Review: Wild Goat Bistro

Executive Chef Gustavo Arechiga pulls a pizza out of the oven at the Wild Goat Bistro in Petaluma. (Scott Manchester / The Press Democrat)

The Wild Goat Bistro in Petaluma tries hard to hit Sonoma County’s hot culinary buttons: the greens are organic, pizza crusts can be gluten free if you wish, owner Nancy DeLorenzo seeks out local and artisanal food producers, the meats are nitrate free, and the menu changes seasonally.

The dishes are good, although some come with a small side order of disappointment. The Blue Corn Crab Cakes ($12 **), for instance, are billed on the menu as “jumbo lump crabmeat cakes,” but are nothing of the sort. You get two small cakes made of a mild mix of shredded Dungeness crab and filler, dusted with blue corn meal and cooked, with a spicy roasted corn sauce drizzled over the tops. The blue corn coating isn’t crispy or particularly flavorful, and serves only to turn them a dark slate color. The cakes were lukewarm instead of piping hot. An accompanying sprout salad topped with pimiento was a nice complement, though.

Owner Nancy DeLorenzo sets the table in the hallway just outside the Wild Goat Bistro, in the Great Petaluma Mill building. (Scott Manchester / The Press Democrat)

The room is small, with four seats at the service bar and eight tables, plus a few more seats out in the hallway of the Great Petaluma Mill building, which houses a range of shops and a health club. Tables are bare and the napkins are paper. An exposed stone wall in the dining area is hung with cheery, colorful prints of goats by southern California artist Magda Audifred. The sound system plays an eclectic mix of music, including some welcome Portuguese fado.

The restaurant’s ambitious menu is complemented by a good wine list. A bottle of the Napa white blend called Conundrum is $26 and the luscious 2008 Dutton-Goldfield “Dutton Ranch” Chardonnay is $40. A bottle of red house wine is $22 while the 2010 Merry Edwards Pinot Noir is $48, and there’s a short list of wines by the glass. Corkage is $12.

The Traditional Pizza. (Scott Manchester / The Press Democrat)

Though the menu is ambitious, its chief focus is on Neapolitan style (thin crust) pizza. Among the nine types offered — gluten-free crust is available on request for all the pizzas — is the Fog Lifter, made with spicy fennel sausage, applewood smoked bacon, pepperoni and mozzarella, and the Wild Thing, its thin crust topped with wild mushrooms, Swiss chard, roasted peppers, artichokes, black truffle salt, fontina cheese and olive oil. The Traditional ($11.75 ***) had a thin smear of tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella that melted into lightly browned pools, and slices of commercial, dense, spicy fennel sausage. The crust was exceptionally good, but the sausage’s texture and flavor were disappointing.

Holy Cow Sliders

Small plates included the Holy Cow Sliders ($9.25 **½), three little burgers of ground Niman Ranch beef spiced up with pepperoncini and served not with aioli as the menu promised, but a small pot of ketchup.

The best part of the dish called Mussels & Clams ($11 **) was the delightful liquor in the bottom of the bowl made from mussel and clam juice, white wine, fresh herbs and saffron. The Prince Edward Island mussels were small and tired looking, but the Manila clams were plump and tender. Nice fat mussels are farmed right over in Tomales Bay. Why fly them in from across the continent?