a citrusy Sauvignon Blanc from Carneros -- goes for $130. Last June, EDK opened Kitchenette, an adjoining bakery, cafe and take-out place. It competes with Sonoma favorite the Basque Café, which in addition to just-baked bread and pastry, sells full bottles of wine -- as does Kitchenette.
Hey, it's wine country.
Just south of the plaza,
Deuce (707-933-3823) has installed executive chef Jameson Miller, who whips up American comfort foods such as fried chicken and pot roast, a contrast from the cutting-edge fare available up the road.
The down-home menu is out of sync with Deuce's stylish, curvy Art Nouveau interior, but its California vintages, cheery staff and casual tone (ribeye steak and prawn hot-pot dinner for two with a Sonoma Pinot Noir: $110) make Deuce a local haunt.
David Armstrong
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