Picture this: You're on holiday in the central Mother Lode, staying at one of those historic Victorian homes that have been converted into cute bed-and-breakfast inns. You ease into a big leather chair in front of the fireplace and begin to browse through the notebook where guests for years have recorded their impressions of local antiques shops, landmarks, wineries, boutiques and the like.

You're about to head out for a meal, so you focus on what they have to say about the area's dining destinations: Andrae's Bakery & Cheese Shop

Next time we're bringing our bicycles. Not only are the hills just east of Sutter Creek, Amador City and Drytown laced with country roads ideal for cycling, we'll be able to stop at Andrae's for a cup of coffee and a slice of their dense, moist and buttery Basque cake ($1.30) or a red-pepper-and-cornbread scone ($1.85) or a plump pain au chocolate ($1.85), or maybe all three. And after breakfast, we'll load up our packs with one of their sandwiches - the salami, provolone and pesto for me ($4.50), for sure, or maybe the brie and roasted tomato ($4.75) - and at least one of their brownies, a lot like the thick, rich chocolate icing on a chocolate cake ($1.85). Country roads, here we come!

But if you'd rather make your own sandwiches, Matt and Kimberly Andrae turn out all sorts of artisan breads - the rustic ciabatta is the most popular ($3), followed by the blue cheese and walnut ($3.95) - and they stock about 70 handcrafted cheeses. (He learned baking at the Culinary Institute of America in the Napa Valley, she's an archaeologist; they opened Andrae's six years ago, originally in Sutter Creek before moving to Amador City a year later.)

You can't miss Andrae's; it's on the west side of Highway 49 in the middle of Amador City. You can park out front or in back, right where Fleehart Street, God's Hill Road and Pig Turd Alley converge.

I know exactly when we'll be back - right around St. Patrick's Day, when they feature one of their seasonal breads, Irish soda bread.

Andrae's Bakery & Cheese Shop, 14141 Highway 49, Amador City, is open 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursdays, 6 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays, 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays; (209) 267-1352. Teresa's Place

The innkeeper here told us that if we want some local color we should stop at Teresa's Place, a former boarding house for gold miners in Jackson.

Boy, was she right. On a cold Friday noon, the bar was jammed with good ol' boys drinking and whooping as if someone just had announced that the nearby Argonaut and Kennedy mines were about to reopen.

Teresa's is as old as the mines, but it's tidy and cute, with decorations running to homey touches such as floral-print wallpaper, earthen crockery, decorative plates and birdhouses.

Did you know that the late Pope John Paul II had eaten at Teresa's? Well, that's what we thought when we saw photos of him with members of the Giurlani family - the restaurant's owners - all over one wall in the back dining room. Actually, the photos were taken at the Vatican, when several Giurlanis had a private audience with the pope.

But if the pope had eaten at Teresa's, he would have left a happy man, in part because the food is such a bargain. Daily lunch specials were $8 each, and that included big salads, each with a wedge of watermelon on the side, and a choice of a thick, sweet and creamy chowder loaded with clams or an equally invigorating minestrone.

From the outset, Teresa's has been all about family-style dining, and that tradition continues.

Teresa, incidentally, was Teresa Bassignani, who as a young bride immigrated to Amador City from her native Italy in 1913, notes the menu. Her husband worked in the mines for $2.50 a day, while she cooked for their room and board.

In 1920 a disillusioned Teresa returned to her hometown with their two children, but when an earthquake later that year pretty much destroyed the community, she came back to Amador County. She went to work as a hotel cook, saved $400 and in 1921 opened Teresa's Place, originally a boardinghouse for miners. The mines largely closed during World War II, but the communal boarders' table endured at Teresa's until 1950. She died 30 years ago this spring.

I tell you, the restaurants in the big city where we're from could learn something from the wine prices at Teresa's. At first, I thought the wine list consisted of only wines by the glass or half bottles, so I ordered one, Vino Noceto's bright 2003 sangiovese. What a surprise! It was a standard size bottle, for just $18, only $2 above the suggested retail price.

Those kinds of prices carry through every segment of the menu at Teresa's, which has built its following on hefty, straightforward interpretations of traditional Italian home dishes such as charbroiled steaks, pan-fried chicken and sautéed veal.

Our lunches were a substantial "rainbow stew" of bite-size, well-trimmed chunks of beef, lamb and pork in a light sauce over bow-tie pasta ($8), and shredded chicken with a springlike pesto sauce over fettuccine ($8).

We finished with a mug of coffee, a massive wedge of moist chocolate cake ($2.75), and the only letdown of the meal, a piece of lemon-meringue pie marred by a pasty crust ($2.75).

Leonardo was an unusually respectful and attentive server, and when we left him with our bottle of leftover wine, he said, "You don't have to leave a tip."

Aren't people in the country grand?

