For more than six decades, the roadhouse at 9900 Sonoma Highway has been the beating heart of Kenwood. From the early days of Bunny’s Country Kitchen, through chef Max Schacher’s beloved 26-year run, to its current life as Salt & Stone, this has been the Valley’s gathering place, a neighborhood table set among the vineyards where locals and travelers have come together over good food, good wine, and a community spirit.
Todd Lake
I have been working in restaurants for the better part of the last 30 years, starting with my first restaurant job in the Rib Room, located inside The Eureka Inn, where I started in 1995. It was a formal dining room, with table-side cart service for salads and dessert, where I received a strong foundation of what it means to provide great service in a formal setting.
Not long after that I followed my manager to Napa Valley, where I worked at both Brix and Bouchon from 1997 to 2000. Both were incredible restaurant venues, and I was able to work with seasoned Napa Valley service staff, who really showed me what it meant to be a restaurant professional.
I took that perspective with me when I returned to Humboldt County to complete my bachelor’s degree and spent many years working with Ron Garrido and Beverley Wolfe at Avalon in downtown Eureka. This was an invaluable experience as I was able to work hand in hand with ownership and get my first real taste of some of the responsibilities that go along with running a restaurant. After receiving my bachelor’s degree, I spent two years living in the Coachella Valley, where I worked at Dessert Sage in La Quinta and Cuistot, in downtown Palm Desert.
Then after returning to Eureka and working a long stint at Avalon, I relocated to Sonoma with my wife and our two children in 2011. As the Assistant Dining Room Manager at Sante, located at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, I joined a team that had just received a Michelin Star, and we focused intently on providing exemplary service.
Salt & Stone would be my next restaurant opportunity, and I remember saying in my interview that I was really looking for a place where I enjoyed working if I could just make enough money to pay my bills. That has continued to be my focus as I now work to cultivate the kind of workplace culture that provides the same environment for our employees.
A Deep Legacy
1960
Katherine "Bunny" Moore opened Bunny's Country Kitchen on Highway 12. Famous for fried chicken, fluffy mashed potatoes, and all-you-can-eat honey-butter biscuits, it drew crowds from across the Bay Area, cars often lined the highway waiting for a parking spot.
1987
Swiss-born chef Max Schacher and his wife Susan transformed Bunny's into the Kenwood Restaurant, an elevated dining destination. Over a remarkable 26-year run, the couple built a devoted local following, especially among the nearby Oakmont community.
2013
Bill Foss, a Sausalito restaurateur and grape farmer, purchased the longtime roadhouse from Schacher. He reimagined it around locally sourced Sonoma regional cuisine, drawing on area farms, foraged herbs, and even trout from his own McFarland Springs farm.
2017
Chef David and Diane LaMonica, former owners of Mendocino's acclaimed Cafe Beaujolais, reopened the space as Salt & Stone, a casual-chic California eatery and oyster bar built around the welcoming "gathering place" spirit the location was always known for.
2024
Todd Lake became owner of Salt & Stone, carrying the roadhouse's long tradition of hospitality forward while welcoming locals and travelers alike to the vineyard-side patio that's become one of Sonoma County's signature dining settings.
