With Erna’s dropped from name, this top-rated restaurant near Yosemite is making changes

Some things stay the same: Madera County still has one of the top fine dining restaurants in the Valley, nestled in the woods outside Yosemite National Park.

But some things do change.

The Elderberry House at Chateau du Sureau in Oakhurst is nearly five years out from its sale to new owners.

Since then, minor changes have emerged: Dropping the name “Erna’s,” a loosening of the dress code, tweaks to its menu and the revival of its cellar bar and a locals night.

Recently, the owner also hired a new culinary director with a fine dining pedigree.

Many of the changes make the experience of dining among the elderberries more affordable and accessible to Fresnans and other locals.

Still, the restaurant has maintained its reputation of one of the best in the Valley, said Rhonda Salisbury, CEO of the Visit Yosemite|Madera County tourism bureau.

“The quality is absolutely the same,” she said. “Service is impeccable. We are so lucky to have something like that in little Oakhurst.”

Erna’s

Erna Kubin-Clanin built the restaurant, hotel and spa from the ground up starting in 1984 before retiring to Austria.

Among locals, the restaurant was often known simply as “Erna’s.”

She sold the business in 2017 to a Southern California restaurateur and his hospitality company. It also owns the high-end First & Oak restaurant in Solvang, the luxury boutique hotel Mansion on Sutter in San Francisco. It also makes wine at Coquelicot Estate Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley.

The man who spearheaded the purchase of the Oakhurst business, Bernard Rosenson, died in 2019, and his son took over the company.

Jonathan Rosenson, chief operating officer, compares what they’ve done with the Elderberry House to taking possession of something valuable and vintage.

“You have a beautiful classic car and sometimes you need to just tighten a few bolts and make a few adjustments here and there to make it better,” he said.

A while back, the restaurant quietly dropped Erna’s from the name.

While Erna’s aimed to transport diners and hotel guests to an estate in the European countryside, the new owners want to spotlight the beautiful place it’s already in.

They’ve started doing that, in part, with the hiring of the new culinary director and his emphasis on location and local ingredients, Rosenson said.

“That’s why we dropped Erna’s name: She’s not involved anymore,” he said. “It feels like a new generation, a new iteration.”

The food

For years, the restaurant offered a five-course prix fixe (fixed price) tasting menu that was different every night. It usually cost well over $100 — more if you wanted wine paired with each course.

But that has changed.

Now diners have two options.

They can get a three-course meal for $95. (A 22% service charge is added to every bill and an optional wine pairing costs an additional $70.)

For example, a recent menu offers an amuse-bouche (a bite-sized appetizer) of a sea urchin panna cotta tartlet with spring peas. The entree is a choice of smoked duck breast or poached steelhead trout with “a skin that melts in your mouth,” says Rosenson. And for dessert, strawberry shortcake.

“We tried to make it where it’s still a show-stopper,” he said. “For those who are looking for something a little more casual, where they can be in and out in an hour, an hour and a half.”

Guests can also immerse themselves in the full two-hour or so culinary experience with six courses for $155 (and an optional wine pairing for an additional $95).

That meal includes extra options, such as a black truffle tortellini and something called “Kern Farm’s weeds.”

If weeds on the menu of a top-rated restaurant sounds a bit eccentric, well, that’s where Chris Flint comes in.

The chefs

Flint is the new culinary director for all the company’s properties.

Before coming to The Elderberry House’s parent company, he worked at Eleven Madison Park, a New York restaurant with three Michelin stars that made headlines in the New York Times for later going vegan. He was also executive chef at the NoMad restaurant in New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

He describes his food as creative, beautiful, delicious and hyperseasonal.

“We want to embrace the beautiful nature around us,” he said.

So that Kern Farm’s weeds dish on the menu comes with ingredients from Kern Family Farm in North Fork. It’s displayed like a wreath around ricotta with puffed amaranth.

Said Rosenson of Flint’s visit to the farm: “This is some of the best produce in the world. This is just their weeds on the farm. Chris got all excited … and said, ‘We’re going to make a dish off what you call weeds.’”

It includes miner’s lettuce, the delicate green plant that tastes sweet and earthy and grows wild around these parts. It also sells for $20 for 4 ounces in New York City, Rosenson noted.

Flint is also an avid hiker, with an itch to bring the beauty he sees on the trail into the restaurant.

He recently foraged 30 pounds of fallen bark, sealed it with epoxy and placed it on the tables, plates of food served atop it.

Of course, with the other restaurants, Flint is not always on site.

Ethan de Graaff is still The Elderberry House’s head chef. He grew up in Oakhurst and started as a “houseman” carrying luggage and valet parking cars for the hotel when he was 18.

He left to go to culinary school and came back, working his way up to head chef, with about 10 years total working on the property.

That steelhead trout on the menu? That was his idea.

He and his uncle used to fish a lot. Trout was the first fish de Graaff caught with him and with his uncle dying recently, he suggested it go on the menu. He thought the dish might honor him, and worked with Flint to perfect the dish.

The bar

If a $100 meal is still out of budget, The Elderberry House has reopened its Cellar Bar that closed during the pandemic.

It has an a la carte menu with $16 cocktails and individually prices dishes such as butternut squash pappardelle with pasta made in house.

There’s also an $18 house burger made with a caramelized onion jam and melty raclette cheese, served with fries.

“It’s this really hedonistic gooey cheesy burger,” Rosenson said. “I dream about this burger. ... I don’t like onion jam, but I could eat this onion jam by the spoon.”

Locals night

Already, Fresnans make up around 15% to 20% of dinner guests, Rosenson said.

But there is a night set aside especially for them. Locals night is every Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., when diners can get the three-course meal for $65.

That includes people from Fresno and Clovis.

Reservations are required, and diners must be prepared to show proof of residency.

The restaurant continues to offer vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options along with adjustments for other dietary restrictions and allergies, with requests ideally made 48 hours ahead of time.

Dress code

Another change in recent years? A relaxing of the dress code.

While guests are expected to dress appropriately — and usually do — there aren’t requirements like a suit jacket.

Rosenson noted that even The French Laundry, a restaurant with three Michelin stars in Wine Country, doesn’t have a dress code.

He recalled when his company owned the Sky Room restaurant in Long Beach, and said there would be customers whose jeans cost more than a suit. He said didn’t want start what’s supposed to be a special evening with a confrontation.

“The guest should have the choice in how they want to feel comfortable,” he said of The Elderberry House. “If they feel comfortable in jeans and button down, no problem. If they want to wear a suit and tie, amazing.”

Awards

The Elderberry House has retained its awards, including its AAA five diamond award. The hotel and restaurant are both members of the prestigious Relais & Châteaux.

It’s also still listed as having a four-star Forbes rating.

However, Rosenson said they plan to stop pursuing the Forbes rating. The company wanted to charge the restaurant for additional training it didn’t need, he said.

Despite that, many would argue The Elderberry House is still the best restaurant in the central San Joaquin Valley. And the chefs and owner aim to keep it that way.

Said Flint, the culinary director: “We want this to be a destination. Yosemite itself is a destination, but we also want to grow this restaurant into a destination in itself.”