Brewer's Dinner at the Calistoga Inn and Brewery

I've been looking forward to today for a little over a week now. Why? Because a week or two ago, as I was casually waiting on Lincoln for the VINE bus to arrive, I noticed some banners hanging outside of the Calistoga Inn and Brewery across the street.

This place is right in the heart of town and right by the bus stop, so I see it pretty much every day. It's visually appealing and the combination of brewery/bar, restaurant, and "European style" lodging (ie. a few rooms, not many, and they share a bathroom. But they are affordable.) has always intrigued me. I've walked past and looked at the menu before, which always sounded good, even if a little pricey, but hey, we're in Spa Town...

Occasionally they hang signs outside for upcoming special events. They caught my eye this time because there was not one sign but three: Super Bowl Party, Valentine's Day Dinner, and Brewer's Dinner. As much as I like watching football, I wasn't super excited about the Super Bowl this year, and I generally don't like watching it in the pubs -- they always get too cramped, overcrowded, people get grumpy. So I usually just watch it at home (but I gave up TV years ago) or at a friend's house (but I also gave up friends years ago). Valentine's Day is a similar story -- I've done the whole "going out on a Valentine's dinner date" thing, and it's simply overrated. The romance level actually goes down because suddenly everything is stressful -- there is the stress of competing for a reservation, the stress of higher-than-normal prices, the stress of expectations for the evening. No, thank you -- I think I'll just stay in and cook a nice meal and spend some time with my significant other.

However, a "Brewer's Dinner" is not something you see every day. In fact, in 4 years living here I have never seen a sign for one. I checked it out on their website and liked what I saw: a 6-course meal in which each course was paired with a different one of their microbrews, for $50/person. I've done wine-pairing dinners, but never a beer-pairing one, so this was enticing and I made a reservation for two.

We arrived about 15 minutes early. but the restaurant doors were shut and locked. There were plenty of people hanging out in the bar area, but there were no signs or indications of where we were supposed to go for the dinner. About 5 minutes prior to scheduled dinner time, we went in through the bar entrance and scoped out the dining area to see what was going on. Nobody was there. Eventually we saw a waiter and asked him about the dinner. He looked confused and said "Oh, uh... I don't know. Let me see what is going on." He came back and said "Yeah, they aren't ready yet. You can wait in the bar area." So we went and sat down. We waited for about 10 minutes and didn't see anything happen, but that bar area sure got packed. We decided to walk around and see what was going on (and almost walked out, since it was stressful and nobody was telling us anything) -- then the waiter saw us and said "Oh, it actually starts in here."

He informed Brad Smisloff (brewmaster) who was standing right there having one of his brews, and we headed to the back where they had out tables with big bowls of homemade potato chips with gorgonzola (this was the first course). Unfortunately, it was already packed with people by now (good thing we showed up early, eh? It did no good when nobody could tell us what was going on) but we managed to squeeze to the corner table where they were pouring the first beer: their "Blintzen IPA" which was a strong India Pale Ale serving as their seasonal winter beer. To my surprise, they were pouring full glasses! I had come to this expecting small samplers/tastings of each beer, but that wasn't the case so far. The chips and beer were good, but the stress of figuring things out and people crammed together like sardines were not so enjoyable. We tucked ourselves into a corner away from everybody (but near the chips) and waited eagerly for seating to begin.

The way it worked is that they had this first-course appetizer mingler in the bar, then they had assigned seating for everybody in the restaurant area. Thankfully our table was one of the first and most easily accessible in the room. Unfortunately, it was communal. I can't say I'm entirely surprised; I had assumed they might do something like this. Personally, I was happier to be sharing a table with two other people than to be sitting at the long communal one of about 20 people where most people were seated.

