Root 246

The latest is Root 246 in Hotel Corque (the former Royal Scandinavian Inn), owned by the Santa Ynez band of Chumash Indians. Despite the cutesy name, the restaurant is seriously worth your consideration. That's because the man behind it is Bradley Ogden, one of this country's great American chefs.

The Midwesterner arrived in California in the early '80s straight from the American Restaurant in Kansas City, Mo., as executive chef at San Francisco's then-new and very luxe Campton Place Hotel. Here was something new: real American cooking, not the traditional French and Italian that had for so long dominated American fine dining.

He later opened his flagship Lark Creek Inn in Marin County, One Market in San Francisco and several more restaurants, including Arterra in Del Mar. In 2003, he caught the Vegas bug and opened Bradley Ogden at Caesars Palace, still one of the best restaurants on the Strip.

And now this new wine country project. Ogden, 57, is not just flying in for an hour or two to consult on the menu. He's bought a house in Buellton, and locals tell me they see him at the restaurant every time they are there.

S. Irene Virbila, Times Restaurant Critic, 6/3/2010