Frommer's San Francisco 2012 - Matthew Poole [231]
6534 Washington St. (at Humboldt St.). 707/944-8037. www.bouchonbistro.com. Reservations recommended during the week, required on weekends. Main courses $16–$30. AE, MC, V. Daily 11:30am–midnight.
Mustards Grill ★ CALIFORNIAN Here the promise is simple: Hyperflavored (and undeniably tasty) comfort classics with exotic spins in heaping portions. As a popular valley standard for more than 20 years, you should also expect to wait for a table within the convivial, barn-style space—even, annoyingly, if you have a reservation. But once you’re settled in with a selection from the 300 New World wine list and raise fork to mouth, all is easily forgiven. Do start with seared ahi tuna or moist and meaty crab cakes and broaden your culinary horizons (not to mention your waist line) with favorites such as Mongolian-style pork chop with hot mustard sauce or sautéed lemon-garlic half-chicken with mashed potatoes and fresh herbs. And definitely end with their famed lemon-lime tart, which is easily identified by its Bart Simpson–hairdo-like meringue topping.
7399 St. Helena Hwy. (Hwy. 29). 707/944-2424. www.mustardsgrill.com. Reservations recommended. Main courses $11–$25. AE, DC, DISC, MC, V. Mon–Thurs 11:30am–9pm; Fri 11:30am–10pm; Sat 11am–10pm; Sun 11am–9pm.
WHERE TO STOCK UP FOR A gourmet picnic
You can easily plan your whole trip around restaurant reservations, but gather one of the world’s best gourmet picnics, and the valley’s your oyster.
One of the finest gourmet-food stores in the Wine Country, if not all of California, is the Oakville Grocery Co., 7856 St. Helena Hwy., at Oakville Cross Road, Oakville ( 707/944-8802; www.oakvillegrocery.com). You can put together the provisions for a memorable picnic or, with at least 24 hours’ notice, the staff can prepare a picnic basket for you. The store, with its small-town vibe and claustrophobia-inducing crowds, can be quite an experience. You’ll find shelves crammed with the best breads and choicest cheeses in the northern Bay Area, as well as pâtés, cold cuts, crackers, top-quality olive oils, fresh foie gras (domestic and French, seasonal), smoked Norwegian salmon, and, of course, an exceptional selection of California wines. The store is open daily from 9am to 5pm. There’s also an espresso bar tucked in the corner (open Mon–Fri 7am–5pm, Sat–Sun 8am–5pm), offering lunch items, a complete deli, and house-baked pastries.
Another of my favorite places to fill a picnic basket is New York’s version of a swank European marketplace, Dean & DeLuca, 607 S. St. Helena Hwy. (Hwy. 29), north of Zinfandel Lane and south of Sulphur Springs Road, St. Helena ( 707/967-9980; www.deananddeluca.com). The ultimate in gourmet grocery stores is more like a world’s fair of foods, where everything is beautifully displayed and often painfully pricey. As you pace the barn-wood plank floors, you’ll stumble upon more high-end edibles than you’ve probably ever seen under one roof. They include local organic produce (delivered daily); 300 domestic and imported cheeses (with an on-site aging room to ensure proper ripeness); shelves and shelves of tapenades, pastas, oils, hand-packed dried herbs and spices, chocolates, sauces, cookware, and housewares; an espresso bar; one hell of a bakery section; and more. Along the back wall, you can watch the professional chefs prepare gourmet takeout, including salads, rotisserie meats, and sautéed vegetables. You can also snag a pricey bottle from the wine section’s 1,400-label collection. The store is open daily from 7am to 7pm. (The espresso bar is open daily