Tidings Magazine

The French onion soup ($12) was topped with a light and airy soufflé to complement the exquisite broth — a nice change from the usual gooey-cheesy glob topping most versions of this dish. The tomato bread pudding ($19) was so flavourful with its grilled romaine and ripe yellow and red cherry tomatoes. The Greystone Restaurant at the CIA is a definite must for a leisurely afternoon or evening. Culinary theatre for your eyes and palate.

One of my favourite places was Wappo Bar Bistro in Calistoga. Not fancy, but everything about this place from the room to the service to the food exudes unpretentious comfort. I loved the tender root-vegetable skewers with mint bagna cauda ($9.50), and the wonderfully balanced flavours of Paella Valenciana ($25) with its perfectly cooked assortment of seafood and the great spiciness of the chorizo. The best for me was the Wappo cassoulet ($19.75). White beans with lamb sausages and duck confit flavoured with herbes de Provence ... I might as well have been in the south of France. Highly recommended desserts include the luscious Tres Leches cake with dulce de leche and caramelized figs (a steal at $7.50), and the chocolate ice-cream sandwich with caramelized bananas and warm chocolate sauce ($8.50).

Top marks to our server who made some outstanding recommendations and had no problem at all portioning the plates to ensure that each of us at the table was able to sample everything. Wappo will without question be a regular stop for me on any return trip to Napa.

Mentioned often by the locals was Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena. A great room with a comfortable feel and a great-looking menu. But maybe we just caught them on an off-night. The food was good, but nowhere near the quality of many of the other places we had eaten and the service was rather slow and inattentive. I would definitely give it another try just based on the number of people that recommended it.

A great option is to stop by Dean & Deluca or the Oakville Grocery to pick up an assortment of meats, cheeses, antipasti, and a bottle of wine and plant yourself in the middle of a vineyard. It’s a picnic in a setting you won’t soon forget and you will long to duplicate it at your earliest opportunity.

Perhaps the most memorable food we had and the meal that I can still taste as I write this were the tacos at the Mi Familia Market. We in Canada, at least in Alberta, have no idea what real Mexican food is about. Fresh, with so much flavour, this is nothing like the processed pseudo-Mexican fare at the corporate fast-food joints up here. Located in a little Mexican grocery store, this is where the locals go. Mexicans make up a big part of the local population and they have contributed significantly to the culture and cuisine.

The tacos are served on small, soft, round tortillas and you are given your choice of steak (asada), chicken (pollo), spicy pork (al pastor), shredded pork (carnitas), beef tongue (lengua), pork stomach (buches), beef cheeks (capeza) or intestines (tripitas). All are topped with grilled scallions, a hot pepper and a lime to squeeze over the tacos to heighten the flavours and tie everything together. I couldn’t decide which not to try, so I had them all and at only $1.50 each (or $3 if you “supersize” it), this might have been my best-value meal of all time in North America (I’ve had some equivalently tasty and inexpensive street food in Asia). I only wish I had room for the chicharron (fried pork skins). I somehow did find room, though, to slip next door to the Taco Loco Market to sample the delicious corn and pork tamales ($3 each).

So Napa really can be done on a budget and you don’t have to sacrifice quality or flavour. I’ve eaten at the French Laundry and it was an unbelievable dining experience in every sense of the word. But with all due respect to Chef Keller, it’s the capeza and carnitas tacos that are making my taste buds cause me to book my flight back down there.

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