Napa’s downtown is one of those places where I wish I had actually bought old houses at least one of the many times I thought or talked about it – almost weekly for twenty years. But now it’s too late.
Napa’s fortunes have ebbed and flowed with the flooding Napa River, which used to damage most of the town during winter storms. I see the river as potential: potential for kayaking and paddling, and other quiet water and river activities, including staring and meditating from a café patio.
Napa residents voted for a bond issue to have the river contained and controlled, and massive work is still going on, destroying some restaurants’ decks and temporarily messing up the views from others, not that the “views” have been that great, but at least water is alluring and mesmerizing.
For years downtown Napa looked somewhat like a Midwestern ghost town, but restoration of the Napa Valley Opera House has changed everything. While many food establishments have come and gone in the last few years, the culinary scene is definitely on a sharp upswing along Main Street. All of these restaurants serve until after the curtain goes up nearby.
Even if you aren’t attending an event at NVOH, many of these restaurants are worth the trip, and the city of Napa provides plenty of free parking, as do the lots around Mervyn’s, which takes up part of the block across Main Street from the opera house.
Beginning a block north of NVOH on Main Street and working our way toward the opera house, slightly funky and fun Taqueria Rosita serves self-proclaimed “killer Mexican food.” The Corona family has brought reasonably-priced (actually, downright cheap these days) food to locals for nearly 25 years. Actually, I go to Rosita’s often when we are updating our Napa Valley guidebook, simply because it is inexpensive, fairly wholesome, and hugely casual and friendly.
Look for vegetarian or carnivore burritos ($3-$5.50), hard- or soft-shell tacos (including carne asada and carnitas); “sombreros,” which are taco salads in crispy flour tortilla bowls (under $6); full plates with tamales, sopitos, carne asada or sliced grilled steak with pico de gallo, fajitas, and even huevos rancheros (all $8.50 and under); regular or super nachos ($3.50-$6.50), beers, Sutter Home wines and “Rosa’s famous flan.” It is good! Cash only. Open Monday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m. at 1214 Main St., Napa. 707.253.9208.
Annaliên, an elegantly casual restaurant serving “contemporary Vietnamese cuisine,” has already jumped to the top of the class as Napa County’s Best Asian Restaurant.
Small plates include various crispy rolls, potstickers, Ha Long bread (warm pan-seared green onion flat cake served with curry dipping sauce), marinated quail, and lemongrass chicken ($7-$13). Look for salads such as green papaya, and Dalat Spicy Beef ($9-$10), fabulous light soups (even in the heat), and several noodle dishes.
Entrées include grilled tofu, “shaken beef,” steamed sea bass with shiitake mushrooms and glass noodles, lavender sea salt rack of lamb, vegetable skewers, and peppercorn ribeye steak served with steamed gailan ($14-$28). Vegetarian substitutes are available for most dishes. Sides of jasmine or brown rice, egg garlic noodles, baby bok choi and Asian-style green beans are extra ($1-$8). Open 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Annaliên is at 1142 Main St., Napa. 707.224.8319.
Napa Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio should open in August with “contemporary cuisine” created with vegetables and fruit grown within 150 miles of downtown Napa; many of the local growers are organic. We expect a large community table (definitely fun at noodle houses in London), patio dining in back, a demonstration kitchen and a yoga studio on the mezzanine, with the general mantra of “practice humanity towards others.” At 1140 Main St., Napa. 707.251.5656.
Cole’s Chop House chef and owner Greg Cole also runs the fabulous Celadon, three blocks south in back of the Hatt Building. Rated as one of the best steakhouses in the Bay Area for several years (including 2006) by Zagat readers, Cole’s Chop House is a real steakhouse in the newer elegant style.
“Classic cocktails (shaken, served up)” include Maintenance-Free Martinis, Napa Manhattans, Salty Dog Martinis and Hemingway Daiquiris ($8.50-$10).
Classics such as oysters Rockefeller and iceberg lettuce wedges with cherry tomatoes and Maytag blue cheese dressing are all on the menu, along with Maine Peekytoe crab cocktails, warm arugula and cress salad and lobster and shrimp bisque in puff pastry ($7-$9).
