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Three Culinary Vacations
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Reality bites, but so too does escaping from it. Culinary vacations, those that allow food and fun to intersect deliciously and creatively, feed all the senses at once. Luckily there are two nearby food capitals – San Francisco and St. Helena, and one that’s just a hop, skip and flight away, Sedona – that, year-round, provide visitors with an indulgent docket of foodie must-dos. But before you bite off more than you can chew, dig into our best-ever meal plan.
St. Helena
This charming quarter of Napa Valley offers travelers a chance to sample and sip the favored flavors of the wine country. With specialty chocolatiers, boutique wineries, locally harvested ingredients, and one world-class culinary school, St. Helena is the best place to...
Celebrate the Season’s Eatings
Order up: Culture and cuisine.
Tip: The Napa Valley Mustard Festival, a three-month extravaganza held January through March, celebrates the vibrant art and agriculture of the wine country. The annual event stages a variety of culinary, entertainment and artistic events at landmark locations throughout gorgeous Napa Valley. mustardfestival.org
Fulfill Grape Expectations
Order up: A crush course in wine tasting.
Tip: Meadowood, a rustically elegant resort and frequent stopover for celebrity guests, offers a comprehensive wine education program, including wine excursions and vintner dinners, as well as discussions about grape growing, wine storage and the art of reading wine labels. meadowood.com
Extend an Olive Branch
Order up: Home-harvested olive oil.
Tip: The grape’s only wine country rival, the olive, is the star of Sonoma Valley’s namesake festival honoring the edible. Like its aforementioned sister fest, the Olive Festival, held December through February each year, hosts a variety of events that spotlight the olive’s impact on wine country cuisine and agriculture, including olive martini tastings and pairings. sonomavalley.com/OliveFestival/index.html
Pick-up a Gourmet Picnic
Order up: Epicurean delights.
Tip: Dean and DeLuca, a high-end and high-priced specialty market on the way into St. Helena, offers wine country visitors hard-to-find ingredients from across the globe and freshly prepared picnic fare. Grab some fresh pears and stinky artisan cheese and head across the street to the family-owned V. Sattui Winery for a not-too-sweet bottle of Riesling and a picnic spot under a shady tree. deananddeluca.com
Remember When
Order up: A haute dog.
Tip: Taylor’s Automatic Refresher, a fancy-pants retro diner, is a St. Helena staple and boasts the longest lines of any eatery in and around the Napa Valley. For its menu of true-blue American lunch fare with a wine country twist – milkshakes and duck confit tacos – Taylor’s is a refreshing antidote for wine and cheese hangovers. taylorsautomaticrefresher.com
Shape Up Your Culinary Skills
Order up: Baking and Pastry Arts Boot Camp.
Tip: The gorgeous, statuesque Culinary Institute of America at Greystone offers one of the world’s top culinary degree programs for budding chefs, but also cooking demos, classes and several weeklong Career Discovery Boot Camps for career changers and armchair chefs. ciachef.edu
Take Class Action
Order Up: Lessons in cooking with tequila.
Tip: Under the expert instruction of noted Chef Joanne Weir, and inspired by her best-selling book, Tequila: A Guide to Tyles, Flights, Cocktails and Bites, this weekend instructional starts with a cocktail reception at Weir’s home, continues with lessons on cocktail pairings and cuisine, and finishes with a sit-down meal. Weir hosts a variety of ongoing classes for home cooks, serious chefs, and casual imbibers. joanneweir.com
Supper Globally, Eat Locally
Order up: A mid-week feeding.
Tip: Every Wednesday evening at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, guests of Cindy’s Supper Club are invited on a culinary adventure that celebrates food common to one part of the world. Whether it’s to London for Gastro Pub, Spain for tapas, or Turkey for Crunchy Zucchini Flowers, Chef Cindy Pawlcyn cooks up something delicious. cindysbackstreetkitchen.com
Think Outside the Box
Order Up: Freshly baked savories.
Tip: Foodies who cannot afford to eat at French Laundry (few can) in hoity-toity Yountville are encouraged to stop by Chef Thomas Keller’s other French hotspot, Bouchon Bakery, which carries a variety of authentic breads, pastries, tarts, and even pet treats. Bouchon’s packaged specialties (try the homemade granola) make great souvenirs. bouchonbakery.com
