Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
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.
A portrait of restaurant consultant and Campanella co-owner Tom Rutledge's grandmother large in the covered patio seating area of his stylish yet snug restaurant inspired by East Coast Italian-American "red sauce" cuisine. The chef's 21st-century remixes of classics like the ones Nonna prepared in Brooklyn include marinara meatballs, butter beans, eggplant Parmesan, steamed clams with linguine, chicken cacciatore, and gnocchi with Bolognese ragout.
In a high-ceilinged former barn with plenty of outside seating, Farmstead revolves around an open kitchen whose chefs prepare meals with grass-fed beef and lamb, fruits and vegetables, and eggs, olive oil, wine, honey, and other ingredients from nearby Long Meadow Ranch. Entrées might include wood-grilled trout with fennel and bacon-mustard vinaigrette, caramelized beets with goat cheese and chimichurri, or a wood-grilled heritage pork chop with jalapeño grits.
The mixologists at this verdant "bar-focused restaurant" whip up creative "garden-to-glass" cocktails meant for pairing with neo-comfort food whose ingredients, especially the produce, are primarily cultivated in west Sonoma County. "Umami bomb" mushrooms with sticky rice and the tofu with five-spice pistachio entice vegans and vegetarians at dinner, but with pork belly skewers, chicken wings to share, a smash burger, and pan-seared fish, there's plenty for carnivores and pescatarians.
Chef Joshua Smookler and his wife Heidy He, who formerly ran a foodie-favorite New York City ramen shop and later the upmarket Animo in Sonoma, opened this white-walled roadside establishment whose menu favors painstakingly conceived pizzas and pasta dishes. Starters like scallop or tuna crudo and a Bibb salad with produce from a garden steps away whet the appetite for the Italian fare and shareable entrées that might include lamb saddle, whole chicken, or a dry-aged porterhouse.
West County's most handsome restaurant, softly lit, with a fireplace, an open-trestle ceiling, wooden floors and tables, and long mauve-cushioned banquette benches running down the middle, hides in plain sight at the Dawn Ranch resort. The cuisine is ultimately modern American, but the lead chefs' South American influences reveal themselves in small plates that might include a fried tapioca and cheese appetizer or large ones like Wagyu striploin with house-made chimichurri.
Regulars of this southern Petaluma "daytime café" with indoor and outdoor seating rave about its eastern Mediterranean–inflected cuisine—immediately downplaying their enthusiasm lest this quiet gem become more popular. The menu changes often, but mainstays include shakshuka (a tomato-based stew with baked eggs) and a lamb burger dripping with fennel tzatziki.
The chef at this café, wine bar, and bottle shop prepares the primarily small bites—among them yellowtail crudo, ricotta tartine, duck-liver mousse, and baba ghanoush—in a semi-open kitchen, while her sommelier husband and his cheerful front-of-house team suggest pairings from the local-to-international natural wines the couple champion. With bar seating, high-tops, and several tables, the space is too big to feel like you're at a friend's party, but that's the vibe.
Possibly the most romantic roost for brunch, lunch, or dinner in all the Wine Country is a terrace seat at the Auberge du Soleil resort's illustrious restaurant, and the Mediterranean-inflected cuisine more than matches the dramatic vineyard views. The prix-fixe dinner menu (three or four courses), relying mainly on local produce, might include caviar or diver scallop starters, delicately prepared fish or vegetable middle-course options, and mains like prime beef pavé, spiced lamb loin, or Japanese Wagyu A5.
The late chef-restaurateur Charles Phan's team executes his rarefied Vietnamese cuisine at this Wine Country outpost with the same precision as their counterparts in San Francisco. When the weather's right, the outdoor courtyard is the place to be, and the high-style gray-toned bar is always the right spot for specialty cocktails and solo dining.
The restaurant at Solage attracts the resort's clientele, upvalley locals, and guests of nearby lodgings for sophisticated farm-to-table cuisine served in the high-ceilinged dining area or alfresco on a festive patio warmed by shapely heaters and a mesmerizing firepit. Dishes on the lighter side might include house-made pasta or sake-marinated fish, with crispy pork or a slow-braised short rib among the heartier options.
The team behind this wineshop, bar, and restaurant across from Sonoma Plaza revamped a 19th-century adobe (though inside you'd never know it's this old) and expanded its outdoor patio, where most dining takes place. Sustainably produced seafood and meats find their way into "California home cooking"—summer dishes that might include halibut with corn and cherry tomatoes and winter ones like pork adobo or a half chicken.
A chef with a national reputation applies classic Italian and French techniques to predominantly California ingredients inside the 1907 Georgian-style mansion housing the Alila Napa Valley resort's destination restaurant. Lunch items like a griddled mortadella sandwich or smash burger give way at dinner to more intricate à la carte fare like squash blossom bucatini and Santa Barbara sea urchin or truffled Petaluma hen, but the prix-fixe and tasting menus demonstrate the culinary team's prowess the best.
Lemon-ricotta pancakes, tiramisu French toast, an acai berry bowl, and avocado toast with feta and pickled shallots score high with patrons of this light-filled, order-at-the-counter brunch-all-day café that debuted in late 2024. Seasonal salads, chipotle steak, and teriyaki fried chicken sandwiches are good lunchtime choices, enjoyed indoors on the large front patio with plaza views.
