I Get My Boar On

I used to have a thing about dining alone: I HATED it. I felt uncomfortable, couldn't enjoy myself, hurried through things, etc. Now, though (God, I hate to think this) perhaps maturity has set in a bit.... I no longer dislike dining alone. In fact, I've grown to love it. While I still love a meal with family or friends, dining alone has its own allure. You can concentrate on the food and wine. And you can make friends with someone else, however fleeting. Some of my best Every Meal a Feast meals of late have been eaten at the bar of a restaurant while chatting with some new friend.

Case in point: My visit recently to Lo Coco's Cucina Rustica, in Santa Rosa's Old Railroad Square. I sat at the bar and had a blast. Not only did I get to meet J. from Salt Lake City, I was close enough to the "action" to watch the waiters rushing around, yelling in Italian... while the buys boys dissed everybody (in Spanish)... and the cooks slaved away over flames leaping from the stove tops... It was, literally, dinner and a show.

I had the pappardelle con cinghiale: pappardelle pasta with wild boar sausage and forest mushrooms. WOW -- great. I loved the pappardella: which is a wide noodle, like a lasagna. And the wild boar sausage: great! Meaty with a great texture but not overly strong or gamey. And of course, you say mushrooms and noodles, and I say when?

Now, LoCoco's has a cautionary note. It's regarded as one of the best restaurants in Santa Rosa, and thus is PACKED most of the time... which means that the service can be spotty, the waits l-o-n-g. It seemed to take forever for someone to take my order... and then for my food to come. (At least the waiter acknowledged this, and gave me a free glass of house red.) So don't come here in a rush or expecting a calm evening. It's noisy, hectic, narrow, tight, and old-school Italian. Which is why I love it.

LoCoco's

117 4th Street, Santa Rosa

523-2227

(don't bother to make a 'reservation'; they don't really do them....)