Recently in Wine Bar/Cocktails Category

Former Bistro V chef/owners Rick Vargas and Meekk Shelef are returning to their former Sebastopol stomping grounds, but in a whole new context.

Vine Tastings, Windsor: More than a tasting room, less than a restaurant, Vine Tastings is a hybrid cafe and wine pairing spot with a top-notch chef and part of the Windsor social scene

h2hotel: Rudy Mihal and Scott Beattie Big news from the Healdsburg grapevine: Chef Rudy Mihal (formerly of Odyssey) will head the kitchen of the forthcoming h2hotel and bartending superstar Scott Beattie (Cyrus, Scopa) will be behind the bar.

Tres Hombres petaluma; Where to go for tequila in Petaluma? Tres Hombres. There's a separate margarita menu, featuring everything from blended fruit sippers to traditional shaken margaritas made with their premium tequilas, making this a weekend hotspot.

Mosaic Restaurant and Lounge: Tai Olesky has a devoted following of fans who staunchly claim that this Forestville sleeper is too-oft overlooked.

Chrome Lotus Nightclub opens in Santa Rosa: Put on your party pants, because Chrome Lotus is officially open for business. After two nights of pre-parties with friends and Facebook fans, the revamped 505/Acapulco throws open its doors to the public and gets the taps flowing

P30 is chic, cheap comfort food in Sebastopol with a familiar roadhouse vibe. Chicken and waffles? Please.

Bistro M in Windsor opens

Russian River Brewing's "Temptation" Makes Saveur 100

Stark's Steakhouse: New Menu

Brody's Burgers and Brews: New drive-up or sit down burger spot that's family-friendly.

Jackson's Bar & Oven: Casual, family-friendly spot focused on dishes from the kitchen's wood-fired oven from Syrah's Josh Silvers. Late night/cocktails.

Upper Fourth suddenly shutters

AppleAtion Gravenstein Brandy: Guy Davis is distilling several varieties of the historic apples from the ranch into an ultra-premium apple brandy called Apple-Ation (a play on the term for distinct grape-growing regions).

Hookah: The North Bay has finally latched on to the hookah lounge craze, though at a rather unlikely spot. Flipper's Gourmet Burgers in Petaluma rents hookah pipes at their West side location (54 E Washington St., 773-3200) on Saturday nights for around $12.

Cafes in Sonoma County: Check out a few local cafes, coffee shops and wine bars -- most of which are open well into the evening -- offering a well-marked exit ramp from the rat race.

Boon Eat + Drink: Follow the apre-swim, kayak, festival-going and cruising crowd to boon eat + drink (in the former burger & boy). New to the oft-shifting main street lineup, what the dime-sized boon lacks in diameter, it makes up for in taste -- both in its pared-down decor and simply done menu of spot-on eats.

Stark's Steakhouse: $2 martinis

There's no sound more beautiful than the clink of ice in a cocktail glass on a hot summer day. Because whether it's 5pm or just north of noon, 'tis the season for salted rims, muddled mint and tiny paper umbrellas.

BiteClub reviews Santa Rosa's first Puerto Rican eatery

Don't expect it on the menu every day. Typically the lasagna shows up at Seamus' whim, but he'll be making it Friday, Saturdays and Sundays just for you, BiteClubbers. At least for a while. Or until he comes up with something even more delicious.

Underwood Bar & Bistro: A perennial favorite of night owls and winemakers, it's a meet and eat rendezvous in the tiny hamlet of Graton.

With a menu that reads like a Sicilian love letter, former Tra Vigne Chef John Franchetti's newly opened Rosso Pizzeria & Wine Bar ain't your average pie shop. The remodeled space in Santa Rosa's Creekside Center focuses on paper-thin prosciutto, fresh-made tapenades, signature salads, antipasti and bubbling wood-fired pizzas

Zin Restaurant: Riffing on American regional favorites, (Chicken-N-Dumplings, spaghetti and meatballs, Mac-N-Cheese) Zin Chef Jeff Mall feeds the need for dishes just like mom used to make. Only a lot better. But that's just part of the story.

Cheap eats and door-buster drink specials return

El Coqui on the horizon

Love whiskey? Even know what whiskey is (and isn't)? A primer on this ancient drink and where to get it.

