Greystone Restaurant at CIA... another reason to visit Napa

The place:  Greystone Restaurant – Located at Culinary Institute of America:  St. Helena, CA

                Dinner – November 30^th, 2011

The first thing that you’ll see when you arrive at the Culinary Institute is that this place just “looks” like they make great food.  Laura and I arrived just as the sun was starting to go down completely (the Santa Ana winds were up pretty strongly and as a result it was very cool for us… and as a result we didn’t linger around the Institute as we would have if it had been warmer.  The entrance to the restaurant is on the north end of the building, but I’d encourage you to wander around a bit before you go in as this a great building.  We may have been at an advantage since the Xmas decorations were all up, but as we drove by it several times over the course of this trip, we always found the building drew our attention.

http://www.ciachef.edu/restaurants/wsgr/

The food:

“Chef’s bites” appetizers

Pan seared cod with vegetables, pumpkin seed relish and romesco sauce

DuBiase Pinot Noir

The Results:

Even if you aren’t an appetizer “type” of person, I would certainly recommend that you take the time to order this one.  Served in a unique dish that rotates and allows you to access all of the various dishes (were served 5), these offerings change each night and give you the chance to sample a variety of different foods without have to “commit” to a full plate.  Considering that the meals are prepared by students that are working with master chefs, there is some real variety and there is likely there will be something that will be a little “much” for your taste (we lucked out and liked everything that we had, but considering this changes nightly I’d be careful about guaranteeing anything.

The main course was in a word… superb.   The fish had been cooked to perfection so that it simply flaked off on my fork, but just as importantly went well with the vegetables that it was served over, but with the pumpkin relish and romesco sauce.  With all of the different flavors involved here, I expected this dinner to be a bit on the “confused” side from a taste perspective…. But the chefs here did a great job.

I was a little “wined out” by dinner, so I just chose a “basic” Pinot Noir that went fine with my dinner, but was nothing that compelling me to write a recommendation on (trust me when I say that this was the exception and not the rule of this trip.  One other comment on the venue itself....the main dining room is open and we were seated at a small two person table that was immediately next to the open kitchen. That was great for us as we love to watch the food being made, but when this place gears up in season (we just walked in which I guarantee you can’t do at other times of year), I would also expect the noise level to be high well.  All that said, a definite stop on your culinary tour of Napa