Two Nights in Napa: One at French Laundry the other at....???
Title pretty much says it all.
I've miraculously secured dinner on our first night in Napa at The French Laundry - which was my main focus - and now I'm left to wonder where my girlfriend and I should eat on night number two. I've scoured Michelin et al., and come away with an extensive list but am curious if you all have a "must dine" recommendation?
Thank you for your thoughts!
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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599
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Faced with a similar dilemma earlier this year we chose Meadowood for the second night, mainly because of the Michelin 3* rating. We had an exceptional meal there and I'd recommend it highly.
We've been fortunate enough to dine at 13 restaurants the past year that were rated either Michelin 3* or Forbes 5* and I'd rate Meadowood 4th of those 13, behind only Alinea, Per Se and French Laundry.
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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599 -
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re: jayGardner
bbulkow
May 2, 2010 02:34 PM
What I like about Sonoma is that it's more normal. You could imagine yourself in Sebastapol, or San Louis Obispo, or any of a number of pleasant smaller and older californian towns. Napa's a little too large, Yountville et al is too precious. Sonoma's just right - and it gets the western sonoma food, produce, and attitude. Yum.
To be fair, if someone had only one day I'd say Yountville. Two days I'd say stay in sonoma or glen ellen and day trip over to napa / Yountville.
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If you don't midn going a little further, the Fig Cafe in Glen Ellen is a fun, affordably priced restaurant that still uses local produce very well with a casual atmosphere, and most importantly, free corkage
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re: vulber
Hi goldn3,
In looking for our dinner in Napa region, I've found a lot of support for Ubuntu, Solbar and La Toque in the forums (in addition to the already mentioned Redd, Cyrus and ad hoc). I think we're leaning towards Redd simply because of the overwhelming support for it.
Let us know where you decide on -- we'd love to hear what you end up picking!
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Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio
1140 Main Street, Napa, CA 94558La Toque Restaurant
1314 McKinstry Street, Napa, CA 94559-
re: Tony Calgary
Tony and goldn3 - I am also planning a trip to SF, coming from NYC. After perusing your very helpful threads, as well as other sources out there, I am leaning towards Redd as well for dinner for our one night in Napa, with the high end SF meal being Coi (the menu really fits our style).
Also looking at Perbacco in SF for an Italian dinner, and Zumi Cafe and La Taqueria for lunches. Still a lot of decisions to make, but luckily time is on our side (August trip).
I'll continue to enjoy these threads!
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Perbacco
230 California St, San Francisco, CA 94111La Taqueria
2889 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110-
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re: metfan630
Just a thought when I was reading your selections metfan630 -- maybe you'd be more interested in doing Bottega in Napa if you were interested in Italian? I think it's been the most complimented Italian restaurant in either Napa or SF that I've come across, so maybe doing something more classically Californian or seafood based (since it's probably more unique versus what you can find in NYC) while in San Fran?
Or maybe even passing on any of the Italian inspired cuisine? When I was doing research for our recent trip to NYC, I found many, many great recommendations for Italian there (including the famous Babbo) so you might find west coast Italian disappointing if you've had amazing Italian in NYC.
Just a thought. :)
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Bottega
6525 Washington Street Suite A9, Yountville, CA 94599-
re: Tony Calgary
tony, thank you for "paying forward" the information you gained in your active thread, even though you've yet to arrive here. your generous spirit helps remind me of the purpose of chowhound.
without having a specific OP in mind, i must say it can be very tiring to get what seems like the same general question in three new posts from upcoming visitors every day. there's been such a rash of these on napa recently that, at least for me, the inclination to assist starts to be overcome by the urge to ignore or link to the results of obvious searches. so, thanks for help carry our torch. i'm really looking forward to your reviews.
as for italian, bottega is hot right now, but in SF delfina is wonderful too. i'm also in a months-long infatuation with flour + water.
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re: Tony Calgary
Tony, I will look into Bottega, thanks for the tip!
I was raised on pasta at least twice a week, no exceptions. Too hard for me to pass up trying some in SF :)
I do need to add a seafood place in SF...and classical Californian would be great also. Still have plenty open meals to book!
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Bottega
6525 Washington Street Suite A9, Yountville, CA 94599-
re: metfan630
Metfan:
For seafood in SF, you may want to consider Swan's Oyster Depot on Polk St. It's a San Francisco classic for lunch: sit at the counter-- no tables; menu on the wall; cash only. Go for the oysters, clam chowder and a crab/shrimp Louie. Anchor Steam on tap. Great friendly service from the family behind the counter. Casual, noisy, fun. Favorite of tourists and locals alike.
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i would say Cyrus in healdsburg is my second choice to French laundry in terms of quality/creativeness of food and service
Another one I would suggest would be Farm at the Carneros Inn at Napa (Across from Domaine Carneros), a little more casual but the food is excellent.
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Domaine Carneros
1240 Duhig Rd, Napa, CA -
I would suggest something very different than The French Laundry, too much of a good thing you know, we live in St. Helena and have had two very good meals at the new Farmstead, literally farm (next door) to table, very current for our valley, they have their own grass fed beef, wine and olive oil,and . they grow most of the produce, very comfortable environment, the last time we dined there, we shared the place with Robert Redford.
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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599›5 Replies-
re: jaimecouchon
What is the style of Farmstead? It sounds very promising.
