Reader Help: Napa and San Francisco

by Caitlin

My husband and I have an upcoming trip to California. Specifically, a long wedding weekend in Napa followed by a brief swing through Monterey and Carmel, then a few days in San Francisco. This is how we've done several of our trips in recent years, by the way: Check yes on the reply card, book a vacation around the destination wedding. I highly recommend it as a method of going on lovely vacations you never would have otherwise. (I can pretty much guarantee you we'd never have made it to Jamaica or St. Louis otherwise.)

You may not know this about me, but I absolutely love traveling. One of my very favorite parts about being a grown up (aside from eating frozen yogurt for dinner) is being able to travel wherever I want, time and money permitting. My love of seeing new places is rivaled only by my love of researching, planning, and google mapping the hell out of our given destination. I'm not exactly a Type A personality, but my travel research methodologies and accompanying, color-coded spreadsheets might lead you to believe otherwise.

I get some kind of high from finding a gem of a hotel (good location, good price, high on local charm? Yes please.), a good restaurant, a fun activity with advanced tickets to avoid lines. I won't go on a trip without having read up on everything first, mapping out distances and routes to various destinations, planning tentative itineraries for each day, and color-coding it all on a spreadsheet.

Zach is happy to have me handle on this, particularly given my proven track record of awesome vacation planning. Though we do discuss everything leading up to it, I'm the one scouring reviews on Trip Advisor.

Then - wait for it - once we get where we're going, we do whatever we feel like doing, itinerary be damned. For me it's not about planning something and sticking to the plan: It's about having a good sense of where we'll be, things that we might want to do, and places we might want to go. We usually go with a few Must Dos on our list, and otherwise just see what each day brings. I generally do better when I'm prepared and know what to expect, but I'm also not interested in forcing myself to follow a plan just because it was Already Planned. Because hey! It's vacation! And luckily Zach is the same way. The result is that we end up striking the perfect balance between seeing a new place and getting to relax.

All of which brings me to: California.

I'd love your help with a few things.

1) We have a lot planned already, and given our limited time in each area that means we'll be pretty busy. But I can't resist getting your advice on what to see and do, particularly when it comes to food. Here what's on our list. Some of this is Want To Do, some is what's already planned due to wedding activities, meeting friends, etc. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it all.

We'll be swinging through Muir Woods on our way to Napa. Where should we have lunch along the San Francisco-Muir Woods-Napa trail?

While in Napa and the surrounding area:

Dinner at Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc.

Brunch at Domaine Carneros.

Brunch at Domaine Chandon.

The Del Dotto Cave Tour.

Breakfast at Thomas Keller's Bouchon bakery.

(Thomas Keller twice, I know, but since we can't get into French Laundry, we'll take what we can get. Hey, can anyone get us into French Laundry? I'm not above begging strangers on the internet.)

Mustards Grill.

Browsing Oxbow Market.

After that we're swinging through Carmel and Monterey on our way to San Francisco. I've heard good things about Katy's Place for breakfast and lunch. Any other recs?

Then it's on to San Francisco where we have reservations at Gary Danko. I will be making a stop at See's Candies to buy out the entire store, basically (a tradition when I'm on the west coast!), and other than that we want some damn good Chinese food of some sort and to try Blue Bottle coffee.

Here's a picture of all the pants that will button after all this:

photo from wikipedia.

Do you have any recommendations or feedback on the above? I love hearing about other people's adventures and experiences!

2) Zach and I are typically beer drinkers, but we do enjoy the occasional glass of red wine. (We also enjoy vodka and gin, even though Ron Swanson might have a problem with that.). We're good little students, though, and we've been diligently doing our homework before our trip, trying various white wines. So far we've had hits with Martin Ray Chardonnay and Abbeyville. In my incredibly amatuer opinion they were smooth, not too acidic, not too oaky, and that's what I liked about them.  

I also took my friend Kate's advice and have a bottle of Big House White chilling in the fridge now.

(PS, If you're not reading Kate's blog you should be, and not just for pictures of her deliciously edible baby daughter.)

