The Best Places to Eat in Saratoga, by the Record

A glass-walled wine cellar you can see right through the dining room sets the tone at this elegant Saratoga fine dining destination, which holds a Michelin star. The kitchen runs on California's seasons, offered as a tasting menu or a multicourse prix fixe, and the chef navigates meat, seafood, and vegetables with the same easy confidence. The room is quiet and unhurried, the kind where the sommelier actually knows the cellar cold.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Michelin Guide 1 Star

Nine seats at a counter in Saratoga, quiet enough that you'll learn exactly how someone accidentally ended up with too many cars. This is a kaiseki tasting menu, eleven courses, served to everyone simultaneously like a dinner party. The chef mists soup bowls to simulate dew and trims grapes so they stand upright instead of rolling. Between courses he silently practices piano on the countertop. Small details, unhurried pace, kimono-clad service guiding you through all of it.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best fine dining restaurants in San Francisco Bay Area

A plant-based Hong Kong-style bakery open just one day a week, Tai Zhan draws on the baking culture of old-style cha chaan tengs to turn out pineapple buns, coconut cream buns, and laminated pastries made with avocado and coconut oils rather than butter. The croissants and kouign amann hold their crackle the way the real thing should. Pre-orders open mid-week; walk-ins are welcome on Saturdays, assuming you arrive before the serious shoppers do.

1. San Francisco Chronicle Best bakeries in San Francisco Bay Area