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A Day in the Napa Valley: Celebrating Mike’s Birthday

September 13, 2024 / / 0 Comments

A perfect day reliving old memories and making new ones

This year, we celebrated Mike’s birthday in the Napa Valley. It was his idea. As we talked about possibilities, he mentioned he’d like to get a mud bath. And that, of course, meant going to Calistoga – the closest place for such experiences. Once that was decided it was a matter of choosing what to do for the rest of the day.

I knew, almost immediately, that we’d start by having sandwiches at Guigni Deli in St. Helena. We’ve been going there for decades and they make the absolute best sandwiches in the world. I can’t imagine visiting the Napa Valley and not hitting Guigni’s. The sandwiches were as good as ever.

I looked and looked and looked for activities to do between St. Helena and Calistoga that didn’t include wine tasting, but it was pretty much impossible. There are a few art galleries in both towns, but wine tasting is otherwise it. So I just went with the flow and decided our next stop would be Mumm, the maker of sparkling wines. It was a perfect way to continue our day. The champagnes were delicious and the whole experience very relaxed.

We had some time to kill before our next wine tasting experience, so we headed back to St. Helena to grab some ice cream at A Roman Holiday Gelato. I was luckier than Mike with my ice cream choice, but I was nice and shared with the birthday boy.

We then headed to our second wine tasting experience at Tank Garage Winery. Here, we tasted the worst wines ever – and we have tasted wines in some very iffy places. They just sucked, but the experience was cool.

It was then time for our mud baths at Golden Have Hot Spring Spa & Resort. I’d chosen this place as they had couples mud baths and it was a great experience. While we waited, we had water infused with different fruits that was quite tasty – so even this ended up having a culinary aspect to it.

The mud baths are in a private room which also includes a shower. The bathtubs are laid out in an L configuration with your feet towards the middle – so that you can see each other. The mud was very, very hot, and while you get used to it, it can be a pretty intense experience. It was very relaxing, however.

Showering off the mud, on the other hand, took far longer than we thought. It was our fault – we should have put our hair in a bun and kept if away from the mud. As we didn’t, we spent forever removing it from our heads.

It was then time for a cooler dip in a jacuzzi tub. Mike enjoyed it a lot, but I was still overheated and couldn’t deal with even warm water.

We were then taken to a relaxation room, where we laid on beds with cucumbers over our eyes while soft music played. It was very nice and helped us cool down.

Finally, we got to hang out in the pool, filled with mineral water from the area. It wasn’t at all crowded, the water wasn’t too hot, and it was a very fun experience. They had showers with shampoo and conditioner, so we could get our hair back to normal before we headed for dinner.


Dinner, at the Mustard Grill, was also great. Not my entree, mind you, but the place is a lot of fun and Mike loved his food – and it was his birthday.

In all, it was a perfect day that brought together. I’ll just have to plan more like this one.

A Day in the Napa Valley: Mustard Grill

September 13, 2024 / / 0 Comments

This Napa Valley classic has outstanding service and a fun atmosphere.

Mustard Grill has been a staple in the Napa Valley for four decades. Founded by Cindy Pawlcyn, one of the creators of wine country cuisine, it features American classics with Californian sensitivities, and hyper local ingredients. We drove past it for decades, always curious about trying it but never quite making it.

It’d been in Mike’s mind, however, so he suggested it when we started making plans for his birthday extravaganza in the Napa Valley – so I promptly made a reservation.

Dinner there was a lot of fun, and it crowned a wonderful day for both of us.

We were a little late for our dinner reservation, but we called and there was no problem accommodating us. We only had to wait by the bar for a few minutes before we were seated. The area of the bar, which includes a number of tables in addition to the bar itself, was quite busy on that Saturday evening and the atmosphere was very jobial.

The restaurant itself has several connected dining rooms and a semi-casual atmosphere. We saw women dressed up in lovely dresses, and guys in t-shirts and baseball caps. According to the server at one of the wineries we went to, it’s a favorite among locals, though it obviously also attracts tourists and day trippers like us.

We got a corner table on the outer dining room, the one with the windows. Though it gave me a look to the server station, the sunlight in the room (it’s summer, after all), made it jovial. Tables are very close together and the place was quite crowded, but it didn’t detract from the experience.

