Restaurants are finding unique and creative ways to support fire relief efforts in Sonoma & Napa Counties. Dining reservation website OpenTable is no exception. This week they launched “Let’s Raise the Glass” to raise money for the Sonoma County Resilience Fund & Napa Valley Community Foundation Disaster Relief Fund.
It started with Charleston, South Carolina, based restaurant the Charleston Grill. General manager Mickey Bakst and sommelier Rick Rubel began donated a portion of all California wine sold by the glass and bottle to fire relief efforts.
The concept expanded to include other restaurants, such as New York’s Daniel, owned by Daniel Boulud, and Suzanne Goin’s Los Angeles restaurant, Lucques.
Now it’s a nationwide program with a cute name: Let’s Raise the Glass.
It’s easy to participate: visit one of the restaurants on the Let’s Raise the Glass website and order California wine, either by the bottle or the glass. A portion of the proceeds from your wine purchase will go towards fire relief efforts. This effort continues through December 31.
The first to do so in Sonoma County is Healdsburg’s Valette (707-473-0946, 344 Center St., Healdsburg, valettehealdsburg.com).
OpenTable is currently looking for more restaurants to join the program. Other Bay Area restaurants include:
-Bistro Jeanty, (707) 944-0103, 6510 Washington St., Yountville, bistrojeanty.com
-Cliff House, (415) 386-3330, 1090 Point Lobos Ave., San Francisco, cliffhouse.com
-Michel Bistro, (510) 836-8737, 3343 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland, michelbistro.com
We’ll update with other restaurants as they join the program.