Restaurants and Bars

Just as Napa Valley saved the French wine industry with vine cuttings after the 19th-century Phylloxera blight, today's Wine Country chefs have given a new life and new direction to French cooking. It may not be a direction chefs in France acknowledge, of course, but the national awards showered upon chefs and restaurants in the Napa Valley is indicative of their influence on fine cuisine in America. Cooks at Tra Vigne, the French Laundry, Auberge du Soleil, and a score of other valley kitchens have led the way.

Napa

Downtown Napa, trying to pull itself into the high orbit of brighter stars like Yountville and St. Helena, is scattered with bright, youngish spots like Celadon with its snappy fish satays, jerked pork, and a no-reservations policy.

On the farther edges of Napa are some excellent choices, as well: Bistro Don Giovanni and the The Royal Oak Vintner's Court at the Silverado Resort boast some of the city's best kitchens.

Yountville

Napa Valley's culinary capital: Bistro Jeanty, Bouchon, Brix Restaurant, The French Laundry, and Mustard's are some of the excellent restaurants sprinkled through sparsely populated Yountville. The specialty here is French cuisine, albeit with a California accent. Accolades for Yountville's restaurants tend to fly about like a ticker-tape in a parade: to save space, we'll simply mention that the James Beard Foundation dubbed Bouchon and French Laundry chef Thomas Keller "The Best Chef in America."

Travelers would be well advised to make their reservations weeks in advance of their journey, especially in the case of the French Laundry, Bistro Jeanty and -- well, any of the above-mentioned restaurants. Give it a good college try, at least -- there's no guarantee they won't be fully booked a month ahead of time.

Oakville

Not exactly a restaurant, the Oakville Grocery is still a must-stop for the epicure. What looks from the outside like an outdated roadside gas station is really a delicatessen stocked with a mind-boggling array of gourmet delights from France, Italy, and their own kitchens. Not much else in Oakville for would-be sit-down diners, but then it isn't even really a town (it's unincorporated).

Rutherford

Auberge du Soleil rivals the finest restaurants in Napa, and may have the edge in ambience: the sweeping view from its terrace is the best in the valley. First among the many attractions on Auberge's menu is rotating, five-course "Taste of the Wine Country" menu. Auberge de Soleil is now also the Auberge du Soleil Inn, in the event you're too stuffed to leave the premises.

St. Helena

More recognizably a city than Yountville, Oakville, or Rutherford, St. Helena features a greater concentration and variety of restaurants. Most are on or near Main Street (Highway 29). While St. Helena's pricey reputation is justified, there are a few attractive, reasonably priced choices (which offer the additional advantage of eating without making a huge production out of it) like Pizzeria Tra Vigne and Taylor's Automatic Refresher.

A pricier middle range of bistros like Terra provide creative and polished renditions of French-Mediterranean classics. Expect the unexpected in the use of exotic local ingredients. Solidly in the huge-production category are the Restaurant at Meadowood and Tra Vigne, St. Helena's celebrity restaurants.

Another approach to lunch or dinner might be to try the Wine Spectator Greystone restaurant. Set in the Culinary Institute of America building, you needn't worry about being a guinea pig: the executive chef is Todd Humphries, also of San Francisco's vaunted Campton Place. Tuesdays and Wednesdays from mid-January through March, the Wine Spectator Greystone hosts Winter Evenings in Wine Country, a series of special food and wine events.

Calistoga

Attractive and refreshingly unpretentious, Calistoga offers day trippers and mudbathers a vibrant dining scene. Just about everything except Wappo Bar & Bistro is right on Lincoln Avenue, the main street. Brannan's Grill and the Calistoga Inn Restaurant & Brewery and other Lincoln Avenue restaurants share an obvious affection for Calistoga's frontiersy heritage. As with everywhere else in the valley, chefs are unafraid to innovate and cross boundaries.

Dressing for dinner? Leave your Valentino at home. You're eating with people who have spent all day in a mud bath.