Freda and I went up to Napa Valley for a wedding last weekend. Of course we took the opportunity to have as many amazing food and wine we can given the limited time we had. As soon as we got off the plane we drove for 1 hr and 40 mins to Yountville, the gourmet town of Napa Valley that housed three Thomas Keller establishments, including the famous French Laundry.
Time was tight for us because we had a reservation for a wine tasting tour in a hour, so we went to Bouchon Bakery for quick eat.
Bouchon Bakery is part of Bouchon Bistro and is located just right next door. Delicious bread and pastries at sight as soon as you walk in, I felt like I’ve transported to Paris.
Pain au Raisin – Croissant dough with vanilla pastry cream, sugar, spices, and raisins scented with Meyer’s rum. Very very good, it was our favorite of the bunch. The croissant had great texture, crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. Love the vanilla cream. The Cranberry roll and coffee macaron were also great.
Chocolate Eclairs – Chocolate flavored crème patissière fill a shell baked of pâte a choux, a crème puff pastry dough. The chocolate cream were sublimed: light, not sweet but rich in cocoa flavor. Every bite was like a count down to the sorrow feeling you would feel after it’s finished. Since the chocolate cream was so amazing, we really regretted for not getting the chocolate tart!
For the long drive in between destinations (Napa is big and so spread out!), we got a loaf of the Herb Roasted Olive bread – mixture of olives and herbs are folded into our Pain de Campagne, a crusty, dense loaf with a mild sour flavor. It smells wonderful and you can’t go wrong with olive breads.
There’s a Bouchon bakery in Las Vegas (link to my old post) and one in New York, now they just need to open one in Los Angeles!
By the way we tried to make reservation at French Laundry two months prior (the only way to get a table), but we were one day too late and could only get on the waiting list. However, few days before our trip, French Laundry called and said they had a table for us at lunch time. Fearing we might not make it there on time, we declined the offer. To be honest their price ($230 per person, ouch…) was another major reason to make that decision.
Bouchon Bakery
6528 Washington Street, Yountville, California 94599
Tags: Bakery, bread, French, Macaron, Patisserie
Please tell me the French Laundry will be your next post! 🙂
BEEEAUTIFUL lighting!
the eclair looks so so sooo pretty! (and yummy (*^p^*)
$230!!!!!! XD!!! But you actually tried to book it….so you did intend to go??
sneakermonkey: haha no French Laundry, but we have Cyrus~
Seat: yeah we intended to go, but I already rsvp at a backup another restaurant (that people say are just as good as French Laundry) which will charge my credit card for $80 if I didn’t show up. ^^;; So kind of nail the final decision when I made that backup reservation.
oh this is making me homesick. i grew up in napa and haven’t been home in over a year.
Thanks for your post on Bouchon Bakery. We are headed to Napa this weekend and I can’t wait to indulge in these and other treats.
We had diner at Bouchon in Yountville Dec 22,2009. Had their special menu ( 70$). Food was so-so. The big surprise came a few hours later…. Both me and my wife spent all night on the toilet… food poisoning.
Tried to contact the manager next day to warn him…. the host told me he is busy with lunch and cannot answer phone calls.