If there were ever a city to spawn a market-driven ramen house, Berkeley would be it, and of course Chez Panisse had something to do with it. Jerry Jaksich, Rayneil De Guzman and Sam White all worked at the high temple of California cuisine, and the trio joined forces on Ramen Shop in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood to start 2013. A counter overlooks real-time ramen action, including steaming pots of stock, thatches of house-made noodles and gorgeous sliced chashu. Ramen Shop sells three different bowls, including one vegetarian version. After all, this is Berkeley. Still, pork is the play. Shio Tonkotsu featured creamy broth, firm noodles, fat-rimmed chashu, oozing shoyu egg, yellow onions, and some distinctly California flourishes. Instead of wood ears, the mushrooms were meaty hedgehog. Up top, I found frilly mustard greens and Mendocino nori, which was no doubt hand-harvested.

Birds rest on a wire at this yellow-fronted Russian Hill restaurant from Jason Kirmse and Cyrick Hia, no doubt waiting to snag Chef Jason Halverson’s creative food. Thankfully, my dishes arrived intact, none better than this creative pasta preparation. The house-made pasta, ridged and stained black with squid ink, joined spicy capers, pristine clams, calamari and shrimp, and greens. An aerated pool of onion soubise anchored the pasta to the bowl. Stones Throw is far from an Italian restaurant, but this dish would feel at home at any of San Francisco’s leading pasta houses.

Chef Sean O’Toole, a Massachusetts native who previously cooked at high-profile restaurants like Cotogna and Quince in San Francisco, now has his own culinary showcase in downtown Napa. Torc’s logo is a fierce wild boar, but dishes are layered and refined, and deliver no punishment whatsoever. When I spoke with O’Toole after brunch, he preached layered textures and ingredients, and they were certainly in effect for this standout dessert. The bar consisted of four layers: crispy feuilletine, fluffy sunflower mousse, milk chocolate mousse, and chocolate caramel ganache. Coconut foam, chocolate snow and candied sunflower seeds capped the bar. Decorative chocolate sauce graced the plate, along with creamy quenelle of toasted sunflower ice cream.

Chef Sean Baker, Eric Fenster, and Ari Derfel, the trio behind Gather in Berkeley, launched this more ambitious restaurant on San Francisco’s Russian Hill to end 2013. The space features a towering ceiling with jarred pickles and a mezzanine in the middle, with banquette seating and a bar below. Verbena features some of the most imaginative vegetable preparations in memory. It was a challenge to single out just one dish, but I’ll go with Green Beans and Cherries, an inspired combination that melded crispy, crunchy and creamy textures with sweet, tangy and tart flavors. Chermoula, black walnut yogurt, crumbled walnuts, savory black olive honey, edible flowers and crisp greens co-starred.