Last week, when I dined at Napa’s fine-dining La Toque, I did something uncharacteristic.
I ordered the vegetarian tasting menu.
Apparently, I’m in good company, too. Because as Chef-Owner Ken Frank explained, the restaurant’s vegetarian menu is especially popular on Sundays, particularly among South Asians, many of whom drive up from Fremont just for it.
I can see why. Dining in an elegant dining room on six opulent vegetable courses amid the splendor of Wine Country is the perfect way to top off the weekend before the workweek intrudes once again.
When Frank originally opened La Toque, he was all of 23. He’s now 70. And has no plans to retire anytime soon because he says he’s still having way too much fun.
La Toque first opened in Los Angeles in 1979, before Frank moved to the Napa Valley to open it in Rutherford in 1998. Finally, in 2008, he moved it to its current home in Napa at the Westin Verasa.
You can’t miss the entrance to it, either, as it’s marked by the ginormous chef’s toque hanging outside.
The restaurant also offers a la carte dining, along with special menus at specific times of the year, including rotating regional ones of France, and an all-black truffle one.
When I was invited with my husband as guests of the restaurant and hotel, I was asked to try each of the tasting menus: the 6-course Chef’s Tasting Menu ($225; with $125 wine pairings) and the 6-course Vegetable Tasting Menu ($145; with $125 wine pairings).
If you are seated in a booth, it comes complete with a vertical window that looks into the kitchen for built-in entertainment.
The two tasting menus commence with the same first canapes: crisp, buttery tart shells that are paper-thin, with one filled with ratatouille, and the other with hummus and chimichurri.
Then, the menus diverge: My husband, aka Meat Boy, who naturally went with the Chef’s Tasting Menu, received a golden Dungeness crab croquetta, and a delicate pastry sandwich of smooth duck liver. I can attest that both were delicious, because I, of course, also sampled every one of his dishes.
For my next round of canapes, I enjoyed a thin-as-can-be potato chip covered in potato mousseline. Yes, potato on potato action to amplify the earthy taste of the spud. There was also an artichoke heart, fried to a crisp that also ate nearly like a potato chip, too.
Warm Acme bread arrives with butter, along with the first paired wines. A crisp, mineral-driven 2014 Ischia DOC Biano Superiore “Lefkos” accompanied Hawaiian Kanpachi crudo that had been dry-aged to firm up its texture. With green apple so finely diced that it resembled confetti, blood orange gel, fresh mandarin, and micro celery leaves, it had just the right amount of citrus and acid.
A bubbly Champagne Pierre Moncuit Grand Crus with high minerality complemented my crisp, cold, red endive salad tossed in a hazelnut oil vinaigrette and strewn with toasted hazelnuts.
That was followed by a Gloucester skate wing sauteed in brown butter for my husband. Pine nuts added a nice little crunch, while golden raisins offered up a wine-y note.
I’m so glad I kept a slice of bread to mop up the rich, creamy vin jaune sacue that blanketed Delta asparagus with morels that tasted of spring on a rainy day. Fortified with creme fraiche and cream, the sauce made with French white wine was simply dreamy. I could only imagine how amazing it would be over fettuccini, too.
For the pasta course, my dish was supple ravioli doppio, filled with a mixture of stinging nettles and porcini, strewn with sugar snap peas, and topped with a milky, tangy Robiolina espuma.
My husband’s “soup tortellini” was a play on Chinese xiao long bao. Even though it’s a bit on the larger size, you’re instructed to eat it in one bite, lest you end up squirting yourself or your dining companion when you hit the very juicy rabbit filling. The Italian-meets-Chinese influence continues in the Calabrian chili crisp that’s drizzled overtop, a fun finishing touch that provides a little fruity heat.
For his main, there was Akaushi eye of the rib, a particular breed of Wagyu that apparently has higher concentrations of beneficial fatty acids compared to other ones. All I know is that it tasted plenty tender, juicy, and rich, as well as extra savory from house-made miso that takes more than a year to ferment. Spring asparagus, porcini, and fava beans rounded out the plate, along with a tart shell brimming with more of that airy smoked potato mousseline.
A grilled portobello mushroom steak might not be ground-breaking on a vegetarian menu. But there’s no denying that when it’s done well, as it is here, it’s deeply satisfying for its meaty texture and deep smoky flavor, not to mention an umami bomb of a black garlic Bernaise that came with it. The accompanying spaetzle was nicely chewy-tender, and sported those wonderful pan-crisped edges.
The cheese course is identical for both menus: a wedge of Tomme Crayeuse, a buttery, nutting tasting cow’s milk cheese from France that is garnished with pumpernickle toasts, and a sweet-tart Asian pear-grapefruit sauce.
For dessert, I was served a lush olive oil cake with fanciful supremes of grapefruit that had been sugared and torched like creme brulee. The final touch was spruce tip ice cream that evoked hiking through a forest.
My husband’s Meyer lemon chibouste, an airy citrus-scented pastry cream, was as light as can be, atop a nutty tasting spelt shortbread. It was accompanied by chamomile honey ice cream with graceful floral notes.
Knowing that most diners are full at this point, the mignardises arrive at the table already neatly boxed up to take with you. There’s pate de fruit, a tiny palmier, and chocolates.
We toted them back to our hotel room, which was so spacious that it even had a kitchenette.
Although my husband joked that it was so well outfitted that he could start cooking there, we were content to just enjoy our chocolates after such a fine meal.
Although I wouldn’t usually opt for a vegetarian tasting menu, I’m glad I did to experience one that was so thoroughly satisfying.