Wente Vineyards redesigns its restaurant
It’s a chic spot for bites, shareable plates — and wine
Wente Vineyards, one of the country’s oldest family-owned wineries, has completely reimagined its estate restaurant on Arroyo Road in Livermore. In its 33 years, the eatery, previously known as The Restaurant at Wente, often landed on best restaurant lists in the Bay Area for its winecentric, farm-to-table cuisine. But the menu and space were in desperate need of an update.
The family’s fifth generation has made that happen, renaming it Vineyard Table & Tasting Lounge, yanking off the white tablecloths and refreshing the entree-heavy food program with bar bites, shareable plates and inventive desserts and cocktails from the estate garden. Word is, the menu will change frequently to take advantage of ingredients at their peak and tap into Wente Vineyards’ estate beef program and organic garden. We got a sneak peek recently. Here’s what we found.
THE VIBE >> Chic, welcoming and totally hip. Bottles of pink 2018 Niki’s Pinot Noir Rose line the left wall when you enter. Eighties music plays at just the right decibel level to still carry on a conversation. On the right, there’s a bar awash in neutral tones with a dramatic rustic community table and framed vintage Wente posters. The main dining room features the coziest cognac leather chairs and a glass wall that looks out on the patio. Soon, a metal wine-bottle wall will divide the dining room from the lounge, where you can enjoy wine and appetizers or a full dinner on the couches.
THE FOOD >> Chef de cuisine Joshua Leidreiter’s menu is easy to navigate, with bites ($5-$10), shared plates ($12-$26, larger plates $26-$38) and sweets ($8-$10). We started with Diane’s Garden Bowl ($14), a salad named after Wente master gardener Diane Dovholuk. On our visit, it was brimming with crisp garden greens, Chioggia beets, almonds and summer-sweet peaches.
Those peaches popped up again and again, including as a mostarda atop the most tender smoked pork tenderloin ($38) of recent memory. A seriously delicious bourbon glaze permeated the entire dish, down to the base of creamy polenta. The Restaurant at Wente was known for its steak; here, it’s updated as grilled hanger steak ($38), cooked perfectly medium-rare, sliced and tossed in a zippy za’atar shallot relish with baby zucchini and marble potatoes.
Bringing kids? Ask for the Madras curry vinaigrette on the side and they’ll crunch into the schnitzel-like crispy chicken breast ($26) with abandon. Be sure to order french fries ($8) so you — er, the kiddos — can dip their chicken into the accompanying yummy Parmesan aioli.
It’s worth mentioning that the desserts are divine. Served in a stemless wine glass, the Peach Ice Pop ($8) tranforms into a Bellini with the addition of Wente Brut, and the raspberry-dotted dark chocolate pot de crème ($10), with its collar of thick salted caramel, will seduce the most serious cacao aficionados.
DON’T MISS >> The wine program, obviously. Opt for a flight ($25-$40) focused on the Wente chardonnay clone, small-lot red wines or winemaker Karl Wente’s Nth degree label. Also look for gin, tequila and bourbon garden cocktails ($14-$16) and a few wine cocktails, like Vacation Mode, made with pineapple-infused orange and mandarin vodkas and Wente Riverbank Riesling.
PERFECT FOR ... >> Family dinner; post-tasting date night; appetizers and wine flights in the lounge; garden cocktails on the patio.
DETAILS >> Reservations recommended. Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (kitchen opens at noon) Wednesday-Sunday at 5050 Arroyo Road, Livermore; wentevineyards.com.