Auro

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Restaurant Built Around One Idea

Auro opened its doors in October 2022 at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley, just off Silverado Trail near Calistoga. The premise was clear from the start: look around the land, find what tastes great, use it at its peak. Eight months after opening, that conviction earned Auro its first Michelin Star — recognition it has held for three consecutive years through 2025.

The Chef Behind the Kitchen

Executive Chef Evan Neumann grew up in Provence, entered his first professional kitchen at 14, and trained at the École Hôtelière d'Avignon. By 21 he was an Executive Chef, a rare achievement in French gastronomy. What followed was a decade across some of the most demanding kitchens in the world: under Joël Robuchon at the Hôtel Métropole Monte-Carlo, on the cooking and sauce stations at Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée in Paris, and as Sous Chef to Anne-Sophie Pic at La Dame de Pic – Le 1920 at Four Seasons Megève, where the restaurant earned its first Michelin star during his tenure. In New York, he served as Executive Sous Chef at Restaurant Daniel and as Chef de Cuisine at Essential by Christophe, where the restaurant also earned a star. Across his career, Neumann has worked in kitchens holding a combined eleven Michelin stars. At Auro, he channels that depth into hyper-seasonal American cuisine refined through French technique and touched by Mexican and Japanese traditions.

Seven Courses, Course by Course

The format is a seven-course tasting menu that rotates with the seasons and, at times, daily. Current dishes give a clear sense of the kitchen's range: Mediterranean Sea Bream with cosmic apple and a mandarin-tamarind aguachile; 12-Day Dry-Aged Senaka Tuna over kimchi rice socarrat with Asian mojo verde; Vermont Butter-Poached Ora King Salmon with miso-sesame carrots and chermoula; a Matrimonio Mushroom Tetela with port-braised maitake and ayocote black bean; and 28-Day Dry-Aged Australian Wagyu with hibiscus beets and Oaxacan mole de novia. Dessert moves from a champagne granita and blood orange sorbet to a namelaka chocolate with hazelnut dragée and roasted coffee infusion. The menu is seasonal and subject to change daily — that instability is the point.

The Wine Program

Beverage Manager Derek Stevenson oversees a 750-label wine list focused on small and family-operated Northern California wineries, with particular attention to POC and women winemakers. The program has held Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence since 2023, and Stevenson himself has been named a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service. His sommelier-curated pairings are offered alongside the tasting menu, and a dedicated monthly Food & Wine Pairing Dinner Series — running May through October — spotlights producers such as Eisele, Quintessa, Cardinale, and Hundred Acre Wines.

The Setting

Guests can dine in the intimate room overlooking the vineyards and mountains, or take a seat at the Chef's Table inside the kitchen itself. Outdoor seating is available weather permitting. The restaurant puts it plainly: "Every meal is a dialogue between kitchen and cellar, dining room and guest, revealed course by course and glass by glass."