Alas, my work is done. It has been a long but rewarding effort to provide you with some great information to help with your next trip to San Francisco, Napa, and Newport Beach. All, especially Napa are magical places with some of the best the world has to offer. After close now to 40 years of visiting still gives me goose bumps while I am there and when I leave I have a longing to return. A place that you will never grow tired of. As the year ends I wish my loyal readers a safe, healthy, happy, and joy-filled Holiday season and Happy New Year!
Restaurant Reviews
Newport Beach California
R+D Kitchen
Newport Beach CA in Fashion Mall
555 Newport Center Drive
949-219-0555
My wife and I have now eaten here multiple times on each trip to Southern California and it has turned into one of our favorite places, especially for lunch. They have absolutely the best French Dip sandwich I have ever had with mountains of fresh finely cut roast beef on a fresh-baked soft baguette and tasty dipping sauce. There is always a line out the door with locals cramming to get in. They also have one in Napa Valley in the Rutherford area and our friends had dinner at that one who also stated their dinner was great. The one in Napa Valley you definitely need reservations because it was close to impossible to get into that one. In general fresh well-prepared food by well-trained professional and friendly servers. I can’t wait to return in the future.
San Francisco California
Miller and Lux San Francisco
700 Terry A Francois Blvd
San Francisco, CA
415-872-6699
Miller and Lux is a steakhouse owned and operated by celebrity chef Tyler Florence whom we met briefly as we departed after dinner. The food and service are excellent and the decor is high-end and relaxing. Immediately after sitting down, you are offered a selection of sparkling wine to choose from at various price points. I was impressed with the Lobster Thermador one of my old favorite dishes you almost never see anymore. The restaurant has a wide variety of classic steak cuts and accompaniments also. They allow you to bring your own wine with a modest corkage fee. Overall it was a memorable meal but the prices were the highest we paid on our trip and the wine prices on the wine list were in La La land. Chef Tyler made many visits into the dining area to speak with regular customers and friends but otherwise, he did not visit your table, something I find a problem. To me, if the Chef comes out to speak with friends it only takes a minute or two extra I would hope to just stop by every table and say hello, how’s dinner.
Kokkari Estiatorio Greek Restaurant
200 Jackson St.
San Francisco, CA 94111
415-981-0983
This was our second favorite place in San Francisco. It is primarily a high-end Greek Restaurant with all your favorites like great lamb souvlaki. They had an extensive wine list and I had my first bottle of Kongsgaard Chardonnay during the trip. Both the sommelier and busboy went to extreme trouble to help us find suppliers of that wine in the area and their recommendations led us directly to places where we were able to buy it by the case. Very friendly and helpful staff and well prepared fresh food. I had the lamb souvlaki with a Greek salad that was sublime. It was a very nice long relaxing lunch and we will return. The only downside if any was the bill was the second-highest during our trip and it was for lunch no less but to us worth the price.
Johns Grill, San Francisco
63 Ellis St.
San Francisco CA 94102
415-986-0069
John’s Grill is one of the oldest continuous restaurants in the city. It has been there for decades. Nothing fancy but good well-prepared food with friendly service and a reasonable price. The menu is pretty basic but a good selection and something for everyone. A good selection of seafood and plenty of great steaks.
Bix
56 Gold Street
San Francisco CA 94133
415-433-6300
Another oldie but goodie that will take you back to the good old days. Bix is a supper club with a 1930’s ambiance with live jazz and serving American-French cuisine. The menu leans towards seafood and at the same time serves marrow bones as a separate item which I have never seen on a menu before. The service was excellent and the live jazz piano was definitely a plus. I really felt like I was in the Casablanca Movie. Play it again Sam!
Mathilde San Francisco
315 5th St.
San Francisco CA 94107
415-546-6128
It is no secret we like French cuisine and this place satisfied all of our French desires. Everything is a classic French presentation and all of our favorites. I eventually settled in for the basics having escargots and Coq au Vin. The escargots were identical in taste and quality to any I have ever had in Burgundy. The Coq au Vin was classic and just downright delicious. The service was professional and friendly. Coffee and dessert were again classic and we had an obscene number of Profiteroles and probably gained 10 pounds just from dessert. It’s a small and out-of-the-way place but worth the trip for classic French.
