California Vegetarian

Napa Rose is a fine dining restaurant located in Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, which is connected to Disney’s California Adventure Park. George and I have been to the Napa Rose several times since its opening in 2002, and we have never been disappointed in our food.  Over the years, the chef has become more sensitive to vegetarian requests—there are now vegetarian options on the menu, whereas just a couple years ago there were none.  Still, however, George and I prefer to leave the deciding, as well as the cooking, to the chef.  That is what we did on our most recent visit.  On this occasion, we asked for a meal with four courses.  What we got was superb. 

The meal was billed as a “Vintner” tasting menu and cost us $65 per person.  The chef chose to give us the same dishes for every course except dessert.

The chef started us with an absolutely delicious warm beet salad with greens and roasted hazelnuts.  George and I love beets.  So, this one was a winner.  This salad was absolutely incredible.

Next was a warm asparagus appetizer.  George and I love asparagus. So, again, this one was an easy win.  It was grilled with shallots and a touch of truffle oil.

Soup course was a delicious tomato-based vegetable soup.  The broth consistency was perfect and that taste was superb.  I would have licked the bowl out if it weren’t too narrow to fit my face into it.

The main course was a compressed tower of mixed vegetables with a medley of mushrooms.  Mushrooms are a frequently retreat for chefs when vegetarians comes in, frequently with less than successful results.  Napa Rose’s chef did a wonderful job.  The mushrooms were balanced excellently with a combination of late spring harvest vegetables and root vegetables.  I would say that no one flavor was overpowering, but instead the tastes were married very nicely.

We paired our meal with a superb French wine.  We had been told the story of the French Hermitage legend the night before, and we thought that if any restaurant in our price range would have a bottle of Hermitage, it would be the Napa Rose.  We were not disappointed.  We enjoyed a Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage.  We made sure that the chef was aware of our wine choice before he began our food.  The compliment was excellent for the appetizer and the main course.  Only the acid of the tomato soup did not pair well with the wine.  So, neither George nor I had more than the one sip of wine during the soup course.  It was a small price to pay for such a great soup and such a great wine.

For dessert, George had a dark chocolate torte with a sweetened coffee mouse-thing. Okay, sorry, I didn’t write it down, and I don’t remember what they called it.  But it tasted great!  He had a framboise dessert wine with it.

I had a fruit cake… I think it was apricot… oh, well, I forgot this one, too.  But it was great, too.  I remember that much.  My dessert wine was sparkling.

One minor disappointment with the wait staff surprised us on this most recent visit.  One of the things that we have loved about the Napa Rose is the casual atmosphere for such fine dining.  A look around the room reveals that guests come in straight from the park to make their reservation times, or if not straight from the park, at least more relaxed than most ‘fine dining’.  The result has always been that George and I are not the only ones in the room wearing t-shirts.  Until this most recent visit, that attire had no impact on our service.  Each other time we have dined at the Napa Rose, we have been treated like royalty.  This time, our primary server, Heather, started off a bit disdainfully.  She was even less than enthusiastic when we asked for a chef’s choice dinner.  Her attitude shifted noticeably when she returned from the chef after placing our request.  We suspect she was gently reminded of her job.  We were also sure that our choice of Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage didn’t hurt any, either.

I highly recommend the Napa Rose to you.   It is a great fancy restaurant for vegetarians without being exclusively vegetarian. Although I cannot speak to their meat preparation, I am sure your meat eating friends and family will love it, too.