Category: Restaurants

On a recent weekend getaway to the Napa and Sonoma Wine Country area, my husband Phil and I decided to explore a different side of this famous wedding region. To me, an ideal wedding locale allows guests plenty of options for exploration, and the towns of Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, and Petaluma certainly kept us happily occupied.

Food is a top priority at this resort, and we took advantage of as many culinary options as possible, from the frosty frozen grapes served by the pool to the entire dessert menu at Farm, their signature restaurant. Speaking of desserts, do you mind if I start there? We sampled at least 5 different confections, but the Apple and Cranberry Gallette with Crème Fraîche Sorbet was, in my estimation, a tastebud-altering experience. Simply divine.

After working hard all year, Here Comes The Guide rewarded its staff with a company retreat. When Managing Director Meredith Schwartz asked me to put this trip together, The Carneros Inn was the first place I thought of for our day of relaxation and fun. We are a really tight-knit group of women, but half of us work off site, so we don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like. This trip was such a treat! We got to have spa treatments, lounge by the pool and enjoy an amazing dinner at their restaurant, Farm.

Could you do Turkey Brownies for Thanksgiving? (That never would have occurred to me, but now that I’m thinking about it….yes, yes I could.) That might be too off-beat for your crew, but if you’re still hunting for some new Thanksgiving recipes to enliven the usual mix, check out master chef Joachim Splichal’s ideas in this past weekend’s Los Angeles Times Magazine .

I can’t be the only one who thinks the holidays are always better with some good wine. If you agree, grab your honey and make dinner reservations at the Duck Club Restaurant at the href=“http://www.herecomestheguide.com/location/detail/lafayette-park-hotel-and-spa/”>Lafayette Park Hotel and Spa for December 5.

What kind of setting is fit for the rehearsal dinner of Sarah Gore, daughter of Vice President Al Gore? Truly, only a restaurant created by a princess will suffice. Crustacean Beverly Hills was the dramatic location of Sarah Gore’s 75-guest rehearsal dinner celebration…

Recently, I decided to treat my sister to a fabulous 30th birthday (it’s a long story as to why the splurge, suffice it to say, I wasn’t a good big sister when we were young and I have a lot of latent guilt), and so we headed to the quaint town of Half Moon Bay.