Erin was in town for a few weeks and I went up to see her in her hometown near Santa Rosa. What a trip! We killed some roosters together, ate her first meat meal together, and enjoyed the gorgeous Sonoma County sun.

One day we decided to go “into town” to Calistoga- which is a quaint boulevard brimming with restaurants, a few bars, cafes, and hotels boasting hot springs mud baths. Oohh la la. We stopped into one of Erin’s fave joints, Cafe Sarafornia.

According to local lore, Calistoga was nicknamed “Sarafornia” by the city’s founder Sam Brennan back in the day, in a drunken slur of words between “California” and “Saratoga”.

There is nothing fancy about Cafe Sarafornia, which calls itself the “Last old-fashioned diner in Napa Valley.” It makes an effort to use local, organic ingredients (without marking up all the prices) and they have many great local beers on the menu. Here’s one of my recent favorites, Lagunitas IPA, from Petaluma, CA (right down the road).

The other notably important trait here is that they serve breakfast ALL DAY!!!!!!!! Here’s Erin with her spinach and feta omelette.

My cobb salad was no-frills, but I ordered a side of the special bananas foster pancake which was incredible.

How cute is this place?

CAFE SARAFORNIA
1413 Lincoln Ave
Calistoga, CA
707.942.0555