Yountville's Newest Hot Spot

After the long-awaited opening of Bottega Napa Valley in Yountville, the Italian-inspired restaurant is now in full swing and attracting quite a bit of attention. Former chef of Tra Vigne, Napa Style founder and Food Network star Michael Chiarello’s newest restaurant creation reveals a flavorful combination which almost met our expectations.

The atmosphere of Bottega is open and appealing and fitting of the owner’s style, combining rustic wine country flair with an urban-sexy edge. Aged brick walls and timber beams contrast with modern lighting and an open-air minimalism. The resulting feel was open and lively, but lacking in intimacy and warmth as a result of the expansive dining room.

We arrived at our 4-top table on Saturday night at our reserved time of 8:30 pm and we were promptly seated in the 90-seat packed restaurant. The Italian-inspired Napa cuisine’s menu offered us seasonal creations with the Chiarello flair that brought Tra Vigne to fame. Signature dishes include house made veal tortellini in brodo di carne, seared scallops with chickpea passatine, and wood-oven roasted whole fish with Meyer lemon.

I opted to try two pasta dishes, the ricotta gnocchi ($14) which was delightfully light and flavorful, and the veal tortelli in browned butter with butternut squash and sage ($15). Although each dish was tasty with fresh and vivid flavors, the portion size was very small and should not represent a main course pasta dish. The rest of our party chose the goats milk braised lamb shank ($24) which was well received, and the garlic roasted Dungeness crab ($28) was reportedly tasty but slightly overcooked.

I finished the evening with a dessert of torta di riso, a rice tart with Meyer lemon ($8) which was sweet and appealing, but finished with too little compote and mascarpone, resulting in a dry finish.

One highlight of the evening was a personal visit from Chiarello himself who was outgoing and

lightened up the dining room with visits to most diners that evening. Overall, the experience was a good one and I think with a little bit of time Bottega will become another hot spot in the Napa Valley…as long as they increase the portion sizes on the pasta dishes a bit!

For more information, visit www.botteganapavalley.com, or call 707.945.1050.

Written by Karen