The rest of the evening went pretty much as I'd expected, with Brad Smisloff coming out and giving a little speech about each course and the choice of beer to go with it, some info about the beer and why it was chosen. The one thing that did surprise me was just how much food and beer came out. It was a complete feast! They poured probably 8 ounces with each serving -- totaling probably about 48 ounces of beer over the course of the evening. I also didn't realize that is that this was their first Brewer's Dinner they'd ever held (I suppose this might explain the confusion and lack of guidance)! However, he did say they've wanted to do this for a while and they plan to make it a regular thing... so if anybody out there is reading this and likes beer, keep on the lookout for that! He said they plan to do it quarterly (I guess one each season). Heck, I might go to several of them if the menu and beers are changing.

The courses and beers (along with my notes) were as follows:

1. Homemade gorgonzola potato chips, Blintzen IPA. Good pairing, chips were good, maybe could have used more evenly-dispersed cheese.
2. Cheese soup made with pilsner, paired with pilsner. Interesting soup... sort of thin, more like a bisque. I can understand why the pilsner was put in the soup, but I feel like a stronger-flavored beer (maybe red ale) would have been a better pairing.
   
3. A cured salmon salad, containing spring greens, cured salmon, and grapefruit pieces. Paired with wheat ale/hefeweizen. Great pairing... very light and tangy, the hefeweizen was a nice choice to go with the zest of the salad, and the salmon was fresh, delicious, and plentiful.
   
4. Porter-braised short ribs and bacon-sauteed brussels sprouts, paired with porter. A nice pairing, the strong flavor of the porter held up to the strong flavor of meat and brussels sprouts. But boy was this rich and hearty and filling!
5. A cheese sampler of Humboldt Fog soft goat cheese, Sonoma Dry Jack, and a pungent, sweet blue cheese (whose name I don't remember) -- paired with 3 small servings of beer: a red ale, a "Purple Haze" blackberry-infused ale, and an oak-barreled peach kolsch, which was the most interesting of the three, though they were all good.
   
6. A rich, moist, dark chocolate cake drizzled with brewer's wort for dessert. The malty, caramelized flavor of the wort (like a sweet, delicious version of vegemite) was a delicious combo with the rich chocolate flavor, and the slightly-bitter, hoppy but still syrupy and sweet barley wine made a good pairing as well.

Needless to say, after all of this (and polishing off Sarah's barleywine), it would have been ideal if we had a local place to crash! Driving after this event is not advised. However, I had finished half of Sarah's beers, leaving her capable of driving home (and leaving myself feeling completely full and slightly giddy.)

Brad said they've had this idea for quite a while and it just took this long to finally make it happen, but they now plan to do one every few months (quarterly -- basically, once per season.) I think it's a great idea, and I'll definitely be back -- especially if the prices and quality stay the same, and even more enticing if they mix up the menu each time.

Downtown Joe's (the sequel) and Bistro Sabor

I had planned to take advantage of a local happy hour today -- specifically, happy hour at Bounty Hunter wines and BBQ in downtown Napa. The cool, rainy weekend really weather for some reason really put me in the mood for some barbecue, so we were thinking of Bounty Hunter but when we looked up their website, we saw that they have some happy hour specials during the week, so we decided to postpone it and give the Red Rock Cafe / Back Door BBQ a try instead.

Well, for some reason that mood has passed and I wasn't really in the mood for BBQ, or even wine for that matter. But Sarah and I were still home from work and available for a happy hour (a rare feat that we can both be home before 6 pm), so I hopped off the VINE route 10 bus at the Pearl St. transit center downtown anyway. On the way, I called Sarah and told her maybe we should give Downtown Joe's brewery/restaurant another try -- after all, I had been gypped out of their happy hour last time, so I wanted to give it a try and was also suddenly craving fried calamari (plus, I can't get their Old Magnolia stout out of my mind -- it is ridiculously smooth and well-balanced. I think it may be my new favorite stout.)

