Sunday, December 20, 2009

Napa at Christmastime

In case you were curious about Napa's weather around Christmas: no, we probably won't get any snow. It was up around 60, though a chilly wind was blowing, yesterday, and the next couple of days it'll be in the fifties and raining. Not so different from the Pacific Northwest where I spent ten years, actually - maybe a little less rain...

We went to Sonoma square yesterday and looked at all the quaint shops and restaurants. I promised my husband (a super cook) a Chrismtas present from Sign of the Bear, a wonderful kitchen shop in the square that has everything from $7 sour cherry jam to $300 ceramic dutch ovens. It also has a dozen kind of honey dippers, butter holders, tablecloths, a wall of fancy knives, holistic kitchen products in scents like lavender and coriander, strawberry hullers and grapefruit spoons...) We came out with some new gadgets for the husband and some new tea for me (a mix of lemon balm, white tea, and lavender...mmmmm.)

We had also gone shopping in the mostly deserted shopping center in downtown Napa, not a lot of shoppers around and not even a lot of filled store fronts. I'm wondering what Napa city can do to revive its downtown. Of course, Annie's Chocolates (where we procured many holiday treats for our families back in the midwest) was still hopping.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Cracked tooth - Napa dentist recommendations?

Dear readers,
I have a cracked tooth that needs a crown, but am having a hard time finding a dentist in Napa Valley that anyone has anything good to say about.
If you have dentist recommendations for anywhere in Napa (I'm willing to drive up to an hour) please leave them in the comments section. Much appreciated!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Shopping Local

So, we had a lovely quiet Thanksgiving, with a duck breast and a bit of confit from The Fatted Calf, a delicata squash stuffed with cranberries, cornbread stuffing, grilled endive. We baked a pumpkin pie and husband G made ginger-flavored whipped cream for it.
We've decided to shop local for our midwestern families this Christmas, so we ventured out on Saturday after a bit of a small windstorm, only to discover that half the town - including the Oxbow market, half the shops downtown, the large Walmart, and most of the grocery stores were out of power. Crazy! I felt bad for the retailers, because you know how many lost sales that amounted to - and they were apparently out of power from 10 in the morning til 4 in the afternoon. Not since I'd lived on Bainbridge Island near Seattle had I seen so much power outage from such little wind!
So we tried again on Sunday, and this time were more successful. We got olive-oil lip balms made in Napa from California olives for the girls in the family, and olive tapenade (same.) We got merlot-flavored chocolates, merlot and port chocolate sauce and beer-flavored brittles for the guys from Annie's. We could ship wine but Ohio's wine laws for shipping are quite complicated and do not make it easy to ship wine there. What else is Napa famous for? We'll have to think up some more things to put in that basket.

Also, I did find a little park with a paved little walkway for our daily walks, called The Oxbow Preserve. They are still in the process of making it a park, but it has potential - river views, a little sign, a stroll through some large oak trees. It's no Central Park, but it's better than the other meagre offerings that Napa has to offer park-wise.

We have yet to stroll through the downtown lights, but Napa's little Christmas tree with its grape ornametns is up, I hear construction on Yountville's little library is finally finished, so hopefully we'll go out and up our Christmas spirits with a little Christmas-light viewing this week.

Happy Holidays!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

November in Napa and Zuzu review



Finally got to visit another restaurant in Napa, this time the little tapas restaurant in downtown called Zuzu. We tried to call for reservations on a Thursday, but nobody answered the phone. So we arrived and waited around for twenty minutes in the very crowded and loud room before we finally got a table.
My dinner-friends had some kind of fried cheese with a spicy pequillo pepper sauce, and I had a spanish tortilla (very tasty) and some spaghetti squash with apple cider reduction, which I enjoyed as well. I heard the sangria was good if a bit watered down. The waitress we had was nice, although our experience was a bit marred by the drunk frat-boy types on one side and a very loud man at the bar with an obnoxious horsey laugh on the other. A good place to come with friends, but maybe try it when it's a bit less crowded?

