Tag Archives: #winecountry

La Toque Napa CA – Worth a Fork!

Leave a reply

La Toque is a Michelin Star contemporary restaurant located in Napa California in the Westin Verasa Hotel. A Toque is a white chef’s hat. This restaurant has a large Toque outside waving around like a flag.

Inside is modern and classic. Diners in the main dining room can look into the kitchen with the windows in the wall.

The second dining room is decorated different and has tables set with tablecloths and heavy silverware.

It’s a high end place. They give you hot towels to clean your hands to start out with.

We ordered from the a la carte menu.

Then they started us off with this tiny amuse bouche that was so tiny but exploded with so much flavor (pistachio flavored). It was so amazing I could have eaten a bunch of them.

Next we were off with fresh baked crusty bread and butter with sea salt.

Our first appetizer is the koji cured hamachi with grapefruit leech de Tigre, serrano Chile oil, and compressed celtuce.

Compressed celtuce…….A fancy dancy celery without strings goes really well with fish and flavors that melts in your mouth….

Next they split the three cheese agnolotti with ramps, and vin jaune, and morel mushrooms.

All good here too….no complaints.

For my main I got the pan roasted Gulf Red Snapper with FENNEL MARMALADE (game changer) radishes and vermouth.

These flavors go magically well together. The fennel marmalade is amazing here…….(I’m going to steal that idea for my dishes)……..

My husband got the dry aged duck breast with fancy carrots, carrot puree, and this really amazing smoked duck fat confit potato and duck jus.

And of course we had to get one of La Torque;s amazing desserts.

This was an fantabulous chocolate hazelnut dacquoise with chocolate-amaretto ice cream.

I thought we were done and they handed each of us a little box of handmade sweets.

I have to say La Torque in Napa CA is –

Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

La Torque 1314 McKinstry St Napa CA

707-257-5157

www.LaToque.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My 2022 Trip to Gott’s Roadside Napa CA

Leave a reply

Gott’s Roadside is a casual restaurant. They have around seven locations around Napa California. They offer burgers, sandwiches, salads, sides, specials, and ice cream. It’s very casual, you order at the counter, pay, pick up beverages, condiments, get a pager and seat yourself inside or outside.

Today I thought the citrus and avocado salad sounded just right. It’s made up of greens, avocado, aside spiced chicken, cilantro pumpkin seed dressing, orange, tomato, black beans, pickled red onions, quinoa, pumpkin seeds and cotija cheese.

The chicken is refrigerated chilled. But it’s tasty. Better than fast food.

Today my husband got a green chile cheese burger.

Today the burger is petrified and the fries are cold. But last time at this location it was hot and delicious. We also enjoyed the food from the Gott’s that is near to the the Oakville Grocery a few years back.

Last time at this location we got a double cheeseburger, an ahi tuna burger, fried cauliflower, and fries.

That means that this location of Gott’s is just like most small chains. You can hit them on a good day or a bad day.

That was my 2022 trip to Gott’s Roadside in Napa CA

644 1ST ST Napa CA

707-224-6900

www.Gotts.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My 2022 Trip to La Calenda Yountville CA

Leave a reply

La Calenda is an Oaxacan Style Mexican Restaurant located in Yountville California. This restaurant is part of the Thomas Keller Group of restaurants and is only steps away from Bouchon, Ad Hoc/ Addendum and is a Michelin Guide recommended restaurant.

The last time I was here I was so blown away with how fabulous the food was I ate here twice. That was back in 2019 before the pandemic. The menu has changed since my last visit and La Calenda now also takes reservations now.

Here’s how it looks on the patio.

Here’s the inside.

They set you up with silverware by giving it to you in a crock with your napkins.

The drink menus are different too. Today I tried some sort of Negroni with smoked mushrooms and mezcal.

I think it’s delicious and really different with that smoked mushroom flavor. (and often I don’t care for smoked things…not all but many are too smokey for me)

We started with the mushroom tacos. We had mushroom tacos before here that we REALLY ENJOYED here pictured below.

They differed tonight. Pictured below. (they differ a little)

The habanero salsa is very flavorful and good but these mushroom tacos have less flavors than before……..still good ….same tortilla…..but not Fantabulous.

We also tried the ensalada de sandia (watermelon pepitas, radish, Chile piquin, salsa macha, and mint).

This was nice flavorful and very light……Actually I would enjoy this as a light dessert anywhere…It is savory but also is lightly sweet. We both like it…anyone would like it.

For my main I had something very similar to before. pescado zarandeado (fish of the day (both times branzino) this time grilled adobo marinated with greens.

