Explore Marin County, California: Culinary Adventures and Coastal Beauty

Explore Marin's Culinary Scene Like a Local

Here's the bad news: no matter where you go in Marin County, you're going to work up an appetite. Whether you're hiking Mount Tamalpais, chasing waves at Stinson Beach, mountain biking through oak-covered hills, or shopping your way across small towns like Mill Valley, all that fun takes its toll.

Now the good news: there are some surprising and insanely delicious local food experiences waiting for you. You'll find farm-to-table everything here - Marin is basically a 14-billion-square-foot tasting room.

Begin with a little Italy in Mill Valley

Any Mount Tamalpais adventure demands a visit to Piazza D'Angelo, a family-owned Italian restaurant that's anchored the downtown plaza since 1981. Second-generation owner Luigi Petrone carries the tradition forward, blending Southern Italian flavors with local ingredients. Luigi shops the farmers markets and builds his menu around what's fresh, as well as what his father served for decades. Inside this bustling neighborhood restaurant, you'll find house-made pastas, wood-fired pizzas, and fresh seafood.

Follow the cheese

From Central Marin, head west and explore the small towns along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, like Fairfax and Nicasio. The roads get narrower, the redwoods taller, and the scenery even more Instagrammable.

You'll reach the pastures of Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. The Giacomini family has farmed this land since 1959 and began making cheese here in 2000. Today, its Original Blue is one of Marin's signature flavors.

Head cheesemaker Kuba Hemmerling describes it as "very soft and creamy. It has a nice, sweet milk flavor up front and a little bit of pungency at the end, just like a classic blue cheese."

Be sure to visit The Fork, the culinary center carved into the hillside above the farm. Taste cheeses, enjoy a seasonal lunch, or stock up at the marketplace for a picnic in Point Reyes National Seashore.

Cheers to the bees

A few minutes away in Point Reyes Station, your tongue is in for an epiphany worth the trip: mead. But this isn't Renaissance-fair grog. At Heidrun Meadery, founder Gordon Hull uses the traditional French méthode champenoise to craft naturally sparkling varietal honey wines.

"It isn't sweet," Gordon explains. "It's sparkling, crisp, dry and very clean, with extraordinary flavors that come from the nectar of the flowers."

Different honeys produce surprisingly different wines - orange blossom, sage blossom, blackberry blossom, and eucalyptus, each bring their own character. Some of the honey comes from bees living right on the farm.

Gordon calls the process "flower to flute": "We're involved from start to finish, from growing the flower to the flute of wine in your hand."

Reserve a tasting and find a seat in the garden. You'll see what the buzz - pun definitely intended - is all about.

Taste Tomales Bay

Continue north along Highway 1 and the road begins to hug Tomales Bay. The water here isn't just part of the view - it's also home to a sustainable oyster farm.

Shannon Gregory's family raises oysters in the bay and serves them at The Marshall Store, their weathered roadside oyster bar perched at the water's edge. It's the most literal version of water-to-table dining you'll find.

"You have the smell of salt and seaweed, and this air that we have around here," Shannon says. "It makes the whole experience."

Whatever you're craving

Marin can take you from an olive oil tasting to slow-smoked barbecue, then on to a seasonal farm-to-table dinner or cocktails overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Add farmers markets, bakeries, and breweries, and a visit to Marin can satisfy just about any craving.