2 Best Restaurants in Guerneville, Napa and Sonoma

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.

Longtime resident and community favorite Mags van der Veen runs this bakery and gourmet shop, for years called Big Bottom Market, where she serves soups, salads, and sandwiches with well-thought-out flavor combos. The sweet and savory biscuits are her variation on the recipe of a previous owner whose mix made Oprah's Favorite Things list.