The Restaurant at Meadowood: A Culinary Escape

Shop, Stop, Stay, and Be Satisfied

M.L. Hilton

(ST. HELENA, CA) – Take your time, sit back, smell, look, taste, then . . . savor. Dining at The Restaurant is certainly a journey through wonderful local produce, meats, sauces and wines, but it can take a quick and unexpected jump to some foreign land – if that is where the best pairing pleasure can be found.

Executive Chef Vincent Nattress and Restaurant Chef Joseph Humphrey have put together – at an incredibly reasonable price (considering the quality and the venue) -- probably the most diverse menu, with the most selection flexibility, that I have seen locally.

Patterned after Cyrus in Healdsburg, it is the Grrranimals of fine dining. Approximately 20 dishes varied in flavor, and substance are offered on the menu nightly. From that you can have complete control over your menu by selecting in any order and from any subsection (“Beginnings,” “The Nearby Waters,” “Local Gardens, Pastures, & Ranches,” “Artisan Cheeses”) dishes for your meal.

Prices are set by the number of courses you would like to enjoy: three courses $59 / $85 with wines paired; four courses $72 / $100 with wines paired; and five courses $85 /$115 with wines paired.

For those who like to give up control, a chef’s tasting menu is offered nightly. On Wednesday, August 9th, seven different “tastes” were presented ($95 / $135 with wines). I made it through six of the seven. Of course, part of the problem was that I helped myself to some of my dinner companion’s selections. He chose off the menu, the four course meal, selecting things that were not similar to my tasting menu dishes (easy to do).

The wine list is certainly respectable enough for any aficionado, and approachable enough for those like me – who love good wines and finding things I wouldn’t order myself. There are about 700 labels in the wine book for those who do not choose from the pairing menus. Wines by the glass range in price from $7 to $15 with producers such as Plumpjack, Patz & Hall, and Schramsberg.

What is fun about choosing the pairing selections is that you are likely to enjoy some surprises. Neither the chefs, nor the sommelier, are afraid to present one dish with a hearty red wine and then return to a white or even a rose.

What I love about pairing menus (besides the fabulous food and the individual tastes of different wines) is the challenge of sorting out the flavors. At first you are like: hmmm, did they nail it? Then you roll the tastes around your tongue and start getting into the puzzle.

The pairing I think nailed it on the night I dined was the Point Reyes Grass-fed beef (served with trumpet mushrooms, cranberry beans, cabernet sauce) and the 2001 Bressler Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

The merlot I enjoyed the most rolling around my tongue and making slurping noises was the 2002 Napa Valley Seavey. It was paired with Liberty Farms duck breast, yellow beets, walnuts, and turnip puree. But it was the Pavi Dolcetto (2004) served with the Wolf Ranch quail that I kept coming back to.

If you choose the pairing menu, be prepared to stay for awhile. Our dinner was about three hours long, and we opted out of dessert, but could not pass up the artisan cheeses.

Meadowood is certainly a family environment, but if you are thinking about enjoying your meal in the company of your children, you may want to forgo a lengthy tasting experience and opt for the less leisurely service and more child-friendly meals in The Grill.

If you would like to experience Meadowood for yourself, check out their contact information on WineCountry.com