Michael Chiarello's Bottega Napa Valley Restaurant

It was our last night in the beautiful wine growing region of California in Napa Valley and my husband and I wanted to make it memorable, so we made reservations at celebrity Chef Michael Chiarello's Bottega Restaurant in the town of Yountville. Yountville is known as the culinary capital of Napa Valley as there are many fine restaurants located there, including the legendary French Laundry, but I've been a fan of Chiarello since I first saw him cook on my PBS TV station years ago, and I wanted to dine in his establishment.  He was also the son of an immigrant family from Calabria which attracted me to his style of cooking, as this is the same region of Italy my husband is from. (All photos will enlarge if clicked on once, and then again when they open on a new page)

The award winning Chiarello has built a small business empire on the idea of gracious Napa Valley entertaining. He was executive chef and partner in Napa’s famed Tra Vigne restaurant for two decades, on the Food Network with his show “Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello," and is now also on the Cooking Channel show with new episisodes of  "Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello."  Michael is the proprietor of a small family winery, Chiarello Family Vineyards, making highly rated estate wines from historic over 90 year old vineyards surrounding his home in St. Helena, California.  He also owns Consorzio Flavored Oils and is a cookbook author.  His full professional biography can be read on this link.

In 2000, Chiarello founded "NapaStyle," a showcase of handcrafted home goods and artisanal foods that encourage experimentation in cooking and entertaining. NapaStyle shares Chiarello’s perspective on Napa Valley living through a catalog, website and retail stores, as well as through television shows and cookbooks.

In 2008, Chiarello found the dream location for his Napa Valley flagship store in Yountville, CA. Housed in a historic 1800’s brick building, NapaStyle Yountville includes a Panini Bar and Cafe, Wine Shop and Tasting Bar, Olive Oil Bar, Salumeria and outdoor terrace seating for forty five. Napa Style Yountville is located directly across from Michael’s new and acclaimed Bottega Napa Valley restaurant.

Bottega restaurant is part of the historic Vintage Estates, located in one of the oldest wineries in the Napa Valley, the former Groezinger Estate, and is open for lunch, dinner, and after dinner.

There are two indoor dining rooms that seat ninety and also a private dining/wine room and bar. They are decorated in warm shades of olive green, gold and browns with Venetian plaster walls, and imported Murano glass chandeliers. The ambiance is both rustic and elegant.

There are also forty outdoor lounge seats on the Terrazzo and twenty six outdoor dining seats on the Terrazzo as well, as you can see in these photographs above and below.

The outdoor bar and covered outdoor lounge is open for late service, weather permitting.

The kitchen is partially visible from the dining room. A wood fire oven is located directly behind the stack of dishes.

I was especially impressed by Bottega's signature water glasses made from stainless steel lined copper which keep their delicious sparkling water very cold. The photo was taken from his NapaStyle website where they are offered for sale.

Bottega's Italian cuisine menu highlights the bounty of artisanal and house made ingredients, as well as local produce. The menus change seasonally, and the present dinner and lunch menu can be viewed on this link.

As appetizer, my husband had wood grilled octopus olive oil braised potatoes, pickled red onion, and salsa verde (top middle photo), and I had Chiarello's famous "Polenta Under Glass," with caramelized wild mushrooms, balsamic game sauce (top right photo). They were both absolutely exquisite!  We each had a taste of each others appetizers because we were both proclaiming them to be the best we ever ate!  I was really impressed with the polenta under glass and found this video on his web site that explains how it is made.

We drooled over the descriptions of all his pastas on the menu, so our very friendly waitress Laura, who is also a talented photographer, suggested we share a portion of ricotta gnocchi, salsa di pomodoro della Nonna, with pecorino (bottom left photo), as she said they were her favorite. As she promised they were "melt in the mouth" light and delicious. We also shared a dinner special of wood-oven roasted whole sea bass with grilled white eggplant, Calabrian chili dressing, and lemon aioli (middle bottom photo). Everything was superb! 
Laura also convinced us to have dessert and we shared a chocolate molten fudge cake with vanilla hazelnut anglaise sauce (bottom right). Hot and sweet it also melted in our mouths.

We can honestly say this was one of the most delicious meals we have ever eaten and the perfect culmination of our four days in the Sonoma and Napa Valleys.  We returned to our hotel under the light of this bright full moon, sad to say goodbye to this segment of our trip that began in San Francisco. The next day we were headed to Yosemite National Park, one of the most beautiful national parks in the United States. I hope you'll join me on future blog posts to see some of the outstanding sights we saw!

