The restaurant at JUSTIN Winery was led by Executive Chef Rachel Haddstrom (who we never saw) and offered  seasonal menus with ingredients sourced from the onsite 26 acre farm for dinner Thursday through Sunday.  They have one Michelin star and a Michelin Green Star.  It’s a large place with lots of buildings and at first Google maps sent us to the wrong spot, but after some searching with another lost diner we found the right spot.  As you entered what looked like a large house you walk through the first room of wines, foods and souvenirs for sale and then into a huge bar room.  There were no seats but tons of glasses because, I assume, that’s where they do wine tastings.  Keep going and we got to the indoor dining room which had a glass wall to some of the vineyards and the outside patio tables, which were all covered with white cloths.  Windows in the bar area looked out on more vineyards and unclothed patio tables.  Quite an operation and more staff than diners.  They offered one tasting menu with some optional supplemental courses and an option for the main course with an additional charge.  Wine pairings were offered with extra charges for wines to go with added courses.  The basic tasting was $225 per person with pairings adding $110 and with supplements you could easily add over $200.  We chose the basic tasting with pairings and added the cheese course supplement.  It was a beautiful setting and pretty food but for the drive and money I way preferred Six Test Kitchen. Continue reading →