a quick lunch

Solid · Healdsburg

walk-in

Kathleen Stewart opened this on the Healdsburg plaza in 1987 with Lindsey Shere, Chez Panisse's pastry chef. The sticky bun is $4.50 and there is a line out the door at weekends.

Solid · Sonoma

walk-in

Four generations of Vellas have made jack by hand in a 1904 building on Second Street East since 1931. Bon Appétit put the Dry Monterey Jack among the top 25 cheeses in America.

Solid · Healdsburg

walk-in

Michelle Wood makes the dumplings by hand off her family's recipes, in a Highway 128 general store that has stood there since 1893.

Listed · Healdsburg

walk-in

Charlie Palmer put Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon on the menu at $25 and deglazes it with beef stock instead of red wine. He cooked next to her on PBS.

Listed · Petaluma

walk-in

Kathleen and Ed Weber learned wood-oven baking from Alan Scott, built ovens to his blueprints on a chicken ranch, and swept out the ash to bake on the heat left in the brick.

Listed · Healdsburg

walk-in

This green-and-white clapboard store has stood at the Dry Creek crossroads since 1881 and was a speakeasy through Prohibition.

Listed · Healdsburg

book aheadthe room’s own account

Molotes, tasajo and chapulines on a Healdsburg menu, ten to nine daily with a patio. Those are Oaxacan dishes and they are not standard around here.

Listed · Santa Rosa

walk-inthe room’s own account

Named for the belt of coastal fog between Big Sur and the Oregon border where the redwoods grow. The barrel-aged and experimental beers are cellared at this original Santa Rosa site.

Listed · Stewarts Point

walk-inthe room’s own account

Sticky buns with caramel and walnuts, and the bakery says they are what put it on the map in 2003. Now inside the historic Stewart's Point Store, with a tap room the size of a cupboard.

Listed · Bodega Bay

walk-inthe room’s own account

Hog Island Sweetwaters, raw or wood-fired with garlic butter, and a smoked clam pizza for $25 off the same oven. You sit on the water and nobody takes a booking.

Listed · Petaluma

walk-inthe room’s own account

The kitchen shuts between 2:30 and 5:00 and takes Mondays off. That, an address on North McDowell and a phone number are everything the record holds.