Brix - Napa Valley

7377 Saint Helena Hwy
Napa, CA 94558
707.944.2749
www.brix.com

Brix bills itself as a farm-to-table restaurant.The restaurant and garden has more than 2 acres of farm land in which many of the dishes vegetables coming directly from the garden. Does it get much fresher? The menu actually indicates what vegetables come directly from the garden. How cool is that?

The architecture of the restaurant fits in perfectly with the Napa Valley region. Flowers and plants surround the perimeter of the restaurant...this entices guests to wander around the beautiful grounds.

A view of some of the raised garden beds where various vegetables are grown. This is a view of the backside of the property facing the outdoor patio. The vegetables that you are about to eat are only about 50 feet away from where you dine.

This is another view of the outside seating area where our table was facing the gardens and the hills. Doesn't get much more serene and beautiful than this.

Fresh bread with butter and sea salt. The bread was nicely toasted and warmed and delicious when eaten with the butter. Not sure if it was house made or not but it was good. 

Brix Summer Heirloom Tomato Salad (11)
This was a dish that was beautiful to look at as it was to eat. I loved the flavor of the tomatoes and the crunchiness of the cucumber, adding a freshness to the salad. What really made the salad for me was the vinaigrette. I wanted to pick up the bowl and drink every last drop of it.

Grilled Lebanese Zucchini with cherry tomatoes and basil vinaigrette (6)
This was another vegetable dish that was a winner! The grilling on the zucchini added a nice bit of char and flavor to the zucchini. The tomatoes and the vinaigrette were once again outstanding. Freshness at its peak!

Sonoma Duck Breast with Creamy Mushroom Farro (26)
This was a nice piece of duck breast that was cooked well and portioned just right. The creamy mushroom farro was a change from the normal farro which I find boring at times.

Beef Tenderloin with olive oil poached zucchini and tomato vinaigrette (29)
The beef tenderloin was as you would expect, tender. The steak had a char and smokey flavor from the grill. My only complaint was that the steak was slightly overcooked in my opinion. Not a particularly exciting dish but solid.

Creme Brulee
The creme brulee was an excellent example of how it should be. Beautifully bruleed sugar top that shatters and begs to be eaten. Brix also included some kind of brittle.

Another serene view of the mountains, gardens, and vineyards of Brix. A great way to end the evening: just taking our time with dinner and relaxing as the sun drifted behind the mountains and enjoying what Napa has to offer.

Farm to table. Wouldn't it be awesome if all restaurants could operate with this belief? We enjoyed our meal at Brix, especially the vegetable dishes. It didn't hurt either that we had this beautiful view to look at.

Crossroad Chicken (Napa Valley)

Napa, CA 94558
(707) 280-3868
crossroadchix.com

As we were driving on the highway to the Napa wineries, we spotted the words "Wood Fired" on a food truck and had to make a u-turn to see what this was all about.  I admit, I thought the food truck was serving wood fired pizzas and was at first disappointed when I saw that it wasn't pizza. However, after chatting with the chef a bit and him giving us a tour of the truck we found out that he uses ingredients from sustainably farmed and local products whenever possible.

Having previously worked as a chef at Acacia Winery for many years, he started this food truck business about a year now.  There is actually a real wood fired oven, and he has the proper insignia on his truck so you know he's legit.

An appetizing and concise menu with an assortment of sandwiches, tacos, soups, and salads at reasonable prices.

Here is a picture of the jester/chef himself Chef Kevin Simonson. 

Rancho Gordo Anasazi Bean Chili w/ chopped red onions and sour cream ($4.95).  The Anasazi beans are some kind of heirloom beans. Wow, heirloom beans too? The chili was different than what I'm used to, but good in a way. The beans themselves were actually smoother and less gritty than most beans I have had.  I appreciate the nice bite from the onions and how the sour cream smoothed things out.

Hot Chicken Sandwich w/ Meyer Lemon Aioli, Tomatoes, Red Onions, and Greens ($8.95). Definitely your gourmet sandwich. The bread was nice and toasty and the chicken was quite tasty with the aioli and the beautiful heirloom tomatoes.  The heirloom tomatoes were amazing too. Every bite made me wanting more.

