It’s a retail store, a wine bar, and a restaurant — all in one.
If you only gave Hestan Napa a quick glance, though, you might think it only a high-end kitchen appliance store, what with a gleaming demonstration kitchen filled with its cookware right beyond its doors, plus a Hestan grill loaded with all the bells and whistles that can be yours for $17,500.
But if you walked farther in, you’d see shelves of its shiny, pricey pots and pans for sale; and beyond that a sleek wine tasting bar with chairs; and even farther in, a well-appointed dining room plus a large outdoor dining patio for its restaurant.
Chef Mark Dommen.
At the helm of this new restaurant, which opened in November 2025? None other than Chef Mark Dommen, who held a Michelin star at the now-shuttered One Market in San Francisco for five years. It’s a signal that this restaurant isn’t just some nonchalant Wine Country way-stop but an establishment that aims to be taken seriously.
Prince Panettone’s Triple Chocolate Raspberry flavor.
While working at the fine-dining Honolulu restaurant, Senia, in 2018, C.K. Flannigan had his mind blown.
That was when Mimi Mendoza, the restaurant’s pastry chef, ordered a From Roy panettone from the Bay Area to share with colleagues, and insisted that Flannigan try it.
The exquisite pricey treat ($109) has built a reputation far and wide for its rich, buttery taste and its feathery, cotton candy-like ethereal texture. At a time when most off-the-shelf Italian panettone could be had for $20 to $30, Roy Shvartzapel elevated not only the price, but the standards for the specialty sweet bread. While a staple at Christmas and Easter, he dared to sell it year-round.
Flannigan, who’d spent his time on the savory and bread-making sides of a professional kitchen, was floored from the get-go by the quality of From Roy’s panettone.
Woolever is a writer and editor who has written about food and travel for the New York Times, Food & Wine and GQ. She also was an assistant to the late-great Anthony Bourdain and to the now irreputable chef Mario Batali.
No surprise, Bourdain comes off as a thoughtful and professional boss while Batali’s antics are as lecherous and unseemly as you imagine.
But when it comes to telling all, Woolever doesn’t spare herself, either. Indeed, her writing is raw and unflinching as she describes this period in her life, where drugs, booze, and extramarital affairs nearly did her in.
Thankfully, as the title implies, she finally learns the importance of taking care of herself first, and in so doing, emerges as the respected and successful writer she was meant to be.
“I’m Not Trying To Be Difficult: Stories From the Restaurant Trenches”
He is one of the most storied restaurateurs in the country, having opened such iconic New York establishments as Tribeca Grill, Nobu New York City, Nobu Next Door, Batard, and Montrachet.
Not only is it the palest of blush in color, but it’s made entirely of the little-known Trousseau Gris, a French varietal that is grown in small amounts in eastern France and was once widely harvested in California as Gray Riesling. Healdsburg’s Bloodroot, so named in honor of the “blood” of the vines being nourished by its “roots,” makes this particular wine from Russian River Valley-grown grapes.
It is produced in the petillant naturel method, in which the unfiltered wine is bottled before the first fermentation is completed, trapping the carbon dioxide for natural carbonation.
It has a soda pop-type bottle top, and extremely lively effervescence to match. Pour it into a glass and the bubbles will foam up immediately like a just-opened soda.