We showed up at 5:30, plenty of time to spare before happy hour ended (at 6:00). I had planned to take a seat at the bar like last time, but unlike last time (in which the bar was practically empty), today was crazy! Every seat at the bar was taken... on a Tuesday? What is up with this? I thought. We sat ourselves at one of the small tables, and were promptly ignored for 10 minutes. Eventually we talked to a hostess girl (who had not been there when we arrived) and she brought us some menus -- hmmm... no happy hour menus or mention of happy hour anywhere. I was pretty confused. Last time the happy hour menus were just sitting out. So we went and specifically asked her if there were happy hour specials; at that point, she said there were and gave us the menus. Wow, these folks will do anything to make you pay more money, huh? If you really don't want to give people a deal, why even bother having a happy hour? There's no law that says you have to.

After about 10 minutes, she came back and asked if we had been served; when we said no, she said she'd look into it. Nobody ever showed up, but we saw 2 people leave the bar and we decided to shift our location to where we might actually get service, at the bar. We sat down and were promptly ignored for another 10 minutes. Sarah said "This is ridiculous, I'm really about ready to leave", which we were about to do when finally the bartender (an unpolished woman by the name of "Patty") asked what she could get for us. We ordered a Tail Waggin' Amber, Old Magnolia Stout, and an order of calamari -- we had already talked it over and decided we wanted our main meal to be at the new downtown Latin/fusion taqueria called Bistro Sabor.

She quickly poured our beers for us and sloppily set them in front of us (to the point mine was a wet, sticky mess -- and with no napkins provided or in sight. I found one at one of the tables and used it to mop up my beer.) Eventually the calamari arrived and was actually pretty good -- nicely battered and tender and juicy -- but still no napkins or silverware. Meanwhile, Patty was pouring drinks left and right; it turns out, the reason they were being run ragged is because today happened to be the day they were holding a "BBQ Rib Cookoff" in their outdoor seating area, and already there were tons of people who are just the type for Downtown Joe's. If you are an Ed Hardy-wearing West Coast Choppers fan, this might be the place for you. I wouldn't be surprised to see Jesse James and one of his mistresses here. Then again, you won't get service unless you are one of the "regulars", with a name or nickname like Dusty or Smoky or Slim. Although this is not my type of people, I don't have anything against this particular subculture -- until they pull an exclusivist attitude like this and frown upon people who actually have class.

After our beers and snack, we headed west on First St. to Bistro Sabor, a corner taqueria with a twist. This is a newish establishment opened by Ariel Ceja, son of Amelia Ceja who is the owner of Ceja Vineyards winery. I had never tried Ceja's wines, but had heard of them, and had heard that the food at Bistro Sabor was pretty good.

We walked inside and looked around, trying to figure out how it worked -- looked like a typical order-at-the-counter-then-wait-at-a-table setup (with numbers marking where the order should be delivered), which has always made a lot of sense if you ask me. We perused the white board menu and a slender, hiply-dressed young Hispanic man came over and started talking to us, explaining the menu and how things worked. He was very friendly, eager and energetic, so I could only presume this was the owner (Ariel)... and I was right.

We ordered a chile relleno ($9) and an order of braised short-rib tacos ($10) -- actually sort of an Asian/Mexican fusion, as the ribs have sesame seeds and a sort of teriyaki flavor, served with Napa cabbage. In fact, the goal and vibe of this place is a sort of hip, urban mashup of popular "young people" foods -- Mexican, Asian, and Cuban influences. There is colorful graffiti mural art on one wall, and they serve 20 different beers as well as several types of sake... and, of course, Ceja wines. We decided to try a glass of wine as well, but the prices were a little prohibitive -- normally we would have tried a glass of the pinot noir, but at $11/glass (for your own house wine?) that was too steep. We decided to try the "Vino de Casa Red" blend (also seemed a bit pricey at $8/glass)

