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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.