I continue to be disgruntled with Napa's lack of walkable, attractive parks. Had to take my out of town guest out to Yountville and Sonoma to stroll around any parks to observe the beautiful color of the trees turning. Sonoma's main square has a beautiful park with amazing giant eucaplyptus trees and tiny baby ducklings.

What does Napa have? Bupkiss! This may cause me to look elsewhere when we rent next year. Also, what do you do when people come in from out of town but don't want to go to any wineries? How do you entertain them? Ideas welcome!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Parks and Recreation

One thing about Napa that I've noticed is that there are not enough parks. Many of the places I've lived - like Richmond, VA or Bellevue, WA - take pride in their public spaces and provide ample and beautiful walking trails, gardens, and other park space. Napa - not so much. If you want to take a simple stroll, you'd either have to do it downtown on the riverfront (which currently has that closed-off, warning-bees sign problem) or pay to do it on winery grounds. It's a shame that with all this beautiful weather, it's left us searching for a place to enjoy it.
We did discover one downtown park worth strolling - Fuller Park. It seemed to have a handful of sleeping hobos in it at midday on a weekday for some reason, so it may get dicey after dark (?) Here is a shot of the picnic area:

Anyway, for shame, city of Napa! Surely you're making enough in tax revenue to designate and design some public park lands!

A revered tourist destination in Napa Valley - with a location in St. Helena and another next to Oxbow Market in the city of Napa - is Taylor's Refresher. Set up to look like an old-fashioned drive-in burger stand, it does have the usual burgers (using Niman's beef) but also an Ahi tuna burger, sweet potato fries, and shakes in flavors like espresso and white pistachio. We tried the onion rings (good!) and the cheeseburger (fine but not that much of an improvement from the much cheaper In-N-Out cheeseburger.) Again, this is a fun place to bring people from out of town - although they might gasp at the prices ($4 for onion rings, $7 for a cheeseburger) but it bustles and at least it's a good place to get a quickish bite. (It took us fifteen minutes to get our order.)

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Annette's Chocolates and a Monsoon


Two whole days it blustered and blew outside, leaving us in Napa with record rainfall. Yesterday the sun came out and it got back to seventy degrees, and we again ventured out to explore. (When I asked a local if Napa got snow in the winter, she said no, but they did get a lot of floods!) My sinuses go crazy whenever it rains - one of the reasons I had to leave my beloved Seattle - but Napa has enough dry days (I hope) ot make up for it.
We went to the Napa Town Center to check out new hotel Avia (beautiful!) and see some of the local stores. A lot of places for rent, again, which does make you feel the economy is affecting Napa.
The best part was a visit to Annette's Chocolates, which has an outpost in The Oxbow Market. This main store is so much better, I think the ideal candy store for an adult male, which is why I let my husband do much of the tasting. The kind lady at the counter offered him sample after sample of brittle: Kentucky Bourbon brittle, Fiery Beer brittle, Maple Harvest brittle, Chardonnet brittle. He liked them all, but in the end liked the complexity and subtlety of the regular, non-fiery Beer brittle the best. He also had some wonderful cherry ice cream (although the children getting ice cream at the counter recommended the seasonal pumpkin)and a dark truffle. What I liked the best about the store was the shopping potential - tiny bottles of Chocolate Port Sauce, one-pound bags of brittles, truffles in various wine flavors. I mean, really, it's a perfect Napa Christmas shopping stop - but the warm, enthusiastic service and vast options make it a really fun tourist destination when you get to Napa.

As a local, I was sad to see they did not have a "frequent buyer" option. Too bad!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Bistro Don Giovanni


Finally got dressed up to go out on our date (albeit still on crutches, so limited in my footwear choices...) to Bistro Don Giovanni. It's situated across from a vineyard, so you drive in and are greeted by this sculpture and - I thought this would be pretty novel for those of reading from other parts of the country - a fruiting persimmon tree.

