I went with some friend's last week to Press the new restaurant in St. Helena. The restaurant is owned by Leslie Rudd (also owns Dean and Deluca) with the kitchen run by Keith Luce formally of Merenda in San Francisco. The restaurant would be described as a Steak House by most, however the decor made me think more "haute cuisine" than steak house. I arrived early and was greeted by two ladies at the door. I let them know that I was early and if it was alright I would have a seat at the bar for the next 30 or 40 minutes as I waited for my friends. Dinner was at 7:30. I sat down and was immediately recognized by the bartender Eileen from past visits at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen. I looked at the wine list and decided to order a bottle as I knew my friends were bringing two bottles. They had called ahead to find out about corkage. $20.00 per bottle, fee is waived if you made the wine. The wine list is extensive, but all and I mean all, Napa Valley Wineries. As I understood it, the fruit might come from out of the county, but the winery or winemaker must be from Napa County. Big Names on the list and lots of interesting and small production wines. I would say the prices were very fair for a fine dining establishment in the Napa Valley. I ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc that was recommended by the staff for a very reasonable $23.00. One, if not the lowest priced wine on the list. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the winery! I struck up a conversation with some locals sitting next to me at the bar. They were having appetizers. Later while giving Eileen a bit of a hard time about the menu prices and how the restaurant would probably not have a very local following because of the very high prices of the food. (after looking at the menu, so far I agreed with them). Eileen, to her credit, told them that she enjoyed serving locals and that there were ways to negotiate the menu, such as sharing as portions were large. I'm not sure if they were convinced, but Eileen did the best she could to make the best of their comments. My friends showed up right on time, and the ladies at the door offered to sit us down right away, but my friends, noticing the next to full bottle of Sauvignon Blanc at the bar, thought it might be nice to have a seat at the bar first. When we were ready to sit dow for dinner one of the ladies sat us down promptly on request. As we sat down we noticed that our two bottles of red wine were on the table with glasses already sat on the table. The glasses were Reidel, same as white wine glasses at the bar, but might have been a step up in quality.(I have restaurant grade Reidel at home and the White wine glasses looked very familiar). We asked for an additional set of Red wine glasses so we could try the wines side by side. "Certainly, I'll bring them right out!" We passed on appetizers, I couldn't tell if this was because of sticker shock or everyone figured entree portions would be large. I was decided that we would order our entrees and share sides amongst the four of us. I shared a $99 Porterhouse with my date and the other couple ordered a Ribeye $46 and I believe Salmon.(not positive on price as with the Cabernet's we had brought I never gave fish a second thought.) We ordered mushrooms, spinach and french fries for sides. (the $12 fries are still ringing in my head as the most I have ever paid for fries) As we waited for Dinner, another member of the waitstaff brought bread. Included was onion bread (grilled onions in a sliced roll) that would turn out as one of the highlights of the meal. As the meal arrived the Porterhouse was deboned and cut tableside, cooked to perfection. The ribeye and fish were delivered and sides placed on everyone's plate. Several members of the staff participated in assuring the food arrived all at the same time. So far the service had been excellent, friendly, knowledgable and never making us feel rushed. Several minutes before, two couples were seated next to our table. My date and I had taken the seats facing the room, this was good for viewing activity, but we found out that squeezing out to take a bathroom break was like being a bull in a china shop. Both of our tables seemed to be working our way in and out of each others conversations as we were seated so close. Thank goodness they were easy going and fun, like us We all felt like the food was cooked perfectly, not life changing, but well executed. We ordered only one dessert as we were full from the meal and three of us had coffee. After tax and tip the meal cost around $385, and this didn't include wine as we had brought our own and I had paid seperately for the Sauvignon Blanc. We had a great time, service was excellent, food was good to very good, but was it worth it? Probably not. When we talked in the parking lot and then several days later we all agreed that spending $90 or $100 or $250 per person on a meal feels better when you have "haute cuisine" or something new or different with multiple courses it just seems like a better value. Steak and Fries can be done at home with friends very easily and very well if not better than at Press. With that said, if you are visiting the valley and want steak, I would recommend Press or Coles Steakhouse in Napa. Pros: Service- patient, professional, friendly. Quality - food, wine, glasses, utensils Cons: Cramped seating in large room, A la Carte, , bad value, food prices!!!!! P.S. I am going to agree with the couple that this is probably not going to become a locals hangout.
