Cook St. Helena

my wife and I love to graze on appetizers on the many fine restaurants in Saint Helena… we particularly enjoy the spicy mussels at Cook… we wil order them on take out for a homey treat with a bottle of her wine.

I thought it was really good, just really expensive for pasta dishes and such for lunch. Will go back but still thought too pricey compared to the options in St. Helena, which is pretty expensive already.

We were so excited to come here after many referrals but we were severely underwhelmed. The cab franc was served very warm. We watched our octopus and calamari sit on the counter not under any heat lamp for over 5 min. When it finally was served it was pretty tepid/​cold. We didn’t eat the octopus but my brother will eat anything so he ate the calamari still but was not impressed. The short rib parpadelle lacked seasoning. The eggplant Parmesan was ok. The duck on the risotto had a lot of chewy fat. Service was slow. Unfortunately we will not be returning.

I came here post early afternoon wine tasting and only eating a croissant in the morning. I was starving/​craving something hearty like pasta and I must say I left here 100% satisfied. We arrived around 1:30 so I am sure we missed the rush and were seated immediately. The service was amazing and our food was cooked to perfection. First off, the free bread was nicely toasted and the olive oil and vinegar had a nice taste. We held off on wine because we just left a winery and were headed to another one after. We ordered 3 dishes: the muscles with spicy sausage, the cavatelli all’arrabbiata, and mine was the pappardelle and braised short rib.
Appetizer — Muscles & Spicy Sausage
The Muscles were on the smaller side but the sausage made the dish very filling. The toasted bread was great to dip in the spicy tomato broth. The broth itself was packed with ton of flavor and could be a soup on its own.
Entres
Cavatelli all’Arrabbiata — the server told us that the pasta is made fresh daily and this noodle itself is made with mozzarella and spices. The noodle was very tasty and when coupled with the meat super good. The red sauce had a little spicy kick to it but it was not overpowering at all.
Pappardelle & Braised Short Rib — I LOVED this dish! Starting with the meat, it was so tender and the pasta itself was the perfect al dente. There were two sauces, the cream sauce for the pasta and the au ju for the meat. Combining all of the elements of the dish, even the brown butter sage, in 1 bite was the highlight of my day. I ate the whole dish and did not feel bad.
Quick Review: I 100% recommend you to eat here. Great service, quaint and cozy space, AMAZING food!

Bad food, bad drinks and worse of all horrible horrible service for such a small place. Don’t charge $ 4 extra for chicken on nachos when you have to do a scavenger hunt to find a piece of chicken. Worst food ever. Not sure why Unilocal removed my original review. This review is for this restaurant!

Perfect experience and real Italian food restaurant!
Dropped by there after wine tasting, so we did not order any drinks. Their service is excellent! (Not like some other winery or stores if we do not order any drinks) we ordered daily special soup and risotto and fried calamari! Excellent!
This could be the best Italian restaurant I have visited this year’

I really miss their amazing minestrone, it was one of my favorite local soups. They topped it with a lovely pistou and parmesan curls. This place is super tiny but they have a great local wine by the glass list as well as local farm fresh foods.
Their brussels sprouts were my favorite, I don’t see it there often which means the menu changes up often which I think is a good thing. I enjoy the specials, they are always seasonal. The only downside is EVERYONE in the valley seems to make and keep butternut squash soup from October to January and that is so irritating for a soup lover like me.
All in all this is a nice little place to enjoy a light lunch or light dinner and a glass of vino.

Delicious. Homemade pasta was goood. Locals eat here. It was packed on a weeknight while the rest of Main Street was a ghost town.

I was planning a dinner with my wife, my boss and her husband. I needed a restaurant that allowed us to talk throughout dinner, as well as amazing food. When I began to think about where I should take them, there was only one place I could go…
Cook St. Helena.
I have been to Cook on a few occasions in the past — dates with my wife, dinner with friends and family. This was something different — a dinner to impress the boss!
The food was amazing, the service was impeccible. The owner of Cook, Jude Wilmoth, came to our table at one point during our dinner and talked to us for a little while during our apps.
The food is amazing, the atmosphere fun and engaging. You will regret not going to Cook on your next visit to the NV Wine Country.
5 Stars!!!

