Auberge du Soleil Review
The food is good, but the real claim to fame is the absolutely gorgeous view of Napa Valley while you eat and a wine list so thick you could use it to hammer nails.
180 Rutherford Hill Rd
Rutherford, CA 94573
(800) 348-5406
Auberge du Soleil website (restaurant)
Menus (keep in mind these are likely to change)
Auberge du Soleil breakfast menu
Auberge du Soleil lunch menu
Auberge du Soleil dinner menu
Google Maps to Auberge du Soleil
Hours: Breakfast (7:00 am - 11:00 am), Lunch (11:30 am - 2:30 pm), Dinner (5:30 pm - 9:30 pm)
Auberge du Soleil is what comes to mind when you think of rich people coming to vacation in Napa Valley. Sitting high up in the hills of Rutherford, you get an incredible view, and with rates starting at $500 per night going up to...$4000...you know they're going to put a serious effort in their restaurant.
Auberge du Soleil food
I guess before I start off the food, I have to make a quick mention of the mammoth wine list they have. This thing is just nuts. Auberge du Soleil claims that it's the most extensive wine list in the region with over 1300 wines.
Auberge du Soleil has a prix fixe menu for dinner, and although we love trying out prix fixe menus, we headed there for lunch because of the view (I'm guessing it's hard to appreciate Napa Valley views with no light...)
Appetizers
We started off with two first courses. The first was the potato gnocchi. At first, I thought it was a giant gnocchi with a thin potato wrapping, but it actually housed the real potato gnocchis, wild mushrooms, pea shoots, Parmesan nage. This was delicious. Gnocchi that was surprisingly light, and the mushrooms were nice thick, juicy cuts with a delicious parmesan broth.
My wife decided to try out the fancier first course: the slow poached farm egg, romaine soup, pancetta, brioche. Admittedly, we view these types of dishes with some trepidation as we fear that presentation will take dominate taste, and we were kind of right.
Even as a first course, maybe it's a bit light, and it does feel a little weird to be served this in a martini glass. "Bottom's up" and soup just doesn't go well for us. There's a small poached egg floating around in there. You puncture it, and let the creamy egg goodness permeate the romaine soup. The pancetta at the top also give the soup a bit more bite. It tasted fine overall, but this was perhaps a little too delicate taste-wise with the foam, the romaine soup and maybe visually as well.
Entrees
On to the main course, I had the sauteed chicken with foie gras ravioli, mushrooms, and asparagus. Everything spot on here. Well-seasoned chicken with a lovely crispy skin. Foie gras ravioli worked better than I thought it would to provide some richness to the chicken. All in all, very tasty.
My wife had the roasted lamb, and this one was disappointing. Medium rare was the order, but it came a bit closer to medium well. The meat itself was a little on the bland side which is surprising since it is lamb. Some shaved asparagus with a vinaigrette dressing sits on top with pearl onions and roasted potatoes beneath with a nice jus to add flavor to the roasted lamb really needed it.
Dessert
Dessert was fun. I enjoyed it more than my wife. This was a rhubarb-based dessert. Rhubarb gelato, slices of rhubarb that were poached in vanilla. Some sweetened crisps with black sesame seed, and the white blocks are an almond blancmange. Sweet / tart, crunchy / creamy, some nice contrasts even if at first glance it's a bit of an odd combination.
Auberge du Soleil setting and service
For the kind of coin that Auberge du Soleil charges its guests, they better offer something pretty nice, and they do. One of the reasons why we chose lunch rather than dinner for our first meal at Auberge du Soleil is that at lunch, this is your view while eating on the balcony.
It's a really nice way to enjoy a meal (although I hear sunset views are stunning). My suggestion, if you like this sort of thing, is visit during early spring and fall and get an early reservation for the balcony as they only have so much balcony room. The weather was really nice at the start of our meal at 11:30, and there were just a few customers quietly having their meal. It was a pretty relaxing and cool way to enjoy a meal.
By 12:30, a lot of balcony tables had filled up, things got louder, the temperature had reached the somewhat muggy phase (it was early spring but the weather was a little unseasonably warm). It can get pretty toasty in Napa Valley from say mid-July to August, and maybe things wouldn't be quite so nice at 1:30 pm with say 95 degree heat and a bunch of bugs.
Some of the tables out on the balcony do suffer a bit with some of the vegetation on the balcony. Some plant above us kept on shedding its petals on our table throughout our meal when the breeze would come and go. Miraculously, none of them ever made it into our food, but it was fun to see the waiters scurry back and forth to clean off our table (while we cleaned our shirts, hair, etc.) Their table cloths are a bit on the ugly curtain side with flower prints. Bleh.
(starting public service message) The drive to Auberge du Soleil is a treat in itself. You can either go up 29 and cut through east via Rutherford Road to Silverado Trail or you can just drive up Silverado Trail. You get some marvelous views of vineyards in small, curvy roads as you go. Just a bit of caution to not take your eye off the road too much as all those curves, the speed of the road, and the scenery cause some bad accidents occasionally. While you're driving up the entrance to Auberge du Soleil, there are a lot of sharp curves and blind exits. Watch your speed there and pay attention to the mirrors on the street to give you a heads up that others might be coming out. (end public service message)
Service is excellent overall. Wait staff is very attentive and knowledgeable about the menu. If it turns out they don't know something, they go off and find someone who does. My wife got a glass of tempranillo, but the sommelier thought that it would go better with a large wine glass which was a thoughtful touch.
Price of our meal
2 first courses, 3 glasses of wine, 2 entrees, 1 dessert, tax & tip: $181
Not that a $180 meal is a bargain or anything, but that view is one of a kind. My wife was a little peeved that the things she ordered were on the meh side (lamb, romaine soup). She's not that crazy about going back. But my choices were delicious (chicken, gnocchi, and I liked the dessert). It'll be interesting to see when we go again.
