Brassica: A Cindy Pawlcyn Eatery Goes Tapas-Style

About a 25-minute drive from in Napa Valley, Cindy Pawlcyn has opened a new restaurant: Brassica. 

A Mediterranean eatery and wine bar, her new restaurant is at an old location- where Go Fish used to be, Cindy is now presenting something new.

Much of the same decor. Some great comic posters on the walls (be sure to look at them all if you can), with a huge outdoor eating area (hadn’t seen that before when it was Go Fish) in the back of the restaurant.

Loved the food. We were fortunate to be with our friends Juliana and Joshua from San Francisco who love good food as much as we do, which also meant a wider sampling of what she had to offer.  

We started with the Eggplant Fries that Paul Franson had written about in his NapaLife Newsletter, and they were yummy. Not your crunchy potato fry, but a crisp exterior with a soft center and a lovely spiced yogurt sauce.  

We also ordered the Serrano ham with Idiazabal cheese and almonds appetizer and the Yellow Fin Tuna with capers, mint and breadcrumbs. Both were just delicious and great starters for our meals.  

We almost hated to share and wanted to hoard each small plate for ourselves.

For main courses we enjoyed the Lamb Kebabs with tomatoes and eggplant, the Grilled Quail with braised figs, Baked Penne Bolgonese, and the Winemaker Pork with sweet peppers. We kept nibbling off each other’s plates, and with each bite stating “No, that is my favorite.”

She has a large tapas-style menu (this seems to be more popular these days) ranging from $4 to $15, and main entrees run from $18 to $35. There are a lot of wines by the glass as well as a nice selection of unique soft drinks to choose from.

We chose the Five Easy Pieces for dessert, a selection of mini-bites, and they were the perfect ending to the meal.