I had an absolutely delicious lunch of homemade fettuccine with fried eggplant, sun-​dried tomatoes, and other vegetables in a light, flavorful broth. I highly recommend this little jewel.

Fantastic little restaurant in St Helena. Mistakenly went into Cooks Tavern next door. Realized we were in the wrong location when no Risotto on the menu.
Lorenza enjoyed the Hanger Steak, I had seafood as usual, Michelle had spaghetti with Pork Belly, Lelet had Scallops with Risotto and Alan had the Airline chicken!
All were delicious as evidenced by our clean plates.
Glad we got there at 11:30! It was a Monday and packed by the time we left.

Fantastic pasta dishes. Don’t let the unassuming store front fool you — the food is excellent as is the wine.
Had a pasta special and it was so fresh, I couldn’t forget it. With all the amazing eats in Napa and Sonoma it was Cook St. Helena that I remembered long after.

I had a delicious fettuccini lunch with eggplant and capers. The sauce was light and flavorful. My husband raved about his chicken in a balsamic marinade. We asked for bread which wasn’t brought. That was the only down side.

Very nice ambiance when you come in. Looks small but the space is laid out nicely. Service is a little on the slow side but still very friendly. There was one manager type person there who was constantly changing the channels on he televisions which was a little distracting. We were in a group of seven and everyone’s food was very good, wife had a steak, I had a Cubano sandwich and the portion was more than enough. One star removed due to their inability to split the bill three ways. It should not take three staff members twenty minutes to figure that out and still get it wrong.

I remember stumbling upon this place. Wanted to find a fairly affordable place for lunch after our visit to the Castello di Amorosa. Cook St. Helena was a fairly small place. The tables were designed for parties of two unless you sit at the bar. The menu itself was fairly small BUT that’s usually a sure sign that a lot of attention was put in to the individual dishes. The real win here are any of the risotto dishes. Some amazing risotto! More than just a pile of porridge. It’s a divine dish of a balanced texture with firm flavors without overpowering the senses. It’s not dependent on black pepper or hot sauce. It can actually stand on its own.
Thank goodness the service is friendly to tourists. It’s definitely not a go-​to tourist stop. Just a simple friendly food stop ready to serve. Even the people we sat next to were very friendly as well, striking up conversations, about the food actually. Overall, the lunch meal experience was that good.
Will I ever come back? I say the next time I’m visiting Napa and I’m in the mood for a good risotto dish, most definitely! Maybe even try the other items off their menu. It’s quite honestly a wonderful stop for a welcoming lunch establishment.

Upon first entering this little hole in the hole I had my doubts but they were quickly wavered as I took a bite from homemade mozzarella. The salty semi-​firm mozzarella was caressed by a delicious olive oil and balsamic glaze accompanied by heirloom tomatoes.
For my entrée I had the cavatelli which was to die for my boyfriend had the mussels appetizer doubled with fettuccine noodles. The charred bread that came with his dish was wonderful. My pasta was loaded with garlic (I love garlic) with some of the best Italian sausage I’ve ever had.
I would absolutely go here again!

This is a very little, cozy place for a group or couple date. Menu changes everyday !
I got a courtesy call one day before my reservation which is a very refined gesture.
Finding parking is quiet an effort to handle though. All side streets taken, but I managed to grab one in front of the restaurant.
We got a very cramp table for 4 which was magically forced to turn into a table for 5. I asked for a table for 5. Not too happy about that!
We ordered appetizers octopus and mussels, a few pieces on a bed of greens and tomatoe sauce, which was instantly wiped out like a storm, we were so fast that we were guessing, it wasn’t enough because we’re too hungry or was it too minuscule?
The kitchen was right next to us, we were almost part of the steamed and grilled offerings, we all smelled like toasted Italian food the rest of the day,
We ordered chicken, risotto, eggplant Parmesan, and steak, they were all so good and this time it wasn’t skimpy.
The dessert was to die for, we definitely luv the chocolate cake with salted caramel and also the chocolate gelato.
Overall, the place was fun except for the cramped, dark place. The wine selection was excellent, our waitress was the best, she helped us with pairings!

