Big City-Eats At Small-Town Rancho Nicasio
The stunning rabbit liver appetizer at the Western Room inside Rancho Nicasio.
You’ll be excused if you’ve never been to Rancho Nicasio in Marin before.
The out-of-the-way roadhouse and live music venue may not have been on most people’s radar before. But it sure is now.
That’s because about four months ago, it added a new chef.
Not just any chef. But Ron Siegel, former executive chef of Michael Mina Restaurant in San Francisco, who previously headed Masa’s in San Francisco and Charles Nob Hill in San Francisco. And the first American-born chef to beat an Iron Chef on the original Japanese TV cooking competition.
Chef Max Brown who has been at Rancho Nicasio for 18 years since his father Bob Brown, former manager of Pablo Cruise and Huey Lewis & The News, bought the property is still there. He still oversees the main dining room and the massive backyard barbecue festivities.
The unassuming facade of Rancho Nicasio, built in 1941.
The Western Room.
But Siegel now serves up an entirely separate menu in the Western Room inside the rustic Rancho Nicasio.