Give Me Some Food

Welcome to Skyline Park in Napa. You probably had no idea that this park existed because when you go to Napa, you go wine tasting. Felix and I aren't very good at wine tasting. He gets sick, I get drunk, and then we are usually stuck on a park bench somewhere outside some random winery, waiting to feel better/sober before we can leave. In Napa, I actually much prefer to do my wine tasting at night with dinner- a tasting menu and a wine pairing. So, what should we do during the day in Napa Valley?

1) Go to Copia.
2) Go buy expensive painting of grapes.
3) Go hiking and get hungry for that tasting menu.

We have done #1 and are not rich enough for #2, so we chose  #3:

The views from Skyline Park are pretty amazing- you can see the whole Bay Area. And the park was empty (because everyone was probably out wine tasting) except for five hardcore bikers. That's why Felix and I almost had a heart attack when about 3 miles into the park we heard a distinct snort about 50 yards in front of us. Now I knew that horses were allowed in this park, so I thought maybe it was a horse- but no horse ever appeared.

I think it was a wild pig. That's upsetting. So upsetting that we may wine taste instead of hike the next time we are in the Napa Valley.

Anyway, we did also have some awesome food.

The Better than Expected Dinner: Farm at the Carneros Inn

We love the Carneros Inn. It's like if any of John Steinbeck's characters came into money, this is the resort they would build. Visit it and you'll know what I mean.  So the Carneros Inn has a new restaurant called Farm and I had one of the best dishes of the year there:

That is a persimmon and crab salad. Wow. I can't say enough about the perfection of these persimmons! Probably the best I'd ever consumed because they were at their perfect ripeness. And the sweet fruit with the savory crab salad was not only a great match in flavor, but in texture as well.  I was told the item was put on the menu only two days before because the crab and persimmon season just came up. Brilliant combo.

The Worse than Expected Dinner: Redd

Sorry, but the expectations were too high. The food was great- but nothing really stood out and there was way too much food in the tasting menu. I will say that I did like style of the tasting menu: each person got a different dish per course, so instead of tasting five dishes, you were really tasting ten (if like your dining partner and share with him/her). Yet, in each pair there was always one dish that stood out, and one that was kind of forgettable.

Like this dish- it was white fish and that's about all I know or want to remember. I will say that the service was excellent- our waiter wrote down all the wines we tasted on our menu and the whole staff was very attentive.

The Impressive Service Move:

The staff at the Boon Fly Cafe and Farm are the same. So when I told our waitress at the Boon Fly Cafe that the crab and persimmon salad from the night before was one of the best dishes I'd eaten all year, she told the chef, and he brought out some of these guys (on the house):

homemade donuts.

Snort.