Getting as far north as Santa Cruz made the drive into Napa pleasantly short. We arrived a little after noon, stopping in at Hennessey House, our Bed & Breakfast for the next two nights. We knew check-in time was after 3:00 PM, but we wanted to know where we would be going and gave us the opportunity to ask the proprietor, Lorri, for quick directions around town. She happily charted out an easy route on the map, including Taylor’s Automatic Refresher, which on the drive into Napa we had decided would be our destination for lunch.
Taylor’s Automatic Refresher is In-and-Out Burger with a wine list and micro-brews. The new “Oxbow” restaurant in Napa and the more established location in Napa Valley’s Saint Helena turn America’s favorite meal into a more upscale experience. A regular hamburger is $5.99, while a specialty burger like the Wisconsin Sourdough with grilled mushrooms, bacon, cheddar cheese and barbecue sauce is $8.99. Fries are extra. 
They also have seafood, including fried calamari, chicken and salads, among other items, all similarly priced, but most people seemed to be munching the burgers. We ended up drinking Diet Coke, but most of the clientele sipped fine wine or local beer. 
After lunch, we walked around the Oxbow Market, which is a rather unique little shopping area that suits Napa. Merchants sell wines, cheeses and other gourmet treats, including the World’s Most Expensive Ice Cream Sundae, which at $60,000 for one or $85,000 for two includes a luxury stay on Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro, contribution to an African environmental charity and organic souvenir t-shirt. 
We also walked through the nearby Copia Center, featuring educational exhibits on wine and food. Frog’s Leap Winery had complimentary samples of their wine. Grapes used in Frog's Leap Wine receive only two small waterings in the first month after planting. They rely exclulsively on underground water thereafter, a method that obviously conserves water while creating hardy vines with unique properties. The tastiest food sample was pineapple compote, which was served on crepes.
Recipe:
Pineapple, nutmeg, cinnamon, pinch of salt, sugar if necessary. Cook down.
Pineapple, nutmeg, cinnamon, pinch of salt, sugar if necessary. Cook down.
Outdoors are signs showing pictures of the topography and descriptions of different terrains and micro-climates of Napa Valley, explaining why certain areas are better for certain grapes. There’s also vegetable garden, which is used for Julia’s Restaurant in the Copia Center as well as for educational purposes. Julia’s is named after the late Julia Childs.
Hennessey House, where we stayed, had a complimentary wine and cheese party between 5 and 6:30 every day, so that was our next stop. I had mentioned that I definitely wanted to visit Rubicon, which is Francis Ford Coppola’s winery, and our hostess made sure to have a bottle of Rubicon’s Rosso table wine. It proved to be quite popular with the guests, and a second bottle came out well before the white and blush wines were finished. The cheese selection was really good, with one especially tasty garlic cheese spread. We ate quite a bit of cheese with crackers. There were also homemade cookie bars left over from the tea time snack at 3:30. Four people from England arrived together for the happy hour wine, and we struck up a nice conversation with them. They were on their last evening in Napa, having previously been in San Francisco. They were heading next to Carmel and then down to Santa Monica. Learning we were from the Los Angeles area, they wanted advice on where to go, which Julie and I happily provided. They asked about Laguna Beach, which we know well having lived there in the first years of our marriage, and they said they definitely needed to go there because the son of one of the couples loved the TV show named “Laguna Beach.” It shows the international power of television in shaping opinion about America. We recommended they try to get in to see the Pageant of the Masters, the live art exhibit where real people pose as famous paintings, and also to visit our favorite restaurant there, Las Brisas, which has good Mexican food served with a spectacular coastal view.
As for our dinner in Napa, Julie and I wandered off looking for someplace casual and not too expensive. After all, we weren’t on a cruise ship where price is no object when it comes to a multi-course dinner in a gorgeous dining room (because it is included in the price of the cruise). The smell of a place called Buckhorn Grill drew us in. The menu proclaimed it featured the Best Tri-Tip in the Universe, and since we love tri-tip and the price was right, that’s where we ate. The handrubbed seasoning on the tri-tip and chicken combination plate was quite good, but tri-tip by nature is not exactly filet mignon when it comes to tenderness. Nonetheless, it was a good meal with friendly service and worth the price, being served with lots of grilled vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes. Napa itself is more of a small city than a small town at this point. There are lots of nice restaurants, many of which were quite pricey, but the weekday entertainment scene was rather quiet, from what I could tell. We headed back to our B&B.
In trying to keep a certain ambiance, there are no televisions in the room, but there is one in the drawing room, so Julie and I watched a detective show before going to bed one night. The next evening, we went to the local Cinemax to watch the blockbuster “Hancock,” which is a decent flick.
Our room, like the entire B&B, was beautifully decorated and felt quite homey. The old bathtub with claw feet also had a shower nozzle.
In the morning, there was always coffee, tea, orange juice, homemade granola and muffins, along with a seasonal fruit dish that was beautifully presented and seemed to spare no expense on fruit included. There was also a main course, which on one day was some kind of blueberry pancake stuffed with some kind of cream cheese and another day was some kind of fancy egg dish. Our hosts were very accommodating throughout the trip.