The culinary garden guests pass on their way to the Stanly Ranch resort's main restaurant supplies pristine fruit, produce, and herbs for the artisanal cocktails and well-conceived dishes served inside this stone-and-glass structure. Start with vegetables and dip, raw oysters, or the more unusual bison tartare for lunch or dinner, before moving on to a Wagyu burger or hot chicken sandwich for lunch or scallops, lamb ribs, or quail for dinner.
A roadside stop 1¼ miles north of Yountville for specialty cocktails, casual lunches, and evening fine dining, Brix shares ownership with Kelleher Family Vineyards, whose Cabernet Sauvignon grapevines surround the restaurant on three sides. Pan-seared fish, house-made pasta, risotto, fried chicken locals adore, and juicy Brix burgers with smoked cheddar and bacon marmalade appear on the lunch and dinner menus, with king and queen cuts of prime rib the crowd-pleasers on Sunday night.
Calistoga's flashy 19th-century entrepreneur Sam Brannan built the depot in 1868 to receive well-to-do spa patrons, but it was looking careworn until a 21st-century equivalent restored the wood-frame building, connected by a boardwalk to vintage railroad cars. One of four dining options amid the Calistoga Depot complex, which includes a few bars, the deli serves plant- and meat-based sandwiches, salads, and wood-fired pizzas.
Christopher Kostow's reputation rests on his swoonworthy haute cuisine for the Meadowood resort, but he and his Charter Oak team adopt a more straightforward approach—fewer ingredients chosen for maximum effect—at this high-ceilinged, brown-brick downtown restaurant. With exceedingly fresh produce from Meadowood's nearby farm, this strategy might translate into dishes like mole-spiced tri-tip, smoked sturgeon with radish-leaf pesto, or red kuri squash with pickled peppers, almonds, and goat cheese.
Two microbrewing brothers' longtime dream, this gastropub serves their ales and other area craft brews, plus kombuchas, ciders, stouts, seltzers, and sours. The beverages beguile, as do the flavors in dishes that might include a farro salad, a smoked brisket sandwich, a roasted mushroom melt, vegetable toast, and meatball sliders (good with the house IPA).
Breakfast, served through lunchtime at this bright-yellow French-style bakery and café, includes the signature omelet (sun-dried tomatoes, bacon, spinach, and Brie) and French toast made from thick slabs of cinnamon-walnut bread. French onion soup and cranberry-turkey, chicken with Jarlsberg, and (on the cinnamon-walnut bread) Monte Cristo sandwiches are among the lunch favorites.
This restaurant owes its visual appeal to its clean lines and svelte decor, but the eye inevitably drifts westward to the open kitchen, where longtime executive chef Armando Navarro's team crafts dishes full of subtle surprises. The menu might include ceviche or roasted maitake mushrooms as starters and pan-roasted salmon, fettuccine carbonara, or paella awash with seafood among the entrées.
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 gumbo ya-ya or steak with bordelaise sauce; the elaborate weekend brunch, with everything from raw oysters, smoked-salmon toast, and fried chicken and a waffle to Canadian-ham Benedict and a chicory, prosciutto, and apple salad, 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 also appear.
A dependable varied menu makes this modest corner restaurant occupying a brick-and-glass storefront many Napans' go-to choice for a simple meal. Empanadas and iron-skillet cornbread with lavender honey and butter show up at all hours, with buttermilk pancakes and chilaquiles scrambled eggs among the brunch staples and cassoulet and roasted heirloom chicken popular for dinner.
Even before diners settle in their seats, the Montage resort's glass-walled special-occasion restaurant captures the imagination with exterior views of vineyards, oaks, and far-off Mt. St. Helena and interior haute-luxury touches like chandeliers of locally handblown Czech glass. The Cali-Continental connection comes full circle in dishes—rabbit cassoulet or caviar with house-made potato chips to start, perhaps, or striped bass with prawn, uni, saffron, and fennel—whose French flourishes elevate the seasonal ingredients.
The morning fare (some served until closing) 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 sandwiches are among the lunch items at this laid-back space with seating inside a 19th-century gingerbread Victorian and on its wooden front porch and covered back patio.
Napa River views and multiple indoor and outdoor dining spaces make a visit to this pet- and family-friendly restaurant and sports bar a decent choice for beer and cocktail-friendly comfort fare. Bourbon deviled eggs, adobo chicken wings, salmon lollipops (on skewers), and a combo of hash browns and mac and cheese are typical shareable starters, with tacos, smash burgers, and pasta dishes among the more filling options.
Inside a metal-and-glass structure design writers have described as industrial grange-hall chic, the chefs at this café and lounge with informal seating prepare satisfying plant-based cuisine. With most ingredients rushed over from Little Saint's nearby 8-acre Russian River farm, the menu items change often.
With Edith Piaf as his background track, Dennis McInnich spent several months toiling to perfect the macaron, the favorite cookie of his wife, Aubrey. Success selling the resulting confections at farmers' markets and elsewhere spurred the couple to open this shop and café serving their brightly colored treats, along with sweet and savory crepes and a few brunch and lunch items.
Sign up for Travel Tips & News
Thank you for your interest!