The wine was actually quite good -- very smooth and balanced, not sure what was in it but I definitely picked up on a pinot noir flavor which seems rare for red table wine blends, but it definitely had some richer grapes in there as well... seemed like syrah, but maybe merlot? cabernet? This is a very quaffable wine, though, and we polished it off quickly. The food was good, nothing to complain about -- the prices are a little higher than average; you can get similarly-good food at local taco trucks and taquerias for a little bit lower price... but not a whole lot less, and you can't get interesting fusions of flavors like the Asian-braised short ribs. Ariel was very attentive, checking to see how we liked the food and wine and also offering to bring us an extra glass of water when we needed it (even though the setup is self-serve). I found it refreshing to see a business owner recognize the value of being present and being hands-on, actually putting plenty of his own energy and labor and pride into his restaurant. You don't always find that everywhere.

Possibly the main selling point -- and the main reason I would return to Bistro Sabor -- is the fact that Ariel has recognized the need for a legitimate "night spot" in Napa; Bistro Sabor is open until midnight on weekdays and until 2 am on weekends, and they even move the tables and chairs aside to turn it into a little salsa-dancing club on Saturdays.

Places to Avoid in Napa Valley, Part 1

I'll be honest: I had a long day at work today and didn't get home until late, so there wasn't really time to go out and experience Napa Valley today.

However, there was time to reflect on what a shame it is that, for how many wonderful wineries and restaurants and establishments there are around here, there are also some real stinkers and I honestly don't know how they fool people into continuing to give them money. While some of my favorite wineries and restaurants around here have gone out of business (Esquisse Winery, Bleu Magnolia in Napa, Wappo Bistro in Calistoga), other completely mediocre establishments continue to thrive somehow. I'm going to share a list of some of the ones that come to mind -- these are just the ones I know about... I'm sure I will discover more as the year goes on, but so far I've been pleasantly surprised by how great my wining and dining experiences have been.

1. Bistro Don Giovanni -- I visited Bistro Don Giovanni a couple of years ago due to its popularity (supposedly celebrities like George Clooney love it) and good reviews. It's one of a handful of Italian restaurants in Napa Valley, and I was looking for a good Italian place. I don't know what restaurant these people were talking about, but it's not the Don Giovanni I went to. The restaurant was packed and we couldn't get a table at our reservation time. After waiting about 20 minutes, we were seated and then completely ignored. Nobody seemed to know which waiter should be serving us. After waiting 15 minutes, we flagged someone down and they poured some water for us. Then nobody came by for another 15-20 minutes until we flagged down a random waiter, who took our orders (and yet a third waiter actually delivered them to us, somewhat cold by the time they arrived.) Obviously, the service was horrible, but I would have forgiven that if the food was good. It wasn't. The pizza was really just a wood-baked flatbread with basically nothing on it. It was like a piece of naan drizzled with olive oil. The duck bolognese was absolutely horrible. Since when does duck meat have the consistency of Taco Bell beef?? It was like gritty, grade D ground beef with a gallon of salt in it. I'm seriously wondering what kind of meat they actually served me, because I've never had duck that tasted like that. Our other dishes were fine, but were of the same quality you could get from the frozen lasagna section of your local grocery store. After that utter failure of a dinner, I will probably never go back here again. If you're looking for Italian, you could try Tra Vigne (which I've heard is good, but have not yet tried) or Bottega in Yountville, which is not so traditional Italian, more of an Italian-influenced "California fusion" twist, but it's tasty.
2. Silverado Brewing Company -- This brewpub is located just north of St. Helena, off Hwy 29 right next to Freemark Abbey winery. This combination should be a winner: cool location in an antique building, combined with microbrews and some pub food, right in the heart of Napa Valley. But, unfortunately, it's just not very good. They claim that "this is the spot for locals" but I can almost certainly assure you that the photos of happy young people on their website are all tourists. Whenever I drive/ride past (which is every weekday), the only patrons of this place are blue-haired local retirees and the occasional 60-year-old Harley rider cruising up through the valley. This sort of sums up the vibe there -- it's more like a plain, boring cafeteria or diner that happens to serve some microbrews. No atmosphere or liveliness whatsoever. This, in itself, wouldn't be a deal-breaker if the food or brews were good. But the food -- mostly typical sandwiches -- are completely standard, mediocre fare with higher-than-warranted pricetags. The beers include your standard varieties you would find at most brewpubs, and they taste fine... but again, there is nothing unique or memorable. If you really want a brewpub experience, skip this one; you could try Downtown Joe's in Napa (also not great, but better than this one) or go to one of my favorites, Russian River Brewing Company, which is over the hill in Santa Rosa (Sonoma County) -- that is a place with a truly unique, lively atmosphere, plus a huge range of completely interesting and exciting beers.
   
