Pilar

[Carolyn Tillie]

Last evening, Bombdog, his girlfriend, Lynn, Shawn, and I dined at Pilar's, the newest star in Napa's firmament. Opened a whole five days, early press releases already had the town buzzing. Located at 807 Main Street (a few doors down from Zuzu's another local fav), this as yet un-signed building front only hints at the treasures found wihtin. Husband and wife team, Didier Lenders (formerly Meadowood's executive chef) and Pilar Sanchez (formerly executive chef for the Wine Spectator Restaurant at the CIA Greystone) have presented what will ultimately become a true marvel in this stodgy town - an ever-changing menu based on the the finds of the local Farmers Market and the season.

Although Bombdog made 8:00 reservations for us, that is considered late in this sleepy hamlet and it seems that as the last turn of the evening, we had quite a wait, patiently hoping previous diners would forego their desserts to free up a table. Jimmy, their front-of-house man, thanked our patience with some complimentary bubbly after our long wait (a little less than half hour). What came afterwards proved well worth it. Jimmy was quite a character and extremely accomodating:

The menu is relatively small -- we tried four of the five appetizers:

Lynn had the butter lettuce salad with Maytag blue cheese, roasted apple pears, with a golden balsamic vinaigrette:

I did not get any of the roasted apple pears, but the lettuce I tasted was incredibly fresh and complimented the cheese quite well.

Shawn ordered the Tortilla soup with Dungeness Crab and avocado:

I found it a slight too spicy with pepper for me, but I'm a wimp. It was beautifully served and while Shawn also indicated that it seemed spicy at first, as he dug down to the crab on the bottom, the flavors melded together quite elegantly.

I ordered a Spring vegetable "Pot au Feu" with asparagus, fava beans, baby carrots, artichokes, blue lake beans, and English peas:

A surprisingly simple concoction -- the sort of thing that makes one say, "I could do this at home" but never seem to and the home version is never quite as elegant. The broth was delicate and I licked up every drop. I was a true joy to taste the essence of Spring in all these vegetables together.

The piece de resistance was Bombdog's serving of sauteed foie gras served with a spicy kumquat compote, French toast, and sesame seed brittle:

The foie gras was considerably larger than I expected, considering its $13.00 price tag and was perfectly seared to a golden crisp on the outside and meltingly tender on the inside. Bombdog was initially shocked by the spiciness of the kumquate compote, but apparently he got the only really spicy bite. The sesame brittle was an interesting dichotomy of texture with a sweet crunch contrasting the silky foie gras and gooey compote. I didn't get a taste of the French toast, however.

Our server for the evening as Nini, an absolute delight:

We paired all the appetizers with an additional bottle of bubbly: a Zardetto Prosecca. For dinner, Shawn and I brought in a well-aged 1998 Gundlach Bundschu Merlot. Pilar's wine list, however, was exciting in its variety. Not tremendously large, but enticingly laid out with the left-hand column showcasing some of California's finest and a complementary right-hand column of imported wines.

Shawn was quite sad that one of the most anticipated entrees was unavailable: Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit; grilled, braised, smoked, and confit with sage spaetzle, braised mustard greens, and a mustard sauce. That left us ordering the remainder of the entire menu, Shawn having a Zinfandel-marinated Hanger Steak with green garlic, Yukon gold potato gratin, spinach flan, and spring onions:

Lynn's dish was one of the few photographs that was unprintable, but we all enjoyed her local Halibut filet served with a Yukon gold potato puree and a citrus and basil salad.

Bombdog was served a beautiful Colorado Rack of Lamb with root vegetable ratatouille that included turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, and salsify with a mascarpone cream, marjoram, and amb jus sauce.

I believe it was a true toss-up who had the better course, Bombdog's lamb, or my Ivory King Salmon, sauteed with brussels sprouts and applewood smoked bacon, topped with a gelato of olive oil and lemon:

We all tasted and contemplated the secret of the lamb's sauce (it was the mascarpone!), the brilliance of topping an amazing fish with a savory sorbet, and the fact that the salmon itself was albino!

