What makes Edge restaurant in Sonoma a stunner

As Fiorella Butron and I walk the gardens of Stone Edge Farm in west Sonoma, I can almost see the creative sparks firing in her head. The 16 luscious acres are planted with a cornucopia of organic vegetables, fruit, herbs, wine grapes and olives. The property also produces pantry goods like olive oil, eggs, honey and apple cider.

Inspired by beets nestled in the ground, she suddenly says, “cold borscht topped in caviar, with grilled brioche.”

But likely, her borscht won’t be the typical recipe. As a nod to Butron’s Russian boyfriend, the dish will end up on Edge’s weekly-changing menu, served as a starter on the four-course prix fixe meal.

At her downtown Sonoma restaurant, Butron likes to add flair and is often inspired by her Peruvian heritage and training at Le Cordon Bleu in Lima. She might add a touch of just-harvested chiles, exotic herbs or even fruit — whatever speaks to her from the farm.

On any given night, her inventiveness might lead to a globally inspired menu boasting a baby lettuce salad tumbled with new potatoes, cucumbers and ocopa; a mortar-pressed dressing made with Peruvian huacatay (black mint), chiles and peanuts; handmade quince vinegar splashed on grilled radicchio; or black garlic and wild fennel pollen dukkah.

Until recently, Edge was pretty much a secret, tucked in a historic Victorian home across East Napa Street from Cafe LaHaye and hidden behind Sevillano olive trees. It opened five years ago but mainly served wine club members for its parent operations — the farm and Silver Cloud Vineyard, which sits at 1,800 feet atop the Mayacamas range in Glen Ellen’s Moon Mountain District.

Only the savviest guests knew that if they planned far enough in advance, they could secure a reservation for Thursday dinners that were open to the public.

These days, for health-safety reasons, the house is reserved for private parties. But outside, Edge owners Mac and Leslie McQuown built a covered, 40-seat patio, where we sit at sleek white tables dressed with flower vases and votive candles.

The ambiance is contemporary and welcoming, with low-slung, colorfully cushioned banquettes, a fire pit and an abstract steel leaf sculpture on one wall. Servers are relaxed, dressed in jeans and blousy tops. Reggae music is a playful touch, and no one will rush us — our table is ours for the entire evening.

Meals are pricey, at $195 for Thursday through Saturday four-course dinners and $105 for three-course Sunday lunches. For kicks, you can order a 1995 Chateau Latour for $1,150 or a 1994 Napa Valley Dominus cabernet sauvignon for $445.

Yet there’s value to be found, considering meals include amuses, intermezzos, mignardises and pairings of Champagne and Stone Edge Farm Bordeaux-style wines throughout (wine groupies will like to know that renowned local winemaker Anne Moller-Racke is COO of the farm and its vineyards).

Elegance begins with a chilled hand towel, so we can daintily clean our hands before the meal begins. Then, the amuse arrives. The night I visited, it was two ruby-red strips of fat-edged duck prosciutto and whisper-thin, crisp turnip dressed in soy and black sesame seeds under a scattering of microgreens. Alongside: a flute of Bourgeois-Boulonnais Tradition Champagne.

For the first course, a server sets down a linen-lined wood tray holding a spoon, chopsticks on a stone rest and a sprig of aromatic herb. It is a lovely presentation for the stunning dish of silky kanpachi, superbly crisp calamari, dollops of avocado puree, shaved tomatillo and scallions on a pond of tomatillo sauce anchored by a spoonful of Mendocino sea urchin.

What an extraordinary creation. The flavors are electric, bright with the tomatillo’s bracing acidity and the sauce complex with sorrel and leche de tigre, the spicy citrus-and-chile marinade used to cure fish in classic Peruvian ceviche. Alongside: 2019 Stone Edge Farm Sauvignon Blanc.

Chef Butron likes to send out little surprises during the meal. This night, it’s an intermezzo of a tiny, housemade brioche capped in crème fraîche and Royal Ossetra caviar.

Then it is on to a mixed tomato salad, the juicy heirloom fruit tasting kissed by the sun and tossed with of-the-moment peach slices, lettuces, lacy shallots, earthy P’tit Basque French sheep milk cheese, torn basil, sea salt and thin-sliced sunflower seed croutons in a light vinaigrette of tomato-peach-persimmon puree and basil oil. The dish transported me back to the day I visited Stone Edge Farm.

And back to those beloved beets. Butron had transformed the vegetables into focaccia to pair with the salad, staining the dough deep red to add drama if not any discernible flavor. I slather it with homemade sea salt-finished cultured butter that took five days to make. Served alongside it all: 2015 Stone Edge Farm Surround Red Bordeaux Blend.

There are two entrees for each dinner; on my visit it was Mt. Lassen rainbow trout and milk-fed lamb.

Mt. Lassen rainbow trout is my preference, because I love pan-seared fish skin, and this version is so crispy it’s like graceful, crackly dried nori. The sustainable, freshwater meat raised just east of Redding is savory, plated with sweet Jimmy Nardello pepper puree, crunchy chopped shelling beans, purple potato and pickled radishes and a tart vinegary sauce. Alongside: 2014 Stone Edge Farm Cabernet Sauvignon.

The lamb is also delicious, sourced from sustainable, range-fed livestock raised by Napa’s famed Don Watson (his clients include Berkeley’s Chez Panisse and San Francisco’s Quince). A hearty portion of loin and leg is plated with crisp tamari-fried eggplant, shiitakes, tomato confit, yellow bean puree, spring onions and zucchini on a swath of rich jus reduction. The wine pairing is also 2014 Stone Edge Farm Cabernet Sauvignon.

Then, another intermezzo — a delightful, fermented plum-mezcal sorbet sprinkled in Hawaiian sea salt and tasting of summer vacation.

By now, we’ve enjoyed a lot of food, and dessert might seem like too much. Yet, throughout, dishes are magically light, except for meat entrees (another evening beckoned with a power plate of Painted Hills New York steak, brassicas, cherry tomatoes, maitake mushrooms and Romano beans). Desserts keep the delicate theme, showcasing, as always, fresh flavors of the farm.

The star of my dessert plate is pear ice cream, with just-plucked-from-the-tree flavor. The scoop sits atop a sprinkle of buckwheat streusel and next to a thick swipe of white chocolate crème diplomat, candied hazelnuts and compressed cider-and Semillon-preserved sliced pear, for a rich but refreshing finish.

Or almost a finish. The final elegant note is a mignardise, in my case the bite-size dark chocolate-cherry truffles I asked to be wrapped up for an indulgent midnight snack that would bring sweet dreams of Edge, and its farm, indeed.

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.