The Appellation Trail

Hello from Napa Valley, California!

Mom and I are having a blast. This place is beautiful. Who knew that vineyards changed color in the fall? More on that later. First things first - food!

Last night, we were fortunate enough to attend the grand tasting of Flavor! Napa Valley... "The Appellation Trail." At first I was pretty sure we had a typo on our hands.  But after a little research { thanks, Google } I discovered that, in fact, "appellation" is word. And not surprisingly, it has to do with wine production.

Appellation - noun -\ˌa-pə-ˈlā-shən\ 

A geographical name (as of a region, village, or vineyard) under which a winegrower is authorized to identify and market wine; also : the area designated by such a name

So we "toured" the various sub-appellations of Napa, along with the food and wines they produce, all  from the comfort of the Culinary Institute.

Mom and I tasted... and tasted... and tasted.  Everything was unbelievably delicious, but these were our favorites.

Grilled Rack of Lamb over caviar potato salad by Richard Blais.  Holy wow.

Oh.  And we met him.  Such a nice guy! I so badly wanted to ask how on earth you make a milkshake with liquid nitrogen.

You know if there are sweets, I will find them.  Check out this tower of goodies from Anette's Chocolates! I loved the Himalayan Salted Caramel at bottom left. See the Chardonnay Wine Brittle, too?

Chef Michael Collins from Siena at the Meritage Resort & Spa brought a trio of delicacies - Curry Crusted Scallops, Cinnamon and Star Anise Braised Short Ribs and Seared Ahi Tuna with Dungeness Crab Salad.  Like whoa.

Then, from Gott's Roadside, there were incredible Smoked Chicken Sliders. The bread and butter pickle was "crucial", if you will. : )

Chef Dave Cruz from Ad Hoc brought Pulled Pork over Sweet & Yukon Gold Potato Cakes with Bleu Cheese Celery Salad.  I could have eaten a whole plate of the potatoes.

There was Beff Bourguignon with Creamy Polenta from Chef Philippe Jeanty and Bistro Jeanty.  Sorry the picture is bad, but it was too delicious not to show you.  I've got to figure out how to make this polenta. Stat.

There were well-known chefs everywhere we turned.  Like Masaharu Morimoto.

We tried his Congee Clam Chowder from Morimoto Napa.  It was definitely different.  Good, but different from what one would usually expect from Clam Chowder.

Last but not least, we tasted two different crostini from Michael Chiarello's Bottega.  In the foreground is Braised Rabbit { my first taste of rabbit - delish! }.  The background is NapaStyle Marinated Parmesan.  Kind of like a pesto.

Oh you know, just a usual, quiet Friday night. : )

{ Stay tuned... the actual Bake-Off is Sunday! }