Ubuntu Restaurant: Exotic Vegetarian Fare at Napa's Michelin-Star Restaurant
It would be hard to find any Napa local or Bay Area foodie who’s lukewarm about the merits of Ubuntu restaurant. Opinions on Ubuntu restaurant are either hot or cold: you either love it or loathe it.
The food at Ubuntu is also either hot or cold; but whatever is on the ever-changing menu, it’s sure to be vegetarian. Ubuntu is the vegetarian restaurant that dares to call itself fine dining and has the 2011 Michelin star to prove it. Critics who think that tossing vegetables and herbs together can never meet the high standard of fine dining probably just can’t open their minds (or mouths) wide enough to enjoy a meal with no meat or fish on the plate.
With the size (modest) and ingredients (vegetarian, or vegan on request) blurring any distinctions among the traditional categories of appetizers, salads and entrees, no such headings are found on the menu — just a list of about 10 dishes. The ingredients used appear below each one, and expect to be educated, because they include exotic items like shungiku, rau ram, tatsoi, rapini, borage leaf and Persian cress. The menu changes monthly as different vegetables ripen in Ubuntu’s nearby biodynamic gardens, which supply 80 percent of the restaurant’s ingredients.
Two dishes on the December dinner menu, for example, are the white Satin Carrots and Matsutakes Roasted with Pine Needles and the Ubuntu Steam Bun Stuffed with Burrata and Coated with Sunchoke Dirt. Mmm, pine needles and dirt. But seriously, this is a place to try something entirely different. It’s not all light and healthy, either, with rich cheeses and heavy creams featured in some dishes and a menu of desserts that typically incorporate exotic ice creams, sorbets or chocolates. Bland and unsatisfying it ain’t.
Lunch is served only on weekends, with about half of menu items overlapping with the dinner menu. At lunch, you can choose from most of the same desserts and the full wine menu, which emphasizes local and sustainable vintages.
About the name, Ubuntu is a Zulu word that refers to a philosophy that emphasizes sharing. That spirit is seen in the long communal table made from windfall redwood and fir trees in the middle of the restaurant. Adding to the eclectic character of the restaurant is a stunning ceramic sculpture of four life-size nudes at the center called “Alternative View” and the presence of the Ubuntu yoga studio upstairs.
HelloSanFrancisco Tip: “Garden Tour and Dinner” events let you tour Ubuntu’s gardens, taste wine made from the adjacent Lion’s Run vineyards, then return to the restaurant for a six-course meal with wine pairings and dessert — all for $120. Check the website for the next date.
Posted by Bob Cooper
