A Weekend in Napa

We went up to Napa recently and stayed at Meadowood.  It's been about 11 years since I last stayed there and I had forgotten how family-friendly everything was.  We had a nice relaxing time, with good meals at Press in St. Helena (wonderful outdoor seating area and a bacon sampler appetizer that we thoroughly enjoyed) and Tra Vigne for Sunday Brunch (a reliable standby).  But the whole reason we went was to dine at Meadowood's signature restaurant, The Dining Room, with Christopher Kostow's cuisine having been graced with two Michelin stars this year.  Plus 4 stars from the normally stingy Michael Bauer at the SF Chronicle.

We had first experienced Chris' cooking when he led the kitchen at Chez TJ in Mountain View - and had earned them two stars as well (one of which they have lost since his departure).

We left the kids to order themselves room service and walked down to the main building.  As we were seated, our waiter indicated that the chef wanted to "cook for us" - which we gladly agreed to.  Because of that, we never really looked at the menu and the names of the various dishes we had are pretty hazy in my memory.

We started with a cute little amuse of a small pastry filled with goat cheese.  Delicious but I could have easily eaten a dozen of them!

OK - it's already starting to get hazy.  The lovely little crudite selection on the right had little carrots and radishes, with a wasabi ice and some other delicate sauce.  But for the life of me, I really just can't remember what the little morsels on the left were.  By the way, if I had actually blogged right after the meal as originally intended, this would be a lot easier...

We next had a lovely vichyssoise soup in a petite portion.  This is why I love tasting menus.  Little plates of delicious food that keeps you wanting more, followed by course after petite course!

Next came wagyu beef cured with pine from the Meadowood property with little bits of hamachi, served with a little bun that was just like a chinese bao but with rye or pumpernickel.  I really liked this dish!

This was also yummy - poured tableside.  But honestly, I have no idea what it was.  Except to recall there was some cauliflower involved.  And maybe beans.  What a useless food blogger I am!

Next we had a small dish of frog's legs with I believe some ravioli filled with cremini mushrooms.  I honestly only like frog's legs prepared in a Thai or Chinese style (fried with garlic).  Frog's legs in French or other cuisine has never done it for me.

I think this was goat.  It was yummy.

I began wondering if this meal would ever end.  And just then, we were brought the cheese course, which was a mild cheese that was deep fried.  Reminded me of a highly refined version of the cheese sticks I used to love at Chili's when I was in college!

There was also the most delicious lemon sorbet palate cleanser that I just loved.  More than the actual dessert pictured below.  There were too many elements and they didn't tie in very cohesively.  I had the little chocolate fudge square and handed the rest to Sean for him to finish up, which he gladly did.

In between, the kids came down to visit and got a kitchen tour and some candied raspberries.  And a photo with our favorite chef!

We're already making plans to return soon...