Like goldn3 were trying to decide on our Napa itinerary and it sounds promising. Right now we were thinking Redd for dinner and Ad Hoc for lunch. We've heard many good comments about Cyrus too and were considering it, but do you think Farmstead would be a good choice instead of Ad Hoc?
Thanks!
Tony :D
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Ad Hoc
6476 Washington St., Yountville, CA 94599-
re: Tony Calgary
Ruth Lafler
Apr 28, 2010 11:06 PM
Ad Hoc doesn't serve lunch. Dinner and Sunday brunch only.
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Ad Hoc
6476 Washington St., Yountville, CA 94599 -
re: Tony Calgary
BubblyOne
Apr 29, 2010 05:40 AM
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6997...
Here is my post re: Farmstead. A nice lunch spot. We loved Cyrus too; that was our previous trip.
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re: Tony Calgary
alpine chef
May 2, 2010 04:17 PM
wife and i are also coming in for a few days. doing sonoma the first and napa the remainder of the time. doing the girl and the fig for lunch and bottega for dinner on day 1. then tra vigne for lunch on day 2. was going to do ad hoc for dinner, but they did not have a res at a desired time... so we are going to try farmstead. thanks for the rec.
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We ate at Bottega twice last summer and it was great. Highly recommended. Bouchon seems to have gone downhill, unfortunately.
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Bottega
6525 Washington Street Suite A9, Yountville, CA 94599Bouchon
6534 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599›4 Replies-
re: ElizabethReed
ThirstyReader
Mar 28, 2010 06:07 PM
Bouchon and Ad Hoc, while both perfectly acceptable by most standards, are also slightly overrated. Forget what Michael Bauer says about Bistro Jeanty -- it seems like he has an axe to grind -- it's a great restaurant with plenty of atmosphere (my theory is that the Michelin Guide was also influenced by Bauer's review, and thus revoked the restaurant's star this year). I've never been disappointed at Jeanty, but I have left Ad Hoc disappointed more than once, which is why I'll rarely ever go back.
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Ad Hoc
6476 Washington St., Yountville, CA 94599Bistro Jeanty
6510 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599Bouchon
6534 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599 -
re: ElizabethReed
Second the recommendations for Bottega. You many not want to eat French/California food two nights in a row so Italian is always a good option.
Zuzu in Napa (Spanish, tapas) is also a good option and a bit more affordable.
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Bottega
6525 Washington Street Suite A9, Yountville, CA 94599-
re: arlenemae
The whole fish I had at Bottega was really good, we also enjoyed the Papradelle and a really good cheese and artichoke appetizer. Really wanted to try Cantinetta Piero, I looked around the Hotel Luca when we were in Yountville, it's very pretty. Bardessono where we stayed has a restaurant that is supposed to be wonderful, we only had breakfast the morning after our stay, it was really great and the dining room is gorgeous with lots of windows that look out to the grounds and fountains. :)
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Bottega
6525 Washington Street Suite A9, Yountville, CA 94599Bardessono
6526 Yount Street, Yountville, CA 94599
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Ruth Lafler
Mar 28, 2010 12:33 PM
I agree with Cortez -- you should think about whether you want to have another upscale meal (especially considering it might be disappointing following right after FL) or something different. Also, what else are you going to be doing? Where are you staying? You might want to do something other than eat down the street from French Laundry in what is becoming sort of a dining themepark.
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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599›1 Reply-
re: Ruth Lafler
We were in the wine country a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed our second great meal at Bottega in Yountville. We also loved Martini House in St. Helena. I had the 3 course Fixe Prixe meal with the wine pairing, everything was outstanding incuding the service. We sat right by the open kitchen and enjoyed watching the team of chefs prepare the food. Terra in St. Helena is another good option, in nearby Rutherford there is Auberge du Soleil where we enjoyed dining. The views from the outdoor terrace are spectacular there. Enjoy! :)
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Martini House
1245 Spring St., St. Helena, CA 94574Bottega
6525 Washington Street Suite A9, Yountville, CA 94599Soleil Restaurant
625 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94301
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CarrieWas218
Mar 25, 2010 06:14 PM
Meadowood - the only other 4-star restaurant in Napa valley.
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Meadowood Napa Valley
900 Meadowood Ln St, Helena, CA -
Depends on what style you want -- upscale like the French Laundry or something totally different?
For upscale but in a modern, minimalist style, try Redd down the street in Yountville. Outside tables are wonderful. Food is less elaborate the FL, but delicious -- Michelin 1 star.
Within the Keller family are Bouchon and Ad Hoc. I'd probably opt for Ad Hoc as a complete counterpoint to FL -- family style, one menu per nights, casual, noisy and fun.
For the total Keller dunking, have breakfast mid-morning after FL at Bouchon Bakery ( we love the ham and cheese baguettes heated in the panini machine) at the tables just outside the bakery. Stroll up the street and see the veg gardens just across from the FL. Then, reserve an earlier dinner at Ad Hoc. You will have had the full Thomas Keller 24 hour experience in Yountville!
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The French Laundry
6640 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599Ad Hoc
6476 Washington St., Yountville, CA 94599Bouchon Bakery
6528 Washington St, Yountville, CA 94599Bouchon
6534 Washington Street, Yountville, CA 94599
