The Farmer & The Fox

We did our research before choosing to eat at the Farmer & the Fox! They truly live up to their reputation with service, ambience and their unique creations! We tried everything our waiter suggested and we were so happy we went with his suggestions. We had a wonderful experience! Great place for dates and special occasions!

: The chef who makes Rabbit Wellington is no longer with them.
: The best duck breast I’ve ever had, flavor-​wise and texture-​wise.
: Seared foie gras it’s just okay.
: Try their wine on tap. Who cares it’s 11:30 in the morning, you are in Napa.
: Interesting water fountain.

The winery next door is open late until 8pm! But I was hungry and this place was the only restaurant near the wineries we were at. The menu looked innovative, balanced & decadent plus the reviews were good.
Service– Phenomenal!
Omar our waiter was courteous, polite, well mannered & genuine. He’s young guy but already you see how successful he will be in the industry.
We spoke to 2 Chefs Chris & Cat both pleasant & very humble.
Top items all mixed textures, well seasoned, clean-​tight presentation & scrumptious:
1)Fried oyster w/​roe– perfectly crisp put back in the shell
2) seared foie grad, pear & beignets
3) wagyu ribs, pumpkin purée, squash
4) choco hazelnut cake w/​orange ice cream
Added plus no corkage fee on first bottle!
Can’t wait to go back!

The perfect location for a slow Sunday brunch or dinner with friends. The food is wonderful. Atmosphere relaxing and the décor impeccable.
I’ll be visiting this place again very soon.

Fantastic Thursday happy hour. Live jazz, and $ 1 oysters. Cairdean sauv blanc and Riesling were great with oysters. Arrive by 4:45 for a comfy seat.

So so yummy. I dined here with my parents, and my dad actually used the word superb. There is an impressive wine list from affordable, to the $ 600 bottle of wine the guy at the next table ordered! Yikes! But anyway… the food is delicious, the service great. It was a Monday and very quiet, and the server was attentive without smothering. Also, I’ll have to return because Tuesday night is $ 5 burger night at the bar. Woot!
Oh! And a little tip, the tasting room on the property is open till 8… so after all the wineries close, this one is still open, so you can taste and then head to dinner. Yay!

I can’t even begin to describe how fantastic our experience at the Farmer and the Fox was. We were treated like family from the moment we walked in the door. We weren’t super hungry so we decided to get a few starters/​small plates and one entrée. We also wanted to do wine pairings and every pairing was so spot on and the staff really gave us great recommendations.
Food-​wise: WOW. I have been to a lot of good restaurants and this easily ranks up in the top 5 of any place I’ve been. We ate at Farmstead the night before and I would say that Farmer and the Fox takes more risks and they really have put together a menu that will delight any palate. The fried pickles holy cow, so good; beet and avocado with smoked trout salad, OMG best beet dish I’ve ever had; corn polenta dish, out of this freakin world and the pairing with Pinot Grigio was phenomenal. Our main course was the duck breast which was on par with everything else… Perfectly cooked to medium, exactly what we wanted. For dessert I was craving fruit, and nothing on the dessert menu sounded all that pleasing but I remembered there being a stone fruit salad on the starters menu, so our waitress said that would be perfect and she had that sent out and it absolutely ended the meal on a perfect note.
Special shout outs to Cindy (seriously you are amazing, we want you at every restaurant) and A.V. the best wine pairer and sweetest bartender we could have asked for, we give you all the stars. You guys are awesome. I hope this restaurant really gets the credit it deserves because it is deserves a lot. What an awesome way to round out our trip to Napa.

