One of my favorite regions of the world to eat in is Napa Valley, California. I lived in Northern California for a few years, and I developed a love for almost all things culinary in the Valley. A recent extended work trip to the area provided the perfect excuse for XV and I to get the opportunity to enjoy the region together. Whereas most people visit Napa for the wine, XV and I were visiting simply for the food and the romantic, uber-relaxing scenery.
I had been looking forward to this trip for a while, as it was going to be an exorcism of some old work demons, while at the same time providing a weekend full of relaxation and fun times with XV in Napa on the backend of the trip. After some brief early morning family pleasantries, XV and I got on the road for the drive from Sacramento down to the Valley. A quick stop at Temple Coffee in mid-town Sacramento (one of the very few redeeming qualities of Sacramento) gave us some added energy for the hour and fifteen minute commute. I have to plug Temple Coffee here, as it really is one of the finer coffee houses I have ever been to. They have some excellent blends, and the coffee is deep and flavorful. However, in typically small town fashion they fail in areas that could make the coffee epic. Most notably, they machine filter the coffee instead of hot water pours through glass cylinder filters. Nevertheless, they pour a very good cup of coffee.
Arriving in the town of Napa around 10:15, we made a B-line for the Oxbow Market outpost of St. Helena’s Model Bakery. The Model Bakery is a legendary Valley institution for one simple item of its repertoire, the English muffin. Sure we’ve all had English muffins before, but you’ve never had a muffin like this in your entire life. Where the traditional muffin is flat and lifeless, this one is puffy and vibrant. Where the traditional muffin flakes when it breaks apart, this one tears effortlessly into cakelike bites. Where the traditional muffin is small and rigid, this one is rich and buttery, almost like a doughnut. Anyways, a 20 second toasting/warming gave it a perfect texture to be slathered in delicious salted butter and berry jam, which provided a few moments of gastronomic ecstasy. Honestly, this item could be one of the single best things I’ve ever enjoyed at breakfast.
A small bite of breakfast behind us, we went to check into our hotel in downtown Napa. Passing by new additions to the Napa dining scene by East Coast Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto (Morimoto Napa was easily one of my top 5 eating experiences of 2011) and Tyler Florence, we arrived at the Avia hotel for our early check in. Avia is one of the newest upscale hotels in the region, and it provided a nice, if not simple, base of operations for us over the weekend. The hotel vibe attempts to create a Soho meets Napa vibe, which it does a good job of, but as far as delivering on luxury, you get more of a Hyatt than a Four Seasons feel. The room, while small, was nicely appointed with a pillow top bed, 42 inch plasma television, and a gorgeous European style bathroom. Again, while the Avia isn’t the Four Seasons, we were nonetheless very happy with the accommodations it provided.
After dropping our bags off, we decided we would head back to Oxbow Market for a light lunch. Oxbow Market is truly a genius idea, as it combines some of the best culinary destinations/elements of the Valley under one roof. Hog Island Oysters, Todd Humphries and Richard Miyashiro’s Kitchen Door, Gott’s Roadside, C CASA, and Pica Pica Maize Kitchen, all bring their unique artisan purveyor techniques to one central location. Chicago’s French Market and Mario Batali’s Eatly in New York are all distant cousins of Oxbow, which in spite of its small town roots, easily holds its own against its big city relatives. After surveying the scene and perusing the vendors, XV and I settled on a couple small bites from C CASA. I ordered a spiced lamb with mint, goat cheese, and avocado tomatillo salsa taco, while XV ordered up a simple winter green salad adorned with Thai chilies, red peppers, avocado, deliciously fresh crabmeat, and a Meyer lemon vinaigrette. The flavors of the taco were simple, fresh, and delicious; a true testament to the produce, cooking styles, and culinary excellence of the region. XV’s salad, on the other hand, was anything but simple. A salad filled with simple ingredients became instantly complex on the first bite; with the bitterness of the greens, the sweet and acidic balance of the dressing playing off the richness of the crab and avocado, all highlighted by the spice of the pepper. It made for a salad more complex and deep in flavor than the average palate could comprehend. Overall, lunch was a huge success.