Chops and steaks range from a Niman Ranch center cut pork chop ($18) to Cole’s “Famous” U.S.D.A. Prime – a 21-day Chicago dry-aged 20 oz. porterhouse steak ($48). You can get your favorite sides of creamed spinach, broccoli with Hollandaise, baked potatoes, onion rings or their famous hash browns with or without onions ($3-$8). Desserts include bananas Foster, warm chocolate brownie with caramel ice cream and chocolate sauce, Sweetie Pies’ (down Main Street in the Hatt Building) seasonal cheesecake, bourbon whiskey bread pudding or vanilla bean crème brûlée ($7-$8.50). Open 5-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, and 5-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Cole’s Chop House is at 1122 Main St., Napa. 707.224.6328.
Locos Tex Mex Grill is a fun newish restaurant behind Congressman Mike Thompson’s office and the Napa Valley Opera House on Main Street. Enter through the office building doors, walk down the hall, and out the back doors facing the river. Locos’ entrance is on the right.
Mike and Donna Wan Duyn have created an instant sensation with inventive Tex-Mex food including “mini chimis” (chimichangas), grilled quesadillas with a roasted veggie choice, and nachos.
For salads choose between a Southwesterner, BBQ chicken salad, or a lemon Caesar with Jack and cheddar cheese and crispy tortilla strips on top.
All combination plates come with Texmati rice, whole black or refried beans, Texas slaw and choices of shredded beef, grilled chicken, slow-roasted carnitas or fresh roasted veggies.
Check out the rock shrimp or barbecue skirt steak burritos, fish tacos made with marinated mahi mahi; fajitas with skirt steak or Adobo-marinated chicken breast; slow-cooked chili with hot Louisiana sausage and smoked Applewood bacon, simmered for hours with cabernet sauvignon; barbecue beef-brisket tacos; and crab enchiladas. Everything is under $15. Beer, wine, and wine margaritas are served. Open 11 a.m.-8 or 9-ish daily. Locos is at 1040 Main St., Napa. 707.251.8058.
Bounty Hunter is around the corner from the opera house and across First Street. Located in a one-time grocery store listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the restaurant and wine shop is a hugely popular, hip gathering spot with a simple menu and loads of rare and fine wines for sale retail.
Olive, cheese and charcuterie plates range from $4.50-$13.50, and artichoke dip or warm Laura Chenel chèvre is $12 or under. Great salads include Caesar, heirloom beets, or hickory-smoked salmon salad ($7.50-$11.50).
Enjoy pulled pork or American Kobe beef brisket sandwiches, or Bounty Hunter Sliders (bite-size burgers) ($7-$11.50); great sides from chopped Caesar salad to jalapeno cheddar cornbread and extra sauces ($.25-$4).
Smart desserts include two little molten chocolate cakes (fewer calories if they come in small packages, right?) or rustic huckleberry bread pudding ($3.50-$6).
After 5 p.m. diners can order the famous beer can organic free-range chicken and ribs (each $24 and comes with two sides), plus crème brûlées with seasonal jazziness ($6-$7.50). Patio faces the Napa River. Open 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, and 5p.m.-12 midnight Friday and Saturday. At 975 First St., Napa. 707.226.3976. Sign up for their wine catalog at bountyhunterwine.com.
Tuscany is an Italianate restaurant, with windows that are usually open to traffic, at the southwest corner of Main and First streets. Favorites here include the fritto misto of calamari, rock shrimp, green beans and artichoke hearts; large bowls of steamed Prince Edward Island mussels; and scallops and portobello mushrooms topped with shaved Parmigiano cheese ($7-$10).
Salads and personal pizzas are popular ($6-$14), as well as crab BLTs (at lunch), pastas – including a non-Italian jambalaya chicken and Andouille sausage version and mesquite-grilled steaks ($23.50-$30). Fish and salads attract local business and winery folks. Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. daily. At 1005 First St., Napa. 707.258.1000.
If you don’t mind a slightly longer walk or roll to the Napa Valley Opera House, you can venture another block or two to some inexpensive ethnic restaurants in the complex across Main Street. You can also find quality dining at Ristorante Allegria, which serves Italian standards, sandwiches and salads; Peter Halikas’ NV Restaurant in the Mervyn’s complex, where dramatic curtains block the urban view and the bar stays open after shows at the opera house; famed Pilar Sanchez and Didier Lender’s Pilar; locally grown and fun Uva Trattoria at Clinton and Brown streets; Pizzeria Azzurro on Second Street; and Celadon, Angèle and The General Store in the Hatt Building at the southern end of Main Street.
Bon appétit!
Check out “The Kathleen Hill Show” Mondays 4-5 p.m. on KSVY-91.3 Sonoma or ksvy.org. Send tidbits to khill@sonomasun•com
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