Mummy, what’s for dinner?
That’s what you might ask as you’re driving by the Isis Oasis Sanctuary at the southern entrance to Geyserville these days. Because a life-size Egyptian mummy has just popped up on the roadside, and she’s acting as an unofficial Goddess for an entirely unexpected dining experience in Sonoma County.
It’s a new restaurant called Mummy’s Kitchen, and it offers a specialty of Egyptian-Asian fusion cuisine, served in a colorful café tucked away on the grounds of the spiritual retreat and spa.
Inspired, indeed: the eatery is the brainchild of Isis Arch Priestess and temple director “Lady Loreon” Vigne, along with chef Yaa’ Holwell, who formerly owned Thai Time Asian Bistro in Cloverdale.
The setting may be unlikely – you’ll dine in a pavilion next to an exotic cat sanctuary and in front of the resort’s pool and hot tub, beneath palm frond umbrellas in the shade of a 500-year-old tree, and with the occasional parrot flitting by.
Lady Loreon may stop by your table to offer her blessing, and if she invites you take a tour of the property after your meal, jump at the chance. She’s been a follower of the Egyptian-theme retreat since its founding in 1980.
She may share the story of the restaurant’s invention – how she keeps an inflatable mummy in her kitchen, how she always wanted to open a restaurant, and how Holwell has long been a family friend.
“When Holwell’s place closed, it seemed destined,” Vigne explains.
However whimsical the mood, the kitchen talent is firmly grounded. Cleopatra’s catfish comes decorated with lotus roots ($16), Egyptian sesame chicken is bright with local vegetables over couscous, ($15) and Asian Emerald salmon swims in green curry ($16), served with the black ‘Forbidden Rice’ once reserved only for emperors.
Some dishes meld Vigne’s trove of Egyptian recipes with Holwell’s Thai signatures. Mummy Wrap ($6), for example, can be had Egyptian style with hummus, baba ghanoush and falafel wrapped in lavosh with tahini sauce; or Asian style, as rice paper stuffed with purple cabbage (purple is Isis’ royal color, Vigne notes), carrot, watercress, mint, lettuce and peanut sauce.
Then, there’s the ostrich patty with sliced eggplant on a toasted bun ($14), Tom Ka Gai soup ($5), vegan Egyptian stew with couscous ($12), and red pumpkin chicken curry ($12, lunch/$14, dinner). Wrap things up with“Mummy Yummys” like homemade coconut “isis cream” with seasonal fruit ($5).
Mummy’s Kitchen is open for dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, and for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays. Look for longer hours and an expanded menu sometime later in the year.
Mummy’s Kitchen: in the Isis Oasis Sanctuary, 20889 Geyserville Avenue, Geyserville; (707) 857-4747 or isisoasis.org.
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