Any other whites you'd recommend along those lines? Any specific wineries we should visit while in Napa? I'd love to hear your advice on anything above!

Lay it on me, friends!

(And seriously, who's got the French Laundry hook up?)

Comments

[Rhi]

We went to Napa last October when I was approximately 300 months pregnant for my husband's 40th. We looooved ad hoc so much. SO MUCH. In Napa, I highly recommend Tyler Florence's restaurant Rotisserie & Wine. Food is great and as a bonus, we got to meet him!

[Elissa]

I'm no help on the French Laundry front, but I have the perfect place for you to eat while you're in Monterey: Passionfish (http://www.passionfish.net/). No relation to the Passionfish in Reston. It's in Pacific Grove, right next door to Monterey. They only serve sustainable fish and they have a fun and affordable wine list. It's been a few years since I ate there but we had a fabulous time.

For Chinese in San Francisco try Yank Sing for dim sum--a little bit pricey but really good. Another fun SF place is Burma Super Star (http://www.burmasuperstar.com/index.html). Location in the inner Richmond is a bit off the beaten track but the food is awesome. Also definitely check out the Ferry Building in SF--a food lover's paradise, with good restaurants and all kinds of mouth-watering shops.

You're going to have such a great time--please report back on what you ate!

[Jennie]

In the city, there's a gelato place on Taraval (pretty near the park) (http://www.yelp.com/biz/marco-polo-italian-ice-cream-san-francisco) and while this is a childhood favorite, it's stood the test of time when I've visited as an adult. Seriously, it's AMAZING. The arcabaleno flavor is the stuff of my dreams.

[Ally]

you just described my honeymoon: Napa and San fran, all about the food. (my waist has never been the same). We did Ad Hoc, LOVED, Bouchon Bakery was closed due to a fire, Bottega - LOVED, Brix 52 - LOVED, in the Oxbow Market took a gourmet walking tour, but if you are staying in the market stop by Annette's for brittle and the olive press for olive oil tastings, and the mexican coffee was amazing, stayed at Candlelight Inn (expensive but amazing), did Del Dotto - LOVED, also loved the champagne tasting at Mumm, went on hot air balloon ride - life changing, also loved the wines at Frank Family Winery (although tour was not exciting), got tacos at La Luna Tacqueria, yum,then in SF went to Cliff House, great, stayed at Chateau Tivoli (not in great neighborhood, but totally amazing B&B), had lunch at The House, so great, dinner at Boulevard, amazing, lunch at Kokkari, yummy. Now we want to retire to Napa we loved it so much!

[stephanie]

I've never been to Napa, but I LOVE San Francisco, so my suggestions are focused there (although definitely go to Katy's Place!)...

Definitely hit up Blue Bottle and make sure to buy some beans to bring home. My husband goes out there 1-2 times per year and I make him stock up.

We did the TCHO factory tour, which was pretty interesting, but their chocolate is just also super delicious and hard to find around here so it's worth it to just stop in the store and try out samples. (Whole Foods used to carry it, but sadly doesn't any more.)

If you're in San Francisco when the Ferry Building farmers market is open, you should definitely go. Free samples everywhere, plus a lot of vendors who actually sell street food made from what's at the market.

Humphry Slocombe (in/near the Mission District) has really good ice cream in all kinds of weird flavors.

Also, since you mentioned you were beer drinkers, 21st Amendment is good and Toronado Pub has a great beer list.

[Rebecca (Bearca)]

I second the Passionfish recommendation in Pacific Grove. YUMMY and great wines that are surprisingly affordable.

Napa is my happy place, though. We ate at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville (it is a block or two down the street from Bouchon) and it was an amazing meal. We also ate at Redd, which was ANOTHER amazing meal. Bottega is also good. Our waiter there had been working for Chiarello for like 25 years and we ended up seeing his picture in the Bottega cookbook that we ended up buying later!

Basically you can't go wrong in/around Napa, as you can't throw a rock without hitting a life-changing restaurant!

