yountville

Bouchon in Yountville, California has announced the latest installment of their innovative France tasting menu. The menu available now celebrates the classic dishes of the Gascony region. The three-course prix-fixe option is also available with special wine pairings. Situated in France's rural Southwest region, Gascony is home to such prized delicacies as Foie Gras and Armagnac. The menu includes seared foie gras and duck confit rillettes with caramelized pears, Swiss chard and chestnut puree; braised pork shank with red wine braised cabbage, pruneaux d'Agen, watercress leaves and young turnips with Armagnac-pork jus; and roasted apples with crispy phyllo and whipped crème fraiche.

Bouchon Yountville's Chef de Cuisine Philip Tessier created the concept and vision of the regional menus. Each pays homage to the most treasured dishes of the featured locality, showcasing traditional techniques and flavors. Bouchon Yountville is open daily for lunch and dinner from 11:30am until 12:30am. The Gascony regional menu will be available as a 3-course prix-fixe option for $60 per person and accompanying wine selections will be available for $35 per person. This menu is only available until October 25. For more information or to make a reservation, please call 707-944-8037.

A four-acre family home and vineyard is being billed as "America's greenest hotel." The Bardessono, a 62-room hotel, 92-seat restaurant and spa opens in Yountville, California today. The plans for the Napa Valley hotel have been in progress for 11 years, when the Bardessono family began their journey to turn family vineyard into a hotel. The family worked with Seattle developer Phil Sherburne to create a hotel that they hope will be awarded the platinum rating from the LEED Green Building Rating System. The 62-room hotel also includes a restaurant featuring locally sourced food and beverages and green spa that uses organic products.A rooftop pool includes private cabanas.

Salvaged wood was used for the project and two geothermal wells provide heat and cooling as well as hot water. Solar panels produce power and exterior Venetian blinds are automatically controlled to adjust to the sun. Other green features include low-flow fixtures, dual-flush toilets, drought-resistant landscaping and organically-sourced linens and cleaning supplies. Rates start around $500 a night.

[via The Weekly Calistogan]

Using data compiled by the Zagat survey, Forbes has produced two lists naming the year's most expensive restaurants. One list deals with only US restaurants, while the other compares the prices (in US dollars) of places all over the world. For the global list, the final cost was considered to be the price of one main course, one (alcoholic) beverage and tip, while the US list was not limited to a single main course and included options such as prix fixe tasting menus. Both only priced dinner for one person, but due to the difference in standards, there are many prix-fixe only restaurants that didn't make the global list but might be a good deal more expensive, but here are the top three from each list as they stand:

Global

• Aragawa (Tokyo): $368
• Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée (Paris): $231
• Gordon Ramsay (London): $183

US

• Masa (New York City): $446
• The French Laundry (Yountville, CA): $254
• Alinea (Chicago): $168

Thomas Keller, the chef and owner of the world-famous French Laundry in Yountville, California, has long wanted to add an inn near the restaurant. Keller has no intention of leaving the restaurant business, but instead wants to follow in the footsteps of many great French chefs who have also served as innkeepers at highly acclaimed restaurants. The 20-room Inn is not expected to begin construction until later this year, at the earliest, but Predock_Frane Architects has some digital renderings of what the Inn might look like online. It is described as having "20 idiosyncratic rooms - each with a mirror outdoor room, combine with dining/lounging spaces, spa, and gardens to create a continuous fabric of walls" and it "will maximize the potential for experiential courses beyond dining."