Dinner at Petaluma’s Della Fattoria is a feast for the eyes and tastebuds

After massive changes to the physical layout of its downtown café, along with expanding the menu to now include dinner, Della Fattoria has the makings to set itself apart as one of Petaluma’s premier downtown dining spots. It can easily compete with the best that the rest of Sonoma County has to offer.

First and foremost, Della is a world-renowned bakery, started years ago as a hobby by Kathleen Weber. Her bread quickly garnered the attention of such stalwarts as the Sonoma Mission Inn and the French Laundry. Della would eventually be named Top 10 Best Bread Bakeries in America by Bon Appetit.

A family affair, husband Edmund built Kathleen’s original oven and still helps with all aspects of the business. Son Aaron, who just so happens to have graduated Petaluma High the same year I did, returned to Della’s kitchen years ago after his expert culinary training, and daughter Elisa helps with special events, media and the restaurant and café’s management. For the full history, anecdotes from Kathleen, plus a forward by the legendary Thomas Keller, pick up the book “Della Fattoria Bread: 60 Foolproof Recipes,” available at the bakery. Since she is there almost every day, get your copy hand signed by Kathleen. A quick chat with her reveals where her passion for Della.

Back in 2016, when the crew first toyed with the idea of expanding into evening service, Chef Aaron offered periodic prix fixe dinners in the cafe, many of which we attended. The food was exceptional and, at the time, I went so far as to predict that Chef Aaron was going put Della’s non-bakery menu on the map just as Kathleen has done with its breads. However, the reality of changing the space from a café to a full-blown dining room would stall the project until midway through last year.

Della used to host semi-regular ranch dinners out on Skillman Lane at its bakery facility, which were the pinnacle of farm to fork perfection. “We wanted to bring our ranch dinners to downtown,” said Elisa when asked what inspired the menu.

Della’s new dining hall is such a huge space that it is almost barn-like, and even includes a lot of artifacts from Della’s barn. Despite the large space, there is a delicate intimacy to it. This is likely due to the eclectic collection of furniture, mirrors, chandeliers and other antiques that adorn the room, many sourced from the now-closed shop across the Boulevard.

“Everything has a story,” said Elisa, pointing out that we are also eating off her grandmother’s antique glass plates.

She motions towards a chandelier that she personally re-gilded and wired for electric lights. Speaking of lighting, it is intertwined throughout, giving Della a soft and comfortable feel, which is saying a lot considering the size of the space.

Our server was Miles and he could not have been more professional, while still being quite friendly and approachable. He was extremely helpful with our questions even though our group all arrived at different times and had different priorities on our minds, some going straight for the wine list while others wanted to get appetizers ordered.

When asked about her staff, Kathleen says, “After so many years in the business, it just takes a little bit of time in order to find the right team.”

Miles did not balk when we asked for sample tastings of multiple wines, even opening up a new bottle upon request. Several of us settled on an incredible gamay from Bouquetin, of Valle d’Aosta, in the northwest corner of Italy. Being a French varietal, along with the Valle d’Aosta’s proximity to the French border, might help explain why this wine has such a French feel even though technically Italian. Della’s wine-by-the-glass menu is impressive in its breadth as well as its affordability, ranging across several well-known Sonoma County wineries before heading across the pond to include some excellent French and Italian options, all ranging between $9 and $15.

Although not listed on the wine menu, Della usually has at least one port on hand, and this night was no different. Quite affordable at $10 per glass, as with most late bottle vintages, I found the 2013 from Graham’s to go quite well with food.

We could not help but start our food order with the house focaccia with extra virgin olive oil, which is equally excellent to the house table bread. Both were hard to resist polishing off, except we were anxiously anticipating the arrival of the soup special - a bowl of extra thick tomato bisque. All of these showed a deep respect for Della’s farm roots, which is a respectable juxtaposition with the imaginative and heavily French-influenced cuisine that was about to grace our table.

Moments later, chef de cuisine Stephane St. Louis offered a couple of amuse-bouche for us to try. French for “mouth amuser,” amuse-bouche are not regular menu items and are offered at the chef’s whim, setting them apart from the regular appetizers. They allow a chef to offer a preview of their art and style prior to the rest of the dishes being served.

