Hotel Yountville

Good morning and greetings from Yountville, where we just finished both our morning constitutional down the main street and a delicious breakfast in the Hotel Yountville restaurant, Hopper Creek Kitchen. If you’re planning a trip to the wine country, and Napa Valley, in particular, I cannot recommend a better place for you to stay than Hotel Yountville for a few days.

Yount AAC
AAC CPA at Hotel Yountville

First of all, Yountville is a town of amazing charm. The population is around 3,000 (give or take), and you couldn’t ask for better weather or a more peaceful community. If you choose to stay at Hotel Yountville, you’re already on the main drag – Washington Street – on which all of the town’s fine restaurants are located: the aforementioned Ad Hoc, Redd, Bottega, Bouchon (not to mention Bouchon Bakery), and the famed French Laundry, all of which are within a 10-minute walk of the hotel.

Interesting side note: Just across the street from the French Laundry is Thomas Keller’s public garden, in which he grows many of the fruits, vegetables and herbs that he uses in his several local restaurants. It is a working garden and you can go for a stroll and observe the locals tending the garden. It’s very impressive.

Back to the Hotel: When we stayed here exactly a year ago, we had such a good time that we decided to book it all over again and requested the same accommodation – an elegant 1-bedroom suite with private veranda. I thought you might like to see what it’s like:

Yount LR
The living room
Yount BR
The bedroom
Yount Bath
The bathroom

Soaking tub located in an alcove off the living room

Private veranda

Another view of the veranda

The foliage just outside of the veranda

Waiting for us on our arrival

The Hopper Creek Kitchen, open during the day, serves up the best breakfasts of any hotel in our experience.

Check it out:

Hopper Creek Kitchen
The main room

Hopper Creek Patio
The patio at Hopper Creek Kitchen

The breakfast menu

The seasonal omelette with home fries and cinnamon-raisin toast

Amazing French toast

AAC CPA in a post-breakfast sugar stupor

The hotel is also outfitted with a spa and swimming pool. There’s a bar located in the main lobby, as well as another bar poolside.

Hotel Yountville is elegant and beautifully appointed, as well as being centrally located in the Napa Valley as you go traipsing from one winery to another for afternoon tastings and/or tours, and is a short walk from some of the best restaurants in the wine country.

TRAVEL TIP: Hotel Yountville

Yountville Opening Night – Negronis & Ad Hoc

Good morning from Yountville on a beautiful and cool Tuesday. The weather here is just amazing: rising into the 90s in the shank of the afternoon, but cooling down in the evening and dropping into the low 60s overnight. So, imagine us sitting on our private balcony overlooking the beautiful foliage that surrounds the hotel, AAC CPA sipping his coffee and perusing the NY Times as I chat with you.

Our first night in Yountville started in fine fettle with cocktails at the hotel. The four of us were actually here exactly 1 year ago (to the day), and the superb bartender, Sarah, was at her station and ready to mix our Negronis. She uses locally made No. 209 gin, Campari (of course) and Antica Carpano – it’s a very smooth cocktail. Sarah – pro that she is – also chills the glasses, so we enjoyed an icy concoction. It was deeee-licious.

Bartender Sarah at work on our Negronis

The great thing about staying at the Hotel Yountville is that it’s on the main drag – Washington Street – as are all the fine restaurants, most of which are within a 5 minute walk. (French Laundry is another 3 minutes away.) So, after getting our buzz on, we strolled down the street to Ad Hoc – another Thomas Keller inspiration.

Ad Hoc

Opened in 2006, Ad Hoc is Keller’s casual restaurant open 5 nights a week, featuring a 4-course pre-fixe menu and a extremely well-considered wine list both of which are moderately priced. Every week, fried chicken is featured, either at Sunday brunch or Monday dinner. Luckily for us, it was on the menu last night.

We were warmly greeted on our arrival and seated at exactly the same table we had last year. As soon as we settled in, Ad Hoc’s general manager, Elias Mandilaras, stopped by to welcome us back – what a great touch! Turns out that Elias is from the east coast, too, and he had worked for the BRG Restaurant Group, which owns some of our favorite restaurants in New York. Our evening was off to a great start!

As it was a warm summer night, we decided to go with a light, local Rose to accompany our dinner. It was the perfect choice.

Paradigm Rose

And then the fun began, starting with a crispy iceberg wedge with warm bacon, tomatoes, fresh herbs, and a tangy green goddess dressing. As you’ll see, everything is served family-style, so it’s everyone for him/herself.