Nice new selection of starters. We had Grilled Padron peppers in a bowl with dabs of lemon aioli. Small and bite sized, and very few hot ones. Also tried something which sounds strange but tasted great. Tempura beets. Very sweet bite sized chiogga (I think) beets coated with a very light tempura batter. It works. Also served with Lemon aioli, could have a little more variation.
Next we split the Corn Polenta, a very creamy and natural polenta, corn is ground in house. Included some perfect fava beans, and we opted for adding Australian black truffles (it’s winter there) on top. Looked and tasted great.
Finished with sharing Crispy Skin Snapper, served with the greatest tiniest artichoke halves, baby fennel, baby onions, and some house lardoons. Fish was done very well.
All in all, new chef Aaron Meneghelli has added some nice light touches.
Couple of small negatives. Too much hovering by wait staff. It’s easy enough to stand at a distance and observe when people have finished their courses, and please never remove plates until all are finished.
The chef did come out and meet one diner, but we think he could have made the rounds a bit. The restaurant was not full by any means (we were early) so he certainly had the time.

Cool atmosphere, quirky service, and tasty food.
The food was good but a bit pricey for the amount. Best deal were the three dollar popovers. Eggy, crispy, and like «croissants on crack» we were told.
I got the steak tartare (delicious with garlic crisps) and roasted hen of the woods mushrooms (decent). The scotch egg was also good although quite heavy.
My friends got the pork belly (delicious but very small portions), the grits (good filler), and the seared scallops (perfectly cooked).
The captain william kid was delicious. The table’s favorite cocktail.
Overall a solid choice but a bit on the pricier side.

I would’ve given it 4 stars after the first visit, but this last time there were a few minor hitches. The food itself good, creative, and tasty, but the execution that was not up to par. My wife’s burger was overdone, and popovers were near burnt.
The other entrees were good, always something new that I haven’t tried before. Honestly I think we were a bit burnt out from wine tasting all day, and Sunday evening was pretty slow at the restaurant, compounded by the fact it’s in a rather sleepy stretch between Calistoga and St Helena, along highway 29.
I would still go back if in that area of the valley. It’s a unique restaurant, definitely worth trying.

I have been here several times since it opened. Love the popovers with ginger butter, a must order! Rabbit wellington and burrata with brussels sprouts were tasty. Great cocktails and cool vibe. It’s a little dark in this place, but the service is wonderful!
Different menu with creative options. I think this is a fun place to try.

Note location is outside St. Helena. Parking lot designated by the northernmost large «CAIRDEAN» sign. Lot is large; restaurant entrance is confusingly on the inner patio side, not the parking lot side.
Chef Humphrey has won plaudits wherever he’s gone, deservedly so! This is a rich, meaty, gastropub food, so if you’re looking for cheap bar food or giant salads, go to Farmstead. Personally we think Farmer & Fox is leagues above Farmstead!
Food suits the dark, spacious, «gentlemen’s club» décor. Table RE is generous/​seating comfortable. We had a great waiter, excellent service. We did all small plates:
Game pie: Perfect! A classic short-​crust pastry, with a thin patty of different meats that was juicy and delicious. The forerunner of the sandwich, and so much better.
Marinated beet salad: unusual combination of familiar ingredients – pickled beets, smooth sweet applesauce, chopped nuts and granola. Intriguing textures; different but we both liked this. Nice to get something different with beets which are everywhere now.
Black pudding, fried oyster, kale salad: WOW! If you love the French boudin noir you must have this! Phenomenal combo of tangy soft sausage with crisp casing, perfect little fried oyster, a touch of cream sauce. Kale was only a decorative leaf. We would come back just for this! Like Spoonbar/Healdsburg’s fried chicken with snail sauce, an unexpected and brilliant combo.
Quail and barley stew: Fried quail decorated milled barley stew. A foamed liver mousse added the perfect umami when swirled into the barley. Yummy!
Portobello pommes Anna, Kentucky Ham, parsley: Weakest dish. Too much butter and salt negated nice crisp potato edges. Ham sat on top so added no real flavor. Two different parsley sauces were brilliant – suggest F&F keep them, cut the butter/​salt in half, layer a bit more ham with the potatoes instead.
Desserts: one winner, one loser
Meyer lemon poundcake, ice cream, winter citrus compote: Poundcake sticks tasted stale and were dense/​hard. Didn’t even soften with ice cream. Custard ice cream was superb, as was compote.
Ginger-​porter cake, pears, caramelized honey ice cream: A variant of fresh gingerbread, served warm with pear baked inside. Soft, tender, with that slight bitter edge from porter. Lovely!
Overall: We ate at Farmstead, Calistoga Inn, Ad Lib, Tarla, Michael Warring, and Farmer & Fox on this trip (we come 2x/​yr and eat around the NValley). Farmer & Fox was the clear winner. After the sloppy food, sub-​par service, and incredible noise of Keller’s Ad Lib, what a relief to find a plush, comfortable, restaurant with brilliant, creative dishes like F&F! Cairdean has a winner on its hands. Farmer & Fox and Tarla go on our «A» list for return visits, up there with Auberge and Solbar.

