Foothill Cafe - Napa
Edit (2/28/07): This restaurant has closed down.
Edit (12/14/07): Reports indicate that this restaurant may have re-opened, but has changed.
Some people think of going out to eat as something of a theatrical experience. Food-centric as I am, I’ve never really thought that way until we went to Foothill Cafe last night. Never before in a restaurant have I been so in suspense for what would happen next. It was a bizarre night.
The suspense started before we arrived. I’d read that Chef Jerry Shaffer had cooked at the upscale Masa in the 1980’s, and had left it to open this tiny BBQ-focused restaurant in a grey strip mall on the edge of Napa’s Carneros district. Online writers claimed that locals love his American cooking, which rivals any restaurant in the valley; the SF Chronicle has also listed it in the top 100 Bay Area restaurants in previous years.
So, prepared for quirkiness of some sort, we drove to this strip mall in a remote district of Napa.
We walked into the cozy, vaguely-southwestern decorated restaurant, and immediately found ourselves amidst a crowd of people waiting for tables in a small waiting area.
The restaurant seats perhaps 50 people, but there were a few open tables around. We get to the hostess lectern and find it unmanned. For about 15 minutes. No one else seemed concerned, and we weren’t starving…. So, we wait, and consider a menu that is laid on the lectern. We notice that employees are rushing around setting tables, so we understand. We overhear that a party of 24 with a reservation is waiting for a table, and that a party of 23 without a reservation is also waiting for a table. That would leave 3 seats for the rest of the already packed restaurant. The leaders of these two parties end up comparing notes, and the 23 party decides that leaving would be the wisest choice. She can’t find the hostess to let her request go, so the leader of the 24 volunteers to do it.
Eventually, two hostess-like people separately ask for my reservation info, and a little later, we’re seated. We’re given a menu that’s completely different from the menu that we’d been looking at, and set in to consider our options. There are about five main courses, such as their signature ribs, seared tuna, prawn diablo pasta, penne with chicken, and hanger steak; all btw $13-18. There are also pastas that come with winter vegetables and a form of potato. I appreciate the simplicity. Even though they’re known for their ribs, neither of us are in the mood, so we make our choices. And wait. And wait. We get glasses of water. We notice that a table next to us has received menus like ours as well as the menu that was on the lectern, which are the specials.
I wasn’t going to have wine, but decided that given the schedule so far, I’d be stone cold sober by the time we finished our meal. We’ve already finished our water glasses. They have a nice local wine selection, with glasses ranging btw $6-7, and two beers on tap: Sierra Nevada and Kona Brewing Co.
Our waitress arrives and recites some specials, but not all the ones I’d remembered from the menu on the lectern. She leaves us to further consider our options. We didn’t get a chance to order our wine.
Finally, she returns, and we put in our orders (ordering a diff’t wine than we’d wanted b/c they were out of it). We then set in to watch developments unfold at the table next to us. They are asked to literally move their table a couple feet to the right in order to accommodate the table for 24-person party. They do. And they get their appetizers… And another request to move their table, this time very close up against ours. We exchange greetings, and laughs, and confused looks. A bit later, they are once again asked to move their table…. back to where it was in the first place.
The service mostly stabilized from here on out, except for the time we had 4 requests for water going (which were solicited by the wait staff) and no water forthcoming. We got it eventually. The courses came in reasonable amounts of time, and the waitresses were quite friendly.
So, finally, the food.
We shared an appetizer of crispy rock shrimp w/ ancho chili aioli with jicama, red peppers, avocado, mango, papaya, lime, and chile oil. The shrimp was delicious, with a breading that was crisp enough enough to be satisfying but with a nice give nonetheless and that encased sweet and tender shrimp. The simple dressing made the flavors of the jicama, avocado, and red peppers pop just perfectly with the shrimp and aioli. Though it looked appetizing, the papaya tasted of rotten milk (or something putrid), but it could easily be avoided. I don’t believe I encountered any mango, at all.
I had a hanger steak with green peppercorn sauce, blue cheese potato gratin, and winter vegetables. The steak arrived sloshed all over the place; once on the table, Chad asked if I’d already started eating it somehow. The sauce was flavorful and satisfying, but the steak was too chewy, except for the middle. I think Hanger steak is supposed to be this way to an extent, but not to this extent. The veggies were well cooked, but the rich and creamy blue cheese gratin was the highlight of the plate. And aren’t they brave plates?
Chad had the grilled Colorado Lamb Loin, which was served like mini-t-bones. One of his loins was juicy and succulent and made one forget about everything else in the world. The other one was charred and tough. Chad commented that inconsistency is good sometimes, like with his garlic mashed potatoes, which were sometimes smooth and sometimes lumpy. True, b/c either kind of mashed potatoes can be good… but too bad overcooked lamb always sucks.
Out of the three dessert selections, we chose two.
The pear and apple crisp with vanilla ice cream was average. The fruit slices were evenly cooked through in a nice sort of caramel sauce. The brown sugar and nut topping was a little too sandy for me, but had a pleasant flavor. The ice cream was a good anchor; rich and smooth, but not too creamy.
I’m still trying to figure out the cognac and vanilla creme brulee. The custard part was more like a dense starchy pudding and the brulee part was so thin that the sugar was burnt rather than caramelized. Halfway through it, Chad squinted his eyes and declared that the cognac flavor had finally come through. Subtly.
I must say that I appreciated the plating throughout. The plates were logically filled, without arbitrary frills and squiggles. Functional, but still interesting because they showed the qualities of the food itself.
So, Foothill Cafe was okay. It had some shining moments (like the shrimp and perfectly-cooked loin) — enough for me to go back if someone else wanted to go there — and some detractions — enough for me not to suggest to go there.
And one convenient plus: the laundromat next door was invaluable in re-stocking my quarter supply for laundry.