Jack and Tony's Whiskey Bar opens

Carneros Bistro: Chef Janine Falvo weaves in fun, innovation and an eye for seasonal local foods into her menus at the house restaurant for The Lodge at Sonoma.

The menu is brief, with a strong focus on seafood. Because the duo are committed to using line-caught, ecologically-harvested foods, expect to see ingredients change up frequently. Best appetizer bets: Grilled squid with jalapeno pesto and chickpeas ($11) or salt cod fritters with peppers and lemon aioli ($9). The pork terrine ($11) brought over from Coco500 was a huge disappointment, served too cold to be very enjoyable to eat. (Think cold bacon grease.) Where things get really interesting are with entrees: A perfectly poached line-caught black cod blanketed by its own crisp skin, Himalayan truffles and wild mushrooms ($26) or rich Kobe beef with charmoula, a Moroccan marinade ($25). What could be a spice-rack gone wrong in less adept hands becomes a rich, perfumed, exotic experience. Other dishes pasta with duck, pork loin and a whole baked fish. The wine list features a handful of organic and sustainable wines, along with a healthy number of wines by the glass. Californian and European wines are fairly equally represented, but what's even more fascinating are a number of beers and ales and specialty cocktails featuring artisan distilleries (and made with no more than three ingredients). Pace yourself to include dessert. Though ice cream always seems a cop-out to me, pastry chef Rachel Leising's Cookies and Cream is a scoop of fresh mint leaf ice cream with chocolate cookies. The tarte Tatin is a personal-sized pastry with Calvados ice cream. But tops is the vacherin, a meringue with creme anglaise, chocolate sauce and coffee gelato. Worth the drive: What could easily seem a bit hokey with all its earnestness about sustainability and artisan foods has serious cred with so many solid cooks in the kitchen. There are still some staff kinks to work out (there were a few long waits) and the menu doesn't have the broadest appeal. But what works well works REALLY well. Prices are reasonable, considering the quality and location, but not cheap. There aren't any views and the minimal decor can feel a bit stark. But like so many destination restaurants, dinner at The Moss Room Restaurant is a singular event that will give you plenty of mileage around the water cooler. Provided you can find the place. The Moss Room Restaurant at the California Academy of Science, dinner daily from 5:30pm to 10pm, 415.876.6121. 55 Music Concourse Dr., Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.

Channel your inner czarina at the new Vodika Lounge in Petaluma, NorCal's first 28-degree premium vodka tasting room. As in it's actually 28 degrees inside (four degrees below freezing).

Heir apparent to the troubled Club Seven Ultra-lounge (liquor-free until mid-December) is Santa Rosa's newest entrant into the nightclub scene, Casbar. As in bar. Not the Clash song.

Bistro 29 in Santa Rosa: Onion soup for the soul. Now open for lunch.

There's an undeniable charm to eating in a railway car. Chummy quarters, dim lighting and feeling transported to a slower, more romantic time when travel didn't include pat-downs and families in sweat pants.Captivated by romantic visions of the past...

A little bit country. A little bit rock and roll. Barndiva is the hipster hangout in Wine Country, with its organic sensibilities, minimalist barn decor and swanky cocktails.

Willi's Wine Bar: But day after day, season after season, year after year, the cozy Santa Rosa bistro just keeps on cranking out sure-fire crowd pleasers that feel so-worth it. And for a jaded foodie, that's about the highest praise a restaurant can get. Especially after dropping 90 bills for-um-lunch.

Cafe Saint Rose: Mark's already proven himself to locals--from his years of service as winery chef and caterer to his ever-intruiging menus at the old Saint Rose. We get it. But the new spot reflects more of his comfort with comfort foods. Easy-going preparations of farm-fresh ingredients that feel so very right in Sebastopol.

Hopmonk needs work

Peter Lowell's in Sebastopol offers up fresh, biodynamic, vegan and flexitarian fare.

Stark's Steakhouse: Organic, dry aged, corn and grass-fed cuts of beef hand-picked by the city's favorite chef.

Santa Rosa's airport restaurant isn't quite ready for takeoff

Johnny Garlic's: Has Fieri left the building?