The Restaurant at Meadowood Earns Four Stars

Approximately a year after earning 3.5 stars, the Restaurant at Meadowood gets the monumental upgrade to the holy four-star status today. Using adjectives like "artful" and "creative" throughout the review update, Biggity Bauer anoints chef Christopher Kostow with the coveted quattro to go along with his two Michelin stars:

From start to finish, he commands the kitchen, creating dishes you won't find on any other menu, served in a dining room awash with elegance and good taste ... Kostow is in fine form, rarely missing a beat and leaving diners practically breathless waiting for his next feat of culinary acrobatics.

From the nickel-size medallions of goat to the lobster roasted in lime salt, the tasting menu is full of all kinds of those aforementioned singular acrobatics, with hardly a misstep in sight. And so, the Bay Area gets its ninth four-star restaurant, with Meadowood joining the pantheon of Chez Panisse, Coi, Cyrus, the Ritz, the Laundry, La Folie, Manresa, and Michael Mina. You can bet that the bubbly was flowing last night at the resort. [Chron]

Both the Weekly and the EBX chime in on Oakland's Commis (maybe they dined together?). First up, Jonathan Kauffman's take: "James Syhabout, chef of Commis in Oakland, is preternaturally attuned to the harmonics of flavor ... Commis is a destination restaurant for an indie-rock generation, diners who prize preciousness over pomp and relish the weird places that individual vision can take a gifted artist. It isn't a perfect restaurant, but it's capable of food that approaches the sublime." [SFW]

Over at the EBX, Matthew Stafford has a similar, encouraging viewpoint: "... the house cuisine — bursting with rich, bright flavors in largely unprecedented contrasts and combinations — is a rewarding adventure ... it bears noting that while Commis' delicacies are exquisite, they're also conservatively apportioned." [EBX]

Paul Reidinger takes the Mission's new Turkish restaurant—the oddly-named Tuba—out for a spin. Despite the Guerrero space's maligned history, it seems like Tuba has captured the early crowds: "Why the big crowds? Part of the reason must be that the neighborhood, once edgy, is now well-to-do, and the array of restaurants (there's also a nice sushi spot just a few doors down) draws strollers who scan posted menus ... Tuba's prices are also gentle ... Then there's the draw of the Turkish food itself." [SFBG]

THE ELSEWHERE: The PressDem has three stars for Occidental's Bistro Des Copains, the CoCo Times heads to Livermore's Lanna Thai, the MIJ is at Weezy's Grass Fed Shed in San Rafael, Bargain Bites goes to San Jose's Boiling Crab, Bar Bites tries out the small bites at Michael Chiarello's Bottega, and the Sunday review had 2.5 stars for Nombe in the Mission.

Meadowood

900 Meadowood Ln, St Helena, CA‎