Restaurant Review: Julia's Kitchen at COPIA, Napa, California

We were in the San Francisco area a couple of weekends ago and decided to drive up to Napa for the day to visit COPIA, the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts. My husband had never visited COPIA before, and it's an amazing facility at the gateway to Wine Country. There was a small wine tasting scheduled for that day, featuring Australian wines.

It was a beautiful spring day, hot and sunny. We noticed that Julia's Kitchen, the restaurant at COPIA, was open for lunch, so we decided to give it a try. It was such a gorgeous day, we elected to sit outside and enjoy our lunch al fresco. Luckily, the restaurant wasn't busy, we didn't need reservations and were seated right away.

Our waitress was attentive, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The menu appeared to be Californian with French influence, which was exciting to both of us. Once seated, we asked our waitress for her recommendations. She rattled off the specials menu of the day, but she right away pointed us toward trying the Tasting Menu ($55, $75 with optional wine pairing). This menu features the four special entrees, but in smaller course portions. The Tasting Menu is perfect if you have not had the occasion to dine at Julia's Kitchen, as it gives the diner a morsel of everything.

We opted for the Tasting Menu with accompanying wine pairing. The chef did a fantastic job of matching each course with the wine. We started out with fresh Kumamoto oysters, which were fresh, sweet and delicious. These were not part of the Tasting Menu, but I would highly recommend getting them if they are on the menu. After that came an amuse made with the smallest squid I've ever seen, resting on a bed of greens. It also was incredibly tasty.

Our first course was duck confit with salad greens. The duck was perfectly prepared, and the salad was made from crisp greens from the adjacent COPIA gardens. The dressing was light and delectable. The next course was the bouillabaise in a light broth, seasoned with fennel and leeks, saffron, and accompanied by crostini. The dish was incredibly pleasing!

The final course was a pan roasted strip steak, sliced thin, on a bed of braised garden greens with a small dollop of whipped potatoes. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the steak, medium rare, was to die for, and the potatoes were equal parts creamy and fluffy. For dessert, we were offered crepes, with strawberries and ice cream.

The portions were small sized, but more than enough to satisfy. I was extremely pleased with my lunch, and we both agreed it was the best lunch we've ever had-EVER. The combination of eating outside on a pleasant day was most enjoyable.

After our lazy lunch, we toured the COPIA Edible Gardens, which were in various stages of spring time bloom. Kitchen help was busy gathering vegetables for dinner.

Jeff Moser is the Executive Chef at Julia's Kitchen at COPIA, and his offerings can only be described as culinary artwork of the highest form.

If traveling wine country, make an effort to have lunch or dinner at Julia's Kitchen at COPIA. Julia's Kitchen is located at 500 First Street, Napa, California. The phone number for reservations is 707-265-5700, or you can make online reservations at www.opentable.com. There is a discount offered for the restaurant if you have a COPIA membership.

If you would like more information about COPIA, you can find it at www.copia.org. For more information on Julia's Kitchen, their web site is www.juliaskitchen.org.