- It's, like, intoxicating.
I do need to finish all of these fries before we leave.
God, this is a great day.
(upbeat music)
I'm in Napa in wine country in Northern California.
It's my first time here.
I'm a really really big fan of wine,
so I'm particularly excited about this trip.
I'm here to meet my friend, Sandy,
who's an executive chef
at the Culinary Institute of America.
She's gonna show me some of her favorite spots around town,
and she really knows food and wine, so it should be good.
Let's go meet her.
- [Both] Hey!
- Welcome to Napa.
- Thank you.
This is my first time in Napa.
- We've got a lot to show you today
'cause we're gonna start at Gott's,
home of the California burger.
There's an egg on top, so it's perfect for breakfast.
- This is how we should start every day, right?
- Alright, well, let's do that.
- Let's go.
- Hi, my name's Dave Woolsey.
I am the general manager here at Gott's Roadside
at the Oxbow Public Market here in Napa.
Gott's Roadside serves American roadside classics
with a California twist.
Some of the things that we serve here on our menu
that are quite popular are our California burger
that's served with a fried egg.
We toast our bun on the griddle with a little bit of butter.
We charbroil the hamburger patty, served with crispy,
as always, bacon, some Swiss cheese,
balsamic onions, arugula.
I love the runny yolk of the fried egg
when you bite into it.
The fries, throw down some more sweet potato fries.
We have a chili spice blend.
I love that burger.
It's one of my favorites.
- Wow, this looks really indulgent.
- [Sandy] So worth it.
- Oh, yeah. (laughing)
This is like a breakfast burger.
- So many places you go to,
the burgers are all about the toppings
and then the patty is nothing.
- It's really juicy.
- It's really good beef and it's delicious.
- Absolutely.
This is really a sign of a great burger.
The messier, the better.
- These are the sweet potato fries
and their homemade ranch dressing for it.
These are one of my favorite things on the planet.
So, they're salty, spicy, and sweet,
and then the nice, creamy, herby dressing.
- Wow. - It's love.
- These are fantastic.
When I think of Napa,
I think of wine and really high end food
and not necessarily a great burger.
- Stick with me, kid, and I'll show you some stuff.
Save some room because this is the first stop today.
I still have a lot of Napa to show you,
and the food is amazing everywhere.
- I mean, I don't doubt you.
I do need to finish all of these fries before we leave.
- I can't blame you there. (laughs)
We're at the gardens at CIA at Copia.
Let's take a look around.
- I mean, this looks spectacular already.
So, what's your favorite part of the garden?
- Well, we're standing right in front of my favorite tree
that's in this garden
and it's the variegated lemon tree right here.
And you can see one with those beautiful stripes.
Can't wait for it to be ready.
- Nature is just the coolest. - Awesome.
We're at the Oxbow Public Market
and we're gonna get some oysters.
We're sitting at Hog Island Oyster Company
because they have the best.
- My name's Jose Romo,
and I am the chef here for Hog Island in Napa.
We've been open for 35 years.
We started off with selling five different types of oysters
and then from there we just started growing,
selling a lot of oysters through our Hog Shack.
What makes us different from the other places,
shucking wise,
I feel like our shuckers take that extra pride
in the oyster, making sure the oyster's whole.
So, when I pick out an oyster,
I kinda want to make sure
it doesn't have that hinge on there.
You see how the hinge is just right there?
Just wiggle the knife, like I said,
back and forth very softly, gingerly.
Once it's stuck on there,
you just kinda flip it up like this.
As I'm scooting along,
I'm gonna kinda pry it up
and then I'm gonna go for the abductor muscle.
Last step would be detaching it from the backside.
So, now it's fully detached.
Some of the best ways of eating it is just by itself.
You're really getting to taste the oyster for what it is.
I mean, you can add cocktail sauce.
You should at least try it by itself first.
This is our hogwash-- cilantro, shallot, jalapeno,
and two types of vinegar.
But if you want citrus, we have it right here for you.
For the experience, it's gonna be the halibut crudo.
So, we actually have some halibut
brought to me this morning.
I fileted it and what's goin on it, some avocado,
a little bit of fresno chilis, lemon infused oil.
We got a blueberry dressing, micro cilantro.
I want people to walk away with they can come here any time
with anybody and have a great time.
So, I got some oysters
and right here we got a halibut crudo.
- Thank you so much.
- Okay. - I feel like we should
start with crudo, though.
- Crudo is basically just thinly sliced raw fish,
kinda like sashimi.
Let's try it.
- I mean, the halibut is so fresh
that it's melting in your mouth right away.
- It's those fresnos and that sea salt
that was givin' it the crunch
and then everything just kinda melts in your mouth.
- [Alexis] Okay, so now onto the main event.
- [Sandy] Cheers.
- It's, like, intoxicating.
- It's the taste of laying on the beach
when you have no care in the world.
What I love about oysters is where they grow matters,
but it's gonna taste completely different
just because of the waters that it's in.
- And it's like wine.
