Gravenstein Grill a classy revamp for Sebastopol spot

How many times have I eaten duck confit over my lifetime? I can't even begin to count. Yet as I dig into the meat at the new Gravenstein Grill in Sebastopol, it feels like a brand new thrill. This is some of the best duck confit I've ever enjoyed, the bone-in leg meat tender, rich and just slightly, perfectly salty, with the skin bronzed crisp almost like a cap of crème brulee.

Duck is a specialty for chef Bob Simontacchi. He mounds confit on flatbread with fontina, caramelized onions, and a scattering of chile flakes and chives ($18). He makes it into rillettes for his charcuterie board, among other his housemade salumi including country pork pate and chicken liver mousse with celery root salad, pickled vegetables, whole grain Dijon and warm sourdough crostini ($18). And he renders the duck fat for savory jewels like his superb pork chile verde and duck fat tamale, made with Fairfield's Walnut Keep Farms pork shoulder, fruity guajillo sauce, jalapeño cream corn, heirloom cherry tomatoes, a bit of fierce habanero aioli and cilantro ($12).

Simontacchi also twists recipes for the seasons. On a summer visit, I enjoyed seared duck breast with grilled bok choy, soba noodles, miso butter, star-anise-orange gastrique and a crackly duck confit wonton ($25); an autumn visit found the bird prepared as crispy duck leg, partnered with braised red cabbage mixed with organic heirloom apples, smoked bacon, herbed spaetzle and organic plum gastrique ($25). Both were divine.

Surely part of the reason all the duck dishes are so superb is because of the ingredient quality. The bird is Liberty brand, from Sonoma County Poultry. Apples, plums, and all other produce are local, too - indeed, the restaurant's name salutes the signature Gravenstein apples of its surrounding Sebastopol neighborhood, while the adjacent Bartlett Bar honors that other famous local fruit.

But I digress with the duck. First, some background. Gravenstein Grill opened this March in the former Marty's Top of Hill / French Garden space on Bodega Highway and Pleasant Hill road. It's the work of general manager Brandon Parkhurst and bar manager Owen Barrett. Barrett and Simontacchi operated the Brick and Bottle restaurant in Corte Madera for six years, before deciding to head where their ingredients were - West Sonoma County.

The team completely transformed the formerly barren, cavernous space into a cosmopolitan design with wood, white, and a glassed-in wine room. The look is still a bit spare inside, though the patio is gorgeous, newly framed with a glass wall to dampen traffic noise, white tablecloth set bistro tables, and manicured gardens of flowers, trees and succulents. The lounge is terrific as well, cozy with a fireplace and high-backed wood chairs at the wood bar offering local wines, handcrafted cocktails and Sonoma County micro-brews.

Menus change between lunch, dinner, weekend brunch and the lounge, but the mixed baby lettuces salad ($11) is delicious anytime. A fancy toss of Sebastopol/Santa Rosa's Blue Leg Farms organic mixed greens is amped up with, shaved organic heirloom apples from Hale's Farm of Sebastopol, fennel, toasted almonds and sweet-tart Gravenstein apple vinaigrette.

My server suggested soup one sunny afternoon, telling me the dish is another Simontacchi specialty. Wonderfully tart heirloom tomato gazpacho boasts pleasing thick texture and a garnish of avocado, fennel pollen, olive oil and local organic sprouts ($9), while New England-style clam chowder is well-textured, too, stocked with mirepoix, potato, smoked bacon and a hint of dill ($10).

Even better, start with risotto, creamy and rich with citrus lobster broth, fennel, Parmesan and lots of shrimp and al dente sweet corn ($16). I didn't really care for the applewood smoked trout, on the other hand, since the strong flavored fish clamored with the strong flavored truffled egg salad and arugula sprouts on its toasted brioche ($10).

The chef really shows his talents with red coconut curry ($18), a deep rust-red colored, deeply flavorful stew brimming with chunky roasted eggplant, broccolini, summer squash, cherry tomatoes and snap peas capped by a molded round of forbidden rice and quinoa pilaf. It's expertly spiced, with a gentle chile burn.

I've also eaten my fill of grilled ahi over the years, but this version reminds me why I still love it - the rare-seared fish sings with garlic lime marinade and the delightful shock of fiery local Gypsy pepper, alongside sweet corn-black bean salad, tomatillo avocado coulis and juicy cherry tomatoes ($28).

Don't dismiss the burger, either, a knife-and-fork favorite for its messy-good, local grass fed beef patty, Sonoma white cheddar pimento cheese, ladle of local grass fed beef chili and tangy pickled cabbage slaw on a Parker House bun with bread and butter pickles and medium cut skin-on fries ($18).

Tip: the pimento burger is $2 off during happy hour, as is the entire lounge food and drink menu, offered from 4 to 6:30 p.m. daily and all day Saturday.

Those drinks, by the way, are fine things. Petaluma native Christopher Sawyer is the sommelier, and naturally, he showcases interesting, obscure Sonoma County/Northern California wines such as Via Guisti 2015 Carneros Vermintino ($13) and winemaker Adam Webb's dark, plush Cochon 2013 Whole Hog Rhone Blend of Syrah, Grenache, Carignane, Cinsault and Mourvedre ($13).

To finish, butterscotch pot de crème is grand, stabbed with Snickerdoodles cookies ($7). But really, what could be better than an apple empanada ($7), dense and crunchy, served warm with cinnamon, caramel sauce and vanilla bean gelato?

We're in the heart of apple country, after all - and well, duck, veggie, beef, and great-food-of-all-kinds country, too.

Carey Sweet is a Sebastopol-based food and restaurant writer. Read her restaurant reviews every other week in Sonoma Life. Contact her at carey@careysweet.com.