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Farm-to-table Modern American cuisine is the prevalent style in the Napa Valley and Sonoma County, but this encompasses both the delicate preparations of Yountville’s Thomas Keller, whose restaurants include The French Laundry, and the upscale comfort food served throughout the Wine Country. The quality (and hype) often means high prices, but you can find appealing, inexpensive eateries, especially in Napa, Calistoga, Sonoma, and Santa Rosa.
Two microbrewing brothers' longtime dream, this storefront gastropub along Geyserville's slim commercial row serves their ales and other area craft brews, plus a rotating lineup of kombuchas, ciders, stouts, seltzers, and sours. The beverages beguile, as do the flavors in animal- and plant-based dishes that might include farro salad, cheddar cauliflower muffulettas, lamb burgers, roasted-mushroom melts, pickled vegetables, and pork belly sliders (good with the potent house IPA).
"Elevate Your Everyday" glows a neon side at Crisp, whose spanking-clean interior mirrors the pristine food—avocado toast, beet-cured salmon tartine, breakfast and lunch bowls, and inventive juices, soups, broths, and smoothies—this health-oriented café serves. The location next to Sunshine Market (easy parking out front) may lack glamour, but the place exudes wellness, and the menu acknowledges the requirements of vegans, vegetarians, and carnivores alike.
The gas-lamp-style lighting fixtures, charcoal-black hues, and bistro cuisine at Evangeline evoke old New Orleans with a California twist. The chefs put a jaunty spin on dishes that might include shrimp étouffée, duck confit, or steak frites; the elaborate weekend brunch, with pamplemousse (grapefruit) mimosas an acerbic intro to everything from raw oysters, avocado toast, and smoked salmon to shrimp and grits and prosciutto Benedict, is an upvalley favorite.
Built-in wood-fired ovens anchor the open kitchen at this fun-casual spot with tile floors and bare light bulbs strung over the tables. Pizzas and pasta dishes made from farm-fresh ingredients dominate the menu, but straightforward fish, chicken, and steak entrées appear as well.
A Craftsman bungalow whose 1920s owner reportedly used the cellar for bootlegging during Prohibition houses this restaurant where the pairing of food and drink is as likely to involve a craft cocktail as a sommelier-selected wine. Main courses such as wood-grilled chicken or salmon, wet-aged black Angus rib eye, and the grass-fed G&G burger with Gruyère follow starters that might include corn croquettes, sticky pig ears, and harissa sausage with fry bread and baba ghanoush.
A 1950s-style outdoor hamburger stand goes upscale at this spot whose customers brave long lines to order breakfast sandwiches, juicy burgers, root-beer floats, and garlic fries. Choices not available a half century ago include ahi-tuna and Impossible burgers and kale and Vietnamese chicken salads.
The mile-long list of morning fare at Occidental's neo-hippie go-to breakfast and weekend brunch spot includes order-at-the-counter huevos rancheros, omelets, eggs Benedict, waffles, pancakes, French toast, and "healthy alternatives" such as oatmeal, house-made granola, and quinoa and brown rice bowls with kale and eggs. Soups, salads, burgers, and monstrous sandwiches are on the menu for lunch at this laid-back space with seating inside a 19th-century gingerbread Victorian and outside on its wooden front porch and covered back patio.
The fuel is more than petrol at this gas station–convenience store whose redbrick exterior recalls the heyday of Route 66 travel. The shop inside sells superb hot dogs, fresh scones from nearby R+D Kitchen, gourmet chocolates, and (in summer) ice cream—gas up, grab some picnic items, and be ever-so-merrily on your way.
"The beer garden concept but with wine" is how winemaker Jordan Kivelstadt describes his roadhouse operation in southern Sonoma. Conventional wine tastings of Kivelstadt's sometimes unconventional wines take place here, with the outdoor space a lively combination restaurant and wine bar where local families and tourists mix it up while enjoying comfort fare that might include sweet-potato tacos, veggie potpie, smoked-chicken tostadas, and a mushroom Cubano on focaccia.
