Va de Vi Takes the National Stage as KQED’s ‘Check, Please!’ Showcases Walnut Creek Bistro

WALNUT CREEK, CA — Va de Vi, the Mt. Diablo Boulevard bistro that has been pouring wine and sending out small plates since 2004, is about to get the kind of spotlight most restaurants only dream about.

KQED’s Check, Please! Bay Area — the James Beard and Emmy Award-winning series where regular diners champion their favorite restaurants — will feature Va de Vi in its 21st season. The episode airs August 6 at 7:30 p.m. on KQED 9.

Here is how the show works: three locals each pick a restaurant they love. They eat there. Then they sit down with host Leslie Sbrocco and talk about what made each place special. Sometimes they agree. Sometimes they do not. That is the fun of it. Va de Vi was recommended by a Walnut Creek diner who clearly knows what they are doing.

The restaurant’s origin story starts with two guys who walked away from consulting careers to open a wine bar. John Walz and Dale Raaen left an international firm in 2004 and brought a concept to downtown Walnut Creek that, at the time, was practically unheard of in the East Bay: a small-plates menu paired with an extensive, thoughtfully curated wine list.

Twenty-two years later, it is hard to imagine Mt. Diablo Boulevard without it.

Walk through the doors and you are not in a restaurant so much as a warm, amber-lit gathering space. The dining room hums at just the right frequency. The patio, shaded and strung with lights, might be one of the best outdoor dining setups in town. Diablo magazine readers apparently agree — they voted it co-winner for Best Outdoor Dining in the 2026 Best of the East Bay awards.

Executive Chef Marco Lera, who joined the kitchen in 2012 and rose through the ranks to lead it, sends out plates that are meant to be shared. The menu leans internationally inspired without being precious about it. You might start with ahi tuna tacos, move to duck confit sliders, and finish with something that involves chocolate and a spoon you will want to lick.

And look, the wine list. It is the kind of list where you can spend $40 or $400 and feel good about either decision. The staff knows what they are pouring and they are not going to make you feel dumb for not knowing the difference between a Left Bank and Right Bank Bordeaux.

The Check, Please! episode also features Afghan Awasana Kabob House in Fremont and Hakashi Japanese Sushi Bar & Grill in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood. Reporter Cecilia Phillips will take viewers to the San Leandro Cherry Festival for a segment on the city’s long-running cherry tradition.

The new season premieres July 23 with a Wine Country-themed episode. Va de Vi’s episode airs August 6. The show invited diners to attend filming back on April 10 — the Instagram post drew plenty of local enthusiasm, which should surprise nobody who has spent an evening on that patio.

Know a Walnut Creek spot that deserves the spotlight? Send it our way.

Related: Walnut Creek claimed 56 wins in Diablo magazine’s Best of the East Bay, including Best Outdoor Dining for Va de Vi.