The place had been highly recommended - especially the beet and green bean salad and the fig and prosciutto pizza, as well as the duck bolognese pasta. We had to sit indoors for some reason, which was super loud and crowded, but the service was fine, fast, etc. I wasn't blown away by the warmth or anything, but it was fine. There were, somewhat disconcertingly, a lot of flies inside the restaurant - the doors were wide open, but still, it's not very appetizing.
Anyway I started off with a sparkling strawberry lemonade and the husband had a glass of local Cabernet. The salad was by far the best thing we had - little orange beets and perfectly crisp green beans, and fennel, in a delicious avocado vinaigrette that I'd like to steal the recipe for. The pizza was covered with slices green figs and very little cheese or prosciutto, which bothered my husband more than it did me. (I guess after a few bites the figs are a tad sweet and could really use the salt of either more cheese or more prosciutto to balance them out. Literally, you could not see any prosciutto on the pizza.) Glenn's pasta duck bolognese was plain but fine; I had a small bite and I would have liked to actually taste the duck in the bolognese, but alas, it just tasted like a plain bolognese.
Anyway, with the loudness and the flies, we fled after just those courses, although we did linger around the lovely courtyard. Would have been nice to stroll afterwards but alas, the fountain was only accessible through stairs and it had a gravel path (not good for crutches.)

Anyway, I can see why you'd want to send tourists here - the view and the ambiance (besides the fly problem) were lovely, and gave a great sense of the peace and beauty of Napa Valley. However, the food was only "3-stars-out-of-five" good and not especially cheap. ($57 for my drink, husband's glass of wine, the salad, the pizza and pasta dish.) So, for us, this is a good place to bring out of towners but maybe not our regular hang out. Too bad, because the grounds are beautiful:

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Upcoming Bistro Don Giovanni, St Helena



Well, I am finally over the longest-stomach-flu-ever, and so we have made reservations at local "legendary" restaraunt Bistro Don Giovanni, famous for its friendly service and its fig-and-prosciutto pizza. I'm a fan of fig-and-prosciutto wood-fired pizza ever since I went to college and was introduced to it at Pomodori's Pizza in Cincinnati. (Still worth a stop if you're in Cinci - copper tables, fun bustling ambiance, and the pizza is the best in town.)


We drove out to St. Helena yesterday in hopes of finding a famous, wonderful big bookstore there - only to find that it was closed and the space for "For Lease." Another ghost-town-like aspect to Napa Valley these days - almost all the good bookstores have closed up shop. It was a beautiful drive, passing shining vineyard full of grapes after shining vineyard; the cobblestone pavement of St. Helena's downtown proved challenging since I was on crutches, and we stopped in at several charming shops. One thing I noticed - the crowds in the shops were low on the courtesty scale - for instance, large men never stepped aside for me, even though it was obvious I was having trouble navigating each shop around their girth; women clumped together in groups to make sure I wasn't able to pass. Californians = not polite? Maybe it's my Midwestern upbringing, but when I'm able footed, I always make sure the person on crutches can get by, and maybe offer to open a door for them? I guess the same qualities that make Californians (and their tourists) bad drivers (and that's not a myth) also makes them incourteous to people on crutches, note to self. We stopped at The Model Bakery and bought some delicious cinnamon-raisin bread as well as their pain au levain, both fantastic, and almost talked ourselves into buying some strawberry balsamic vinegar and butternut squash pasta sauce at The St. Helena Olive Company, but decided not to yet - our pocketbooks are still smarting from the move, and those bottles are very pricey.


In a bakery-to-bakery comparison, Model Bakery has better bread, but Bouchon Bakery has better pastries (though I mostly have to take my husband's word for that.) Also, I noticed that hardly any of the people in line at Bouchon spoke English; I heard French and Russian, but no American accents.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Oxbow Market and (closed) Copia


