le blog de tranny

The weekend before last Paul and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary by taking a long weekend in Napa. I’m a wineau (wine-o?) now! (Not really, but I’m working on it.) It was the first time visiting Napa for both of us, which is crazy because it’s so close.

We stayed at the Old World Inn in Napa. Our room came equipped with skylights, a flat screen tv, surround sound, and it’s own private outdoor hot tub. The B&B ended up being way lovelier than I was expecting — not at all jank but actually extremely comfortable and charming. Well-located too — the city center is a short bike ride away!

We had some time to kill in Yountville before our reservation at Bouchon so we figured what the hell, why not join all the bros at Domaine Chandon?

On our way to the town center we crossed paths with the wine train. Choo! Choo!

Walking down Washington Street I felt like a rebellious high school senior touring the Red Light District for the first time. So many enticing establishments and not enough time to visit them all! Herro Ad Hoc! Maybe next time…

We passed by Bistro Jeanty which I’d also really been wanting to try and noticed that they were having a $1 oyster happy hour special. Tipsy as I was, I couldn’t resist checking the place out, even if for a quick before-dinner snack.

The oysters were delicious and the glass of 2007 Domaine des Romarins Cotes du Rhones I had was massive. I guess they really wanted us to stay…

The photos from Bouchon are unfortunately pretty subpar. I was tipsy and quickly losing the sunlight — not the recipe for great photos but certainly the recipe for a good time. Maybe too good a time. We each ordered a glass of wine (riesling for me, pinot noir for Paul) upon sitting down because I didn’t realize they had a cocktail menu (duh, of course they did — what the heck was I thinking??) and then after realizing they had an amazing looking cocktail menu I pretty much chugged the rest of my wine so that I could order a cocktail. I ended up ordering “the sleepyhead”: bourbon, honey syrup and grapefruit juice served up, but barely had a sip of it before almost passing out at the table. Oops! Classiness fail aside, I’m sure the servers got a kick out of the whole me ordering a cocktail called the sleepyhead and then proceeding to fall asleep, thing. No harm done except I obviously didn’t enjoy nor appreciate the food as much as I could have. All I can say at this point is that everything we ordered was really, really good. But I’ve learned my lesson — never will I get so wasted at a Michelin star establishment again.

Confit de canard with poached apples, frisee, quail egg and foie gras vinaigrette.

Pâté de campagne with watercress, cornichons and radishes.

My entree: sautéed black cod with Maine lobster, sunchokes, pearl onions, bacon, garden celery and black pepper creme fraiche. Fucking amazing. Tasted even better as leftovers back in our room when I’d sobered up a bit.

Paul got the carré de porc: pork loin with brown butter pain perdu, toasted pistachios, young fennel and roasted beets with sauce laurier.

Bonne soirée, Bouchon!

The next day we cycled over to Oxbow Public Market in search of edible treasures, only to discover that its offerings were matched or even bested by what one could find at farmer’s markets in our past and current hood or the Ferry Building. I’d envisioned us picking up a bunch of foodstuffs at the farmer’s market and then picnicking at one of the wineries on the Silverado Trail, but gave up on that idea when we realized we didn’t have much time before our blending session at Crushpad. We decided to grab a quick lunch in the area instead — I’d heard that Bounty Hunter was tasty so we popped over there.

I strong-armed Paul into ordering the beer can chicken, which paired nicely with our Lost Coast tangerine wheat ales. We also ordered sides of coleslaw and potato salad. This was definitely the best non-Michelin star meal we had in Napa.

The beer can chicken was seriously heavenly — so moist and flavorful, with delicious crispy skin!

We had to move inside to avoid being attacked by wasps.

After lunch we cycled up to the Silverado Trail. It was actually a pretty easy ride from the city center. We arrived at Crushpad a bit early and so had a bit of time to bum around and enjoy a free tasting. The tasting was great — we ended up purchasing a 2007 Expression 39 Anahala Vineyard Anderson Valley Pinot Noir — sooo yummy. I can’t wait to open it!

Crushpad is so dog-friendly! I swear every person working there had their own dog following them around.

We were taken into this cave for our blending session.

The blending session itself was pretty lame. Not only was it not really that informative, but when we finally got to try making our blends, we had to do so in teams. I took issue with this for a number of reasons — (1) our group was comprised of two other couples, maximizing the awkwardness of our interaction, (2) there was of course one obnoxious chick who thought she knew a lot about wine and hijacked our blend, srsly leading us astray (a Merlot-based blend – the worst of the ones we tried!), (3) not even being able to go through the entire process myself, but rather, having to team up with ppl I didn’t know, made this experience not worth the money. In other words, FUCK YOU CRUSHPAD, but at least I got some good wine out of it.

Bringing our bikes to Napa was the best idea I ever had. The weather was perfect and we didn’t have to worry about driving (only that drunk drivers would pick us off).

Wow Napa, wow. This, along with the pro-life stands and Tea Party banners, has solidified a very specific impression that I have of the locals.

