Register Staff Writer

By L. PIERCE CARSON

In today's fast-paced society, the thought of preparing a meal at the end of a tiring day at work can be daunting.

That's why dining out is so appealing -- and a wonderful option for those of us who live in an area rife with fine dining rooms manned by creative chefs.

Over the years, this restaurant habitu has tucked into many marvelous plates of food all over the world. Memories of a few of those culinary happenings can be recalled in minute detail, due in large part to the excellence of fare paired with outstanding wines, as well as company kept.

A recent visit to a new wine country dining destination prompted me to add to my roster. Now I can unhesitatingly top my list of memorable meals with a spectacular dinner at Redd in Yountville.

Richard Reddington earned a well-deserved reputation in recent years as one of the Bay Area's most talented chefs. He put together creative menus and satisfying meals at numerous Bay Area dining destinations, from La Folie in San Francisco to Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford.

Now Reddington has a place of his own -- in partnership with Claude Rouas, and Robert and Tim Harmon, who also own the Piatti restaurant chain, Sonoma's El Dorado Kitchen and the upscale Auberge du Soleil.

Located at the Yountville spot where the Piatti chain was born, Redd is a sleek, modern eatery with contemporary minimalist lines, highlighted by South American mahogany floor, ceiling and accents. The 70-seat L-shaped dining room and bar boasts a quite comfortable gray flannel banquette and the latest Danish design in body-sculpting chairs, plus white-clothed tables set with warming candlelight and Spiegelau crystal. Large red cedar-trimmed windows open onto nearby Washington Street. Abstract paintings brighten one wall while a full-width mirror frames the southern exposure, a nice addition for those who enjoy checking out the comings and goings of fellow diners. Contemporary Italian ceiling and wall lamps diffuse light evenly after the sun sets.

At the moment, Redd is the place to dine, to see and be seen. Both bar and dining room are packed with wine country faithful which contributes to the restaurant's only drawback -- noise. Animated conversations in this lively space include a lot that is repetitive, because it was impossible to decipher the first time around.

Exquisite food, wines

While Reddington and partners have provided a good-looking, comfortable, casual environment, it's the food and wine at Redd that will keep diners coming back.

Pairings at Redd are not only those featuring wine. The chef has a knack for unconventional combinations on the plate, such as moist, flaky striped bass with meaty oxtails in cinnamon-flavored red wine jus, or intensely flavored Atlantic cod bolstered by a tiny dice of spicy chorizo and succulent buttery clams in a curry liquor.

Reddington's cuisine doesn't neatly fit into any pigeonhole. Calling it contemporary California cookery gives the diner only partial insight into what this earnest 30-something chef is all about. He has a global perspective with products only a mouse-click away. Yet Reddington is focused on quality local ingredients, eager to make use of local fish and fowl and garden fresh produce for his daily lunch and dinner fare. Some dishes have a definite Asian accent.

In order to get a pretty good handle on Redd cuisine, a friend and I the other evening opted for the chef's nine course tasting menu ($105, with wine pairing $160). For smaller appetites, there's a five course offering ($70) as well ($100 with paired wines).

Of course, the diner doesn't have to sample the lion's share of Reddington's dishes at one sitting. First courses, usually about 10, range in price from $10 for a winter Sicilian-style salad of blood oranges and shaved fennel with avocado to $16 for a tasting of foie gras. Eight main courses range from $19 for butternut squash ravioli with a ragout of winter vegetables to $28 for New York prime with fingerling potatoes.

We put ourselves not only in Redd's hands, but those of savvy sommelier Chris Blanchard for an unforgettable meal that stretched well past the three-hour mark.

The evening began with a dense, earthy, creamy soup that married the earthy chestnut with herbaceous celery. One of the evening's sublime wine pairings came in a glass of 2004 Crozes-Hermitage blanc from J.L. Chave -- an old vines marsanne that offered both aroma and taste of tropical fruit -- mainly guava and honeydew melon -- a wonderful complement to this rich, velvety soup.

