Condensed version of trip #3 to California.
San Diego
- Sushi Ota: Sake and sushi with Mozilla folks. For the quality of the sushi (incredible), the price (reasonable) blew me away.
- Tajima: Ramen! The spicy miso ramen here lives up to its name, be prepared.
- Fish Market
- Cucina Urbana: Serious Italian, and a wine list to match. Funky interior too.
- Davanti Enoteca: Good tripe dish
San Francisco
- State Bird Provisions: Dim sum delivery, California style.
- Black Point Cafe: Coffee refuel near the Golden Gate Bridge. Killer latte. Gary Danko
- Spruce: The duck. Yes, get the duck.
- Philz Coffee: No justification needed. Had to restock the East Coast supply.
- Acqurello
- Izakaya Roku: More ramen! Sake!
- Humphry Slocombe: Blue Bottle Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream. Good lord. I can now die a happy man.
- Incanto: Charcuterie zen master.
Napa/St Helena
- White Rock Winery: We happened upon this one as they were dumping out the lower quality wine. So sad.
- Oakville Grocery Co: Mid-Napa refuel. Bread, cheese, meats.
- Saddleback Cellars
- Gott’s Roadside: The juxtaposition of this in Napa is pretty jarring. Their milkshakes are a nice divider between all the wine.
- Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars: This is where I cemented the fact that I like the smaller wineries, rather than the commercial behemoths.
- Cliff Lede Winery
- Morimoto Napa
Central California Coast
- La Bicyclette (Carmel): Pizza, charcuterie, cheese. Take out. To be returned.
- Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn (Big Sur): One of the most spectacular sunset views on the Pacific Coast. Food is damn tasty too.
- Big Sur Bakery: Brunch doesn’t start until 1030am, but the fruit strudel and latte’s are killer.
- Dover Canyon Winery: Our first foray into Paso Robles wines. Unexpectedly awesome. Along with their 185 lb. St Bernard named Thunder.
- Turley Winery
- Whalebone: Free chili with every tasting. Clutch with all the damn rain.
- Adelaide Winery
- Olavino: Olive oil and salt, one made with ghost chili. Holy crap. and holy good.
- L’Adventure Winery
