Dear Gary,
Apologies for my slow reply. Below is a post I did about the restaurants in town, figured I'd post it here.
As others have said, Wente is by far the best restaurant in the immediate area; super service, very good to excellent food, and an expensive but relatively deep wine list. Herbs grown on site, menu changes twice daily, etc. They'll try to steer you to the "signature" double-cut applewood-smoked pork chop, which is delicious barbecque but doesn't really show what the kitchen can do. The fish are always impeccably fresh, and I've never had a soup that failed to impress. Oh, and avoid the Wente "selected vineyards" wines on the list; they're the supermarket kind. Stick to the reserve selections and the Murrietta's Well (also owned by Wente). Lunch is a better deal, typically uncrowded, and the light in the room is beautiful. Oddly, no tasting menu is available, an oversight I'm planning to ask them to correct when we go for our fifth anniversary.
From the wineries, you'll have to drive a few miles to downtown no matter where you go. In downtown I like Sansar, northern Indian food done well. For American Zephyr Grill on the western edge of downtown (10 blocks long, don't worry) serves good California-ish food with ambiance (also fun happy hour). South of town is a branch of the small chain restaurant Emil Villa's, resolutely American comfort food (try anything with bacon) at low prices. If you're willing to go a bit farther afield, the Tri-Valley Seafood Restaurant in Pleasanton serves pretty authentic dim-sum all week during lunch and has tanks of live seafood for dinner, though service can be lacking (one of my pet projects is to figure out the precise hierarchy of dim-sum cart ladies, waiters, runners, check-bringers and suit-wearing managers). Also, if you've never eaten a fried prawn head whole, try the omakase at Tomo in downtown Pleasanton (I think it's $40). For Jaliscano Mexican food, try Anita's
Tacqueria in Livermore. Their carnitas (only available on weekends are super), as is any dish with tounge.
As for wineries, there are a number I'd recommend, and a number I wouldn't. Garre is one of the few that I haven't had, though the couple meals I've had at their cafe have been mediocre, Trio at Stony Ridge down Tesla is a better choice for a midday al fresco sandwich.
The place I always recommend people try is Livermore Valley Cellars (LVC). They make some superb zinfandels from a couple Livermore vineyards, as well as good quality Meritage (red and white). Extremely friendly folks, no attitude.
Depending on your taste and pocketbook, a new winery is making some great estate petite sirahs. They are Bodegas Aguirre, wines are big, tannic, oaky, and expensive, but delicious. Thomas Coyne has solid, interesting wines from all over the state, including some from Detjens Farm, which is right outside the door of his historic Chateau Bellvue winery. Worth a visit just to see the old bottles from the pre-Prohibition Livermore wine industry, which was the same size as Napa's.
I like Murrietta's Well, the Zarzuela is a fine blend, though not cheap. Wente (there are two tasting rooms, one free on Tesla, the other south on Arroyo that charges but also offers tours of the sparkling wine cellars) is decent, and their reserve wines can be quite good.
Hope you enjoy yourself, we almost always do.
Walt
