Co-Founder of Cowgirl Creamery and Bette’s Oceanview Diner, Current Owner of Silver Penny Farm
Sue Conley has worked for decades to help foster a community of dairies and artisan cheesemakers in coastal Marin and Sonoma. In the years after college, Sue worked in some of San Francisco’s top restaurants before co-founding Bette’s Oceanview Diner in Berkeley—a restaurant famous for its vintage jukebox, scratch-made pancakes and diverse clientele—and ran it for 11 years. She then moved to Point Reyes Station and worked closely with Straus Family Creamery to market the first certified organic milk in the West. In 1997, she and her long-time friend Peggy Smith started Cowgirl Creamery and Tomales Bay Foods. When they sold the business in 2019, they had been making award-winning Cowgirl Creamery cheese for 20 years. Sue now co-owns the historic Silver Penny Farm on Lakeville Highway in Petaluma, offering the main house as a hub for meetings and retreats and the land as host to sheep and bees.
eat
I am drawn to locally owned and operated restaurants that depend on high-quality local, organic ingredients. My weekly routine begins on Sunday morning a at Della Fattoria bakery, where I meet my friend Garth Bixler for breakfast. Monday morning begins with a walk at Schollenberger Park, then cappuccino and a pastry at Stellina Pronto with my friend, Vivien Straus. The week finishes with a Friday breakfast at the Tea Room Café with Vivien’s brother, dairyman Albert Straus, where milk prices and local farm issues are discussed.
For dinner, I love Sake 107 for sushi, and Soban and Simmer on the East Side for first rate Korean and Vietnamese cooking. For special occasions, my go-to spots are Central Market and Cucina Paradiso.
stay
I recommend the Petaluma Hotel downtown in the middle of all the action, but if you want a more leisurely, rural experience, you should say here at Silver Penny Farm!
play
I love the coast for its wild natural beauty, charming towns and dairy-based eateries and like to stop at many of the local creameries on the California Cheese Trail Map. I head to Nicasio Valley Cheese, then turn west to Point Reyes Station to explore the cheese counter at West Marin Culture Shop. I recommend trying their fermented fruit ice cream floats before turning north towards Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co., then Valley Ford Cheese & Creamery just past Tomales. The drive itself makes the day worthwhile. Adding food stops is the cream on top.
drink
Our favorite watering hole is on Lakeville Highway: Ernie’s Tin Bar. It’s a historic roadhouse speakeasy run by Ernie Altenreuther, grandson of the founder. I’m on a no-alcohol diet these days, but I still stop by to soak in the friendly ambiance at the bar where a wide selection of craft beer is offered on tap. Cell phones are not allowed. If your ringer goes off you will be required to buy a round for the bar, which makes for some lively conversation!
