Honeymoon in Napa Valley (the food)

Not only is the wine fantastic in the Napa Valley, the food is off the charts too! In fact, several of the restaurants we dined at, we could have gone there for the entire week and not repeated anything nor run out of enticing dishes. Certainly its unnecessary to discuss every appetizer, entree and dessert from each restaurant, thus I'll just highlight the must-have dishes when appropriate. Enjoy! (pics: Joy and I dining at Celadon)

For the first night, we dined at Ristorante Allegria in downtown Napa (suggested by our hotel). My pasta special (fettuccine with fresh tomato, roasted sweet corn and prawns in a cream sauce) ranked as one of my top meals of the week. Joy also loved her potato gnocchi with pesto cream sauce. Reasonably priced, and there's live accordion music on mon & wed.

For our second night, we ate at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen. We loved the setting outside under the giant fig tree, and where else can you order Spice Cured Pork Belly?

Next was Tra Vigne. We enjoyed our food and loved the service, but not sure it delivered at the same level as the others.

The following evening we found ourselves at Mustard's Grill, which was just fantastic. Joy probably wouldn't order the calf liver again but it was interesting, and my rabbit was delicious! We're definitely going to try their famous Mongolian Pork Chop (they sell 1500/month!).

Next on our list was Bistro Jeanty. A word on reservations. Make sure you call to confirm two days before. They lost my parents' reservation last year (made by phone) and ours (made by opentable), but thankfully were able to accommodate us in both situations. And the food was entirely worth it. No matter how hot it is, you must absolutely order the tomato soup in puff pastry. Its simply spectacular!

We returned to downtown Napa again to dine at Celadon. You cannot afford to miss this restaurant. While salmon and steak almost seem boring to order nowadays, Celadon nailed them. Of course it doesn't hurt to use wild caught Columbia River king salmon. After eating my last bites of my grilled C.A.B. filet mignon with yukon gold potato gratin, I experienced a sort of sadness that comes when you just aren't ready for a perfect meal to end.

Our final dinner was damn near heavenly. Instead of spending a large fortune at the famed French Laundry, we decided to spend a smaller fortune at Auberge du Soleil. Since they knew we were celebrating our honeymoon (the hostess asked when I made the reservation), they graciously seated us on the terrace, which has one of the best views overlooking the Napa Valley. After wine tasting all day, I was not in the mood for a lot of wine, thus I appreciated their offer of either a regular 6oz glass of wine or a 3oz taste. Also, do not be afraid to ask for the sommelier's help (esp when you aren't familiar with their wine list). I picked out my three plates and she made wonderful pairing suggestions. Again, while its hard to go wrong with any of their plates, if you have the chance, you must try their sauteed foie gras. Neither of us had had it before, but it is truly otherworldly. It just melts in your mouth. I cant wait to pair it with a sauternes! Not only was the dinner spectacular, but the service was superb. Furthermore, when we were about to leave, the older couple next to us overhead that we were celebrating our honeymoon and kindly offered us a glass of our choosing. So with glasses of Dolce in our hands, we enjoyed a nice conversation with them for another hour before finally leaving.

For lunch, you definitely want to swing by Gott's Roadside. Joy claimed her western burger was the best burger she'd ever had. And maybe not the best for wine tasting, their garlic fries are delicious.

Summary
The only frustrating thing about dining in Napa is that there are too many restaurants and too few meals in a week! But if you were to come to Napa, it would definitely be a shame for you to miss out on the fantastic food at Ristorante Allegria, Mustard's Grill, Bistro Jeanty, Celadon, and Auberge du Soleil.