Historic Mark West Lodge restaurant re-opens in Santa Rosa

Motorists whizzing under the mammoth grapevine portal growing over Mark West Springs Road once again have a reason to stop and rest for awhile.

A young Santa Rosa couple for the past year has been cleaning, scrubbing, painting, pulling weeds and planting at the old Mark West Lodge just past the grapevine, a destination for visitors and diners for more than 150 years.

The Lodge had been closed for three years when Steve and Marina Najima struck a deal with owner Ken Tran to refurbish the property and revive it as an event center, restaurant and gathering spot for locals who otherwise have to drive down the mountain to Santa Rosa for a bite to eat or glass of wine or beer.

Last year they began hosting weddings again in the wooded spot, and a couple of months ago, they quietly re-opened the restaurant with nine tables in the bar, advertising primarily by word of mouth.

The effort is a family affair, with Marina’s cousin Gina Vega, a Cordon Bleu and CIA-trained chef in the kitchen. Her two sisters, Amanda and Ana Gallegos, help with food prep and serving. Her mother Gloria Moreno and Steve’s parents Glenys and Kenji Nojima, also pitch in.

“We all wear various hats here. It’s a family business,” said Marina. “They’re all in the back helping us. Everyone pitches in wherever they can. I know we wouldn’t be where we are today without them.”

On a shivery January morning, she was bundled up in a heavy jacket and scarf in the cold, wood-paneled dining room. It’s open for dinner only Tuesday through Friday to leave the space available for events on weekends.

Placed in front of her on the heavy plank dining table were the essential tools for keeping it all together, while also raising sons Owen, 6, and Mason, 4. They included a yellow legal pad, a cordless phone, a cellphone, keys and a remote control to the big screen TV over the bar.

Warm springs resort

The Nojimas first investigated the Lodge when it went up for sale in 2011. While a purchase of the property wasn’t in the cards at that time, they later approached the new owner about operating a restaurant and event center there.

Steve said their ultimate goal is to buy the 7-acre property, which includes the 2,500-square-foot lodge and grounds as well as several acres on the other side of Mark West Springs Road. In a clearing is the foundation and old stone fireplace from the original warm springs resort.

“This was an opportunity where both of our passions could come together in one place,” said Marina.

“Steve is a landscape contractor, and I have a passion for planning events and parities and really seeing them through. The opportunity arose, and we couldn’t pass it up.”

Marina is finishing up a master’s degree in family counseling through the University of San Francisco and has worked for nonprofits and social service agencies that include Social Advocates for Youth, Kids Street Learning Center and The Dry Creek Rancheria, of which she is a tribal member.

Over the years she did a lot of event planning for those various groups, so she knew she had the chops to oversee an event center. And Steve, with his family landscaping business as well as experience with other contracting work, had the skills to fix up the place suffering from several years of neglect.

One of the first things he did was to rip out the overgrowth and redo the landscaping.

Now the big dining rooms open onto a patio of fine aggregate and a small lawn under the redwoods. Along the back of the space is a stone wall fountain that sheds water down the sides.

French chef

The one skill the couple lacked was food prep. But Marina had the idea of enlisting her cousin Gina Vega, who is a trained French chef and master pastry chef.

The menu is casual American favorites upscaled on small plates and with a twist, like warm charred Caesar salad and smoked chorizo-infused sliders with sriracha aioli on a soft pretzel roll. On Saturdays, they’ll serve at St. Florian’s Brewery in Windsor.

The Nojimas, both 34 and a team since they were sweethearts at Piner High, see limitless possibilities in the historic site.

Hunter William Travis first laid claim to the warm springs back in 1856. Some 15 years later it was purchased by Albert P. Overton, a Petaluma constable, D.A. and judge, who pushed the county to put in a decent road and then built a resort for people to come “take the waters.”

An old stone fireplace still stands amid the foundation of that original Greek Revival building, which burned down in 1979 after fire broke out in the kitchen.

Over the years it had many uses, from a sanitarium for alcoholics to a family-style resort to a roadhouse with talk of gambling and girls. In the 1960s and ‘70s it was a famed French restaurant under the ownership of Rene Pavel.

Event space

The current lodge was built in the early 1980s. After Pavel left, it had a succession of owners and incarnations, most recently as a wedding and event space.

But through it all, the ancient grapevines continued to grow to spectacular proportions. They are believed to be more than 150 years old and a hardy, disease-resistant Mission variety native to Mexico.

The largest has a trunk more than five feet in diameter. Even back in the 1890s the vines were called “world famous” in ads for the resort. Marina said Vega plans to create a signature Lodge dish incorporating the grapes.

“The fun thing is we’re always going to be improving,” said Steve.

Marina added with a laugh, “We’re doing it the hard way, people would say with blood, sweat and tears and family. But that just makes us appreciate it even more.”

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204. On Twitter @megmcconahey.