Category Archives: Restaurants

Dining at Violetto at the Alila Napa Valley

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Smoked sturgeon and cauliflower rillettes with caviar at Violetto at the Alila resort.
Smoked sturgeon and cauliflower rillettes with caviar at Violetto at the Alila resort.

The resort now known as Alila Napa Valley (formerly Los Alcabas) has always been one of my favorite properties in St. Helena for its striking juxtaposition between old and new.

In 2021, the Alila hotel group took over the property with its oversized, minimalist, gray-toned rooms with spectacular vineyard views, with the vines so close to the ground-floor rooms that you could walk out your terrace to touch them.

In May 2024, it completed its transition by debuting its new restaurant, Violetto, housed in the property’s beautifully ornate 1907 mansion.

Chef Thomas Lents serves a French-Italian menu with thoughtful options for a 7-course tasting menu ($145) with optional wine pairing ($85), four-course prix fixe ($105) with optional wine pairing ($65), or a la carte. There are also supplemental items you can choose to add.

Violetto is housed in a 1907 mansion.
Violetto is housed in a 1907 mansion.
The main dining room.
The main dining room.
The bar-lounge area.
The bar-lounge area.

Recently, I was invited as a guest of the property and restaurant to stay overnight and to experience the new menu.

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Napa Meets Kansas City At Stateline Road Smokehouse

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(Clockwise from top): beans & greens; burnt ends, baby back ribs, brisket, pulled pork, and mac & cheese.
(Clockwise from top): beans & greens; burnt ends, baby back ribs, brisket, pulled pork, and mac & cheese.

Darryl Bell has known he wanted to be a chef since he was all of 8 years old, when he was already stirring up pots of lentil and hot water-corn bread at his family’s stove in Kansas City, MO.

He more than made good on that dream, cooking in such illustrious kitchens as Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro in Yountville, Alinea in Chicago, and Press in St. Helena.

This summer, he finally opened his own restaurant, Stateline Road Smokehouse in Napa, named for the major thoroughfare that divides Kansas City, MO and Kansas City, KS.

Chef-Owner Darryl Bell.
Chef-Owner Darryl Bell.

It was an endeavor that took a long two years to turn a former auto repair shop into a casual, welcoming restaurant, which I had a chance to finally visit a couple weeks ago.

Even at lunch time on a Friday, the place was packed with folks chowing down on trays heaped with smoky tender meats.

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The Personalized Touch at Ju-Ni

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The hand-roll filled with every fish you've had earlier that night at Ju-Ni.
The hand-roll filled with every fish you’ve had earlier that night at Ju-Ni.

The name of San Francisco’s Ju-Ni restaurant means “12” in Japanese. But nowadays, it might as well be called Ju-Roku or “16.”

When Executive Chef Geoffrey Lee and business partner Tan Truong opened it in 2016, Ju-Ni indeed featured three sushi chefs for 12 guests (or one chef per four guests). But with its popularity, the omakase restaurant, which held a Michelin star for four years, decided to add one more sushi chef to now accommodate a total of 16 guests.

If you dine in a foursome as I did recently, it’s ideal because it means you get your own sushi chef for the entirety of the meal, whom you can converse with easily.

At Ju-Ni, one sushi chef serves every four diners.
At Ju-Ni, one sushi chef serves every four diners.

The 14-course omakase is $198 per person, and it must be prepaid when you make your reservation online. When you arrive at the restaurant, you can add beverages and any additional items on offer.

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Warm Up At Flaming Ox

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Braised pork belly with rice at Flaming Ox.
Braised pork belly with rice at Flaming Ox.

In these challenging economic times when people fume at the price of a fast-food burger meal, they ought to consider that for not much more, they can sit down to a far more flavorful, nutritious, and soulfully satisfying dish at a place like Flaming Ox in San Jose.

For about $16 to $18, you can enjoy a Taiwanese specialty rice or noodle bowl in a sizeable portion that’s sure to warm you through and through, which is what I found when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant recently.

On the wall at the restaurant.
On the wall at the restaurant.

The casual cafe opened 10 months ago in the same strip mall as City Sports Club on East Brokaw Road. It is the brainchild of Eric Chung, a chef of Taiwanese heritage, who was a former lead chef cooking Asian food at Apple in Cupertino before launching his food trucks.

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Delights at Dalida

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The showy black cod at Dalida in San Francisco.
The showy black cod at Dalida in San Francisco.

There’s no denying that Chef Laura Ozyilmaz is tough, having fought her way back from elimination on “Top Chef’‘ to win “Last Chance Kitchen” to gain another shot at victory.

In the end, she may not have won the overall competition, making it as far as one of the last four competitors standing. But she won over many fans for her gumption and creative dishes. That she did all this while in the midst of opening Dalida in San Francisco, her restaurant with her chef-husband Sayat Ozilmaz, makes it doubly impressive.

Even before “Top Chef,” Dalida was a hard reservation to come by. It’s easy to see why, when you consider that this Eastern Mediterranean restaurant was opened by two chefs with impressive pedigrees.

The open kitchen.
The open kitchen.

The couple met while studying at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. Sayat, originally from Turkey, went on to work at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York, Le Bernardin in New York City, and the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, while Laura worked at Cafe Boulud in New York City, Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Eleven Madison Park in New York City, Del Posto in New York City, and Saison in San Francisco.

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