<a target="_blank" href="http://www.torcnapa.com/">TORC
Restaurant</a>

1140 Main Street

Napa, CA 94559

+001 707-252 3293

The food:

Japanese hamachi
crudo, blood orange, Solvang cauliflower, yogurt, coriander

Wild nettle ravioli,
Bellwether Farms ricotta cheese, yellowfoot mushroom, Hudson Ranch olio nuovo
verde

English pea risotto,
hedgehog mushroom, spearmint, Meyer lemon, Tellicherry pepper

Seared Hudson Valley
foie gras, citrus marmalade, ruby grapefruit, Sichuan pepper, pain de mie

Hand-cut tagliatelle,
black Perigord truffle, Parmigiano Reggiano, ruby port

Local Petrale
sole, tamarind aigre-doux, spring vegetables, palm desert dates

Akaushi beef
short rib, violet artichoke panzanella, wild ramp, Sonoma Coast mushroom, horseradish

Buttermilk panna
cotta, Hale’s Farm apples, almond crumble, Tahitian vanilla

Dark chocolate
marquise, hazelnut, lace crisp, salted caramel ice cream

Meyer lemon
parfait, meringue, blood orange, pistachio, spearmint
















The wines:

<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>
 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vinous.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;query=2014+hiedler+thal">2014&nbsp;Weingut Hiedler Grüner Veltliner Thal</a>
 </td>
 <td>
 91
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vinous.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;query=2002+hundred+acre+kayli">2002&nbsp;Hundred Acre&nbsp;Cabernet Sauvignon Kayli
 Morgan Vineyard</a>
 </td>
 <td>
 94
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vinous.com/wines?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;query=2004+kongsgaard+syrah">2004&nbsp;Kongsgaard Syrah Hudson
 Vineyard</a>
 </td>
 <td>
 96
 </td>
 </tr>
</tbody></table>

&nbsp;At this point in the evolution of Napa wine country, it’s
pretty tough to get a bad meal, provided you’re willing to spend a few bucks. True,
there’s a déja-vu-inducing
familiarity to the menus, even of recently opened eateries, beginning with designer
nuts and olives at the bar, proceeding to retro starters like iceberg wedge
with blue cheese and the omnipresent deviled eggs (see, for example, Sam’s Social
Club in Calistoga, Rutherford Grill, and Angèle in Napa, which fries its deviled eggs), and followed by
carnacentric standards like short rib and roasted chicken for two with sides of
mac ’n’ cheese and Brussels sprouts.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460738007827-The+casual%2C+spacious+dining+room+of+TORC.JPG"> 

The casual, spacious
dining room of TORC

Well, and why not? American-accented and unpretentious,
showcasing homey preparations of locally sourced seasonal ingredients—buttressed
by a few dependable imports like NY strip and Hudson Valley foie gras—these hearty
and comforting dishes provide the perfect scaffolding for the region’s robust
wines.

TORC in downtown Napa, open since November of 2013, is a
model of how to do this kind of menu up right. Chef/owner Sean O’Toole and his
wife Cynthia, who runs the front of the house, are warm and welcoming, and the
same is true of the physical place, which formerly was the home of Ubuntu, the
Michelin-starred shrine to vegetarianism. It’s a huge room with an open bar and
kitchen, and a private dining room on the mezzanine; the surfaces are all wood
and stone yet the decibel level is kept to a human scale owing to the soaring
ceiling and widely spaced tables. The house style is laid-back but attentive,
up-to-date without being precious.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460738173276-Wild+nettle+ravioli.JPG"> 

Wild nettle ravioli

Chef O’Toole works variations on the farm-to-table theme, throwing
in a few change-ups like his all-truffle menu, featuring exquisite
end-of-winter black Perigord truffles variously teamed with diver scallops,
porchetta, lobster and foie gras, and pasta. The house-made tagliatelle with
parmigiana reggiano, ruby port and black truffles drove us (and our dinner companions)
into a feeding frenzy. The preparation was unexpectedly light considering the
richness of the ingredients, the salty springiness of the pasta and cheese not
at all dominated by the super-generous pile of deep purplish-brown shavings
that blanketed the dish: Perigord produces the subtlest of black truffles, and
these were softly fragrant and clean-tasting. Conversation at our table abruptly
shut down while we shoveled up two platefuls of the stuff in record time.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460738199391-English+pea+risotto.JPG"> 

