4 Best Restaurants in Sonoma, Napa and Sonoma

Shaded by oaks and burnt-orange umbrellas, this kid- and dog-friendly roadhouse outdoor restaurant, best for lunch on a sunny day, often bustles with locals and out-of-towners chowing down on comfort fare based on ingredients from local artisanal purveyors. A recent menu's smoked-and-glazed pork belly with maitakes and pistachio pesto pleased with its layered flavors, as did vegan and gluten-free sweet-potato tacos and a vegetarian mushroom Cubano with spicy pickles, cabbage, and Monterey Jack on focaccia.

Chef David Bush, who achieved national recognition for his food pairings at St. Francis Winery, owns this tavernlike small-plates restaurant inside an 1890s storefront that incorporates materials reclaimed from the building's prior incarnations. Starters often include oysters, ceviche, and deviled eggs with Dungeness crab and homemade yellow curry, meant to be enjoyed before moving on to barbecued pork ribs, shrimp and cheesy grits, Moroccan-spiced salmon, and similar items.

Sonoma dining—or nibbling, given the portion sizes—received a boost when Azores-born chef Manuel Azevedo opened this retro-contempo tavern dedicated to small Portuguese bites. Dividing his menu into five parts—Cheese, Garden, Sea, Land, Sweet—Azevedo, who also owns the nearby restaurant LaSalette, serves everything from hearty caldo verde stew, pork sliders, smoked duck breast, and salted codfish cakes to São Jorge cheese topped with marmalade.

Clam shacks and roadside eateries of days gone by inspired this order-at-the-counter covered-patio restaurant serving ceviche, fried oysters, Louis salads, crab sandwiches, spicy tuna bowls, fish-and-chips, and other seafood-oriented comfort food. Despite the lack of a place to swim, a carefree summer-at-the-pool vibe prevails at this second venture by the Valley Bar + Bottle team, whose penchant for wines from eco-minded, family-owned, small-batch producers shows in the well-priced list here.