The menu of “deluxe truck stop classics” was pretty extensive, and included sandwiches in the low 20’s and main dishes priced from the high 30’s to mid 40’s. In addition they have a few daily specials, including a tostada and a pasta. They have, as you’d expect, an extensive wine list, but Mike and I were wined out that day (the perils of being old). Instead I had a coke ($4.50, free refills) while Mike had a River City root beer ($4.50 for the bottle). Mike liked it as much as he likes all those craft root beers you occasionally encounter.

Dinner started with bread, butter and salt. This was a great idea. Salted butter is usually lower quality butter, and not everyone prefers it or can deal with the extra sodium. As it happened, the bread and butter were very good, and adding a little salt made them even better.

I had hesitated a lot about what to order – I wasn’t terribly hungry -, and the waiter had recommended the meat loaf ($30) which came with garlic mashed potatoes, a horseradish BBQ sauce and unadvertised greens. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it. The BBQ sauce, which drowned the meatloaf, was too ketchupy, too acidic, too thin and just unenjoyable. The meatloaf itself, when most of the sauce was brushed away, needed more seasoning. Now, this is a popular dish so I’m going to guess that this is a matter with my taste alone. Mike didn’t dislike it, but thought it was nothing special – he wouldn’t order it either.

The mashed potatoes, however, were delicious.

Our waiter very nicely offered to substitute with another dish – but I wasn’t that hungry and didn’t think it was necessary. He then very unnecessarily took it off the bill, which was extremely nice and definitely makes me want to go to Mustard Grill again. I just wouldn’t order the meatloaf.

Mike ordered the grilled halibut ($39) which was on special that day. It came with new potatoes, rainbow chard and piquillo pepper sauce. Mike liked the fish, it was cooked perfectly, nice and flaky. He liked the sauce, though he wasn’t sure if it enhanced or replaced the flavor of the fish. He’d recommend it.

To celebrate Mike’s birthday, the restaurant gave us a complementary ice cream scoop. Unfortunately for Mike, it was espresso flavored. He is not a coffee drinker, and it’s not because of the caffeine. So I had it all for myself. I thought it was very good, light and flavorful. I did particularly like the fact they brought it as a gift.

Mike ordered the lemon-lime tart ($14), which is described as having “ridiculously tall brown sugar merengue” and I have to say I agree with the description. He loved it. In his words “the pie was absolutely awesome”. It wasn’t just the Alice-in-wonderland look – which did cause stares from other tables -, but he loved the flavor of the merengue, which was quite unique. The lemon-lime curd was also extremely tasty. Really, this was the perfect dessert for him.

I, personally, found the merengue too sweet, but I had just eaten the somewhat bitter espresso ice cream.

As mentioned, service was excellent. The place was popping, but it’s clearly appropriate staffed and the waiters are professionals who know their jobs. In all, I can’t think of a better place to celebrate a birthday. I am totally looking forward to going back.

Mustard Grill
7399 St. Helena Highway
Yountville, CA 
707-944-2424
M-Th 11:30 AM - 8 PM
F-Su 11 AM - 9 PM

A Day in the Napa Valley: Tank Garage Winery

September 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments

We found the worst wines in the Calistoga.

During my years of visiting the Napa Valley, I have tasted some terrific wines and some cheap ones that only could be described as “drinkable” (hello, Sutter Home!), but never before we’ve had what I can only describe as undrinkable garbage. But I guess there is a first time for everything.

I hate writing these things down, because aside from the wines, we had a lovely experience at Tank Garage, and I love the premise of having a winery on a converted garage. But I guess that’s the problem with gimmicks, you only need one if the product yourself is not up to par.

From the outside, Tank Garage looks the part, with two sparkling clean 50-style gas pumps that match the look of the winery itself. For people still obsessed with 1950’s Americana – which I’m not but can appreciate from time to time -, this helps transport you into the area. At least, in the outside.

The inside is pretty cool as well, though I’m not sure it follows any particular theme. They have several tasting rooms, and we sat at the back one which lacks windows, and is thus pretty dark. It had more the atmosphere of a club, than a garage.

As is the case with other wineries, you do have to make reservations here – and the place was actually booked up when we arrived – someone walked in and couldn’t be seated.

Our table was ready when we got in. Obviously I’d let them know it was my husband’s birthday but now what his name was. Ooops. We did appreciate the gesture and the sense of humor, though.

