Sorry...think I missed something!

Great recommendations everyone. Any thoughts on Acme v. Bombay Club? The others also sound wonderful, but if possible we'll wait to travel outside the quarter when it's not so late, and I don't want to torture my pregnant self at a bar if not necessary! :) Thanks again for the wonderful advice.

Hello all-

Hubby and I arrive late on a Friday night in March and are hoping to wait to eat dinner until we arrive in NOLA. This is is our second trip to your wonderful city (in what will hopefully become a yearly tradition), love food, and are so excited to repeat our ten pound gain from last year (and this time I'm pregnant!) that we can't stand the thought of wasting one single meal on a throw away or airplane food. We are coming from NYC, and staying at the W in the FQ, where we hope to arrive by 10pm. Does anyone have any FQ reccs for places that are still serving dinner that late? We can do casual or nicer, even sitting at the bar somewhere...we just don't remember much being open last time when we arrived late. Any help is very much appreciated!!

I normally don't love eating out during Resto Week, but last year had a WONDERFUL experience at Perry Street for a Restaurant Week dinner. The menu options were plentiful and the portions satisfying, and not once did I feel like I was being forced to order their equivalent of the restaurants "chicken and salmon" options, if you know what I mean. I very highly recommend it!

Don't know if you are planning/willing to travel outside of Santa Rosa or Sonoma into Napa, but in case you just plan on staying around Santa Rosa, my husband and I just got back form a week in both Sonoma and Napa (full report promised soon), and really liked Willi's Wine Bar in Santa Rosa. It's tapas style with respectable sized portions so you can taste several different things. I don't know if it's necessarily a total "bang for the buck," but it's delicious and fun and definitely not as expensive as some of the other nicer places in the area like Farmhouse and Cyrus, etc....which I hear are amazing as well! As for wineries in Sonoma, we really loved Porter Creek, which is a smaller style winery that is doing some really interesting things. It was recommended to us by a friend of ours who is a wine director at several fantastic restaurants here in NYC, and we loved their wines. All organic too! On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Ferrari Carano -- we didn't love their wines, but they have beautiful gardens if the tour part is of more interest to you guys than the actual wines. Have fun -- it is such an amazing trip to take...we didn't want to ever come home!!

Wonderful Cortez...thank you! Unless I miscalculated, I called and think we will be at Ad Hoc for a Wednesday when they'll be serving fried chicken. I made the mistake of already telling my partner in crime this and he's as excited as if I had told him the Red Sox (don't ask) had called and need him to fill in at first base. As for me, I am full of shame as I sit here picturing how what is already going to be one of the most highly anticipated meals of my life, would be even more fun if capped by a sighting like the one you mentioned above...sigh :). Thanks again!

Thanks everyone for the informative posts. I think we're going to try Ubuntu. Daveena, I think I have to agree with your point on there not being any (or at least many) similar restaurants to Ubuntu in NYC. Yes, there are great vegetarian options -- Angelica's Kitchen, Blossom, Gobo, etc., but from what I've read here and other posts, it seems that Ubuntu is focusing on elevating and celebrating vegetables and their ability to be the centerpiece of a meal, whereas most vegetarian restaurants here in NY focus more on replacing meat products with things like seitan and tofu that they try to make taste like meat.
While there are amazing restaurants such as Lupa (also one of my very favorites) where you can find ethereal vegetarian dishes, it seems that being able to experience a restaurant that aims to do so with every dish, is worth trying. Plus, how bad can a restaurant that conjurs Colicchio, Portale and Keller really be?
Lastly, my husband and I will be there for long enough that we are fortunate to be trying several amazing-sounding restaurants (which I've listed below). I feel comfortable enough with the reviews on these boards that if Ubuntu isn't necessary revelatory, it will at least be an experience different than what we would ordinarily get here in NYC! Thanks again for everyone's input...I will report back what we thought after our trip in May.
We will also be dining at....

Willi's Wine Bar
Cindy's backstreet (we tried for Terra but it is closed the night we would be able to go)
Ad Hoc
French Laundry
FARM at Carneros
Boonfly (for breakfast)

We have one more open night to fill for our trip in May and are trying to decide between these 2 spots. We're foodies who love Italian, but who also live in NYC where we can get a lot of it. Then again, there are great vegetarian spots here too (we're not vegetarians though). Thoughts?

If we have the time, I think scenic is the way to go -- thank you for including options for both!

I think my original post might have been too long/complicated -- to narrow down --

1. can anyone recommend a casual lunch spot near the muir woods for after a hike as we head up to Santa Rosa from SF?
2. We are staying at the Vintners Inn and need to get up early the next day, and were thinking of just grabbing a casual dinner in the bar room at John Ash & Co. Is this a bad idea? Any other relatively low-key reccs?
3. Oakville Grocery or Sunshine?
4. any suggestions on good places to pick up picnic supplies on way from Santa Rosa to Pride/Sherwin?
5. Is Terra a no-brainer over Cindy's?
6. Any picnic area reccs near Frog's Leap or Plump Jack?