I’m a local, I live in the town of Napa, CA. Just 30 minutes up the road is St Helena. This is where you’ll find Cook St Helena. It is a tiny place, easy to miss, among the little shops and cafes on Main St. Small place, BIG food. Northern Italian is the inspiration, California fresh is the finish. As a local I have enjoyed most every restaurant in the valley. Cook St Helena is among the very best.
I had the Short Rib placed on perfectly prepared pasta made from scratch. The sauce was so good that I dismissed manors and sopped up the residue with French Sourdough bread also made in house. My companion had the Dover Sole. She said it was the best she ever had. I raised an eyebrow on that statement. So I had to try it. I was amazed. My standard for comparison is Tadich Grill in San Francisco. Yup, she’s right. It was better than my all time favorite from my days as a Montgomery Street banker.
Deserts, all house-​made as well, were difficult to choose from. We shared a Pena Cotta with Strawberries. A sweet cream. Was it good? Try it yourself. Then you“ll know.

Nous avons diné chez Cook, le 29 novembre. Un joli resto animé, bonne nourriture, service rapide.
Le service un peu trop rapide. Nous étions un groupe de cinq. Nous étions assis au comptoir. Nous avons mangé des pâtes, les portions trop petites (prix 20 à 22 $ par plat), pas de pain en accompagnement. Le vin au verre à 12.00 $, pour une bouteille qui s’achète à 22.00 $ en magasin. La facture expéditives, sans offrir café ou dessert.

Pop quiz for you:
Freshly-​made fazzoletti pasta bolognese with ricotta, gnocchi in basil cream pesto with maitake mushrooms, flourless chocolate cake with caramel and salted whipped cream, fresh mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes, and a bottle of local Cab Franc.
Is this:
(a) The Californian vine-​to-​table dream that Anthony Bourdain wished he had last night, instead of hearing the voice of James Earl Jones saying «This in CNN» over and over and over while Jacques Pépin (dressed as Darth Vader) beats him repeatedly with an al dente soba noodle shaped like a lightsaber — and all Bourdain has to defend himself with is an overcooked piece of wet pappardelle?
(b) The winning meal served by a contestant named «Naughty & Nice Nancy» in the finale episode of the next new competitive chef/​culinary striptease series on the Food Network, «Foodie Newbies do Napa» (hosted by Mario Batali and for which Giada de Laurentiis AND Jessica Alba are both judges)?
© The delicious and affordable meal that you really wanted to have, instead of the assembly-​line extravagances of your 3-​hour long Michelin meal marathon at French Laundry, which you cashed in part of your child’s college fund to pay for?
(d) Simply your average Thursday evening dinner at Cook St Helena, where you walked in unannounced off the street and were treated to one of the best but also simplest Italian-​inspired Northern California meals of your visit to Napa?
(e) All of the above.
Personally speaking, and on the basis of a fairly recent experience (not to mention some extremely wishful thinking regarding options «a» and «b»), I’d have to choose option «e.»
Is this the right answer for you? I can’t say. But it’s definitely the right question.

Just really excellent food! It’s a small space, but they offer just really great food. The bolognese was so delicious I could have sworn there was cream in it, but the waitress said no cream, but just a bit of butter.
We also tried the BLT, which had an incredible amount of bacon, but without it being overwhelming. All of the ingredients were balanced very nicely and I loved the mayonnaise, which is an insane thing for me to say because I infamously HATE, loathe, and gag at even the smell of mayonnaise.
I definitely will return and can’t wait to try some of the gnocchi!