Foreign Cinema San Francisco
2534 Mission St.
San Francisco CA 94110
415-648-7600
Let me be very clear here. This is absolutely the best most fun and unique dining experience and high-top shelf experience I have had in years. You would never know it looking at the front door with a bitcoin seller next door and a payroll advance store across the street. It is in one of those urban recovery areas where the area used to be a high crime and drug den area the city is trying to rehabilitate. As we speak today it is a safe area but it still looks rough and the only way you know where the restaurant is, is for the small sign over the door. What a wonderful dinner and Clark and I are seriously thinking of a weekend trip to SFO just to return there and have dinner again. The restaurant is in an old movie theater and inside the dining room is divided into two rooms one of which shows an old movie each evening and that is the theme of the night. The night we were there the movie was “Gentleman Prefer Blonds” with Marilyn Monroe. You sit at the usual white cloth dining table with family and friends while they play the movie as you eat. I didn’t recall any sound so you just see the movie. The menu was extensive and everything is made in-house fresh. One example. They make their own sardines. I am not a sardine fan but they were recommended and wow, unbelievable. I now like sardines. Fresh, not fishy, tasty, and great. The menu both for food, wine, dessert wines, cocktails, drinks is extensive and takes some time to take in. You had to be impressed that they had 5 different renditions of “Pappy” Old Rip Van Winkle Whiskey from 12 years old to 23 years old. It is one of the rarest whiskey in the world and to find all of them on one menu is impressive. The American Whiskey choices alone were over 50 choices. Dining choices were unique. Just one example is Saffron risotto galettes with roasted honeynut squash with matsutake mushrooms, English pea puree, tapenade, and toum and zoug. They also had an extensive list of oysters and caviar as well. Service was professional and attentive and the overall ambiance was relaxed and calming. It was just a truly unique and wonderful dining experience that we will remember for a long long time.
Napa and St. Helena Area
Bistro Don Giovanni
4110 Howard Ln
Napa, CA 94558
707-224-3300
Don Giovanni's was one of the first places we had dinner close to 40 years ago and it is still going strong and expanded to 3X the size we recall. Fresh pasta, fresh fish, and attentive friendly service, and just great Italian food. Reservations are a must, though we had no real trouble getting in. They were full and busy but you do learn when you go to Napa the "Napa lifestyle" and Napa cuisine seems to reign supreme here. I had pasta with fresh in-house made basil pesto sauce and I can assure you once you have freshly made basil pesto you won't be able to go back to store-bought again. In fact, we now make our own in-house fresh basil pesto at home. We had a great meal at Don Giovanni's and we will return in the future.
Mustard's Grill
7399 St Helena Hwy
Napa CA 94558
707-944-2424
Directly across from Del Dotto's caves one of the best and oldest places in Napa. A word of warning don't eat lunch here and then do a tour of Del Dotto after in that for us at least Del Dotto includes a pizza lunch with your tasting and we were absolutely stuffed by 4 PM. Mustard’s has been here for now over 40 years to our knowledge and we come to every visit and in all those years it remains probably the top 3 places in the valley. Food and service are top-notch and like everyone else farm to table fresh and well prepared. Their wine list is 13x19 inches small fine print front and back and labeled “Way too Many Wines”. Think Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa on one piece of paper. They had many wines you will never ever see anywhere. One example we had was John Kongsgaard Albarino which I did not know existed. Another one you will not find often is American Expat in France is Alex Gamble Aligote. I always look forward to going to Mustards and you should also.
Goose and Gander St. Helena
1245 Spring St
St Helena CA 94574
707-967-8779
Another very unique place to dine. A great eclectic menu with standard favorites thrown in with unique items like roasted bone marrow, garden radishes with dip, and fried olives and pistachios. One entree a bone in salmon chop I have never seen before. Like other establishments in the valley, they had an extensive wine list again close to 1000 wines. Selections were primarily red and the prices were 3x retail and sometimes over so I recommend corkage here especially if you want white wine. Service was friendly and attentive and not overblown. We enjoyed it very much
Farmstead Long Meadow Branch St. Helena
738 Main St
St Helena CA 94574
707-963-4555
The poster child for the farm-to-table movement. Great food, extensive food, and wine menu you really cannot go wrong here. For some insane reason I and another friend had the 12 hours pulled pork sandwich and coming from the South we know barbecue and would think we would have ordered something more in line with California cuisine. But I must tell you surprisingly it was a great barbecue and very tender. They also serve ribs. Overall the food was very fresh and well prepared. There are way over 500 to 600 wines to choose from and the prices are OK at 2X retail. It’s a great place to go and recommended.
Gott's Roadside
933 Main St (Highway 29)
St Helena CA 94574
This is a bucket list kind of place. They are like the original McDonalds burger joints with outside wooden tables to sit on and the best hamburger, hot dog, and fries you will ever have as you drink your own bottle of Screaming Eagle. In our case Scarecrow. I have only been able to eat there once and this last trip there was a 2-hour wait just to order. The place was jammed and parking was blocks away. Is it that good? Yes, it is. They are now branching out and we saw the establishment at Oxbow Market which we also recommend you visit in downtown Napa. You really have to go to experience it and I recommend you try and show up when they first start serving to shortcut the lines.