Oh, and we stayed at the Milliken Creek Inn and I CANNOT recommend it highly enough. It was the most romantic, relaxing place we have ever stayed. It's tiny and it isn't cheap, but MAN was it ever worth it.

Bottom line: I LOVE NAPA.

[elz]

Try the Girl and the Fig in Sonoma, it is amazing.

MUST visits- Cakebread (their Chardonnay and reds are not to be missed) and SCHRAMSBERG- all caps required. Their sparkling wine (not chanpagne) is world renowned for a reason, you must see th ecaves and watch the riddle the wine. It is SO MUCH better than Chandon. No contest really.

[elz]

I promise I can type and spell, my keyboard is sticky. Oh, and Mustards is also really good. Different from an Ad Hoc for sure. We liked just picknicking at lunch-grab something from a deli, or Dean and DeLuca and just sit outside one of the wineries.
Check censationalgirl.com for great Napa/Sonoma hidden gems.

But seriously, Cakebread and Schramsberg-you won't regret it.

[Moira]

If you are headed up Hwy One on your way to Monterey, stop at Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing - http://www.philsfishmarket.com/ It's awesome!

[Ellen]

I'm from the Bay Area and came over from Google Reader to tell you that you MUST go to Passionfish in Monterey, but I see other people have that one covered. Seriously, it's one of my very favorite restaurants ever.

For your SF/Muir Woods/Napa day, there is very little by way of restaurants near Muir Woods. I'd personally eat a filling breakfast in the city, bring some snacks and water bottles for Muir Woods, and then have a late lunch/early dinner in Napa. Don't miss the Marin Headlands on your way to Muir Woods. Looking back over the Golden Gate bridge and the city is one of my favorite views.

Once in Napa, we do love Mustards, but I may like Brix even better. That's a tough call. (Sorry, I'm no help with the French Laundry, either.)

Have fun!!

[jennielynn]

Rombauer makes a fantastic chardonnay, buttery and delicious. Wente's Riva Ranch Chardonnay is one my favorites, but they are in Livermore. Have a fun trip!

[Heather]

Seconding The Girl + Fig recommendation...I STILL have a Food Lush post bouncing around in my head about the salad that I had for dinner a couple of weeks ago...hey, maybe I'll respond to this post with a post of my own. (Jennie said I could!!!) Seriously, The Girl + Fig is AMAZING.

If you're willing to drive over to Sonoma (20 minutes?) go to that restaurant, and go to Cline Wineries. Every single wine I tasted, red & white, was amazing.

Last recommendation: TAKE.ME.WITH.YOU. I am VERY ready to go back.

[Blythe]

We did a girls' weekend in Napa last fall and it was fantastic. Recommendations:
Farmstead Restaurant in St. Helena - wonderful comfort food and really nice outdoor area for drinks
Harvest Inn - beautiful hotel
Auberge du Soleil restaurant was lovely - we ate lunch outdoors and enjoyed the view. (We had pizza/appetizers and it was quite economical as well.)

[Duncan Hannah]

We did Napa and SF for our 20th anniversary. great trip. While in SF, we actually stayed in an old hotel halfway up the hill in Sausalito, overlooking the bay and Alcatraz. There are lots of wineries n Napa, off course, but the one we enjoyed the most was Korbel, on the Russion River. they were one of the few to survive prohibition and how they did it was pretty interesting.

It could be a stop on the way to Napa or from Napa to SF. BTW, take the coast road (route 1) down to SF. High up, no guardrails, it will remind you of Gibralter. My reaction was the same.....

[Caitlin]

I'm late responding here, but thank you all so much for your lovely and educational comments! Zach and I have concluded that we will go to all of these places, and try all these wines, we're moving to Napa. The End.

This has been seriously helpful. I love Food Lush readers.

[Daniela]

If you want a French Laundry type restaraunt, CYRUS in Healdsberg actually gets better reviews and it is an experience!

Also one of my favorite wineries to go to is a teeny one called Elizabeth Spencer and it's right across the street from Rutherford Grill in the old Naps post office