Napa Food Adventure: Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen, SolBar, Bouchon Bakery

Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen

I saw a bloomspot deal for $50 dinner at Cindy's for $25. Since we've never been and I had heard good things about this place, I decided to buy the coupon to use for our trip. I called in to make a reservation and we were able to secure a spot for an early dinner.

Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen is one of several restaurants owned by Cindy Pawlcyn, who also owns the famous Mustard's Grill in Napa. We've been to Mustard's Grill and enjoyed the food there, so we were hoping that we would also like Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen.

The restaurant was located in downtown St. Helena, a short drive from our inn in Calistoga. We were seated inside, although it would have been nice to get a table in the outside courtyard area.

We started off with the Papaya & Avocado salad which seemed to be one of their more popular items. This salad was so refreshing! I loved the combination of the sweet papaya with avocado, and the crunchy toasted hazelnuts. 

Papaya & Avocado Salad

We also ordered their famous polenta fries, which was also amazing. It's a bit more grainy than Frances' restaurant's version, but this was also delicious.

Polenta Fries

I ordered the special of the day which was the lobster carbonara. The spaghetti was cooked perfectly al dente, and the creamy sauce was surprisingly not too heavy.

Lobster Carbonara

Dan ordered the mushroom tamales and he enjoyed it. The tomato-based sauce worked well with the corn tamale and mushroom topping.

Mushroom Tamale

For dessert, we had to do the famous Campfire Pie. It was an oreo crust pie with chocolate and marshmallow. Yum! We surprisingly almost finished this huge dessert.. My friend told me she shared this with 7 other people...haha. I guess Dan & I can finish what a group of 8 can.

Campfire Pie

SolBar

I had heard a lot of great things about SolBar, especially their ricotta pancake for breakfast! However, since we had breakfast included with our B&B stay, we came during lunch time.

 Since the weather was so nice, we asked to be seated outside in the patio area which was shaded.

We started with Vietnamese lettuce wraps which was simple and refreshing for a hot day!

Lettuce Wrap

For our main, we ordered the fish tacos. It was good but nothing out-of-this-world.

Fish Taco

Overall the food was good, but we were a bit disappointed. Maybe because we knew that SolBar was a 1 Michelin star restaurant, we were expecting more. It could very well be that lunch was not their specialty; maybe their breakfast or dinner would have been a better choice.

Bouchon Bakery

To finish off our day full of eating, we made a quick stop at Bouchon bakery in Yountville for their famous macaroons and iced cappuccino which was perfect for the hot day!!

Bouchon

Castello di Amorosa

I had heard a lot about Castello di Amorosa and was really looking forward to finally visiting the "Castle of Love". The castle happens to be in Calistoga, which was where we were staying. We went on a Monday, so it wasn't really crowded. As soon as we walk passed the entrance, we were directed to the ticketing booth.

General admission was $18 which included wine tasting and self tour of the castle. If you're not drinking, they have a "children's" admission which was $10 and included grape juice and self tour. There's also guided tour which was $33 per person. We decided to do the general admission for Dan and the children's admission for me since I wasn't planning on drinking.

We went up the stairs towards this viewing tower and saw this beautiful view from the top!

We then came back down and passed by the main courtyard.

The next area was the Great Room, which was beautifully painted with murals. I heard that sometimes they use this room for parties.

There's also a small theater where we could watch how they make their wines, etc. The last part of our self tour was the wine tasting, located down in the basement. I actually really enjoyed the grape juice & chocolate tasting, and was thankful that they had options for people who don't want to taste their wine. :)

Overall we're glad we went and finally got a chance to check out this beautiful property!

3 Year Anniversary Getaway: Chanric Inn

We have been to Napa many times, but have actually never stayed in the Calistoga area. Calistoga, which is known for its hot springs, has many resorts around that offer mud baths as well as hot springs access. For this particular trip, we were specifically looking for a B&B and were so happy to have found the perfect place for us: The Chanric Inn.

Chanric Inn - Calistoga

The Chanric Inn is a 3 story house located on the main road that runs through Calistoga. However, the house is located up the hill so we didn't really hear the street noise that much. We arrived at the Inn around 2PM and the check in area was at the main kitchen. I immediately loved the ambiance of the Inn and the gorgeous marble kitchen counter tops. Joel, the innkeeper/owner, introduced himself and gave us a quick tour.

