Terra

[From molinete's September 20, 2007 blog entry. Attendees: Trang, Tiff, Will, Eric, Henry T.]

This past weekend's Napa trip was great fun. We visited some cool wineries and even bought a few bottles of wine to take home.

The best part, though, was our dinner at Terra.

Terra is my all-time favorite restaurant. Naturally, there are other places I like better for specific types of cuisine (e.g., sushi), but Terra is by far the overall winner in my book. They do amazing California cuisine with very subtle Asian influences that's simply divine. Their sake-marinated Alaskan black cod is a great example of this.

I've tried several different dishes at Terra, and all of them were absolutely delicious. That's impressive because I find that at most restaurants, even some highly-rated ones, you have to know what to order if you want to have a great experience. But Terra's menu is strong across the board. Duck "three ways" is another of their tasty and beautifully presented main courses.

Of course we had to drink some wine with dinner too. It is wine country after all. Still, I'd had enough California wines for one day, so I decided to go with something different. I love red Burgundy, and they had this excellent Vosnes-Romanee - well-balanced, complex, and very sensuous. I was extremely pleased. On a side note, the sommelier really knows his wine.

After the appetizers and main courses we were pretty stuffed, but we went ahead and shared a couple desserts - tiramisu and stone fruit crisp with buttermilk ice cream. I also insisted that we get a bottle of my favorite dessert wine, Moscato d'Asti, since none of my friends had ever tried it.

It was a very satisfying evening. I was surprised that they had some empty tables on a Saturday night, but apparently not all that many people know about Terra. It's not one of those glitzy, high-profile Napa restaurants like The French Laundry, Martini House, Auberge du Soleil, or Bistro Don Giovanni. It's more of a place that locals and foodies go for an awesome dinner. I guess the upside is that it's easier for me to get reservations there whenever I want to go. =)