Napa Valley, Food & Drink Favorites

As I've already said a million times, I think Napa Valley hooked me with food.  It's no surprise - a popular place to travel, especially for the wealthy, would only attract the best.  And there is a lot of competition to be the next best place to eat in such a popular destination.

And we don't have to say too much about drink.  Duh, it's wine country.  Knowledge of great wines runs rampant.  Microbrews are widely popular, but there are a handful of places that we thoroughly enjoyed.

A few of our favorites:

Calistoga Inn & Brewery
The beers were de.lic.ious.  Their Oatmeal Stout was smooth, creamy, & so incredibly drinkable.  Our first night, we weren't very hungry but instead decided to try some appetizers.  Their crab cakes & seared tuna were perfection - the crab cakes were not overly breaded & processed like so many crab cakes & the seared tuna as cooked just perfect with a pink center & a surprisingly tasty seaweed salad.

Casa Nuestra
By far my favorite winery.  Totally off the beaten path with very friendly staff and an owner they claim is a self-described hippie.  And they allow dogs.  No better way to enjoy a winery than with a couple cute dogs hanging out.  Delicious wines.

Silverado Brewing Company
The only place we went to eat twice.  Two words: Lamb Burger.  Their beer was tasty, but their lamb burger was out-of-this-world delicious.  The flavors in the burger meshed so incredibly well - locally raised lamb, rosemary aioli, & feta were the three major players in a bite that was heaven in my mouth.  Angels sang, the heavens parted, & sun rays shone down.  Something about their feta was different than typical store-bought feta - it was creamier, slightly less tangy, & more similar to a shredded feta than crumbled feta.
Excuse me while I wipe drool off my laptop.

Gott's Roadside
According to the Milat winery owner, Gott's is a yuppie roadside diner.  It totally is & definitely a tourist trap, but they make some damn good "diner" food.  Thick, juicy burgers, tasty hot dogs, & super yummy garlic-parsley fries.

Zuzu's
Hands down, without a doubt, my favorite place.  It's a bit "fancier," but well worth the prices.  Service was excellent (a server that made excellent recommendations based on true knowledge of the products), food was ahhhhhhhhhhmazing, & atmosphere was warm.  I would recommend a trip to Napa Valley solely to eat at ZuZu.  We shared three tapas: Jamon Iberico de Bellota with Grilled Garlic Bread & Olive-Anchovy "Garum," Pan-Fried Manchego w/Roasted Poblano Chiles & Guajillo Sauce (we think the manchego would have been better without being fried), & Niman Ranch Pork Meatballs w/PX Sherry & Piquillo Pepper Sauce.  Since we were splurging, we went for dessert & had tres leches cake with mango curd.  I just fainted from memory of that dessert.  The cake was not soggy like many tres leches can be, but perfectly moist.  And the mango curd.  The mango curd.  Oh my.  The mango curd.  Words escape me.

I loved it all.  There are more places we ate & drank not mentioned, but we enjoyed everywhere we went.