Napa's Best Italian Food: The Winner is ...

Fans' glowing comments broke the tie between  and in our first-ever readers' choice contest this week.

When the contest closed at 9 a.m. today, the two were tied with 81 votes apiece in our non-scientific poll.

It was the comments that put Val's—or Clemente's, as many longtime fans call the source of their favorite Italian food—into the winner's circle:

"Our family comes to Clemente’s for the Holidays and birthdays. From the moment you walk in the door you feel the love from the Clemente family and it show in every bite in every dish. And my favorite dish of all is the Malfatti," wrote .

"That malfatti man is an icon and his malfatti creations are like saucy pieces of crack," raved .

"Val's is the bestest for Minestrone, Malfatti, Ravioli... Clemente is a talented Chef with his authentic Italian Sauce ... The whole staff is special and courteous. Yay Val's," cheered .

 filled us in on the history of Val's Italian menu: "Val's Liquor Malfatti was a smaller scale of The Depot Hotel restaurant that was started in the early 1900's by Joseph and Theresa Tamburelli. Clemente Cittoni, his daughter Joanne, wife Mary and a handful of other relatives have carried on the Depot tradition. Clemente, having learned everything he knows (and does so well),from Theresa works so diligently to keep the Tamburelli flavors alive! Lawler's, for which I call a knock off) does an ok job but it is nothing like Geneveive (Martini, Theresa's niece) Lawler created back when Gen and Ray owned it.  Give The Depot ( I mean Val's) a try, you won't be disappointed!"

Perhaps the most touching comment came from  on Wednesday:

"I'm at home today with my sick little 5 year old. And as I'm making him home made chicken pot pie, he says 'Mommy I want Malfatti's, they make me all better.' Who am I to argue, so I drove down and got him some. Clemente's is the BEST!"

It's clear that while both Siena and Val's have great Italian food, the Clemente menu is the one that has won the hearts of more Napans.

Congratulations to Val's and Mr. Clemente: You have won the title of Best Italian Food in Napa!

To read all the comments and view the poll, please see

Thanks to Israel Valencia for contributing the photographs. For more photos by Valencia, please see .

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