Petaluma Watering Holes: A very happy ‘happy hour’ at Seared

At about 3:30 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon, the bar area at Seared restaurant in downtown Petaluma is relatively quiet, the only sounds being the clink of glasses and the sizzling of pots, as the bar crew and kitchen staff prepare themselves for 4 p.m., when the place officially opens and happy hour begins.

“Just watch,” says bartender Chris Osborne. “At 3:59, the bar will be empty. By 4:05, it’ll be at least two-thirds full. That’s happy hour at Seared.”

Originally established in 1982 as Graziano’s, the stately restaurant near the corner of Petaluma Boulevard and Washington Street still boasts a strong sense of history and attractive old-fashioned class, with bartenders in ties and vests, and a cocktail menu that features traditional Manhattans and large martinis in classic martini glasses. While the restaurant side of things certainly keeps busy, there’s no doubt that happy hour here - from 4-6 p.m. Sunday through, Friday, and 5-6 p.m. on Saturdays - is one of the most popular one-to-two hours anywhere in downtown Petaluma.

That’s how it’s been for the last six-and-a-half years, since Seared opened with a new name and spirited enthusiasm for great food and the social attractions of a good classy bar, back in August of 2013.

“When we first opened, the biggest change, in terms of remodeling, was the kitchen,” says Andrew Burnett, Seared’s managing partner, with Head Chef Joe O’Donnell. “It needed an overhaul. As for the décor out here, we’ve slowly changed a few things, adding some new wood, new tabletops from Heritage Salvage, some new paint, all of that over the first year or so.”

Asked if there was anything from the original bar that he and O’Donnell knew they couldn’t get rid of or change, by popular demand for longtime customers, Burnett’s shouts over to the kitchen, where O’Donnell is overseeing preparations for the night’s dishes.

“Hey Chef, got a minute?”

“Oh, I don’t know, we pretty much gutted the place,” he laughs when asked about preserving any particular piece of décor. “We wanted the place to feel a bit like the old place, a restaurant and bar in a historic old building, but we really wanted it feel like our own place, too. There was some concern that we might change too much, but then, toward the end, Graziano’s was changing things up a lot too.’

“What about the little chicken?”

“Oh right, the chicken!” O’Donnell agrees, pointing across the room to a stuffed chicken set attractively into a recessed place in the brick wall in the dining area. “We found it when we moved in, and it kind of moves around. That’s become kind of a mascot for us.”

With a laugh Burnett, says, “That’s become kind of an icon around here. I definitely think that chicken is going to stay.”

As for the bar itself, Burnett says the most prominent switcheroo being the back of the bar itself.

“The original bar back, which had the etched Grazziano’s logo on it, that’s upstairs in our banquet room,” says Burnett. “We moved it up there into what we now call The River Room. It’s for private events. We had to cut it down a bit to fit, but if anyone ever gets nostalgic for the original bar, they can take a peek and see it. It looks great up there.”

Burnett, who grew up in Petaluma, remembers eating at Graziano’s with his parents. He notes that before he and O’Donnell purchased the place, the bar side of things dabbled in various entertaining experiments over the years, the most eye-catching being the “vodka room,” which was basically a walk-in refrigerator with see-through sides bathed in blue light. Folks passing by on the sidewalk could see the glowing blue light from half a block away. Inside, numerous brands of vodka were available to drink ice cold while you sat there, at arctic temperatures, enjoying your drink.

Fur coats were made available to all who didn’t arrive dressed for a polar expedition.

“Yeah, the fur coats, that was a thing for a while,” Burnett laughs. “They had all kinds of vodkas – peanut butter vodka, pickle vodka, lots of funky flavors. When we took over the place, we stopped that, and for a while we used the vodka freezer to display different cuts of meat, but we eventually found an ice sculptor in San Jose to take the freezer, and we returned that part of the room to regular restaurant seating.”

The goal for the bar, like on the restaurant side, was to create what Burnett calls “a warm, fun, Petaluma-style bar.” And the happy hour, with $5 dollar drinks and $6 snacks, was put in place from day one. Asked what the most-ordered cocktails are, Osborne says that after the vodka and gin martinis and the Manhattans, he and the other bartenders make a whole lot of Margaritas and Bon Vivants.

“Ever had a bon vivant?” asks Osborne. “They fly off the shelf here. We’ve become kind of known for our bon vivants.”

“It’s important to find a way to get the ball rolling right away,” Burnett says of the establishment’s specific happy hour strategy. “We’ve tweaked it over the years, and though it was always a lively time, happy hour really jumped up about four years ago, and now it’s this enormous ‘things’ in Petaluma. We’re packed pretty much every day. It’s really fun. That’s what it feels like. It’s a lot of work for the bartenders, who make hundreds of cocktails a night, but the energy is great, and we have an awesome group of regulars. It’s a very friendly, high energy time, every day. We really do look forward to it. Every single day.”