The Farmer and the Fox was a pleasant surprise! Having been a regular to Saint Helena for the last decade and always dining at the same places, we were excited to try something new.
The location was a bit wees far (past Charles Krug winery) in a newly done plaza! The dining room itself is spacious but contemporary and romantic. There’s a long bar complete with tvs for a more casual feel — or pull up into a nice table or booth for a more elegant dining experience.
The cocktails are delicious and the menu is approachable and great for family-​style dining, too. I totally agree with Catherine H.‘s reviews– the entrees are good but the appetizers were so outstanding that they do overshadow the main dishes. We shared the Popovers ($ 9), Today’s Charcuterie ($ 15), Roast Lamb ($ 32) and a couple of cocktails. The Popovers were absolutely divine. I’m still dreaming about those and wish I could make them at home… and the Charcuterie was unique and eclectic in offerings complete with spreadable lard and Chicharrónes!
Make reservations if you want guaranteed seating, but they do allow walk-​ins and the bar can easily accommodate that! Great for a post-​wine-​tasting day meal or simply delicious, hearty food! Service is solid as well!

The appetizers and drinks here are so delicious. If you decide to come here for dinner I recommend ordering a lot of small plates and sharing those. The main dishes were not as delicious as the small dishes. The smoked duck wings, scotch egg, and popover were the best. The January’s pickles were good too, but pickles cannot compare to duck or fresh bread. Let’s be honest here.
My main plate was overshadowed by the deliciousness of the appetizers. I got the rabbit wellington. I love rabbit and none of the other main dishes looked all that exciting to me, so I decided to give it a try. The wellington cooking style is not my favorite. Thick rabbit (which really did not taste of what I think of rabbit) wrapped in a pastry. Not for me. To be fair to the Farmer and the Fox, I’m sure this is a very delicious wellington — I just should have ordered something else. Luckily I was full from all the delicious starters.
Beautiful restaurant, great location, fun design. I will be coming back for the drinks and scotch egg (and popovers… and duck wings…).

Sat at the bar — bartender is fairly new but did mostly a good job. He created a new drink for me, which after some tweaking, was nice.
Some hiccups in food service … I was given an out of date menu — so the Dungeness crab bisque I had ordered was not available (I wasn’t told until my order had been sent in – so the bartender didn’t know the current menu). Also, in the middle of taking our order the bartender stepped away to speak with a server about another order, and a couple of times he would be talking to us about the menu while doing other tasks, so it was difficult to hear him and we had to ask for repeats. Also, my salad came out not as I had ordered it (see below), and then my husband’s burger was delivered at the same time as my salad — when it was supposed to come out with my entrée. Unfortunately, I could hear a dust up in the kitchen over the mix-​up (I think) … but, everyone was very nice and it wasn’t a big deal to me.
We started with the popovers — warning, they’re huge — very good though, and they come with an apple ginger butter/​spread.
The chopped salad isn’t what I think of as a typical chopped salad — the lettuce is not chopped and the veggies are sliced (not chopped). It was a garden salad, made with fresh lettuce and veggies (carrots, turnips, herbs and mushrooms (I had them hold the shrooms), and a sugar cane vinaigrette (I would recommend light dressing — the first version of the salad came out with regular dressing and shrooms and the dressing looked heavily applied).
I enjoyed the lamb tartare — fresh and nicely cut — not gamey at all — although there wasn’t enough mint (didn’t really taste any) or seasoning (I could fix the latter by adding salt and pepper) and there was too much turnip flavor for me. There is a curry oil on the plate, and the two pieces of curry brioche resembled Texas toast, in that they’re thick slabs of toasted brioche. I actually cut the thick slabs into thirds, so they were thinner. The crispy shallots were a great addition.
My husband’s burger was under-​seasoned and there wasn’t enough cheese for his liking. The burger was cooked as he ordered it — medium rare.
We liked the atmosphere.
Update: I spent most of the day sick with food poisoning and am certain it was something I ate from here (most likely the raw lamb (I’ve eaten lamb tartare before without adverse effects) or the veggies from the salad). Not fun … but I’m not reducing the stars from my initial review …

