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Friday, November 13, 2015

Meadowood-Casual Elegance in Napa Valley


In an effort to dine at all 3000 San Francisco restaurants(700 and counting) and visit all 600 Napa wineries(300 and counting), my wife Linda and I recently had the pleasure to experience the magnificent Meadowood Resort in Napa Valley.

Located only an hour drive from our home in Danville, Meadowood offers a magical, memorable world class experience that defines excellence.
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The resort offers a variety of luxurious guest rooms, a 9 hole recently renovated golf course, tennis, spa and a 3 star Michelin rated restaurant.

We enjoyed playing golf at the 9 hole 2000 yard perfectly manicured and recently renovated course. The course reminded us of the pure beauty of Lake Tahoe courses with stately pine trees flanking the Par 3 Golf Course. There is also a high tech learning center that offers lessons and a unique hickory golf experience. You can choose to play the course with a set of hickory golf clubs just like the golfers originally used in Scotland.

After golf, the nearby newly constructed spa, offers a peaceful surrounding and a variety of treatments to relax you before your 3 star dining experience.

The Restaurant at Meadowood is one of five 3 star Michelin rated restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. French Laundry, Benu, Saison and Manresa are the other 4. We have been to Thomas Keller's French Laundry and also to famous  Michelin chef Alain Ducasse's Jules Verne restaurant located at the top of the world renown Eiffel Tower in Paris. As a result, we were looking forward to Chef Christopher Kostow's creations as he also crafted his cooking skills in France.

We were not disappointed as we enjoyed a heavenly experience of excellent service and passionate presentations from the 13 course price fixed menu.

The Restaurant at Meadowood has the privilege of being surrounded by hillsides that include creeks, woodlands and a lot of natural bounty. The food is prepared with an element of surprise and engages diners with a progression of dishes presented from cold courses to warm courses.  The thirteen-course meal begins with an okra flower stuffed with an okra paste inside, served on a beautiful piece of pottery.

Textures are a common thread that runs through all the dishes.  Diners are engaged with an orchestrated progression of dishes. No menus are provided until the end of the meal. Each dish is a "surprise".
The pottery was amazing. A local artist provided the dishes with unique shapes and textures that perfectly complements the food and makes it magical.

A poussin prepared inside a round bread loaf as a cooking vessel was a favorite.  Prior to being cooked, the dish was brought to our table on a bed of multi colored corn kernels. The waiter explained the cooking process which made us eager to see the result.  The poussin was clean and beautifully flavored and a highlight among the courses.

By the 6th course we gave ourselves away to the experience... and we were somewhere over the rainbow.

The staff was very well trained and delightful to talk with.  They all have a variety of experiences and come from many different locations in the world.  They took the fine dining experience over the top. We had the opportunity to tour the kitchen where all the staff welcomed us in unison as we entered. Each station was displayed as artists at work.

In conclusion, we would definitely recommend you put Meadowood on your bucket list.

Meadowood is a Dream...........

The experience will be an eternal joy to add to your foodie and fun memory bank. For more information and to make reservations go to:

www.meadowood.com