Place to eat: Warehouse, Port Costa, California, United States

About this place:

In the Wizard of Oz, one follows the yellow brick road. Tucked on the other side of the Berkeley Hills, just outside of the tiny hamlet of Crockett, at the foot of the Carquinez Bridge, one follows Pomona Street until it turns into barely one-lane Carquinez Scenic Drive to one of Northern California's best bars.

Favored by bands of bikers (of the motor variety) on weekends, the large bar and attached restaurant owned by a Czech family also doubles as a venue for concerts. On Sundays throughout the summer, the patio offers many relaxing spots to enjoy their (Sunday) barbecue and to lose yourself watching freighters floating toward the bay. If you look across the channel, the town of Benicia lies across the shore, sometimes at night the city baseball field lights pierce the night sky.

The true testament of this pub lies in its kitsch, the mind numbing arrays of beer that are offered, the friendly locals and the fact that your beers are served in mason jars. On a recent trip on a particularly warm evening, the bartender took me and a friend to the back of the bar and into their massive cooler -- the Fort Knox of beer cellars. Instead of mint bullion, this immense holding tank yields liquid gold in the form of beers across the globe. The extensive array libations offered here stretches across three menu pages. Drink up!