For a seriously luxurious experience, Cyrus delivers a progressive dinner during which diners move between various rooms including the Bubbles Lounge, Kitchen Table, and Chocolate Lounge. The many-coursed meal will cost a cool $295 for the tasting menu, plus $250 for an accompanying wine pairing, but chef-owner Douglas Keane did earn two Michelin stars before closing the restaurant a decade ago — only to bring it back in fall 2022.

The original pizzas from the wood-burning ovens at Diavola are excellent (like the Dictator, topped with marinated short rib, Korean barbecue sauce, garlic, serrano chiles, green onions, kimchi, and kewpie), but you can still have the meal of your life without them. Chef-owner Dino Bugica, who spent 10 years in Italy mastering the art of butchery, is a salad savant, and the main courses — which might feature sea urchin or offal cuts — reward trust.

Even just a few years in, SingleThread’s reputation precedes it — for its tough-to-secure reservations, its lofty $300-plus per diner price tag (especially if customers are also booking a night at the on-site inn), and its hyper-hyper-seasonal approach. (Famously, owners Kyle and Katina Connaughton speak in terms of 72 “microseasons.”) The restaurant has its own farm and three glittering Michelin stars, and chef Kyle’s elegant, Japanese-inflected tasting menu is a thing of beauty that’s almost too pretty to eat.

Dustin Valette has been a part of the Healdsburg dining scene for years, and you’d still do well to check out his eponymous restaurant just around the corner from this impressive newcomer. Anyway, it’d be hard to miss the Matheson, with its premier location just off the main plaza and tall three stories. Step inside and you’ll be welcomed by a wine wall, complete with 88 by-the-glass options, and a view into the open kitchen where the team pushes out plates like Brentwood corn soup, aged Sonoma duck with stone fruit, and 28-day dry-aged steaks. Upstairs, a rooftop bar and more casual restaurant Roof 106 serves pizzas and small plates.

This is a local favorite for Japanese food, specifically sushi (think rolls, sashimi, and nigiri) and robata-grilled skewers loaded with chicken, Black Angus beef, yellowtail collar, or lamb. Expect to find owner Gary Chu behind the counter, and you’ll want to explore the sake menu, too.

Nestled into a quiet, wooded area of Glen Ellen, the Star feels like a mountain retreat. The menu is centered on the wood oven, with roasted vegetable dishes like Brussels sprouts with brown sugar–bacon marmalade, and cauliflower with tahini and almonds. Pizza and pasta are both must-orders. It’s a bustling spot in a quiet neighborhood, with a wine list full of local and cult-favorite bottles.

Yeti has two Sonoma County locations, one in Santa Rosa and one in Glen Ellen, but it’s the lively-yet-cozy Glen Ellen spot that the locals love — and yes, it’s totally worth the wait for Yeti’s delicious samosas, momos, biryani, tandoori (with six types of meat and fish), curries, and most important, naan the size of two heads put together. Choose from plain, garlic, olive basil, or honey-butter.

This casual, counter-service spot serves high-quality Mexican food, from halibut ceviche tacos to pork tamales. The handmade tortillas are so good and fragrant, you can find them at various Bay Area farmers markets (under the Primavera brand name), but they taste that much better here at the mothership.

This is new Portuguese cuisine in a white tablecloth setting, with a focus on seafood for dishes like wood oven–roasted octopus and caldeirada, a fisherman’s stew. Chef-owner Manuel Azevedo translates the plates of his forefathers into seasonal dishes that retain a connection to the ocean. LaSalette makes its own cheese, bread, and sausage. (Locals also love Azevedo’s less formal Tasca Tasca, a tapas-driven version of chef Azevedo’s vision and palate found downtown on West Napa Street.)

Best known under its original Fremont Diner name (with a brief stint as Boxcar Fried Chicken & Biscuits), this wine country Southern comfort food staple hasn’t changed much through all its various iterations, except that the menu is now a little bit more tightly focused on biscuits and various permutations of fried chicken — served on the bone or in a sandwich (or, better yet, biscuit sandwich) form. Lou’s take on Nashville hot chicken is one of the better ones in the entire Bay Area.

A sanctuary for everything leavened, frosted, and baked, Della Fattoria is the product of legendary owner Kathleen Weber, who died in 2020. Weber was widely lauded for her amazing breads, but the salads, sandwiches, and soups were a cut above the rest, too. Weber’s recipes live on at the Della Mercantile, where mimosas and flowers are an additional draw. 

For many would-be picnickers heading into wine country for a day of wine tasting, Angelo’s is a mandatory first stop. The obvious attraction is the selection of hearty, well-assembled deli sandwiches. For tourists visiting from out of state, this is a great place to get a first taste of Dutch crunch bread, that Bay Area staple — almost always the correct bread choice regardless of what kind of sandwich you choose. While here, make sure to stock up on the fantastic sausages and jerkies.

Located in Sonoma’s Cornerstone marketplace, FolkTable is run by female power duo Casey Thompson, a Top Chef finalist, and chef de cuisine Melanie Wilkerson. Together, they create one-of-a-kind dishes like chicken fat butter rice and black truffle hand pies for breakfast and lunch. And while you can of course get your avocado toast fix, you won’t regret switching it up for anything else on the tartine menu.