BANK Cafe and Bar

BANK Café and Bar is Chef Ken Frank’s more casual eatery in the lobby of the Westin Verasa Napa, where Frank’s upscale La Toque is also located. Its wooden tables and leather seating are separated from the main lobby by a large, two-sided bar offering specialty cocktails and beyond. Outside seating features a patio with a fire pit, overlooking the nature preserve and the Napa River.

Aside from its regular menu, BANK offers a fixed-price ($29), three-course “menu from Paris,” which changes each week and includes an appetizer, entrée and dessert.

Two ice layer-covered martinis started our meal (we went a la carte this time), which began with the carciofi alla guida (baby artichokes with lemon aioli). Flash fried, the generous amount of bite-sized, tender pieces were served hot and delicious.

Our second starter was crispy rock shrimp, which came with a hoison-lemongrass glaze and had a building heat inside the golden, sweet fried exterior. Topped with chopped green onions and placed atop shredded pickled Napa cabbage, they were mixed with some pickled shallots for a fun, sweet-hot dish.

Next we chose the Miner Family 2008 Chardonnay (silky mouthfeel, bright nose and elegant) to go with our first entrée of pan-roasted Alaskan halibut, which came over roasted, sweet corn, baby fava beans and tiny fingerling potatoes. Everything was drizzled with a generous amount of lemon-dill crème fraîche. Seared golden on the edges, it was thick, tender and filling.

But it was our second entrée of a duck burger that won my heart: topped with seared artisan foie gras and caramelized onion chutney (wow!), it was served on a toasted and buttered sweet, soft French bun with a mound of fresh-cut fries. It was incredibly juicy (not for anyone afraid of a little grease), rich and probably the most interesting burger I’ve ever had. It also came with a side of mustard, but don’t you dare—it would take away from the ultimate in high-end comfort food. While we were waiting for our entrées, we spotted La Toque’s sommelier, Scott Tracy, who suggested the 2007 Hendry Napa Valley Pinot Noir (cherry nose, nice acidity) to pair with it.

For dessert, we first chose the chocolate peanut butter cannolis with banana rum ice cream, which had thin, crisp, caramelized edges and creamy interiors with salted peanuts and a drizzle of caramel. They went very well with the Yalumba “Museum Muscat,” (caramel, thick and smooth).

The horchata crème caramel came with creamy mango vanilla sorbet and chunky caramel puffed rice. What made it sing was the 2008 Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Reisling (apples, clean and smooth), which evened out the flavors and highlighted the mango. Both dishes looked like pieces of art—and tasted even better.