We recently hit up Napa, CA for a few days as part of our #GFBloggerRetreat. We stayed in a gluten-free B&B in downtown Napa, Inn on Randolph. While there were gluten-free places to eat in Napa like C Casa, we found most of our favorite places in Yountville, CA. It’s about a 20 minute drive from downtown Napa. There you’ll find Thomas Keller Restaurants like Bouchon, Ad Hoc, and The French Laundry. This is a story about Bouchon Bistro (not Bochoun Bakery).

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Bouchon Bistro

Bouchon in Yountville is a famous Thomas Keller Restaurant serves authentic French “bistro fare.” They have an amazing fresh seafood menu, and typical french fair – full of cheese.

It wasn’t as easy to eat gluten-free and dairy-free as other restaurants though, as delicious French fare typically has delicious butter and milk. They also don’t have a dedicated fryer for fries <sigh>. The waiter had to go back and forth with the chef in the back-of-the-house to communicate and ask questions throughout the 10 of us asking “is this dairy free?” “is this egg free?” “is that made in a shared fryer?” but all questions were eventually answered thouroughly. Sadly we couldn’t eat as much as we thought here, but it’s beautiful inside! I just wanted to eat all the cheese, but definitely did not want to deal with the ramifications!

I ended up ordering the trout that came with a cauliflower parsley, lemon sauce and capers. I didn’t want to think that it’s incredible just because it’s Bouchon. But, I hate to tell you, it was magical. Yes, a piece of non-dairy gluten-free fish worth writing about. The fish was so tender and moist and savory and oh my god I could have eaten this fish for every meal. Everyone else had deviled eggs, the steak, scallops and the roasted chicken. They all said the same thing – even if things were modified to be plain, it was the best plain food they’ve ever had. I guess that’s what a $30 piece of chicken is – the best chicken you can have.

Honestly, at around $35 a dish, it wasn’t super expensive. While I’m not sure I’d consider it a reasonable price for a meal, it was less than I thought it would be. With French Laundry at $350 minimum, getting out of Bouchon at around $70 with a glass of wine and an appetizer sounds fair.

We paid for the meal as part of our Gluten-Free Bloggers Retreat with sponsors Enjoy Life Foods, Canyon Bakehouse and Schar. 

If you’re interested in cooking like Thomas Keller at home, try the Bouchon cookbook on Amazon (affiliate link).

Tagged: #GFBloggersRetreat, Bouchon, Bouchon Bistro, celiac, dairy free, gluten free, Gluten Free Travel, Napa