Check Out The Menu For French Blue, Opening Today

Leslie Rudd's Howard and Lori Backen's French Blue opens for dinner at 5 p.m. tonight in the old Vanderbuilt building in downtown St. Helena. Sporting the very cool fireplace shown above, worked right into the design of the brick wall surrounding the patio. Stanley Morris will be the partner working the floor on a nightly basis. Find a refresher on the rest of the opening team here.

The interior has a warm, relaxing, vacation-y feel: all soft browns, booths with baby blue pillows and white-washed walls. There's a wood-burning stove firing much of the menu, and two additional fireplaces sparking up the decor. For conversation-sake: Backen's new architecture firm, will house its main office on-site in back.

Dinner service starts tonight, continuing seven days a week from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Lunch will start on June 4, and breakfast soon thereafter on the 13th. Seating is first-come, first-serve. Now do take a moment to click through and have a first peek at executive chef Philip Wang's all-day menu, much of it sourced from partner Leslie Rudd's Rudd Farms, natch.

Four Buck Bites
Fried Green Olives toasted almond romesco
Chicken Liver Mousse pickled shallots, candied pistachios
Honey Mustard Pretzel Crunch toasted peanuts, puffed wild rice
Spicy Pickled Things wild caught by farmer Omar every morning

Shares & Starters
Small Egg Salad Sandwiches crispy braised bacon, shaved fennel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Wood Baked Lamb Meatballs spicy puttanesca, crumbled feta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5
Daily Made Farmer’s Cheese minted english peas, grilled levain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5
French Blue Oven Baked Flatbread something on top. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Soup & Salad
A Bowl of Soup usually something different . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Salad of Farmer Omar’s Vegetables little gems, soft herbs, celery seed vinaigrette . . . . 8.5
Baby Iceberg Wedge creamy feta dressing, braised bacon “croutons” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Grilled Chicken Paillard peppery greens, crispy shallots, soft bo

Plates
Fennel Cured Salmon Sandwich cucumber, breakfast radish, whole grain struan . . . . . . 12.5
French Blue’s French Blue Cheese Burger grilled onions, brioche dutch crunch . . . . . . 10.5
Cowgirl Mt. Tam Omelette king trumpets, bloomsdale spinach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
English Pea Agnolotti hen-of-the-woods, fava beans, sweet white corn . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.5
Chorizo Roasted Mussels scrimshaw pilsner, kennebeck fries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Grilled Delta Sturgeon valley asparagus, cherry tomato jam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Smoked Half Young Chicken fava bean bread salad, marinated artichokes . . . . . . . . . . 17.5
Grass Fed Hangar Steak english peas, heirloom carrots, soft herb chimichurri . . . . . . . 18.5

Sides
kennebeck french fries, bearnaise ~ hazelnut rosted beets
boston baked rancho gordo beans ~ grilled delta asparagus
sea salt crusted parkerhouse rolls 5

Add an egg from our own chickens to anything, just 2 bucks.

· All French Blue Coverage [~ ESF ~]