Auro (*) | Calistoga, CA

we came to calistoga as a mini-moon after getting married last weekend. we’re in the bay area, and i wanted to strictly stay in calistoga and instead of driving around the whole napa valley. i’ve already previously eaten at places like The French Laundry and Singlethread, so wanted to try new!

the restaurant in at the four seasons (didn’t not stay here). layout is a bit weird because you have to go through truss (FS’s casual restaurant to get to auro. but we truly had a great meal here. it’s leans contemporary mexican, with a lot of interesting flavors. the space was really pretty and had a nice view the the napa hills. service was personable and has great pacing. we had one small snafu but generally had a great dining experience.

i put photo of our menu, but a few things that aren’t listed in there was like a pre-amuse bouche bite and a glass of domaine carernos tattinger champagne. I don’t drink and I didn’t note this anywhere, so I took it but they later gave me a pear verbena (a collab by kally and singlethread).

part of the first selections of the amuse bouches were great. the small snafu is there is a shot of passion fruit and they have one with alcohol and one without. they gave us the wrong ones. it wasn’t necessarily a problem for us, but could have been bad for others.

a few of the menu highlights
– the milk bread was legit so amazing
– the sauces across the board were so good (eg mole verde with the prawns added so much flavor)
– corn tetela felt like the most unique thing we had. never really had something like that and normally not the biggest fan of red peppers but it really complimented the corn flavors.
– loved the look of the wagyu. again, loved the mole here. the green dots are bok choy puree which was fun. there were also tomatos that were so sweet
– their petit fours included a chocotaco, which was great