Sonoma Chef | Next Weekend — March 29 to 30, 2026
Foodie Events — This Weekend
Your Sonoma Chef cut for Saturday March 29 and Sunday March 30 — Windsor, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Point Reyes, and West Marin.
This is a quiet weekend on the Sonoma County calendar — no major food festivals, which is not a bad thing. The big events of March have wrapped. The spring festival season starts in late April. This weekend is for the standbys: Pliny the Younger's final days, the farmers market, a coastal farm tour, and a long quiet drive up Alexander Valley with no agenda.
Price guide
$Under $50
$$$50 to $100
$$$$100 to $200
$$$$$201 or more
Price is per person for a typical meal, or the posted ticket price for special dinners. Some cards show both.
This weekend's short list
Everything here is confirmed for Saturday March 29 or Sunday March 30. Gold badge = the clearest yes.
Top pickWindsor + Santa RosaBeer
Pliny the Younger — Last Days on Tap
Through April 2, 2026 · Russian River Brewing — Windsor & Santa Rosa
The annual triple IPA release closes out this week. If you haven't gone yet, this weekend is your last easy shot before it wraps April 2. Windsor moves faster on Saturday mornings; Santa Rosa has more seats. Both are worth it.
- Windsor: 700 Mitchell Lane, Windsor
- Santa Rosa: 725 4th St, Santa Rosa
- No reservations — walk in, order at the bar
Why go: The most talked-about triple IPA in the country. On tap for exactly two weeks a year. This is the last weekend.
Top pickPoint ReyesField trip
Food & Farm Tours — Point Reyes / West Marin
Saturdays & Sundays · West Marin · Book ahead
Price$$ guided tour + farm lunch
Behind-the-scenes guided tours through West Marin stopping at a working oyster farm, meadery, organic vegetable farm, and cheese producer — ending with a farm-to-table lunch on site. Public tours are capped at 6–8 guests. Private and custom group tours also available.
- Oyster farm, meadery, organic veggies, cheese, farm lunch — one day
- Public minimum: 4 guests · book early, fills fast
Why go: Fog, salt air, raw oysters, spring vegetables. This is what farm-to-table actually means — not a menu descriptor.
Top pickSebastopolWeekly anchor
Sebastopol Farmers Market
Sunday March 30 · Downtown Sebastopol · Every Sunday year-round
PriceFree — pay for what you buy
Late March means asparagus at its spring peak, the first strawberries of the season just beginning, snap peas, spring onions, fresh chevre from the dairies. Show up early. Buy what looks alive.
Why go: For ingredient people, this is a weekly non-negotiable. Not a backup plan.
Top pickPoint ReyesReservation only
Cheese Lovers Tasting + Chef's Lunch at The Fork
Saturdays & Sundays · Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co.
Price$ tasting · $$ tasting + seasonal lunch
A hosted cheeseboard with farm context, then a seasonal chef's lunch at The Fork — a glass-and-timber room overlooking Tomales Bay. Quiet. No crowds. The kind of meal that doesn't try to be more than it is, and doesn't need to.
- Reservation required — book in advance
- Lunch menu changes with the season and what's on the farm
Why go: Point Reyes Farmstead has been doing this longer than most farm-table restaurants have existed. It shows.
More picks for Saturday and Sunday
All happening this weekend. Click through to confirm hours.
Point Reyes + MarshallCoast day
Hog Island Oyster Bar — Tomales Bay
Friday–Monday · Marshall, CA · Reservation required
Outdoor oyster bar on Tomales Bay. Raw oysters, BBQ oysters, clam chowder, seasonal specials. Friday through Monday only — book ahead, it fills by midweek.
- Book through exploretock.com or hogislandoysters.com
- Marshall is 45 min from Healdsburg, 1 hr from Santa Rosa
Why go: Simplest possible argument for this coast. Oyster, shell, salt air.
Alexander ValleyQuiet weekend tasting
Alexander Valley Wineries — Open Tasting
Saturday–Sunday · Cloverdale to Healdsburg corridor
The post-festival lull makes this the right weekend for a quiet drive up the Alexander Valley. Geyserville, Cloverdale, and the Gauer Ranch area wineries are less crowded the last weekend of March than at any point in spring or summer. Pick two or three, take your time.
- Alexander Valley Winegrowers site lists all open tasting rooms
- Cloverdale end is the quietest and most underrated
Santa Rosa + WindsorBeer
Russian River Brewing — Regular Taproom
Daily · Windsor (700 Mitchell Lane) & Santa Rosa (725 4th St)
Even outside the Pliny the Younger window, Russian River is one of the best breweries in the country. The permanent menu — Blind Pig IPA, Pliny the Elder, Supplication, Perdition — is outstanding. Food is solid.
Sonoma Chef's tightest weekend plan
Saturday: Russian River Brewing Windsor for Pliny the Younger before it closes April 2 — go early, the line is shorter at opening. Then drive west through Sebastopol toward the coast. Hog Island oyster bar on Tomales Bay if you have a reservation. If not, The Fork at Point Reyes Farmstead for a cheese tasting.
Sunday: Sebastopol Farmers Market first thing — last week of March asparagus, first strawberries. Then The Fork at Point Reyes Farmstead if you didn't go Saturday, or a quiet drive up Alexander Valley with two or three winery stops.
No headline event this weekend. That's fine. The quiet weekends are when the tasting rooms are actually worth visiting.
How this list was chosen
The big March events — Pigs & Pinot, California Artisan Cheese Festival, Sonoma International Film Festival — all wrapped last week. This weekend has no major headline food events confirmed. Rather than pad the list with speculative or unverified events, this guide shows what is reliably open, worth going to, and actually happening on these two specific days.
Every URL here links to a real page with real information. Pliny the Younger's closing window is the only time-sensitive item. Everything else is reliable weekend infrastructure.