His name, Stephane St. Louis, is properly pronounced the way the French would say it, both first and last names. He is originally from Haiti and attended culinary schools in San Francisco and Lyon, France. St. Louis has been good friends with Chef Aaron, having traveled together across Europe learning its cuisine. St. Louis is also married to Marte, the lovely Polish woman who has been part of the Della family for years and works regularly in the café.

The amuses included a butter cup squash truffle coal made with squid ink and topped with a radish sprout and the caviar of salt, Fleur de Sel. The second was a “drop of sunshine on a rainy day,” which was appropriate both given the colors and flavors of the dish, and the rain that was pouring down outside. It was a ceviche of sorts, based around Spanish mackerel mixed with grapefruit in a cucumber water and cilantro oil reduction, topped with caviar, radish frills and tiny yellow flower pedals. This dish could not have matched the name more perfectly as it both looked and tasted like a drop of sunshine on a rainy day.

Also arriving just in time was the charcuterie board, which included soppressata, mortadella, prosciutto and the slightly spicy salami cotto, alongside house pickles, apple chutney, walnut-currant crostini and green salad. Out last appetizer was the farmer’s garden, which is a chef’s pick of whatever is most tantalizing from local gardens. This particular one included a root vegetable puree topped with delicata squash, cauliflower, broccolini, pickled onions and tiny, crispy wafers. With so much color and texture, we were not sure what to make of it upon its arrival but it ended up being one of our favorite dishes of the night.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the fresh pasta dishes from the prix fixe dinners, the prawn and leek agnolotti (a type of ravioli), with Brussels sprouts, shaved pecorino, tarragon oil and béarnaise sauce certainly caught my eye. As the Italian in our group proclaimed, “Anyone can make mushy pasta. Al dente shows the perfection of pasta, and I have never had better handmade pasta than this.”

Personally, there was not a single dish that I would hesitate to order again. However, the beef Wellington was the best I have ever had. The filet was wrapped in prosciutto and kale, which helped to keep the puff pastry crisp and flaky. It was served with a side of carrot, broccolini and spinach topped with fennel foam, and a dollop of hollandaise.

The pork loin was from Niman Ranch and was stuffed with Swiss chard and kumquat marmalade, topped with pork jus and whole grain mustard and came with a side of fried polenta. Also atop the plate was a single date, which was a first in my book, but went incredibly well with bites of pork.

The pot pie was in fact in a ceramic pot, with a puff pastry on the side. The base was a chicken infused velouté, which is one of the five “mother sauces” of French cuisine. Velouté directly translates to “velvety” and is a savory sauce made by mixing a roux and a light meat stock. Paying homage to its name, the pot pie also included carrots, mushrooms, leeks and mountain rose potatoes.

Petrale sole has been making a comeback on many West Coast menus, surely in part because they come from sustainable fisheries, and are recommended by the Monterey Bay Aquarium on its “Seafood Watch” list. Della’s comes with roasted cauliflower, radishes, broccolini, German butterball potatoes, charred scallions and a fennel-butter cream sauce.

Last up was the farro and short ribs, which were sticky to perfection, just as it should be after a proper slow cooking. The farro, which is an ancient whole wheat grain, was both soft and crunchy because it was mixed with butternut squash, sweet walnuts, kale, cipollini onions with truffle tremor goat cheese folded in, with a couple of small veggie bites of broccolini, Brussel sprout and cauliflower on top, covered short rib jus.

We sampled all three desserts on the menu at the time, although I am told you can also request sweets directly from Della’s pastry cases. The raspberry-topped vanilla panna cotta was accompanied by cherry pistachio biscotti. The layered chocolate cake came with whipped mascarpone, a delicate balance between rich and sweet, while also being light and airy. Last came the affogato, which is a traditional Italian dessert of ice cream topped with a shot of hot espresso. Della’s goes a step above by using white coffee and maple ice cream on a bed of crumbled biscotti.

With such a pleasant and delicious dining experience, along with excellently paired wines, our meal reminded us a bit of our long lost love, Le Bistro, only in a much larger space, with more elaborate French-American dishes.

Della’s dinner service is Thursday through Saturday, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. and the menu changes with the seasons. The café is still open for breakfast daily from 8 to 11 a.m., with lunch served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and a brunch menu on the weekends from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.