We ventured out of StoryTeller's rounded the corner and readied in front of Napa Rose!! I was the designated door-holder. Napa Rose is the second of the Grand's restaurants and was also designed by the same designer as Storyteller's, Marty Dorr. He also did the Citricos at the Grand Floridian, Flying Fish at Disney's Boardwalk Villas and California Grill at the Contemporary Resort and Palo on the Disney Magic, Wonder, Dream, and Fantasy Cruise ships. This restaurant is modeled after Charles Rennie Mackintosh. She asked us if any of us had heard of the Mackintosh Rose. No answers.. She replied that it was the square rose that we could see in the room. (While the roses pictured in the room were indeed Mackintosh Rose, the square rose she mentioned was actually a Hunter Rose... Just saying).
A classic Hunter Rose:
And a Mackintosh Rose:
The best thing about Charles Rennie Mackintosh was not only his idea of design following yin and yang but he like to have straight lines but also a lot of curves. Straight lines and 90-degree angles were masculine, the curves, feminine and he had both in all his designs to give it both that yin and yang. Hence, the Macintosh Rose has a lot of corners on the inside but also a lot of rounding of the edges to give it both the male and female. Another thing he did in his designs is he would pick one idea and infuse it throughout the entire architectural design. He's most famous for the Willow Tree(sic) Tea Rooms over in Scotland where he was born. He took the idea of a Willow Tree and infused it throughout the entire design even making Willow Tree leaves etched into silverware.
Some examples of his original tea rooms:
Just look at those tall chairs with curved uppers creating an acoustic bubble which will be mentioned in a bit...
She then asked if anybody could guess what Disney's idea was. Katherine answered ROSE. Yes... there are roses up in the lighting, down in the carpet, even carved in the back of the chairs. There rosebuds in the mosaic of the fireplace, and the hostesses even have it in their lapels. It's not in the silverware unfortunately.. BUT...they got pretty close to it. Charles did very good keeping it in his designs so they wanted to do as much as they could here.
We looked upon the lounge area., where it's first-come, first-served, not reservations and has full menus. We had never dined in the lounge before, merely the restaurant-proper and the Chef's counter, so we would be exercising the no-reservations policy of the lounge later in this trip.
Next, she ushered us into the "fun part", which was the belly of the restaurant. Our guide asked who had dined there before, and Amy and I were the only people to raise our hands. She asked if we remembered where we had sat and we pointed immediately to the table we had occupied, as well as our stools at the Chef's counter. She called us her veterans...(how I wish I could afford it on every trip). Katherine immediately piped in how she wanted to come too.
Our tour continued... The best part about the dining room was the continued use of the roses over on this side as well in the carpet. In the chair and the Mackintosh rose in the iron work of the chandeliers.., couple fun facts about this room, first off, they took the chair idea from Charles Rennie Mackintosh. He thought that in an open space like this, if you had a tall chair back that noise from the conversation would bounce off of the chairs and stay into the center of the table itself so it won't be so loud outside and you can still have a nice, enchanting conversation so rarely do they put parties of two at a table for four. They are usually sat at tables meant for two which is what happened to us to keep the noise level down. She asked us if it was really loud when we ate here, which neither of us could accurately remember. She then mentioned that he actually had some chair backs which went up to six feet tall in some of his restaurants. Could any of the gentlemen in the group imagine trying to push that in?
Another fun fact is all of the iron work that you see, the chandeliers, the metal work in the windows, all of the lanterns, and lastly, the hand-hammered brass you see above the kitchen was all done for them in a 3-week time period. They worked 24-hours a day for three weeks straight and were able to get it done by the time Disney wanted to open the restaurant.
Some of the window treatments:
And of course... the kitchen hood cover..
She mentioned us again and how we had gotten to enjoy the chef's counter and she likes to point it out because it is the only place on-property which has that amenity. There are only two seatings, 5:30 and 8:30 and you get to interact with the chefs while they are making your food. You can either go off the menu which is a prix fixe menu or you can be daring and say "make me whatever you want". That approach is quite daring because they love that stuff (we had asked the chefs to choose for us, but all they made was courses off the menu of their choosing which was kind of a disappointment.
That review is here:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/m...-halloween-party.3344654/page-2#post-52996098
The last thing she wanted to point out was the beautiful painting you see above the dining room. Those are actual Napa Valley wineries. She didn't know all the names of them, but she did know one, which was to her left, which had white siding and a red roof. It was Mondavi, and it was the same picture on the wine bottle. While she was unsure on the others, she mentioned she had people come in and name them, so she was confident in the assertion that they are actual Napa Valley Wineries.
What do you know... she was right!
Another thing with the photo she mused, that had anybody been by their vineyard and seen the rose bushes at the end of the vines? One person had, and when asked if she knew why they put them there, something about insects was mentioned. Rose bushes are a very sensitive plant (opinions vary on that because they grow just fine with next to no water here in Phoenix). They will be affected by drought, insects, and any environmental factors well before the grape vine will because they are a sturdier plant. They call the rose plants the alarm system of the vineyard. If something affects the rose bush, the farmers are able to see it and adapt to address the issue to make sure the grapes are fine for wine. They have quite the variety of wine in the restaurant, so she invited us to come back and sample some from the lounge.
She then asked who had heard of John Lasseter. Pretty much everybody had. She told of his winery near Emeryville. It is a smaller vineyards, but every time there is a new animated feature, there's a new bottle of wine. On display were the signed bottles he donated to the restaurant. If you ever get to go to Northern California, she recommends looking it up. It is apparently reservations only. There was also a large bottle for the first short he did.
They really need to DUST...
If I had a bottle of '97 d'yquem I'd be waving my hat too..
She talked about the roses being the theme of the restaurant again and asked a hostess for one of the real roses from the restaurant. The fun thing about Napa is not only is the idea of theming a big idea, but so is the idea of food and wine. They are real roses, but they have little to no scent. They have them grown that way to not impede on the dining experience. I decided they smelled like carnations personally. They apparently come from a local grower. Katherine asked what the name of them was.. .she didn't know, but asked the hostesses, but it is an antique Leonidas rose. She also explained that if we wanted to book the chef's table we would have to contact the restaurant directly so grab a business card on the way out if interested.
