1. Angèle
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 252-8115
Address: 540 Main Street
Description: Adding to the revitalization of the Hatt Building complex is this restaurant serving French brasserie cuisine. The building was once a boathouse along the first bend of the Napa River. In addition to the large indoor dining area, there is also a pleasant patio that seats 80. Some examples of the entrees you can expect are roasted striped bass on bean stew; petrale sole with baby spinach, capers, and raspberry vinegar; chicken with morels and asparagus; and duck breast with roasted fingerling potatoes. Dessert options include gratin of banana with almond crust or vanilla ice cream with candied chestnuts. There is a full bar, and reservations are accepted for daily lunch and dinner.
2. Barbersq
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 224-6600
Address: 3900 Bel Aire Plaza, Suite D
Description: As the name suggests, the fare here is barbecue, Memphis style: baby back ribs, pulled-pork sandwiches, short-rib sandwiches, lamb burgers, and all the fixins. The whole roasted vinegar chicken is worth the cost and the wait (45 minutes), but it’s enough for two to four. For a barbecue joint, the wine list is well developed. It’s a fun atmosphere suitable for families, and it’s open daily for lunch and dinner.
3. Bayleaf
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 257-9720
Address: 2025 Monticello Road
Description: If you need a special place for a big party or wedding reception, Bayleaf may be the answer. It’s spacious, with four separate dining rooms and a 150-seat patio. Each dining room has its own distinct feel—huge skylights in one, a large wood bar and fireplace in another. The food portions are generous, and menu items might include seared scallops, garlic mint chicken breast, and several pizza selections. For your sweet tooth there’s mango-apple cobbler. Lunch and dinner are served daily except Tuesday.
4. Bistro Don Giovanni
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 224-3300
Address: 4110 Howard Lane (at St. Helena Highway
Description: This place is romantic, with subdued earth tones, unpolished wood, vineyard views, high ceilings, and fireplaces in and out. Just make sure you can still concentrate on the food, which favors regional Italian dishes while tossing in a bit of Provence. The pan-seared salmon fillet with buttermilk mashed potatoes is excellent, as is the grilled portobello mushroom appetizer. Side dishes not to be missed are the sautéed spinach with garlic or the house-marinated Mediterranean olives. The restaurant is also noted for its risottos and pastas. Don Giovanni is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. The menu changes daily, and there is a full bar.
5. Bleaux Magnolia
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 252-2230
Address: 1408 Clay Street
Description: Cajun food in Napa Valley has been hard to come by before now. This restaurant (the Bleaux is pronounced “blue”) set out to turn French cuisine on its ear with contemporary Creole cooking by way of Louisiana. The cornbread-crusted catfish is drizzled with huckleberry sauce, and the seafood gumbo is cooked to order. Huckleberries appear again in the bread pudding at meal’s end, unless you choose to indulge in a house-made root beer float. Lunch and dinner are served Tuesday through Saturday; brunch and dinner are served on Sunday.
6. Celadon
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 254-9690
Address: 500 Main Street
Description: Global comfort food is the emphasis of this fine eatery housed in the historic Napa Mill and Hatt Marketplace along the Napa River. In addition to the main dining room, there’s a spacious patio and all-day dining in the bar. The flavors are inspired by Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Americas. The chef might tempt you with crab cakes or flash-fried calamari, followed by a truffle-and-honey-glazed pork chop or braised Algerian-style lamb shank. Celadon is open daily for lunch and dinner, and reservations are accepted.
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1122 Main Street
8. Cuvée
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 224-2330
Address: 1650 Soscol Avenue
Description: You might want to time your visit to Napa to take advantage of the outdoor patio at this restaurant. It’s a lovely and inviting place to enjoy potato-wrapped salmon, rock shrimp and salmon potpie, or spice-rubbed skirt steak. Combine one of those entrees with a succotash of fava beans, peas, and grilled corn on the side. For dessert there might be strawberry peach crisp or flourless chocolate cake. Cuvée is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday; a late-night menu is offered until midnight Friday and Saturday in the bar.
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1314 McKinstry Street
10. Pearl
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 224-9161
Address: 1339 Pearl Street, Suite 104
Description: Proprietors Nickie and Pete Zeller have created a comfortable bistro with soaring ceilings and lots of artwork to ponder as you enjoy fresh oysters served in a multitude of ways. There are soups, pizzas, sandwiches, and chicken and beef dishes with Mexican, Italian, and even Asian influences. Try the triple-double pork chop with an apple-Dijon brine, or a New York steak with blue cheese and roasted garlic butter. The wine list includes several obscure Napa Valley labels. Open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner; closed Sunday and Monday.
11. Piccolino’S Italian Cafe
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 251-0100
Address: 1385 Napa Town Center
Description: Food has always meant comfort to Joe Salerno, who grew up stirring pots and making sausage with his extended Italian family in upstate New York. Salerno now does his best to create fond memories at Piccolino’s, his unpretentious, child-friendly restaurant in downtown Napa. The cafe offers fresh fish dishes, house-made sausage, and four types of pizza. The pasta entrees are highlighted by the colorful fettuccine Calabrese, with its multitude of simple ingredients, and the lasagna, a family recipe that employs a light ricotta shipped in from the East Coast. Lasagna and spaghetti are available in immense family-style portions. The wine list is primarily Napan, though it does include a small line of Italians. Piccolino’s is open daily for lunch and dinner, plus brunch on weekends.
12. Tuscany
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (707) 258-1000
Address: 1005 First Street
Description: Guess the specialty: the cooking of northern Italy. Start with a traditional minestrone with a bevy of vegetables and pancetta. Follow that with risotto con quaglia, featuring walnuts and a touch of Gorgonzola cheese topped with two roasted quail. Classic cannoli is the perfect finishing touch. The menu also includes pizzas from the wood-fired oven and rotisseried rabbit, veal, pork, and chicken. There’s a counter with stools where you can watch the chefs preparing such fare as a halibut steak with roasted red and golden beets on the side. Open daily for dinner; lunch is served Monday through Friday.
City: Napa, CA
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1140 Main Street