Greatly appreciate that tip, and I'm willing to check it out. Regarding the craft beer places, there are a lot around here as well, and some are worth going out of your way for, and some aren't.
Over here it is widely accepted that beer and food offers the best profit potential, so most craft beer places offer some gastro-pub grub.
Stone down in Escondido, Ballast Point in San Diego and Long Beach,
Sierra Nevada in Chico, and
Russian River in Santa Rosa (a.k.a., RRBC), all of them are worth going out of your way for. The grub at RRBC is iffy, but the beer more than makes up for it.
Over here, Yardhouse can be OK, but there is a host of inferior venues. Magpie and Craftworks seem to be well-regarded, can you compare them to anything stateside?