Teresa's Place, 1235 Jackson Gate Road, Jackson, is open for lunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, dinner 5-8:30 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, 5-9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2-8 p.m. Sundays; (209) 223-1786. Susan's Place

Well, we just read those comments about Teresa's, and to that last question we have to reply: Not necessarily.

We've just come from Susan's Place along Eureka Street in Sutter Creek, and if it wasn't so darned cold, we would have turned around and kept on walking.

Granted, I didn't confirm our reservation beforehand - cell phones don't always work in the foothills - but I nonetheless was thrown by the huffy attitude of the hostess when we asked for a table.

If nothing's available, fine, let it - and us - go; just save us the hectoring. Fortunately, a considerate server intervened and showed us to a table, which wasn't the only one unoccupied. Go figure.

Susan's isn't without charm, despite signs posted virtually everywhere you look admonishing guests to turn off their cell phones. The negativity in the air is compensated for in part by a relaxing garden decor, usually chummy service, carpeting that softens the din of conversations so effectively diners actually can enjoy the soothing music, and a largely foothills wine list that offers virtually every selection by the glass as well as the bottle.

The Mediterranean-inspired menu ranges from the traditionally homey to the modern. Servings were generous and execution was steady, but presentation and creativity weren't particularly exhilarating.

At the outset we loved the pesto sauce with the hot and wholesome polenta appetizer, but the accompanying focaccia was dry and listless ($9).

"Pop's Greek pot roast" was just what we needed on a frigid night, the beef slow braised until it practically melted in our mouths, its seasoning running to suggestions of cloves, allspice and cinnamon ($19). So much red pepper, greens, squash and onion was heaped on the meat that at first glance I thought I'd been served a vegetarian entree by mistake.

Lasagna layered with cheeses and topped with a thick and lemony crab sauce was punched up with the sharp flavors of sweet peppers, red onion and olives, which while sunnier than the roast was no less substantial ($19).

Hey, look - "Andrae's famous brownie" is on the dessert list ($4), and so is Ingrid Fraser's lemon tart ($5), my favorite dessert at the Imperial Hotel in Amador City. She still provides the Imperial with desserts, along with a few other restaurants in the county. At Susan's, however, the lemon tart wasn't available, though another one was: her fresh, intense walnut and caramel tart ($5).

We were so impressed by glasses of the Charles Spinetta Winery primitivo and the Damas Vineyards zinfandel that we bought a bottle of each on the way out; Susan's is a wine shop as well as wine bar and restaurant. The people behind the counter graciously wrapped each in tissue before bagging them individually. On second thought, grand people can be found at Susan's, too.

Susan's Place, 15 Eureka St., Sutter Creek, serves lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and dinner 5-8 p.m., Thursday through Sunday; (209) 267-0945. Buscaglia's Ristorante

We didn't have a special occasion to celebrate, but we went to Buscaglia's Ristorante in Jackson anyway. For nine decades, foothill residents have celebrated special occasions at Buscaglia's, and the crowd this Saturday night was all decked out to party, except for the guy in shorts.

The menu runs to a contemporary take on traditional Italian-American cooking, but with a few representatives of modern California cookery as well, such as salmon with a champagne dill sauce.

If you equate special with spending money, Buscaglia's gives you plenty of opportunity, but in return you get a veritable ore cart of food with each dish.

In preparation and presentation, courses were more standard than exceptional. Polenta thin as Cream of Wheat came with a fruity marinara and beefy meat sauce, both of appropriate weight and comfort for easing into a winter dinner ($9).

Don't think I've ever seen such a huge serving of braised lamb - eight thick, juicy and mild chops - but with no trace of the rosemary and Lambrusco sauce with which they were to have been finished ($30).

Even the pasta at Buscaglia's seems bigger than usual. Orecchiétte usually is shaped like tiny ears, but at Buscaglia's they looked more like cymbals. They were tossed with small cubes of tough chicken, redeemed in part by the dish's sweet red peppers and peas in a creamy vodka and tomato sauce ($14). We're still wondering what those pieces of penne were doing in a pasta dish listed as orecchiétte.

Desserts come all the way from Milan, said our server, showing off a tray of intricately crafted tiramisu and crème brûlée, among others. After all that lamb and pasta, we shared a bright wild-strawberry tart with refreshing fruit and buoyant layers of sponge cake and what looked to be some kind of white cheese ($7).

Buscaglia's is large and rambling, like an old Tuscan barn made over into a restaurant. Servers tended to be hurried and brusque. However, we liked the piano player, who said he'd be playing the organ the next day at a church in Ione. Book us a pew.

Buscaglia's Ristorante, 1218 Jackson Gate Road, Jackson, is open for dinner only starting at 5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday; (209) 223-9992.

TODAY IN TRAVEL A major Web site has picked Amador County as one of 10 "up and coming destinations for 2006." The Bee's Mike Dunne puts on his tourist hat and checks out what the county has to offer.