hello,
i hope everyone had a lovely mothers day!

Early Friday morning I flew out to San Francisco with a couple friends for a fun-filled weekend in Napa.  I’ve never been there and was more than excited about our trip.  After my visit to Bordeaux last fall, I couldn’t wait to visit a few of the 400+ wineries out in Napa, and I especially couldn’t wait to see and try some of the world-renowned restaurants.  I couldn’t believe how full these restaurants were when I made the reservations almost 2 weeks prior.  Most of them were already full! craze.

Once we arrived in San Francisco, we headed directly towards Napa to eat at Addendum in Yountville.

It’s the lunch version of Ad Hoc, and it was pretty much the cutest little lunch spot ever.

With only two choices, and knowing they are most notable for their fried chicken [and the fact that I don't eat pork...] the choice was easy peasy

We placed out orders for our box lunches from a little window and sat in the shade under the trees where we enjoyed a carafe of rose as we awaited our boxes.

Very quickly, we received our boxes of freshly cooked buttermilk fried chicken with swiss chard, potato salad, and honey cornbread

Totally set the tone to our fabulous weekend.

After lunch we headed over to Frogs Leap Winery for a tasting on their porch.
[It was a nice surprise to find out they are organic!]

 

I don’t think it would have been possible to ask for better weather.  The sun was out, there was a slight breeze, there was a plate of cheese… And of course, wines.  Perfect afternoon? I think so.

the porch overlooked this cute little garden and their vineyard

After finishing up our wines and nibbling on our cheeses we were off to Sullivan Vineyards for a late afternoon tasting.

If I were to imagine a small winery in Napa, Sullivan is pretty picturesque of what I would expect.  An adorable, family-run winery with kind people who love Napa.  We sat and chatted in the shaded courtyard where we enjoyed a tasting of 5 of their wines.

My friend, Christi, admiring the house…

We decided this house was very reminiscent of the Cullens home (from the Twilight movies), but a country version.

The other side of the courtyard [opposite edward cullens country home...hehe]

Eventually we headed back into Yountville where we checked into our hotel, Napa Valley Lodge, before getting ready to head out to dinner.  If anyone is planning on visiting the Napa area, I highly recommend this hotel.  It’s within walking distance of some of the best restaurants in Napa/Yountville as well as centrally located between all the wineries.  And…it has a complimentary champagne breakfast every morning.  Selling point?… I think so.  Or at least it was for my friends and I.  They had a nice buffet style assortment of breakfast items [fruits, waffles, bagels, eggs, pastries, cereal, breakfast meats, oatmeal, etc) that fills you up for a fun day around town.

Dinner was a 3 min drive away at Redd and I was so so excited.

I’ve been reading reviews for this restaurant and have basically only heard fabulous things.  As the three of us were rather indecisive, we all opted to go with the tasting menu with wine pairings.

Best decision ever.

Usually with tastings, the chef does the same plate for every person at the table, however, the chef at Redds would give each of us a different plate during the same course.  It was fun to see what he had in store for each of us and to also try each others plates.  I felt like I was really able to get a sense of all the great dishes at Redds and am totally sold.

Course one - sashimi of hamachi, sticky rice, edamame, soy ginger sauce

course 2 - lobster risotto
[i think this was my favorite of the night.]

Course 3 – salmon served over horseradish potatoes and fried oysters

Course 4 – ny strip with bone marrow crust with a side of short rib marmalad and creamed spinach

Course 5 – roasted quail served over quinoa

I was so into eating…I forgot to take a photo! – but I had quail while one of my friends had the sonoma duck breast with turnip puree, spinach, brown butter hazelnut and orange jus and the other had the glazed pork belly with apple puree, burdock, and soy caramel.

Course 6 – chocolate molten cake
[dark and chocolaty - yum]

These are some of the dishes my friends had:

an unpictured yellowfin tuna tartare, asian pear, avocado, chili oil, puffed rice, cilantro (course 1)

petrale sole, coconut jasmine rice, clams, chorizo, saffron curry nage (course 2)

caramelized diver scallops, cauliflower, capers, almonds, golden raisins

alaskan halibut, spring peas, braised radishes, sauteed gem lettuce (course 3)

a pan-fried fish (course 3)

lamb, pork, duck? (course 4)
I can’t remember! 

As the courses went on it got more and more difficult for me to remember what everyone had.  Too much food. and wine perhaps

I do remember the other dessert though!

donuts! with a grapefruit sorbet & glaze

After dinner we had a round of drinks at Hurleys and than called it a night as we had a full day planned for Saturday.
[campari + soda]

Saturday will have to be continued in my next post…

As (1) this is getting quite long…and (2) I wrote this post while I was flying home earlier, but didn’t get the pictures uploaded until just now.  And I just realized it’s already almost 1am and I have to be up in t-minus < 4 hours for my flight out east tomorrow.  Still need to go unpack and repack.

Make it a great week friends!