Walking up to the bar, you can smell it before you see it. Butter, fresh corn and roasting meat, with a very faint whiff of beer at the end. Based on scent alone, the fried chicken dinner Wednesday nights at Twin Oaks Tavern is clearly not something to miss.
Walk into the bar and a band is tuning up and checking their equipment in one corner. Against a wall at a table, a small group is eating the advertised fried chicken dinner.
“It tastes just like a home-cooked meal,” says one patron smiling into his mashed potatoes.
But perhaps mostly noticeable upon entering is a blonde woman in a white dress who goes from hugging a customer, to pouring another a drink, to taking dinner orders and greeting practically every person who walks through the front door. Then suddenly she’s up on stage singing with the band. And it seems like everyone has the same thing to say about her - “she’s the owner, her name is Sheila, and she’s awesome.”
Before Sheila Groves-Tracey took over the more than 80-year-old Twin Oaks Tavern in October 2013, there wasn’t much going on at the bar.
“It was very quiet when we got here. But in its heyday it was huge. People would come from other counties because it was really fun,” says Groves-Tracy.
But if anyone is up to the task of breathing new life into the roadhouse, it’s her. Many of locals have told her they’ve driven past the bar on Old Redwood Highway practically every day for years but never stopped by until they started noticing the full parking lot most nights and new construction going on in the back.
She, along with her sister (and best friend) and brother-in-law, have turned the place around from a relatively lifeless establishment into the kind of music and eating venue people tell their friends about.
“Basically the business has increased 100 percent, mostly thanks to the bands,” said Groves-Tracey.
The Petaluma native is no rookie at knowing how to get people to have fun. In addition to being a musician and actress, Graves-Tracy was the former talent buyer at McNear’s Mystic Theatre for more than 15 years.
She then moved on to book bands at the Uptown Theatre in Napa for fours years while simultaneously serving as the general manager. And remember the first year of BottleRock Festival in Napa? She booked the entire event - over 50 big time bands. It was no big deal for her.
She admits that barely a day goes by where she isn’t working in some capacity and continues to book bands for parties and local events like the Sausalito Art Festival, however her priority is bringing music to Twin Oaks Tavern practically every day of the week.
It seems there’s nothing she can’t or won’t do when it comes to hard work. Just a few weeks ago, renovations on the tavern’s back patio finished, allowing room for a second outdoor stage as well as several long tables and an outdoor bar for weekend use.
Not a person walks in without commenting on the newly renovated patio - it has been open just two weeks but sitting in the wooden Adirondack chairs feels like sitting in your own backyard.
“We tore down the old fence and look, twin oaks!” she says pointing to identical baby oak trees perched perfectly on the side of the hill.
In addition to music and outdoor seating, dinner has been incorporated into the new and improved Twin Oaks Tavern. Chef Rasta Dwight cooks dinner on Wednesday nights as well as barbecue dinners on weekends. Lunch is served six days a week.
The rest of the staff share Tracy-Graves’ positive and laid back attitude, adding to the overall family feel and accepting atmosphere. Feel free to come eat, drink, dance or sing along with the band.
“Dancing - that’s a big part of it here. People want to dance,” said Groves-Tracy.
Twin Oaks Tavern is located at 5745 Old Redwood Highway in Penngrove.
For more information and to view a complete schedule of events at Twin Oaks Tavern, go online to twinoakstavernpen ngrove.com or call 795-5118.
(Kaitlin Zitelli at argus@arguscourier.com)
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