OUR STORY

LAZEAWAY CLUB

Explore the diverse flavors of the Pacific at Lazeaway Club. Designed to create a vacation within a vacation, this fun poolside eatery offers a menu of craveworthy delights and hand-crafted cocktails. 

Executive Chef Chris Ricketts has created a transportive dining experience in collaboration with restaurateurs Anderson Pugash and Benson Wang of Palm House Hospitality. 

A destination for good vibes. Inspired by a sense of adventure, the Lazeaway Club invites you on a journey to the heart of the Pacific. From the sun swept shores of Mexico to the palms of Thailand, the Lazeaway Club’s Cal-Pacific cuisine taps the sweet, savory, and fiery flavors of far-flung destinations, combining them with the best fresh, local ingredients available. 

EXecutive chef chris ricketts

Chef Chris Ricketts serves as the Executive Chef of Flamingo Resort & Spa. With a background from Le Cordon Bleu, Chef Ricketts has dedicated over 19 years to crafting delectable dining experiences. Lazeaway serves as a testament to his culinary expertise, allowing guests to savor his Cal-Pacific creations in a setting steeped in history that also evokes a vacation state of mind.

An Oakland native, he’s rooted in the rich tapestry of local flavors, a passion that has journeyed alongside him through various iconic Bay Area locales. Chef Ricketts’ path led him through the vibrant kitchens of San Francisco's Tipsy Pig and Palm House (the latter of which also under the esteemed Palm House Hospitality banner), Napa’s Brix, as well as the prestigious Michelin-starred Lord Stanley and Manresa. Throughout his experiences, Chef Ricketts has woven his culinary artistry throughout the fabric of the Bay Area’s culinary landscape.

When not in the kitchen, Chef Ricketts enjoys exploring Sonoma County and its scenic adventures with his wife Elizabeth, an excellent chef in her own right, and his 2 year old daughter Ava Jo. 

palm house hospitality

Palm House Hospitality is a freethinking flock of industry creatives delivering transportive leisure through immersive dining and entertainment experiences in Northern California. Each Palm House Hospitality concept, including Palm House, Audio, Bergerac, Vintage Space, Nick’s Cove, and others soon to be announced, showcase unique identities that appeal to a variety of audiences. The originality of each dining experience and entertainment venue generates excitement from both local and visiting adventure seekers. Working from the inside out, Palm House Hospitality cultivates and supports its talented teams to think of new approaches that push the existing boundaries of hospitality. Every decision is driven by PHH’s overarching mission to create better lives through better leisure. At Palm House Hospitality concepts, vacation is more than a destination, it’s a mindset. With practice, the team has learned how to harness that blissful sensation with every bite, sip, sight and sound that guests encounter.

meet fernando

The Flamingo Lazeaway Club was founded in the abandoned home of the world’s most interesting bird, Fernando. He left abruptly one night in the middle of a full moon dinner party. That was years ago. In his absence, his motley group of friends wasted little time in assuming his home as their clubhouse, and they knew Fernando ardently believed life was best when shared.

Fernando was an itinerant wanderer, adventurer and bon vivant who weaved an eccentric path across the globe. He’d worked as an oyster pirate in his teens, and wandered the Amazon in love with a toucan shaman. A mysterious departure and heartbreak soon followed, and he sought refuge once again in the high seas. He moonlighted as a cruise ship captain on voyages across the Pacific, became an avid student of South Asian culinary traditions and kept his boat safe from pirates with a bit of humor and a lot of rum. A port call in China turned into years roaming the Himalayas, and when he finally returned to Sonoma, Fernando was a bird at peace. His home became a stop for the varied and eclectic people he encountered on his travels.

Everyone loved his dinner parties, where they were regaled with stories told poolside on warm Sonoma nights. Never one to turn a guest away, his hospitality was kind and gracious as any meal is bettered by good company. As the guest counts grew and the time ticked by, his home acquired a nickname- “The Flamingo Lazeaway Club,” after Fernando’s favored way to spend time in Sonoma – Lazing Away.