3. Whitehall Lane and Black Stallion wineries -- These are two examples of wineries that give Napa Valley a bad name: wines that are lackluster, mediocre fruit bombs... yet charge an arm and a leg anyway, just because they say "Napa" on the label. Somehow, people are foolish enough to buy into it. I'm not. But if you don't believe me, go ahead and try their wines and let me know what you think. But be sure to try plenty of other wines from other nearby establishments for comparison, so you know what I'm talking about.
   
4. Chateau Montelena -- Despite working in Calistoga just around the corner from this place, I had never even heard it. Well, that all changed (much to their delight, I'm sure) when the movie "Bottle Shock" came out, telling the story of Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay which won the 1976 "Judgment of Paris" tasting against French and California wines. Now the winery is swarming with people who saw the movie and are there for that sole reason. Sadly, I feel their current chardonnay release is far below par compared to many I've had in the valley. Their cabernet fares a bit better -- but not for the $120 pricetag they have slapped on it (there are many, many good cabs in Napa Valley, and great ones often fall in the realm of $75/bottle) Ironically, the chablis-style chardonnay at Stag's Leap (the winery which won best cabernet at that same 1976 tasting) is much better, while their current cab release didn't seem too great. Go figure.
   
5. Ahnfeldt Wines / Uncorked at Oxbow Market -- This tasting room -- in Napa and just across the street from Gustavo-Thrace (by winemaker Gustavo Brambila, also featured in the film Bottle Shock) tries hard to maintain a friendly, low-key vibe in a sort of "family living room" style tasting bar. The pourer was friendly and the vibe is certainly inviting. Unfortunately, the wines are just not good. As Napa Neighbors, we were given free pours of everything they had, and they invited us to come by any time and said they would sometimes have live acoustic guitar music. It all sounded very nice, and I really wanted to like at least one of the wines, but I couldn't even finish a single tasting of any of them. I would take a sip or two and dump the rest. I can't even describe why these Ahnfeldt wines were so sub-par, but they just were... across the board.
   
6. Century Cinedome Napa -- This is the worst movie theater I have ever visited in my life. Old, run down... shoddy sound systems, small screens, unclean seats, technical problems left and right, scratches and dust, you name it. Horrible. If you really want a movie theater experience in Napa, you're out of luck. You can try Cameo Cinema in St. Helena, which is a great little theater, but is a single screen so only has one movie playing at any given time.

Downtown Joe's Brewpub

Visited Downtown Joe's today, a brewery, restaurant, and bar in downtown Napa. Maybe this place should be called "Downtown Dicks" because they certainly weren't very welcoming in my first ever visit to this establishment. I showed up at about 5:55, paused to take a photo outside, then walked in the door and up to the counter -- wasn't exactly a rocking place, but it was also around 6 pm on a weeknight, so I don't know if it gets more exciting or not. The crowd was mixed, but definitely in favor of the gray-haired gentlemen camp.

