Whats Up with Cafe St. Rose?
Four of us went to dinner last weekend at St. Rose — Mark Malicki’s restaurant on Bodega Hwy between Sebastopol and Freestone. We had been to his earlier incarnation in Santa Rosa and enjoyed it greatly. After hearing great things about the new place we were excited to see what the buzz was about. While the service was great — we were informed right off the bat that they were out of 5 menu items with no substitutions — at 8 pm. The menu has been redesigned into a small plates list of delicious-sounding offerings — yet when they arrived at the table — most plates were lacking in flavor, freshness or presentation. The Grilled chicken and ribs were dried out — obviously cooked well in advance, then left to warm in an oven until served. Nothing else on the plate — just brown, dried out meat — sad. The Hanger Steak was equally dispointing — perfectly cooked — but luke warm and sitting on a bed of wilted greens that needed something — olive oil, pepper, salt — anything — to brin
