The Restaurant at Meadowood, which is celebrating its second year as a Michelin three-star restaurant, is about to see some significant changes to the kitchen, the menu, and the dining room. As chef Christopher Kostow tells Grub Street, the biggest changes will be in the kitchen, where the entire space is getting redesigned and new equipment put in. “I can’t wait,” he says. “You won’t even recognize it.” But he also promises that the overall vibe of the restaurant will get a refresh as well. “We could have continued doing exactly what we’ve been doing and been a great restaurant for another five years,” he says. “But we want to be even better than that. And it’s just time for a change.”
Though he won’t reveal too much about the new menu, he seems to suggest that he wants to surprise people, and to take Napa Valley fine dining in a new direction.
“The team and I are continually humbled by the accolades and attention paid to The Restaurant since its inception,” Kostow writes on a new landing page for the restaurant, which just went up today. “The reality, however, is that we did not feel that we were as good as we could be. To get to the next level (and all the next levels to come) we felt compelled to reexamine, reflect, and reboot.”
As for the dining room and bar, the redesign will be mostly cosmetic, with darker woods and finishes, “elemental” tones, and new lighting throughout.
Earlier this year, Kostow announced an expanded garden program in conjunction with a neighboring preschool, as well as a plan to start raising goats for the restaurant. All that will be continuing as well.
The entire restaurant staff will be taking the month of January off, and the kitchen staff will be back with Chef Kostow doing menu development throughout the month of February, with a reopening scheduled for March 12.
Earlier: There Are Still Seats Available for Meadowood’s Twelve Days of Christmas
A 13-Course Meal at Meadowood, Illustrated
