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The 9 Best Places to Eat in St. Helena

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The small town of St. Helena is a hotspot for some of the best dining in the Napa Valley. Home to many impressive restaurants, the culinary offerings are more diverse than ever before. Visitors delight in options for fine dining, farm-to-table, and casually stylish establishments. Use our guide to start planning your visit—you won’t want to miss out on eating and drinking at the best restaurants in town.

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Restaurants / St Helena

The Grill at Meadowood

The Grill at Meadowood offers a casual dining experience with a daily menu featuring ingredients fresh from the Meadowood garden.

The Grill is the more casual of Meadowood Resort’s two restaurants, where an open, airy dining room overlooks the property's golf course and the surrounding woods. The menu changes daily and includes ingredients fresh from Meadowood's own gardens. The serene setting is the perfect backdrop to enjoy the grill’s seasonal cuisine, such as Sonoma duck confit or delicata squash pappardelle pasta. They also have a hearty Wagyu beef burger served with gourmet fixings.

Insider Tip

The Grill has an incredible brunch menu. Try the Pumpkin Pancakes or Huevos Rancheros, and wash it down with fresh, cold-pressed juices made from the produce in the garden.

Details Visit Website
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Restaurants / St Helena

Harvest Table St. Helena

Welcome to Harvest Table, Chef Charlie Palmer’s Wine Country kitchen featuring menus that highlight locally sourced ingredients and the best of the Napa Valley.

When restaurateur and chef Charlie Palmer took ownership of the Harvest Inn, he saw an opportunity to found a chic, wine country restaurant. Housed in the inn’s former lobby, Harvest Table has been transformed into a bright, airy wine bar featuring Mediterranean-inspired cuisine made from locally sourced ingredients. Chef Levi Mezick has created a menu of “Snacks, Starters, and Plates,” with something to satisfy every appetite. Snacks include lighter bites such as pommes dauphine served with goat cheese fondue or marinated carrots, whereas the starters include such offerings as blue hubbard squash soup and scallop crudo.

Insider Tip

Start your evening with a drink—Harvest Table has a fabulous cocktail program with creative sips, such as the French margarita, a refreshing vermouth-based concoction served with chile-dusted black sea salt on the rim.

Details Visit Website
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Restaurants / St Helena

PRESS

PRESS offers the ideal Napa Valley dining experience. Chef Trevor Kunk assembles a menu with a focus on prime beef, sustainable seafood and local produce paired with the world’s largest restaurant collection of Napa Valley wines.

Farmhouse meets steakhouse at PRESS, a chic, stylish quintessentially Napa Valley establishment. PRESS boasts an elegant dining room with stunningly high ceilings ornamented with low-hanging light fixtures and a wood-burning fireplace. A great selection of steaks and chops are offered, as well as vegetarian and seafood options. The whole organic free range chicken for two is also a delight. Aside from the wonderful food and ambiance, a visit to PRESS is a must if only for a chance to experience their incredible list of over 1,000 different wines.

Insider Tip

PRESS is located next-door to HALL Wines’ St. Helena tasting room. Head over for a wine tasting before or after your meal; the tasting room is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Details Visit Website
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Restaurants / St Helena

Archetype

Archetype is sure to live up to being the OpenTable 2015 Diner's Choice award winner. Stop in for Saturday or Sunday brunch. The Bloody Mary bar should be an easy sell.

Archetype immediately impresses with its charming exterior of white bricks accented with green shrubbery and rosebushes. The cozy, inviting interior continues the theme with a cool color scheme and crisp, clean lines, and a light and airy covered porch is a relaxing spot for a leisurely lunch. At night, when the strands of tiny white lights are lit, the atmosphere turns romantic. No wonder it has been called out as one of the ten most “beautifully designed” restaurants by Architectural Digest. The inspired, wine country cuisine includes dishes such as chicken and potato dumplings served with black truffle butter, celery root, and king trumpet mushrooms, prepared in the restaurant’s signature oak-fired oven and grill.

