Redd – Yountville
PRO: Excellent food, cool space
CON: Not for people that get cheap attacks
Hey, Redd! That’s one of my pet names for my lovely wife J. So right off the bat I’ve gotta give it some extra points.
So we’re up here in Napa rollin’ like serious ballers. We were gonna have din din at Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc last night, but J checked the menu 
and discovered that Veal was the main course, and quickly put the kaibosh on that venue. As opposed to some Fat Bastards, VdV doesn’t eat babies!
Knowing that Ad Hoc has a set menu, and also predicting they may be serving something that wouldn’t agree with J’s palate, I had made a back-up resie at Redd (genius!). And Redd made a dandy good back-up. We invited our friends Bob & Jane up and went for it.
First off, it’s a very nice space. It was like a beacon as we walked there from drinks at Bottega (owned by Michael Chiarello. Did you see him on Top Chef Masters?! ‘Nuff said) on an uber-foggy night. It’s a nice, large open space, with bright lighting and a minimalist decor. Glossy wood floors, bright white walls with dark wood accents. Kind of sterile, but in a good way. Elegant, you could say, without being presumptuous. Inviting. OK, enough with the adjectives. Summation? Me likee.
You can’t really call this place French-inspired, as I had heard it described. The chef, Richard Reddington, seems to pull all sorts of ingredients and inspirations into the menu, which is cool. A dab of this a dab of that. It’s a good menu, with both ala carte and tasting menu options. There’s a dozen or so appys and about 10 entreé dishes. We went ala carte.
For starters, we had the Broccoli Soup with Tempura and Aged Cheddar Fondue ($12). The serving size was generous and I wish I’d snapped a pic of this puppy. Can a soup be beautiful? Yes. This was 
bright green, very smooth with a nice drizzle of melted cheese swirled on top. And the taste rocked, it was very fresh, with little or no cream at all. Next, we had the Yellowfin Tuna & Hamachi Tartare with Avocado, Chili Oil, and Fried Rice ($15). I asked whether I should order the Sashimi of Hamachi or this, and our server immediately steered us to the Tartare.
And yeah, I can hear you snobs already “OMG Buffy, when is this staid dish going to be removed from all menus. Hasn’t it been done, already? Yes Biff, it’s so 2009″. Well, if ya have ever had this dude’s Tartare you’d shut the F up, both of ya. If this isn’t a Redd Signature Dish it outta be. The fish was off-the-boat fresh with excellent texture and flavor, and the avocado (which I despise) actually added a nice balance to the dish. The kicker though was the ‘fried rice’ on top. It’s more like crunchy popcorn rice, deep-fried little rice bits that added great texture. Awesome dish!
OK, onto the mains. I had the Prime NY Steak and Shortribs with Dry Farmed Potatoes, Red Wine Jus & Horseradish ($29). Dang that’s a mouthful. Who in their right mind (except vegetarians I guess, but I think they’re all a bit off anyway) could say no to Steak AND Shortribs? Not this guy. This was a great dish people, and no, I didn’t get a good pic, sorry. Although I love NYC, NY Steak is not my fave cut but this was good. The NY cut was very flavorful, perfectly rare with nice texture and marbling. And the shortribs were tender as hell, not rare of course but again perfectly done with beau coup flavor, and just salty enough. The jus and creamy horseradish added what they needed to.
The other J had the Berkshire Pork Chop with with Caramelized Apples, Chard, Quince and Cider Jus ($27). I dunno, I am not a fan of ordering things I think I can make at home. Like Pork. But that darned J, she would not be dissuaded. J liked it, and I enjoyed my taste as well. The pork was super moist and tender, and with pork, the accompanying items make the difference. The mix of the apples and quince were good. We both agreed (I already knew:) that we wouldn’t order it again though. Why? Because we can make good pork at home!
For dessert we shared Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Gianduja and Peanut Honeycomb Parfait ($10). Holy crap! JHC this was awesome. Even though I didn’t, and still don’t, know WTF a ‘gianduja’ is this shit blew my doors off. And wait, what’d the other J just mutter under her breath? Oh yeah, that. I used the term ‘shared’ quite loosely. She just reminded me she only got one bite. Hey I’ll take the hit on that, and I wouldn’t change a damn thing.
Note: My pix didn’t come out so I stole a few of these shots from the world wide web. My dessert was slightly different as my ‘gianduja’ was longer (that’s what she said), but this is a good representation. I’m not even gonna describe it in more detail, it’s just scrump-dili-f’ing-licious. Bam.
BTW, the service was tight as well. Knowledgeable, pleasant, good sense of humor and only there when we needed him.
Hours:
Mon-Sun 11:30a-2:30p
Mon-Sun 5:30p-9:30p
Redd
6480 Washington Street
Yountville, CA
(707) 944.2222
