Well, it's been a while since I've done a good food post, and because I do love me some gluttony, I’ll talk about it a bit. People have told me that they like the food posts, and I think I know why. Have you noticed that the Food Network is very popular? It’s not because people actually intend to cook most of that stuff. They get in intense vicarious thrill from watching others enjoy great food and drinks. It’s like porn. Folks will watch a food show and say
“mmmmm. That looks good. I wish I could eat that.” And yet there is absolutely no chance that they will eat that.
As a quick side note, have you seen that show with Giatta who cooks Italian food and wears really low cut clothes, and leans forward, while the camera zooms in and is strategically placed so as to get the food and her boobs in the same shot? It’s almost like they’re seeing how far they can go. Really?! Is this what were doing now?
Now on with the post.
The Kimbo Slice and I went to Napa to taste a bunch of that sweet nectar. And taste we did. We ate a bunch of wonderful food in true Brandonian fashion, and went to many outstanding wineries to sample their wares. I think the food tasted better, the air smelled better, and things were just generally pretty good.
We stayed at a B&B right in the town of Napa called the Blackbird Inn. It was great.
We got ourselves settled in from our travels, splashed some water on our faces, and headed out looking for some sustenance. We found a joint called Ristorante Allegria.
For our app we had Calamari, bruschetta, skirt steak satay, crab cake, and lightly tempura asparagus. The app was light tasting, and flavorful.
My dinner was homemade saffron pasta, jumbo prawns, tomatoes, capers, artichoke hearts, finished w/ roasted shrimp bisque. The arti sort of beat out the other flavors, but I like that because artichokes are good.
Kim had grilled swordfish, covered with tomato basil cucumber salsa, with some mashed potatos. There were some other things in that salsa, and it worked with the sword in a perfect way.
We drank a bottle of Napa Valley Chenin Blanc (which is my favorite white), and for dessert Kim had spumoni, while I had a cabernet sorbet, which is a fantastic idea btw. Dark and powerful and cold and condensed. It’s great. You just wouldn’t want to get any on your white shirt.
We went to bed and racked out. Our king sized bed was about 18 inches higher than you’d think a bed should be, which for some reason I loved. Kimbo called it a pontoon. They also had a deep-deep bathtub and bathsalts.
For breakfast I usually had a southwestern style quiche type thing, fresh fruit, potatoes, English muffins slathered with butter, fresh coffee, and cranberry juice. I ate a big breakfast every day to get myself ready for the heavy drinking. And also because I’m a glutton.
For the first couple of days we hired a driver. You know, on account of the excessive drinking. I know a lot of people try to drink only 2 glasses or whatever, but it’s hard to control your portions at these tastings. I just really, really didn’t want to kill someone, or ourselves. It was a bit expensive, but the alternative could have had incomprehensible cost. It also was fun to cruise into these wineries like we’re cool without having to worry about it. The Brando’s are in town so we might as well do it right.
The first one we went to was
Robert Mondavi. Their cab was my first favorite wine of my life when I was 20. It was just the $19 stuff at the grocery store, but I thought it was the greatest stuff on earth. Heck, I still think it’s great. We did the tour which was really cool, like taking a class, and we joined their wine club, and got to drink 3 of their reserve wines. I think we drank about 7 total when we were there. Oh, and the place is immaculate. They could pass a DI white glove inspection.
Then we went to the
Franciscan and tasted 4 more out on their patio with lime trees which was free on account of joining this Mondavi Club.
For lunch we grabbed sandwiches at the local Oakville Grocery. I had an applewood smoked ham and brie sandwich, while Kimbo had a BLT on wheat with a local peach and a white chocolate and macadamia nut cookie. We sacked up our lunches and had the driver take us up the hill to the
Diamond Oaks winery where they have picnic tables near a cliff protected by trees. And because we were using their tables, we had to also do a tasting, which was perfectly fine with us. So we each had 4 more wines, and were feeling fine. The sandwiches were awfully good. Brie in a sandwich?! Why didn’t I think of that. I’d like to put an entire wheel of brie in some bread with spicy mustard, and call it a sandwich.
