Category: Restaurants
Here Comes the Guide brings you expert articles and blog postings about California restaurants for your event. Whether you’re looking for a rehearsal dinner location or a place with great food for your wedding, we’ve got the inside track.
The list below gives you the option to read longer, more detailed pieces from our Articles + Ideas section or shorter, topical and timely pieces from our blog. Either way, you’ll get great info from the experts on everything related to California weddings.
FEATURED CHEF:
Celestino Drago, Drago Centro
For over 20 years, Chef Celestino Drago has helped shape the standards and flavors of the Los Angeles dining scene. A food world favorite, Chef Drago was voted “Best New Chef” by Food & Wine Magazine in 1991 and has also been honored by the prestigious James Beard Association. His newest L.A. restaurant, Drago Centro, reflects the chef’s warm personality and culinary style—traditional Italian cuisine infused with a modern touch. The Italian classics served up at this chic, contemporary venue are given a fresh spin that your whole party will enjoy.
Our Own Top Chefs
At HereComesTheGuide.com, we have our own top chefs: the food wizards behind our featured catering companies, restaurants and special event venues. We like to think of them as wedding celebrities in their own right—and why not? They’re trained, experienced food artists who consistently deliver up quality meals to make your wedding reception and rehearsal dinners shine.
Read more…History and Romance in San Diego
If you’re on the lookout for a San Diego wedding location that has a history as special as the one you and your fiancé share, you’re in luck: Many of the San Diego venues we feature have historical significance that is only surpassed by their impressive architecture. Here are a few of my faves:
Read more…Carmelized
Recently, KC and I had the pleasure of visiting Carmel Valley Ranch. It’s a fantastic weekend getaway with a wonderful restaurant that offers many creative menu choices. The lobby’s rust-brown and burnt orange hues are warm and inviting. The golf clubhouse has shades of lime green, deep chocolate and white, giving it a crisp, modern feel. The pool area is charming without being too fussy, and the staff is so attentive. I can’t remember how many of them remembered my name, “Mrs. Chin!”. The in-room spa service was terrific, and they even honored my request to have my spa services near the pool. I believe I had Carmel Valley Ranch’s very first by-the-pool massage!
Read more…Simply. Good. Food.
After a few days of long meetings, the ladies of Here Comes The Guide refueled and toasted a job well done with a delectable dinner at Cantinetta Luca, a sister venue of L’Auberge Carmel. The bistro is designed around the concept that Italian dining is a celebration of sharing, simplicity and family—and as a company that considers each other family, we warmed to this notion immediately.
Read more…Congratulations, Baylist Winners
We’d like to congratulate the Certified By The Guide vendors who were recently voted Winners of San Francisco Chronicle’s Baylist Best 2008 Contest:
Read more…Can’t Stop Thinking About Sam
Have you ever had one of those meals when you’re on vacation that you keep thinking about for weeks after you get home? You know, you’re sitting at work and all of a sudden you’re struck by an intense desire to eat at that restaurant again. Like, right NOW. You entertain thoughts of calling in sick, just to go back and have that food one more time?
Read more…A True 8-8-08 Wedding Story
It was 8-8-08, and my friends Betty and Mark decided to make the 1-1/2 hour drive from LA for a weekend in Ojai, which is where I live. They wanted to take me to dinner “someplace peaceful and delicious.” So naturally, I chose the Ranch House, a lushly landscaped oasis at the edge of town. From our seat on the restaurant’s pretty patio, we spied a couple dining alone on the garden terrace, he in formal wear and she in a long white satin gown. They were obviously way past their prom days, and after discreet inquiries, we learned that they were indeed “just married.”
Read more…Why I Want to Be Indian: An Evening at New Delhi Restaurant
I recently went to an event billed as a “scintillating evening of fun and information, focused on the Bay Area Indian wedding market.” Well, it was all that and more. Afterwards, I wanted throw my own Indian bash. I wanted to be Indian.
Read more…



