Michelin Stars and Hidden Gems in California Wine Country
The Napa, Sonoma, Alexander, and Russian River Valleys are all close together and just a quick non-stop flight away (or a long drive). So, we checked out a few restaurants while wine tasting down there, covering more than one neighboring valley in the process.
The Michelin Star Experience
There are many excellent dining options in these valleys including multiple Michelin starred restaurants in Napa Valley. Trying all of those was beyond our budget for this trip, so we chose L’Auberge de Soleil, 180 Rutherford Hill Road, Rutherford, CA, 707.963.1211, aubergeresorts.com, a restaurant that has maintained its Michelin rating for 17 years.
For background, Michelin stars are an annual rating considered to be among the most rigorous, and prestigious, in the restaurant world. Seattle does not have any such restaurants, but that is because the Michelin Guide has not traditionally reviewed Seattle. That said, three hotels in the Seattle area did earn Michelin Keys for the first time in 2024, so restaurant reviews may follow.
L’Auberge is part of a resort nestled in the hills above the Rutherford section of Napa with beautiful views of the valley. They locally source their ingredients to the extent possible, and to earn a Michelin star, those ingredients must be of the highest quality. They offer a prix fixe menu: three courses for $180 or four courses (add dessert) for $205. There was also a six-course tasting menu for $235, paired with wines for another $103. (Prices may change, of course.)
We had a large enough party to try many of the items on the three-course menu. As an overall evaluation, everything we tried was at least very, very good — and most were excellent.
After some crudités, came the starters. We enjoyed the octopus, sautéed with Brussels sprouts, bacon, apple, and almond butter; the scallop (just one), with green garlic, morels, spinach, and dauphine potatoes; the asparagus soup, made with white asparagus, black garlic, Castelvetrano olives, and orange blossom water; and the gnocchi, one of the entrees offered as a starter, with mushrooms, pea shoots, and parmesan nage. We would order all of these again, though there were more items we still want to try. Of special note: the octopus was cooked just right, which is so often not the case elsewhere, and the gnocchi practically melted in one’s mouth, blending perfectly with its sauce.
For the second course, we focused on the sesame-crusted yellowfin tuna with orange daikon, bok choy, and a tamari lime sauce; the halibut, cooked with an onion crust, spring vegetables and a tarragon sauce; and the risotto with shrimp, bacon, and mint. Once again, all were excellent, but if we had to pick one to reorder, it would be the rich and creamy risotto.
For the main course, we had the duck with wild rice, spinach, and Meyer lemon; the prime beef pavé with roman artichokes, fennel, Swiss chard and bearnaise sauce; and the lamb with yellow-eye beans, niçoise olives, broccoli, and lemon sauce. Again, all were excellent and worth ordering again. The duck, which was an unusually generous portion for a duck dish, and the lamb, which blended amazingly with the olives and broccoli, stood out as items worthy of returning to L’Auberge.
The wine list at L’Auberge is extensive. It would have been possible to spend literally thousands on wine, but we were careful with the wine list with great assistance from the wine steward, introducing us to a lesser-known Napa Cabernet from family-owned Corison Winery, offered with minimal markup.
In sum, we’ve spent more in Seattle on meals we enjoyed less. Under Michelin Guide terms one star is “worthy of a stop,” while three stars recommends a detour. We definitely consider L’Auberge worthy of a detour when you are looking for a memorable meal north of the Bay Area. We will go back.
Checking Out a Few Bistros
We did not try the only restaurant in Napa with three Michelin stars, The French Laundry, but we did check out another restaurant by the same restauranteur for lunch: Bouchon Bistro, 6534 Washington Street, Yountville, CA, 707.934.8037, thomaskeller.com/bouchonyountville. The place was packed, inside and outside, and bustling (including a high ambient noise level, at least inside).
We sampled several items on the lunch menu, including the Oeufs Mimosa (deviled egg), escargot, salmon tartare, steak frites with the upgrade to truffle fries, trout almondine, gnocchi à la Parisienne, and a country pâté. Everyone enjoyed their dishes, and all were good enough to order again. The standouts were the escargot — served in individual puff pastries, but still drenched in the traditional garlic butter — and the pâté that was both very good and a surprisingly generous portion. The escargot were so good that one of our most veteran diners thought they might be the best they’d ever had.
This is the one spot where we sampled the dessert menu, sharing the raspberry almond tart and the chocolate marquise. We heartily endorse both.
Overall, this was a great lunch spot with prices that shouldn’t shock someone accustomed to dining in downtown Seattle. It is quite busy, so reservations are recommended.
We tried another French bistro-style restaurant for dinner near downtown Napa: Bistro Don Giovanni, 4110 Howard Lane, Napa, 707.224.3300, bistrodongiovanni.com, a well-known local institution (self-proclaimed on their website as a “landmark”).
The bistro is conveniently located if you are staying in Napa, and it has a large outdoor dining area perfumed by the flowering trees, at least in Spring. But, they got off on the wrong foot when we arrived on time and they sent us to wait in the bar, despite our table being ready. (At some establishments this is a tactic to increase bar sales, and in this case, it worked with some of us.)
We had a very talkative server who helped us select an Italian wine. We ordered the beet and green bean salad, the grilled octopus, the torchetti, the gnocchetti (smaller than gnocchi), and the veal parmigiana. The veal and octopus were hits, but those of us who ordered pasta were a little disappointed. The pasta itself was a bit bland, especially when compared to the others we sampled on this trip. We decided our meal at this bistro was OK, but there are better places to return to next time.
Going Italian in Upper
Sonoma County
Further North we followed the recommendation of two of the wineries we visited and had lunch at Catelli’s, 21047 Geyserville Avenue, Geyserville, CA, 707.857.3471, mycatellis.com. The first clue that we had been well advised was seeing over 20 people waiting to get in when they opened at noon (on a weekday in off season).
From the outside, this place looks unassuming. We might have driven by it last summer without any consideration of stopping. But the building has a history: a restaurant has been there since 1936. Inside is a bar reminiscent of the one in the movie Bottle Shock, two indoor dining rooms, and a pass-through to a modern, covered outdoor dining area in back. We chose indoors, though the outdoor dining area filled up first. From our vantage point, we could see the kitchen and the staff, who handled the unexpectedly large crowd quite well.
We started with an order of garlic bread, which our seasoned dining crew considered among the best we have had, with plenty of garlic, crispy on top, but fluffy underneath without being at all soggy. After that we tried the beet salad, the basil Caesar, a penne pasta with mushroom cream sauce, and a sausage clam sauté with penne added. We would order all of these again but our favorite was the sausage clam sauté made with spicy sausage; our only misgiving was that we hadn’t saved enough garlic bread to go with it, and were too full to order more.
Catelli’s has the feel of a local gem and was originally founded by the grandfather of the current proprietors (although ownership hasn’t been continuously in the family over the last 88 years). It’s just a short distance from Highway 101 and definitely worth a stop if you are in any of Northern Sonoma, Alexander, or Russian River Valleys.
A Bittersweet Note
A very sad restaurant closure: the Original Pantry Café in Los Angeles closed in March after 101 years of serving breakfast 24 hours a day (well, the hours were reduced during Covid). This was a place we tried to visit when in downtown L.A., a true institution and we are very sorry to see it close.
Dining Out is brought to you by Christopher Howard, with the help of friends and family. Comments and suggestions are welcome at chh@f2t.com or 206.669.5956.