Our driver took us to an olive oil store that was a little family owned place where they had pressed the olives onsite for 30 years or something. We found it so cool that we bought some and had it shipped home.
Then we did the
Beringer tour, which was also cool. We had 4 more wines each there too. Not full wines, mind you. Just maybe like a fifth of a glass each. At the Beringer place they have a special landmark called the Leaning Oak, which they name name some of their reserve wines after. As soon as I saw the thing, I kicked it down.
We went back to the B&B, took a quick afternoon nap.
Then we went out to a local restaurant. I had shrimp pasta in a cream based sauce. I think Kimbo had salmon. We split a bottle of Eagle Eye Sauvignon Blanc, and we staggered home, to drink multiple glasses of water in preparation to do it all again the following day.
The following day was a carbon copy of the first with different scenery so I’ll give you the quick version.
Chimney Rock – taste X4 (awesome)
Stag’s Leap – taste X4 (awesome)
Did you know that Stag’s Leap is named after some huge rock on the canyon where the Indians would herd deer so they would run off the cliff and plummet to their deaths? Pretty awesome, huh? Nice and violent. That's the big rock up on the hill.
Lunch: Soda Canyon Store. I had a Super Beef Burrito w/ lotsa guac and one of those Sobe drinks, while Kimbo had a turkey avocado wrap with potatoe salad and water. Some wild cats wanted to be our friends while we enjoyed our lunch on the picnic tables. We were down in the canyon floor by a washout, and the heat was just killer. I felt a little bit like we had to hurry on account of the driver waiting for us in the parking lot. I guess that's what we're paying him for.
William Hill – taste X4
Del Dotto cave tour – This was pretty awesome. We toured in their caves and the host just served us from the casks. The host was a former Marine, and the general attitude wasn’t at all snobbish. The wine was pretty darn awesome too and I think we were way overserved. We bought some and had it shipped home. We also ended the tour with port. Oh, and for the record. We were fully drizunk when we left this place, and I forgot to take pictures, except this one.
Darioush – taste X5 and we bought 4 bottles.
After that we went back to the B&B, changed clothes, and headed to dinner.
Dinner at Angele.
This place was great, and a must go if you travel out there. We started with a red snapper app, a bottle of dry Riesling from napa, and some great bread.
My dinner was some lamb, on a bed of soft beans and pesto. The flavor was sort of muted and smokey, and the pesto was a contrast to brighten it up. It was a really good idea to put those together. I guess mint jelly is for the riff-raff.
Kimbo had bass which she said she loved.
For dessert Kimbo had some crepes with caramel, and I had crème fresh ice cream. I always sort of think of vanilla as a neutral flavor ice cream, but it really isn’t. This crème fresh was. I really liked it because it was very refreshing and way simple. We also ended our meal with a couple glasses of port. Kim had a 12 year, and I had a 10 year. It was fun to alternate tastes of super-sweet port, and neutral ice cream.
Then we staggered home, and got on the pontoon.
Weds:
This day we no longer had the driver, and we were starting to get a bit wined out, so we drove down to San Fran to do touristy stuff. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, ate lunch in the Wharf area, took an Alcatraz tour, went to the Muir Woods to commune with the Redwoods, and went home to eat.
For lunch that day, we went to a place called Fog Harbor Fish House on Pier 39. For our app, we had some calamari. Now I love calamari in Iowa. I’m not so hoity-toity that I won’t eat frozen seafood. But I have to report that there really is a difference when it’s fresh. It was just barely breaded, and oh so soft and tender. If you squeeze a bunch of lemon juice over it to get a bunch of acid in the works, then it’s a hit. We paired it with a Mondavi fume blanc, and enjoyed each other’s company.
Kimbo ordered a crab cake sandwich, while I just got the garlic crab. I completely love garlic, but I think they overdid it a tad. More isn’t always better. The mashed potatoes helped to offset the rich crab and butter.
We also took the ferry to Alcatraz, where they told us about someone’s
ocular cavity.
We also enjoyed those massive redwoods. All I could think was how good a setting that would be for a roleplaying game. I was looking up at ‘em thinking,
“If these were ents they would be really scary.”Does this make me a treehugger?
