Vineyards Before The Farmstead
Airbnb, what a great service. For a friend’s birthday, we booked a room out in Napa Valley. Wine country for those who don’t know. It’s a little getaway for those of us in Northern California. Only an hour away from San Francisco. I do wonder why I don’t go as often as I should. Gotta thank my friend for thinking of this. Actually, it was her husband who arranged everything. A weekend, in a beautiful house with room enough for ten, nestled in the little town of St. Helena.
What does one do in Napa? Well, go visit the vineyards and do some tastings.
Unfortunately, my palette isn’t all that great when it comes to wine. I can tell some grapes apart and when something horrible versus something that’s smooth. That’s about it. Luckily the group had some experts to explain things to me while I downed glasses of reds and whites remembering all so well to keep my pinky up. Just kidding. You wine lovers can kick me for that one.
An important tip while doing the tastings. They usually charge you for tastings, around $20-$25USD. The fee is waved if you end up buying, up to a certain amount of course. And it’s a good thing to plan. Pick out the vineyards you’d like to try, making sure they’re close to one another, and most importantly, make sure you have a sober driver. Yeah, hardcore drinkers, you can still get yourself toasted and the speed limit here is small town speeds. Slow. On the other hand, you can plan it out and take your time. Bring some cheeses and some cured meats and take your time. We did that at Pride Mountain. They have a picnic area at the top of their vineyard over looking part of the valley. Talk about a view. This was well worth the drive up. I should also mention, the place was very accommodating after we bought some bottles there. They lent us glasses and utensils for our picnic. Now that’s class. As the day settled down and we realized it was time to do what Napa was also known for, it’s restaurants, we quickly packed up and heading back down.
There’s plenty of fantastic places to eat in Napa and I’m sure I’ll be adding more to restaurants to this site. For tonight, though, it was the Farmstead, at Long Meadow Ranch – a Southern style restaurant priding itself in grass fed beef and organic ingredients. It delivered in quality and in execution. Since it was a large party and a special occasion a prix fixe family style menu was offered. Three courses with a great assortment of their popular dishes. And to make it easy for us, we could ask for more of any dish once we got to try each dish. Set, match, game for food coma. By the time we were finished, so was I. Yet, somehow we continued drinking back at the house, until 1am. Or that’s when they told me I had passed out.
Yay to birthdays!
Yeah, the tastings were outside and for January, it was awfully warm. After our Chardonnay, we headed inside. Good move. Oh, and that stuff in the jars, it’s soil, not caviar that tastes like dirt. Seriously, NOT caviar.
Most people would go for the cheddar biscuits. I mean who can blame them, cheddar plus biscuits. Yeah, they’re good. But somehow these potato buns really got me. Maybe it was the meal we were having but they were a better compliment and much more fulfilling, even though our portions were endless. They were dense and soft, with just a bit of savor that kept you going back for more. Sorta like Hawaiian bread, but not as light and a whole lot more yum.
Next to hit the table was the salad. There were actually two, but I’ll highlight my favorite. Obviously it’s this, in Farmstead’s words, a ‘salad of arugula with apples, point reyes blue cheese, toasted almonds and citrus vinaigrette.’ Quite the mouthful (pun intended) and a pinch better than the kale salad, which had nothing to do with how plain kale looks in photos or the fact that I don’t want to write about two salads. One is hard enough. ‘Yes, I Khanh of sound mind and soul, who doesn’t normally order salads, wouldn’t mind this fresh, crispy, and perfectly dressed dish as a meal.’ There, I said it, and it was difficult.
Seriously? You cook this by putting a hot brick on top of it? Well, if that’s how you kept this moist and tasty, keep doing it! By far my favorite dish of the night. Not sure how many plates of this we ordered, but I must of had a whole plate myself. It’s lightly crisped, juicy, and tender. It’s everything you look for in chicken.
My least favorite dish of the night. Not to say it was bad. No, there’s nothing wrong with it. It was fall off the bone goodness, well seasoned, not too saucy – it was something you can eat with a fork and knife. Though, that may be what’s getting to me. It’s too neat. Sorry, that’s a horrible reason not to like anything. However, I understand why we got it, it’s limited availability. A must try. Next time, I’m coming early, ordering this, taking it outside, and devouring it like a Texan. That would redeem it for me, messy fingers and all.