How We Winged it in Napa Valley

Well, this trip was one for the books! If you haven’t been following – Mama took on a real challenge this week and extended her Food Fridays, Sharing Saturdays, Mom Mondays and took a little rehab Tuesday for a four-day trip to Napa.

In a word. Amazing.

For a woman obsessed with food, wine and beautiful scenery, it was a dream come true. That and a friend with a hotel discount to share plus a free airline ticket from years of accumulated miles.

So I took a few days off the blog to get up close with the one and only Napa Valley…And while it was hard to eat at some of the most delicious restaurants in the region and sample the area’s biggest cash crop (that would be vino, people), I took one for the team so I can report my lessons to you. (I know it’s hard, but someone has to do it, right?)

Understand – I had no reservations for anything before we went to Napa other than a plane ticket. So we totally winged it. Completely. And we did it pretty cheap. (Well as cheap as Napa can be.)

I will tell you that while every restaurant I wanted to eat at in Napa Valley said it was full and no reservations, I did manage to eat at 10 different restaurants in three days. (Again, another reason for everything in January to be focused on being healthy!) But since the food and the wine was the only thing anyone cares about, I’ll give you the list of my rundown. However, to answer the most asked question, I did not eat at The French Laundry. (But lucky for you I did take a photo of it to share with you and did a little Facebook “Check-in” for fun.)

1. Opa – San Francisco Area

A local chain, but I was starving after my 7 AM flight and anything with goat cheese is fine by me.

2. Carpe Diem Wine Bar – Napa

Name summed up our trip. Small plate heaven and perfect for several sharable plates featuring cheeses, fried olives with goat cheese and mushrooms (probably with goat cheese.) Great service, unpretentious and very hip. Must go.

3. Fish Story – Napa

Seemed like a pretty swanky place, but they let us in to enjoy their sustainable fresh fish choices. It was cold and I was close to the West Coast, I enjoyed a great Clam Chowder.

4. Morimoto – Napa

My first foam experience. Found totally by accident we noticed all these interesting sweet treats in a window. After walking in and asking to see a menu, we realized we were in the Iron Chef’s cooking haven. Since we had devoured a few meals, we laid low with a ramen soup, chocolate cake with all kinds of stuff like a beer foam (see below) and drinks. While some pretty simple menu items, they were still very interesting to view as well as to eat. And they didn’t disappoint us and actually had us wanting more…but our stomach couldn’t have taken anything else for a while.

5. The Epicurean Connection – Sonoma

This small-town find quenched my craving for a good simple sandwich to eat that included fresh everything – homegrown arugula, white cheddar, cheese, red pepper pesto and meat from local sources. I could eat one of these every day and be happy.

6. LaSalette – Sonoma

Probably one of, if not, my favorite places we enjoyed in Napa Valley. Sat at the bar, watched first-hand the talent of a great kitchen at work for my first Portuguese experience. Devoured some of the best scallops I’ve ever eaten ever along with a bowl of butternut squash soup and a delicious wine flight. Afterwards, I didn’t want to eat anywhere else since I wanted to just hold on to the lingering flavor.

7. Taco Bell – Napa

I admit it, but like always, the gordita did its thing well.

8. Hurley’s Restaurant and Bar – Yountville

While they didn’t serve brunch, they did serve a great outdoor patio, spicy bloody mary and some of the best breads ever including a housemade focaccia so perfect it made me cry. (Yes, it was that good.)

9. Buchon Bakery – Yountville

Somehow I was going to get my Thomas Keller fix in somehow and it wasn’t going to be The French Laundry, his casual spot, Adhoc or his fried chicken/pork bbq outpost, Addendum, so Buchon Bakery was the winner. We lined up for 30 minutes to get our moment to order some lovely baked goods to go. Couldn’t pass up anything called “Oh, No You Didn’t” (a s’mores macaron dipped in chocolate) and the creamiest quiche I’ve ever tasted.

10. Redd – Yountville

This place had captured our interest online and when we drove through by its façade, but when the friendly gal at Hope and Grace told us it was great for small plates, cool for hanging out and that her hubby was the somm, we thought we’d try it out. Good call on our part to listen to the wifey. Lobster Risotto and Duck Potstickers were delish.

As for wineries visited, we didn’t do as many of these, but we had a great time where we did and what we did. With a limited budget, no reservations and a short weekend, we had to be smart. That’s why Tasting Rooms within most of the towns we visit we the right idea for this trip. And most of these, we ate there, too!

1. Hanzell Vineyard – Napa

I actually posted realtime from the vineyard on Saturday, so you got a fresh look at my first wine and vineyard tour. Conducted by the nicest Estate Educator, Ryan Hortum, we learned so much about viniculture/viticulture as well about this multi-family business with a very interesting historical story, up a very winding hill and overlooking Sonoma. We basically called them the day before from our hotel and made a reservation, so about 18 hours notice.

2. Domaine Carneros – Sonoma

One of my favorite places we visited since we stumbled upon it right before it closed as we were driving, we were able to quickly ordered all the wines we wanted to try, open up some deli crackers and goat cheese and just overlooked the countryside for an hour.

3. Hope & Grace – Yountville

We had 10 minutes left in Yontville before heading to Calistoga, so we stopped in to try a little local wine love. Cute spot. Cute name. Cute help (see “Redd” below for more info on her.) Had a great Cab and Pinot, so we grabbed a few half bottles for gifts and got on the road.

4. Castello di Amorosa – Calistoga

A pretty unique experience within itself, this 13^thcentury styled castle included a tour reminiscent of many of the places I visited in Italy this summer and then the finale included a delicious food and wine pairing experience with Mary, the castle sommelier. I really enjoyed myself and purchased a few gifts to bring home, too including the most delicious almonds with truffle oil. OMG. For this reservation, we called about 15 hours in advance and so glad we were able to join because it was such a treat!

…and a few more small ones that while nice, didn’t make the list.

What did I learn from my fantastic trip? That it was possible to go many places just on a whim. Almost everywhere we went, we called prior to coming and told “we’re fully committed tonight.” Then we showed up and almost without any wait AT ALL, we got a table. Now it may have not be the best table in the house (sometimes we were seated at the bar, but at LaSalette the bar is the best place in the house since you can watch the chef staff create food masterpieces.)

Also, what did I learn? That there’s lots of amazing food to be enjoyed in Napa Valley and it doesn’t have to be a $250 nine-course, three-hour tasting. (Unfortunately, my curiosity is still peaked and I still would like someone to sponsor my trip to The French Laundry to dispel all my thoughts about it…) It’s small, simple and enjoyable if you like food and wine. IF you are looking for other activities, seek refuge in San Francisco. The only “kid” thing I found in Napa Valley was Sonoma’s TrainTown and I bet it was way more than my tastings.

As my learning lesson comes to a close, I’ll share my advice. The next trip I would probably have a few ideas of what I wanted to and perhaps spend a little more time in Northern Napa Valley (Calistoga, St. Helena and Yountville) and skip Napa and Sonoma all together. And I totally would love to enjoy more sparkling wine experiences that I didn’t have time to visit this go around like my cousin’s favorite, Shramsberg, Mumm and Domaine Chandon. And certainly a trip to the recently awarded Michelin star in Calistoga, Solbar.

So, I conquered this field trip…But what’s next for another food adventure? HOLIDAY!