Napa Valley, California
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St. Helena Restaurants, Food & DrinkSt. Helena has a wide variety of restaurants. Everything from an outdoor walk-up-to-the-window burger joint that serves ahi sandwiches and fine wine, to elegant wine country establishments. |
Armadillo's
1304 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.8082
Mexican
Azteca Market
789 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.4963
Mexican
Mexican market with tacos, tamales, burritos, quesadillas and more to go.
C. C. Blue Sushi Bar & Restaurant
1148 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
707.967.9100
St. Helena's only sushi bar.
Cantinetta Wine Bar
1050 Charter Oak Avenue
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.8888
www.travignerestaurant.com/cantinetta.htm
Located at Tra Vigne restaurant, Cantinetta offers more than 50 wines by the glass. Hard-to-find cult wines are available for tasting at considerably higher prices.
Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen
1327 Railroad Avenue
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.1200
www.cindysbackstreetkitchen.com
Classic Home Cooking - Entrees $12.95-$19.95
One block off Main Street between Hunt and Adams in the old Miramonte Hotel, built as a railroad hotel in the late 1800s. Owned by Cindy Pawlcyn, whose restaurants include the extremely popular Mustard's Grill just north of Yountville.
This restaurant offers "Cindy's Cuisine"; fun, rustic variations on classic home cooking. Main entrees include Spring Chicken Vegetable Pie, Sunday Glazed Pork, Wood Oven Duck, and Kitchen Curry Lamb Shank. Wine list focuses on Napa Valley wines while the bar specializes in Kentucky Bourbon, Mexican Tequila and Mezcal.
Buy Big Small Plates, by owner/chef Cindy Pawlcyn.
Cook
1310 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.7088
Northern Italian/California - Entrees $18-$22
Bib Gourmand rating (good meals at moderate prices) in the Michelin Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area. A neighborhood restaurant run by St. Helena natives Jude and Michael Wilmoth. Jude was previously with Tra Vigne and Napa Valley Grille.
Culinary Institute of America at Greystone
2555 Main Street
St. Helena, CA 94574
707.967.1100
A majestic building that's a favorite for photographers.
The historic Greystone. Once Christian Brothers Winery, now the West Coast home of the Culinary Institute of America. (Photo courtesy of CIA).
Formerly Christian Brothers Winery. Literally filled with kitchens, as well the outstanding Wine Spectator Restaurant, demonstration theaters and the Spice Island Marketplace shop. The West Coast branch of the renowned New York State cooking school, referred to by locals as the "CIA." Cooking demonstrations are open to the public daily; $15.00 charge. For reservations call 707.967.2328. These are a great bargain and we highly recommend them. We've gone to many of them ourselves and found them very enjoyable and useful. You'll be able to take the recipe they give you, go home and replicate the same dish you saw created at the demonstration.
Construction of Greystone winery in the 1800s. (Photo courtesy of Napa County Historical Society.)
Greystone also displays a famous collection of over 1,800 corkscrews, gathered over a period of 40 years by former Christian Brothers cellarmaster Brother Timothy.
A cooking demonstration and tasting at the Culinary Institute of America.
Buy these CIA cookbooks:
CIA's Gourmet Meals in Minutes
Culinary Boot Camp: Five Days of Basic Training at the CIA
More Cooking Secrets of the CIA
The Professional Chef's Knife Kit
Weight Watchers Great Cooking Every Day
Dean and DeLuca
607 South St. Helena Highway
St. Helena CA 94574
707.967.9980
The famous New York delicatessen is now in the Napa Valley. It's not a coincidence that the owner also lives in the valley. A vast selection of deli foods, cheeses, kitchenware, and a multitude of jars and cans of exotic foods, sauces, condiments and other goodies. And, of course, wines.
Gillwood's Cafe
1313 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.1788
American - Entrees $7.95-$9.75
Popular local hangout with a community table where solo diners can have mealtime company.
Giugni & Son Grocery Company
1227 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.3421
Sandwiches $4.25-$4.75
Cheapest, best, and biggest sandwiches in town. An institution for years.
