Dining in Yountville – Order a Pizza at Ciccio
In our Wine Country Photo of the Day, we feature one of Napa Valley’s favorite dinner spots, Ciccio in Yountville. Yountville has many upscale restaurants, perhaps more restaurants per capita than any other wine country town. Read more about Yountville restaurants and what people do in Yountville. Check out this Yountville Quick Tips video.
Ciccio in Yountville
The Napa Valley has many fun and interesting places to visit besides wineries. One of those is Ciccio in Yountville. It has been open for three years and has become very popular for its fine Italian food, especially pizza. In 2015, Ciccio made the San Francisco Chronicle’s Top 100 Restaurants in the San Francisco area. For years the Ciccio spot was operated as Gordon’s Café and Wine Bar. It was one of the most popular stops for breakfast and lunch for locals and cyclists back in the day. Gordons closed in 2007 when the owners retired. The restaurant remained vacant for several years. In the Fall of 2012, it reopened as Ciccio. It is owned by Frank & Karen Altamura and their two sons, Frank and Giancarlo. The Altamuras also own Altamura Vineyards, producing some of the finest wines in the Napa Valley. The restaurant is open for dinner Wednesday-Sunday, 5-9pm. I shot this wine country photo on Monday, October 19, 2015. It was an unusual day in the Napa Valley. The weather was clear and fresh, with cumulus clouds dancing in the afternoon sky. Later in the evening it rained lightly in various parts of the Napa Valley.
View as you take the Washington Street Exit from Highway 29 in Yountville
Since the recession left us, the town of Yountville has emerged into Napa Valley’s elite wine town. There are more Micheline rated restaurants per capita then any other area in the world. It is the home to the world famous French Laundry restaurant. The lodging is Yountville is very upscale, led by the posh Bardessono, where lodging can be over $1000 per night. Boutique shopping is the watch word for Yountville, attracting many tourists on weekends. The V MarketPlace is the hot spot shopping center. Along Washington Street are several wine tasting rooms including Cornerstone, Hope and Grace, and Somerston. On the other side of Highway 29 in Yountville is the prestigious Domain Chandon. Domain Chandon makes some of the finest sparkling wine in the world. Domain Chandon offers tours and tastings daily. Yountville is a walking wine country town. One may leave the car parked during an entire stay in Yountville.
The main wine towns of the Napa Valley are Napa, Yountville, St. Helena, and Calistoga. Inside Yountville is the first of a series of short videos designed to give the tourist a quick view of the major attractions of these localities: where to stay, dine, shop, and enjoy other very fun wine country activities. In this video, you will quickly see why tourists love Yountville.
Follow these links to view our recommendations for lodging, restaurants, wineries, and other attractions in the Napa Valley.
Yountville is very popular on weekends and during the week in the Summer and Fall months. Be sure to plan ahead to book your lodging and reserve a restaurant table.
Don’t miss:
A tour and tasting at Domaine Chandon
A pastry and coffee at Bouchon Bakery
A walk or jog along the vineyard-lined Yount Mill Road
A visit to Michael Chiarello’s Napa Style boutique shop at V Marketplace
An early morning walk to watch the launch of colorful balloons taking off
A quiet stroll through the Veterans’ Cemetery
Domain Chandon Tasting Room
Sometimes you just need a quick getaway to cure the doldrums of the winter months. And that is what we just did with a one-night getaway to Yountville in the Napa Valley. We booked a room at the Napa Valley Lodge for $149 at their special winter rate. The Lodge is very comfortable and within walking distance of the restaurants, tasting rooms, and lots of boutique shops. Although on this day it was grey and damp, it was a delight to drive along the Napa Valley floor and take in the beautiful scenery of the mountains and vineyards.
We arrived just in time for our 12:30 lunch restaurant at Redd Wood, the newest restaurant in town, owned by Richard Reddington of Redd Michelin fame in Yountville. The restaurant is located in the North Block Hotel, formerly the Hotel Piero. Redd Wood is a pizzeria with causal dining in a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. The specialties, of course, are pizzas but there are many other menu items. There were four of us for lunch. Two shared a pizza and a salad and thought they were both just okay, nothing spectacular. Janelle and I shared a pear and wintergreens salad and a sandwich with rosemary foccacia, prosciutto cotto, and crucolo cheese. They were both excellent. The Sommelier was very cool, answering my questions about a few wine choices on his wine list, and recommended a Docellto/Barbera from Piedmonte in Italy that was very tasty, medium bodied, and perfect with our meals. The Wine list is good with a wine selection at $38 and above.
Redd Wood Pizzeria
In a couple of weeks, we will be visiting the Napa Valley for a few days and once again we will be making the town of Yountville our destination locale. We also like Calistoga, but we have to give Yountville the edge for a number of reasons.
For starters, Yountville has a great choice of restaurants and most within walking distance of all the B&B’s. The famous Thomas Keller has the French Laundry, Bouchon, and Ad Hoc in Yountville. There are also Redd’s, Bistro Jaunty, and Michael Chiarello is about to open a new restaurant in the V Marketplace, Bottega Restaurante. We are very fond of Mustard’s but you have to hop in your car or take a cab. It is just too far to walk from Yountville’s main area of Washington Street. Fortunately, the cab service is quite reliable.
Our June 15th edition of the Wine Spectator arrived in our mailbox with a special wine country section focusing on five different California wine venues including the town of Yountville in the Napa Valley. We happened to have been there last week taking advantage of a $150 a night mid-week special at the Yountville Inn. After reading the Wine Spectator article we thought it would be a good idea to add our “two cents” to Wine Spectators take on Yountville.