To know the most important thing about Local Kitchen & Wine Merchant, look no further than its name. The gourmet restaurant and wine oasis on Rincon Hill stocks local ingredients, local wines, and a wood-fired oven that runs entirely on locally made blazes. That inferno is responsible for a wide spread of original pizzas at lunch and dinner, such as the shiitake-strewn fungi pie and the salsiccia with fennel sausage and calabrian chiles.

House favorites include the sea scallops with almonds and the lamb pappardelle, not to mention the vegetarian harvest pasta with asparagus and blistered tomatoes. But you need only look up to see the eatery's crown jewel: an enclave in the back wall that lines up hundreds of wines ranging from special local bottles to vintages from distant lands.