So, an excursion to the lovely Oxbow Markets in downtown Napa was really fun - and great inspiration for Christmas presents!
Because I've been a little stomach-flu-y, my husband did all the tasting for us - he got to sample locally-made ice cream in flavors like chocolate-lavender, lemon-passionfruit and banana-caramel cupcakes from Kara's Cupcakes, and blood-orange olive oil while I watched longingly...It is a beautiful set of little shops, restaurants, wine bars that made me think - Oh, I know what I am going to get everyone for Christmas! I mean, here's the gift potential: fiery beer or chardonnet brittles, tiny bottles of dessert liquours made here in town, local olive oils and olive oil lip balms, of course wines, botanical prints, kitchen antiques...consider yourselves warned, friends and family! But the funniest thing is I tried to get on the river walk trail behing the markets on my crutches, even though there was a closed gate and orange cones to keep people out, and I only got a couple of steps before I saw giant handwritten signs that said: "Caution: Bees!"
Restaurants are arranged kind of like an upscale food court: there's a Venezualan restaurant, a branch of the tourist-loved Taylor's Refresher, a wine tasting area, etc. Two things that brought joy to my husband's heart: a real-deal charcuterie and a branch of Model bakery. Just think of the sandwiches!
It's a shame that Copia - a beautiful building that houses - now - an empty restaurant, show-kitchen, classrooms, movie theater, offices and exhibition space - sits empty and closed, because it definitely gives a "ghost-town" feeling to downtown Napa despite new hotels like the Westin going up along the river, and new condos being built. I heard today it is officially up for sale - for 78 million!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Finding a doctor in Napa is tough...

Well, dear followers, so Napa is still beautiful with rolling hills and vineyards, but one thing has proven to be tough: finding a good doctor. It ended up being important because my first week here I sprained my ankle and caught a nasty stomach flu.
I tried all the board-certified doctors on my insurance list, and none of them were taking new patients, except one in a "concierge" medical service who charges $1200 a year to belong to his medical practice. Didn't seem ethical to me, so I tried a couple of non-board-certified family practioners - one whose office was so crowded with large families who spoke no English, I had to wait an hour and a half for five minutes with the doc - and another who was very friendly but didn't do any exam (you know, that whole - look at you on the table thing, stick things in your ears and throat.) Don't know why that made me nervous, but it did. So I'm trying a doctor in Yountville to see how that goes. There are also no "Urgent Care" centers in Napa, which is weird - Port Townsend, a small tourist town in Washington, smaller than Napa, had two, and San Diego was brimming with them. It's too bad, because you don't want to have to go to the hospital (which is nice) for basic care, right, because you can't find a doctor? So I say - open up an Urgent Care center, Napa - it seems there are no doctors available for the majority of newcomers!
Anyway, since I promised to chronicle living in Napa, good and bad, thought I'd include this saga...
Hope I have better luck with dentists and hair stylists...

Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Eagle Has Landed in Napa Valley


This weekend we moved into an apartment on the North side of Napa. We took a quick tour - found the hospital, got a library card, looked at the Oxbow Markets, took a quick walk by the Napa river. It's a lovely town - there are a lot of vacancies in the retail spaces right now, which is kind of sad, and a sign that the downturn has hit even here in Napa Valley.
We stopped into the local bookstore, Copperfield's Books, which I loved. They have readings, a great magazine collection including literary journals, graphic novels and comics (including Buffy the Vampire Slayer)as well as fun, unneccessary objects like scented markers and hedgehog-shaped erasers. The poetry section - I'm a poet, so that's the section I pay the most attention to - was small, but at least had a decent number of living poets on it. I didn't notice that many local writers there - at least they weren't showcased or anything.
The temperature - around 85 degrees and 60 percent humidity - seems lovely and dry after living in muggy Carlsbad.
So far, so beautiful! Now, to try to find a doctor who is still taking patients, a dentist, a hair stylist...

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Moving to Napa

I started this blog to have somewhere to talk about moving to and living in Napa. I looked for a blog like this while I was researching living here and couldn't find one, so here you go!

My husband and I are moving to Napa next week. We are planning to rent an apartment for a year, and possibly buy a house in another (if we succeed in saving up a down payment!) I'm a poet and poetry professor and my husband works in IT as a telecommuter, so Napa seemed like an ideal place for us - close enough to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, but since both enjoy small towns, far enough away to be charming and affordable.

If you have any advice for us as new Napa residents, please leave comments!