Also that twisty road along the cliffs to the Muir Woods has no guard rail. That bothered me for some reason. When I'm standing next to a cliff, I get the urge to hurl myself off. I don't really allow myself to get too near the edge, because I almost feel like I'm being pulled toward the drop off. Well, when I was driving, I knew that one careless move of the wheel would send us careening to a horrible death. The road had no real shoulder. Just the white line of the edge, a few inches of rock, then a zillion mile cliff. Yikes.
When we got back to Napa, we washed up and strolled down to Sushi Mambo. I ordered a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and we got 4 rolls. The sushi was off the hook, and their sauces were knockouts. The only think I’d note is that it seems like a trend to make sushi rolls bigger and bigger. Pretty soon we’ll be trying to jam a 6 ounce slice of sushi into our mouths. Check out the diameter of those rolls compared to the water glass. It's like c'mon fhqwhgads.
We then went to Ristorante Allegria for drinks and dessert. I had an Arnold Palmer Cab, while Kimbo had a Zinfandel and a tiramisu. All was good as it should be.
After that we strolled home with clear heads, road weary bodies, and full stomachs.
Thurs:
Today Kimbo wanted to see Sonoma county so we drove over there to check out some wineries. She pretty much couldn’t drink as she was keeping us alive, so I drank for the both of us. We stopped at
Arrowood, and did a limited release tasting. Chard, viognier, 100% Cab (which rocked), and a syrah with 5% viognier. We sat out on the wraparound porch and enjoyed the scenic overlook. I have fond memories of this place now, and their wines seemed really good. We were the only ones in the place, so in my mind it's some kind of hidden secret.
Next we drove back over the mountains by taking the direct route. Trinity Road. It was a super twisty and dangerous road. Kimbo was racing through the turns and curves like an expert professional driver. It was really fun. I'm glad we made it back alive.
Kimbo Slice and her machine.
Next we stopped at
Alpha Omega, which is a new winery, and tasted a bunch, and bought a couple. The guy that ran our tasting was pretty cool, and one of the more memorable hosts.
We were also instructed by a certain Undead Slaying Cleric to go to Rutherford Grill to get some cornbread, and grilled artichoke. Both were awesome as advertised. Kim got a Mahi sando w/heirloom tomatoes, while I got the ribs. I had a Mondavi Cab, while Kimbo had her Viognier. Lunch was fantastic on this 100 degree day. People aren’t joking about this place. The food is off the grid, and the staff really have their act together.
Then we took the tour at
Cakebread. The biggest thing that struck me at this place was how awesome the building smelled. I don't know if it's toasted French oak or what, but it smells great. Kim was barely tasting her wines, then dumping the rest of her glass in mine. It was turning into a serious drinking day for Brando. I think we got 6 each at this one, and we got to keep our glasses. I’m now having trouble telling the subtle differences between different soil types, and I’m lucky to even identify the grape. I had entirely too much wine.
We went back into town, and continued our tasting on foot, so my better half could catch up. She had a sheet that said that there was some sort of Tasting Tour of places directly in the town, all in walking distance. Out of the 3 that were on the list, only one was open. So we cruised into the placed called Caja. And had ourselves a nice little tasting, and ordered up a few spicy olives to munch on.
We then swung by Tuscany for some quick apps, and more wine. We had Scallops with balsamic vinegar. And washed it down with a bottle of white. The scallops were awesome. I sometimes forget how good scallops are. I’m glad those exist because they’re delicious.
And next on the agenda was a trip to Celadon for dinner. We ordered a bottle of Trefethen dry Riesling, along with an almond crusted goat cheese and fig app. I ordered their Halibut special, that was served on mashed potatoes, and green beans. Kimbo had battered prawn. It had lots of flavors in the accompanying salad with cucumber and mango.
The desserts at this place were very well prepared. Kim had chocolate and hazelnut bars that had a texture like a rice crispie bar, and I had some bread pudding w/ a Grand Mariner sauce. It was a perfect end to a perfect day. We somehow got home to our B&B, then had to pack up the next morning, drive ourselves to the airport, and scoot back to Iowa.
Not a bad little vacation.
Brandodojo shirts and garbage
