The Oakville Grocery Store sells artisan foods, lots of cheeses, Californian Wines local foods, prepared foods and sandwiches for takeout.
Some baked goods.
I was surprised to find a lot of Arizona Hayden Flour Mills products.
We took out our fresh tasty sandwiches to eat because there are no eateries along the Silverado Trail. Sampled wine from many wineries. The atmosphere was stunning.
www.OakvilleGrocery.com
The Acacia House by Top Chef Master Chris Cosentino is located in the Las Alcobal Hotel in St Helena California. The cuisine served is Californian Style that is bold yet refined. The restaurant is in a restored victorian mansion with a wrap around porch. Inside is modern and and with tones of mostly grey.
Today we were here for the Three Course $29.00 Lunch.
We both started with the sweet gem lettuce, bagna cauda (Italian anchovy garlic dip), crispy boquerones (marinated white anchovy), grated cheese and olive oil croutons.
WOW! What a great salad…..it’s like an extra special Caesar salad. the croutons are so light and tender and seem buttery but they are buttery from olive oil. the bagna cauda is the dressing and the boqurones are like tasty prizes in the salad.
For my main I got the avocado toast with smoked salmon, salad option instead of fries and $4.00 add on of salmon caviar.
It’s a knife and fork sandwich made on multigrain toasted bread. It’s dressed with a generous amount of creamy avocado that’s topped with silky thinly sliced salmon, shaved radish, salmon caviar and horseradish watercress. It all goes together well and doesn’t seem too heavy. There’s different textures going on with the sandwich. There’s crusty, creamy, silky, crunchy, herbal and popping. It’s all very good. The salad is lightly dressed with a slightly sweet almost creamy dressing that is slightly refreshing with the sandwich.
My husband goes for the pasta of the day that is rigatoni with 24 hour braised pork sugo.
He received a generous plate of well made rigatoni dressed with tender flavorful braised pork that was embellished with grated cheese and herbs. I just kept hearing…”this is REALLY GOOD!”
As great as that all was then we are gifted with really great desserts.
This is an example of a perfect lemon meringue. Everything about it is delicious! The thin crust is delicious. The meringue is delicious and charred……and doesn’t taste like egg white. But it is the lemon that really makes it. This is PERFECT….the right amount of lemon taste. Just the perfect tartness and not too sweet….It’s perfect.
We also share what they called a chocolate mousse.
It’s a very generous portion and it’s very detailed. Besides the mousse there’s a fennel pollen cream mixed with creme fraiche. Theres biscotti and a crunchy chocolate cookie. The mousse is very creamy and thick….to me it seems like a chocolate pot de creme and seems laced with something sort of fennel-like.
WOW the Acacia House by Chris Cosentino knocked it out of the park!
The Acacia House by Chris Cosentino is WORTH A FORK!
www.LasAlcobasNapaValley.com
Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
La Calenda is a casual Oaxaco Style Mexican Restaurant located in Yountville California. This is a casual restaurant and doesn’t take reservations. They offer indoor seating, bar seating and a dog friendly patio. One would never guess that La Calenda is of the Thomas Keller group of restaurants but it is located in walking distance from Bouchon and Ad Hoc/Addendum.
On our first visit I got a mixed drink called Alma de Flor and it’s a drink that sounds pretty but came in a scull glass.
It was made with Mexican Rum, Gentian Amaro, Passionfruit Liquor, Creme de Cacao and Lime. My husband got a Margarita.
For dinner I had the Pescado Zarandeado Verde.
This was FORKING INCREDIBLE like from another planet delicious! It’s a very light meal but just right for me today. It’s branzino fish that is so fresh and light and dressed with really scrumptious Hoya Santa leaf marinade with greens and this equals scrumptious salsa avocado tomatillo on the side…….OHHHhhhhhhh it’s just a BOMB of delicious!
My husband got the Puerco en Mole Verde that came with two hand made purple tortillas and he also ordered a side of refried beans. (pork Jowl with white beans)
I’d say that this dinner is also for a lighter appetite but this plate was so delicious to my husband that he also wanted to return before our trip was over.
So we did!
Tonight they offered a Tuna Aguachile that also blew us away with flavors. DANG it was so amazing…….I could eat and drink the whole thing.
Then we shared three of the tacos. Oddly the tacos were very generous in size unlike the dinners……….? I didn’t expect that.
First we tried the mushroom tacos.
The Mushroom Tacos are big, meaty and delicious.
The fish tacos were batter dipped and covered with a mayonnaise based sauce and a chili vinegar sauce. They were fried nicely and were mild and meaty.
These tacos were both very good but the OMG FORKING INCREDIBLE Tacos were the Tacos de Pollo Pible…..OMG SUPER FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS!
Somehow achiote grilled chicken, sour orange pickled onions and habanero salsa is far more delicious than I can ever describe. WOW what FORKING amazing flavors! If I was here longer we might have made a third visit to try more!
La Calenda is Worth a Fork!
www.LaCalendaMex.com
Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
I tasted and drank the MOST FORKING AMAZING things in Napa California. I’ve been to Napa many times over the years and have been to many of the restaurants and many of the wineries. But Napa doesn’t stay the same. Wineries and some restaurants come and go. Many smaller wineries are getting sold to large wineries. I also noticed that there is a new more hip Napa now. Tasting have gone up dramatically in prices in Napa. Not all but many tasting rooms now are lounges with servers instead of bars you taste at.
This isn’t your grandpa’s Napa Tasting Room (The Prisoner). They seat you here and serve you some dip with crackers. (tasting was around $45.00)
Even old school wineries like Trefethen have converted to the new hip modern way.
(Clos du val)
Some tasting rooms are also show rooms for goods. We did a tasting at a Ralph Lauren Showroom. I did my tasting sitting on a $7,605.00 leather chair. (Trident Wines)
But not every tasting room is multi million dollar building.
The finest wine I tasted came from this bare bones shack and it was called Pina. Not only was the wine the finest the tasting fee was also the cheapest ($20.00 a tasting)
The Food
Protea a casual Caribbean-Latin-Global order at the counter restaurant with a daily changing menu.
Torc – a new American restaurant. Highly recommended by the locals but what drew me in was that truffles were on the menu.
The Silverado Trail is without restaurants so if one is doing those wineries chances are that you will do a stop at the Oakville Grocery.
Bistro Jeanty serves classic French Foods.
The Acacia House by Top Chef Master Chris Cosentino is in a renovated victorian mansion. They serve Californian Cuisine that’s bold yet refined.
La Calenda is a casual Oaxaco Mexican Restaurant that is part of the Thomas Keller Group.
Gott’s Roadside is a casual American Eatery with several locations.
Bottega is an Italian Restaurant by celebrity chef Micheal Chiarello.
Addendum is only open Thursday – Saturday for lunch (11:00-2:00) and is by Chef Thomas Keller. They only serve three different boxed lunches with changing sides. It has been said by many publications that the fried chicken is the best in the country.
That was just a taste….here are some pictures to savor.
This was just a little taste of where the FORK I’ve been……..Napa California.
