Napa Valley
Yountville, California: Happy Mother's Day!
After spending three days in San Francisco with DT and Lisa, celebrating
Mother's Day - today I joined a small group (6 people) for a culinary tour
of Napa Valley. The tour is operated by
Classic Journeys
- they specialize in walking tours.
We met in the lobby of the Hyatt Fisherman's Wharf at 10:15 am. I met my
tour group - Ellen & Scott, from Maryland, Deb & Peter from Connecticut and
Lillian from Maryland (she is not with the couple from Maryland). Our guide
is a nice lady from Santa Rosa, Marty. We did a short drive through San
Francisco in our tour van and then headed over the Golden Gate Bridge to
Napa.
Our first stop was the just-opened
Oxbow Public
Market. Inside vendors sell food and kitchen implements of all sorts and
fresh produce is sold outside under a covered walkway. There are several
restaurants inside and a just-opened
Taylor's
Automatic Refresher next door.
Oxbow Public Market in Napa, California
Since this was also our lunch stop, I went right over to
Taylor's and ordered a cheeseburger and milk shake. Because I knew our
dinner stop was going to be a fabulous French Bistro, I only ate half...
which was still too much.
Taylor's Automatic Oxbow opened in February 2008
Cheeseburger
After lunch we walked next door to
COPIA: The American Center
for Food, Wine & the Arts where they were holding the
Artisan Wine,
Food & Art Festival. COPIA is a learning center, museum, restaurant,
shop and promotion center for the California agricultural industry.
Packaging, nutrition, sustainability, distribution and grocery shopping
choices are covered in the "Forks in the Road" exhibition - all about how
America eats. Because of the festival many (many!) vineyards had tastings
and many local artists and craftspeople had booths. We were given a wine
glass and sent on our way to enjoy ourselves for 90 minutes. I didn't sample
any wine, but had a great time touring through the exhibits, talking with
the artists and listening to the live music at the outdoor amphitheater.
COPIA
The rear patio and amphitheater area - and inside COPIA today
On display in front of the COPIA building were two vintage
Rolls Royce Touring Cars. Originally built for the National Parks
Department, the cars have recently been restored by the Ford Motor Company.
The 16 passenger tour car is luxuriously appointed with velvet seats and a
full bar! The cars are now used by a
limo company. Very
cool.
Touring in style
Inside the touring car
Six foodies on a mission
My
traveling companions are all quite fun and interesting. Every person is a
seasoned traveler. Our guide, Marty, goes on cycling tours all over the
world and has some great tales to tell. I look forward to getting to know my
new posse this week.
Our next stop was to the beautiful
Yountville Inn,
where we will be for two nights. I feel a bit guilty having all this quiet
elegant luxury for just myself. Fireplace! Mini-bar! Free wifi! Huge
bathroom! Private patio with only the sounds of birds! Sorry, Dave.
Happy Mother's Day to ME!
Room 405: All this for lil' ol' me?
Our group met at the very early hour of 6:30 for dinner at
Bistro Jeanty
(turn your speakers down unless you want a Parisian flashback). This popular
Yountville restaurant is just down the street from our hotel. I started with
their signature dish - Tomato Soup with a puff pastry top. Very good and the
recipe is available on their website. For my main course I ordered Daube de
Boeuf (aka, beef stew). (I guess because we were with a group and tonight's
meal was included in the price of the tour, we were not offered the entire
menu and the Daube was the only item without pork!) I have made this dish
several times myself and it is always delicious and it was tonight too. So
tender. I could barely touch it though after that delicious soup. Then came
the cheese course! Bistro Jeanty is a definite thumbs-up and service was
excellent.
Creme de Tomate en Croute
Daube de Boeuf
Humboldt Fog
Bistro Jeanty in Yountville, California
Pedometer: Only 7,607 steps. I do that at home on a normal
day. Only 3.23 miles.
And so, Dear Readers, that concludes Day One of my gastronomic tour. Until
my next update, I remain, your Strawberry Hill correspondent.