Valentine's Day in Napa

To celebrate Valentine's Day this year, we went up to Napa for the day. We started out with breakfast at Alexis Baking Company. It was good, but not as good as I'd hoped it would be, based on the reviews I'd read online and in my Zagat guide.

Poached Eggs with Potatoes and Toast


Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberries

After breakfast, we weren't entirely sure how we were going to kill so much time until our dinner reservation. We drove to downtown Napa and walked around the waterfront. It was a beautiful day!

This little walk took very little time, so we needed to find something else to do. I suggested going shopping, so we headed over to the outlets. We spent so much time there, we ended up being late for dinner. Oops! Shweetie bought a couple of belts at Banana Republic and three pairs of shoes at Clarks. We were at the Clarks store for so long, with Shweetie trying on dozens of shoes, that I finally tried on a couple of pairs myself, and walked away with one pair.

We had dinner at The Restaurant at Meadowood, in St. Helena. We could not see much of the surrounding setting, as by the time we were headed toward the restaurant it was nearly pitch black out, but the place was in a very woodsy setting, and I'm sure it's beautiful in the day time.

All of the food was delicious and beautifully presented, and we gave it a 9.00. Every dish was perfectly prepared, and we liked that he took some risks and made some interesting combinations, such as in the goat dish, and in the foie gras with cocoa nib dish. However, there were no real "omigod wow" dishes.

Cauliflower Panna Cotta amuse bouche


Wagyu Beef Cured in Meadowood Pine, Hamachi, Scandinavian Flavors


Black Truffle Broth, Sweetbread Cannelloni, Puffed Farro, Maitake Mushroom


Lobster Roasted in Lime Salt, Squash, Apple, Vadouvan


Goat Poached in Whey, Vineyard Grasses, Barley, Olio Nuovo


Slow Cooked Squab, Carrot


Foie Gras, Cocoa Nib


Stilton Cheesecake, White Port, Dried Cherries, Pecan


Green Apple and Ginger Sherbet, Vanilla, Mint Snow


White Chocolate and Foie Gras Ganache, Banana, Black Walnut, Passion Fruit


Chocolate Truffles


With Chef Christopher Kostow

The service was friendly, but our waitress was a little bit odd. She was nice and talkative, but something about her demeanor was completely off, considering the fanciness of the restaurant. Everything from her posture when talking to patrons to her language style was totally wrong. However, like I said before, she was nice and friendly. People have raved about the service here, so either we got a new waitress and she just needs some time to settle in to her new position, or else people enjoy the so-unpretentious-that-it's-downright-casual approach in a fancy setting. Odd. We gave the service an 8.50.

The décor was elegant and quiet, with a Pottery Barn-esque feeling to it. The whole dining room was all dark wood and white walls and linen, with a dark, romantic setting. They also had this little room off of the main dining room, which houses the four-person chef's table, which was separated from the main dining room by a little curtain. However, the night we were there, there was no one in the room, so the curtain was open and we could see part of the table and two of the chairs. It looked nice! We gave the décor an 8.75.

Overall we gave The Resturant at Meadowood an 88.75. This place made our Top 5 list! We enjoyed our meal immensely and want to someday go back with friends, and dine at the chef's table.

*For a refresher on our rating system, check out this previous post.*