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Yelp's best Bay Area restaurant is hidden in a gas station
SFgate ^ | Sep. 14, 2022 | Susana Guerrero

Posted on 09/15/2022 7:13:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Just off Highway 101 North on route to Rohnert Park is an unassuming storefront attached to a Shell gas station. The building is home to Vinoma restaurant, where a selection of handmade savory and sweet empanadas are prepared by the hundreds. If you don’t pull over, you might miss out on one of the best Bay Area restaurants to eat at right now.

I found myself at Vinoma on a recent drive to Sonoma County. The road to Rohnert Park isn’t exactly a quick trip from my East Bay home, but when I heard that an Argentinian restaurant attached to a gas station recently took the top spot on a list of 100 Bay Area restaurants, I knew that I needed to take the 80-mile drive north to see what the buzz was all about.

After a near 2-hour drive, I arrived at Vinoma ready to see whether the restaurant lives up to the title. A takeout menu is fixed on the main entrance and highlights an assortment of 15 empanada and canastita (open-face empanada) flavors that include traditional options (think spicy beef) and the nontraditional (like blueberry cobbler on the dessert section). Guests can opt to pay $3.89 for a single empanada or select a combination of 12 for $41.38. I chose the latter and took my seat at a shaded dining table outside, where I watched cars whoosh by on Redwood Drive.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Food; Local News
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 09/15/2022 7:13:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
Hold out for the gas station sushi.

I have to admit that the picture of those empanadas look good.

2 posted on 09/15/2022 7:16:48 PM PDT by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: nickcarraway

The best New Mexican restaurant I ever ate in was in a bowling alley. Tons of hoe in the wall places out here.


3 posted on 09/15/2022 7:17:02 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim ( )
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To: nickcarraway

Boy, do those look good! I’m headed back to Idaho in a couple days, so can’t make the trip. But I sent to my son and daughter who love to take day trips like that and they both love good food. Thanks for another great find!


4 posted on 09/15/2022 7:30:56 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“I used to be nothing but a Deplorable Clinger, but I've been promoted to Brigadier Ultra-MAGA”)
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To: Tijeras_Slim
"Tons of hoe in the wall places out here."

So Kamala visits frequently?

5 posted on 09/15/2022 7:32:05 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“I used to be nothing but a Deplorable Clinger, but I've been promoted to Brigadier Ultra-MAGA”)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

YW. Let me know if you hear how it is from them.


6 posted on 09/15/2022 7:32:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Unwoke food if I ever saw it.


7 posted on 09/15/2022 7:33:19 PM PDT by Ken H (Trump /DeSantis)
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To: nickcarraway

We have something like this in Pensacola. Best darned tacos ever right behind a Shell gas station.


8 posted on 09/15/2022 7:34:53 PM PDT by Mathews (It's all gravy, baby!)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

“The best New Mexican restaurant I ever ate in was in a bowling alley.”


I bet their spare ribs are incredible.


9 posted on 09/15/2022 7:35:19 PM PDT by Ken H (Trump /DeSantis)
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To: nickcarraway

Best hot dog I ever had was in Woolworth’s lunch counter, in Manhattan on 34th street.


10 posted on 09/15/2022 8:03:06 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: nickcarraway

Heck yeah!

And I’m going to Sonoma in a month or so, will see if stopping here makes any sense from a timing perspective. Thanks!


11 posted on 09/15/2022 8:17:34 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: FreedomPoster

They are only open Thursday through Sunday so make sure you don’t go on a Mon. -Wed.


12 posted on 09/15/2022 8:19:42 PM PDT by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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To: Ken H

*groan*


13 posted on 09/15/2022 9:05:16 PM PDT by null and void (Never suspect dishonest men of making honest mistakes.)
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To: nickcarraway

Yelp allows asshats grieving over a perceived disservice a forum where they can be taken seriously and ruin a business over one employee’s one bad day with a self-centered customer. Therefore that site is untrustworthy gossip porn for underachievers who thrive on finding ways to justify their mind’s demands for proof of superiority - at the expense of hard-working people who can’t be perfect all the time.


14 posted on 09/15/2022 9:53:01 PM PDT by MikelTackNailer (They're coming to take me away to their Gulag Farm where reprogramming goes on all day long)
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To: nickcarraway

Hardly the Bay Area that far north of SF


15 posted on 09/15/2022 10:08:08 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: windcliff

Ping


16 posted on 09/16/2022 6:40:07 AM PDT by stylecouncilor (Mostly peaceful.)
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