Napa? Sonoma?

Who would win in a fight? Napa or Sonoma? (Wellll... Napa would probably win... IMHO), but Sonoma would put up a good fight. Point is, it's really not necessary to choose one over the other. Napa/Sonoma are both gorgeous places, full of great people who love to make great wine and we are the lucky beneficiaries of their labors.
Here are pics with blogger compadres Neil and Scott during my last trip to Napoma/Sonapa.

Coming soon... Napa!!

This is an ancient intro to Falcon Crest (a spin-off of Dynasty). The home they used in the footage is actually Spring Mountain Vineyard in St. Helena (Napa Valley). When I first visited Napa as an adult (just a little over a year ago), I thought of that music.

Below is even more footage of Sping Mountain Vineyard, courtesy of Conan O'Brien. I will be visiting Napa and Sonoma again in a few days. Looking forward to it!!!

Culinary Institute of America, Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, (St. Helena, CA)

The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone ....It looks kind of dark and foreboding, but is really incredible inside!

I had the chance to visit here a few weeks ago during a trip to Napa. Located right next door to Beringer in St. Helena, the building houses the restaurant and the Culinary Instutue, where Brother Timothy (of Christian Brothers) made brandy and wine for many years.


Outside eating area.




Watching the Chefs work their magic.




Let's get to the food!
For starters, my friend Jeff and I had "Today's Temptations" (an amuse bouche).

Amuse Bouche: (pictured from top) A pepper sauteed with tomato salsa (surprisingly, the pepper was not hot at all). Next (where the fork is) a Spring roll, and on the left is salmon mousse with capers and crème fraîche on crostini.


Olives & Olive Oil on the table. Nice touch.





For my entree, I ordered the Spring Chicken with this Fresh tomato-part-salad-with-stuffing creation... Hard to explain and I should have taken pictures! Arrrgh. Wine: Groth Sauvignon Blanc.
The few pics I did take were of the amuse bouche and the French Onion soup, which the lady sitting next to me was having.. and, according to her, was absolutely wonderful.. it looked incredible with a big pile of Gruyere chese baked on top.



Thanks nice lady, for letting me take pictures of your soup!





The restaurant offers seating at the bar near the Chef's station (these are seasoned Chefs, not students). There is also more traditional restaurant seating, and also outdoor seating... which looked quite lovely. The waiter who took care of us was very attentive, and the food was excellent and fresh (the Spring Chicken was incredibly flavorful, I asked if they brined the chicken, but they said no). The price was very reasonable for Napa standards. I didn't have enough time to tour the entire facility... apparently during the day, they have cooking demonstrations. But I did check out their Kitchen store/Bookstore which had all the latest and greatest. I'm looking forward to visiting and eating there again.

Below is their website link. Nice wine list!
http://www.ciachef.edu/restaurants/wsgr

Conan does Napa

Conan O'Brien goes to Spring Mountain Vineyard.