The French Garden in Sebastopol has always had the necessary ingredients to be a destination restaurant – a lovely space on Bodega Avenue at Pleasant Hill Road, and truly exquisite heirloom fruits and vegetables to accent its Mediterranean-inspired menu.
(How fresh is fresh? Owner Dan Smith grows his own produce, in fact, on his 30-acre organic, bio-intensive farm nearby.)
Yet since opening in 2006, the restaurant has been missing one critical thing: a chef to bring it all together. While French Garden has always been quite good, it’s teetered just on the edge of great. The turnover of several chefs in its short but ambitious life shows that Smith agrees he hasn’t found the perfect fit.
Hopefully, he’s got it now, after hiring new chef Peter Roelant last week. Roelant replaces Didier Gerbi, who had been at the stove since last July, and he’s already underway with a substantial revamp of the menu.
It certainly looks like this guy’s got the chops to make a difference. A native of Switzerland, Roelant trained with Fredy Girardet, best known for his eponymous Michelin three-star restaurant in Crissier, Switzerland and considered one of the founders of the nouvelle cuisine movement.
He also was chef de cuisine at Los Angeles’ L’Orangerie for six years in the 80’s, when the highly popular restaurant was at its peak. Next, he opened his own eatery, the celebrity-favorite Four Oaks Restaurant in Bel Air, which he ran for more than 16 years until his lease ran out in 2006.
Since then, he’s been consulting, including revamping the well-known Wine Bistro in Studio City from straightforward French into more modern tapas and contemporary Mediterranean offerings.
So what brought him to Sonoma? The incomparable food and wine, of course.
While the menu is still in the works, Roelant says we can expect more of a California French vibe, highlighting Smith’s seasonal harvests.
A few preview selections sound delicious, like basil-crusted Alaskan halibut with braised baby fennel in a champagne sauce; or penne with coconut curry, chicken, red cranberries and cilantro. He’s updating the bar’s bistro menu, too, putting his own twist on pissaladiéres, the savory, ultra-thin crusted pizzas popular in the south of France. Toppings might feature smoked salmon, crème fraiche and Tobiko caviar; garden tomatoes with candied garlic and basil; or wild mushrooms and truffle oil with baby arugula.
Watch this space for more details on the new menu, and an updated review.
Details: French Garden, 8050 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol, 707-824-2030, frenchgardenrestaurant.com.