SOFA Santa Rosa

OK, this is not about sofas in Santa Rosa, although it could be.  In my personal house there is a huge shortage of sofas, and we could therefore use some more.  We have one small one but it is in a small room and a larger one in the other room, where people actually sit, would be nice.  Not a flower pattern but..... oh, wait, I digress.

SOFA means something like South of A Street Artist Area or South Of Funky Artists or some such thing.  Actually, it's a very cool little artist area here in Santa Rosa that is pretty much defined by one of my favorite places, the restaurant Spinster Sisters.  That place is almost the cornerstone of the SOFA incarnation.

Today was Vine Arts, the second (I think) sort of art and wine and food event in this area.  Buy a ticket, get a glass, get to taste wine, eat some food samples and see totally eclectic art.  The weather was lovely, not too hot, not cold and the crowds were, unfortunately for the participating artists, small.  But we had fun, we saw a lot of art we liked, met very nice artists, and finally ended up with the best eats in SR, Spinster Sisters.

Four of us sat at the bar, of course, and had the following:  sweet peppers with goat cheese, corn and coconut fritters with siracha aoli, potato and red pepper samosas with the most amazing mint and cilantro sauce, red curry mussels with broth that we soaked bread in and scooped up with the mussel shells, it was that good, charred calamari with a summer squash salad, Kennebec fries, olives, and some other things I have now forgotten.  We had delicious Cab on tap and the bill for the four of us, with tax, was $102.00.  Honestly, with the quality and quantity of the food, one of my brothers was looking for the rest of the bill, disbelieving that a dinner that good could be so inexpensive.  

And I haven't even mentioned the service.  In the dozen times I have eaten at SS, the service has always been spot on.  Recommendations on wine, and tastes, are always given, water is always there when you need it, food comes out quickly,  plates are removed when appropriate, servers are always happy to see us and they make us feel like family.

All in all, it was a great evening in the'hood.