Wine, Dine & Deal by Rob Howe RHowe@NorthBaybiz.com (past columns)

December, 2004

Wolf House Restaurant
13740 Arnold Dr.
Glen Ellen, 95442
(707) 996-4401
http://www.jacklondonlodge.com/

Country French
Lunch & dinner daily
Entrées: Lunch $8-12; Dinner $16-25
Full bar; good wine list

Elaine Nealley had managed restaurants before but always for someone else. Then she and her sister, Linda Richards, got to talking. Richards owned the Jack London Lodge and had always leased the restaurant next door to an outside independent. But a couple of years ago, when it became clear that the bistro in that space was going to pack it in, the sisters started kicking around the idea of starting up their own place. "At first I said, 'I don't know,'" recalls Nealley. "But the more we talked the more I thought, 'Why not.' You have to get into the challenges and possibilities."As she has.

In May 2003, Nealley swung open the doors to the Wolf House Restaurant, a truly family affair - her mother even helped gussy up the garden that leads down to the creek along the back of the property. The family has created a comfortable rustic room - with blond maple floors, dark wood tables, exposed beams and a corner fireplace - that Jack London himself would have coveted. For warmer days, the Wolf House also has a two-tiered back deck and a generous patio where businesses can hold functions for as many as 100 guests.

The food follows the lead of the décor, which is to say country style but with elegant twists. "Don't let the ego define the menu. Let the ingredients do the talking," says executive chef Jay Veregge. True to his philosophy, the menu was liberally seeded with regional ingredients - Point Reyes blue cheese, Liberty duck, Sonoma rabbit, wild mushrooms and seasonal figs. The rabbit rillettes, with a half fig and a wedge of creamy Pierre Robert cheese, proved a lovely opening gesture of the savory and sweet pairings Veregge seems to favor. The beet salad boasted plump chunks of golden beets, and the Tuscan white bean salad touted tiny golden turnips and mozzarella, all married with a Zinfandel vinaigrette. The fig and dried cherry ravioli was daring but intriguing. Alas, the crispy chicken liver salad with endive and Hobbs bacon was disappointing in that the liver was dry (a sauté might have preserved the moistness).

Main courses include such delicacies as pan-seared diver scallops, but the menu this time of year tended toward heartier fare appropriate to fall weather - a smoked pork chop, grilled steak, braised beef short ribs, a hefty veal porterhouse chop or range chicken with a white turnip mash. The house specialty, not found on the menu, is the pork shank served on a bed of mashed potatoes with a robust broth. It's big enough to sate the most ravenous appetite, and the meat can be teased effortlessly off the bone the epitome of comfort food. The Wolf House's easily digestible prices are also ideal for these budget-conscious times.