My sister visited this weekend from San Diego and we ate our way through the East Bay: Rick & Ann’s, Trattoria Sicialiana, Mistral (okay, that’s in the Ferry Building), Soi Four and Zachary’s. Here I was stressed out about getting us in at Slanted Door or Kokkari Estiatorio, and we had a culinary romp of our own right in my neighborhood.

I know I live around a lot of great restaurants, but I didn’t know that their corkages are only $10! Even Lark Creek’s is double that. I took a Frappato-Nero D’avola blend to Trattoria (yes, I gave them another chance after that brutal experience last month and even more brutal blog post. Guess I believe in third chances) and my usual knock-their-socks-off with Thai or Vietnamese Taltarni Brut Rose, I took to Soi Four. Excellent fresh and modern city cuisine from Bangkok.

If you haven’t been, get the star anise tofu with mushrooms, bok choy and glass noodles. It’s insanely good. So was our bill. Three women polished off a bottle of sparkling wine for around $3 each. It really makes a difference in the price of dining out.

I’m going to keep my eye out for other $15 or less corkages in the East Bay. If you know of some, please feel free to post them here as well!

So, like Postino, Lark Creek Restaurant in Walnut Creek has a low corkage — only $15. So for Jenny’s birthday last night, I brought a 2002 Justin Cabernet Sauvignon and Michaela brought L’Etoile, a sparkling from Domain Chandon. We figured $30 for six people to each have two glasses of wine was pretty good. But when Jenny’s friend Keith ordered a half bottle of red, the waiter waived both corkages. Woohoo! It’s the restaurant’s policy. And it’s my policy to pass these good deals on to you. Cheers and happy Friday.

The next time you want to save some cash on dinner and take your own bottle of wine, go to Postino. Not only is it easily the best restaurant in the county, but their corkage is only $15. So your table of five can enjoy that bottle of Silver Oak from home for about $3 a person.