One of the country’s best food festivals — I mean, music festivals — returns to Wine Country this weekend. As always, BottleRock Napa Valley’s culinary lineup rivals the music: It’s where some of the Bay Area’s most popular restaurants of now square off against the chart-toppers of 10, 20 or even 30 years ago. (Looking at you, Backstreet Boys, Lil Wayne and Nelly.)
Some notable BottleRock favorites are missing from this year’s culinary gardens, including Charlie’s, Compline and Chispa. That said, six of the Chronicle’s Top 25 Wine Country restaurants will be in attendance: newcomer Carabao, a Filipino restaurant from a former French Laundry chef; Napa Valley icon Mustards Grill; the Charter Oak; the Slanted Door; Press and Stateline Road Smokehouse.
As a Napa local who has attended the festival nearly every year since it launched in 2013, these are the dishes I’m most excited to try throughout the three-day weekend. As usual, many of the fanciest dishes are in the VIP culinary garden (where single-day VIP tickets started at $672), but there are a handful in the main food area for general admission ($475). You just have to know where to look.
Last call for a beloved Wine Country burger
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