Travels, Ramblings, and some good'ole Poker

November 15th, 2010

Our first stop is the Artessa Winery.

 

Not only do they have a gorgeous view of the valley, but they have some amazing wines! 

We spent about two hours here.  I know you're supposed to spit out but most of these wines were too good to waste.  I was feeling the alcohol slowly starting to hit around 1:30pmish

 

Our next stop was at El Molino, which currently makes my favorite pinot noir.  I learned about it at Ad Hoc and instantly fell in love with the wine.  El Molino is managed by a couple that pretty much do the whole thing themselves.  They make this and a chardonnay I think...They're located in Rutherford and they're one of the few if not only people to make Pinot in that region.  They pretty much try to do everything naturally which means no machine to cool down the wine, it's all stored underground where it's already cool.  Another unique thing they do with their wine is that they leave the stems on, they believe it gives their wine a lot of flavor. 

This is where the grapes are poured into and stomped on.  Deeb expressed interest in stomping grapes this trip...unfortunately that could not happen.   

Underground Storage Room:

 

 

Onto the next winery: Stag's Leap

They're known for their cabernets and I soon found out that I am not a cabernet guy :(  But I still tried all the wine :D 

 

 

We compared 3 different wines each and I found out that the only one I really cared for was a $200/bottle cab. lol.

Dinner:

FRIED CHICKEN NIGHT @ Ad Hoc!!!

 

 

 

God the food was soooooooooo good tonight.  

We start off with a salad that's served family style.   

 

I'm not a big salad guy but no complaints, it was delicious!  The carrots were ridiculously good! And this is coming from a man who hates carrots.  They were crispy and their flavor was vibrant, it was exciting, here I am actually enjoying a salad that has carrots.

The next course, one of my favorites: Crisp Pork belly with broccolini.  Oh My God that broccolini was delicious.  It didn't have that kind of sour nasty afterfinish, it was just beautifully done but I mean the pork belly itself was perfect. 

 

Ladies and gentleman, not a good picture but I present you the best mashed potatoes WITH MUSHROOMS (and cabbage on the side) 

For our main course, Fried Chicken.  I was a big doubter.  I don't really care for chicken, it's usually too dry or just boring.  Also, from my experience, Koreans make by far the best fried chicken   

But this is Ad Hoc we're talking about! This is one of Thomas Keller's babies we're dealing with here.  I present you the most delicious fried chicken man may ever know 

The meat was falling off the bone, the skin was salted to perfection and full of flavor.  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Ad Hoc does by far the best wine pairing.  The alcohol served beautifully compliments each meal.  So what did we have with chicken? Beer right? Nope, sparkling wine. 

moving on for intermission we had some cheese, pistachios, and honey 

with a beer pairing! 

A sorbet to cleanse the palate 

and to finish it all off, giant cream puffs.  What a decadent way to finish off the meal

 

the alcohol served that night 

After dinner, some of the staff told us we should meet them for drinks so we headed over to Bouchon for some truffle fries and cocktails.  Afterwards we headed over to the bar where the staff did not show up D:But it was cool, instead we met our bartender, whom Ryan so cleverly named "crazy asshole"

I forget how but Crazy Asshole was ranting about religion and whatnot and he said, regarding Heaven, "you can keep your virgins, I'll take 3 hookers any day"

2am, the night ending, Ryan decides he wants to have the cab meet us at Ad Hoc.  We walk over enjoying our last together (Deeb was leaving the next day) and as we're hopping in our cab, Navid (really chill bartender/server) busts out of the restaurant and invites us in for a drink with the staff.

  

 

 

 

It was not a bad way to end the night :)