Petaluma and the Sonoma coast
14 open around Sonoma County
Petaluma brews and bakes at the south end. The road then climbs west over the hills to a wine bar and a dining room at Bodega Bay, a roadhouse at Valley Ford, two coast growers above the water at Cazadero, and a bakery and a general store at Stewarts Point.
The towns
Restaurants10
Hirsch Winery
Destination · Cazadero
booking essential
David Hirsch planted a sheep ranch above Fort Ross in 1980, three miles from the ocean, and the soils changed so fast he ended up farming sixty-odd separate parcels.
Terrapin CreekMichelin
Destination · Restaurant · Bodega Bay
booking essential
Andrew Truong will not serve fish and chips in a fishing town, and people have walked out over it.
Rocker's Roadhouse
Listed · Valley Ford
book aheadthe room’s own account
The burger carries Sonoma Mountain grass-fed beef and Estero Gold from the creamery across the street. Highway 1 at Valley Ford, with the hotel upstairs.
Sonoma Portworks
Listed · Petaluma
book aheadthe room’s own account
Fortified wine and nothing but, made in Petaluma since 1994. Bill and Caryn Reading handed it to Heringer Estates in 2025, so the sign now reads Portworks.
Twofish Baking
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.
Gourmet Au Bay
Listed · Restaurant · 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.
Gohan
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.
Taps On The River
Listed · Petaluma
walk-inthe room’s own account
A Petaluma beer bar on East Washington Street, with no tap list and no hours published anywhere. Call before you walk down.
Wild Hog Vineyard
Listed · Cazadero
booking essentialthe room’s own account
Daniel Schoenfeld has made Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Cabernet and Syrah up a ridge above Cazadero since 1990.
Cocktails2
Ernie's Tin Bar
Listed · Bar · Petaluma
walk-in
Ernie's has poured on Lakeville Highway since 1923, out of a corrugated tin shack, and the taps run from Pliny the Younger to a $1.75 can of Hamm's. Put your phone away.
Lagunitas Brewing Company
Listed · Bar · Petaluma
walk-in
All the Chicago brewing came home to this McDowell Boulevard brew house in August 2024.
Coffee2
Della Fattoria Downtown Café
Listed · Coffee · 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.
Stewarts Point Store
Listed · Coffee · Stewarts Point
walk-inthe room’s own account
The historic store on Highway 1, with Twofish Baking working inside it. Wine, beer and a shelf, on a stretch of coast where the next one is a long way off.
Elsewhere around Sonoma County