My significant other and I showed up on Valentine’s day on a beautiful California Saturday evening. I figured the restaurant would be packed out as it took 3 hrs and 15 min to drive to Napa earlier in the day. I called and they had a table for 2 in about an hour.
We arrived at 7:45 and after admiring their brand new and immaculate establishment on the outside, we walked in. We were seated immediately and was greeted by the most enjoyable of characters, Joe, whom was also our server. He explained the wine-​bar-​meets-​English-​gastropub theme of the restaurant and we ordered the following:
Appetizers: Scotch egg and whiskey cured salmon over beer bread
The Scotch Egg was cooked to absolute perfection. The flavors were mild and blended superbly. It’s horseradish shavings added just the right amount of snap to the arugula sauce on which the fried & meat wrapped egg sat.
The whiskey salmon on beer bread stole the show for me, until the butterscotch soufflé bitch slapped the appetizers and said sit down, this is my show. No really, salmon on beer bread was again really complex on your pallet if you let it be. Like the egg and lamb chops, if you wolf it down, then you’ll miss the point of eating at a joint like this. You could barely taste the whiskey, but can definitely taste the beer. Awesome. Note: the salmon is a bit salty from its curing though.

Main dishes: Rabbit Wellington, lamb chop
I usually don’t like Wellington anything because breading then baking a piece of meat usually hides something about that hunk of protein and limits the ability to cook said meat just right. But this place is fusion «proper English» (let that oxymoron marinate in your dome for a bit) and the rabbit is stuffed with grilled Brussels sprout leaves. By making your eat your veggies along with your meat & bread, this dish again provides complexity that you would not expect.
The lamb was pretty righteous. Cooked just right. tender, decent sized. And again, stuffed with some kind of carb. I’m beginning to notice a trend in the chef’s cooking style. The heavily reduced sauce was very similar to the rabbit’s, only it was more smokey on the lamb.
Dessert: Butterscotch soufflé
Ahh, the soufflé. A proper English establishment doling out Frenchie desserts? After your first bite, you’ll forgive them quickly. The head pastry chef was at the bar next to our seats and confirmed that this molten load of butterscotch was cooked with butterscotch on the bottom of the ramekin as well as powdered on top. The delivery provides entertainment as well. The runner stabs a hole in the top of the soufflé and pours what felt like a gallon of liquid butterscotch in… ensuring early onset of type 2 diabetes. A sweet tooth’s paradise.
The ambiance was superb. Fun, bar-​like, yet classy. On first impression, it appears as if no expense was spared. Having eaten in Napa many times, I believe there is no way for a couple to do any better than this place sans reservation and for about $ 140 (including tax + tip) on Valentine’s day.

Came here for a dinner with the hubby and we were delighted by the place. It’s such a pretty restaurant, with lux booths and these nice high backed leather chairs. If it were warmer, we would have explored the grounds more as they have an attached tasting room.
We shared the scotch eggs, the popovers, the lamb, the burger and the butterscotch soufflé.
The scotch egg had a perfect runny center and super crisp crust. I do wish they used a more flavorful sausage between the crust and the egg because I couldn’t taste much of it. Nevertheless, it’s still a great starter.
The popovers came three to an order. It was so perfect and piping hot. The crust was crispy but not too crisp and the middle is wonderfully soft and buttery. I loved the apple ginger butter that came with it, too. I only had one because I wanted to save room. It’s a must order, I think.
The lamb was not a very big portion. The sausage was a bit gamey, but the chop was perfectly cooked. The braised leeks segments and the butternut squash cores were fabulous. I liked them more than the actual meat, surprisingly. The jus was flavorful and not too salty and complemented the dish very well.
The burger was also great. The meat was so juicy and flavorful. The ketchup that came with it was almost like a tomato chutney, much more complex and flavorful than your run of the mill ketchup.
The crown of the meal was the soufflé. It had this wonderful crispy and sweet crust and the middle was substantial and soft. Most of the soufflé that I’ve had in the past smelled and tasted too egg white-​y, but this place, it was more dense and just so good. It’s certainly worth the wait.