We were given a menu with the wines available that day – both to taste and wine – though our server chose them for us. I wrote my notes on the menu, and then promptly forgot it, so I’m relying here on my very poor middle age memory. But in general, I can say that I felt all the wines we tasted were bad. Except for the first one, they all did get better once they were oxygenated – but that meant they reached two-buck-chuck quality.

As mentioned earlier, this is a gimmick winery. It specializes in eclectic blends, which seems more thrown together during a drug daze rather than thoughtfully thought about. It doesn’t seem like they ultimately care what they bottle. They only sell at the winery, which is not surprising.

The tasting of what I feel were about 5 wines was $30 – cheap by Napa Valley current standards – but we only had one, as Mike didn’t feel like drinking. He only tasted a couple of the wines here.

We started with Hella Fizz ($50), a  pét-nat. These are wines that instead of having a double fermentation – on the barrel and in the bottle, as in the case of the ones we tasted at Mumm -, are bottled before their first fermentation. The result is supposed to be a light, soft fermentation and an easy to drink wine. Of course, it’s also a much less balanced, mature and sophisticated wine. Apparently, some pét-nat wines can be really good, but it’s clear that Tank Garage chooses this method because it’s much cheaper – though they price these wines as if they were fine champagne.

I found Hella Fizz to be extremely empty. There was nothing to it, barely a hint of grapes. If I had to choose between this one and André champagne, I think I’d go for the André.

It only went downhill from there. The wines we tried Camera Shy ($48), Crushed Hearts ($38), Talk Dirty to Me ($75) and possibly another one I can’t recall all suffered from the same issues. They were weak and practically undrinkable when first poured, and just barely drinkable when properly aerated. For the Crushed Hearts wine, the server lay the need for aeration (though, mind you, he didn’t mention it before we tasted it) on its “carbonic maceration” process, a process that has bunches of grapes sealed into a tank and pumped with CO2. But he did tell us the other wines wouldn’t need it, which was totally untrue. They do. If you are trying them, swirl them for a while before drinking them.

Despite the lackluster wines, we did have a very good time. The tasting was relaxed, our server was solicitous and charming, and the room was nice enough to hang out for a while. I wouldn’t go back, but I’m glad we tried it.

Tank Garage winery
1020 Foothill Blvd.
Calistoga, CA
(707) 942-8265
T-Th 10 AM - 5 PM
F-M  10 AM - 6 PM

A Day in the Napa Valley: A Roman Holiday Gelato

September 10, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Napa is not just for wine.

After champagne tasting at Mumm, we had some time to kill before our next wine tasting experience in Calistoga, so we headed back to St. Helena for some ice cream at A Roman Holiday Gelato.

The small shop serves ice cream and sells espresso, coffee and tea. The ice cream changes from time to time, so you need to check the board for that day’s offerings.

They have set up tables and chair outside, under big umbrellas and it was actually quite pleasant to sit there, even in a rather hot summer afternoon. Even though it’s on the street just around the corner from the main one, it was a sleepy Saturday afternoon, and the only traffic were people going to the salon next door. We had a pretty pleasant time sitting there.

Mike got a cup of watermelon sorbet ($5) and he was actually a bit disappointed. The sorbet was actually a bit too sweet and it did not really have much of a watermelon flavor. I wonder if they used commercial watermelon juice (which doesn’t taste like watermelon either) instead of fresh watermelon.

My cup of brown butter chocolate chip cookie gelato ($5), on the other hand, was fantastic. I’m not sure if the brown butter referred to the ice cream or the cookie, but they were both terrific. The cookie had a rich, caramelized flavor and the ice cream was bright and flavorful and a great contrast. I was nice and shared it with Mike, because it was his birthday – but I’d eat a whole cup on my own. 

A Roman Holiday Gelato
1336 Oak Ave Suite A
St Helena, CA 
W-Mo 12 PM - 7 PM

A day in the Napa Valley: Mumm

September 10, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Mumm sparkling wines reminded us of what Napa is all about

Spending the day in the Napa Valley means one thing: wine tasting. And long gone are the days where you’d carelessly go from winery to winery, choosing them at a whim, without having to worry about reservations and tasting fees. Wine tasting in Napa now requires both organization and money; lots and lots of money.

