Lucas Wharf Restaurant at Bodega Bay, Sonoma County, California

It was the day after Valentine’s, but for us it was still a heart-warming experience.

Judy had spent the weekend with her long-time teaching partner at Gilroy and Salinas — something Sharon does every year, visiting her mother in Salinas and spending time at the oversized Gilroy Premium Outlet Mall. Judy just retired, but she does continue to help Sharon in her kindergarten classroom in Petaluma. Judy felt, okay, this year I can go. And she did. And she loved it.

So, yesterday morning, visiting me during my daily “brain workout” (reading The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times) at our Airport Health Club, Judy took both my hands in hers, fixed her eyes on mine (oh, boy, here comes something I may or may not want to hear!) . . . and she suggested going to the nearby Pacific coast for what we call “dinch” . . . a mid-afternoon substitute for evening dinner.

Sigh of relief! I said yes, sighing with relief; Judy accepted my acceptance, sighing with relief. Hey, it doesn’t always go that way, but when it does . . . celebrate!

So we did. She finished her one-hour Master’s swim class and another hour of yoga, and off we went, zigging and zagging along northern Sonoma back roads in the incredibly variegated beauty of this place where we live.

I knew where I wanted to go, and Judy loves it, too: Lucas Wharf seafood restaurant, right on Bodega Bay. When the restaurant was established a quarter century ago, they at first hired a first-rate San Francisco seafood restaurant to set up and run it. The quality continues; the place was packed at 3 on a holiday Monday afternoon.

Lucas Wharf has a lovely fireplace with a handful of little tables and comfortable chairs, where people wait for the big tables near the big windows. Locals know we can settle in, right by the (gas) fire, and order anything we want.

When I go by myself, infrequently, I order a crispy fried “appetizer” platter of calamari and a glass of Balletto pinot gris. Same yesterday. The calamari, however, for the first time, came cooked in a rich butter-cream sauce. The heap of rings and tentacles was as generous as the fried variety, cooked not quite as well (just a tad chewy, but just a tad). The wine is a good choice with calamari made either way. Wonderful!

Judy wanted  linguine with several kinds of seafood in alfredo sauce, and the best India Pale Ale we know — the IPA from a Petaluma microbrewery, Lagunitas. We brought home half of her treat, and a third of mine!

The on-and-off sunlight skidded over the tops of the nearly-worn-out swells splashing against the wharf. We just luxuriated for an hour while Abby, our sweet terrier mix, waited in the car. (Abby got a nice long walk, later, further up the Sonoma Coast state park at Shell Beach).

Balletto is a fine Sonoma County producer of Burgundy varietals, chiefly pinot noir and, in the past four years, pinot grigiot. The Russian River Valley rivals Burgundy, France and the Pacific Northwest in quality. In my mind this area consistently beats the Carneros region, but of course that’s my opinion.

Balletto wines are underpriced! The pinot gris, for instance, sells for about $12 (of course, in the restaurant, I paid $7 for a glass — but, at Lucas Wharf, the glass is filled well above the snooty-correct lower mid-point: it’s nearly full).

Green figs, apricots, and Meyer lemons (Meyers are low-acid and sweet) join some floral aromas to provide just enough acids to point up foods’ buttery richness. Those acids don’t bite back when the pinot gris is sipped as an aperitif. Balletto is a wonderful, affordable introduction to one of the world’s prime areas for Burgundy varietals — pinot noir, pinot gris/grigio, chardonnay. Buon appetito!