A fruit-sweet riesling from Rosch in Germany's Mosel wine producing region played palate games with a pair of Japanese-styled fish starters -- sashimi of hamachi with a salty seaweed salad and lime ginger sauce, plus yellowfin tuna nestled among a playful salad of roasted beets, radish and peach.

The sweetness of caramelized diver scallops, served with both pureed and sauted cauliflower florets and sweet raisins, paired remarkably well with the tropical fruit prevalent in an opulent 2004 Lewis Napa Valley chardonnay.

All controversy about foie gras melts away once you've sampled Reddington's trio of cold duck liver preparations - tempting torchon, tasty terrine and magnificent mousse. A comment about a wine favorite -- Donnafugata's Ben Ry Passito, a honeyed moscato from the island of Pantelleria off the southern coast of Sicily -- brought two sweet wines for this course. The sommelier's choice -- a 2004 eiswein from the Mosel's Ernst Loosen -- proved divine. However, the passito was also a heavenly pairing with the creamy rich liver, a honeyed wine reserved for the gods.

However, chenin blanc chosen (2004 Champalou Vouvray) for the next course -- intensely flavorful cod with spicy chorizo and clams in a curry sauce, a plethora of flavors and textures -- proved way too fruity for this dish, at least for this palate.

A blend of syrah, grenache and cinsault, a 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape put the pairings back on course with meaty duck breast slices and palate-pleasing leg confit. A Cain Cuvee that blended cabernet sauvignon and merlot from '01 and '02 harvests proved an obvious match for both a plate of New York prime and rib meat (served with roasted fingerlings and toothsome creamed spinach) and roasted veal loin with molasses glaze and creamy sweetbreads.

A refill on the Sicilian passito was the ideal companion for the chef's treacle molasses cake as well as the far-less-sweet option, Meyer lemon panna cotta, blood orange sorbet and tangerine soup, sure to win friends in the Sicilian community.

Without a doubt, diners at Redd should save room for the restaurant's remarkable desserts ($8), which include honey pear Napoleon with ricotta cream and pear pastis sorbet, rose water crme brle with candied petals and chocolate cookies, warm ginger apple cake with cranberry glace and crme frache ice cream, as well as a chocolate lovers dream -- chocolate caramel mousse with mocha sabayon and espresso cognac sorbet.

Lunch and more

In addition to dinner, which is served daily from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. (10 on Friday and Saturday nights), Redd is open for lunch Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Brunch is offered from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

The seasonal lunch menu offers a variety of salads ($9-$12) -- romaine lettuce with anchovy dressing, shrimp on butter lettuce with avocado and bacon, lettuce cups with stir-fried chicken, a winter salad of fruit, endive, walnuts, roquefort and mustard dressing -- as well as a prosciutto pizza ($14) and duck confit tartine with white bean puree ($15). Additional offerings include roasted chicken with potato puree ($19) and braised short ribs with horseradish crust ($25). A four-course tasting menu is offered at $48.

Brunch options include Hangtown fry omelet ($18), huevos rancheros ($17), banana beignets with whipped mango cream ($11), plus buttermilk pancakes and breakfast pizza ($14 each).

A bar menu, available until midnight, includes oysters on the half shell ($2.25 each), fritto misto of calamari and artichokes ($12), tuna and hamachi tartare ($14), shrimp potstickers ($13), plus crisp chicken wings with Thai chile sauce and glazed pork belly with salsify and burdock (both $12).

All $11, special bar drinks range from a contemporary pomegranate martini to old-fashioned Moscow mule, Redd cosmopolitan to French 75.

Captained by veteran restaurateur Guy Rebentisch -- who runs a taut ship as general manager -- the service team at Redd is a slick, well-oiled machine. Food servers know the dishes well enough to brief diners on ingredients and the wait staff is as hip to wine service as it is to chef Reddington's brand of culinary fusion.

A new dining destination that's heartily recommended, Redd is located at 6480 Washington St., Yountville. For reservations, call 944-2222.