We will be in Napa for my husband’s birthday. I know that there are lots of special occasion restaurants in the region. I’ve read a few posts that mention La Toque, and I’m wondering if this would be a good choice. The restaurant must have some vegetarian options, and they have a chef’s veggie tasting menu (for me). Any other suggestions? We are on the waitlist at French Laundry. We will be going to Farmstead for one of our dinners and Oenotri for another. We have two open nights.
When La Toque was in LA, it was a weekly spot for us for some excellent French cuisine. I have been to La Toque in Napa but it has been several years. However I’m pretty sure chef Ken Frank is still putting out some great dishes.
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Haven’t personally done La Toque. The last big special occasion place I did was Kenzo and it was amazing, but that won’t satisfy the vegetarian options.
Grace’s Table and Bistro Jeanty (better than Bouchon in my opinion) are my can’t miss places for a nice dinner that offers great food. Check out Dutch Door for a quick lunch, they offer plenty of vegan and GF options. Auberge Du Soleil might be up your alley if you are looking for fancy.
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Thanks! The menu at Grace’s Table looks really good. I’ll check out the other menus, as well.
Some friends and I ate dinner at La Toque a couple of years ago. There were five of us traveling together and dinners were obviously part of the trip to Napa/Sonoma. The dinner was excellent, and I can’t really think of anything negative to report. It wasn’t the best dinner we had, but I would not hesitate to go again. Of the other restaurants we ate at a similar price point/fancy kinda place, I’d put The Farmhouse slightly higher, and Single Thread a fair amount higher. Farmhouse’s price point is closer to La Toque, whereas Single Thread is more of a comparison to The French Laundry, but slightly less pretentious.
Both are on our ‘definitely must go ago again list’.
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If you need vegetarian lunch option in Napa
For sit down- Tarla is great
https://www.tarlagrill.com/menu
C Casa in Oxbow has good veggie and vegan options
https://www.myccasa.com/napa-menus/
Gotts (Napa and St Helena) can do all of their sandwiches with veggie patties or Impossible Burgers
If you need to take something with you for tastings or need a snack- Pickup the Miso Turnip Bahn-Mi at Contimo Provisions
This is great! The C Casa menu looks really good, and the Miso Turnip Bahn-Mi sounds amazing.
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LaToque is a great choice! Food is excellent along with service. In addition Single Thread is also terrific, but they are closed at least through the end of March due to a kitchen fire. Have you looked at Auberge? Not a tasting menu but prix fix with vegetarian options and the service is on par or better than FL.
I did end up making a reservation at La Toque. We are looking forward to it. It makes sense since we will be staying in downtown Napa this trip and can walk, and we don’t have to worry about drinking/driving.
Single Thread has been on our radar. We love Healdsburg. I just didn’t know if they are vegetarian friendly and haven’t done the research.
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When I went in fall 2020, Singlethread was very very veggie heavy with quite a lot of seafood and shellfish (much of it raw) woven into the menu. I suspect they either have a vegetarian option or can make the dishes without meat, but I sincerely don’t remember any fowl or red meat during the evening. The meal was outdoors at Kistler during the pandemic and was spectacular, albeit among the more expensive 3* I’ve been to.
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So we did end up going to La Toque a couple of weeks ago to celebrate my husband’s birthday. We each did the chef’s tasting menu. (one regular, one veg) The food was great, as were the wine pairings. It’s pretty pricey. The only issue I had was the atmosphere. The service was top notch, but the restaurant is at the Westin, and I kind of felt like I was in a hotel restaurant. The room was nothing special.
They are one of the few michelin star restaurants in Napa, which is why I picked it, but I’m not sure that I would go back. Maybe the outside patio has a better atmosphere.
I’d rather spend a little more $$ and go back to FL or try one of the other restaurants recommended in this thread for a special occasion.
I have to say, our dinner at Oenotri was a more memorable dinner. I loved everything about it and would go back there in a second. Casual restaurant with insanely good pasta, salads, cocktails.
We loved Farmstead, as well. We had delicious pre-dinner cocktails at Goose & Gander, another place I would return to.
We went to C Casa at Oxbow for lunch before checking into our B&B. It was perfect. Thanks for the suggestion. Great tacos!
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Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it!!