This Weekend In Sonoma County

Michelin cooking without the tasting-menu commitment, deep in the Russian River and well clear of both the raceway and the Plaza crowds.

It kicks off the 15th-anniversary Gay Wine Weekend with a proper sit-down dinner; the regular menu runs the rest of the weekend for anyone not on the ticket.

A Michelin kitchen at $95 and no formality, on a Sunday when most of the county's serious rooms are closed. Confirm the date is live on Tock before you drive up.

West County is the quiet play while the Valley and the raceway are jammed — and this is the strongest room in it right now.

Forty minutes of cool coast air, away from every inland crowd — and the county's most reliable Michelin-recognized seafood at the end of the drive.

One of the only rooms at this level open Mondays — and a smart Petaluma landing spot if you're routing around raceway traffic on 121.

The most honest glass-pour list within walking distance of the Gay Wine Weekend action, and a kitchen that keeps up with it.

A Plaza-side Gay Wine Weekend dinner with a genuine winemaker in the room — and the patio earns its keep in mid-July.

Up-valley from the Plaza scrum, open seven nights, and cooking Italian with real char — the reliable Sonoma Valley dinner if downtown is booked solid.

Saturday's garden brunch is the reason to be in Healdsburg midday, right after the farmers market a few blocks over.

One of the few Healdsburg rooms open both Sunday and Monday, and easygoing enough for a mixed table after a day in the vineyards.

Dinner every night including Monday, plus a Saturday and Sunday garden brunch — flexible around a Dry Creek wine day.

The best weekend brunch in the middle of the county, and a Slow Food kitchen sourcing from the same July fields the markets are selling.

Open Monday when much of the county closes, and forgiving of a big loose table coming off a day of tasting.

Seven days, 8-to-8, walk-in — the reliable Railroad Square anchor when the weekend's booked-out rooms won't take you.

Honest seafood at counter prices on a hot July afternoon — the un-fussy West County lunch after the Sebastopol Sunday market.

Dollar Oyster Mondays all day, right on the road to the coast — the antidote to a weekend of crowded inland tables.

The definitive coast lunch — but reservations are required Fri–Mon and standby fills fast, so lock it in before you go.

A serious tasting menu that stays in Petaluma — an easy pivot if raceway traffic makes the drive north unappealing.

The room where mid-July produce shows up rawest and best, at the south end of the county where the crowds thin out.

Downtown Petaluma oysters and wine without a coast drive — and it stays open into Monday when a lot of rooms don't.

This is the event the rest of Gay Wine Weekend orbits — and 2026 marks 15 years of it.

Four distinct dinners, each pairing a real winemaker with a real kitchen — the best way into the weekend if you want a table, not just a crowd.

The daytime anchor between Friday's dinners and the T-Dance — and the fundraising heart of the whole thing.