Summer’s heating up — and so is the Napa dining scene. (Not that it was ever chill.) From Michelin-trained chefs remixing Filipino staples to sushi masters slinging omakase in a corporate park, this restaurant roster is bringing serious flavor.
Whether you’re chasing wood-fired Neapolitan pizza, Wagyu-laced hot dog Bolognese, or caviar-topped corn dogs at a museum café, there’s something new — and totally unexpected — on the menu. Here's your cheat sheet to the buzziest new spots to book, crave, and brag about on your IG Stories first.
Carabao
It’s the kind of story all great movies are made of: A girl moves to the big city to chase a dream. Disaster strikes. She pivots, perseveres, and ends up building exactly what she needed all along.
That’s the story of Michelin-trained chef Jade Cunningham — from the Philippines to The French Laundry, from pop-up dinners to permanent roots — opening Napa’s first Filipino restaurant, and proving you can innovate and honor culture at the same time.
At Carabao, she reimagines classics like Kare Kare and spins childhood nostalgia — like hot dog Bolognese — into Wagyu-fueled fine dining. It’s a standing ovation to heritage, heart, and craft.
📍145 C Gasser Dr | Book a Table
Michi Japanese Cuisine
A former Subway-turned-sushi-paradise, this 16-seat gem sits on Enterprise Way (near the DMV) in a no-frills corporate enclave, but it’s Michelin-level everything hidden in plain sight.
Chef Michiyo Hagio, daughter of a legendary Japanese sushi master and trained under Iron Chef Yamashita, pulls off a solo show behind a gold-foil adorned counter. Every grain of Koshihikari rice is treated like treasure, every custom soy sauce blend is house-aged with kombu — precision and passion so real you’ll swear you’re in Tokyo.
📍902 A Enterprise Way | Book a Table
A16 Napa
The Bay Area–beloved A16, known for its V.P.N.-certified Neapolitan pizzas (the equivalent to a pizza PhD) and chic spots in SF and Oakland, has officially landed in Napa. Taking over the former Miminashi space, it’s been overhauled to a Mediterranean-modern vibe with Moroccan chandeliers and a warm wood-fire grill at the heart of the room.
Expect the A16 classics — pizza, burrata, mussels — and a few Napa exclusives: pancetta-wrapped pork rolls, hearth-cooked octopus, King Trumpet mushrooms, cavatelli with white ragu, even whole fish—and yes, that pork roll and octopus combo everyone keeps talking about.
📍821 Coombs St | Book a Table
Under‑Study
On paper, Under‑Study reads like a bakery‑meets‑tapas café inside The Mac. In reality it’s a “culinary playground” powered by Napa’s Michelin‑starred Press team, where every dish feels like a Willy Wonka plot twist.
Under‑Study serves flaky croissants, sourdough miso baguettes, mandarin mousse parfaits by day, and by night plates the highest-level tapas like Wagyu tartare, hamachi crudo, grilled octopus with black‑truffle mole, and a lobster corn dog topped in caviar.
A walk‑up butcher counter and curated wine shop offers everything from house‑cured cod and prime meats to take home. Soon, a teaching kitchen will bring demos, classes, and culinary content to back‑of‑house fans. A little outside the “Napa” confines but it needed to be said.
📍607 St. Helena Hwy