The Ultimate Napa Valley Dining Guide

Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s name has become synonymous with high-touch, experience-driven Japanese fare around the world. So the arrival of his eponymous restaurant in Downtown Napa is a huge boon for the region, featuring stellar sake flights, creative pan-Asian preparations, and top-notch sushi. In addition to the modern and warm dining spaces (featuring two nine-foot terracotta warriors and 50-year-old Napa cabernet vines), plan on spending time in Momosan Sake Bar, where both sake and Japanese whisky abound.
How to book: Reservations are available via OpenTable.

Matt Stamp and Ryan Stetin’s Michelin-starred Compline Restaurant quickly shot to the top of our Napa favorites list thanks, naturally, to their quality wine selection in the attached bottle shop (we love the focus on bubbles and affordable bottles) and their menu of literally everything we want to eat, from a duck-laced lasagna at dinner time to a stellar burger and duck fat fries at lunch. Now, the team has opened a second space for an even more extensive selection of hard-to-find bottles that’s also a tasting lounge with a vinyl soundtrack (inspired by record bars in Japan). The shop plays host to regular wine events, and offers multiple, changing tasting flights.
How to book: Reservations for the restaurant are available online; reservations for tastings at the bottle shop are available via OpenTable.

Chef Cindy Pawlcyn’s “deluxe truck stop” has been holding court on St. Helena Highway for almost four decades, and for good reason: while local, wood-fired fare has become ubiquitous in Napa Valley (and California at large), Mustards was doing it before most, and better than many still, with a playful focus on comfort food classics that happen to pair perfectly with the restaurant’s selection of local wine. Because when’s the last time you had a delicious slab of meatloaf alongside a magnificent Malbec?
How to book: Reservations are available online.

A gourmet food hall and marketplace that puts most others to shame, Oxbow is a one-stop shop where you can grab fresh-shucked oysters from Hog Island, an Ahi Burger from Gott’s, Ritual Coffee, and locally distilled spirits, to name just a few vendors. We love Oxbow at all days and times, but Locals’ Night on Tuesdays, which includes live music and deals, is particularly special.
How to book: Vendors are first-come, first-served.

A longstanding Napa favorite, Bistro Don Giovanni is the Italian restaurant of our fantasies, from the convivial “welcome to the family” vibe to the stunning outdoor space complete with vineyard views and an excellent wine list to match. And then, of course, there’s the food. From the handmade pastas, to Mama Concetta’s meatballs served atop creamy polenta, this is the kind of food our dream nonna would make.
How to book: Reservations are available online.

Michelin-starred destinations are great, but sometimes (most of the time), what we really want is a damn good taco truck. Napa more than delivers in the form of Tacos El Muchacho Alegre, which holds court next to Universal Auto and can, in our estimation, do no wrong. The truck, run by the Pelayo Gomez family, does everything well, from tacos and quesadillas to burritos and ceviche, but we’re partial to the Jalisco-style Torta Ahogada, in which a sandwich loaded with a filling of your choice is drenched in fiery-red spicy salsa.
How to order: Order in person.

Thomas Keller is kind of the man when it comes to Napa, which makes it hard to decide which of his concepts to recommend. And while we fully support going big whenever possible (heard of a little restaurant called The French Laundry?), we’re a little bit obsessed with Ad Hoc, his more casual but still mind-blowingly delicious love letter to masterfully executed American comfort fare. The four-course menu changes daily, is served family style, and kind of feels like what a best-of-all-worlds family dinner should be, if one of your family members happened to be one of the best chefs in the world—with the best fried chicken you’ve ever had. Addendum, which offers lunch to go and in the garden, closes for the winter, but when warm weather returns to the valley be sure to add it to your must-visit list.
How to book: Reservations are available online.

One of the cooler boutique hotels in Wine Country, North Block’s restaurant is also one of our favorite destinations for wood-fired fare, stellar cocktails, and oysters. Whether you’re stopping in for a sourdough pizza snack and dollar oysters at the nightly oyster hour or settling in for a full-scale feast centered around a Dry-Aged New York Strip Steak or Cacio e Pepe featuring hand-cut tagliatelle, there is, truly, never a bad time to visit.
How to book: Reservations are available Resy.