- This is absolutely a must have in Napa.
That one's totally different
from the rest of 'em. - Totally different!
You're having a totally different experience
with every single oyster.
This is a wonderful experience.
- I can't take all the credit.
Sustainable seafood at its best.
We're gonna have to move on from Hog Island,
as much as I would love to stay,
because we gotta get you some wine.
- Yeah, we're in Napa. - It's Napa.
- It's Napa. _ Come on.
- My name is Leo Tellez.
We're here in Sodaro Estate Winery.
We're on a 20 acre estate built in 2005
and the first commercial vintage was 2003.
So, we make three wines here at the winery.
In production, we have our Felicity Cabernet, State Blend,
which is a Bordeaux blend, and a reserve Cabernet,
which is our estate Cabernet Sauvignon.
It's a small intimate experience,
so you get to see the vineyard, walk into the cave,
walk into the production side of the winery.
So, you really get to see small-scale wine making
in an intimate setting.
Okay, so the first wine I'll be pouring
is a 2013 Felicity Cabernet, 80% Cabernet.
It's been aged 18 to 20 months.
- Wow, that's delicious.
- It is delicious.
- [Leo] The blend will be basically all the varieties
that we have here.
- That's the favorite right there (laughs).
- [Leo] It's a beautiful setting.
It could be either in Tuscany or somewhere in Europe,
but it's located here in Napa.
- [Sandy] So, I'm so excited.
We're at Calistoga Ranch.
We're gonna have dinner at The Lakehouse Restaurant,
which is their house restaurant here, and it's gorgeous.
- My name is Ross Kilkenny,
executive chef here at Calistoga Ranch.
We're sitting here at The Lakehouse,
which is a private restaurant at Calistoga Ranch.
The Lakehouse focuses on, first,
seasonality and second is local, sustainable products.
We utilize farms within just 100 miles of the area.
What inspires me about the menu
is basically this is what the farmers are giving me.
Throughout the weeks,
we always get samples of products that are coming out.
Getting these products in the kitchen
can inspire me to figure out what I'm gonna do with them.
Today's tasting is a four course wine paired meal
consisting of a filet of tartare,
(mumbles) grass fed filet of beef from Sonoma County.
I'm using shallots, chives, capers.
So, for presentation, one nice big quenelle of this.
We make a horseradish cream.
It's an aerated crème fraîche mixed with horseradish,
and then slow cooked egg for the garnish
as well as Australian black truffles.
- Oh, wow.
It is truffle season, my god.
It's so well balanced and really subtle.
- The little bit of spice that comes with that horseradish.
Oh, how beautiful, and that beef.
- [Alexis] And these flavors are just shining.
- [Sandy] Just spot on.
- For the second course,
we use seared diver scallops from Maine.
That will be served with a corn puree
with fresh peas from the garden,
blistered tomatoes from Comanche Creek Farms,
and a little beurre noisette butter sauce.
- Wow.
This smells amazing.
This smells like the sea.
Oh!
The scallop is perfectly cooked.
It's really easy to cook an overdone scallop.
This is perfect.
- Just beautiful color.
This is just such gorgeous color on here, and in my world,
color equals flavor.
And it looks like summer on a plate.
- And it looks like summer!
I just had a bite of the tomatoes,
and I could probably just eat that and be fine.
- Next course is our superior lamb,
a sustainable GMO-free product,
and that is served with cranberry beans.
Those are slow cooked
in just a little mirepoix and bay leaf.
Right now we're getting really beautiful chanterelles in,
some heirloom toybox carrots, superior lamb,
more fresh peas from the garden,
and then a little lamb jous.
- Wow.
- Delicious. - Juicy.
- Seasoned so perfectly. - Perfectly.
If you don't know yet,
chanterelles are my favorite mushroom.
They're really earthy and have such a wonderful flavor.
- And then these cranberry beans.
These beans are grown with the greatest of care.
- You really can't find some of these heirloom varieties
anywhere else.
This is so fun to have this combination of beans and peas.
Usually I feel like it's one or the other.
- And for dessert, a peach clafoutis.
They are cut in half and then we make the clafoutis batter,
and that is served with a little powdered sugar,
a peach ice cream using all the scraps from the peaches.
- Oh. - Wow.
This is beautiful. - Gorgeous.
- Beautiful quenelle of the ice cream.
Textures. - Lovely.
Textures, again. - Textures,
this thing is all about it.
- And again, the peach isn't overly done,
so it still has some bite to it.
- And then I love the little pansy.
These edible flowers are really delicious.
Great texture.
So many desserts are overly sweet,
and I like it just a little more balanced,
and this is gorgeous.
- When people come to The Lakehouse,
the first thing that they get is a beautiful view.
It's a very quiet setting, very romantic,
as well as a intimate ambiance.
- I had so many awesome experiences to choose from in Napa,
and now I get to choose how to pay for them
with Pay It Plan It from American Express.
This was such an idyllic day,
and I cannot wait to come back.
(upbeat music)