Yountville News

A funny thing happens in Yountville in winter: The town's most popular parking lot magically turns back into a street.

Moms everywhere are going to be in shock about this pronouncement, but the evidence is overwhelming.

Dec 31st 2009 at 2:02PM Hotels shutting their glass and filigree doors or going into some form of financial distress could have made more of this year's new than new openings; still, the quantity and quality of newly available suites to call your own felt just as stellar as in better years past.

The first time I saw Not to Reason Why, in 2007, they made my teeth hurt. It's only gotten worse in the last two years.

For the 6th year in a row, as Christmas and the end of the year festivities approach, food and wine bloggers around the world join in an effort to raise funds and awareness for the UN World Food Programme with Menu for Hope 6 . In the last stretch of Menu for Hope 6 we are closing onto $50,000 raised so far.

Tonight the French restaurant Bistro Bordeaux opened in the former La Petite Amelia space up in Evanston.

I was in the restaurant Ad Hoc in Yountville this past Thanksgiving weekend. If you haven't been to Yountville lately - or if you've seen it so often you're inured to its transformation - you need to know that Yountville is Napa Valley's version of the Las Vegas Strip.

Pictured: Festival of Lights in Yountville. Photo by Charlene Peters, taken in front of Villagio Inn & Spa , a luxury Tuscan-style inn.

Dec 17th 2009 at 10:02PM It's black truffle season and Thomas Keller's Bouchon in Yountville is celebrating with a tasting menu and the return of a delicious favorite Bouchon's black truffle French fries.

With its high-end lodgings, wineries and the world's greatest concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants per capita, Napa Valley's Yountville is established as a getaway for gourmands.

If you look around your home and know you need to make some changes, but don't know where to start, home design and improvement books just hitting store shelves offer fresh ideas and inspiration.

If duck is somewhere in your lineup of holiday feasts this year, as it is at our house, you might be casting about for just the right wine pairing.

Sporting six Michelin stars and a chef line-up worthy of a world tour, Yountville turns up the heat this winter with its town-wide "Moveable Feast" program.

Red wines are becoming more popular at parties, and you can find good values for less than $10. I look to serve wines that are "middle of the road" - not too exotic nor too strong for a wide variety of folks' tastes.

Ladies who lunch: On your marks! Bouchon Beverly Hills just opened for lunch. The lighting is oh so flattering.

Regarded as the top chef in America, Thomas Keller prepares a delectable dish from his new book, "Ad Hoc at Home," with Cathy Thomas.

The identity crisis continues. Love of the grassy has many U.S. wines following New Zealand's successful path.

Whoever said the life of a sommelier is glamorous probably had a corkscrew loose.

Thomas Keller, the world-renowned chef, was in town last night for a Q&A session with the Cookbook Store's Allison Fryer at the Toronto Reference Library.

For those who think Yountville dining is reserved for the elite, here's a little holiday treat: The Michelin-starred town is gifting us with its Moveable Feast program, a tour de force of deals onA food, wine and hotels through February 28.