Fleetwood heats up Calistoga with wood-fired cooking

Calistoga always has been a charming tiny town (if historically sleepy), the home of old-fashioned attractions like a mini version of Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Geyser, 1800s-era mud baths and mineral spring facilities and the ancient, delightful Susie’s dive bar.

But gradual gentrification has been underway with new inns, spas, resorts and restaurants, a trend kicked off when French-New Orleans-style Evangeline bistro opened in 2014, followed by Sam’s Social Club, Lovina and House of Better, among others. The latest entrant is Calistoga Motor Lodge and Spa’s Fleetwood restaurant on Lincoln Avenue off Silverado Trail.

Formerly Sunburst Calistoga, the aging place wasn't much to look at. The long, low-slung motel resembled army barracks, though nice ones, with a pool and hot tub tucked in the back. In 2017, new owners came in and began an extensive renovation, modernizing the rooms with retro-chic design and adding the European bathhouse-style Moonacre Spa and an excellent new restaurant.

The Italian concept occupies a brand-new building spanning two stories and adding much-needed architectural flair. It’s a spiffy spot now, from its plank walls, Moroccan-style pendant lights, centerpiece bar and tree-lined, dog-friendly courtyard with a fire pit and hammocks off to the side. It’s pretty but relaxed, in keeping with the casual but skillfully executed food from Chef Drew Glassell of Cyrus, Market, Jardiniere, Gary Danko and, most recently, Douglas Keane’s former Roadhouse 29 in St. Helena.

General Manager Neil Robinson is also a restaurant veteran, having worked at Lark Creek Restaurant Group, Belcampo Meat Company in Larkspur and most recently with Glassell at Roadhouse 29. The result is a well-trained team that knows its menu down to every ingredient and pays attention to the little things, like asking us if we’d like lemon or lime with our water, then delivering the fruit wedges in a separate dish.

Smoke and fire

Wood-fire cooking has been fashionable for the past decade, particularly in Wine Country, and I hope it always remains so. The wood imparts a fragrant, smoky nuance that brings renewed interest to the simplest vegetables, fish and meats without imparting the charcoal tinge I usually find too harsh. The dry heat of a wood fire caramelizes the proteins in meat and enhances sugars in vegetables. The technique sparks chefs’ creativity as they choose less-expected things to flame, like fruit.

Roadhouse 29, Glassell’s former haunt, was built around barbecue, with food smoked over California oak and Freemark Abbey winery cabernet barrel staves (the restaurant resided inside the winery). At Fleetwood, Glassell works with two wood-fire ovens set in a dramatic black-tile wall in the open kitchen. Just off the lobby, you’ll see a stack of oak logs waiting in the hallway.

From those ovens emerge crispy-crust, charred-edge pizzas, topped in classic buffalo mozzarella, tomato, fragrant basil leaves and extra-virgin olive oil ($18) or a flavor powerhouse of cured and lightly smoked speck ham, oak-grilled broccoli rabe, caramelized onions and Humboldt County Truffle Tremor goat cheese spiked with, yes, truffles ($19).

The arched-top ovens also create good piadini, thin Italian flatbreads that are typically somewhat dainty and served folded over. I expected an appetizer but it was easily large enough for an entree, mounded with big chunks of smoky grilled chicken, mozzarella, buttery garlic cream, roasted red onion and a salad’s worth of arugula dressed in a snowfall of grated Parmigiano ($16).

The hardwood heat makes for sublime roasted meatballs, as well. The five orbs are dense and a little chewy, almost like sausage flecked with torn herbs. My server explained that they’re half pork and half beef, bound with ground pork rind instead of breadcrumbs to make them gluten-free.

“The chef makes little Parmesan hats,” my server said of the lacy, crunchy rounds atop the meatballs. And there’s a pleasing hint of nutmeg in the thick tomato sauce ($14).

The kitchen’s glowing grills also host a variety of delicious tidbits, including jumbo U10 prawns in the cocktail appetizer dressed with pickled cucumbers, watermelon radish and spicy Calabrian chile sauce ($16); and lightly charred hearts of Romaine finished with briny caper berries, anchovies, shaved Parmesan and Caesar dressing ($15). A rectangular presentation of burrata is spliced with watercress, pickled onions and grilled country bread, plus slabs of juicy grilled peaches for a sweet accent ($16).

Fleetwood’s oak-grilled salmon ($28) is on point, cooked firm yet still moist and pink inside and plated with warm artichokes, arugula and cherry tomatoes ($28). The clean, hot-burning oak is mild enough not to overpower delicate flavors.

I remember the first time I ate grilled corn on the cob — elote on a malecon in Puerto Vallarta decades ago — and I’ve never eaten it boiled since. When I visited, Fleetwood’s kitchen was offering it as a daily side dish ($7). It remains one of the most delicious things in the world — charred so the plump, toasty kernels release sweet juice as you gnaw them. They tingle with fiery spice from Calabrian chile oil, Glassell’s favorite homemade seasonal condiment.

The same grill treatment made a star out of humble Jimmy Nardello peppers, the light charring releasing the sweetness and velvety texture, ready to be dunked in aioli.

Pickled produce

Not everything is wood-fired, of course. The chef crafts first-rate spinach-ricotta agnolotti, the thin, silky pouches splayed over wilted spinach and draped in tomato-basil-garlic sauce with Parmigiano ($16).

Both Glassell and Robinson are pickle fiends, a love they discovered while working at Roadhouse 29 (“We can talk about them for hours,” Robinson said. “We’ll pickle anything we can think of — can we pickle bananas?”).

So daily sides often feature fermented produce, such as a lovely mix of crunchy sweet and sour ramps, green beans, carrots, green strawberries, whole Calabrian chile and cucumber. You’ll also find pickles as a tart garnish in some of the craft cocktails.

Any place that offers homemade cannoli wins my heart. Three eggroll-size confections are stuffed with orange blossom mascarpone and whole pistachios, then sprinkled with powdered sugar and sour Amarena cherries ($12).

Still, Glassell isn’t done with the flames. One of the fluffiest polenta cakes I’ve ever savored is capped with boozy zabaglione and almond amaretti crumbs resting on a syrupy pond of oak-roasted strawberries ($12).

So, is the new Fleetwood a destination restaurant? Yes, it is. You might even say it’s worth getting fired up about.

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.