Ad Hoc Wedge
The fabulous first course: iceberg wedge

Then we got what we came for: Ad Hoc’s famous fried chicken. Your faithful correspondent almost forgot to take its picture, so here are the remnants:

Ad Hoc Fried
It was so yummy, but too much to finish

The chicken was accompanied by beautifully al dente Romano beans in a light tomato sauce and the creamiest grits you could imagine. I somehow forgot to take their pix – mea culpa.

And then, thanks to Elias’ generosity, we were treated to a special course not on the menu: the most flavorful bone marrow served with grilled sour dough bread and stone fruit. It was a surprise and it was a real treat. Thanks, Elias!

Ad Hoc Bone Marrow
Our special off the menu extra course, compliments of the house.

Back to the regular menu, although we were fading just a bit, our next course was a cheese course, accompanied by a molasses drop biscuit. It was a perfect combination.

Ad Hoc Cheese

Finally, it was time for something sweet. Bring on the brownie sundae topped with caramel sauce.

Ad Hoc Dessert
The perfect end to the perfect meal.

At that point, there was nothing left to do but to take our very satisfied selves back to our hotel, 5 minutes away. We thanked everyone at the restaurant and made our getaway.

CULINARY TIP: Ad Hoc – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

As we approached the entrance to the hotel, a full moon was peeking from behind some trees.

Yount Entrance - Moon
Is that a gorgeous sight or what?

On the way to our room, we took a stroll by the pool.

Yount Pool - Night
Midnight swim, anyone?

And, thus, concluded our first day in the wine country.

ADDENDUM:

As TheCulturedTraveler has been in business for about 9 months now, I get questions about who this person is and how come TCT is never seen. Bowing to the masses, I’m attaching the first (and, possibly, last) photograph for your enjoyment:

TCT Self Portrait
TheCulturedTraveler, photo taken on June 20, 2016, Napa, CA

Adios, Los Angeles – Benvenuto, Napa Valley

Last night, we bid a fond farewell to Los Angeles by having dinner at El Comprade on Sunset Blvd. AAC CPA always complains that all he really wants when going out for Mexican food is to be able to order a beef taco and cheese enchilada. These days, there aren’t that many places where you can find these combinations on the menu.

El Comprade is like a throwback to the days when I was attending USC many years ago. It’s a neighborhood place and there’s nothing remotely fancy about it. You’ll come here for flaming Margaritas (I kid you not), huge bowls of Aztec butter (a/k/a guacamole), spicy salsa, those combinations I was just mentioning and, yes, even a Mariachi band. All at prices which feel very 1980s.

After watching the staggering loss of the Golden State Warriors to that inferior team in game 7 of the NBA finals, (which was on full view at the bar), we drowned our sorrows with those flaming Margaritas, guac with chips and salsa and just felt the vibe. Soon enough, the Mariachi band appeared to serenade the diners and our spirits began to lift. El Comprade is filthy with feel-good atmosphere.

Then it was time to order: we did the beef taco/cheese enchilada one better by ordering El Padrino, which includes all of the above, plus a small sliced steak, a side of guacamole, with riced and refried beans on the side. A nice, light meal – all for $17.95!

It was completely satisfying and, after a couple of those Margaritas, we were very happy to Uber back to our hotel to do our final packing and wish LA a fond farewell.

Comprade Margarita
I wasn’t kidding – El Comprade’s flaming Margarita

Guacamole, salsa and chips

El Padrino – something light for your entree

CULINARY TIP: El Comprade – Los Angeles

We were up bright and early this morning and, after a quick bite of breakfast, motored off to the LAX for the quick flight up to SFO. Our driver, whose name we did not catch, was in a chatty mood and, having been in the biz for many years, regaled us with stories of the celebrities who sat in his backseat over the years, including (in no particular order), Thomas Keller, Bea Arthur, Anna Nicole Smith, Rue McClanahan, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan and others. Don’t ask: our lips are sealed!

My sister, Leslie , and her husband, Ron, picked us up at arrivals and we were off to the Napa Valley for 3 days. On the way to Yountville, we stopped for lunch at Bistro Don Giovanni in Napa proper. It was the perfect choice. Every morsel was a sensation. We shared a special of fried shaved zucchini which did not need any marinara sauce to make an impression. We had veal tonnato, Caesar salad and a delicious Margarita pizza. Did I mention that the focaccia tasted as if it had just come out of the oven? It was a great way to start our visit to the Valley.

Don G Kitchen
Bistro Don Giovanni kitchen

Bistro Don Giovanni bar at lunch

Bistro Don Giovanni patio

Bar Don Giovanni grounds