It was very good. The fish seems so fresh and the adobo marinate taste really great. But that hoya leaf marinated branzino from last time popped more….(pictured below with avocado tomatillo salsa)

My husband also got a dish very similar to a time before. This time he got the enchiladas de mole negro con pollo (chicken enchiladas with mole negro and queso fresco).

I tasted them….The mole is good and flavorful….The white meat chicken is very soft and tender but just taste boiled. I don’t remember how the dish he had last time tasted but he preferred the green mole dish from last time that he got with pork jowl beans.

On another visit we were absolutely CRAZY of the tacos they offered before. (these are old presentations and most are not on current menu)

Fish tacos

Crazy about the sour orange anichote pollo and pollo pibil tacos they used to offer.

Mushroom Tacos (old presentation)
Auguachile (not on current menu)

Well our most recent visit to La Calenda was good so I can’t be unhappy. But my last visits were OUT OF BOUNDS FANTABULOUS. I don’t know if some menus are more delicious than other or if they have had some changes in the kitchen.

That was my 2022 visit to La Calenda in Yountville CA.

www.LaCalendaMex.com

6518 Washington St Yountville CA

1-833-682-TACO (8226)

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Press Restaurant St Helena CA – Pretty but did I eat?

Leave a reply

Press Restaurant is an upscale Michelin Guide modern American restaurant located in St Helena California. The executive chef is chef Philip Tessier. He previously worked for Le Bernadin and most of the Thomas Keller Restaurants that include The French Laundry. I read a few reviews and looked at pictures of some of the dishes from Press on review sites. They differed from what I got……..

It’s on the masculine side looks wise inside.

Lots of wood inside and classic decor.

We tasted a lot of wine today so I went with a cocktail.

Tried a roadrunner. It’s made with mezcal, rum, Campari, amaro, and a brûlée pineapple. It’s strong but smooth and not too sweet.

They don’t start you out with anything. No amuse, no bread……

We started out with the ricotta gnudi ($24.) Our waiter suggested adding one more gnudi (4 gnudi instead of the normal 3) for sharing ($31).

The gnudi are light and delicious. They are packed into squash blossoms and are in an amazing very flavorful parmesan consommé. This was the one dish that truly was amazing. There wasn’t much of it…..The two gnudi are more than a half order…..Normally you only get One and one half gnudi per person.

My dinner was the yellowtail.

I had three pieces of mild fish topped with some pretty blue flowers, less than a teaspoon of fava bean tapenade, green almonds and in lemongrass nage. It was really good………. but it was more like a tasting. I guess each person would do better ordering two appetizers here or you get hardly anything to eat. There were no side dishes to order so all you can add on are appetizers………..I chalk the problem I had up to the service. I KNOW IF I WAS THE WAITER I would have suggested two appetizers a person. I wouldn’t want my guest to leave unsatisfied….

My husband got a slightly larger plate than me.

He got the Petrel sole.

It looks like this below if you take it apart some.

It’s described as dungeons crab, crisped pumpernickel, cara cara orange, and spring onions. My husband thought that the crab was missing. He told someone and it turns out that the crab is a very slight amount of liquid ( about a teaspoon of liquid foam) that is under the fish……that is also the seasoning but is not enough because the fish just taste plain…….Up top is a very evaporated piece of pumpernickel crisp topped with pretty flowers.

We had plenty of room to try dessert so we tried the one called brown butter maple cremeux.

I like the honey nut squash ice cream and the huckleberries. The little brown disc taste burnt to me so I don’t like them and the white creamy disc ….I’m not sure what it is………something called pain d’ epices (French Spice Bread?) we both really don’t like the taste or texture…….The manager notices that we don’t like some of this and offers to get us something else. We decline and find out latter that they generously took the dessert off the check.

(Maybe?) We would have had a better time if we knew that we should have ordered more appetizers……..(and ordered a different dessert).

Press for us was an expensive tasting of a few dishes and a dessert that was 1/2 good and 1/2 inedible. Your experience may differ.

Press Restaurant St Helena CA

Did I eat?

www.PressNapaValley.com

587 St Helena HWY St Helena CA

707-967-0550

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My 2022 Trip to Ad Hoc Yountville CA

Leave a reply

Ad Hoc is a family style full service restaurant by chef Thomas Keller listed in the Michelin Guide. They usually offer a multi course dinner for a set price. Additional menu items may be offered.

It’s not a fancy place but is always very neat and clean looking. You can sit at the bar or inside.

Tonight they started us off with crusty fresh baked bread and butter.

Next course was spring vegetable salad of snow peas, crisp English peas, fancy radishes, with creamy tarragon dressing.

