Eating and Drinking Through Napa Valley

Here's post two from our honeymoon adventures in California.

For the second part of our trip, we drove to the lovely and absolutely gorgeous Napa Valley to stay for a few days and visit some wineries.

It was amazing there. Perfect weather in the 70s, delicious food everywhere, breathtaking vineyards and some tasty wine.

We started out our first day at Model Bakery where we enjoyed hot tea and an amaaaazing breakfast sandwich. It was a great way to start out a day of wine tastings!

Oh and the night before we had one of the most memorable and delicious 4-course meals at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena. 

This place is beautiful and had some wonderful culinary offerings. All of the chefs are students at the school and two students came up with the pre-fixe menu that we ate from. It was a delicious mix of manicotti, spicy prawn salad, roast chicken with faro and the BEST dessert plate I may have ever had.

It was walnuts 5 ways (from left): the BEST baklava ever, a fig tart with walnut, walnut goat cheese topped with balsamic vinegar and cherries, walnut ice cream and walnut brittle. It was nuts...in a good way. 

We had a wine and food tasting at Round Pound Estate, where they produce wine as well as olive oil. It was a gorgeous terrace tasting. We got to soak in the complex wine flavors as well as the beautiful vineyard surrounding us.

The next day we visited Joseph Phelps Vineyard for another terrace tasting!

After that, we made a stop at Dean and Deluca for a snack of egg salad and rosemary bread.

For our last dinner out, we discovered a gem of a restaurant in downtown Napa at the Carpe Diem Wine Bar. Our dinner began with olives stuffed with goat cheese and fried to a crispy deliciousness. Then, Jason had one of the best burgers we have ever tasted: an ostrich burger with truffle fries. It was so tender and had amazing flavor.

Along with my new favorite white whine Truchard Vineyard's rousson (that unfortunately you can't buy anywhere, especially in Arkansas), I enjoyed the quack and cheese. It was a hearty mac and cheese mixed with duck confit.

And we split some homemade twix bars for dessert.

All in all, it was a culinary feast of a trip!