Relieve restaurant sticker shock (somewhat) and long waits by ordering bowls, salads, sandwiches, and desserts online for pickup at CIA at Copia's main-entrance takeout window. Some items' herbs, fruits, and vegetables are grown steps away at the culinary institute's garden.
Ernesto Martinez, this easy-going eatery's Mexico City–born chef and co-owner, often puts a Latin spin on farm-to-table American classics. Although he plays things straight with the Caesar salad, champagne-battered fish-and-chips, and baby back ribs, the organic fried chicken comes with cheddar-jalapeño corn bread, and the fried calamari owes its piquancy to the accompanying peppers, nopales cactus, chipotle aioli, and avocado-tomatillo dip.
Cindy Pawlcyn's Mustards Grill fills day and night with fans of her hearty cuisine, equal parts updated renditions of traditional American dishes—what Pawlcyn dubs "deluxe truck stop classics"—and fanciful contemporary fare. Barbecued baby back pork ribs and a lemon-lime tart piled high with brown-sugar meringue fall squarely in the first category, and sweet corn tamales with tomatillo-avocado salsa and wild mushrooms represent the latter.
Bookended by culinary gardens and constructed of corrugated-metal former shipping containers, redwoods felled by wildfires, and other ingeniously recycled materials, this 3½-acre open-air hangout has a block-party feel, especially at weekend brunch or when area musicians perform. The gardens inspire the seasonal comfort-food menu—summer tomatoes give way to fall beets in the burrata salad, for instance—with staples like fish tacos, grilled chicken wings, tri-tip, and plant-based variations appearing year-round.
Best for lunch but also open for dinner, Palooza pleases with many beers on tap, jazzed-up pub grub, casual decor, and an often-packed covered outdoor patio. Pulled-pork and crispy-chicken sandwiches and beer-battered fish and fries are among the popular items, with prawn and braised-beef tacos and shredded-kale salads with sliced apples for those seeking lighter fare.
The makers of Pliny the Elder and the Younger operate this cavernous brewpub with a vast lawn and outdoor patio on the site of their state-of-the-art brewing facility. Choose among 20 beers on tap to wash down beer-compatible pub grub—chicken wings with Pliny sauce, a malted-bacon burger with cheddar fondue, fish-and-chips, pulled-pork sliders and sandwiches, and a few salads.
Dark-wood walls, subdued lighting, and red-leather banquettes make for a perpetually clubby mood at this Rutherford hangout where the patio, popular for its bar, fireplace, and rocking chairs, opens for full meal service or drinks and appetizers when the weather's right. Many entrées—steaks, burgers, fish, rotisserie chicken, and barbecued pork ribs—emerge from an oak-fired grill operated by master technicians.
Tourists, locals, and spa guests—some of the latter in bathrobes after treatments—assemble inside this casual resort restaurant or on its extensive patio for breakfast, lunch, bar snacks, or dinner. Lunch options include thin-crust pizzas, sandwiches, a cheddar burger, and entrées such as chicken paillard, with the burger reappearing for dinner along with fish, steak, the house-made pasta of the day, and similar fare.
Elegant Santé is the Fairmont resort's restaurant for haute cuisine focusing on seasonal local ingredients. You can dine à la carte, but the intricate dishes on the chef's tasting menu make it worth trading up.
The owner of this combination restaurant and marketplace escorts her customers on a round-the-world journey via artisanal sausages—traditional links and savory pork, beef, duck, and chicken variations. In her bright storefront edging Sonoma Plaza's southern edge (there's also a patio out back), sausages also appear in sandwiches, tartines, and impressively moist biscuits with creamy sausage gravy.
Decorated in shades of brown and white and softly lit at night, the Grille is the type of spot where old schoolers start a meal by washing down oysters on the half shell with a stiff gin martini or cut to the chase with vodka oyster shooters. The menu at lunch and dinner skews heavily surf but covers all the turf bases with grilled, baked, or roasted beef, lamb, pork, chicken, and fish dishes, plus risotto and pasta plates.
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