Here is a picture of the wood fired oven inside the truck.

This gourmet food truck definitely is worth the stop for all the tasty food items, quality ingredients, and use of local products. If you are are ever at the crossroads and see Crossroad Chicken, you should definitely cross the road. 

Commonwealth (San Francisco)

2224 Mission Street (Mission District)
San Francisco, CA 94110
Tel. 415.355.1500
commonwealthsf.com
Chef Jason Fox

"A progressive American restaurant in San Francisco's Mission district." This is how Commonwealth describes themselves on their website. Jason Fox, who used to be the Chef at Bar Tartine, is now the Executive Chef of Commonwealth. Having eaten at Bar Tartine the year before and enjoying a good meal, we had heard great things about Commonwealth. Commonwealth strives to be a restaurant that has finer dining at reasonable prices, which is something that we love.

seaweed flecked house made potato chips (complimentary)
The chips texturally were similar to Lay's but had a flavor that would most likely to be found in Japan Lay's and not in America. The seaweed flavor wasn't an "in your face" seaweed flavor, but more of a light dusting of seaweed. 

malt vinegar foam
The chips were meant to be eaten with the malt vinegar foam, which added a nice acidity.  This tasted like a  salt and vinegar chip...correction..a seaweed and vinegar chip.

shishito peppers, goat cheese and rose petals (6)
The peppers were nicely blistered. The addition of the goat cheese went really well with the peppers to help lessen the heat from these peppers. Luckily, we didn't have any that were over the top spicy. The rose petals visually were a beautiful addition to the dish and lent a slight floral scent to the dish.

garden tomatoes and basil, black olive crumble, smoked bread, idiazabal cheese (13)
This is what I consider a fancy version of a caprese salad. The dish was beautifully plated on a piece of slate. Every component of this dish worked well together.

summer squash, chilled soup, fried blossoms, shaved salad, vadouvan (9)
One of my favorite courses of the night. This was a chilled soup, which is something that I don't always have the opportunity to try out, with the exception of a gazpacho. The shaved salad was placed in the chilled soup which texturally added to the already delicious vadouvan flavored soup (vadouvan is like french curry spice). The addition of the fried squash blossoms, although unnecessary, were delicious as well.

potato gnocchi, corn, maitake mushrooms, sage, parmesan reggiano, truffle oil (12)
Another favorite of the night, was this gnocchi dish. The gnocchi were perfectly prepared to a pillowy consistency. This was a very well composed dish with the corn adding a sweetness and slight crunchiness, the mushrooms and truffle oil adding an earthiness and the parmesan adding a salty cheesy flavor. Delicious!!!

marrow stuffed squid, tamarind pork, shelling beans, black garlic, cilantro (13)
Compliments from the chef for our anniversary! What a nice touch by the staff at Commonwealth. The squid was nicely cooked. The marrow and pork added a meatiness to the dish. Didn't really care too much for the beans. This was Commonwealth's version of surf and turf. 

corn custard, sea urchin, chorizo, lobster emulsion, jalapeno (15)
This was one of the dishes I was most looking forward to as I perused the menu. What's not to love about sea urchin, chorizo, lobster, and corn custard? The corn custard itself was very light, almost like a panna cotta with the essence of corn. I couldn't really detect too much flavor of lobster though. The jalapeno flavor kind of hits you on the palette and creeps up on you. The sea urchin and the corn custard had a nice creaminess that went really well together. 

grilled lamb tongue, chard, burnt eggplant, miso and mint (12)
This is the only dish of the night that I did not enjoy. Reading the description, I thought that the miso flavor and mint would work wonderfully together.The dish in my opinion was over salted and lacked the complexity that I was expecting. I really couldn't taste the miso.

frozen matcha meringue, pistachio, summer berries, strawberry consomme (8)
I believe this dish involved the use of liquid nitrogen to freeze the matcha meringue. I enjoyed the taste of the matcha with the berries and the consomme.

Commonwealth in my opinion has met its goal of serving upscale food at reasonable prices for a larger segment to enjoy. The dishes at Commonwealth are beautifully composed and for the most part were all very good. If you are looking for a reasonably price restaurant that is serving innovative dishes, I would definitely give Commonwealth a try.