Napa 4 Food

The GOOD:
During a recent visit to the Napa Valley Nina & I had the delight of enjoying a nice lunch at the Napa Valley Grille. A combination of breads with olive oil/balsamic vinegar started off the meal. I orders a wine flight called "Red Red Wine" which included an amazingly complex Burgess Syrah. This was followed with a delicious plate of Fritto Misto which consists of fried calamari & rock shrimp and a elaborate collection of vegetables including squash and sour-spicy fried peppercinos. A lovely drizzle of a light rosemary aioli decorated the top of the fried goodness and a hearty puttanesca sauce along the west perimeter of the dish is included for measured combining with the fried bits of heaven. Can you tell I loved this dish? Indeed!
My main dish was the Kobe Burger. It was a melagne of tastes drawn from the aged cheddar, bacon, onion and spicy remoulade. Another delight that paired well with the trio of wines I chose for the afternoon. The dish came with crispy seasoned fries that are among my favorites fries ever.

The best meal of the trip! I will return to the Napa Valley Grill the next time I am in town.


The BAD:
RINGS at the Embassy Suites was horrible. We decided to eat at the hotel because we had spent nearly 10 hours on the road and were not looking to drive around looking for a place. Next time we will not make the same mistake. We could have dropped in at Kelly's No Bad Days Cafe and paid 1/4 of the price for a better meal.


All the rest:
Well Bouchon was a disappointment as the steak I had was uninspired, but their take on gnocchi was quite good. Their Bakery in Yountville has lots of goodies and seems to have a line out the door most times of the day. I recommend the macaroons especially espresso and vanilla flavor. They have good sandwiches too.

On the last day a visit to Kelly's No Bad Day's Cafe was quite good. I enjoyed the BLT salad and wished that I had room for their deserts as they were numerous and looked very delicious.

The wine tasting in NAPA... eh, not that good. Rather sad.