Insider Tip

In the neighborhood mid-week? Check out “Burger Wednesday Nights”—a special of a Niman Ranch ground sirloin burger and fries for $16.

Details
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Restaurants / St Helena

The Farmer & The Fox

Enter this classy European-style gastropub to taste the seasonal menu made with produce and ingredients from local farmers.

The Farmer and the Fox is an upscale British-style gastropub situated on the new Cairdean Estate that opened in 2015. The modern, stylish establishment is a welcome addition to Napa Valley, and entirely unique in its offerings, such as Liberty Farms duck served with sunchoke, elderberries, and hen of the woods mushrooms. The warm popovers and apple butter make a welcome addition to any entrée.

Insider Tip

Make time to explore some of the Cairdean Estate during your visit. Onsite bakery Butterscot’s has creative desserts, house-made ice cream, and fresh pastries.

Details
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Restaurants / St Helena

Terra Restaurant

Service, as has always been the case, is precise and understated.... it seems Sone and Doumani know how to keep the best and improve the rest. The "new" Terra is better than ever.

Michelin Star-rated Terra is known for upscale California-cuisine with a Japanese influence. The stone farmhouse provides a romantic, intimate setting for enjoying small plates over a bottle from their extensive list of wines. Terra is a favorite for fresh seafood, and includes courses such as grilled octopus and broiled, sake-marinated black cod. Create your own “tasting menu” experience by ordering multiple courses from their savory small plates. Save room for the exciting dessert options, such as the huckleberry tart served with oatmeal crisp topping and crème fraiche ice cream.

Insider Tip

In the mood for a more relaxed meal? Bar Terra nextdoor is casual and offers lighter fare.

Details
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Restaurants / St Helena

St. Helena Bistro

Chef Israel has created his own menu of American flavors delights. The menu features a selection of American & Italian dishes and beautifully designed entrees sure to appeal to you and your friends.

St. Helena Bistro is a small family restaurant located in downtown St. Helena. This casual spot is a fun people-watching spot along Main Street while New American cuisine such as grilled salmon and lamb shank, as well as quite a few Italian dishes such as bruschetta and handmade gnocchi, emerge from the kitchen. The bistro also has classics like Angus beef burgers and a portobello mushroom sandwich.

Insider Tip

Check out Orin Swift Cellars’ modern tasting room just a few doors down from the bistro. They are open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Details
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Restaurants / St Helena

Tra Vigne Pizzeria

Tra Vigne is a casual, upbeat pizzeria. A great place to end an afternoon of wine tasting.

Although Tra Vigne closed its doors in December 2015, beloved Tra Vigne Pizzeria remains open and happily serves innovative Neopolitan-style wood-fired pizzas, pasta dishes, panini, and gelato. This casual eatery has a relaxed atmosphere and is an inviting place to take the whole family. Create your own pizza, or try one of the housemade pasta dishes such as Nona’s Spaghetti—just be sure to start with the fabulous garlic rolls “Saporito.”

Insider Tip

Continue your Italian experience with an olive oil tasting across the street at Long Meadow Ranch. Tastings are done in the general store—a restored farmhouse built in the 1800s.

Details
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Restaurants / St Helena

Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant

Enjoy memorable cuisine perfectly paired with wine and legendary CIA hospitality. Inspired by local, seasonal ingredients, our menu features a bold interpretation of world flavors, daily hors d’oeuvre “Temptations,” and an award-winning wine list.

Situated on the beautiful grounds of the Culinary Institute of America’s (CIA) St. Helena campus, Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant offers fine dining prepared by current CIA students. The cuisine is seasonal and the farm-to-table produce comes from the CIA’s own gardens. The dining room has a modern farmhouse vibe, and the patio features sweeping vineyard views.

Insider Tip

Greystone offers wine and beverage courses, including several different “Wine Lovers Boot Camps.” These courses range from two to five days in length and offer different focuses like grape harvesting or the art of pairing wine with food.

Details

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