Tuesday, April 12, 2011

REDD Napa Valley

I've been hearing good things about REDD so we decided to take a drive to wine country and have dinner.
It turned out to be quite a journey since my husband in his infinite wisdom and that male direction thing they all have, took the wrong freeway.  I know we were supposed to go on Hwy 12 but NO, Charlie says we go Hwy 37 which would have worked if he would have taken all the exits that said Napa or Sonoma.  Finally after riding for about 2 hours and my directions being ignored, I plugged in the GPS and finally made it to Yountville.  Otherwise we probably would have ended up in Eureka because this man doesn't turn around, just keeps driving.  Actually and luckily we had enough time for the scenic route, saw lots of great wineries that I want to visit on my next trip and made it to REDD right on time..and he did admit he was wrong!
 The restaurant it's self  is fairly small seating 90.  The bar area and a small eating area is in the front as you enter, the main dining room connects and has a smaller dining room off of it.  The decor is all light wood and white walls with large windows giving it a very open airy feeling. It reminded me of Pottery Barn for some reason, but in a good way.   After being promptly seated we looked over the menu..I wanted one of each item. I asked our waitress about the tasting menu and was told it consisted of five courses, each of us would get a different dish per course so we could share if we wanted.  That sounded like a good way to try a variety of dishes so we opted to go that route.  We started with Hamachi sashimi and the Yellowfin Tuna tartare, both of course were excellent.  I especially liked the crispy fried rice on top of the tartare, nice textural contrast. 
Yellowfin tuna tartare with fried rice
Hamachi, sticky rice,edamae w/lime ginger sauce
2nd course was the scallops and the sea bass..hard to pick which was better.

sea bass, coconut rice,clams, chorizo
caramelized scallops, cauliflower
3rd course my favorite pork belly, delicious but the foie gras meatball was to die for.
pork belly,apple puree,soy caramel
crispy duck confit w/ foie gras meatball, crispy spaetzle
The sweetbreads was just a course we added.  We love sweetbreads and the couple at the next table kept raving about how wonderful they were so we just had to try them.  Yes, they were wonderful.  Crispy sweetbreads with wonderful red wine shallots.
sauteed sweet breads, parsnip puree, brussel sprout leaves,red wine shallots
The meat course was probably my least wow inspiring dishes.  They were good but pretty basic slices of lamb and beef.
lamb,white beans, arugula
Prime New York, short rib,salt potatoes
Last course was the desert, the lemon was my favorite, though I didn't get a chance to try the ice cream, it was gone before I could get a bite.  The chocolate was rich and decadent.
Meyer lemon meringue, huckleberries, cream cheese ice cream
Trio of Chocolate
It was fun to get to try a number of outstanding dishes and I have a whole list of the other ones I want to try the next time we go back.  I think the first time at the restaurant the tasting menu is the way to go to get a variety and feel for the food there.  No matter which way you go, everything is delicious.
Service is spot on, the waitress was friendly and knowledgeable, we had to laugh every time she came by after each course to reset the table for the next course, even though we didn't use half the silver ware on the table.  It got to be a kind of  running joke by the end of the evening.
A very excellent restaurant..great food, ambiance and service.

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