A Little Culture Sometimes...

Okay, so I just spent the last few days in Sonoma, Napa Valley, and San Franciso. In case you haven't heard, this is mecca for wine and food lovers and I must say, it was just that. In an effort to share some of the best with you, I offer up the following suggestions for your next trip to the Bay Area. Sonoma County-I'm going to lump in the Dry Creek, Russian River, and Alexander Valleys all right here. Though the Russian River Valley is the most famous wine region in Sonoma County, it is certainly not the only wine producing area. And the truth is one minute you can be in the Russian River Valley and then drive 3 miles and you are in the Dry Creek Valley. Either way, I'd base any visit to the Sonoma area out of the town of Healdsburg. There are several little towns up that way that are nice including Sebastapol, Sonoma, Graton, etc. but Healdsburg is the best. The downtown square is lively full of shopping and great restaurants and bars. Hotel Healdsburg www.hotelhealdsburg.com anchors the downtown square and is easily one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in. It certainly was the coolest if not the most luxurious. As part of the hotel, you can eat at Dry Creek Kitchen, owned by famous Chef and Sonoma County resident Charlie Palmer. The restaurant lived up to the hype as we had the six course tasting menu and no corkage fee because we brought with us Sonoma county wine. What a deal! The beef was fantastic and the little attention to detail in the risotto, cheddar soup, and the beet salad was absolutely beautiful. I would definitely recommend a laid back stay at Hotel Healdsburg with its great spa and outdoor sitting areas and a cool pool topped off with a dinner at the Dry Creek Kitchen. www.charliepalmer.com/dry_creek . Not to be missed to is Willi's Seafood and Raw Bar just down the street from the hotel. A little more casual than Dry Creek Kitchen, the food is just as good with tuna tartare, lobster rolls, and ceviche. http://www.williesseafood.net/ So what about the wines in Sonoma County? I've been to multiple wineries there on two different visits and tasted many more but I'd have to first recommend Quivira Wines, which is only about 10 minutes from downtown Healdsburg. This winery is completely biodynamic in its farming and production of wines and the wine is fantastic! It features lighter, fruitier reds and a sauvigon blanc that literary has the most beautiful grapefruit taste on the finish. It's laid back, the wine is reasonably priced and they are doing everything they can to protect our earth. http://www.quivira.com/ . Not far away, I would also recommend Arista winery. The winery, owned by a transplanted orthodontist and his son from Texarkana, Texas, has a great pinot noir and beautiful gardens. Both of the above wineries and all that I suggest are small, family owned producers. www.aristawinery.com Napa Valley - This is certainly the more commercialized and more famous of the two big wine regions in the Bay Area. Napa Valley has some great wineries and some over the top, more flash than substance wineries too. But if you were to go to only one winery in the entire state, I would recommend Quintessa. Owned by a family from Chile, this is the most beautiful winery and property I have ever visited. For $65, you get an hour and a half one on one tour of the entire winery and vineyards. You'll learn A to Z on the family, the vineyards, their history, and how they make wine. You'll get to see the facilities and the winemakers at work, including the wine caves. To top it off, you get to sample their immature wine all the way up to their latest vintage prepared with gourmet food. Simply put, the best glass of wine I've ever had was the Quintessa 2005 vintage. www.quintessa.com. And to top it off, you are only about 5 minutes away from the town of St. Helena, home to Taylor's Refresher, an old fashioned drive in that was recently featured on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives" show. Taylor's serves awesome cheeseburgers and milkshakes which is a nice break from the gourmet food. www.taylorsrefresher.com San Francisco -What can I say about the best city in the world? If you're into kitchy fun and old school supper clubs from the 1950-60s, head to the Tonga Room in the basement of the Fairmont hotel on Nob Hill. The Tonga Room is cooler than the Hawaii episode of the Brady Bunch and it even makes Trader Vics look like a Chili's. It's old school cool, with a live band that plays on a barge in a lagoon, with a real lightning and shower storm, overlooking a dance floor made out of a ship from the South Seas. The food is good(not great) and the drinks(while not as good as Trader Vic's) are good enough to transport you back to a cooler, hipper time in this world. And the fact that the Tonga Room is located in the conservative, old school Fairmont is even cooler. The Fairmont itself is so beautiful it's worth a visit. http://www.critiki.com/cgi-bin/location.cgi?loc_id=162 . Okay, so Tiki is not your thing. Zuni Cafe is one of the city's best restaurants and worth a visit if you want gourmet French-American dining in a laid-back cafe setting. www.zunicafe.com Try the chicken or the pork chop. The lamb is great too!. Do you want funky, hip vietnamese food in one of the most popular restaurants in town? Picture PF Changs without the chain-food vibe, better food, and even more crowded and lively and you've got The Slanted Door. www.slanteddoor.com I went there skeptical and wanting it to be overrated. It wasn't. The food is that good and if you can get past the young, hip cheesy crowd, then you'll be in for some of the best Asian food of your life. Mitchell's Ice Cream is a can't miss dive in the Mission District. The ice cream is very good, but the real attraction is exotic South American fruit ice creams that you can't get anywhere else. Some are better than others, but it's all good! www.mitchellsicecream.com Do you want a fantastic French gourmet meal with about four servers assigned to each table? Quince Restaurant in Pacific Heights ranks up there with some of the best meals I've ever had anywhere. www.quincerestaurant.com . Finally, don't miss Foreign Cinema, which has an outstanding brunch! Try the french toast with blackberries and strawberries covered in orange butter along with a side of maple sugar coated bacon. They've got a really good grapefruit vodka drink to wash it all down. And if you go at night, they do show independent films on the wall while you eat. www.foreigncinema.com. These are just places to eat and hang out. If you want to try your luck and gamble on food, go to Chinatown or North Beach for the little cafes. North Beach has a great live music scene too. Skip the Fisherman's Wharf and Height Ashbury though. Both are way overrated. And if you miss out on things like Golden Gate park, the de Young musuem, the Presidio, Golden Gate bridge, Lombard Street(that's right I said it), Amoeba Records, Cafe Triste (where Jack Kerouac hung out) the Ferry building, Chinatown, the great shopping at Union Square, AT&T Park, and the Delores Mission(remember the movie Vertigo?) well then, you are just missing San Fran all together.