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