I am literally drooling as I write this post. Yes, a food post after a long time. This post has been long over due, but since I had not finished blogging about my Top 50 Travel Memories, I couldn’t blog about this place earlier. On our last weekend getaway to Napa Valley, we dined at The Restaurant at Meadowood to celebrate a special day. And what a meal it was – A meal to remember 🙂 🙂 🙂 . We’ve dined at a couple of good places after but we always end up comparing them to the creativity at The Restaurant.
Chef Christopher Kostow’s modern take on Californian cuisine makes use of local ingredients from the hotel’s garden and greenhouse. Menus are seasonal. The location of the restaurant is beautiful with views of Napa’s natural surroundings. The service is impeccable and world class. Presentation of the food is quite creative and so are the ingredients used in cooking. The dinnerware is mostly pottery and ceramic and is made by local artists specializing in ceramic art. There is definitely a charm in serving food on the unfinished looking plates. All in all, I found everything very innovative. And getting a reservation at The Restaurant, Meadowood is much much easier compared to other at-par restaurants!
pastry filled with formage blanc
It’s been over a year since our fabulous dinner at The Restaurant and I don’t remember the specifics of each and every dish so I’ll just leave you with pictures to drool over 🙂 But I’ll definitely let you know things that made a long lasting impact on me. Amuse Bouche #1 was served on a silk pillow (The dish is called Pillow on a pillow), Amuse Bouche #3 was served on a book (Some carrot cake that was!). I have not seen such creative presentation elsewhere. My favorite courses were green tomato & lovage, potatoes cooked in beeswax and sunflower seed risotto. M likes finding out about edible stuff in the wild and I think he enjoyed the discussion with our server when he cut up coastal grasses at our table to be eaten with the roasted cucumber course. Though I don’t think we’d be able to distinguish what’s edible and what’s not if it weren’t handed over to us in a plate.
M likes to use the term ‘food coma’ when he’s enjoyed his food so much that breathing becomes difficult. Let me say that we were both in a food coma post dinner at The Restaurant 🙂 . If food creativity is your thing, I highly recommend this place. The prime reasons this place stood out from the rest is because of its creative food presentations, delicious tasting food and the warmth we got from the service.
Memoir's Galore 