Go Fish Grill
641 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.0700
West Coast-style fish and sushi - $18-$24
Another restaurant from Cindy Pawlcyn, who also operates Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena and Mustard's Grill in Yountville. Sushi and sake bar, fish flown in daily and an on-site organic garden. Patio seating.
Market Restaurant
1347 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.3799
American - Entrees $11.95-$22.95
A restaurant that focuses on locals. The owners were previously connected with highly-rated restaurants Gary Danko and Jardinière in San Francisco.
Some of the tables in the bar area are communal—for those who'd like to dine with friends they haven't met yet—and the restaurant has also taken pains to keep the noise level down without losing a lively energy.
All wines are less than $14 over retail. $15 corkage. Entrees include fried chicken, pork chop, meat loaf, catfish, chicken pot pie, and pulled slow roasted pork sandwich. If this food doesn't comfort you, nothing will.
Martini House
1245 Spring Street at Oak
(Just off Highway 29, also known as Main Street)
St Helena, CA 94574
707.963.2233 Fax: 707.967.9237
Wine Country - Entrees $17-$28
Pat Kuleto, who designed and owns top restaurants in San Francisco (Boulevard, Farallon, and Jardinière), teamed up with Todd Humphries, formerly at Campton Place in San Francisco and the Wine Spectator restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, to open Martini House. The comfortable and beautifully decorated restaurant was an immediate hit.
The restaurant is in the former home of the late Walter Martini, opera singer and bootlegger. Two floors of indoor seating and outdoor garden seating around a 75-year-old fountain and under a vine-covered arbor. Wine selections from the world's great appellations, with an extensive collection of Napa Valley wines. One star in the Michelin Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Meadowood, The Grill at
Meadowood, The Restaurant at
See listing on Silverado Trail.
Model Bakery
1357 Main St.
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.8192
An excellent bakery offering breakfast pastries, coffee, breads, cookies, sandwiches, wonderful soups, salads and pizza. Did we forget anything? It's all delicious. And the prices are reasonable.
Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Company
1400 Oak Avenue
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.4491, 800.852.5805 Fax: 707.963.1183
There's one of these in Napa, too, but this one has lots more room and outdoor seating. Great atmosphere. Close to many of the Main Street shops such as Vanderbilt and Company, this is the place to start your morning of shopping in St. Helena.
Napa Valley Olive Oil Manufacturing Company
835 Charter Oak Avenue
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.4173
Open 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, closing a little earlier during the winter
A favorite of locals and visitors. Quite out of the way, so you're unlikely to stumble on it unless someone gives you a hint. Great cheese and other Italian goodies. And tremendous (and economical) olive oil by the jug, made by the friendly family that owns the shop.
Pizzeria Tra Vigne
1016 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
707.967.9999
At the Inn at Southbridge just north of Charter Oak Street. Tasty pizzas at reasonable prices.
Press
587 St. Helena Highway South
St. Helena CA 94574
707.967.0550
Wine Country Steakhouse - Entrees $23-$48
Next to Dean & DeLuca and co-owned by the delicatessen's owner Leslie Rudd—who also owns Rudd Winery—Press is on the site of the legendary family-favorite The Spot. The pizza, burgers and hot dogs have been replaced by big food with big wines. Press serves prime dry-aged beef, whole roasted chicken, and other naturally raised birds, leg of baby lamb, wild fish, heritage pork and hand-fed veal, all prepared on the kitchen's centerpiece, a custom wood-burning grill and rotisserie. Many of the dishes are carved tableside and serve two or more.
Wines are specially chosen to complement the seasonal foods and showcase the Napa Valley terroir. The list includes a large selection of wines by the glass.
Silverado Brewing Company
3020-A North St. Helena Hwy
St. Helena CA 94574
707.967.9876
www.silveradobrewingcompany.com
Wine Country Brew Pub - Entrees $11-$14
Ales, beer, stout, root beer and cream soda, all made on the premises. Plus a great selection of food, from oysters, mussels and calamari to burgers, steaks, sausage and fish. And live entertainment on the weekends. Casual and popular with great food. No corkage fee.
St. Helena Farmers Market
PO Box 70
St. Helena CA 94574
707.486.2662
Held in Crane Park Fridays 7:30 a.m.- Noon, May through October.
