It was a wildly sunny and clear day when my Day-Trip-Friend S. and I headed out of Berkeley and headed up 101 to Sonoma County. He just wanted to go to the coast, he didn’t care where. He asked me if I wanted to go north or south, and I opted for north, given as it is almost Christmas – going north seemed to make sense.
It wasn’t until after I had made my choice that I remembered that I had read a write up somewhere about the Lightwave Cafe in Monte Rio, so I sorta mandated that we had to go there. It just seemed like a place that was right up my foodie alley. While really good food is an essential part of day trips that I take by myself, S. could seem to care less about food – or we just have different ideas of what good food is and what day trips should include. He just wants to drive. So I totally appreciated that he stopped here for me to have a good meal.
We turned off 101 at 116 and headed towards and through Sebastapol. These are my old stomping grounds from the days I spent in the Art Department at Sonoma State. It is a little bit more crowded in this area than it was back then, but there are way more hippie types here now and there are a lot of fun shops and galleries to explore.
We turned onto Occidental Road and made our way down the backroads, sorta towards the coast, via the quaint little town of Occidental. At the top of the hill above Occidental I reminisced back to the school years when I had a friend that lived here who let me VW-camp under the redwoods in her driveway up off of Frati Lane at the edge of an apple orchard. I waved to the road as we drove by. Today the air was so clear and clean. It hadn’t rained yet, but with the surrounding redwood forest, it just felt hydrated, fresh, and grounding.
From Occidental we headed up the Bohemian Highway towards Monte Rio. Looking on the map the day before to find the location of Lightwave, I must have looked at it upside down and backwards because we almost passed the cafe on our way into town. Luckily there was a lot of room in front of the cafe to slow down into and we drove behind the cafe to park. Let’s just say that if you arrive from the direction we did and you get to the bridge that crosses over the Russian River, you’ve gone too far.
S. is vegan and I’m vegetarian, and while there were no real obvious options marked on the simple menu for vegans, many of the vegetarian dishes can be modified for vegans. Plus there is a vegan Coconut Curry!
I chose to have the Shakshuka and S. opted to have just a Chai since he wasn’t ready for lunch. We ordered at the counter and then chose a sunny table on the heated deck while we waited.
When the Shakshuka arrived it smelled incredible. I had to sit with it for minute to just savor the aroma. Shakshuka is a North African dish made from a chunky tomato sauce with onion and bell peppers, chunks of garlic, and aromatic spices, with the eggs fried in the sauce. It’s an easy dish to make, it’s just that it’s not found on many cafe/bistro menus – it’s more of a homemade dish. It came with a bit of tahini, a fluffy warm pita bread, and an arugula salad, all flavored differently, but with flavors that moved around the plate, perfectly paired hippie food. Price was $17. The Chai was $7.95. S. said that the chai was really good compared to other chais that he’s had. He said it wasn’t too sweet.
The Lightwave Cafe is a sweet place, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere, for good down to earth food and friendly service.
If you’ve been or go in the future, leave a comment and tell me how you liked it!
Lightwave Cafe
9725 Main Street
Monte Rio, California, 95462