Our main course tonight was the Famous buttermilk fried chicken.

It was seasoned to perfection…..It was incredibly moist and tender. It also was shattering crisp.

We also added on the additional Black Truffle Mac ‘n’ Cheese.

Maybe not 100% perfection but very good and better than most macaroni and cheese that you get out at restaurants. It does have a nice truffle flavor but I can taste flour in the sauce but maybe most people can’t.

Side dishes were green beans almandine.

Potato salad.

The potato salad taste like pickle juice..and mustard.

Incase you were wondering………

This was an enormous amount of food. We had to bring at least half back with us.

Not done yet there’s more!

One of the tastiest treats was the next course of Mahon cheese with pretzel epi and hot honey mustard……

Dessert tonight was called strawberries and cream…It was a parfait of pannacotta topped with strawberries that were topped with Chantilly cream.

That was my 2022 trip to Ad Hoc in Yountville CA

Some of the dishes we had here previously were- (pictures either were poor or I couldn’t find)

soda bread with honey butter

endive and watercress salad

corned beef with Guinness gravy (only dish I didn’t care for…it was more like beefy brisket)

cornbread stuffed quail

chicken and sausage Jambalaya

chateau

peanut butter ice cream sandwich

ice cream and Bailey’s laced brownie bites

The Current Ad Hoc Menu can be found on the Thomas Keller Website.

www.ThomasKeller.com

6476 Washington St Yountville CA

707-944-2487

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My Visit to Torc Restaurant in Napa California

Leave a reply

Torc is a contemporary American Restaurant that offers a seasonal daily changing menu located in downtown Napa California. The Atmosphere is classic with an open kitchen and with an impressive wine list. I noticed that they have a busy bar.

Rock and roll fills the air but it’s not too loud and is at a comfortable level.

What drew me into Troc were not all the many recommendations from the locals but it was the truffle offerings I read about.

We tried the $39.00 peigord truffle grilled cheese sandwich to start out with.

The bread is grilled nicely to perfection and the plate is embellished with truffle scented aioli that’s dusted with fine French crushed red pepper.

This sandwich is light with cheese and stuffed with a generous layer of truffles. I’m very excited to try my first bite because I’ve enjoyed peigord truffles many times from the original Binkley’s Restaurant that was once located in Cave Creek Arizona. This kind of truffle can have such a great flavor that it makes your mouth try to suck up all the flavor just like a vacuum cleaner to suck in all that flavor even after you eat it. I bite into this sandwich and although its a nicely prepared sandwich for whatever reason the truffles are mostly tasteless. Every few bites I got a little of the truffle taste…….. I know that fresh truffles do lose their flavor quickly….I also know that truffles come dried , canned, bottled and frozen….I should have asked questions about the truffles before I ordered. It also is common for restaurants to show you your truffle before it’s served to you but that didn’t happen here.

For dinner I went with the house made spring green ravioli gigante.

The ravioli look amazing and are covered with black trumpet mushrooms, wild arugula pesto, pistachios and flowers.

The plate is stunning to look at…….but is best to eat with your eyes. The pesto is very busy tasting with bitter arugula, mint, basil, pistachios, raw flowers and several other flavors. Inside is just as busy…..

My husband had the house made rigatoni with Winkler Farm boar sausage sugo, spring onions and pecorino Romano.

This one was much better received.

Service was friendly and food arrived in a timely order. This restaurant was highly recommended to us by almost every local we met.

That was my trip to Torc in Napa California.

www.TorcNapa.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Protea in Yountville CA

Leave a reply

Protea is a very small casual Caribbean/Global Restaurant located in Yountville California. Protea offers a daily changing menu. You might find things like empanadas, Philly cheese steaks, tacos, bison burgers and shishito peppers on the menu. You order at the counter, grab a number and seat yourself.

After you order and pay pick a table inside or outside.

In reasonable time our order arrives to us. We got swordfish tacos and roasted pork tacos and tried their specialty home made macaroon.

We both thought the proteins in both orders of tacos were absolutely stunning. They both were so fresh and tender. They couldn’t be more perfect. The sauces and slaws were more simple than both of us were expecting….as my mango pineapple slaw was simply cabbage and mostly just pineapple adorned with some cilantro leaves……..These are the type of tacos were the protein shines.

The macaroon was quite notable and was the best macaroon I ever did try. It was cinnamon scented, chewy and coconut tasty and also drizzled with high quality chocolate. It was just divine.

www.ProteaYV.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Bottega in Yountville CA – Worth a Fork!