Wine and Market Shops worth Visiting
California offers extensive places to eat and shop providing items you simply will not find elsewhere. The following places are ones that we go to almost every time we go as they provide us with opportunities we cannot find in Florida. We highly recommend all of them as they provide reasonable prices and exceptional help and service during your visit. Most all of them have mailing lists we recommend you join and all will ship directly to your home dependent on your State laws, but definitely to Florida as we have had no problems with any of them.
Newport Beach Area
Hi-Times Wine Cellars
250 Ogle St
Costa Mesa CA 92627
949-650-8463
A very large wine store with thousands of selections, great specials, and unique wines from all over the world. Every visit just walking around and looking takes me close to 2 hours. I purchased wine here for a large birthday party for a friend and brought in the cost at well over 20% of what he intended to pay. Plenty of bargains.
Wine Exchange
1544 E Warner Ave
Santa Ana CA 92705
714-979-1509
Located in an industrial area it is somewhat difficult to find but worth the effort. Again lots of unique and unknown high-quality wines. They have a "Grand Cru" or "1st Growth" room with plenty of wine to bankrupt you but at times some of the best prices I have seen. One example is I have purchased most of the French Richeborgs in my cellar at around $250 a bottle which is at least 1/2 anywhere else. No guarantee you find anything but when you do it is worth the visit. They sell on an internet mailing list which I am on and ship directly to Florida and elsewhere when permitted with no problems.
San Francisco Area
K&L Wine Merchants, San Francisco Store
855 Harrison Street
San Francisco CA 94107
415-896-1794
Another wine merchant from who I buy a lot of wine. Multiple stores the one on Harrison Street is their main shop and is huge with an extremely varied selection of hard-to-find wines. I have visited the Pitray Vineyard in the Cadillac region of the Right Bank in Bordeaux and visited with the Count and his wife in their castle there twice and it is a very low production good wine that we have shipped from France. I was blown away K&L had it at $15 a bottle. I also spent almost the entire trip looking for Hirsch Chardonnay and never found it until the last day of our trip visiting K&L. I am on their "advantage" list or internet mailing list and so far their prices have been some of the lowest I have seen even with door-to-door shipping.
Napa Valley Winery Exchange
Rick Jones, Owner
415 Taylor Street
San Francisco CA 94102
415-297-1074 cell
415-771-2887
A much smaller wine shop in town but well worth the trouble. The owner and staff are extremely knowledgeable regarding all wines and attend wine tastings extensively and take extensive notes and share them with you. They provided some of the most wine knowledge and recommendations we received on our trip. The owner is a stand-up guy and will help you a lot. I was a lot of fun just to stop by and talk shop.
Napa Valley Area
Gary's Napa
607 St Helena Highway
St Helena CA 94574
707-531-7660
This used to be a Dean & Deluca and was recently purchased by a private owner. It is the same place with lots of gourmet food and wine, cheese, food, etc. Most of the wine is very high-end. If you want Scarecrow and such this is the place to go. A good selection of wine and helpful knowledgeable staff.
Oxbow Cheese & Wine Merchant
Michael Meyers, "Chief Wine Wisdom Officer"
610 First Street
Napa CA 94559
707-819-6126
The Oxbow Market in downtown Napa is now a bucket list kind of place. It has about 20 inside cafes and shops with lots of goodies, none better than the Oxbow Cheese & Wine Merchant at the back of the building managed by a wonderful wine expert Michael Meyers and a pleasure to speak with. Tell him Ross sent you. He provided me with my first ever significant allocation of John Kongsgaard Chardonnay in my life and has other extensive wine holdings. He also has lots of great cheese. He will ship direct and has a internet following I recommend you get on.
Oakville Grocery
7856 St Helena Hwy
Oakville CA 94562
707-944-8802
Just like Mustard's Oakville Grocery has been in Napa since the beginning of time. Lots of great gourmet food and nick-nacks for home and an extensive wine cellar and more importantly an extensive Champagne and very high-end wine selections to include Scarecrow and Screaming Eagle. On our last day, I purchased a mixed case to take home on the plane and one example purchased 3 bottles of Nature-Champagne and in the past 30 years, I have only found 2 bottles of Nature-Champagne so they have some rare stuff. They have recently added a wine tasting room next door and they have Scarecrow for sure at something like $40 a pour and yes it is a little high but a good price so you can say you tasted Scarecrow. I assume in the future they will feature other high-end wines like that but you cannot beat the setup they have and plan on a visit while in Napa.
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