San Francisco, part 3

We got a car on the third day, and headed out for Napa Valley. The plan was to stop at the Cheeseboard Collective in Berkeley (thanks Scott for the recommendation), buy a variety of cheeses, and then picnic at a vineyard when we got to the valley. Well, part one of the plan went great, as we sampled maybe two dozen cheeses at the Collective before buying four or five of them for our picnic (yeah, I guess we were hungry!) But by the time we checked in at Napa, it was late afternoon on a holiday weekend, and all the vineyards were closing soon. So we drove into town and found Copia, the American Center for Wine, Food, and the Arts.

Copia was cool. There was a sauvignon blanc food festival going on which we jumped into. Picture an expo with maybe 60 or so tables, with each table either offering a variety of either sauvignon blancs or some super tasty food. Damn, I'm starting to salivate as I recall this. There were brick oven pizzas, Mexican wraps, barbecued ribs, seafood, and sandwiches of all kinds. Ironically, what I remember best of all, other than the wine, was a "New England" style clam chowder, which was perfect-- seasoned just right with some herbs I can't identify, creamy and loaded with clams and potatoes, better than any chowder I've had back home in New England.

We toured the Copia gardens for a while, and then I bought a bottle of red for later, but by the time we got back to the hotel, we were exhausted.