Oenotri Restaurant

Oenotri is located in the town of Napa.  A bit far from where we were in Callistoga but that is what the bus is all about.  I had a bus take us down there and drive us back so the drive was part of the evening. 

Salami
Simple delicious Italian food that was a nice change of pace.  Really worth going to.  They menu changes based on the season and what is fresh that day.  They offer pizzas, antipasti, pastas, secondis and contornis (sides).  I ordered for the table and bagged the secondis.  Our first round out began with a plate of salamis.  One was better than the next.

Pizzamarg
We had a few pizzas.  The first was the classic Mozzarella di Bufala and a San Marzano Tomato sauce and Basil.  Really good crust.

Pizzaarugulapepperoni
We also had the pepperoni with carmelized onions and mizuna ( kind of like arugula ).  The tiny pieces of pepperoni were amazing and packed a nice spicy punch. 

Figsarugula
A salad of more figs!  Candy striped figs with leeks and a mixture of greens and radicchio.  Nice.

Greensalad
Simple mixed lettuces with Parmigiana-Reggiano and a nice light lemon vinaigrette.  Just perfect.

Calamarieggsalad
I thought this was really clever.  A twist on a classic Caesar salad.  Lettuces with grilled squid, anchovies and a tully dolci egg right in the middle. 

Pastaredsauce
Pasta was next.  This was just a red sauce with tiny short pastas.  Actually a tad sweet.

Pastapork
Long thick pastas with braised pork shoulder sauce.  This was awesome. Rich and flavorful.

Polentas
A few sides.  They do a very of polentas with different cheeses.  We tried a gorgonzola and a parmigiana.  Rich and good.

Squidbruetts
This is was interesting but a bit salty.  Braised Monterey Bay squid in a red sauce over a piece of toasted bread like a crostini.

Peppers
Fried Padron peppers with sea salt are always good for sharing.

Capono
Last was a caponata of eggplants, peppers and onions. 

Red
Really delicious and fresh food.  Here are the wines we had too.  Red.

Red1
Red.

Red2
Red.

White
White.  I particularly love the name. 

Cookies
Pistachio cookies for dessert just hit the spot. 

Comments (Archived):

  1. leigh

    Grilled squid on a caesar?  not getting that. Feels wrong somehow.  Was it good?

    1. Gotham Gal

      I liked it. Different

  2. Linda T.

    Try and check out Healdsburg.  It is the “best” of the wine country towns.

  3. Liz Rueven

    We ate at Oenotri a few weeks back and were turned off by the enormity of the wine list which leaned heavily on pricey Italian wines.  They did have a helpful sommelier who was happy to assist but drinking Italian while in Napa felt like a travesty.  They should consider a wider price range and offer some good options under $50 .

    1. Gotham Gal

      interesting. i think we were so Napa’d that having liquor and other options was a relief for the crowd but I totally get where you are coming from.

  4. Ryan Drew

    The ‘open faced’ Caesar looks amazing. Anchovies are such an underrated ingredient and I’m a sucker for a poached (or fried) egg on anything.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Me too. Love the egg