English pea risotto

The TORC kitchen also has a winning way with pasta: large
pillowy ravioli with wild nettles, ricotta and chanterelles was great on its
own and even more so alongside the Hiedler 2014 Grüner Veltliner Thal, the pasta and wine going
toe to toe with matching peppery notes. A seasonal risotto was equally
impressive for the way its opposing flavors married and intensified one
another: garlanded with the season’s first English peas and woody hedgehog
mushrooms, the earthy combination was freshened and lifted by touches of mint
and pepper and the unexpected zip of Meyer lemon zest. Again, a dish made for
Austrian Grüner
Veltliner and its vegetal, snap-pea complexity.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460738458549-A+particularly+flexible+Gruner+Veltliner.JPG"> 

A particularly flexible
Grüner
Veltliner

Along with these starters, we sampled and loved the Hamachi
crudo with blood orange and a cool dip of yogurt, as well as the seared foie
gras served with citrus marmalade, ruby grapefruit, and an inspired dash of
Sichuan peppercorn. Our group reaction: OMG.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460738490410-Hamachi+crudo+with+blood+orange.JPG"> 

Hamachi crudo with
blood orange

An entrée of Akoushi beef short ribs was dark and dense, the moist
flesh tender without loss of meaty integrity. It was my cue to pour two mature Napa
Valley red wines that I had just sampled in a pair of stunning vertical
tastings with their makers—results to be published on Vinous later this spring.
(TORC charges a per-bottle corkage fee of $25, with one corkage waived if you
buy a wine off their list.) The Hundred Acre 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Kayli
Morgan Vineyard, weighing in at just under 16% alcohol, was hugely
ripe, plush and chocolatey but not heavy, offering aromas and flavors of plum,
spices, mocha and saddle leather. This classic “winter wine” had enough acidity
to buffer its extravagant richness, and its brooding finishing notes of cherry
and cooked meat harmonized with the short rib. The Kongsgaard 2004 Syrah Hudson
Vineyard, at a mere 15.5% alcohol, made for an even more exciting
pairing, beginning with a knockout nose that smelled like wild duck hitting the
grill. The smoky game flavors of this large-scaled but bone-dry Syrah were
downright Côte Brune-like, and between its meaty bass notes and the saline
minerality of its subtle, rising, palate-saturating aftertaste, it managed both
to provide a foil for the short rib’s fat and to elevate its sweetness.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460738598028-Akaushi+beef+short+ribs.jpg"> 

Akaushi beef short ribs

The short rib was accompanied by a crisp medley of spring
vegetables, as was the Petrale sole, the latter being the only near-miss in the
meal. Local Petrale sole—actually closer to flounder than to sole—is
fine-textured, delicate and slightly nutty in taste, and quite sweet. In the
house preparation, the thin fillet was rolled and glazed with a tamarind aigre-doux, soy-inflected but more sweet
than salty or acidic, the effect seeming to overwhelm rather than complement
the dish.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460738651025-Petrale+sole+with+tamarind+aigre-doux.jpg"> 

Petrale sole with
tamarind aigre-doux

Desserts here are salty-sweet, not cloying, and again the
dishes are made with an eye towards textural contrast. Vanilla-accented
buttermilk panna-cotta comes on a bed of almond crumble with a stack of apple
kindling on top: crunchy, crackly, pudding-y. Dark chocolate and hazelnut
marquise is a natural with salted caramel ice cream. And Meyer lemon parfait,
combining citrus, mint and meringue, provides a bracing finisher. Secure in the knowledge that the
Akaushi beef’s relatively high concentration of monounsaturated fatty acids was
already reducing my belly fat, I enjoyed them all.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460738707542-Battle+of+the+big+boys.jpg"> 

Battle of the big boys-- Stephen Tanzer

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