Saturday, December 13, 2008

Bouchon




A few days ago Billy and I drove up to Yountville which is a small town just up the road from Napa in the heart of wine country. Yountville is known for it's restaurant scene. The famous French Laundry is there among others. We had lunch at Bouchon which is one of the world reknowned Chef Thomas Keller's restaurants. It was one of the best meals I have had in a long time. Actually... Billy proclaimed he had the best mussels he has ever eaten in his entire life. That is really saying something because Billy has eaten a ton of mussels and at a lot of legit places in New England. I had the Gnocchi a la Parisienne which was insanely good.


We kept our meal simple and on the cheap... we did not have wine or dessert or any extras. UNTIL... we went next door to the Bouchon Bakery where we bought one of their famous pistachio macarons and a bourbon pecan tart to bring home. People... I am gonna have to drive back up there this week in regard to the pistachio macaron. It is going to be a real problem for me. How dare those people feed these items to the innocent public? I would have been better off had they shot crystal meth directly into my eyeball. I regret that I did not shoot a photo of the unassuming looking little "cookie" before devouring it. It really does not look like anything special. In fact if you were going on looks alone you may think... "Well, there is a bland and boring looking little pastry." Do not be decieved. The macaron is pure evil. It is as perfect as a pastry could ever hope to be. If I do indeed drive back up there (tomorrow) to get a few (hundred) more of them I will share a visual with you.

After lunch we drove around to just site see the area. The landscapes and vineyards are really gorgeous. The mid afternoon sun was not doing me any favors for taking good photos but I did get this surreal looking shot of a vineyard from the side of the road.



We may be the only visitors in the history of Napa to come here for an extended stay and not visit a single winery. It's not that I don't appreciate the concept or the wine or the tasting or the whatever of it all, it's just that we are kind of lame and lazy when it comes to doing stuff like that. Ask anyone who knows us and they will most certainly report that yes... Billy and Bethany are lame and lazy. Socially anyway.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

nothing wrong with relaxing and enjoying the scenes. i recommend bistro jeanty the next time you're in Yountville, a chef friend of mine who have worked at many fine restaurant, Manresa, Chez TJ, etc, recommended it and it was great and not too pricey either.