Eating your way around Yountville, California
Yountville is as full of good food as it is great wine. It’s also home to one of the top three restaurants in the world - The French Laundry. However, with a 2 month waiting list and a $250pp bill, it may not be for everyone. Being the big foodie that I am though - I think if I had of done my research beforehand, I would happily eat baked beans in the lead up to save for this once in a lifetime dining experience! My credit card was thankful that they were booked out though, and luckily Yountville offers many other great options. Below were my dining choices for this trip. A good mix of affordable, quality food for to keep your belly full in between all the wine tasting...
R & D Kitchen
Not a huge menu, but enough to keep everyone happy. We chose to go with the goat’s cheese omelette, the meatloaf, and of course - a serve of fries. I’m a BIG fries fan, so tend to rate restaurants with an entirely separate score for the fries. These ones weren’t bad, and scored points for being well presented in a cone. Medium size. Not quite thick, not quite shoe string… and had good taste. Overall - a 6/10. The omelette was spot on, highly recommend. The meat loaf was a bit on the dry side, and there’s most likely better things you could pick from the menu. Price wise for 2 mains, a share serve of fried and a bottle of Sav, we paid around the $65 USD mark in total. Not bad.
Bouchon Bakery
For your morning coffee and sugary treat - you can’t go past this one! The macaroons here are to die for (and larger than you’ll see anywhere else!). A medium sized coffee and a macaroon will keep your purse and your tummy happy at $6.75. Of if it’s a quick lunchtime snack your after - the ham and cheese baguettes come highly recommended! This place has queues out the door on the weekends, but if you are finding you have to line up- it’s well worth it. Make it your morning local for sure!
The Lakeside Grill (Golf Club)
This is a really great pick for a cheap lunch date with a view, and within walking distance from the main street. Again - you can BYO here, and corkage is only $9 (which for whatever reason, our waiter kindly removed from the bill for us). A huge range of burgers, burritos, tacos, and sandwiches… there’s something to please everyone. I loaded up with 3 tacos (a steal at 3 bucks each!), while mum went with the Chicken sandwich. It was raining outside so we stayed in the bar area - nowhere near as good for atmosphere, but for what you’re paying you can’t complain. Our bill was a combined total of $15. The complimentary corkage definitely helped win us over here, but even then - the price of the drinks is so responsible at the Lakeside Grill you really don’t even need to BYO!
Hurleys
The big plus for Hurleys is the free corkage. This can be pretty pricey around Napa - some places charging $20-25. So to get it free felt like a massive win.
The ambience here is beautiful, and makes you feel like the bill is going to be a lot higher than it actually is. But the highlight for me- was the entirely separate menu for Gluten Free. I felt very special not having to just pick from a choice of 3 things on the generic menu…this one was a long list of entrees, mains and desserts - and left me stuck for choice! So I ended up going with the pumpkin risotto. Coming out served to me inside an actually pumpkin was a big win it itself - but the taste was amazing!! Perfection as far as risotto goes. The side serve of brussle sprout leaves I could live without - but I always hated those things anyways.
Mum went with a vegetable tangine (which she also raved about, so I can only assume comes highly recommend also). Fries for this one - an 8/10. Big portion, medium in size, cooked to perfection and the sort you can’t stop eating. Our waitress was very helpful in suggesting she bring out our mains soon before we fill up on too much potato goodness! My waistline was definitely grateful for that.
So with 2 mains, 1 serve of fries, and no corkage for our bottle of red- the total bill was at $60. Not bad for a candlelit dinner for two!