Oenotri

Napa, CA

Although we pushed our Oenotri reservations back a day to eat at Bottega, we finally made it to downtown Napa just a few days before they close for three weeks in January for vacation. Note to vacationers, don't come to the Napa Valley in January because we're finding most of the good restaurants are taking a hiatus (TFL, Etoile, Oenotri). I was surprised how large the dining area was with a crowed bar area full of patrons waiting for the table. As we walked passed the large open windows we noticed there was only one single table available and upon entry found out it was ours! As you walk inside, the kitchen is exposed on the right hand side of restaurant with owner/chefs Curtis Di Fede and 
Tyler Rodde busy at work. We also later noticed that there's 

Bisol Jeio Prosecco Brut

a tiny two seat table at the end of the kitchen bar allowing you to see all the action first hand, pretty cool. The restaurant features a Charcuterie menu where everything is made in house and was highly recommended. The main dinner menu offered a handful of pizza, pastas, and entrées. We generally like to focus on pizza and pasts so we decided to skip the entrées for this visit, but I think that's what I saw many groups end up doing. So we decided to do the Chef's selection of six Charcuterie, a pizza and two pastas. They also offer a vast wine list and a back page with over 25 wines for $25, a nice deal, so we decided to accompany our meal with a bottle of the Bisol Desiderio Jeio Processco Brut. It was a really crisp, smooth sparkling wine and as a result, we drank it pretty quickly. It probably helped that the staff was very attentive and continued to fill our glasses up throughout the meal. They also offered to leave the bottle on ice for us, a nice touch. 

Chef's selection of six Charcuterie

I know the list of meats we had, but I'm still not sure I know which is which. So in no particular order, the plate contained Felino, a famous ancient sausage of Emila-Romagna, cured with honey. Noce, a dry salami with walnuts, hot pepper and garlic - Chu-Toro's favorite. Sanguinaccio, a salami with anise seed with pork blood and garlic. Lonza, listed under the whole muscles section, cured and dried pork and Ciccioli, a salumi cotti, of rustic pork confit and served warmed, my fave of the bunch. A handful of pistachios lined the middle of the plate and the instead of a crostini, the dish came with a light crunchy cracker. It was superb and unlike anything I had before. When we asked what it was, we were told it was pizza dough that had set for an extra day allowing the yeast to rise, then rolled very thin and placed in the pizza oven to puff up into a dome-like hallow shape, looking similar to roti we've seen at Vic's Chaat Corner in Berkeley. Then it is cracked and served with each Charcuterie plate and serves as a perfect compliment.

Willis Farm Pork Sausage with Roasted Red Onions and Wild Arugula Pizza

As we finished every bite of our cured meats and the plate emptied, an extremely hot pizza was placed on the table. Our favorite pizzas are Pizzeria Mozza in LA, Cheeseboard in Berkeley and an amazing squid and tomato pizzette from Chez Pannisee. Now Oenotri's has joined the list. It really reminded us of Mozza lite, a  little thiner and less chewy, but a great flavorful crust with good bite, gooey melted fresh mozzarella, tasty pork sausage and candy sweet red onions, really amazing. It also has given us a go to place to come for this type of pizza instead of having to fly down to LA. This was a huge success and was really happy.

Linguini with Roasted Cauliflower, Walnuts and Grilled Meyer Lemon

When the pastas arrived, they looked extremely simple, and I was caught off guard. Chu-Toro went with the linguini, as it was recommended by our server. She also is in love in meyer lemons. The first bite I had of the dish, it was really plain. But as I had more and more, the flavors of the walnuts and the cauliflower all began to pop and all of a sudden, I was hooked. It's one of those dishes where there are probably only five ingredients and the chefs completely rely on the natural flavors to come out, exactly the type of food Chu-Toro loves.

Wild Nettle Gigli with Georgia White Shirmp and Garlic

My wild nettle gigli was similar to the linguini in that it was a simple flavor provide when eating the past alone. But as you scooped a little further down in the bowl, there was a thin layer of broth that binded the flavors with the garlic and shrimp perfectly. This one was a little saltier/heavier than the linguini, which is probably why I preferred this one. The pastas were very different than our other favorite pastas at Osteria Mozza and Bottega which are very heavy and celebrate bold flavors. Oenotri stays true to a simple fresh approach which worked out very well and provided a orchestra of flavors in which each component contributed perfectly. 

Espresso Panna Cotta

We were pretty stuffed by this point, but decided to have a coffee and panna cotta to sum up a great meal. The panna cotta was really nice, strong espresso flavors but remaining light and smooth. 

Chefs and Owners Curtis Di Fede and Tyler Rodde

By the end of the evening, we were stuffed and happy. The meal was excellent in every regard and we will definitely be back. Before leaving, we were able to steal a couple minutes of the chefs time, Curtis and Tyler (aka Hoyt from True Blood) and chat about how much we enjoyed our meal. They were extremely gracious, probably one of the nicest chefs we ever met (Corey Lee at Benu being the other). We left without any complaints and can't wait until our next meal at Oenotri. 

December 30, 2010

Rating 8/10