i really really wanted to like this place! it’s relatively new and popped up on the michelin bib gourmand list this year, so i was really stoked to try it. i would say that the food is four stars, but the service is less than ideal :(i understand it’s new but… kinda need to get it together.
we arrived early, and started at the cairdean estates tasting room, which is right around the corner from the restaurant. there is also a grassy area in the middle with a nice mountain — very scenic! the tasting was fantastic — the wines are diverse and delicious, and reasonably priced. tasting fee is waived if you purchase $ 100 in bottles or merchandise i believe — which is fantastic because the restaurant has no corkage for the first bottle! yay!
so we were chatting with our hosts at the tasting room, and it was quickly becoming obvious that we were gonna be a tad late for dinner. SLIGHTLY! so the host callled the restaurant to inform them, and they said to stall us a little bit, because they were getting slammed with walk-​ins. so we left the tasting room with $ 200 in bottles and walk over to the restaurant. great experience thus far.
we walk in, and there’s no hostess for a few minutes. it didn’t look terribly busy. we asked the hostess if we could sit at the bar, then at a table near the bar, and it was quickly becoming obvious that we werent gonna get those seats. MEEPS. fine — cuz we were late.
we sit down, and were ignored for a few minutes before menus were brought, but were presented with a pleasant bite of mini cheesy fried dough, a good amuse. we perused the dinner menu over at the tasting room, so we were just deciding on drinks — and ultimately went with a glass of red each from the cairdean estate — petit syrah and a cab.
we ordered — duck wings, the scotch egg, blood sausage with fried oysters, lamb tartar and the nightly roast of DUCK! nomsiessss! everything was quiteeee delicious — my faves were the scotch egg and blood sausage — great presentation and mixture of flavors and textures. boy was quite disappointed with the lamb tartar because the seasonings took away from the gaminess of the animal. meh. i was okay with it. the duck was served with two sauces — and our waitress didnt know if the duck needed it?! like she hasnt tried it?! like waitress should be able to provide that kinda information right?
anyhoo — the service was kinda disappointing and splotchy throughout — main dish came to our table and we didnt have any silverware, the silverware was set down loudly and not on the setting, etc. etc. SIGH! but the food — the food i approve of…

I am gluten free and from first glance at their menu I thought I wasn’t going to be able to eat anything here.
The server was great and he told me that the chef can accommodate my dietary restrictions.
David and I shared for starters:
Proper Chips
Beet Salad — My favorite of the night; the different sizes and textures really stimulated my taste buds and senses
Quail Legs and Barley Stew — has gluten — David loved this dish
Entrees:
Rabbit Wellington — has gluten — David thoroughly enjoyed his entrée
Roast of the Night (Duck) — gluten free and amazingly delicious
Setting was very romantic. Beautiful little gastropub. Also, service was delightful. I will be coming back again.

Was touring local wineries in Napa, looking for someplace close and local. This could not have been more PERFECT. We loved everything.
The food was unique and flavorful without being too snobby. The décor, charming and modern. Appetizers and small plates are between $ 6 and $ 15 and main entrees are $ 22 to $ 35. Extremely reasonable for the quality of food.
We sampled the duck wings (delish), fried January pickles and soft boiled eggs. Highly recommend it all, but we especially enjoyed the duck wings — probably because they came garnished with blue cheese. Main entrée was rabbit wellington and dessert was donuts with peaches and rice pudding. We left relaxed and full, thrilled to have found such a charming place right off the main stretch. Great things are in store for this restaurant!