I was on a work trip to San Francisco last week. My friend Sue was there for training as well, so we went up to Napa for a girls weekend and enjoyed some great food and some spa time.
Yountville is this cute little, small town between Napa and Calistoga. It is also the home to my idol chef Thomas Keller's restaurants. It is also the home of Bottega, Michael Chiarello's Italian restaurant. If you've never heard of him before, he is a famous chef and has his own show on the Food Network called Easy Entertaining. He makes great Italian ingredient based foods that are rustic, simple but elegant. He has also been on Top Chef as a judge and contestant on the Master Chef version of Top Chef. It is here that he showed his meanie side of his personality and his stubbornness.
Well, I've heard some great things from people who visited Napa and they all said that I had to try Bottega. So my friend Sue and I went on Friday night. We couldn't get a table until 9pm but it worked out well because by the time we got to Napa and checked in, it was around this time.
Bottega
6525 Washington Street, A9
Yountville, CA 94599
http://www.botteganapavalley.com/index.html
After we ordered and got our drinks, they plunk down a thick, warm, rustic sliced chuck of bread right on the table. No plates, basket or nothing, just on the table lined with paper. They also brought a little tub of butter and this luscious thick drizzle of grassy olive oil that had tons of parmesan reggiano, garlic, red chili peppers, and herbs I think. It was amazing! I would have been happy with just eating this and my wine.
We then had our first course of...
I had the Shaved Artichoke Salad Two Ways lemon olive oil braised and roman fried, shaved parmigiano reggiano
Sue had the Polenta Under Glass, caramelized wild mushrooms, balsamic game sauce. Wow! The best dish of the night! It was creamy and had so much flavor. Reminded me of the time Soung ordered the polenta at Scarpetta and I wish I had. When you are at a uber chef's restaurant and you see the polenta on the menu, order it! Don't expect to share because it's so good, everyone should order their own.
For our second course...
I had Spaghetti alla Chitarra, imported chitarra cut spaghetti, white head-on prawns, tomato-fennel broth, basil & tarragon. I wanted a simple pasta and sauce dish. This was good but it was a bit too fishy for me. I even had them remove the "head". They didn't have that many veggie items on the menu, they were willing to make accommodations but I really wanted to try something that the chef had intended.
Sue had Confit of Half Duck mostarda di frutta, panettone bread pudding, red wine duck jus. She said the best duck she has had by far. I kept thinking about the ducks that float around
Greenlake when I go running. :)
We were both full to the max but had to have dessert. Wow! They were amazingly good. I must remember to order the desserts first so I can enjoy them more.
I had Tiramisu Profiteroles, a tramisu & sponge cake gelato, “Cocoa puff”, chocolate sauce. Need I say more than the pic? I, like Ted Allen, love table side presentation and love that they poured the chocolate sauce at the table.
Sue had the Salted Caramel gelato Affagato. It came with this Peanut cookie that was to die for. Sue was too full and didn't want the cookie so I said I wanted a to go box to eat later. Well, the next morning I was looking forward to eating the cookie with my morning coffee before we head out...guess what, Sue had eaten all of the cookie before I even got up. She didn't even save me a nibble.
There was a moment during dinner when chef Chiarello was making the rounds saying hello to his regular diners and friends. It caught me by surprise when I saw him talking to our next table to the right. I was trying to be cool and was trying to alert Sue to by using my ventriloquist voice but she couldn't understand. I so wanted to take a pic and meet him but I didn't want seem star struck which I was. Well, he passed our table by and went to another table. I was so jealous. We even talked to the waitress to ask about him and she said he would totally take a pic with me and say hello. She said she would try to have him over. Well...it never happened. I need to know to seize the moment. He was right there. :(
There was one dish that everyone was ordering that we didn't. It was the Truffle Fries. Everywhere you look, every table were getting a heaping plate of rustic, homemade fries. I was kicking myself. Sue and I had a quick snack of "tie me over" food at the hotel when we arrived. We had some fries and wine a few hours before hand. I'm definitely planning another weekend at Napa and getting these fries and the polenta!
Yountville is this cute little, small town between Napa and Calistoga. It is also the home to my idol chef Thomas Keller's restaurants. It is also the home of Bottega, Michael Chiarello's Italian restaurant. If you've never heard of him before, he is a famous chef and has his own show on the Food Network called Easy Entertaining. He makes great Italian ingredient based foods that are rustic, simple but elegant. He has also been on Top Chef as a judge and contestant on the Master Chef version of Top Chef. It is here that he showed his meanie side of his personality and his stubbornness.
Well, I've heard some great things from people who visited Napa and they all said that I had to try Bottega. So my friend Sue and I went on Friday night. We couldn't get a table until 9pm but it worked out well because by the time we got to Napa and checked in, it was around this time.
Bottega
6525 Washington Street, A9
Yountville, CA 94599
http://www.botteganapavalley.com/index.html
After we ordered and got our drinks, they plunk down a thick, warm, rustic sliced chuck of bread right on the table. No plates, basket or nothing, just on the table lined with paper. They also brought a little tub of butter and this luscious thick drizzle of grassy olive oil that had tons of parmesan reggiano, garlic, red chili peppers, and herbs I think. It was amazing! I would have been happy with just eating this and my wine.
We then had our first course of...
I had the Shaved Artichoke Salad Two Ways lemon olive oil braised and roman fried, shaved parmigiano reggiano
For our second course...
I had Spaghetti alla Chitarra, imported chitarra cut spaghetti, white head-on prawns, tomato-fennel broth, basil & tarragon. I wanted a simple pasta and sauce dish. This was good but it was a bit too fishy for me. I even had them remove the "head". They didn't have that many veggie items on the menu, they were willing to make accommodations but I really wanted to try something that the chef had intended.
Sue had Confit of Half Duck mostarda di frutta, panettone bread pudding, red wine duck jus. She said the best duck she has had by far. I kept thinking about the ducks that float around
Greenlake when I go running. :)
We were both full to the max but had to have dessert. Wow! They were amazingly good. I must remember to order the desserts first so I can enjoy them more.
I had Tiramisu Profiteroles, a tramisu & sponge cake gelato, “Cocoa puff”, chocolate sauce. Need I say more than the pic? I, like Ted Allen, love table side presentation and love that they poured the chocolate sauce at the table.
Sue had the Salted Caramel gelato Affagato. It came with this Peanut cookie that was to die for. Sue was too full and didn't want the cookie so I said I wanted a to go box to eat later. Well, the next morning I was looking forward to eating the cookie with my morning coffee before we head out...guess what, Sue had eaten all of the cookie before I even got up. She didn't even save me a nibble.
There was a moment during dinner when chef Chiarello was making the rounds saying hello to his regular diners and friends. It caught me by surprise when I saw him talking to our next table to the right. I was trying to be cool and was trying to alert Sue to by using my ventriloquist voice but she couldn't understand. I so wanted to take a pic and meet him but I didn't want seem star struck which I was. Well, he passed our table by and went to another table. I was so jealous. We even talked to the waitress to ask about him and she said he would totally take a pic with me and say hello. She said she would try to have him over. Well...it never happened. I need to know to seize the moment. He was right there. :(
There was one dish that everyone was ordering that we didn't. It was the Truffle Fries. Everywhere you look, every table were getting a heaping plate of rustic, homemade fries. I was kicking myself. Sue and I had a quick snack of "tie me over" food at the hotel when we arrived. We had some fries and wine a few hours before hand. I'm definitely planning another weekend at Napa and getting these fries and the polenta!
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