From there we met Matt Buoncristiani with the Buoncristiani Family Winery to do our first tour. It's goingto be hard to beat this one. We were the only people on the tour - just us with Matt (one of the four owner-brothers), 6 fantastic wines, a cave winery-in-progress, and amazing views from the Soda Canyon. Can't wait to come back in a year or two and see the finished product.
(Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera on the mountain top, but this is a photo of the vineyard they manage at the hotel and spa Villagio.)
From there itwas off to In-N-Out Burger for a Double-Double with Animal-Style Fries and a Chocolate Shake. I'd never actually had the Animal Style Fries. If you're unfamiliar, it's a secret menu item. Take their perfect fresh cut fries and add sauteed onions, cheese, and their special sauce (thousand island). Excellent.
Back to the wine. Checked out Darioush Winery. I'd had their alternate label cabernet sauvignon called "Caravan," but never Darioush proper, mostly because of the price, despite seeing it in Knoxville quite often. Pretty over the top decor (see photos below). Wine was underwhelming - especially for the retail price tag.
Decided to drive down Silverado Trail from there and happened to land in Yountville. Pulled into a convenient parking spot off the road and realized we were next to a nice small garden. Hoping that we could walk around, and then seeing someone already in there, we made our way over. But this was no ordinary garden - this was the French Laundry's private garden. Wait, where are we? I looked across the street (across from my convenient parking spot) and quickly realized we were at The French Laundry. It was like a magnet drew us there.
Followed up a walk in the garden with a visit to Ma(i)sonry - an art and wine gallery and tasting room. Probably some of the best sculpture I've ever seen. Lots of skulls, too, which are always fun. A great hang spot for late afternoon. They serve wines from 15 or so local boutique wineries that are too small to offer their own tasting rooms. Great spot.
Finished the night with our first big dinner at REDD. So many items on the menu looked so good, we had to go for the 5 course tasting menu plus wine pairings. We each got a different item each course, so 10 total dishes. Same for the wine - 10 different wines. Highlights were:
Sashimi of yellowfin tuna, sticky rice, edamame, lime ginger sauce
Carnaroli risotto, maine lobster, meyer lemon confit, truffle oil
Crispy duck confit, lentils, foie gras meatballs, crispy spaetzle
Prime new york steak and shortribs, crispy potatoes, bacon, and cipollini onion ragout
Overall, I've got mixed opinions about REDD. The decor and design is top notch. Very minimalist with earthy tones. Nice bar, too. The ambiance is OK. Didn't notice the music, but the old people around us were kinda annoying. (I guess that has nothing to do with the restaurant itself.)
The food was mostly really good. I thought the desserts fell short for a James Beard award-winning pastry chef (maybe I was just too tired to care) and the pork belly was waaayyy over salted. Disappointing. The rest of the food, though, was either really good or excellent. The wines, on the other hand, were forgettable for me.
The service was a little clunky. I expected more. Items arrived in an inconsistent manner and I didn't really feel taken care of.
For the price ($75 per tasting menu plus $45 per wine pairing), I would rate REDD at 3.75 stars out of 5.
I must say the animal style fries sound like death to all who dare devour it, haha.
ReplyDelete