I decided to go to Mumm after our lunch stop at Guidi’s Deli because I knew I’d be wanting some sparkling wine – in my old age, I’m looking for fun wherever I can get it.

I didn’t realize until we arrived for our 12:30 PM reservation that we had actually been there back in 2016, when relatives from Argentina came to visit. We had sat in the patio back then, but it’d been a lovely spring day. On what I knew would be a hot summer one, I figured seating inside would be a better choice – even with COVID being at epidemic levels once again.

It turned out that I was right, not only was it more pleasant inside in terms of temperature, but we had a lovely view of the vineyards. As no one was sitting anywhere near us, and the room was large and airy, we felt pretty safe.

Our experience at Mumm started with a complementary glass of sparkling wine, offered to everyone. That day, it was the Mumm Napa Brut Reserve ($50), an all around crowd pleaser. It’s 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, some of the wine is aged in oak barrels for a years before being blended and allowed to ferment in the bottle for another four years.

It’s a very well balanced sparkling wine, quite effervescent, and not too much bitterness or acidity. It’s a brut, but it had hints of sweetness. It’s just very easy to drink and what I’d call a happy wine. And it is a mature wine, it reminded us of what Napa is all about – and that expensive wines are expensive for a reason. I totally understand why Mumm features it as their all-around wine.

Mumm offers three different tastings, each of three different sparkling wines, costing $40 to $48 per person. In addition, the server chooses a fourth wine after they get to know your preferences. You can also order cheese plates to nibble on, but as we had just come back from lunch we didn’t bother with that.

We chose to share the “club spotlight” tasting ($45). These are wines only available at the winery and for the wine club.

They served us the first two wines together with the recommendation that we drink them cold – and I, perhaps for the first time, realized the importance of an ice bucket. Even though it wasn’t particularly hot inside, the wine did get warm pretty quickly and all the wines lost their magic once they were tepid.

Our first wine flight taste was the 2018 Blanc de Blancs Reserve Extra Brut ($60) from Napa Valley. This was aged for five years in the bottle. I wasn’t as fond of it. Being an extra brut, it was more bitter than the preceding one. It also had smaller bubbles, which is neither here or there. My husband didn’t taste the bitterness but actually found it frutier and easy to drink. He liked it more than I, but we both agreed it was a very well balanced, non-acidic, adult tasting sparkling wine.

Our second wine, the Devaux Ranch Reserve Rosé ($55), wasn’t too different from the previous one. It was mostly pinot noir with a tiny bit of chardonnay, and made into a rosé (for which, if I remember correctly, they use the peels). This was aged 45 months in the bottle. I felt this wine had a bitter core, but circled by fruity flavors. I’m not the sort of person who can ever tell which fruit a wine is supposed to taste like – but then again, at a recent dinner my friends and I thought a blood orange sorbet was actually guava flavored. Mike once again didn’t taste the bitterness and instead found it very easy to drink, very smooth and just “yummy”. He did feel it had a shorter finish than the previous wines, however.

The third wine in the Club Spotlight was the Brut Reserve Extended Tirage ($60). This 60/40 combo of pinot noir and chardonnay was aged in the bottle for 7 years. It led to extremely small and effervescent bubbles, which just tickled your mouth as you drunk it. It was tasty, not too bitter but just so much fun.

Finally, our server chose for us the Eclipse Blanc de Noirs ($55). It was very similar to the one before, well balanced and extremely effervescent, with those fun little bubbles, but it had a great story behind it. It is made from the grapes harvested on August 21st, 2017, the day of the total solar eclipse we experienced in the West Coast – though it wasn’t a total eclipse here in California.

This was, indeed, the perfect wine for us. Mike and I took our girls to Oregon to see the total eclipse, and as we looked for good locations for it, we found ourselves in a beautiful stream in the forest, with only one other person there. We watched it sitting on the rocks, experienced the full sound effects of the birds going quiet, the temperature going chilly and then the magic of the eclipse itself. Earlier this year, we went to Dallas to see another total eclipse – but the 2017 one was the most special that I will always remember. Needless to say, we bought a bottle of this champagne for a special occasion.

As it was Mike’s birthday, the server very nicely brought him a little box of truffles to celebrate. Of course, we shared them. These included a salted caramel truffle and a brut rosé raspberry truffle. They are made by Anette’s Chocolates in the city of Napa, because we all know that colabs are the order of the day.

