Henweigh Cafe, Sebastopol

It's More than Just Another Pretty Burger

Welcome to Henweigh Cafe, where all the patrons are hopeful, all the staff are kind, and all the food is well above average (and then some). With the sizzling ambiance of a Clean Well Lighted Place, Henweigh delivers a positive, nourishing experience, unlike Hemingway's darker version of the cafe world. The main room of the restaurant, where the cooking is done behind a counter on open grills for everyone to enjoy, offers the smells, sounds and rhythms of a kitchen where a good friend is cooking for you. It even has a wood stove, something we much appreciated on the cold, November evening we dropped in so we could take advantage of their five-dollar burger special (only on Wednesdays).

In addition to the main room, Henweigh's has a heated patio on one side, and a narrow, quieter room on the other.

After a brief wait, we opted for a table in the quiet room.

It was a good vantage point for us to watch the comings and goings of attentive staff wearing their what's-a-henweigh, green-blue shirts.

From 5 to 8 p.m., Henweigh's offers four choices of burgers for five dollars, angus burgers, garden burgers, turkey burgers, and salmon burgers.

On the night we were there, a burger was ordered by everyone at every table we saw (including ours). Henweigh's hamburgers were (in our opinion) the best burgers in all probable worlds.

Many local wines and beers are offered by the glass, and other items are available as well. Be sure to check their chalkboard specials on the way in, or you could miss something wonderful, like the Grilled Garlic Artichoke. It had me in raptures and I was moved to the point of contemplating creating an artichoke chat room somewhere.

My companion had the angus burger and gave it the nod. I boldly tried the salmon burger and was quite pleased. Both came with a delicious hunk of coleslaw and tasty chips. For an additional two dollars we could have gentrified the chips into French fries, which looked pretty darn good on a plate nearby.

I'll mention staff again, because they were exceptionally upbeat, friendly and helpful. It really felt like a fun, foodie family welcoming you to their dream kitchen where the prime directive was for everyone to have a good time.

And we did have a good time (an exceptional time, actually) in spite of a 20 minute wait. Don't miss this roadside treasure with the odd name on Route 116.

And that's the news from Lake Sebastopol.

Henweigh Cafe
4550 Gravenstein Hwy N
Sebastopol, CA 95472

(707) 829-7500
http://www.henweighcafe.com