Cuisine:

• Californian
• French
• Catering
• Bistro
• Coffee Houses

All Seasons Cafe and Wine Shop Description:
This Calistoga bistro isn't as tip-of-the-tongue as other Napa Valley venues---but it ought to be. Tidy and low-fuss, with chessboard flooring and splashy, faux stained glass accents, it lacks the hustle and flash of its neighbors. Yet it has steadfastly weathered 25 years (multiplied by four seasons) under devoted owners who heed the establishment's name as credo---and perhaps with more gusto and attentiveness than ever. Here "seasonal cuisine" is well-honed and authentic rather than cliché. Case in point: house-steeped fruit vinaigrettes made from rice wine for delicacy. As stone fruit dressing, it teases summer from peaches tossed with greens, chèvre and pistachios, as does watermelon vinaigrette spritzed on cantaloupe and yellow watermelon with prawns and basil oil. Milky cucumber gazpacho with the sweet kiss of green grapes makes an alternate cooling starter, while standard-setting warm spinach salad with shreds of café-smoked chicken, egg, bacon and feta satisfies heartier appetites. Mains might include corn three ways: cornmeal pan-seared scallops, corn succotash, and white truffled corn purée, each element balanced rather than competing; skewered lamb with charred crookneck squash and red peppers brushed with fennel butter; or sliced duck breast with crisp, plum-cherry glazed skin. An attached wine shop makes savvy pairings de rigueur.


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