Here at Grapestorm we live by the rule that every so often, certainly not all the time, you should treat yourselves to a hyper-pretentious, overindulgent, highly priced meal. If you’re in Napa/Yountville and it’s that time, look no further than Redd my friends. I’m not even sure where to start with this meal because it was out of control from start to finish. The restaurant itself is very minimalistic and contemporary (read: all the walls are white and there are barely any decorations), and I love how that’s a legitimate and fancy style, because I can say my old apartment was “minimalistic”. While you could interpret that to mean I have a cutting edge sense of style, I actually mean that I didn’t have a couch and sat on the floor while using a storage bin as a coffee table. My decorating tastes aside, it all worked at Redd. We opted for the tasting menu with the wine pairing, which we both assumed would mean selecting our own options from the menu but oh no, not here! They’re so pretentious that they not only know how to decorate better than you, they know what you want to eat more than you do. Based on which side of the table we were seated at, we received two entirely different tasting menus and wines. If you’re a normal person you’re probably thinking that’s awesome! You get to try twice as much food. And you’d be right! As uncouth as it may have been, there were forkfuls of food flying across the Grapestorm table that evening. From tuna tartare to squab, The Colonel and I ate almost every morsel of every dish with very few “meh, this was just ok” moments. If I remember one thing from that meal however, it was the life-changing pork belly that I was treated to that evening. If you’re not in the seat that has this as part of the tasting, I would seriously consider incapacitating your meal partner to steal this dish from them. I don’t know if I’ve ever had pork belly before, and I don’t even know if I want to have it again, because if it’s not as mind-altering as this was then it will just be ruined for me forever. Dessert was decadent but not overkill, since we ate so much during the meal I would have had to be very creative finding room for more. Otherwise, I think I would have been disappointed, but that’s what you get when you go to a fancy place. Overall we had 5 courses, 5 wines, plus some oysters and sparkling vouvray to start. Very pricey, very well worth it if you’re looking to splurge, and overall the most memorable meal of the trip.
Grapestorm 