San Francisco Eater – Model Bakery is #3 of the 29 Extraordinary Restaurants in Napa Valley

In the times prior to the pandemic, Eater’s Napa Valley “essential restaurants” map documented wine country’s most celebrated restaurants: Michelin Guide icons like the French Laundry, airy farmhouses, buzzy downtown eateries with epic local wine lists, and the best elves for picnic-worthy sandwiches. But the covid-19 crisis has led diners to gravitate toward take out — historically uncommon in Napa, where sit-down dining is part of the experience — and restaurants have adapted accordingly.

From multi-course dinners and DIY pizza kits to buckets of Thomas Keller’s famous fried chicken (all offered with the regions wines to go, of course), diners can now bring their favorite dishes back home (or to their hotel rooms).

Here are 29 great to-go options in Napa Valley that won’t let you down.

#3 The Model Bakery

Model Bakery has the best English muffins in the world — and some of the world’s best breakfast sandwiches made with said muffins. They’re so delicious that Oprah has admitted to have them flown to her house. But that’s not all Model Bakery has to offer. The pastry case is full of gleaming croissants, moist slices of banana bread, precarious stacks of cookies, savory bread puddings, and other items that make it hard to abstain. Curbside pickup is now available at all three Model Bakery locations in St. Helena, Yountville, and Napa, though Yountville’s “Mini Model” is only open Friday-Sunday until noon and several specialty items (like avocado toast on sourdough bread with a hard-boiled egg and crispy bacon) are only available at the flagship bakery in St. Helena. Breakfast goodies sell out fast, so place your order online as soon as you wake.