There was a small fridge with complimentary drinks which included cold bottled water, sparking water, sodas, etc. He also offered us champagne to welcome us. He showed us the Nespresso machine which we could use at any time.

There was a small seating area to relax in, which then took us to the beautiful patio area.

Afterwards he showed us the pool area. Too bad we didn't bring our swimsuits, but it would have been nice to lounge around the pool.


We booked the Superior King with Shower C room and was assigned room #4, which was located up the stairs from the main floor. The room was a bit small but it was really nicely decorated. There was a king size bed and a small chair, closet, and a beautiful marble bathroom.


I told Dan when we buy our next house, I want our shower to be exactly like this one!

There were 4 rooms upstairs and a couple rooms downstairs from the main floor. I didn't mind the upstairs room although from what I could tell, all the upstairs rooms had slanted ceilings. So if you're very very tall, you might want to ask for one of the first floor rooms since I don't think those would have the slanted ceilings.

Overall we loved the look/feel/style of our room and knew we were in for a great time. We went to the patio area on the main floor and read books for a little bit.

At around 5:30 PM, there was complimentary wines and cheese hors d'oeuvres offered on the main floor. During our stay, the bites included bread with different "toppings" such as squash, broccoli, duck pate, etc. There was also cheese and walnuts, as well as red & white wine. It was definitely a nice snack to hold us over until dinner.

Afterwards we decided to head out and check out downtown Calistoga, since neither of us have been. The downtown area was pretty small, and looked a bit older compared to Napa/Sonoma downtowns. A lot of the stores were already closed by the time we got there, so we ended up just browsing through before we headed out for dinner at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen.

Breakfast at the Inn was served from 8:30 AM-10:30 AM. We were not forced to eat in a big table with other guests, so we had a choice to only eat with our spouse/significant other. We were given a choice to sit inside or outside, and since the weather was really nice, we sat outside.



Joel served us and started with fresh honeydew & orange juice, a glass of water, and a choice of coffee/tea. Then we were served warm croissant rolls. Yum!

The first course was an apricot gelle, which tasted like dessert to us. It was pretty good although very very sweet.


The second course was a toast with gruyere cheese, fresh tomatoes, and pesto. It tasted like a breakfast pizza to me. Pretty good but a bit on the salty side.


The last course was berries crumble, which again felt like a dessert dish.


All the food was presented beautifully and it was a nice & relaxing breakfast.

I think a really big draw of staying in a B&B is how relaxing it is compared to staying in a hotel. Dan & I felt a lot more relaxed than when we stay at a regular hotel. The only "downside" was that there's no TV in the room, so if that's important for you, that's something to consider. The breakfast is also a very big draw, as it does make a big part of staying in a B&B. We only stayed for one night but we both felt very refreshed and relaxed, and would highly recommend this Inn.

3 Year Anniversary Getaway: Introduction

We wanted to do a quick one night getaway to celebrate our anniversary, and I had been researching some possible options in the Napa/Sonoma area. I originally wanted to try out the Solage Calistoga resort after hearing about it from a friend of mine. However, I couldn't justify the hefty price tag since they currently didn't have any specials. Dan suggested staying at a Bed and Breakfast (B&B) instead, so I started looking around.

We had stayed at a B&B before during our trip to Mendocino, as well as South Africa, and loved the experience. I wanted to stay at a nicer one though this time around, and preferred not to stay at an older Victorian style house which are what most B&B's look like.

I went to my usual research tool, Trip Advisor, started looking around, and came across a B&B called the Chanric Inn. The reviews looked great, and what sold me was that the place was just recently renovated and had just reopened in April 2013. I looked at some of the renovation pictures and the Inn fit exactly what I was looking for. It was a bit pricier than a typical B&B, but I guess you do get what you pay for. We ended up booking directly with the Inn.

Beautiful Castello di Amorosa

We didn't plan any activities per se since the purpose of the trip was to "relax", but I told Dan that I really wanted to visit the castle in Calistoga: "Castello di Amorosa" since I've heard about it so much. So that was our only "activity" during our getaway.

For food, we didn't want to do the typical fine dining and wanted something more casual and somewhere we both had never been before. I had a Bloomspot coupon for Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen which worked out perfectly, and for lunch the next day, we went to SolBar, which was at the Solage resort.

Here's the breakdown of our trip:
Introduction
Chanric Inn
Castello di Amorosa
Food Adventure: Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen, SolBar, Model Bakery, Bouchon Bakery