napa, day 4
grapes
Originally uploaded by embem30Okay, time to finish this. Here is the last installment of the Napa trip: Wednesday, August 19.
That morning, we got up around 8am again, showered, then went in search of breakfast. We didn't have to search very hard, because Bouchon Bakery was the obvious choice. The previous morning's breakfast there had been better than the breakfast provided by the Yountville Inn, so we went again to try new pastries.
I went a little crazy picking things out, but they were all worth it. We got a chantilly eclair this time instead of a chocolate one, and it was perfect. It had custard inside and chantilly cream on top, as opposed to the chocolate cream inside the chocolate one. This was closer to what Steve and I had hoped for the day before.
I also ordered some pain au chocolat, mostly because of Molly Wizenberg's stories of eating them as a child with her father in France. I had never had it, but it's basically bits of dark chocolate tucked inside bread, or croissant dough in this case. It was flaky and somewhat more subtle than the other things we ordered. It was not the standout item at breakfast that day, but I keep craving it every time I see my pictures. It may be about time to try Molly's basic recipe from A Homemade Life.
The last thing was a TKO cookie. My guess is that those letters stand for "Thomas Keller Oreo," because it was reinterpretation of an Oreo. Of course, this was bigger and made with much better ingredients. It was great, but I only got through half of it. After half of the eclair, most of the pain au chocolat, and half of the TKO, I was on sugar overload. We ended up putting the other half back in its bag and taking it home with us. I finished it at home that afternoon.
After breakfast, we walked around Yountville a little more. We didn't have to check out of our hotel until about noon, so we had plenty of time to spare. Across the street from the Bakery, we went to Michael Chiarello's Napa Style store. It was on the cheesy side, with lots of things that probably appeal to the average middle-aged woman from the Midweset. There were a lot of cooking gadgets, canned sauces and spreads, tableware that included platters shaped like pigs, and even some of the pink bricks of Himalayan salt from which we had eaten our fish course at Bottega a few nights before. We also saw a chef's jacket with some autographs from Chiarello's appearance on Top Chef Masters. We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to look around.
We poked around a little in the courtyard, and then we walked back toward the Yountville Inn. There was a quick stop at the random little vineyard across the street from Ad Hoc for a few pictures, including the one of the grapes from the top of this entry. Then, Steve and I gathered our things, packed up the car, and checked out of our temporary creekside residence.
Driving back via the actual town of Napa, we made a few planned stops. The first was the brand new Rancho Gordo store, tucked into a somewhat residential area. It looked kind of barebones still, but it was fun to see. Steve got a few bags of their heirloom beans--ones that we often get from the Ferry Building farmer's market and some that aren't available other places. We also got some popping corn, which we still haven't tried.
From there, our next foodie tourist location was the Oxbow Public Market. It's like Napa's version of SF's Ferry Building, with various restaurants and stalls selling fancy food-related stuff. To get there, we had to do some fancy navigating, because my directions included a street that was completely closed for construction. I was a little worried, but we managed just fine, thanks in part to the bits of map that were on my directions from Google.
Steve and I did a quick walk-through of the main building and then ventured to the part that isn't connected to check out The Fatted Calf. It's a company that comes to the Saturday farmer's market at the Ferry Building every week but doesn't have a permanent place inside the building itself. Here, they had an actual store with a counter. We tried their pate and rillette, which were good. Steve got some, as well as a porkchop to take home.
For lunch, we ate at Hog Island Oyster Co. We shared a dozen Kumamoto oysters and a bowl of their clam chowder. The chowder was a little on the salty side, but the oysters were delightful. I tried them with the mignonette sauce, lime juice, and lemon juice, all on different oysters, of course. I liked the plain lemon juice best, though.
Dessert was next. For Steve, it was coffee from Ritual Roasters; for me, it was a coconut cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes. It was a good cupcake, but it was rather sweet. I think the gingerbread cupcakes from Miette are still my favorites.
And that was the end of my list. We drove back from Napa, over the Golden Gate, and back to our neighborhood, arriving in the mid-afternoon.
It was a really enjoyable trip, even though we didn't go to some of the wineries that I had hoped. I didn't really mind, though. Maybe the wine had something to do with it, but I let myself be a little more flexible with the schedule and didn't stress out about what we might have been missing. I guess it helps that wine country is just a drive away. We can go back without having to buy expensive plane tickets.
Here the totals for this vacation:
-4 days
-10 wineries
-about 50 wines tasted
-3 fancy dinners
-2,025 pictures taken