Northern California’s famed Wine Country is not only home to a premium wine-growing region studded with countless top-rated vineyards, but it’s also chock-full of exceptional dining destinations.
Looking to splurge on your next visit? Head to one of these Michelin-starred restaurants:
Auberge du Soleil
Napa ValleyMichelin Rating: One Star
What It Is: Restaurateur Claud Rouas’s restaurant set within the 33-acre olive grove “Inn of the Sun” offering Mediterranean-inspired cuisine by executive chef Robert Curry.
What Our Inspectors Say: “This is one of the first restaurants to elevate the Napa Valley to greatness. For the past decade, Chef Robert Curry has been ensuring its legacy with cooking that is the very definition of California cuisine: global flavors expressed through local, seasonal, and fresh ingredients. The kitchen’s work is as impressive as the setting. Everything seems just a bit more beautiful from this extraordinary perch, overlooking the vineyards, mountains, and gardens.”
The French Laundry
Napa ValleyMichelin Rating: Three Stars
What It Is: Thomas Keller’s flagship restaurant that’s been the fine dining Napa Valley go-to for over two decades.
What Our Inspectors Say: “Chef Keller continues to pair incredibly classic French techniques with wildly fresh ingredients in a setting that is a perfect storm of restaurant greatness—we should all be so lucky to score a reservation here in our lifetime. Choose from two seasonal tasting menus, including a vegetarian option. Both feature products from boutique purveyors. Dinners may highlight signature oysters paired with white sturgeon caviar in a warm sabayon studded with tapioca pearls or golden striped bass with deconstructed deviled eggs.”
Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant
Sonoma CountyMichelin Rating: One Star
What It Is: Nestled inside a charming inn, executive chef Steve Litke’s delicate menu uses ingredients from two fifth-generation Sonoma farmers.
What Our Inspectors Say: “Dinner guests will find themselves charmed by the dining room’s soothing colors, rustic-elegant décor, crackling fireplace, and numerous intimate nooks—including an enclosed patio. The protein-centric menu reads like an ode to California’s purveyors, and a focus on seasonality is in keeping with the area’s ethos.”
The rotunda at The Restaurant at Meadowood. (Photo courtesy of The Restaurant at Meadowood, photography by Kelly Puleio)
The Restaurant at Meadowood
Napa ValleyMichelin Rating: Three Stars
What It Is: Executive chef Christopher Kostow’s “modern American restaurant meant to speak to and positively impact the Napa Valley.”
What Our Inspectors Say: “ Everything here exudes California-style wealth and comfort, from those cottages dotting the Napa hills to the front lounge’s stone fireplace and shelves lined with Chef Kostow's debut cookbook. Beyond this, the dining room is a sophisticated barn of sorts, decked in polished stone tables, wood columns, and rural splendor. This all makes for an elegant backdrop for romantic evenings or family celebrations, as long as everyone is willing to splurge. Servers are impeccable, professional, and know how to keep their guests happy and at ease. The cooking never ceases to better itself through innovation and purity.”
SingleThread
Sonoma CountyMichelin Rating: Two Stars
What It Is: Husband and wife duo Kyle (he’s the chef) and Katina (she’s the farmer/horticulturist) Connaughton’s Californian-meets-Japanese restaurant.
What Our Inspectors Say: “Each element of the experience is treated with utmost precision, from the swank rooftop garden where diners enjoy champagne and canapés to the plush rooms at the adjoining inn, where many bed down after the meal. Yet the experience is always warm: staff contribute to the décor, chat merrily with guests, and add to the overall feeling of a rich, regional celebration of place.”
Bouchon
Napa ValleyMichelin Rating: One Star
What It Is: Thomas Keller’s more relaxed French bistro featuring a seasonal menu and raw bar.
What Our Inspectors Say: “A theatrical crowd uplifts the space with conviviality, and every lavish banquette or stool at the bustling bar is full. Always. Thanks to the house bakery next door, the bread here is ace, so grab an extra hunk of the supremely fresh and crusty pain d'epi to slather with butter. The menu lists well-executed classics, including a rosy foie gras torchon with seasonal orange preserves and golden-brown toasted brioche. And thanks to the attentive staff, you may even get a second slice.”
Sonoma duck breast with sesame tofu and wasabi-infused gelée at Kenzo. (Photo by Bob McClenahan)
Kenzo
Napa ValleyMichelin Rating: One Star
What It Is: Kenzo Estate owners Kenzo and Natsuko Tsujimoto’s elegant Japanese restaurant using ingredients flown in daily from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market.
What Our Inspectors Say: “Though Kenzo offers a handful of tables, the best seats are at the lengthy counter, where diners can chat with the chefs and see their sushi made firsthand. Two menus are offered under the guidance of acclaimed chef Eiji Onoyama: one exclusively spotlights elegant kaiseki dishes like sea urchin chawanmushi and poached blue shrimp with asparagus, while the other also integrates a dozen pieces of nigiri, sourced directly from Tokyo’s famed Tsukiji Fish Market.”
Hero image courtesy of Bob McClenahan.
This article first appeared on the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco website. Click here to read the original story.
This article first appeared on the MICHELIN Guide San Francisco website. Click here to read the original story.
