Moro among new flavors at Napa’s Oxbow Public Market

When I first toured Napa’s brand-new Oxbow Public Market in December 2007, developer Steve Carlin joked that he was playing lacrosse in the corridors of his sprawling, but not yet filled 40,000-square-foot space.

The timing wasn’t great for the market’s debut — Carlin had secured just six tenants for the blueprint designed to hold dozens of restaurants, wine and spirits shops, gourmet retail booths and art vendors. The Great Recession had upended the economy, and then a few months later, a massive city construction project kicked in, blocking off the market's primary entrance for two years. Soon after, Copia, the landmark food and arts center next door, also shut down.

Yet the Napa community persevered and locals, in particular, turned out in droves. By the summer of 2011, Oxbow was thriving, packed to capacity with big-name tenants and crowds of 3,000-plus customers daily.

That energy remains palpable. On my most recent visit about two weeks ago on a late Friday afternoon, the joint was jumping, every space anchored by the kind of unique, artisan vendors that keep us adoring Northern California. I glided between orderly crowds, soaking up the vitality of happy people.

The market hall along the Napa River just keeps getting better for food lovers. Here, you can dive into restaurants featuring Japanese, Chinese, Italian and contemporary Mexican cuisine along with coastal-fresh seafood, Argentine empanadas, a fancy Jewish deli, premium charcuterie, gourmet burgers and, now, the flavors of Morocco. And since this is Napa, most Oxbow eateries also serve beer and wine.

What’s not to love? Here’s a taste of what’s new.

Moro Napa

We waited over two years for chef Mourad Lahlou to open this outpost of his Mourad in San Francisco (a former Michelin star honoree). That’s quite a long time for a humble 400-square-foot stall tucked in a row of other Oxbow food hall purveyors.

The menu is compact, too, offering five main dishes, three sides, five snacks, four dips, and three simple desserts: cookies, soft serve and baklava. But Lahlou’s team — he mainly stays in San Francisco — holds this fast-casual food to high standards, and even though we’re eating from compostable takeout boxes, it’s sit-down restaurant quality.

“It’s Moroccan street food, reminiscent of the Medina in Marrakesh,” Lahlou said. “Live fire, spices, local ingredients … like a food stall in the middle of Jemaa el-Fnaa where guests grab a stool and delve into authentic Moroccan grub and vibe.”

Napa Valley native Jorge Velazquez heads the tiny but fully outfitted open kitchen, grilling chicken coated in bright, bold shawarma spices of cumin, turmeric and paprika ($16).

The shrimp is superb, firm and dewy, vibrant with garlicky red chermoula and preserved lemon ($18), while beef ($18) is so mouthwatering I immediately regretted sharing it with my friend. The slow-cooked short rib is so tender, finished on the grill, and singing with green chermoula and honey zipped with ras el hanout that’s a tapestry of cinnamon, cumin, coriander, allspice, black pepper and ginger.

Side dishes are included, so I chose a salad with the chicken, a fragrant mix of romaine, kale, radish, tomato, Kalamata olives, dates, dukkah (crushed herbs, nuts and spices) and rose vinaigrette. I matched shrimp with some of the best couscous I’ve ever had, the fluffy grains rich with raisins, chickpeas, sliced almonds, rainbow herbs and harissa . The beef paired perfectly with freshly baked flatbread, grilled and stuffed with harissa, tangy pickled onions and toum, a garlic-lemon sauce.

Other entrees I’ll come back for include roasted lamb shoulder rubbed with cumin and preserved lemon ($18) and what Velazquez says is a bestseller: grilled cauliflower marinated in harissa and draped in garlic-ginger yogurt ($16).

As my friend and I dipped more flatbread into an adorable little jar of creamy eggplant zaalouk, we recognized some other friends wandering through on the hunt for dinner. We directed them to Moro and insisted they get the zaalouk for its delightful, slightly smoky fruit, dash of Urfa pepper, olive oil drizzle and crunchy pine nuts ($9).

Walking out later, we saw those friends again, hunkered over their Moro meals, and were rewarded with thumbs-up.

