Farmhouse Inn Restaurant

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Fine Dining Rooted in Sonoma's Russian River Valley

At Farmhouse Inn Restaurant in Forestville, the kitchen draws its direction from what is growing, what is ready, and what the season allows. Ingredients arrive from local farms, trusted culinary partners, and the inn's own Chalk Hill AVA Culinary Gardens. The result is cooking that is precise without being stiff — serious about food, relaxed about the experience.

Forbes Travel Guide recognized the restaurant for exactly this balance, noting the way the menu invites diners to compose their own experience across three, four, or five courses, mixing and matching from cold starters, shareables, entrées, and desserts — a category guests have been known to revisit more than once.

Chef Juan Cabrera

Executive Chef Juan Cabrera leads the kitchen with an approach built on restraint and respect for ingredients. Inspired by Sonoma County's farms, forests, and coastal influences, he lets each element speak for itself rather than layering on technique for its own sake. His menus shift with what is fresh and expressive, guided by the rhythms of the Russian River Valley.

A sample dinner menu illustrates the range: diver scallops with chicken jus and buttermilk; charred octopus with tarragon and passion fruit; Ora King salmon with nduja beurre blanc; a New York steak finished with lobster butter, trout roe, and beef tongue. Desserts — vanilla custard with winter citrus and tarragon, or variations of chocolate with passion fruit — carry the same careful restraint.

The Room and the Glass

The main dining room sets a tone without trying too hard. A vaulted ceiling with wood chandeliers, a corner fireplace, and frescoed murals depicting Bartolomei family scenes give the space warmth and a quiet sense of place. Tables are well spaced, jazz standards play softly, and the room invites conversation rather than competing with it.

Food and beverage director Matthew Brown and his sommelier team curate wine pairings that reach across local Sonoma varietals and international pours — a dashi-bathed scallop, for instance, paired with a polished sake. For guests who prefer something other than wine or beer, the kitchen prepares handcrafted non-alcoholic pairings using fresh herbs, honey, grape varietal vinegars, and sparkling water sourced locally, with advance notice requested to ensure freshness.

Farmstand and Beyond

Beyond the dinner table, the restaurant recently introduced Farmstand, a permanent food stand serving farm-driven dishes and beverages poolside, in guest rooms, at the spa, and on the inn's sun-dappled terraces — extending the same ingredient-led philosophy into more casual moments throughout the day.