The main Craftsman-style white space at Elk Cove Inn dates back to the late nineteenth century, and some rooms still have original wallpaper. The rooms are cozy, comfortable and intimate. Most have fuel chimneys and most have ocean views. The hostel also accepts puppies.
Location: 6300 S. Highway 1, Elk
Restore options: https://elkcoveinn. com/food-drink-mendocino-coast-lodging-dining/
Price range: $245 to $545
More information: 800-275-2967 or 707-877-3321 and www. elkcoveinn. com
The old man is back in one of the most historic and iconic homes along Highway 1 on the south shore of Mendocino County.
The property, Elk Cove Inn, has emerged from its closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic with new co-owners also serving as innkeepers with a renewed commitment to sustainability. Along the way, they added a greenhouse and small farm, built a covered forest overlooking Greenwood State Beach, renovated nearly all of the 16 rooms, and featured one of the area’s best-known restaurants.
The couple this change: Victor Passalacqua and Melissa Boon, who arrived in the city in May 2020 in a broken down mobile home and almost never left.
This dynamic duo led a nomadic life before making a deal with Elk Cove Inn owner Rakesh Taneja to become partners in the business. Now that they have entered their third year at the helm of the series, they say there is no position they would be in.
“At this point, the position feels like home,” Boon said. “I love that we can share it with the world. “
The main Craftsman-style white space at Elk Cove Inn, made without nails, dates back to the late nineteenth century and some rooms still have original wallpaper. Five other guest-oriented buildings in the assets come from other eras, each of them substance that style. The rooms are cozy, comfortable and intimate. Most have fuel chimneys and most have ocean views. The hostel also accepts puppies.
The space built in 1883 through L. E. White Lumber Co. as the space of the factory superintendent. It has become one of the first hostels with beds.
What distinguishes the hostel are its peculiarities. No two rooms are the same. Older rooms have benches on the windows, rooms have rain bars.
Each room includes a complimentary small bottle of port and a welcome basket with local snacks. The open-air corridors are covered with empty bottles of wine and water upside down, creating a living testament to history through recycling. next to the hostel’s kitchen.
There’s a small lookout point with amazing views of the Pacific, the best location to read an ebook, and a secluded trail winds its way to the beach. Last year, Passalacqua built a small wedding amphitheater, a niche called “Elk-Cove. “
“We don’t need to be luxurious, we just need to be comfortable,” he said. “We have beautiful beds, but they are nothing fancy. We have beautiful dresses, but they are not by Giorgio Armani. “
Boon agreed, noting that he sought out the shelter to feel like a place where he would invite his friends to stay. She added that she loves that visitors visit her and tell her stories from beyond or stories about how they got to the shelter. on their honeymoon 30 years ago.
“We need other people to come back and come back and come back,” he said.
Technically, the hostel is a bed and breakfast. Room rates ranging from $245 to $545 come with breakfast every morning and breakfasts are delivered to the rooms so visitors can have breakfast in bed.
The hostel also has a place to eat called Sibo Restaurant, which is open for dinner every night.
Passalacqua, which is Peruvian, Spanish and Italian, is a culinary program for a man, a no-brainer since the 52-year-old has spent 30 years in the hospitality culinary industry in places like Miami, Montreal and elsewhere. he has worked alongside celebrity chefs such as Paul Bocuse, Edward Merard and Ferran Adrià, and has served on the advisory board of the Miami Culinary Institute.
Originally, the hostel had its retirement plan.
Then an itinerant nun repositioned everything. This is some time after Passalacqua and Boon arrived at the lodge; The stall wasn’t even open to guests. The nun had been traveling for days. He needed food and shelter, and the couple provided it.
Over the next few days and weeks, more people came to eat and sleep. Suddenly, Passalacqua discovered that he cooked, basically because other people needed it. And he enjoyed it.
“I do it out of passion,” he said. Nothing we do is pretentious. We do what we can.
As the world opened up, Passalacqua learned he could go back to running a restaurant, as long as he made sure to do so on his own terms. That’s how he’s doing it today. The menu at Sibo Restaurant changes almost every day and Passalacqua prepares dishes only in the way they are listed. He grows or obtains biological proteins, uses herbs and vegetables that he grows on his property. The restaurant also offers vegan food, vegetarian and gluten-free dishes.
“The food is delicious and he makes it exactly how he needs it,” said Courtney DeGraff, executive director of the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association. “It’s hard to respect a place to eat that works like that. “
DeGraff Passalacqua and Boon too.
Boon also serves as the inn’s sommelier. Boon also brings a varied life experience. She is Dutch and French and grew up in the Dominican Republic.
Boon, 34, said that for as long as he can remember, he has dreamed of having a modest farm on which he can necessarily build a small farm and function more commonly regardless of the world around it. Essentially, she and Passalacqua fulfilled this dream, the two years they spent at Elk Cove Inn.
A few weeks after his arrival, Passalacqua built a giant greenhouse. He and Boon then remodeled the property’s existing green area into a culinary garden. They brought bees. They have goats. They were given about a hundred hens, which now produce enough eggs.
They even added about 50 rabbits, which they ate.
Guests can enjoy the culinary lawn and Passalacqua and Boon said they were also pleased to walk around the greenhouse.
“We grow 80 percent of what we want right here on site,” Passalacqua said.
He added that this is necessary, given that Elk is an hour from Fort Bragg and about 90 minutes from Sevastopol.
“It took us a while to get everything we needed, but they still gave us the farm we wanted,” Boon said.
The evolution continues at Elk Cove Inn. La latest of the house’s overnight innovations was underway at press time, renovations will be completed by the end of this year.
This winter, the hostel is offering other promotions, adding single Tuesdays for all three-night stays, 30% off three-night midweek stays and discounts for last-minute bookings.
Boon said she and Passalaqua hope to create more reports for visitors this spring, activities where visitors can pay to have interaction for a few hours or an entire afternoon. Some of the activities include mushroom picking, fishing and/or seafood picking, hashish dinners and winemakers’ dinners, to name a few.
Another addition on the horizon is a community hot tub, which has recently existed.
Beyond those improvements, Boon and Passalacqua said they plan to continue doing what they do best: creating an area where visitors can relax for a few days.
“It’s been a special position for a lot of other people over the years, and now it’s a special position for us,” Boon said. themselves. “
The main Craftsman-style white space at Elk Cove Inn dates back to the late nineteenth century, and some rooms still have original wallpaper. The rooms are cozy, comfortable and intimate. Most have fuel chimneys and most have ocean views. The hostel also accepts puppies.
Location: 6300 S. Highway 1, Elk
Restore options: https://elkcoveinn. com/food-drink-mendocino-coast-lodging-dining/
Price range: $245 to $545
More information: 800-275-2967 or 707-877-3321 and www. elkcoveinn. com
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