When my friends Marc and Brenda loaded up their VW Rabbit ten years ago and ditched Seattle for sunny Sonoma, they pledged to return once a year. “We have to,” Brenda told me. “We love the food too much.”

And so they arrived yesterday for their annual visit, and we met them for dinner at the new Queen Anne sensation Emmer & Rye. (Can’t tip my hand til my review comes out, but til it does I got one word for you: homespun.)

For this visit they have four joints on their must-go list; four dishes they pine for all year long. Fried sage leaves at Marco’s Supperclub. Crab cakes at The Dahlia Lounge. The Monk’s Curry at Wild Ginger.

And the fourth? Well, she told me, it’s not quite a dish. It’s a deck. The Pink Door deck, to be exact.

Which is where you’ll find them this afternoon, undoubtedly, sipping something fruity and wondering what’s so great about California anyway.

What Seattle plates would you drive 900 miles for?