Tasting: Brix Restaurant Napa Valley

Brix Restaurant in Yountville has been around in various iterations for quite a while. Years ago, it was a good, but not great, place that we tried a few times, usually because Mustards or another better first choice was full. Consistency always seemed a challenge for them. Just when we had decided to write them off, they’d pull off a decent meal luring us back again. Then, it went through a modest name change (and an extensive staff/ownership? change) and went even further downhill. They’re trying again. To quote their website, Brix “is an entirely new incarnation of the wine country classic, with a renewed focus on farm-to-table dining.” Chef Anne Gingrass-Paik, formerly of Spago, Postrio, and Hawthorne Lane is now at the helm. Six of us headed down there on Saturday night to give it another try. The results were mixed.
The wine themed decor does a lot to mitigate the big open feeling of the dining room though I just couldn’t get out of my mind a hotel’s dining room all open and square with the ability (or curse) of looking out over every single table in the place. A nice touch are the booths fashioned out of what appear to be reproductions of old wooden wine fermentation tanks. The stemware and dishes are first rate but one wine glass on our table was not just dirty, but disgustingly dirty. We had to point it out, but it was quickly wisked away by the server.
The wine list is extensive and fairly priced on California selections including a nice variety of by-the-glass and half bottle options. Corkage, I believe, was $20.
Food:
Beausoleil oysters with classic mignonette ($2 ea) – excellent
White corn and porcini soup ($10) – excellent
Heirloom baked beans ($5.50) – I found them “unexciting,” others were even less complimentary
Farmer’s cheese polenta ($5.50) – mediocre and very bizarre consistency of warm breakfast cereal
Grilled zucchini – This side dish was so good, we ordered another one. However, the second time it was inedible, bitter and dry. What happened? The waiter removed it from our bill but unfortunately, the same bad mess was served with one of the entrees. You’d think someone in the back would have checked out a dish sent back before serving more from the same bad batch.
The entrees were all excellent:
Roasted corn & candied bacon pizza with arugula ($15)
Porcini rubbed new york steak with blue cheese and porcini mushrooms ($37)
Atlantic farmed salmon with lima bean puree and kohlrabi relish ($23)
Beef filet with green peppercorn pesto and braised italian string beans but the string beans were replaced by the nasty zuccini ($30)
So what to do about Brix? It appears that they have returned to where they were some years back: good but not great. Saturday night, it was a restaurant not firing on all cylinders and one would expect on a weekend during the high tourist season you would have the “A” team at work. The service was knowledgable and professional though not especially warm and friendly. The pace of the meal was really off. There were noticable lags between courses and in clearing our plates. I’m a forgiving sort so although I wouldn’t rush back there, eventually I guess I would give them another go. I might have to do it alone however, because my dinner partners said they would never come back. I really can’t blame them. Competition is tough and a restaurant really needs to have a better selling point than we can’t get in anywhere else. Especially at these prices.

Brix Restaurant
7377 St. Helena Hwy, Yountville CA 94558
(707) 944-2749
Brix serves Sunday Brunch which seems like a good idea so close to Yountville, the largest supply of hotel rooms up Valley. There is also a small gift shop and wine store in front with some nice, but expensive, selections.