Lunch at Solbar, Calistoga CA

It’s a longish drive from Napa to Calistoga – past the touristy wineries in the sunny valley, then through the center of St Helena (where Hwy 29 becomes, literally, “Main Street”), and finally out into a narrower part of the valley, where the hills are closer and anonymous wine production facilities line the road.

We made the trip for lunch at the Solage Calistoga resort’s restaurant, Solbar.  It’s a one star Michelin restaurant, and the setting deserves some stars of its own: the patio beneath a bright blue sky, shaded by trees, with the Olympic size pool glimmering like a small ocean across the way.

The menu presents both healthy and indulgent options (in a affably non-judgmental way), and we sampled both.

My aunt and I both started with the “locally world famous” beet salad, which I’d consider promoting to “regionally world famous” – everyone seems to make a beet salad these days, and this was much more creative, and honestly just better tasting, than any other I’ve had recently.  The pink and peach-colored beets themselves were surrounded by mounds of minced red beets and avocado, and hidden beneath a heap of greens and herbs, orange segments and paper-thin radish slices, and dried beet chips.

D had spicy shrimp lettuce wraps, and my uncle rounded out our healthy starters with chilled carrot ginger soup.

At the bottom of the menu, there’s something called “Lucky Pig”, and I’d urge you not to overlook it.  It’s slow-roasted pork shoulder that comes with big lettuce leaves, black sesame crepes, and all the fixin’s: pineapple, peanuts, sliced chiles, mint and basil leaves, lime, spicy rice noodles, and chile sauce.

My uncle and D made short work of it, and I even snuck a bite.  Yum.

I ordered the duck banh mi, stuffed with confit and pâté, carrots and chiles and lots of cilantro.  The mouth-puckering green papaya salad on the side helped offset the richness.

We shared a bottle of 2010 Fisher Chardonnay from Sonoma, but didn’t have room for dessert.  After all, the rest of the day still stretched in front of us, and with it would come lots more wine and food.