EmpressM

Since last year, Oxbow has been experimenting with a chef-in-residency program to help launch up-and-coming talent and let them test the waters of running their restaurants. First up was chef Darryl Bell’s Stateline Road Smokehouse, which finally gained permits to open a permanent space in Napa’s Rail Arts District this spring (that debut is slated for June).

That left space for the next pop-up, EmpressM, operated by entrepreneur Margaret Wong. This is a different arrangement since Wong already owns the EmpressM restaurant on Silverado Trail south of Oxbow, and that popular place boasts a much broader menu than this new spot.

But I certainly appreciate the chance to dive into dim sum at Oxbow now, such as shumai stuffed with Kurobuta pork, shrimp and shrimp roe ($12.99), Shanghai pork soup dumplings ($12.99), har gow shrimp and bamboo shoot dumplings ($12.99), and sesame balls of sticky rice, pumpkin dough and sweet bean paste ($5.49).

Loveski Deli

Famed chef Christopher Kostow is best known for his three Michelin-starred Restaurant at Meadowood. After it was destroyed in the 2020 Glass Fire, he’s been waiting out the rebuilding by focusing on his other restaurants, Charter Oak in St. Helena and Ciccio in Yountville.

The Oxbow Loveski opened in March 2022 and immediately gained fans for its delectable bagels baked on-site several times daily. The crusty, pillowy beauties are based on a 32-year-old sourdough starter from Charter Oak and then boiled with a touch of honey. Toppings are fancy, too, such as Charter Oak’s house-cultured butter and schmears of miso vegetable, yellow chive-onion, and chunky smoked salmon.

I’m a fan of everything here, from the chopped, smoked whitefish with shaved, crispy onions, Thai chiles and horseradish mayo on rye ($18) to dreamy chicken soup stocked with hand-rolled matzoh balls and the optional, must-have add-ins of lemongrass, Thai herbs and chiles ($10). A huge, juicy braised brisket sandwich, too, will have you thanking the deli gods ($20).

El Porteño Empanadas

This lovely little place opened in January 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic , had a hard time getting traction. Now, the crowds come to cheer on owner and Napa native Joey Ahearne for his delicious Argentine empanadas fashioned with local ingredients, including Far West Fungi, Keller’s Crafted Meats and Central Milling.

The delicately flaky pastry bites aren’t cheap, at $7 each, but they’re hearty — I fill up on two. My go-to’s are the classic grass-fed ground beef laced with onion, green olives, raisins and cage-free hard-boiled eggs, plus the champiñones of mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, tangy crème fraîche and shallots.

C Casa

Chef Lahlou was able to open Moro thanks to Catherine Bergen, who relocated her original C Casa taqueria from the tiny footprint to a space spanning 5,000 square feet, including a patio overlooking the Napa River (it replaced the former Kitchen Door restaurant that relocated to Clay and Randolph streets next to Archer Hotel Napa).

And Bergen wows diners with a much-expanded menu showcasing its handcrafted corn tortillas, cage-free eggs, all-natural Duroc pork, and reimagined recipes like excellent succotash quesadillas plump with sweet corn, roasted peppers, zucchini, edamame and black beans.

We can still get her 5-inch open-faced tacos ($9-$13) in succulent arrays of wood-grilled salmon, mahi-mahi, carnitas slathered in pineapple salsa, sweet potato with black beans, or duck confit with goat cheese and orange.

But on a recent taste-through, I found new tacos, too, such as grilled Wagyu with feta, smoky Greek lamb, Asian spiced pork belly, tofu with cotija cheese, and tajin-crusted ahi jazzed with wasabi-soy-ginger crema.

I'm increasingly eschewing meat for plant foods, and C Casa is a wonderland for vegetarians and vegan-curious diners like me. I’m betting even hardcore steak lovers will find lots to like in this flavor-packed version of chile verde, made with wood-grilled tofu, shiitake and oyster mushrooms, sweet peppers and roasted poblanos over cilantro cumin rice with tomatillo sauce ($26).

Carey Sweet is a Sebastopol-based food and restaurant writer. Read her restaurant reviews every other week in Sonoma Life. Contact her at carey@careysweet.com.