Napa Valley - part 2

We not only did the whole wine thing while being in Napa, we of course did some eating too! While many of you are probably wondering if we went to The French Laundry, it was not in the stars for us this trip.  While we were certainly willing to drop some change on food this trip, for research and deveopment of course, The French Laundry is a whole different tax bracket kind of a place.   

Since we didn't eat there, we opted for another of Thomas Keller's Yountville restaurants, Bouchon.  It is right down the street, and is a more relaxed atmosphere but still holds the same standards you would expect for one of Keller's restaurants.  Bouchon is a Lyonnaise inspired cuisine, while French, it is a style where dishes are typically heavy and meat oriented. This will explain why we only stuck to a couple of courses, as opposed to the normal 7 or 8.  Normal being relative to us anyways...

Drew started with Daurade Escabèche

marinated sea bream with garden vegetables & Espelette pepper vinaigrette

Main courses: 

Foie de Veau: calf's liver with melted onions, crispy onion rings & red wine vinegar sauce

Steak Frites: caramelized shallots, maître d'hôtel butter served with french fries

Anthony Bourdain visited Bouchon's in Vegas and particularly mentioned the fries.  So although I had the best intentions of eating something with veggies, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try them!

Since Bouchon was right down the street, we at least took a peak at The French Laundry and their personal garden across the street.  

Out of all the food we ate, I think seeing this type of set up might have been the most inspiring thing Drew and I experienced on our trip.  We both feel strongly commited about the concept of eating REAL food. Food that comes from a farm, and not one of those mass produced, pesticide indulging farms.  I appreciate Keller's (he is not the only one) desire to help revolutionize America's relatively new farm-to-table concept, but I can't help be slightly jaded by the fact that what has become a restaurant fad is actually the way people eat in pretty much every other country since ...umm... forever.