Thanks!

Thanks Carrie. Is Terra much more expensive? Thanks again.

Dear Chowhounders....

After spending many blissful hours on these boards researching a week-long trip to wine country that my husband and I will be taking in May, I am wondering if anyone might help comment on our tentative dining choices and/or fill in some gaps. As a brief background....we're around 30, from NYC, love food, wine and travel, and are giddy with thoughts of all the food, juice, beauty and relaxation we're about to take in. Any thoughts on the below would be so very much appreciated, and I will endeavor to repay with a thorough report upon our return.

Sunday- San Fran to Santa Rosa
- Lunch: can anyone recommend a casual lunch spot near the muir woods for after a hike as we head up to Santa Rosa from SF?
- Dinner: Willi's Wine Bar

Monday - Sonoma/Russian River
- Lunch: Lunch in Healdsburg; maybe Bistro Ralph?
- Dinner: We are staying at the Vintners Inn and need to get up early the next day, and were thinking of just grabbing a casual dinner in the bar room at John Ash & Co. Is this a bad idea? Any other relatively low-key reccs?

Tuesday - Santa Rosa to Rutherford
- Lunch: Picnic at Pride Mountain (we will be driving from Santa Rosa....any suggestions on good places to pick up picnic supplies on way from Santa Rosa to Pride/Sherwin?)
- Sunset drinks at Auberge
- Dinner: Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen

Wed.
- Lunch: Taylor's Refresher
- Dinner: Ad Hoc

Thursday - Rutherford to Carneros
- Lunch: pick up picnic at Oakville Grocery or Sunshine (opinions on which one?) to have before visiting Frog's Leap. Any picnic area reccs near there?
- Dinner: Bistro Don Giovanni's

Friday
- Lunch: brunch included after hot air balloon ride
- Dinner: Ubuntu

Saturday
- brunch: Boonfly Cafe
- Dinner: French Laundry

Are we missing any MUST visits that we should trade one of the above for? One other specific question.....the one restaurant I'm feeling very nervous not having on our list is Terra, which would probably take the place of Cindy's due to location, drive, and the fact that it's a fried chicken night at Ad Hoc the next night and we can't miss that (right?). Is Terra very formal/high end? I'm just trying to balance out our meals as best as possible to get a good combination of formal and relaxed (but delicious) meals. Is Terra very special occasion feeling? Also, given that we're going to FL, would be nice if every meal is not a blow-out cost-wise. I know it totally depends on ordering (especially wine ordering) but can anyone give any guidance on cost for 2 at Terra with a moderate bottle of wine (let's say $40-$50)? Thoughts on terra vs. Cindy's?

Again, thanks so much in advance for any comments/guidance!! I have to say, planning our trips on Chow is as much a part of the joy of traveling as anything else!

Has anyone stayed or eaten at Locanda Dell' Amorosa in Sinalunga? My husband and I are driving from Florence to Rome, and while (unfortunately) we aren't able to spend much time enjoying Tuscany on this trip, we were thinking of spending the day/having lunch in Siena and then having dinner/spending the night at Locanda Dell'Amorosa. Any thoughts/opinions (or suggestions as to more worthwhile stops) are very much appreciated!

Thank you! Any thoughts on lunch at Le Cinq?

Of course! I was just giving guidance as to what weekend we would be there from a more familiar perspective. Whit Monday is the holiday celebrated after Pentecost (also known as Hi Monday). Any idea as to whether that will affect much of Paris?

This is my first post, but my husband and I are going to Paris at the end of May, and I have spent hours reading through the many unbelievably helpful posts on this site. I'm hoping that there will be someone who can help me with my newest dilemma! We will be there for 4 1/2 days over a weekend, and our plan was/is to do one major blow-out (Michelin) lunch, and spend the rest of our meals with all of the wonderful unstarred recommendations I have found here (Comptoir, Aux Lyonnais, Mon Vieil Ami, picnics, L'as du Falafel, etc.). We had FINALLY decided on Taillevant for lunch on Monday before leaving the next day, but apparantly it is closed for Whit Monday! I'm afraid that that is going to be the case for several other places, and have therefore decided to move our big lunch to Sunday instead. Of course this raises the question of which of the starred restaurants are open Sunday. And if I wasn't being difficult enough, I would also love to know which of those have worth-while/reasonable prix fixe lunches along the lines of Taillevant! In terms of taste-- food is the most important thing, but I guess it does not have to be ABSOLUTE perfection if the ambience is good enough to make up for it. Also, while I will go anywhere, hubby is less a fan of the more modern, cutting edge fare that it seems like we would find at Pierre Gagnaire and the like. Lastly, if anyone knows that Taillevant is the exception, and most places will not be closed on that Monday (Memorial day, US), that information would be very much appreciated too!!! Thanks in advance!