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Last night, I happened to be back in Santa Clara on business and needed a decent place for dinner, ahead of a big customer meeting the following morning. We decided on Parcel 104, partly because we had heard good things about the restaurant, and also because it was only a mile from our hotel.

Parcel 104 is Bradley Ogden's place (with Executive Chef Bart Hosmer), located at the Marriott Santa Clara. The entire restaurant is built around the concept of fresh, local ingredients. To uphold this philosophy, Parcel 104 changes their menu daily. That's the entire menu, not just the specials. Additionally, the wine list is managed by Master Sommelier Randall Bertao (there are only 124 master sommelier's in the entire world).

We arrived a few minutes ahead of our 7:45 reservation, so we decided to have a drink at the bar while we waited for our table. The drink menu was fairly extensive, with a number of signature martinis. I decided to go with the "Paint the Town Brown", a chocolate martini made with Hershey's syrup, Godiva dark chocolate liqueur, cream, and creme de cacao. It was pretty tasty, although not quite as smooth as other chocolate martinis I've had. It wasn't long until our table was ready.

There were several options on the menu worth noting. Options included ordering à la carte, a three course dinner (appetizer, entree, sweet course), a vegetarian tasting menu, or the chef's indulgence - a six course tasting menu, with or without wine pairings. After agonizing over what to have (there were so many interesting options), we all decided to go with the chef's indulgence with the wine option.

The first course was known as "A Little Bite" and consisted of a small espresso cup filled with corn bisque. This was served with a glass of Iron Horse Blanc de Blanc, 1998. The sweetness of the corn bisque was nicely balanced by the dryness of the sparkling wine.

Next up were Alaskan Halibut cheeks served with a green olive-molinari "salamitini" and a toy box eggplant "barta". I haven't seen cheeks on most American menus, although they are very popular in Asia. In this case, the Halibut cheeks were firm and sweet. They were paired with a glass of Leitz Riesling Rudesheimer Klosterlay, 2005. The Riesling was very delicate and not at all too sweet for the dish.

The third course consisted of cocoa crusted venison tartare accompanied by a white bean "mash", blueberry compote, and a cumin seed cracker. The tartare consisted of both seared and raw chunks of venison and was absolutely delish. Paired with a Tantara Pinot Noir, 2004, the fruity notes of the wine really stood out.

The main entree of the tasting was a Cedar Springs double lamb chop with Terra Firma Farms charred tomato sauce and caramelized fennel mashed potatoes, The lamb was done rare and had a nice meaty taste without even a hint of gamey flavor, as can be the case with lamb. I really enjoyed the mashed potatoes. The caramelized fennel added sweetness with just enough bite to make them interesting. The wine pairing, a Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon, 2002 was well balanced and stood up to the strong flavor of the meat.

After the lamb came a small plate with a piece of "Rouge et Noir" Camembert from Marin Cheese, a piece of toasted walnut-currant bread, a few almonds, and a fresh sliced fig. The cheese was good, but what really stood out was how nicely it went with the Sauternes it was served with - Castelnau de Suduiraut, 2001.

By the time the final dessert course, a Gran Marnier creme brulee arrived, we were all completely stuffed. Somehow, though, we managed to make our way through it. The crust was golden brown and perfectly crisped while the inside was nice and velvety smooth, thanks no doubt to pastry chef Carlos Sanchez. The final wine pairing was a late harvest wine from Dolce. They only produce a single wine and as such label the bottle simply "Dolce". The vintage we had was 2004. It was very sweet, like the Sauternes, but more concentrated. It lived up to the "liquid gold" moniker it's also know by.

A few other points about our experience worth noting. First, our waiter Rusty was excellent. It's been a long time since I've had a waiter as knowledgeable, courteous, and friendly as Rusty. He was very passionate about the restaurant and what it serves, and it really showed - all without even the slightest hint of condescension. The second point has to do with pace. Our dinner was nice and leisurely - something that doesn't happen often enough in American restaurants. If there's one thing I hate, it's feeling like I'm being rushed through dinner just so the restaurant can turn another table.

Overall, our dinner at Parcel 104 turned out to be fantastic. It was pricey for sure, but when you consider the wide variety of items we were able to sample, the expert wine pairings, and the prompt and knowledgeable service, it's definitely worth a visit.

Although Healdsburg isn't swimming in restaurants like Napa, there are a few standouts worth visiting. Among them is Zin, which bills itself as a restaurant & wine bar with a dozen or so wines by the glass and over 100 bottles to chose from. Pere and I had dinner at Zin the Friday night of our trip. I had made a reservation ahead of our visit to avoid any potential issues with the number of people expected to be in town that weekend. I had also tried to make a dinner reservation at the Dry Creek Inn, but all they had available was 5:30, and that was a bit too early for me.

We actually ended up arriving at Zin about 45 minutes ahead of our reservation. We had been out wine tasting all day (more on that later), and decided to take a taxi into town from our hotel so that driving wouldn't be an issue. Having had our fill of wine all day, we were hoping to have a cocktail before dinner. Unfortunately, Zin only serves wine and beer (as do a lot of establishments in Healdsburg). Pere and I grabed a seat at the small bar and I ordered a Red Rocket Ale from nearby Bear Republic Brewing Company. Pere had a soda while we waited for our table, since she really wasn't in the mood for beer either.

Once our table was ready, we were seated along one of the dining room's walls. Zin has an open floor plan with an open kitchen, so this was much better than being stuck out in the middle of the room. One of the main reasons I wanted to come to Zin was because they had A. Rafanelli wines on their menu. Rafanelli is a very small family run winery that only produces about 10,000 cases a year and sells only through their winery, wine club, and to some restaurants. My friend Gina highly recommended their Zinfandel, so I figured what better place to give it a try than at a restaurant named Zin. Unfortunately for me, when I went to order a bottle, the waiter informed me that they were out of the Rafanelli Zin. He mentioned something about them missing their morning delivery, which makes sense to me because when I called Rafanelli to make an appointment for a tasting, they said they might not be open on the weekend. Slightly disappointed, I went ahead and ordered the Rafanelli Cabernet instead. It turned out to be a good move. It was slightly more expensive than the Zin (at $55), but it was big, bold, and smooth. It was just dry enough that you could taste some of the tanin, but not to the point where your face puckers like you just sucked on a lemon.

Happy with our wine choice, we went ahead and ordered. For starters, we ordered Mexican beer battered green beans with mango salsa as well as ravioli stuffed with corn and ricotta cheese in basil butter. The green beans alone were almost enough to fill us up. Who would have thought to batter and fry green beans, but it woked out well. The batter was fairly light, and the beans still crispy inside. They matched up well with the mango salsa. The ravioli were equally as good. The sweet corn and ricotta cheese was punched up by the very flavorful basil butter. I could easily have eaten a whole plate of these gems and skipped my entree all together.

Pere had Hanger steak with wild mushrooms, sherry, and thyme. It came with what they called a potato and onion casserole, but was more like a potato pancake cooked in a ramekin and topped with onion rings. I had the pan grilled Sonoma duck breast with blackberry ancho chili glaze. The duck was cooked a little past the medium rare I had specified, but I could live with that. The duck was served over mashed potatos, which were good, but again, nothing notable.

By the time we finished our meals, we were both to full for desert. We asked for the check and chatted up the waiter for suggestions on where to hang out after 10pm, the time that most establishments in Healdsburg close. He suggested Ravenous or B&B lounge as good choices frequented by locals. Zin was good, but I just couldn't find anything that was enough of a standout to make me want to come back given other opportunities.