After freshening up, both of us had almost a glimmer in our eyes, we were so happy from the day we had just spent together. We put on some nicer clothes, called down to the valet, jumped in the car and began to make our way back to Yountville for our reservations at Bouchon. I’ve been to Bouchon a number of times, to French Laundry once, Per Se once, to Ad Hoc probably a half a dozen times, and I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of the Thomas Keller Empire of restaurants. While Per Se and French Laundry are certainly deserving of their 3* Michelin status, the true rock star of the group, is the Yountville location of Bouchon. A Michelin 1* in its own right, Bouchon is frankly the closest one can get, in my opinion, to Paris on this continent. Honestly, it’s an experience in its own right.
We arrived for our 9 pm reservation perfectly on time, securing parking easily across the street. As we walked in a familiar face greeted me at the door, Andres, the 30 something host was still manning his position at the door after all these years. Make no mistake, I am no regular at Bouchon, but I had been enough times when I lived in California to have made at least a mild impression on the staff, and surely my information stored in their reservation system alluded to the fact that I was no stranger to the Keller restaurant group. Adres warmly greeted us and told us a table would be ready in a few minutes and escorted us to the bar for a drink. We both ordered two glasses of house wine, and we settled in to waiting; admiring almost every single aspect of the restaurant. From the zinc shellfish bar, to muted cream mirrored walls, the crushed French red velvet booths, to the candle lit room and the expertly picked downtempo soundtrack, we were both enjoying ourselves to a degree that is usually reserved for Roman Emperors.
15 minutes later Andres informed us that the corner booth in the back of the restaurant (the best table in a tremendously packed house) was ours. As we chatted beforehand he mentioned that he remembered me from previous visits, and after some serious foodie chit chat (earlier in the day we had seen a black 750 BMW parked behind FL, and Andres confirmed our suspicions that Chef Keller was in the restaurants that evening), he invited us to take a tour of the back of the house and meet the Chef de Cuisine when we were finished. We responded that we couldn’t wait, and thanked him for being the overall awesome guy he was.
We arrived at our booth with our glasses of wine in tow, completely content to be able to sit next to one another and survey the house from the vantage point of the perfect table. Not more than two minutes later, the kitchen brought us a surprise amuse of foie gras and cracked pepper macaroons for its favorite guests of the evening (us, duh). I’m of the opinion of anything that contains foie is immediately awesome by virtue of the inclusion of the foie, while XV still isn’t the biggest fan. Nevertheless, we both groaned pleasantly at the amazing, rich, and deep flavors of such a simple, yet sublime amuse. Honestly, of all the times I’ve ever been served an amuse (in the hundreds by now), none has ever struck me as being as fantastic as this one was. It’s greatness was only enhanced by the obvious exclusion of the rest of the diners, as we were the only ones given the chance to start our dinner with this delicious morsel of amazingness.
After a quick look at the menu we decided to wait to place our order and enjoy an appetizer of freshly shucked local oysters. Served with the traditional accoutrements of mignonette and cocktail sauce these delicious bi-valves yet again struck a high note with us. So fresh, so cold, so clean, so unctuous, and so delicious that we could barely stand it. Frankly, while the 312 is one of the preeminent dining destinations in the world, we just can’t get our hands on fresh, high quality oysters like these from the nearby San Francisco bay. Practically speaking, the oysters set the perfect tone for the dinner to come.
In traditional French bistro fashion we ordered simple starters of soup and salad to be followed by our entrees. I ordered the ubiquitous Soupe a l’Oignon (French Onion Soup), while XV ordered the Laitue, a salad of fresh bibb lettuce, herbs from the French Laundry garden next door, all covered with a deliciously light house vinaigrette. My soup was absolutely delicious. A deep, earthy and rich beef flavored stock was covered with high quality gruyere cheese, all with a few slices of Bouchon bakery boule and perfectly sautéed onions swimming underneath the gooey cheese. While the richness of the soup made it difficult to finish more than half of the serving, its deliciousness and complexity was undeniable. XV’s Laitue salad was simple, perfect, and amazing. Anytime you can use expertly grown, picked, and prepared produce the overall quality of the dish always goes way up, and this was no exception. The freshness of the herbs and greens struck such a perfect balance with the vibrant dressing that it was hard to deny that something so simple could indeed be so delicious. Through two courses and an amuse bouche, we were blown away.