I'm linking to Michael Lee's blog Designs by Gollum for "Foodie Friday." Visit her today to see links to all the participating blog and their wonderful foodie posts!

The Napa Valley Wine Train

The Napa Valley Wine Train is one of the most unique and delicious Napa Valley restaurants housed in an antique train that runs on 25-miles of track in the heart of the Napa Valley, California. (all photos will enlarge when clicked on once and then again when they reopen on a new page)

The train has two engines, three kitchens on board, and a collection of early 20th century rail cars that are pure Americana. It offers guests great regional food and fabulous wines.

The Wine Train depot is located at 1275 McKinstry Street, in Napa, California. There are various dining packages available for lunch or dinner and special events. My husband and I chose the gourmet lunch that included a stop to visit the Grgich Hills Estate Winery.

We were seated in a refurbished 1915-1917 Pullman Car.

Our menu

Executive Chef Kelly Macdonald prepares the meals in a specially fabricated kitchen car located immediately adjacent to the dining area.

We had a salad as an appetizer and I chose the salmon entree special.....

....while my husband the roasted tenderloin.

As you can see by our clean plates, both entrees were delicious!

As we dined we enjoyed the beautiful views of Napa Valley passing by outside the moving train.

We past many beautiful vineyards.

We arrived at Grgich Hills Estate Winery where we depart the train for a one hour tour and wine tasting that was included in our special Wine Train lunch.

Grgich Hills Estate is a family owned winery. Founded in 1977 by Miljenko “Mike” Grgich in partnership with Austin Hills and his sister, Mary Lee Strebl, from the Hills Bros. Coffee family.

Grgich is now 87 years old, and still sports his signature blue beret.  He was inducted into the Vinter Hall of Fame in March 2008 in honor of his many contributions to the wine industry.  Grgich Hills owns all of its own vineyards, all of which are certified organic and Biodynamic.

Time to reboard the train for the return trip.

We were now seated in comfortable swivel lounge chairs .......

...that looked out of large picture windows.

As we enjoyed coffee and desserts...

There is a wine tasting bar on the train, and they allow guests to stroll through the cars to watch the meals being prepared, but we preferred to relax and talk and enjoy the views. You can watch a short video about the Wine Train gourmet lunch experience at this link.

It was a wonderful and memorable experience. If you have the opportunity to spend a few hours riding the Wine Train when you visit Napa Valley I'd highly recommend it!



I'm linking up with Susan's blog  A Southern Daydreamer for "Outdoor Wednesday." and Cathy's blog A Bit of the Blarney for "Adventure Tour." Please visit their blogs and join in all the fun!

Napa Valley ~ Beringer Winery

After spending two days in some of the wine regions in Sonoma, California that I described in my prior blog posts, we drove to nearby Napa Valley.  You can view an interesting video created in 2002 by the Napa Valley Vintners called "Bottling Poetry,"  on this link which takes you through some of the fascinating highlights and history of the Napa Valley. (All photos will enlarge if clicked on once and then again when they open in a new window)

Napa Valley features more than 400 wineries that grow many grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Zinfandel, and other popular varietals. From north to south the major towns to visit are Calistoga, St. Helena, Rutherford, Oakville, Yountville, and Napa.  Bounded on both sides by mountains, the Napa Valley stretches approximately 30 miles in a northwesterly direction, its width ranging from five miles at the widest point near the city of Napa to just a mile where the valley narrows near the town of Calistoga.

My husband and I felt fortunate to be able to take the Vintage Heritage Tour of the Beringer Winery located at 2000 Main Street in St. Helena in Napa valley.   Beringer is the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley since its establishment in 1876. From their beautiful and historic Rhine House seen in the first photo upper left, to their wine aging caves which were dug into the hillside of Spring Mountain from the late 1870's, in the last photo lower right, the tour highlighted all the special features of Beringer's wine making.  It also included a barrel tasting of a pre-release wine, and a sit-down tasting in their Cellar Room of 2 current-release wines. 

Walking through the vineyards while sipping tastings of their famous wines was a delightful way to spend a few hours in Napa, and we learned quite a bit about the process of wine making.

Come back for my next post where we'll take a ride on the Napa Wine Train that includes a gourmet lunch and a visit to another historic winery! I'll also be visiting Food Network chef Michael Chiarello's Restaurant "Bottega" in Napa Valley.

I'm adding this post to Mary's blog The Little Red House for her "Mosaic Monday" event.  Please visit Mary today to see her beautiful photo mosaic and links to all the blogs participating in her event.