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Bardessono Restaurant 
Yountville, CA

The Bardessono menu made me do it. I knew better, but I ordered the seven-course tasting menu.

The menu is a who’s who of Northern California artesian and organic whiz kid producers—ranging from Healdsburg’s White Crane Springs Ranch (how could anything from a place called White Crane Springs be anything but delightful?) to Marin’s Bolinas Star Route Farms—the oldest continuously certified organic grower in California.

The meats are herded-up by Marin’s Devil’s Gulch Ranch (milk-fed, free-range piggies) and Napa Valley’s Don Watson sheep. Watson sheep, shepherded by Peruvian shepherds are not only free-range, but clear the brush for Napa’s vineyards. Oysters are grown in Tomales Bay, and the Alaskan halibut conveniently swims within day-boat distance of Bodega Bay.

My first course bright green fava bean and basil tapenade sat on a lush-looking chanterelle mushroom and toast. French breakfast radishes lent color and crunch. The thick paste of fresh favas was flavored with basil, garlic and anchovies. It spiked the earthy flavor of the delicate, nutty chanterelle that was pleasantly chewy against the crisp toast. Fresh chanterelles, a particular Pacific Northwest treat harvested from the wild, seemed the perfect starter to demonstrate the "deep green" philosophy that drives Bardessono both inside and out of the kitchen.

"We’re trying to offer different products, to show people that there are some different things." Bardessono’s Executive Chef, Sean O’Toole, recently told the Napa Valley Register. He puts the tasting menu together every night from what’s best from Bardessono’s own half-acre garden and the region.

"The fare is simple," he added, "but based on outstanding ingredients."

A Johnson & Wales-trained chef, O’Toole also studied under the culinary greats—Alain Ducasse, Daniel Boloud and France’s Jacques Maximin. And his Bay Area mentors, like Quince’s Michael Tusk, helped develop the synergy O’Toole creates between the region’s farmers and his restaurant kitchen.

Of course, when inspired, O’Toole goes further afield (or to sea) as he did for Course Two—lobster gazpacho. A light lobster broth with tiny celery cubes, was flavored with espazote and red pepper. On top red and succulent lobster chunks floated amidst coconut froth. Espazote, a pungent Latin America herb is a taste I haven’t acquired, but in this dish, it did not overwhelm just set off the sublime Asian-inspired coconut, lobster and red pepper trio.

Sitting along a wall of windows, I studied the fantastic glass chandelier that hung over a slab of peachy-cream granite of  their twigginess in the glass. Assembled along a glass log they made a subtle light show. On warmer nights, dinner service is under the stars, or umbrellas, or heaters.

Still going strong Course Three arrived as I reminded myself to do more tasting less eating. But the seductive Potato Gnocchi with three green peas—green fava, English green peas and snap peas—arrived, I just ate it all before I could stop myself.

Course Four, the Day Boat Alaskan Halibut mentioned above, was a thickly-sliced and gently swished with porcini, pearl onions and chicken jus and its custardy chunks just slid down. I was seriously slowing down when Course Five appeared. A hunk of devilish pork loin from Devil’s Gulch Ranch sat on a potato slice with a patch of crisped pork belly. I tasted the loin and gobbled up the pork belly.

I was done, finished, stuffed.

Then the cheese course came. Had it been anything but my beloved Humboldt Fog® I would have passed. From the Cypress Grove Creamery on the ocean in California’s northern Humboldt County, it’s a mold-ripened goat’s milk cheese with a central line of edible ash. So creamy, luscious and subtly tangy I just had to have a bite—or two.

So, that would have been it, but I never can pass up a good dessert. And I’m glad I didn’t because I discovered how good a reduced balsamic vinaigrette sauce is on a rhubarb tart. And with that I sat back to sip, very slowly, an espresso.

The moaning you hear isn’t complaining—its rapture.

 By Kate Crawford  March, 2010

The Bardessono web site.
Article on Bardessono Hotel.
Article on the Spa.                                                                                

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