Back in town.

We ate at Zuzu, a tapas place, for dinner and of course had to order some sangria to mix it up a bit.

Gambas with garlic, piquin chili and smoky pimenton — win. Perhaps the best-executed dish we had there, in my opinion.

Bacalao: salt cod drizzled with white truffle oil, served with garlic crostini. A bit on the rich side.

The paella of the day: pork, chorizo, clams, piquillo peppers and wax beans. This dish was pretty disappointing. It was bland but also kind of sweet? It tasted really onion-y but not savory at all. Blech.

Chilaquiles: tortilla chips, beans, pork shoulder and poached egg. How could this be bad?

I’m such an egg yolk fiend.

The next day, our day of departure, we stopped by Oxbow Public Market again after checking out to grab some Ritual coffee and plan out our day. Or rather, I planned while Paul did the crossword. I spotted a tasting station at The Olive Press and couldn’t resist taking a bottle home with me. I opted for the Arbequina extra virgin, which is midway on their spectrum of delicate (buttery) to robust (bitter) olive oils.

We also grabbed a bite to eat at Gott’s Roadside next door. I know they have one in the Ferry Building but I’ve actually never been to the Ferry Building and the seasonal special, BLT with fried green tomatoes and jalapeno mayo, was pretty enticing. P and I split that and the ahi poke crispy tacos. Pretty tasty!

Since we hadn’t really visited many wineries or done many tastings on Friday and Saturday, we really wanted to have a full afternoon of vineyard-hopping on our last day. So I called around and got us a few last minute appointments at some of the wineries along the Silverado Trail. Our route was as follows: Judd’s Hill –> Hagafen –> Baldacci –> Paraduxx. The first and the last were definitely our favorite stops.

Everything we tasted at Judd’s Hill was fantastic. I’ve considered joining their wine club and definitely plan on coming back for one of their cook-out events.

Paul and I actually debated for quite a while whether we should get the 2009 Rosé or 2009 Sauv Blanc. In the end I let Paul win and we got the Sauv Blanc, which was slightly less sweet and his preference. At the very end of our tasting session our pourer, David, poured us a taste of their 2006 “Founder’s Art” Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. It was so fucking amazing that we had to splurge for a bottle of that too! It’s the priciest wine that we ended up purchasing on this trip. Napa really sparked an appreciation for Cab Sauvs in me.. before I was predominately a Pinot Noir person (Sonoma is apparently the place for Pinot Noir anyway).

Silly, but good.

Driving up the trail.

Whereas the tasting room at Judd’s Hill is intimate and comfortable, Paraduxx (in the Yountville portion of the Silverado Trail) has a huge outdoor tasting patio! The cool thing about the tasting at Paraduxx was that each wine was their Napa Valley red wine (a Zinfandel/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Cab Franc blend, I think always in that order), except from four different years, so we could really get a sense of how the growing conditions differed year-to-year and how this impacted the taste. We ended up going for the 2006 vintage.

But let me tell you, I really wanted to end this trip with a bang. Since we were going to end up in Yountville anyway (at Paraduxx), I thought I’d take a stab in the dark and see if I could get us a last minute early reservation at Redd. Fuck yeah I could! What better way to end a romantic and indulgent weekend than with an impromptu dinner at a Michelin-star restaurant?

Hamachi sashimi with sticky rice, edamame and lime ginger sauce. Phenomenal! Best whitey interpretation of a Japanese dish ever (because the flavors were pretty traditional rather than super fusion-y)!

Heirloom tomato and burrata cheese caprese with basil and almond pesto. The burrata was served on top of a crostini that was slathered with tomato jam. Caprese is one of the most perfect foods I can think of, and when executed impeccably, it’s all the better.

I ordered a cocktail called the “damage control”: Hangar 1 mandarin blossom vodka, yuzu sour, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, and ginger beer. Pretty tasty, and I paced myself this time.

Potato gnocchi with lamb bolognese and parmesan. OMG. Lightest, fluffiest, gnocchi I’ve ever had. No chewing required — the gnocchi basically just melted in my mouth with a single bite. So this is the texture gnocchi is supposed to have…

Prime New York steak and shortribs with crisp potatoes, bacon and cipollini onion ragout. The steak was perfectly medium rare and the shortribs were perfectly tender. Redd just killed the execution of all our dishes!

And though I’m not a dessert person usually, we just had to order something off the dessert menu because the pastry chef here is supposedly a genius. We ordered the roasted apple tart with crema catalana and sweet fennel ice cream, which is baked fresh to order! Paired with some coffees, this was an absolute delight! The fennel ice cream was spot on.

There were so many other things I was dying to try on the menu like the glazed pork belly (one of their signature apps I believe) or the crisp duck confit with lentils, foie gras meatballs and crispy spaetzle. Killer cocktail menu too. I will definitely come back. Redd and Judd’s Hill, you made the cut for Napa trip number 2!