Community Corner
UPDATE: Coppola Stops By Bouchon for Bastille Day
Hundreds throng to Bouchon to enjoy French food, wine and Cajun-Zydeco music.
UPDATE: 10 p.m. Sunday, July 14
BY AL FRANCIS
Making a surprise appearance Sunday at Bouchon's Bastille Day celebration in Yountville was A-list movie maker and mega-vintner Francis Ford Coppola.
Coppola, of Godfather fame, and winner of the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director for Godfather Part 2, is owner of Rubicon Estate Winery (formerly Inglenook Winery) in Rutherford.
He also owns the sprawling Francis Ford Coppola Winery, complete with a swimming pool for public use, near Geyserville.
Coppola spent time at Sunday's celebration sitting with Bouchon Chef Thomas Keller. Keller was by that time well-recovered from his stint at the dunk tank where he was dunked three times before a large crowd.
ORIGINAL STORY: 6 p.m. Sunday, July 14
It's hard to compare French Bastille Day celebrations with our Fourth of July festivities in Napa Valley.
But for sure, both exceed the norm in spectacular-ness.
In the case of Sunday's Bastille Day celebration at Bouchon Bistro and Bouchon Bakery in Yountville, spectacular was only one word to describe the food, the wine, the ambiance, the music. For another word: C'est magnifique!
"I'm a really big fan of great food and wine," said an attendee from Walnut Creek. "I think it's a really great gift that (Bouchon Chef) Tom Keller has given to this community."
Hundreds poured in to a tent set up outside the two Bouchons on Washington Street in Yountville. Inside the tent were tables of French savory delicacies such as whole roasted pork, lamb sausage, roasted Alaskan halibut and an oyster bar.
Other tables had sweet pastries such as French macarons, mini-cakes, ice cream sandwiches and beignets.
A crepe table offered sweet or savory crepes to order.
"This is very special," said Laura Ling of San Francisco, who attended with her partner Tom Weyer and corgi mix Derby. "We attend festivals in San Francisco, but it's always the same vendors, the same food.
"This is very different food, very special," she said. "You can see a whole pig!"
For Bill Gall, 83, a Korean War veteran who lives at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, the specialness was about the bond he has developed with Bouchon Chef Thomas Keller.
He said he first met Keller, when he sat next to him at Ad Hoc in Yountville, another watering hole owned by Keller, also chef at the famed French Laundry restaurant in Yountville.
"That was five years ago," Gall said. "Ever since then, I get my coffee there for free."
Keller, who was dunked twice in Sunday's Bastille Day dunk tank, was a ubiquitous presence at Sunday's event, now in its 13th year.
"He stuck some (food and drink) tickets in my pocket," Gall said of Keller.
Mustaches -- or les moustaches -- were the order of the day, sported on Marie Antoinette on T-shirts worn by staff, on the event poster, and on guests.
Dancing was to music by Cortableu and Zydeco Flames.
BY AL FRANCIS
Making a surprise appearance Sunday at Bouchon's Bastille Day celebration in Yountville was A-list movie maker and mega-vintner Francis Ford Coppola.
Coppola, of Godfather fame, and winner of the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director for Godfather Part 2, is owner of Rubicon Estate Winery (formerly Inglenook Winery) in Rutherford.
He also owns the sprawling Francis Ford Coppola Winery, complete with a swimming pool for public use, near Geyserville.
Coppola spent time at Sunday's celebration sitting with Bouchon Chef Thomas Keller. Keller was by that time well-recovered from his stint at the dunk tank where he was dunked three times before a large crowd.
ORIGINAL STORY: 6 p.m. Sunday, July 14
It's hard to compare French Bastille Day celebrations with our Fourth of July festivities in Napa Valley.
But for sure, both exceed the norm in spectacular-ness.
In the case of Sunday's Bastille Day celebration at Bouchon Bistro and Bouchon Bakery in Yountville, spectacular was only one word to describe the food, the wine, the ambiance, the music. For another word: C'est magnifique!
"I'm a really big fan of great food and wine," said an attendee from Walnut Creek. "I think it's a really great gift that (Bouchon Chef) Tom Keller has given to this community."
Hundreds poured in to a tent set up outside the two Bouchons on Washington Street in Yountville. Inside the tent were tables of French savory delicacies such as whole roasted pork, lamb sausage, roasted Alaskan halibut and an oyster bar.
Other tables had sweet pastries such as French macarons, mini-cakes, ice cream sandwiches and beignets.
A crepe table offered sweet or savory crepes to order.
"This is very special," said Laura Ling of San Francisco, who attended with her partner Tom Weyer and corgi mix Derby. "We attend festivals in San Francisco, but it's always the same vendors, the same food.
"This is very different food, very special," she said. "You can see a whole pig!"
For Bill Gall, 83, a Korean War veteran who lives at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, the specialness was about the bond he has developed with Bouchon Chef Thomas Keller.
He said he first met Keller, when he sat next to him at Ad Hoc in Yountville, another watering hole owned by Keller, also chef at the famed French Laundry restaurant in Yountville.
"That was five years ago," Gall said. "Ever since then, I get my coffee there for free."
Keller, who was dunked twice in Sunday's Bastille Day dunk tank, was a ubiquitous presence at Sunday's event, now in its 13th year.
"He stuck some (food and drink) tickets in my pocket," Gall said of Keller.
Mustaches -- or les moustaches -- were the order of the day, sported on Marie Antoinette on T-shirts worn by staff, on the event poster, and on guests.
Dancing was to music by Cortableu and Zydeco Flames.
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