The entrees arrived quickly (but not too quickly) after the starters were removed. XV settled on the Gigot d’Agneau (Roasted Leg of Lamb with fennel dauphine, braised winter greens, garlic chips & garlic scented lamb jus) while I ordered the French bistro standard of Bouef Bourguignon (Braised Beef Short Ribs with bacon, cipollini onions, root vegetables, butter noodles, & red wine jus). When we had walked in we noticed that one of the specials of the day were truffle fries. I have been a truffle whore for some years now with one of my favorite restaurants in the world being Le Truffiere. XV on the other hand, is a recent addition to the truffle fiend club, and when we both noticed that there were simple “truffle fries” on special we just smiled at each other, dreaming of the righteousness of such a dish.
My Bouef Bourguignon was, in a word, excellent; a perfect rendition of the French bistro classic done with Thomas Keller ingenuity. The cipollini onions, bacon, and deliciously fresh root vegetables all paring perfectly with the amazing short ribs and jus. As good as my Bouef was, XV’s lamb was absolutely ridiculous. Imagine, if you will, the most perfectly butchered, highest quality, excellently roasted leg of lamb, accompanied with a fennel dauphine that had better taste and consistency than any mashed potatoes you’ve ever imagined, swimming in a fantastically aromatic jus, surrounded with the highest quality, most delicately cooked root vegetables on the planet. The dish was absolutely perfect. It’s hard to divert ones concentration from the amazingness of our entrees, but frankly, I could write a whole review on the truffle fries. These weren’t ordinary truffle fries, they are truly the Cadillac of truffle fries.
Here in Chicago we have plenty of places that like to throw around the term “truffle fries”. Somewhere at the top of that list would probably sit MK’s famous rendition of the dish (a derivation can be found at DMK Burger Bar, but its not nearly as good). MK serves up some delicious hand cut potatoes, fried in duck fat oil, and serves them with a delicious truffle aioli. It’s a great dish in its own right, but it doesn’t even remotely compare to Bouchon’s version. The truffle fries that were served were hand cut potatoes, fried in duck fat, topped with truffle salt, truffle oil, truffle butter, and shaved black truffles. I have rarely ever muttered this in my life, but the fries were so gluttonously decadent, that I almost felt disgusting eating them. Unfortunately, they were too amazing to let my conscious preclude me from enjoying ever single bite I could stomach.
After the meal we were presented with a desert list worthy of any bistro in France. After perusing the list we settled on a couple of cups of house coffee and an order of Profiteroles. The house coffee ended the night nicely, helping the meal digest and relaxing us as the dining room cleared out around us. Sadly, the Profiteroles were possibly the only let down of the night, though. The pastry shells weren’t crispy enough and you could tell that the long day in the cooler had allowed too much humidity to permeate the outer shell, only to ruin what should have been a perfect finale to the meal. The pastry shells weren’t the only problem, as the mediocre vanilla ice cream interior tasted less like something on the level of Chef Keller and more like something on the level of Chef Breyers, and the chocolate ganache poured over the top could have just as easily been some generic Ghirardelli junk as it could have been Keller level excellence. As underwhelming as the dish was, the entire meal and experience was still absolutely perfect.
As we were getting up to leave, Andres asked us if we would still like to come into the back of the house and meet the chef and take a tour of the kitchen. Nodding like school children, he escorted us back, past the serving stations, and into the kitchen where Executive Chef Michael Sandoval was awaiting our arrival. Chef Sandoval was an amazing host, escorting us through the entire Bouchon empire; through the walk-in, the kitchen, the construction at neighboring Bouchon Bakery, and the Bouchon and French Laundry garden. It was one of the most magical culinary moments of my life. After exchanging goodbye pleasantries with Chef Sandoval, I noticed a white wall in the kitchen where Bouchon’s Michelin star plaque was hanging. Above the plaque were three signatures; Joel Robuchon, Alain Ducasse, and Daniel Boulud. Standing in the kitchen of arguably one of the best French restaurants in the nation, looking up at the signatures of the French masters (the noted chef’s all have 3* restaurants) was an awe inspiring moment. I asked if I could sign the wall too, but Andres and Chef Sandoval both chimed in that right to sign the wall was reserved only for people who had Michelin 3* restaurants. Ridic.
I could write reviews for the rest of the weekend, but what would be the point? This particular day was one of the most perfect of my entire life. Never before had I been able to enjoy company, food, life, love, landscape, and culture like I/we did that day.
Until next time 312……..
P.S. I left the swearing, cynicism, and typical snobbery out of this post as I didn’t want to ruin the memory of a perfect day with my typical tomfoolery. Go fuck yourself if you actually noticed, btw.
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