The Other Critics

Bauer’s Fond of the Food, But Not So Much the Self-Service Thing, at Kitchen Door

Kitchen Door
Kitchen Door

Michael Bauer counts himself a fan of Todd Humphries’s newest restaurant, Kitchen Door in Napa’s Oxbow Public Market. He writes, “Humphries’ next act fits right into the eat-and-run ADD culture bred by the Internet,” and he says of the eclectic menu of food that it’s all “exceptional.” The chicken dinner, the shaved celery salad, and a flatbread with smoked salmon and crème fraiche all sound like winners. And he plants one of his superlatively vague “one of the best around”s on the hamburger. But he’s not totally sold on the counter-service thing, saying “the more extensive offerings at Kitchen Door put diners in the mood for a more leisurely, multicourse meal.” He suggests only ordering your appetizers and wine at the counter, and then ordering the rest from the waitstaff who deliver your meal so that the food doesn’t all come at once — this is allowed in Kitchen Door’s half-self-serve universe. The verdict: two and a half stars. [Chron]

Bauer’s Fond of the Food, But Not So Much the Self-Service Thing, at