Super Strength Health visits the Stanford Inn and Ravens Restaurant

As I mentioned, last week I celebrated three entire years dating the coolest dude I’ve ever met. For those of you who don’t know Jim Kettner (affectionately known as Kettnerd or Kett) is an amazing artist, and an all around excellent human being, and the apple of my eye. I want to go on every vacation ever with him.

To celebrate such a momentous occasion, we treated ourselves to a night at the all-vegan eco-resort The Standord Inn, and its accompanying all-vegan restaurant, Ravens Restaurant in Mendocino, CA.

I wish I could say I captured a picture of the pillow-y vegan chocolate chip cookies placed on our bedside table upon our arrival, but instead we jumped up and down on the bed (very adult, right?) and hung on the deck until it was almost dinnertime.

We had a reservation at 6:00, and when we arrived I was super stoked to see that not only was the dining room full of windows and gorgeous, we were also basically the first people there. We were happy… and then the eating begin!  First, of all, the first thing out of the waitress’ mouth was “would you like some complimentary gluten-free bread with your meal?”I wanted to scream “YES, BREAD ANGEL I WOULD LOVE SOME COMPLIMENTARY GLUTEN FREE BREAD”, but  I think I just politely nodded. In addition to the bread, we were served a super thin slice of tiny radish with a dollop of sweet and spicy red pepper sauce and creamy kale sauce.  It was refreshing, light, and delicious.  Then came our second round of appetizers. We split a Caesar salad with gluten-free garlic crostini and glazed tofu. There are no words for how good this was. The lettuce was perfectly fresh (from the garden at The Stanford Inn, in fact), the dressing was creamy, the crostini was crunchy and bursting with garlic flavor. The tofu was tangy and warm and a perfect compliment. My entree was a Cauliflower Napoleon with fingerling potato wedges. it was prepared in a stack with grilled tomatoes, onion, and zucchini, nut cheese, and a balsamic reduction. It was IN-credible, although at this point I was really slowin’ down in the stomach space department. I set most of the potatoes aside, because I knew if a vegan and gluten free dessert came a-knockin, I was gonna answer the door.  (Oh yeah, Kett had the BBQ plate which included cornbread, BBQ’d portobello, potato salad, baked beans, and coleslaw. He enjoyed it very much.)  Now, my friends, I would like to introduce you to the most beautiful thing I have ever seen Vegan and gluten free shortbread cookie. stack of carmelized pecans. scoop of maple ice cream on top. *DIES* This dessert was perfect. I wish I could have its taste tattoo’d on my taste buds, that I could live out this life recalling the whole thing in extreme detail. DAMN, PECAN TOWER. YOU ARE THE BEST. There could not have been a more perfect meal to celebrate the deep and awesome connection I have with this man that I’ve chosen to spend all this time with. We were happy! Very, very happy. Post dinner, we went to the solarium (!!!), hung out in a sauna, got toasty in a hot tub, and swam some laps in the pool. Once we got back to the room, we tried to build a fire, which I caught in the five minutes that it was actually going well. (we were fire failures.) After we gave up on the fire we read The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman out loud to eachother (gross, I know ) and passed the eff out. What a great day.

In the morning, I lounged in the hotel robe while Kett swam laps, because that’s how I do. I also captured a few vignettes of our beautiful room. And then of course there was breakfast, which was INCLUDED in the price of our room. Man, The Stanford Inn sure knows how to make a couple of vegans feel rad.       Kett got a chickpea omelet with grilled sweet potatoes, a glass of orange juice and coffee. I got the tofu rancheros, with grilled veggies (again, from the garden), corn tortillas, homemade pico de gallo and a side of sweet potatoes. To be honest, I was still pretty damn full from the night before but hey! Sometimes a celebration fills more than your heart. The Stanford Inn and Ravens Restaurant were perfect in every way. I loved seeing the garden, I loved that that the coordinator of their wellness program/nutritionist introduced himself to every single table (Hi Sid!), I loved smelling the ocean and eating the food and for goodness sakes, wearing the robe. (This review was not paid for, and I didn’t receive anything to write it! I just havn’t heard many vegans mention this place before, and I want to share the love)