I loved the salted caramel truffle, which was rich, not overly sweet and just delicious. I didn’t like the other truffle too much, it was just too bitter and intense for my taste – Mike, of course, much preferred it. I think our tastes in chocolate reflect our tastes in romantic partners as well.

And that was our tasting experience at Mumm. Our server was very efficient, a good story teller, a pleasant conversationalist, and gave us a great experience. So much so that I was actually thinking we should join the club to repeat this. We probably won’t, it’s too much money, but it’s the first time I’d ever been tempted to actually join a club. 

Mumm Napa
8445 Silverado Trail
Rutherford, CA 
(800) 686-6272
Daily 10 AM - 4:30 PM

A day in the Napa Valley: W. J. Guigni Grocery Co. Deli

September 5, 2024 / / 0 Comments

The best sandwiches in the world

I don’t remember when I first discovered Guigni’s Deli in St. Helena, but it was certainly over three decades ago. At that time, the Napa Valley was a paradise for a young like ourselves, short on money but seeking fun and relaxation. Wine tastings were mostly free and abundant. Of course, we needed food to absorb all that wine and Guigni’s Deli became our place to go for lunch. We loved the sandwiches so much ,that I think only one visit to Napa over these three decades, have we skipped lunch there. So when Mike suggested he wanted to spend his birthday in Napa Valley, I knew we would start our day by having lunch at Guigni’s.

It had been many years since our last visit, and the place has changed a bit. There seem to be fewer items for sale cluttering the store – it’s now more of a deli than a grocery. The bathroom behind the dining room in the back was also locked. The deli was also much less busy than we remembered it to be, though we did go pretty early.

What had not changed was the assembly line type of ordering. You should start by selecting your drinks and anything else you want to buy before going to the counter. Then you select and order your meat and cheese behind the meat/cheese counter, move to the right and select and order your bread, your veggies and your condiments, and finally move on to the cashier and pay for the whole thing.

You can then sit at one of the two tables by the front windows or go to the small dining room in the back. Of course, you can also take the food to go and have your own picnic at whichever winery allows you to do so (many no longer do).

As we were early, we were able to grab one of the window tables, which made the experience much more pleasant.

Mike started with a deviled egg, and I was reminded that it was at this deli that I learned about deviled eggs in the first place. I don’t like eggs myself (unless they are made into a dessert), and deviled eggs were not part of my upbringing. Mike was quite pleased, as in the past.

I will admit that, as is my custom, I considered ordering something other than a roast beef sandwich – just for novelty’s sake. But I couldn’t make myself do it. Since that first, amazing roast beef sandwich decades ago, that’s all I’ve ever had at Guigni’s and how could I change now? So I went with the roast beef and Muenster in a soft sourdough bun, standard condiments (including their Guigni juice dressing), tomatoes and added an avocado ($2.50, they use half in the sandwich). My sandwich was large and delicious. Days later, I’m still dreaming about it. It was soooooo good. Really, they have the best sandwiches ever.

Mike also got a roast beef sandwich, but he had his with the standard veggies and dressings, save for tomatoes. He chose brie as his cheese, and loved the whole thing. I took a bite but it was too overwhelming with sprouts for my taste. To each their own.

Mike didn’t get a receipt, but I think the sandwiches were about $15. Not cheap, but totally worth it. 

Guigni's Deli
1227 Main St
St Helena, CA 
707-963-3421
M-Th 9 AM - 3 PM
F-Su 9 AM - 4 PM

Wine Tasting in Napa Valley

July 20, 2007 / / 0 Comments

This week Mike and I took a mini-vacation to the northern California wine country. We spent three days wine tasting, in Napa, the Russian River Valley and Mendocino. Of necessity, we visited only a few wineries, but you can read my notes from them. Alas, I’m in no way a wine connoisseur and I’m completely unable to taste any of the dozens of flavors experts can discern in wine. Berries? mango? licorish? I can’t find them. So don’t take my reviews too seriously. In reality all I can say is what I liked and what I didn’t like, which may be very different from what you like. I tend to like full-bodied wines, neither light or heavy in tanins and with a well defined oakiness (which I didn’t find at all in this trip).
Anyway here is my report from Napa. Reports from the Russian River Valley and Mendocino will follow.

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