The oldest continually operating grocery store in California, Oakville Grocery is far more than a historic pitstop on your way to winery number two—or six. It’s also a destination in its own right, home to a truly stellar selection of gourmet pantry items, wines, and picnic fare, with an extensive menu of gourmet sandwiches, salads, wood-fired pizza, and more. They also have breakfast sandwiches, burritos, and pastries, which is pretty much always a good idea.
How to order: Order for curbside pickup online.

Auberge du Soleil has to be one of the most luxurious and picturesque places to stay in Napa—the view of the Valley alone makes it a magical, splurge-worthy destination. Fortunately, us mere mortals can get a taste of its glory by stopping in for a meal. Lean into luxury at the Restaurant (which has earned 14 consecutive Michelin star awards, for those keeping score) that offers prix-fixe menus of varying lengths, along with wines from the hotel’s 15,000 bottle cellar and bubbles from a dedicated Champagne cart. Or stop by the Bistro and Bar for a cocktail or a glass of wine with some oysters and charcuterie. Or maybe you prefer your panoramic view with some Steak Frites or a burger. Whatever you choose, we say Sante!
How to book: Reservations for the Restaurant are available online; reservations for the Bistro and Bar are available here.

Sometimes, we find ourselves in wine country with a bit of a hangover (shocking, right?). Thankfully, Model Bakery exists and makes what is, arguably, the greatest breakfast sandwich in the world—a cloud of scrambled egg topped with melty cheddar and Canadian bacon is layered between Model’s absolutely legendary, plate-sized, house-baked English muffins. The muffins alone are a work of incomparable beauty—pillow-soft interior, griddle-crisp exterior—and are a favorite of Oprah’s, in case you needed further inspiration. Really though, Model Bakery is the best, the English muffins are tops, and everything else, from the pastries to the sandwiches to the breakfast burrito, are delicious. We particularly love the original St. Helena version but the Napa and Yountville bakeries are just as good and we will take Model Bakery wherever we can get it.
How to order: Order for curbside pickup online.

What if the acclaimed chef of a three-Michelin-starred restaurant opened a casual spot centered around open-fire cooking, with a similar focus on excellent ingredients, an indoor-outdoor space, and one of the better burgers and brunches in Napa County? There’s all of that, plus cocktails and wine and a happy hour where you could eat chef-blessed chicken wings with a margarita or a beer and a shot. Not only does this place exist, but chef Christopher Kostow of The Restaurant at Meadowood is the one behind the burger and the brunch and the wings and the house bread with cultured butter that should absolutely be the start of your meal.
How to book: Reservations are available Resy.

Long Meadow Ranch is the real deal when it comes to sustainability. The Ranch raises grass-fed, pasture-raised Highland cattle, along with chickens; grows wine grapes, olives, and heirloom fruits and vegetables; and cultivates bees, while also being a solar-powered example of full-circle organic farming. Farmstead, the Ranch’s restaurant, is a wonderful place to taste the delicious fruits of their labor, particularly any and all dishes that showcase the grass-fed beef (looking at you, Tartare and Steak Frites). Anything involving their orange-yolked eggs is a good idea, too.
How to book: Reservations are available online.

A beloved local favorite, Pizzeria Tra Vigne is an obvious go-to for wood-fired sourdough pizza, mozzarella “al minuto” (hand-pulled fresh mozzarella), and a very excellent burger. They’re also a stellar place to go with kids, a group, or anyone who likes a very good nightly happy hour—after a glorious day of wine tasting, what could be better than to tuck into some oysters, arancini, and chicken wings?
How to book: Reservations available for parties of six or more are available online; all other tables are first-come, first-served.

This being California, we remain confident in our ability to eat healthfully without sacrificing deliciousness. That’s absolutely the case at House of Better in Calistoga which happens to be housed at Dr. Wilkinson’s Backyard Resort and Mineral Springs, a retro-fabulous hot springs destination and hotel. House of Better is run by Trevor Logan, previously of San Francisco’s beloved Green Chile Kitchen and Chile Pies & Ice Cream, and has brought his New Mexico-inspired, green-chile-appreciating fare north to Napa Valley. In addition to fresh takes on tacos and enchiladas, find grain bowls, salads, and wood-fired flatbreads aplenty, plus house-blended medicinal teas, herbal elixirs, and wine—plus pie. Our favorite part of wellness is definitely the pie.
How to book: Reservations are available via OpenTable.