Leave a reply

Bottega is an Italian Restaurant by celebrity chef Micheal Chiarello in Yountville California. The first thing you see is the hostess desk with lighted stones when you walk in…

Behind the hostess desk is one of the dining rooms and to the left is a bar area.

Dining rooms have a patio feel to them.

Tables are formal with linen, heavy silverware, polished glasses and copper hammered cups for water.

Beware of the little container that reads “sale.”

It looks just like grated cheese but it’s salt.

They now charge for bread but it’s only something like a dollar a person. The bread is so good that I woke up the next day tasting it in my mouth.

It’s so crusty and developed with flavors……They also serve the bread with a tasty garlic cheese spread…

We started out by sharing the Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad.

It was made with Marcona Almonds, egg, pecorino and Meyer Lemon Dressing…It was just delicious.

I had the Calabrian Marinated Chicken under a brick.

It’s one of the best chickens I ever tasted. So moist like butter but with a delicious not too spicy Calabrian Chili flavor developed in it and above……Insanely scrumptious………This is really masterful high quality chicken…..Ummm………There is plenty of chicken to eat…actually too much for one person…but nothing else. I think this plate would be best as a sharing plate so you could eat something else with it…..but the bread soaks it up well.

My husband got the Acorn fed Pork Shoulder that came with a Potato Croquette, Pancetta wrapped fruit and Broccoli Rabe.

What a nice combination protein, vegetable, meat wrapped fruit and potato……He loved it!

I saved room for dessert because they are usually great here.

Today we tried the Semi Freddo di Lemon.

It’s good but I don’t taste much lemon. It taste more like kumquat with ice cream topped with meringue and a thin burnt cookie.

The last dessert I had here was really great and I still remember it.

Clafoutis Type of Dessert From Bottega in Yountville CA

Below is another dish I enjoyed from a past visit.

Potato Dough Raviolo with spinach and Egg in Brown Butter Sage Sauce from Bottega

That was my 2019 visit to Bottega in Yountville CA. – Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.BottegaNapaValley.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Bistro Jeanty Yountville CA – Worth a Fork!

Leave a reply

Bistro Jeanty is a charming French Restaurant located in Yountville California that serves classic French Foods. According to Restaurant Guru Bistro Jeanty is a Michelin Selection and has two black knife-and-fork symbols.

It was perfect beautiful weather so we sat on the patio that was full of marble topped tables and lots of greenery with roses.

One of the specials of the evening were truffled deviled eggs so we tried them.

The deviled eggs came out quickly and were topped with fresh clipped chives and a side truffled mache. We also received a basket of baguette and butter. They eggs were creamy and seasoned well and laced with truffle. The baguettes were delicious and the butter tasted like it was from France.

For dinner I tried the Sole Meuniere.

The petrale sole was sweet and mild…..and was embellished with the tiniest sweetest capers I ever had. The fish rested over delicious creamy mashed potatoes and there was a pool of lemon caper butter sauce around everything.

My husband tried the cassoulet.

It was a pot of happiness full of falling apart duck confit, sausage, juicy apple smoked bacon, creamy beans and topped with herbed crumbs.

I’d say my trip to Bistro Jeantry was Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.BistroJeanty.com

Every Forking THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Gott’s Roadside Napa California – Worth a Fork!

Leave a reply

Gott’s is a small group of casual restaurants located in California. They offer burgers, other sandwiches, salads, sides and some specials in a semi fast casual environment. You order at the counter-

Then you pick a table outdoors or indoors.

In reasonable time your pager goes off and your off to the counter to pick up your order.

Today we tried the double cheeseburger, the ahi grade seared tuna with Asian slaw, ginger wasabi mayo, cilantro on an egg bun, fries with cheese jalapeño sauce and off the special menu fried Indian Style cauliflower.

The stand outs had to be the Ahi Tuna Sandwich and the Indian Style Cauliflower…..Nothing was bad about the cheeseburger or fries but they seemed average after the others. The burgers at Gott’s get cooked medium well but still turn out juicy. The Tuna Sandwich and the Cauliflower were full of bold exotic flavors. The tuna had ginger, wasabi and crunch from the slaw. It was spicy but delicious. Sure wasn’t an average burger. It was refreshing but it also woke you up. The Indian Beer Battered Cauliflower also had many great flavors going on with it….turmeric, ginger, chili and the dipping sauce was on the sweet side but very refreshing.

Gott’s uses Sir Kensington Brand Ketchup and mustard. We both never tried them before and I have to say WOW! They are great! That ketchup has so much more tomato flavor than the Heinz Brand I usually buy. That mustard is also delicious too!

I have to say Gott’s Roadside is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.GottsRoadside.com

Every FORKING THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth