Sonoma 2016 - Goose and Gander

The Napa Valley has so much great food and small cities to enjoy. For a recent bachelorette party, we dined at Goose and Gander in St. Helena.

I split with my friend and here was our small spread.

Cucumber Collins ($13) - Square One Cucumber Vodka, Yuzu Lemon, Fresh and pickled cucumber slices, Huckleberries, and seltzer.

Rosemary Pear Shrub ($13) - Gin, rosemary-pear shrub syrup, lemon, ginger, seltzer

Coastal Pimm's Cup ($13) - gin, lemon, bitters, ginger beer, bay laurel

($18) Grilled Spanish Octopus - Beluga lentils, frisee, Bosc pears, gribiche (cold egg sauce)
This was a very nice dish. The octopus was perfect. Just perfect. The size is small for the price and it was not identified on the menu as a small bite or appetizer portion. I really thought this was an entree. Regardless, great flavors and execution.

($13) Wild and Tame Mushrooms on Toast
Contrary to the above dish, this portion was bigger than expected. These 3 toast halves could be a meal itself. It's loaded with mushrooms in an herbed creme fraiche. So good.

($8) Roasted Bone Marrow
If you've had bone marrow before, there wasn't too much special about this. Served with a side salad of celery greens and fennel shavings. It's good, just not remarkable. 

($7) Duck Fat Fries
These were actually very good. I couldn't taste the duck fat but they are still excellent fries to share.

Chocolate Cake with hazelnut
Our bachelorette got a celebratory cake. It was a bit dry. The creme and chocolate were good. We appreciated the generosity.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS
The prices here are not indicative of portion size. Some items were more filling than expected and  then others were scant. I wish the menu gave a more accurate impression of the food. Other than that, service was nice, drinks were great, and some of the dishes were fantastic.

Goose and Gander has interesting decor like an old library. There are various type of areas to sit like the main floor, bottom floor, outdoors under the trees, and outdoors under the awning. We sat outdoors under the trees and it was a bit dusty. There was competition between multiple tables for the umbrellas and half our table ended up with harsh summer sun in their faces. This doesn't sound like a big issue but it was really hot that day and this made us uncomfortable.