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San Francisco Chronicle
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Now everyone can get lobster corn dogs topped with caviar at BottleRock 2025
For the first time in BottleRock Napa Valley history, the famous lobster corn dog topped with caviar is available to all festivalgoers. The corn dog, a bougie BottleRock staple from Napa Valley's Michelin-starred Press Restaurant for the past three years, was previously exclusive to the VIP Culinary Garden. But this year, the team decided to have booths in both VIP and general admission areas. Attendees need to look no further than the giant 'Lobster Caviar Corn Dog' sign to get their hands on the $32 treat, which is being served by Under-study, Press' sister cafe that opens on Memorial Day in Saint Helena. 'The requests were overwhelming. Everybody last year was like, 'What is this thing? Where do I get it and how do I get it?,' said Justin Williams, Press and Under-study's director of operations. He added that the team was bombarded with requests for the corn dog from people who didn't have VIP wristbands and received countless messages on Instagram. They also noticed 'people were taking a box of them to their friends in GA.' Last year, the booth sold just under 2,000 corn dogs throughout the three-day festival. This year, with two booths, Williams said they expect to sell 5,000. His team has been working tirelessly for a week-and-a-half on prep, as they made all of the ingredients (outside of the caviar) from scratch. The filling, consisting of fish mousse, chopped lobster and herbs, is battered, fried and then topped with a remoulade and caviar. The price has gone up $6 since its 2023 debut. In addition to the corn dog, Under-study is selling truffle fries ($19), a pretzel with smoked onion mustard ($15) and a soft serve sundae with strawberries and chocolate sauce ($15).
San Francisco Chronicle
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Bay Area chefs dish on the best things to eat at BottleRock
BottleRock Napa Valley brings together some of the most lauded chefs from the Bay Area and beyond. At this week's festival, which runs Friday-Sunday, May 23-25, TV food competition master Bobby Flay and 'Top Chef' host Kristen Kish are among those who will appear on the Culinary Stage. To help you make the most of the festival's robust food offerings, the Chronicle asked five Bay Area chefs — all seasoned BottleRockers — for their top dish recommendations and hacks for maximizing meals over the three days. Festival food strategy Mark Dommen, a Napa local, longtime BottleRock attendee and chef at San Francisco's One Market, always fuels up before entering the festival. 'We are not breakfast people in general,' said Dommen, 'but it's good to eat something that builds a base for a day of drinking.' He even hosts a 'Build a Base Brunch' at his home with breakfast pizzas each year, which he said 'has become quite legendary.' Once inside the gates, Dommen never eats the same thing twice and focuses on new restaurants as 'there's always something different to discover.' Newcomers to this year's BottleRock culinary garden include beloved Bay Area Italian spot A16, which opens its Napa location next week, and Sumo Dog, a Coachella staple that recently brought its creative hog dog combos to Napa's Oxbow Public Market. Chef Phil Tessier, of the Michelin-starred Press Restaurant and its new sister cafe Under-study, suggested hitting up 'high-demand booths' early, or during off-peak times, especially if there's a specific item you have your eye on. Edwin Robles, the executive chef of Napa's Compline, which will have 'The Bear'-themed booths in GA and VIP, opts for 'small snacks between shows' instead of a few big meals and suggests sharing with friends so you can try more. Press Restaurant's offerings were a common favorite among the chefs, especially the fancy, caviar-topped lobster corn dog, which Dommen called 'incredible' and would pair with a glass of rosé. The corn dog will be back this year, but sold by Under-study instead of Press. For the first time, it'll be available in GA and VIP. The Wagyu hot dog from St. Helena's Charlie's, which has a caviar add-on, got several nods, as did the nachos from Napa tequila hot spot Chispa. Charlie's chef-owner Elliot Bell said Compline's Original Beef sandwich and duck fat fries are 'a yearly highlight.' Tessier, who described the burnt ends from Napa Kansas City barbecue spot Stateline Road Smokehouse as 'unreal,' also spoke highly of the locally famous doughnuts from Napa's Boon Fly Café. 'My wife waited 30 minutes for (them) last year and, honestly, it was totally worth it,' he said. Dommen said Bay Area Vietnamese legend Slanted Door, which opened a Napa location in 2023 and made its BottleRock debut last year, is at the top of his list. Robles plans to seek out the queso dip from Chispa, while Bell said he's excited for the festival return of Loveski Deli from famed Napa Valley chef Christopher Kostow. 'Their loaded fries are family-friendly and were a huge hit with my kids a couple of years ago,' said Bell, who is set to preview a new ice cream concept in the Williams-Sonoma Culinary Garden (backstage of the Culinary Stage). 'It's a little nostalgia, a little whimsy and a lot of fun.' Where to eat before the festival Tessier, Robles and chef Darryl Bell of Stateline Road Smokehouse all suggested Winston's Cafe for breakfast. Stateline's Bell, who will make his BottleRock culinary stage debut this year on Sunday evening (and teased a surprise), likes Small World Restaurant for lunch; Robles recommended Kitchen Door and Contimo. All are in downtown Napa and within walking distance of the festival. 'It's all about the hot dog vendors while you're walking back to the ride-share area,' said Dommen. 'Bacon-wrapped hot dogs with caramelized onions.' Robles, however, recommends Zuzu or his home base Compline, whose late-night menu, featuring one of the Bay Area's best burgers, goes until 11 p.m. Tessier also mentioned Zuzu, which will serve pintxos until 11 p.m. 'Great energy, great food,' he said. 'It's the perfect spot to wind down.' Stateline's Bell chose an 'oldie but a goodie': In-N-Out. His go-to order: a double-double animal-style, fries and a vanilla shake. The Napa location is a mile-and-a-half from the festival grounds, on the way out of town for those getting on the highway. Prepare to wait.
