The majority of Napa Valley tourists drive past the town’s nondescript bowling alley without notice. Painted beige, it’s sandwiched between two car dealerships — Honda and Nissan — about a half-mile south of Napa’s idyllic downtown and before you pass by a single vineyard. It has stood in that spot since 1947, a time when prunes were the commodity, not grapes.

Over the last couple of months, you may have noticed orange bulbs hanging from the rafters, kitchens, or bars of certain Bay Area restaurants. They’re not avant-garde Christmas decorations that have yet to be taken down. They’re hoshigaki — persimmons dried using the traditional Japanese method of hanging them from a string.

After a lot of hype and four years in the making, The Matheson has finally opened in Healdsburg with three distinct concepts operating under one roof: a bar, a fine dining restaurant, and a buzzing rooftop lounge.

Wit & Wisdom Tavern, the first venture into Wine Country for San Francisco's Michelin-starred chef Michael Mina, has opened a few minutes from the historic Sonoma Plaza at the recently renovated Lodge at Sonoma.

SNL alum Rachel Dratch’s 50th birthday party in wine country may have been the impetus for the highly-anticipated Netflix film Wine Country, but there’s perhaps another person who deserves some of the credit for making our all-star female cast dreams come true: Sonoma County chef Gerard Nebesky, proprietor of Gerard’s Paella Y Tapas in Santa Rosa, who was tasked with organizing Dratch’s birthday weekend.

Move over, farm-to-table. There’s a new game in town as Napa and Sonoma chefs draw inspiration from Mexico to Japan and everywhere in between.

In the times prior to the pandemic, Eater’s Napa Valley “essential restaurants” map documented wine country’s most celebrated restaurants: Michelin Guide icons like the French Laundry, airy farmhouses, buzzy downtown eateries with epic local wine lists, and the best delis for picnic-worthy sandwiches. Many of those restaurants are still open for business, but the COVID-19 crisis has led diners to gravitate toward take out.

Most of the menu is made up of small plates, like mortadella, a pink shrimp roll, tins and chips (with your choice of a tin of razor clams, mussels, or octopus), and eggplant with ginger and garlic.

If you were on death row, what would you choose for your last meal? This is a popular dinner party conversation topic – remember dinner parties? – and I found myself contemplating something similar, though not quite as morose, as my birthday approached and it was clear that I’d be spending it at home in my sweat pants.

With millions of visitors every year, there’s not much of Napa Valley that remains undiscovered but we’ve managed to round up 10 hidden gems that locals probably wish we wouldn’t mention.

Anchored by Thomas Keller's The French Laundry, Yountville is California Wine Country's crown jewel of fine dining. But there's something that's been missing in this tiny, 1.5-square-mile town until now: a classic chophouse. Enter Perry Lang's, Yountville's latest restaurant addition by chef Adam Perry Lang, a master of all things meat. Tucked back from Yountville's bustling Washington Street, Perry Lang's is located inside the historic Groezinger Estate House, a modest brick mansion built in

SolBar's new chef isn't exactly new, but is he the key to the restaurant getting its Michelin Star back?

Your day is about to get sweeter. Michelin-starred chef Thomas Keller (of the French Laundry, Bouchon, Per Se) has crafted insanely delicious chocolate that you can actually feel good about eating.

Chef Thomas Keller trades escargot and frites for fresh-pressed tortillas and mole at his new Mexican joint La Calenda. Opened in the space once home to Hurley's restaurant, La Calenda shares the same couple blocks as Keller's French Laundry, Bouchon Bistro, Bouchon Bakery, and Ad Hoc—but that's about all it has in common with its Yountville comrades.

There's a lot of hype that comes with a restaurant opening from a Michelin-stared chef, but in a foodie haven like Napa Valley, the pressure is on to make an impression.

The size of your head, the elevated chile relleno isn't fried as usual, lending a lightness to the gloriously cheesy dish.