family vacation

[kpatick]

five of us will be spending afew days in san francisco,before going to spend a week in a house rental in napa. would love to get a sense of chowhounders top ten sf restaurants. i have not been to napa in awhile and would appreciate rec's for lunch and dinners. is it unresonable to think of cyrus for dinner(after wine) in view of the distance and roads needed to get there and back. guess limo is possible? would like some thoughts on napa wineries perferably smaller boutique and wineries on the northern half of silverado trail. any suggestions to make this a memorable trip, would be greatly appreciated

[kpatick]

thanks whiner, going to perbacco and will stroll around ferry plaza on saturday market and am sure will find some interesting things to eat. still unsure about winery visitations. as regards napa restaurants probably will reserve mustards, ubuntu, tre vigne and chiarello's new place. zulu, plus a couple more in st. helena. barbers-q and taylors refresher. maybe one or two dinners. those macaroons and oreos sound pretty damn good. thanks, kp

[Pei]

Don't skip Bouchon Bakery, even if it's to take home or keep around the vacation house as snacks. We took a trip with 11 friends a few weeks ago, and the couple who brought the box of Bouchon macaroons and "oreos" were the favorites of the entire house. I thought I liked macaroons, but these sent me straight to Cloud 9. If I had to pick, I'd say pistachio and caramel were my favorite flavors, but they really were all good.

[kpatick]

rental house is several miles east of downtown napa

[whiner]

That would put Cyrus at ~ 1 hour from your rental house.

[Ruth Lafler]

Where in "napa" is your house rental? It makes a huge difference whether you mean Napa itself or somewhere in the Napa Valley.

There's a wealth of information already on this topic if you search the board.

[whiner]

Top 11 in SF:

Very very expensive:
Coi

Very expensive:
La Folie
The Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton

Expensive:
Boulevard
Ame

Moderately Expensive:
A16
Laiola
NOPA
Perbacco
Delfina
Slanted Door

Cyrus is a trek from Napa, doable in a limo.

Boutique Napa, top top top is Karl Lawrence.

Others to consider in thw boutique-y vein...

Lewelling
Neal
Match
Scherwin/Realm

For lunch in Napa I like Taylor's Refresher and picking up picknic food at Oakville Grocery.

For dinners I like Martini House, Mustard's, Ad Hoc, Market... everyone raves about Ubuntu. I'm not tooooo familiar with all the restaurants in the area, so others might be able to give more sage advise.

[i_eat_a_lot_of_ice_cream]

Are reservations necessary for lunch at Slanted Door?

[Ruth Lafler]

Not in my (limited) experience. Although in the height of the summer tourist season, and with kids in tow, probably a good idea. The nice thing about Slanted Door is that there's stuff to do/see if you have to wait for a table.

[whiner]

In my experience reservations are... sorta necessary. In my experience you have two options, get reservations OR call at exactly 5:30pm on the day you want to go there, speak with the hostess, and she will pencil you in as a walk in at the time of your chosing. I've never had a problem calling at exatcly 5:30 and getting a good time for 4 or fewer people, but deffinitely a challenge to walk in at 7:30, even on a Wednesday, and expect to be seated.

[Ruth Lafler]

She was asking about lunch.

[whiner]

Oh. Ooops. Missed that part. Nevermind.

[i_eat_a_lot_of_ice_cream]

Thanks for the response!

[Pei]

Reservations are a good idea at Slanted Door, especially on weekdays. I have not had trouble getting in a little early or a little late, but know that a lot of people do business lunch there so it's usually packed. And Ruth's right, the summer crowds will also fill them up.