St. Helena Olive Oil Company
1351 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
800.939.9880
Located in downtown St. Helena (as well as in Rutherford) the store sells extra virgin olive oil, vinegars and a variety of other foods and kitchen/culinary paraphernalia.
Sunshine Foods
1115 Main St.
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.7070
It's hard to find a plain old, down-home grocery store in the Napa Valley, although maybe that's not such a bad thing. Sunshine was one once, but no longer. Now it offers a fantastic selection of foods and deli products. You'll find everything you need for a picnic. It's located on the west side of Main Street (Highway 29) at the south end of the business district.
Taylor's Refresher
933 Main Street (Highway 29)
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.3486
American - Burgers/Sandwiches $4-$9
Open 11 am to 9 pm, seven days a week.
Taylor's Refresher—burgers and fine Cabernet.
Sure it's just a walk-up hamburger joint. But how many hamburger joints do you know that serve premium Napa Valley wines, or have a corkage fee if you want to bring your own wine? Plus, the hamburgers and shakes are delicious, and they've got great microbrews. Oh, yeah, and a legendary ahi sandwich. A favorite spot for locals—and, yes, you'll probably spot a winemaker or two here at lunchtime. Taylor's also has a branch at the San Francisco Ferry Building.
Terra
1345 Railroad Avenue
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.8931
Wine Country - Entrees $18.50-$29
One star in the Michelin Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area. A Napa Valley institution. Husband-and-wife team Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani founded Terra in 1988. A heritage of Japanese, French and California cuisine adds up to an outstanding selection of dishes. Try appetizers such as Fricasse of Miyagi Oysters and Chanterelle in Chardonnay Cream Sauce, or entrees like Grilled Lamb T-bones with Potato Ricotta Gnocchi.
Buy Terra: Cooking from the Heart of the Napa Valley, by owner/chefs Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani.
Tra Vigne Restaurant
1050 Charter Oak Avenue
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.4444
Wine Country Italian - Entrees $14.50-$32.95
Many consider this one of the best restaurants in the Napa Valley. No one denies that it's right up there among the very finest. It's a great place in which to hang out, munching on the marinated olives they serve at the bar. Also offers its Cantinetta Wine Bar
Buy the Tra Vigne Cookbook, by Tra Vigne founder/chef Michael Chiarello.
V. Sattui Winery & Delicatessen
1111 White Lane
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.7774 Fax: 707.963.4324
Just 1 1/2 miles south of St. Helena along the east side of Highway 29 across from the Beacon gas station. To avoid a parking ticket, park in the winery parking lot, not on White Lane.
Picnickers enjoy lunch—and wine—at V. Sattui. (Photo courtesy of the winery.)
Some wineries used to mumble about Sattui being a retail shop rather than a winery (overlooking how many things they sell in their own retail shops). The reality is that Darryl Sattui does a very good job at both winemaking and retailing. Visitors love it. The award-winning wine is excellent and complimentary. (And it's not available anywhere but the winery.) The gourmet deli offers over 200 different cheeses. And visitors can enjoy lunch in the two-acre shaded picnic area. Highly recommended. Sattui produces more than 15 different wines.
Vercelli Ristorante Italiano
1146 Main Street
St. Helena, CA 94574
707.963.3371
Italian - Entrees $13-23
Moderately priced meals from the chef formerly at the very popular Green Valley Cafe.
Villa Corona
1138 Main Street
St. Helena CA 94574
707.963.7812
Mexican
Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant
2555 Main Street
St. Helena, CA 94574
(located at the Culinary Institute of America)
707.967.1010 Fax: 707.967.2375
www.ciachef.edu/california/wsgr
Wine Country Mediterranean - Entrees $19-$32
Open for lunch and dinner. Greystone's terraced gardens of herbs, vegetables, and flowers provide the perfect introduction to the vibrant colors, enticing aromas and bustling activity of the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant. Local, seasonal ingredients are the inspiration for the cuisine, which features California's bounty from the land and sea.
Woodhouse Chocolate
1367 Main Street
St. Helena, CA 94574
707.963.8413
Family-owned chocolatemakers. Some chocolates can be shipped but seasonal creations available only at the store.
