Mustards Grill
Mustards Grill has been a favorite eatery in the Napa/Rutherford area for 28 years; we’ve eaten there often. Saturday night we went again, with Russ and Sigrid. It helps that the general manager, Patrick Kellaher, is the tenant in a home Sigrid owns. We got very good service.
The owner/chef, Cindy Pawlcyn, has a storybook resume where she started at the Pump Room in Chicago, moved to Napa to be the opening chef at Meadowood, and
has been involved in the creation of over a dozen new restaurants in the Bay Area including, Fog City Diner, Bix, Roti, Betelnut, Buckeye Roadhouse and Tra Vigne. (I stole this part from their website)
The truly hip, slick and cool places don't bother with bread plates--they just plop the bread down right on the table, to signal how earthy and homey they are.
The menu says that the Laotian Quail is “CP’s favorite”. I thought they were talking about me until I realized that those were the owner’s initials, too.
Quail are just tiny chickens, sort of. Tastier, but really small. The sauce they serve this bird with was too hot for a sissy like me, although Gail and Siggy loved it.
Laotian quail with sweet-hot chili dip. Very sweet. Very, very, very hot.
Mustards is famous for its pork chop, which Russ enjoyed. I try to stick to the fish, so I had the halibut, which was splendid.
Halibut with spring vegetables
This is the $9 version of a lemon meringue pie, and worth it.
Lemon-lime tart with ridiculously brown sugar high meringue. That's what it says on the menu.
The wine list comes in a binder labeled “Way too many wines”, but you’d expect that in the Napa Valley. I was pleased to see that I could order iced tea and just get a glass that they kept filled–9 years ago you could only get a fancy bottle of chi-chi tea.
It’s hard to keep up the quality of a place for 28 years, but Mustards Grill has managed the feat. If you’re headed to the wine country, it’s a great place to enjoy the food, the ambiance and the service. And way too many wines, if you like that sort of thing. Be careful with the chili sauce.
Totally Unauthorized 