You may remember a couple of weeks ago when we packed the station wagon {yes that’s what I drive!} with the whole Team Apartment crew and headed to wine country. Not only did we hang at one of our favorite Sonoma wineries, Scribe, we also took the not so frequent opportunity to visit Healdsburg, a small town north of Sonoma- that just so happens to be quite the emerging culinary hotspot. It’s home base to the fan-favorite, Bravo TV Top Chef hottie contestant, Louis Maldonado!

We met Chef Louis on his turf where he gave us the Top Chef treatment. He threw down a mean {and almost too pretty to eat!} 3 course meal at his restaurant Spoonbar.

Naturally, we were pretty giddy about meeting a T.V. celebrity- you just can’t surpress the Bravo fan in a girl! But we played it super cool {for the most part} and desperately held back the urges to role play Top Chef judges Padma and Tom as we tasted Chef Louis’ out of this world food combinations.

From trout roe + granola + mustard seeds with deviled egg, to charred asparagus + buttermilk + radishes + abalone mushrooms, topped off by a pistachio dulce de leche cake with Prosecco and froster raspberries, each dish was just as good as the last. And we carry no shame when we say we licked those beautiful plates clean!

The fish flight was the first course and definitely a team favorite. Trout, trout roe, Kanpachi- all of the ingredients tasted fresh and clean, complimented by unfamiliar pairings like fermented chili and salsa verde. The Trout roe with granola and mustard seeds was so good we all ended up fork fighting for the last bite!

The second course, the “meat” dish, comprised of the meaty abalone mushrooms {we still have no idea what those are!} was by far the prettiest thing we’ve ever had the opportunity to eat. Criss crossed with charred asparagus and dotted with flashes of pink radishes, we “ooooed” and “awwed” at the dish for a good couple of minutes before we dove in!

The dish that certainly had no chance of surviving was the dessert: pistachio dulce de leche cake. It’s just not right to make five people share something like this. All the rules we learned in kindergarten went right out the window and we were such hogs that our poor photographer, Aubrie, almost missed her chance at a bite!

And just when we were beginning to feel like Top Chef royalty {being wined and dined is quite the life!}, the meal came to a close. Although we never wanted to leave, Chef Louis definitely made us feel like stars while we were there. And luckily for us, great food isn’t the only thing Spoonbar offers! Guess again – we’re not talking about the chef…

You’ll have to wait for the big culinary insight. Hint: it involves a secret menu! Oh yea.

original photography for Apartment 34 by Aubrie Pick