Private chefs in Napa
Private chef in Napa, CA
A private chef in Napa is dinner at the house you have taken for the week, cooked around the bottles you brought back from the day's tastings. Indulge cooks across the Napa Valley, from the Carneros to Calistoga, for one long dinner outside among the vines or every meal of a wine weekend.
Harvest and the rest of the year
Harvest runs from August into October. The picking crews are out at dawn, the valley smells of crushed fruit by afternoon, and it is when most groups want a long table outside among the rows. It is not the only time to come. Auction Napa Valley fills the first week of June with dinners for visiting collectors, BottleRock takes over Memorial Day weekend, and from January to March wild mustard flowers yellow between the bare vines: the quietest weeks of the year, and some of the best for a weekend built around the table.
Menus written around your wine
In Napa the wine usually comes first. Tell us what you are opening, or send a list once the week's tastings are done, and Michael writes the menu backwards from the bottles: a mountain cabernet wants lamb or a dry-aged steak off the grill, a Carneros chardonnay or pinot noir wants fish, chicken or mushrooms, and the sparkling opens the evening with something salty.
The valley makes the rest easy: tomatoes, figs and stone fruit in late summer, new olive oil in late autumn, Meyer lemons and citrus through the winter, and herbs and greens from the kitchen gardens most of the year.
Estates, guest houses and vineyard tables
We cook in rented estates and family houses in Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Calistoga, and up on Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain and Atlas Peak. Days are warm and the evenings cool fast once the sun drops behind the Mayacamas, so Dominique sets the table for it: dinner outside in the last of the light, heaters and wraps ready, and dessert by the fire.
The occasions are birthdays and milestone weekends, groups who have come for the wine, rehearsal dinners and small weddings, and company offsites that want one dinner away from the restaurants.
How a Napa booking works
Send your dates, the house, the number of guests and, if you have them, the wines you plan to open. Michael writes a menu for each evening and refines it with you. Michael and the team travel in for the booking, arrive about two hours before guests, cook and serve each course with your wine, and leave the kitchen clean. Many rentals have rules on events and guest numbers; check yours, and Dominique plans around them. Please email for pricing and availability.
Questions
Private chefs in Napa, CA: questions
Can a private chef cook at our Napa vacation rental?
Yes. We cook in rented estates and houses across the valley. Send the address and, if you can, photos of the kitchen, and Michael plans the menu for the equipment there and brings what it lacks. Some rentals limit events or guest numbers, so check the house rules before you book.
Can you plan a dinner around wines we bought at tastings?
Yes, and it is the best way to do it. Send the bottles you plan to open, or a photo of them, and Michael builds each course around the wine, in the order you want to pour it. If you have not chosen yet, he writes the menu first and suggests the styles that will suit it.
When is the best time for a vineyard dinner in Napa?
Late August to October, during harvest, when the vines are full and the evenings are still warm, and May and June, before the summer heat. In winter the dinner moves inside by the fire, and January to March, when the mustard is in flower, is the easiest time to plan a quiet weekend.
Which parts of Napa Valley do you cook in?
Napa, Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Calistoga, the Carneros, and the mountain districts above the valley floor: Howell Mountain, Spring Mountain, Mount Veeder and Atlas Peak. Sonoma and the rest of wine country by arrangement. Send the address with your inquiry.
Book a private chef in Napa, CA
Please email for pricing and availability, or send an inquiry with your date, location and number of guests.
Or call 631-949-2941, or send a text