The 4th “Date” of Christmas: Rutherford Grill in the Napa Valley

On the Fourth Date of Christmas my true love brought to me…a lovely early motherhood memory.

It was such a warm sunny day today in Napa Valley that you could have eaten lunch outside on the patio at Rutherford Grill, one of our favorite restaurants here because the food is so satisfying, the people are nice, the prices are great and maybe the best part whether you’re a local or a visitor–no corkage if you bring your own wine. That’s both customer-friendly, and a lovely gesture of support to the local winery community. Since the kids are on the holiday break from school, my husband John took them there for lunch and then brought home one of my favorite menu items–their rotisserie chicken is the best I have ever had outside of Europe.

So it’s a “kid date” for us at home tonight, with rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes drizzled with the chicken jus and a great wine from John’s cellar–the only other place in Napa Valley that I know of with no corkage fee. And instead of cozying up in one of the Rutherford Grill’s Hollywood booths (which were plenty roomy for our kids’ infant carrier seats when they were tiny), we’ll be cozying up in front of the fire at home.  I remember it as though it were yesterday, and that’s really lovely.