Glen Ellen Star was a medium sized place known for their wood fired oven cooking.  There were tables inside but also patio seating for nice weather days.  We were there on a busy Wed night which turned out to be a night when the locals flock in for the $49, 2-course menu and the free corkage option if you bring your own bottle.  Of course this is wine country so many who live around have lots of bottles in their cellar but hate to pay the $30-75 corkage fees restaurant’s impose on those who don’t want to buy their wines.    It’s a great deal but I also think this place would be crowded any night of the week.  The food and service were terrific even though the noise level was moderate.  There was seating at the counter that looks into the kitchen but a small partition looked to keep interactions to a minimum.  The tables seemed more comfortable and so that’s what we reserved.   The long room had twinkle lights overhead with some in a star formation and a large plank wood floor.  The lighting was subdued for a cozy feel.  The server was happy to course out our order, as we wanted to split a number of things.  I got a photo of the dessert menu but we were too stuffed to try any of it.  It was a lovely meal/evening and one I’d recommend to you to get a reservation for when you visit the area.

Set-up

 

Food

Tomato Cream Pie was a pizza with red sauce, white sauce, mozarella and aleppo pepper.  It was nicely cheesy with a good chew to the crust.   A tasty tomato sauce kept it moist but didn’t make it too saggy in the middle to eat by hand.  Really good flavor and texture, even though it wasn’t a wowie-zowie combination.

 

House made Sedani pasta was made with whipped Taleggio cheese, roasted brassicas, caramelized onion jam and crispy greens.  The sweet onion jam was amazing and combined nicely with the earthy brassica vegetables.  Some of the kale leaves were crisped while the cauliflower and romanesco broccoli pieces were cooked to just soft.  A creamy sauce bound it all together for another winning dish.

 

Snake River Farms wagyu zabuton steak came with peppercorn cream sauce, roasted sunchokes and chanterelle mushrooms.  It came out cooked as requested and was out-of-this-world tender tasty beef.  The rich sauce made it even more savory.  The sunchokes were cooked to softness and the chanterelles were tasty but the real star was this beef.  Yummy!