Cautious moves, delicious food helped Sonoma restaurant survive

Baby steps. That’s how Reel & Brand owner Kevin Kress is approaching the rebirth of his roadhouse restaurant and saloon in Sonoma. Even so, the cautious pace comes with a bit of whiplash.

On one hand, the COVID-19 shutdown was especially traumatic for his El Verano neighborhood property, since Reel’s dining room boasts a live music stage and a dance hall anchored by one of the largest dance floors in Sonoma County. That means he lost a lot of bar business alongside food sales during the pandemic.

On the other hand, Reel & Brand has a huge, welcoming patio — a massive, stone-wall-enclosed beer garden set with waterfalls, towering shade trees, picnic tables, a kids play area and its own live music stage. That means Kress has been nimble through the past year’s back and forth of dining space openings and closings, with some 100 al fresco seats available.

“It's been beyond difficult,” Kress said. “While we waited to reopen, I didn’t want to pull our staff out of unemployment just to be shut down again. I wanted to be sure they could provide for their families. We have struggled a lot, but we do have a great local support base, and honestly the (Paycheck Protection Program) help has been incredible.”

It’s been a lot for the first-time restaurateur to take on since he purchased the operation in February 2019. Immediately, to accommodate staffing challenges, he stripped down his ambitious seafood-centric menu (no more spicy salmon-jalapeño sushi, orange-kissed salmon cakes, classic buttery lobster roll or jumbo prawn and flat iron steak surf and turf).

Instead, he moved to simple staples like a Grilled Chicken Sandwich with bacon and Swiss ($15) and Beer Battered Fish and Chips ($18), offered in takeout containers. I suppose that’s the menu you’d expect, anyway, from an iconic joint that way back in 1906 was Little Switzerland restaurant, a true dive with a dark entryway bar and what you might call “colorful” clientele in a quirky setting amid what’s developed into a mishmash rural hamlet.

But you can’t keep this magical Sonoma spot down. With 115 years of history, the venerable building has survival in its bones. It’s had eight owners over the century, including Max Young, who renovated the by-then rundown space and opened Rossi’s 1906 barbecue in 2014 after Little Switzerland finally shuttered. Then, former Morimoto Napa chef Aiki Terashima debuted The Reel Fish Shop and Grill in 2017. Today, Young remains the landlord, and Kress has retained some of Terashima’s dishes, but otherwise, it’s Kress’ baby.

Now Kress is slowly restoring the shine, tempting us with silky chowder, steak and yes, sparkling-fresh seafood. The patio’s stage rocks with live music two to three nights a week, and the place is once again becoming a favorite hangout for locals for everything from its happy hour duo of pulled pork and cheeseburger sliders ($7) to a weekend prime rib special ($32).

Bringing it all together in the kitchen is a star chef, Chris Loberg, formerly of Healdsburg’s Spoon Bar, Pizzando and Harmon Guest House. Already, Kress and Loberg hosted a winemaker dinner in early April, pairing Sonoma’s La Prenda Vineyards wines with upscale dishes like grilled, chilled asparagus salad draped in Green Goddess dressing, grapefruit and toasted hazelnuts and roasted pork loin with sautéed rainbow chard, butter-braised radish and turnips and whole grain mustard coulis.

Rustic roadhouse or not — and belying its history over the past century of hosting boisterous waltzes, polkas and line dances — Reel adds fine nuances to its food. The daily-changing Sonoma Coast oyster selections ($4 each) are dressed in a smoky mignonette kicked with nasal-tingling wasabi, salty tobiko and a delicate garnish of micro cilantro. It feels so perfectly Sonoma-style bohemian-chic to be lounging with my dog in the speckled shade beneath an 150-year-old oak tree on a sunny day, slurping the briny beauties and sipping a peach Cosmo splashed with triple sec, fresh lime juice and cranberry juice ($10).

There is sumptuous clam chowder as well, stocked with ample chewy mollusk meat, bacon and potato in rich, creamy stock decorated with dollops of mint tarragon thyme oil, fried capers and dainty fennel fronds presented in a sourdough bread bowl from Penngrove’s Full Circle Bakery ($15). In between spoonfuls, I tear the edges off the bowl and dunk.

While scampi is listed under appetizers, I’d argue that this could be an entrée. A dozen firm shrimp are sautéed in garlic butter zinged with bright lemon and chile flakes; you’ll want to sop up every drop of sauce with the side of grilled, crunchy crusted Full Circle multigrain bread ($16).

Do focus on fresh fish (market price), which arrives daily from Costarella Seafood of San Francisco. The family-owned enterprise celebrates sustainable species, and Kress favors selections like Corvina sea bass, halibut and trout, each prettily arranged atop a pile of grilled asparagus and herb salad in a pond of charred creamed leeks. A spritz of grilled lemon adds that little extra spark.

A recent Friday evening, however, called for an end-of-work week indulgence of prime rib ($32). I’ve always loved this gut-busting meat, roasted medium-rare for a tender full-flavored interior beneath the chewy herbed crust. Chef Loberg does it right, plating a big slab laced with luscious fat alongside creamy potato casserole and grilled asparagus, carrots and squash. I give each bite a dip in horseradish and a drag through the puddle of jus and care not a whit about calories.

As happy as I am that the more elaborate menu is returning, I have to say I’m thrilled Reel remains true to its dance-hall roots. Listening to musician Tim Eschliman and the Back Porch-Estra quartet in the biergarten gives us a hopeful taste of post-pandemic life. It feels surreal, something to toast with a Revision Disco Ninja Hazy IPA ($7) and a hefty down-home pulled Carolina Gold pork, cheddar and slaw sandwich tucked into a brioche bun with a side of fries ($16).

A side note you might like: Kress also raises pygmy goats under his K’s Heavenly Hill title, something he’s done since he was 7 years old. He has been a licensed judge since 1998 and serves with the National Pygmy Goat Association.

What does this have to do with his restaurant? Nothing — the patio isn’t goat-friendly. But it adds even more Sonoma-style cool to this new enterprise and a hint of the charm of its ownership.

“I was the vice president of Gordon Biersch Brewing Company and decided one day I wanted my own place,” Kress said. “So here I am. I love music. I love food, and I am very proud and honored to be part of the community.”

Welcome back.

Carey Sweet is a Sebastopol-based food and restaurant writer. Read her restaurant reviews every other week in Sonoma Life. Contact her at carey@careysweet.com.