I’m not sure which is worse: that the Border closed down before I could write a review, or that it took me that long to write a review after it opened. The Border opened up where Tuscany used to be as Uncork29 explains (fun resource btw) as well as the St. Helena Star. Figuring that the city of Napa probably had oh 2-4 more Italian restaurants than it actually needed, the owner brought in Pablo and Erasto Jacinto, who spent time at Mustard’s and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen. When I heard that, I was thinking “Mexican food that reads better on paper than it tastes in real life” because that’s sort of my knock on Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen. We went, and yeah, it’s what I expected. The funny thing was that one point, I think the owner was talking about how some appetizer fungus in an empanada grew slowly on corn and was a delicacy. When he saw us eating it, he said “see, it tastes like corn.” Well, yeah, it does, but a fungus that tastes like corn might as well be corn for all practical purposes, particularly when it’s wrapped in a fried corn casing…
The enchiladas were just ok, the border ribs were decent. The chocolate cake was ok; the mango flambe was ok only because I really like mangos. For the 2 entrees, 2 dessert, 1 appetizer, 2 glasses of wine, taxes, and tip, it was $100 which isn’t that really that high by higher-end Napa Valley standards. But it did kind of feel like the dishes were kind of lacking in flavor and gave the impression of overpriced (which is sort of another criticism I have of Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen.) Business was pretty good when we went (around when it first opened) in May 2009, but I wondered how long it would last. You can see similar grumblings from the Yelpers here and here and the Chowhounds. I guess the answer was “not too long” which is sort of a shame because I still think there’s a market for higher-end Mexican food. It’d just be nice if someone did it with a stronger point of view flavor-wise.
So, what happens? The owner converts it back to Tuscany, “serving steaks, ribs and Italian specialties.” (Yeesh. Ain’t too many of those here…) Meanwhile, the two brothers will be running a taqueria in Oxbow to replace Rotisario who decided to not renew their lease.
Anyway, here are some pics from the place that I never got a chance to post on the site properly. I guess that’s what happens when you wait 8 months before talking about it…