I walked up to the bar, where I saw a late-night menu and happy hour menu specials menu (good until 6 pm) which I started perusing. The bartender said nothing to me, did not even acknowledge me. An older guy walks in, sits down next to me, and is immediately chatted up and served by the bartender, who then finally asks what I want to get (after checking my ID -- I guess my 20 or 30 gray hairs just didn't hold a candle to the sea of them around me.) He says "What can I get for ya? And do you want something to eat? Happy hour just ended." and with that he removes the happy hour menu that I was looking at. I mean, was that the tactic all along... ignore me until the clock strikes 6:00 (which it was, on the dot, when he did this... but it wasn't when I walked in the door) just to save a few bucks? Bad move -- extremely poor taste and rude. I've worked in a bar, and I can tell you: you just don't remove a menu that was there and available when the person came to the bar, who you just ignored for several minutes, and then say "too bad, you just missed it."

The irony is that the tourist you're serving might never come back, or will return once in a blue moon. I am a local that could patronize your establishment weekly... but now I'm not so inclined to do so.

I ordered the "Tantric IPA" a strong Indian Pale Ale. So I start drinking my pale ale (which is okay, pretty standard high-gravity, high-ABV IPA, not bad) and perusing the menu for something affordable. I suppose I'd gotten spoiled by the delicious $1.75 tacos and $8 tri-tip BBQ sandwiches I recently rounded up in Calistoga, because I simply didn't feel like paying the $12 they charge for their burgers. I was originally going to get calamari (at the $5 happy hour price -- a good deal) but that jumps to $12 when happy hour is over. I settled on the pulled pork sliders with cole slaw (also $5 at happy hour; $8.50 normal price)

An older man, the one who came in and sat next to me at the bar, starts to strike up a conversation. I ask where he's visiting from, he says Omaha and is enjoying getting away from the cold for a bit. Talks about the 9 day road trip he has been on to Kansas or Oklahoma (I forget which) then to Vegas and up to here. Then things get interesting. Sort of out of the blue, he tells me he's a conspiracy theorist.

"Have you seen the movie Conspiracy Theory?"

"Yep," he chuckles.

"Like, what kind of conspiracies? Political?" I query.

"Well, there's an organization that is running the media, spreading lies and deceiving everyone... they pretty much rule the world and pull the strings in secrecy."

"Oh, you mean like the Illuminati."

"Exactly. And they've been around for a long time, founded in 1776 by the Rothchild family, who own more than half the wealth in the world and are tied in with Satanism..."

Now, I've heard some of this stuff, bits and pieces. I find conspiracy theories fascinating. I'm skeptical enough that I don't get carried away in them, yet not close-minded enough to think that we don't truly get deceived and manipulated in certain ways.

He goes on to explain his beliefs, founded in becoming a Born-Again Christian in his 30s (he's now 63) after living a worldly life of sex, booze, and partying in his early years. Now he believes Catholics are paganists, Obama was born in Kenya, the Bushes have blood ties to the Rothschilds, and the End Times are upon us. He goes on to explain some of his revered celebrities in this arena (particularly Texe Marrs, Dr. Monteith, and Alex Jones' "infowars") and that he has compiled a book that lays it all out, but just a private book he gives to friends and such, not a published one. Also said he had been recently interviewed on Dr. Monteith's radio show.

Told me his name at the end of the conversation (which lasted two beers) and it sounded like "John Burke", but after thinking about it later I figure he probably actually said "John Birch" (haha, sorry... not buying that one, buddy)

Why do I mention all this? Because it just goes to show you never know what kind of people you'll run into in Napa, because they come from all over! Plus, there really wasn't much else noteworthy with Downtown Joe's... typical brewpub environment, with the same fare but above-average prices, and an unfriendly service.

Oh, but for my second beer -- it was an "Old Magnolia" nitro-pulled stout, which was more or less incredibly good: smooth and creamy, with that trademark toastiness of a stout but less biting and pronounced. It almost had an Asian feel to it, a flavor like toasted sesame and misoyaki; a little toasty, a littly salty, a little sweet, and a little tangy. Probably one of the best stouts I've ever had, actually.

And the conversation was definitely one of the most fascinating ones I've ever had with a stranger at a bar. That and the stout made the stop-in worthwhile after all.