As I’ve continued to explore the culture of breakfast and lunch here in the Napa Valley, I felt that it was certainly worthwhile to mention a few of the better pastry options out there. After all, even if you’ve enjoyed a large breakfast in the morning, pastries remain a great take-away item, especially if you plan to spend the day wine tasting, when lunch can often get pushed back, or pushed aside altogether. Without a proper lunch, that same cheese danish that may seem gluttonous in the early morning can actually become your salvation in the early afternoon (and [... read more ...]
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I'm still due for a trip up to Diamond Mountain, although Sonoma is more likely in my near future. I'm working on all kinds of different projects, and should hopefully deliver something five days per week through the summer. Do stay tuned.   |
I’ve covered so much about food lately that I haven’t been keeping up with my wine tasting notes. The best wines that I’ve tasted recently were some older vintages of Chappellet Cab, but I’ll try to address those in the future. For the sake of staying a little more relevant to the here and the now, I do have a few notes from my recent tasting at Joseph Phelps Vineyards. I’ll cut to the chase and discuss the 2006 Insignia ($200) the winery’s flagship bottling, and a wine that has developed a loyal following over the years. Recent buzz [... read more ...] Look closely. It's all there. If you live in the United States and you ever decide to visit the Napa Valley, then I probably wouldn’t recommend the Soscol Cafe as a breakfast destination. For lack of a better term, it’s your classic hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon, and you probably know of a similar-style place somewhere in your own home town. However, for those who might be visiting the U.S. from abroad (and therefore, who may have never dined at a classic greasy spoon), then the Soscol Cafe could represent a venerable culinary landmark, something that’s authentic to its very [... read more ...] Almost famous. Only in New Orleans could a sandwich as glorious as the muffaletta take a backseat to the po-boy. In just about any other city in the United States, the muffaletta would certainly rank as a culinary claim-to-fame, earning a mention alongside the cheesesteaks of Philly or the towering deli pastramis of New York City. But even in the shadow of the more famous po-boy, the muffaletta of New Orleans boasts a loyal legion of followers (after all, one cannot exist on po-boys alone). With its roots at the Central Grocery in the French Quarter, the [... read more ...] There’s no possible way that I could ever review Terra in St. Helena without heavy bias: I know too many people in that restaurant — from the kitchen, to the GM, to the waitstaff — to maintain any semblance of impartiality. For similar reasons, I can’t really offer my unbiased opinions about Martini House, Auberge du Soleil, or Etoile at Domain Chandon, either. Of the people whom I know socially in the Napa Valley, most of them work at either of these three restaurants. But despite these personal connections, I don’t think there’s much harm in showing some pictures [... read more ...] |
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© 2010 The Accidental Wino |
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