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This is a continuation of the previous  page, which includes restaurants to visit and things to do in the area of the Bucklin Society tour to "a place named Bucklin"  in the wine growing  area of California.

Sonoma Area.

On the previous page we were talking about the Harmony Restaurant. It's called Harmony  because the  Executive Chef, Darren Robey, chooses food to complement the characteristics of wines. (The wine menu offers over one hundred wines.)  What makes Harmony more special is the intimate, wealthy feeling you get from their walnut paneling and granite flooring and huge fireplace.  Harmony Restaurant, phone 707.996.9779, 480 First Street East, Sonoma, CA 95476

Deuce in Sonoma brings to mind the adjectives: romantic, French, great service.   I say French because that is the way the place seems to me because of the menu items and the ambiance. However, the menu tells us they offer a  "Caramelized pork chop with an Apple Brandy Sauce " instead of  the chef using Calvados and calling it "Côtelette de porc caramélisée avec de la sauce Calvados". So eat good food, well prepared, and enjoy speaking English.  However, Duce should get together with local winemaker Will Bucklin who worked at winemaking at Chateau Lafitte Rothschild, and feature his Bucklin Old Vine Zinfandel . Certainly the local Bucklin Zin  is superior to the zin they now have on their wine list.  Deuce, 691 Broadway,  Sonoma, CA 95476. (707)933-3823.

At the top of the Sonoma Valley is Healdsburg, which has a delightful old fashioned town square, which has Bistro Ralph, which has two of the most professional waiters we have ever encountered.  It is a joy to watch them work, and the food is outstanding bistro food.  Bistro Ralph, 109 Plaza, Healdsburg, CA 95448.

Napa Area.

Greystone Restaurant is in the Culinary Institute of America's cooking school for chefs who already are employed elsewhere.  While continuing their education, they cook imaginative dishes for people like you and me.  The restaurant, in a converted winery building, provides a view of the chefs at work from every table.  You can stand at a waist high bar at various areas and converse with the chefs as they cook. Spend some time going over to the chefs working at the dessert preparation area for entertainment Book a seat at the afternoon cooking demonstration; spend an hour sitting on the terrace in front of the restaurant enjoying the fine view, and then have dinner.  The food presentations are outstanding.  As an appetizer, order "Today's Temptations," an array of delicious small bites to be shared by all at the table.  Greystone Restaurant, 2555 Main Street, St. Helena CA 94574  (707) 967-1010.

Tra Vigne is a lovely restaurant in Napa Valley.  It is always packed, as it should be. But locals head for the Pizzeria Tra Vigne which is tucked away nearby.  The Pizzeria is not like what you expect a pizza place to be.  Think of a roadhouse that serve lunch and you may understand what you will find.  A menu heavy on sandwiches but with a killer chicken salad.  Yes, they do have pizza, but they also have what in effect are sandwiches wrapped inside what you may mistake for a soft shell taco but really is a piece of pizza without toppings, jsut right for a sandwich without so much bread.