San Francisco Chronicle
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Michelin-starred Wine Country restaurant opens new café in unexpected location
A new museum opened last month in St. Helena with an interactive exhibition on the life of famed chef Julia Child — yet the museum's café may be an even bigger draw. Under-study, the highly-anticipated bakery and tapas spot from the Michelin-starred team at Press Restaurant, opens May 26. It's attached to the Napa Valley Museum of Arts & Culture, or the MAC, an expansion of the Napa Valley Museum in Yountville. Intended as the antithesis to the stereotypically underwhelming museum café, Under-study will bring a fine dining approach to the grab-and-go experience, without the tasting menu price tag, owners said. 'It's some of the most highly-trained cooks in America in a café setting,' said Philip Tessier, chef-partner of Press and Under-study. Located next door to Press, Under-study and the museum have taken over the former home of Dean & Deluca, which, more recently was Gary's Wine & Marketplace. Yet Under-study (607 St. Helena Hwy., St. Helena) is a major departure from its predecessors. Tessier described the interior, designed by Studio Terpeluk, the team behind San Francisco's buzzy new French bistro Bon Délire, as 'Willy Wonka meets Hermes.' It's a mix of sophisticated and playful: Sleek marble and Douglas fir finishes merge with bold pink, yellow and teal walls and accents. Instead of deli sandwiches and pre-made salads, the café will serve fancy tapas like Wagyu steak tartare ($18), hamachi crudo ($14) and a caviar-topped lobster corn dog ($32) on luxe Heston cafeteria trays. Customers can dine inside at translucent, yellow resin tabletops that flip up from the wall and people-watch through a window that peers into the museum, but most of the seating is on the patio around a fountain. In the morning, the bakery counter will offer coffee and pastries — to be artfully displayed like museum pieces themselves— including incredibly-flaky croissants ($5.50), carrot and lemon tea cakes ($6) and an adorable mandarin mousse parfait ($12) that imitates a real-life mandarin. There's a daily bread selection featuring sourdough miso baguettes and sesame wheat loaves, and Under-study will serve heartier breakfast items such as a bacon-maple-glazed French toast stick ($12), beef fat hashbrowns ($10) and a Dungeness crab omelette ($24, weekends only). Longtime Press fans will recognize some of the restaurant's 'greatest hits from back in the day,' said Tessier, like the sweet and sour pig ears ($14), grilled octopus served in a black truffle mole ($18) and salsa verde beef reimagined as Wagyu skewers ($18). One of the most notable comebacks is the bacon sampler ($12), a beloved, Instagrammable starter where several cuts of bacon hung from a metal rack by clothespins. (It even came with meat-cutting scissors.) At Under-study, it'll be served at breakfast, albeit with a much simpler presentation. A special 'Julia's Menu' caters to museum guests. The three-course meal ($40) represents Under-study's take on some of Child's classic dishes: asparagus vol-au-vent, roast chicken and her favorite dessert, île flottante, a floating island of meringue in a sea of cream. Hams, charcuterie and herbs hang over a butcher counter, where premium aged meats and cured fish, including whole ducks and swordfish, can be ordered to-go, in addition to prepared dinners, like Press' popular truffle-glazed chicken, lobster tails and miso-cured black cod. These ready-to-make dinners will eventually come with a QR code, which will link to a video of an Under-study chef demonstrating how to finish the dish. The marbled case will also be stocked with delicacies like truffles, rare cheeses and caviar — 'all the fun stuff,' said Tessier. 'The goal is to give people access to what we get in restaurants,' he continued. 'You can't buy 90% of what we get at the restaurant, but the cushion for us is if we don't sell it, it goes next door. Most places you can't find this stuff because it just sits there.' Press is known for having the largest collection of Napa Valley wines in the world. But Tessier said Under-study's wine shop will cater more to locals by highlighting international producers and 'unique and esoteric' grapes from California and beyond, like a Picpoul from Napa Valley's Tres Sabores and a Gruner Veltliner from Austria. Wine will be available by the glass and bottle, but Under-study will have a few beers and a spritz on draft as well. 'It's a place where locals can come and not have to drink their neighbor's Cabernet,' he said. Later this summer, a teaching kitchen will open in the back section of the café. Here, Under-study will host educational classes and events centered on food, wine and local artisans, and also film digital content like recipe videos. Under-study. Opens May 26. 607 St. Helena Hwy., St. Helena.
