The Annex Kitchen is an Italian-Inspired restaurant influenced by the seasonal offerings of farmers throughout Central California.
The cuisine seeks to reflect the rustic, ingredient focused cooking of regional Italy. The focus of the menu revolves around housemade pastas, grilled meats and vegetables from a wood burning hearth, and pizzas baked in the wood burning Acunto oven. The full bar also draws inspiration from locally sourced seasonal produce in its development of modern crafted cocktails while also paying homage to the classics.
I was here on a mission to try the SWEET PEA AGNOLOTTI with green garlic, english peas and mushrooms. Simon Majumdar said on social media that it was the bedt dish he had that year, and he subsequently chose the dish for his part of the “Life Changers” episode of “The Best Thing I Ever Ate."
The dish was just flawless. The pasta is chewy in the best way, plus cheesy and creamy and also sweet from the peas. it is fresh and springy, yet rich and indulgent. It is just one of my favorites.
I had a side of polenta, which was fine. It's not my favorite to eat on its own, and the agnolotti just blew everything else away.
We split a CHOCOLATE BUDINO with sea salt, hazelnuts & whipped cream. Not a super sweet chocolate, but nice nonetheless.
Finally, we had the BRUTTI MA BUONI COOKIES made with almond meringue. I love the texture of meringue cookies, so this was a winner in my book.
Grade: A
