Petaluma, What to do Downtown

How funny, just after the NYTimes prints an article on Sebastopol, 96 Hours from the San Francisco Chronicle publishes a little blurb on Western Street, one of the main streets of downtown. The article talks about the Iron Front buildings, that really occupy much of the downtown corridor not just on Western Street, a coupla retail stores, St Vincent’s church, but there were a few of my favorite places that were omitted in the article that I would like to mention and if you have a chance drop in an enjoy.

1. Maude, 10 Western Ave- a great little independent boutique that carries high end children and women’s clothing in small batches. You can tell the store’s wares have been carefully curated so everything is beautiful, well made, laid back and casual.  The big name designer Maude carries for women is Erica Tanvo, who has a store on Fourth St. in Berekely and a store in NYC. A limited amount of leather goods and jewlery is also available.

2. Tea Room Cafe, 316 Western – I did a post during the summer about this great little eatery. Open only until 3pm for breakfast and lunch. Great coffee, pancakes, grilled cheese, salads plus there are chairs and tables out front for the sidewalk dining experience.

3. Petaluma Market, 210 Western – Heading out to Bodega for a picnic or thirsty for a milkshake made with real ice cream this is the place to go. Petaluma Market has been around for many years and has always been a top of the line grocery. It has a great deli with hot and cold salads and entrees you may not find in other grocery stores and a little compact cheese section that has all the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese and Cowgirl cheese you’ll ever need. But don’t pass up the bbq tri-tip sandwich and chocolate chip milkshake you can buy from the little trailer sitting in their parking lot. They smoke the tri-tip and chicken every day and churn out milkshakes and hot dogs from the trailer. Geez, my mouth is watering right now.

Read about 96 Hours on Western Street here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2011/10/27/NSA21LJSP5.DTL