Since there were five desserts, we figured it would be best to just go ahead and order all five. Here is where our great impression of the evening's savory offerings were blown away by astonishing dessert.

Baked chocolate mousse with Tahitian vanilla bean gelato:

This was less a mousse and more a decadent miniature concentrated flourless chocolate cake that had intense, rich flavor.

Crepes and port-poached pear with zabaglione:

It was incredibly hard to not lick this plate clean.

Hazelnut gelato with warm cajeta caramel sauce:

Based on its description, I probably would have not ordered this -- and now that I've tasted it, I would have regretted not ordering it! Amazingly smooth with a combination of flavors that enticed the tongue.

Mango sorbet with fresh tropical fruit salad:

The only served course of the evening that was not on pristine, white plates. The tropical fruit salad consisted of papaya, kiwi, passionfruit, and mangos. The miniature 'crisps' were (we believe), a sweet dough, perhaps a simple pate sucree.

Roasted banana souffle with chocolate gelato:

Light, fluffy, served with the gelato plopped into the souffle immediately at the table. Rich, warm banana flavor.

So here's where it got a bit embarrassing. We were moaning excessivly at the originality of the desserts; "Thank god! No Tiramisu, no Creme Brulee!") The flavors were innovative while harkening back to the standards of comfort desserts. We were obviously enjoying the dessert so much, that Pilar herself came out to our table, hearing our exclamations of rapture:

We asked about some of the discrepancies that appeared in the early press vs. the prepared menu. It seems that they has every intention of changing the menu on a weekly, or daily basis, if need be, depending on what is available. One early articles hinted at dishes like Carrot Risotto with Grilled Portobello Mushrooms, Hobb's Bunderfleisch with grilled Asparagus and preserved Meyer lemons, and a Straus Creamy panna cotta. Another article mentions Wild Mushroom Lasagna with Bellweather Farms ricotta and crescenza, a Meyer lemon souffle, red grapefruit crepes and roasted pineapple tostadas. It seems they reached back into their bounty of recipes and are still deciding what to prepare and writing their press releases. Pilar indicated that there might be venison on the menu next week and the evening's lack of rabbit was due to the suppliers limitations.

I look forward to going back often and dearly hope the menu does change often. Having eaten through the entire menu once, while I would enjoy it again, I so marvel at Pilar's skill that it would be that much more exciting to be able to experience something new at each visit. So many of the Napa restaurants have gotten themselves into ruts by never changing their menu. Let's hope Pilar and Didier continue in their schizophrenic path -- to the joy of us all!

[Bombdog]

Great review Carrie....reading it made me feel like I was there!

Oh, wait a minute....never mind.

Just a small addition. For a restaurant on only it's 5th night of service, and certainly the busiest thus far, our entire party remarked at how the staff seemed to operate so smooth. Pilar told us that her staff was a combination of old friends and long time staff from other adventures. She said they all worked together well, and it definitely showed.

[s'kat]

What a lovely and fun-looking experience! Thanks... and do they serve lunch, or only dinners?

[Carolyn Tillie]

What a lovely and fun-looking experience! Thanks... and do they serve lunch, or only dinners?

Lunch and dinner - but they are not open seven days a week... I think they are closed on Sundays (as most of downtown Napa is).

I didn't add their number in my previous post: 707-252-4474

[Chris Cognac]

Nice...looks great, must be nice to live in Napa...hey where are the photos of you guys?

[Carolyn Tillie]

Nice...looks great, must be nice to live in Napa...hey where are the photos of you guys?

Well, Chris... it was tough - there I was, living in Redondo and driving to Napa three and four times a year when our landlord evicted us from our bungalow to put up one of those two-on-a-lot monstrosities (we lived on Juanita, behind Joe's). It was a toss-up to stay in the South Bay or finally head out of Dodge... I gave Shawn three choices: Seattle, Portland, or Napa. It has only been about 18 months and so far, it is pretty cool (although I really miss Creme de la Crepe and all the GREAT Japanese restaurants in Gardena, especially Shin-Sen Gumi!)

And the pictures of all of us were taken outside before we went in and the flash didn't go off... sorry - no pic!