Monday, September 17, 2007

Day 2 in Wine Country (Thu. Sept. 13)


Before I go into our adventures in Wine Country, I have to tell you about the breakfast provided at the Napa River Inn, which is prepared fresh by Sweetie Pies in the hotel complex. When we checked in, we were given cards to hang outside our door by midnight to request our breakfast for the next morning. The picture to the right is a picture of a breakfast for two (we probably could have just shared ONE of the breakfasts!). We each got a choice of a pastry or bun, a choice of a breakfast croissant or parfait or quiche, AND a choice of fresh-squeezed juice or fruit. It was all very delicious! It was great to be able to have a leisurely breakfast in the room and not have to find a restaurant first thing in the morning.

After breakfast, we
drove out to Sonoma County, which people claim has "better" wineries. I think by "better" people mean less commercialized and more of what a true winery should be. I chose to go to Benziger in Glen Ellen, because they offer a tour on a tram pulled by a tractor, and they are known for their commitment to being green. While this tour was enjoyable, we liked Beringer better. Beringer seemed more interesting and the people there seemed friendlier.

The Benziger tour started with a tour of the vineyards. We stopped and got out of the tram to look over the vineyards toward Mt. Sonoma, and got a quick lesson on the types of soil and why it's good for different types of wine grapes. The tour continued by showing us some of the machinery used to process the grapes, including a tour of their wine caves. Some of the f
acts provided to us were similar to what we learned during the Beringer tour. The tour culminated with a tasting of two wines in a special tasting room. We were given the option to taste two more wines on our own in the tasting room, but we needed to make a lunch reservation in Santa Rosa, about 30 minutes away.

I made a lunch reservation at a restaurant called Syrah. I chose it based on good r
eviews, and because I could make a reservation on Open Table. The restaurant was very interesting in it's decor inside and out. The building was covered with vines, and the inside was somewhat artsy and just interesting in general. For example, while looking around, I noticed a Pillsbury Dough Boy resting on the beams.

While the food was pretty good, something about the restaurant disappointed me a bit. I think it was the service, which kind of made me feel as though they catered more to locals than tourists. I also didn't like how our waiter immediately took our wine list away because we ordered iced teas, without even asking if we still wanted to look at the wine list. Too bad, his loss. I probably would have ordered wine had he left the wine list.

Our entrees were a pork, pork, and more pork sandwich, which was an open faced sandwich with pork loin, bacon, and chorizo, topped with a fried egg, and the housemade ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and topped with a tomato-based sauce. Both were good, although not as good as the dinners we had in Napa. If I returned to this area, I would look for another place to have lunch.

After lunch, we hop
ped back in the car again for a quick drive to the Charles M. Schultz Museum, also located in Santa Rosa. I have to say that although the entire trip was memorable, this was probably the greatest find. I found myself emotionally overwhelmed by Charles Schultz's contributions to the community which will remain his legacy for generations to come.

We spent 2-3 hours in this area, first exploring the museum, which housed memorabilia, original art, and an exhibit of various Peanuts comic strips. There was also an outdoor area which included more original art and a kite-eating tree.

After the museum, we walked across the street to a Snoopy Gift Shop. We didn't find as much stuff to buy as I thought, but it was still worth a visit. Next to the Gift Shop is a skating rink called Snoopy's Home Ice. The Warm Puppy Cafe, where Charles Schultz spent time almost every day, is located here. We joked that the Warm Puppy Cafe might've been a better lunch choice! We did stop there to pick up drinks and take a quick peek at people skating, before driving back to Napa via Calistoga and the Silverado Trail, which is parallel to the major road there.

Dinner that night was at Celadon, which was most excellent! I read that their calamari appetizer was very good, and it was. It was cooked perfectly and seasoned nicely, and was interestingly served with Japanese ginger, like the kind they give you with sushi. The ginger was a nice complement! Our entrees were a flank steak served with mashed potatoes and yellow and green beans (a special), and achiote rubbed duck served with a corn and bacon risotto. The duck was so awesome! The skin reminded me a bit of a nicely crusted prime rib, and it was nice and crispy with a very thin layer of fat that kept the meat moist.

Celadon was a great way to cap off a nice stay in Napa before we headed back to the City of San Francisco!


Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Day 1 in Wine Country

After weeks of planning, I am finally in Wine Country! Last night, we arrived in San Francisco from Honolulu sometime after 9 p.m. Before I get to the important stuff, I have to say that our experience with the people at Enterprise Car Rental was wonderful! How many people can say they had a "great" experience with a rental car agency??? They were quick, efficient, friendly, and overall just made us feel like valued customers. Let's hope we have a similar experience with the Enterprise folks in Vegas.

After getting the ca
r and getting slightly lost, we drove to the Doubletree Hotel in Burlingame, just a few miles away from the airport. I got this hotel on Priceline. While there was nothing wrong with the hotel, other than the parking situation which was not-so-good, my general impression was just, "eehhhh." I wouldn't mind staying there again if I got a good rate on Priceline, but I wouldn't go out of my way to specifically book it.

Today was a good day. We drove up to Napa, which took just over one hour. We're staying at the Napa River Inn, which I LOVE! This is a picture of the superior room I booked. It's located in the Plaza Building, and has a balcony overlooking the Napa River (the river really isn't that great, but it's still cool to have a balcony) and a fireplace that turns on with the turn of a dial. I'm really looking forward to the breakfast that is included. We received cards that we checked off to indicate what we wanted, and they will deliver it to our room in the morning! How cool is that???

After checking into the hotel, we went to COPIA. I must admit th
at at first, I was thinking, "this isn't worth my time." But, the more time we spent there, the more I enjoyed myself. I had to remind myself that it is a museum -- there was a lot of art around, and while I enjoy art, I would prefer that it be created by different people. There was one room with LOTS of paintings done by one artist, and they all were based on the same subject...vineyards. And it got old pretty fast. A lot of the paintings really looked a lot alike.

Things got better when we reached a room that contained historical objects. My favorite was a display describing how vineyards got around prohibition. There were a few legal uses for wine, including for churches and for "medicinal" purposes. I also really enjoyed a section devoted to food. Part of this exhibit explained the diets of different cultures, and their food budget for a week. Another portion of the exhibit contained displays of various foods or food containers. One of my favorites was the Pez dispenser exhibit.

After COPIA, we drove north to St. Helena. We had some time to kill, so we stopped at the CIA. No, not that CIA...the Culinary Institute of America. It wasn't planned, and I had no idea whether it was open to the public, but my noseyness paid off. We walked around a little and also found a great gift shop. The building itself is really beautiful, as most of the buildings in Napa Valley are. There seems to be a concerted effort to ensure architectural fluidity in the area, so everything is beautiful, yet nothing sticks out like a sore thumb.

After CIA, we he
aded down to Beringer Winery for the Historical District Tour. Beringer is the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa Valley. Remember how I mentioned that some wineries were able to survive even during prohibition? Beringer is one of them that survived by providing wine for "medicinal" purposes and for sacrament. Beringer is a really beautiful property, with a number of historical buildings. The people there were really great too. The guy who conducted our tour started off by giving each of us a bottle of water, with a Beringer label on it...a nice touch!

We toured the Hudson House, an adjacent wooded area and courtyard, caves whe
re wine is aged, and ended up in the Rhine House (shown above) where a gift shop and tasting rooms are housed. Our tour included wine tasting in the reserve room upstairs, which was really nice. The wine was REALLY good, and we ended up buying a bunch of stuff and joining their wine club...hey, these guys are smart. They get you all liquored up and then send you downstairs into the gift shop!

We drove back down to the Napa River Inn where we barely had enough time to change and make our dinner reservation at Angele, one of Napa's premier restaurants. The service was very professional and attentive, and the food was excellent. The bread was nice and warm and toasty, and we started off with French onion soup, which was very yummy and cheesey. For entrees we had a bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin served with a red pepper sauce, and a side of what looked like corn mixed with some kind of rice, and a ribeye (which really looked more like a filet mignon) served in a red wine reduction with french fries. Everything was really yummy!

Napa's only downfall is that there really is not a lot to do at night. We ended up walking around Downtown Napa (this must've been around 8:30-ish), and the only things still open were restaurants and Mervyn's department store. Yet somehow I still managed not to get my blog updated until 4 days later! All in all, a really great day in Napa.