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Local Goodness at Farmhouse Inn's Restaurant

Where: 7871 River Road [map], Forestville, CA, United States, 95436

Earlier this week, we told you about the saunas at the Russian River Valley’s Farmhouse Inn, but we didn't mention the delicious meal we had in the hotel's Michelin-starred restaurant, Santa Rosa. We were invited by the Wine Road of Northern Sonoma County to eat at Chef Steve Litke’s table (after poking around the Inn’s rooms) and we wanted to tell you about some of the dishes we got to try...though we weren't quite so willing to share the actual food!

Litke aims to “tell a story about Sonoma County” with each meal, so he incorporates all kinds of sustainable, locally farmed produce, like the gorgeous heirloom tomatoes that went into a tri-color gazpacho topped with lump crab meat. In fact, Litke claims that the 10-mile commute from his home to the restaurant takes him about two hours usually because he makes so many stops at gardens, farms, markets and dairies to check on the latest produce.

Like many restaurants in the area, Santa Rosa’s menu changes seasonally, as evidenced by the chanterelle mushrooms that adorned the appetizer of Atlantic sea scallop wrapped in Berkshire pork belly on a bed of Romano and marrow fat beans.

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Tags: Hotel Packages / Fairmont Hotels / San Francisco Hotels / Sonoma Hotels / Wine-Tasting Hotels / → All Tags

Fairmont Lures Us In With Chocolate and Pinot Noir

Where: 900 North Point St. [map], San Francisco, CA, United States, 94109

Fairmont Hotels may have opened up three new hotels along the ancient silk road yesterday (Cairo, China, Abu Dhabi) but they still have a special place in their hearts for California with their new “Chocolate at Pinot” Package available at their San Francisco and Sonoma hotels.

Some people get their antioxidants from green tea, and others get them from blueberries. Us? We prefer fight free radicals with red wine and dark chocolate. Hey, it still counts, so don’t judge us. Now thanks to Fairmont, we can indulge our (healthy, we swear!) cravings with this new four-day package.

With it, you can spend the first two days, Willy Wonka-ing it up at the Fairmont Heritage Place, Ghirardelli Square, which is actually in the former world-famous Ghirardelli Chocolate factory facility in the heart of San Francisco. Then take the second two days to relax from the bustle of the big city out at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa, a grandiose pink resort with a nearly century-long history of gentrified rustication near many of Sonoma’s most famous wineries, and just a couple miles from the town of Sonoma itself.

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The Farmhouse Inn: Where Your Suite Comes With a Sauna

Where: 7871 River Road [map], Forestville, CA, United States, 95436

Last month, we told you about the flight rebates for staying in the new “Barn” rooms at the Farmhouse Inn in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, but this past weekend, we actually got the chance to poke around for a spell and check out some of the different rooms.

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'Barn' Storming Rebate at Sonoma’s Farmhouse Inn

Where: 7871 River Road [map], Forestville, CA, United States, 95436

Ahhh...wouldn't it be loverly...if we could afford to stay at this hotel?

You might already know the award-winning Farmhouse Inn in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley thanks the Michelin-star designation as a preferred destination its restaurant has earned for its the farm-fresh cooking, but now there’s an even better reason to visit this idyllic spot in Forestville: a flight rebate.

When guests book one of the eight rooms or suites in the new Barn addition for four nights or more from now until December, they will receive up to a $400 flight rebate for their travel to wine country.

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Tags: Thompson Hotels / Sonoma Hotels / → All Tags

LA.com Goes Inside Thompson's Gaige House

Where: 3540 Arnold Drive [map], Glen Ellen, CA, United States, 95442

LA.com recently wrote up the winery scene in Sonoma County and guess what? This place has just as many good vineyards and restaurants as Napa Valley. And of course, once you're up there gorging and boozing you are in no condition to drive home or even be driven home. (Wine-tasting, eating and car rides don't go together at all.)

So LA.com's Eric Rosen checked out the hotel scene in Sonoma and spent a night in Gaige House, the Northern California step-child of the Thompson Hotels group. This hotel was acquired by Thompson back in late 2006 and since then it has been officially "Thompsonized." As Rosen writes:

Gaige House is hands down the hippest place to stay in Sonoma. It was built in 1900, and after a checkered career as a private home, schoolhouse and bed and breakfast, it was converted by the Thompson Group into one of its signature modern-style properties.

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