Twin Oaks Roadhouse Reopening in Penngrove: What Changed

As the Press Democrat reported, Lou Hanhan spent a Sunday morning in May walking the perimeter of a half-built fence, pointing at where the new sliding glass doors would go before the kitchen was even finished. He'd already ripped out the booths along the front window because they weren't original to the building anyway. He wanted stools and tables there instead. Behind him, workers were digging trenches for a new patio while a handful of regulars sat outside eating like nothing unusual was happening.

Something was happening. The roadhouse at 5745 Old Redwood Highway had just changed hands, and by the time it reopened for good that Saturday in May with a $25 all-you-can-eat buffet and no cover charge, Penngrove had already decided this was less a new business than a new chapter in an old one. That distinction matters more than it sounds like it should, because it's the same thing that happened at the market down the street nine years earlier, and it's the pattern that's quietly setting the tone for the rest of the fall calendar in town.

What Actually Changed Inside the Building

Hanhan and his co-owners, Dan Goldman and Cesar Vasquez, took over Twin Oaks from Dean Biersch, the HopMonk founder and a name that goes back to the early days of American craft brewing. What they inherited was a building that's been serving drinks since 1924, back when it opened as a roadhouse tavern and gas station for travelers on what's now Old Redwood Highway. What they changed was mostly the kitchen, not the character.

The renovation list reads like a working restaurant's actual problem list, not a marketing brief:

• A four-foot exhaust hood swapped for an 11-foot one, because the old one couldn't support a second fryer
• A refurbished bar and a new doorway added to the northern dining room for easier restroom access
• Sliding glass doors installed where a heavy wooden door used to hide the patio from the main room
• Non-original booths removed in favor of tables and stools

Hanhan told the Press Democrat he'd tracked down some of the old wall decorations that had disappeared when the place sat closed, because he didn't want to lose what made the building feel lived-in. The menu is expanding toward steaks, chops, and prawns, filling a gap Hanhan says locals have felt since Cattlemens closed. "People miss Cattlemens, so this place is going to fill the space left when they tore it down," he told the Press Democrat, adding that Twin Oaks would do so on a smaller scale.

The Friday night prime rib dinner launched at $48.95 and dropped to $38.95 within weeks after customers complained about the price. Hanhan's reasoning was blunt: he'd rather sell out than have leftovers. The weekend all-you-can-eat buffet that followed the grand opening runs noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday for $28.95 a person, $15 for kids under 12. "We are doing ribs, chicken, beef, potatoes, rice, corn, salad, veggies," Hanhan told the Press Democrat, describing a spread built for families who want a full meal without a full bill.

New Ownership, Same Job the Whole Time

What's easy to miss in a story about new ownership is how little of the building's actual function has changed across a century. It opened as a stop for travelers. It became a rancher's bar with an old western feel. HopMonk ran it as a beer garden with a roadhouse attached. Now it's back to being, in Hanhan's words, a place that fills the Cattlemens-shaped hole in the neighborhood's dinner options. The name on the lease changes. The job the building does for Penngrove doesn't.

Two Doors Down, the Same Playbook Already Played Out

This isn't a one-time coincidence. Walk two blocks down Main Street to the Ronsheimer building at 10070 Main, and you'll find Penngrove Market occupying a structure built in 1872 that has, at various points, served as a railroad depot, a general store, a post office, and a hardware store. A fire in May 2015 closed the building. Rather than tear it down, Rebecca and Evan McDowell partnered with longtime friends Joe and Shaina Ferraro to restore it and open the market in 2017, keeping the historic facade while turning the inside into a grocery, coffee shop, and evening cocktail spot.

Even the old Mack's Bar & Grill space at 10056 Main didn't sit empty. It's now home to The Grove, a coffee and cocktail spot that kept the building's role as a gathering place while changing what gets served there.

The pattern holds because Penngrove's downtown is only a few blocks long. There isn't room for a building to sit vacant waiting for the right concept. Someone takes over the lease, keeps the shell, and changes what happens inside it.

What's Actually on the Calendar This Fall

That continuity shows up in who's still running the town's biggest gatherings, too. Earlier this fall, the Penngrove Social Firemen held their annual Hawaiian Luau at Penngrove Park, with dinner from the group's volunteer chefs and a performance by the Taimalietane Islands of Polynesia dancers. The Firemen are the same 501(c)(3) that owns and maintains the park and the Community Clubhouse on Woodward Avenue. They're also the group behind the July 4th parade, a tradition that started as a 1976 bicentennial project and still bills itself as the biggest little parade in Northern California.

On October 15, the Downtown Penngrove Merchant Association runs its Trick-or-Treat crawl through Main Street shops, sending families to Blue Door Yoga, California Brick Chicks, Contessi Ballet, Fringe Salon, Hello Penngrove, JavAmore, Main Street Fitness, Penngrove Hub, Penngrove Market, Riverstone Mercantile, and Soap Cauldron for candy. Penngrove Market runs its own Art & Craft Fair later in the fall, with local vendors, live music, and a raffle benefiting Penngrove Elementary School.

None of these events are new. What's new is who's behind the counter when families walk in the door, and at Twin Oaks, what's actually on the menu when they sit down.

The Building Outlasts the Owner

A town with a two-block Main Street doesn't get to reinvent itself very often. What it gets instead is a rotation of people willing to take over what's already there, whether that's a 1924 roadhouse, an 1872 railroad depot, or a bar that used to be Mack's. Twin Oaks Roadhouse has changed identities over the past century and its menu is still finding its footing four months after the grand opening. That's not a slow rollout. That's how buildings work in a town this size.

If you're curious about what a market like this actually rewards when a home here changes hands, Tim McKee knows the Main Street corridor as well as anyone working Sonoma County right now, and he's happy to talk through what a place like Penngrove is really offering before you make any decisions about it.