French Blue

After two wineries, we took a break and drove to St. Helena for lunch at French Blue:

The restaurant is known for their architecture and has won some awards for their design:

We started with some shared morning buns:

Delicious salad with bibb lettuce and fresh vegetables:

And a beautiful, rustic halibut prepared with potatoes, vegetables and lots of olive oil dressing:

All of us before we started digging in:

French Blue had really good food that was freshly prepared and in a very beautiful atmosphere – we loved it!

Petite Abeille

After a fun workout class in Tribeca, Ken and I went to Petite Abeille for a quick bite to eat. The restaurant is very family-friendly and has books hanging on their walls for little kids as well as a large selection of Belgian beers. Since we just finished working out, I was looking for something with lots of protein – I ordered a Western omelette:

Ken ordered the omelette special of the day (it included salmon and shallots):

As well as a Belgian waffle with strawberries and cream:

I had a few strawberries but no waffle…Ken said it was absolutely amazing!

The waitstaff is super friendly and I enjoyed my breakfast. I also like the side salad that comes with the omelette – a great way to start the morning after a tough workout class.

Pine Ridge Winery

Our next stop was Pine Ridge Winery, a recommendation from one of my coworkers:

The tasting room was next to the vineyard and also had a restaurant attached to it so you could enjoy the beautiful weather while drinking some of their wines. We enjoyed the scenery here more than the wines (the guy that was pouring our wines looked like he was from a soap opera!) Here’s finally a photo of all of us – a little blurry, but I’ll take it:

We walked around the vineyard and took some photos after we did our tasting, but we were also a little tired after drinking so much wine (and starting the morning so early!)

After Pine Ridge and Jessup, we went to lunch at another place, The French Blue, an architecturally beautiful restaurant that my coworkers suggested when Angie was getting recommendations for the trip.

Jessup Cellars

On Saturday, we started the day with a really delicious breakfast prepared by our innkeeper at the bed and breakfast in Yountville. She also had a really cute dog, a grey poodle, who was so quiet that we didn’t know there was a dog in the house until the innkeeper called her over. We started the day of drinking around 11 (a respectable time in Napa) at Jessup Cellars:

The winery is pretty new and we were seated in the back room since we had a larger party. Our host, Dan, was very knowledgeable and brought out some nice crackers, chocolates and nuts to munch on while we sampled wines:

The bridesmaids bought me some bride-to-be gear that I wore for the day – here’s me sitting while Dan (also known as Danimal) tells us about our first wine:

The wines were all good, especially their blends. Dan even gifted me my favorite bottle as a wedding gift! He was really knowledgeable about Jessup Cellars, the Napa region, and about wine in general. We had a really fun time chatting with him and wished we didn’t have to go to our next tasting! Here’s most of us after the tasting:

If you’re looking for a winery to visit, you should definitely consider adding Jessup Cellars to your list.

Redd

To start bachelorette festivities, Angie made reservations for all of us at Redd, a restaurant in Yountville that was highly recommended by Kristen. I started with a delicious cocktail made with a tequila base, rhubarb bitters and egg white:

We had everything family style and ordered a bit of everything from the menu. We had the hamachi with sushi rice and edamame:

Pork belly:

And a very delicious seafood risotto:

Everyone loved the scallops:

The very light halibut with fresh local vegetables:

When we were getting ready to pay for dinner, the server explained to us that someone had already paid for dinner – Ken asked Angie which restaurant we were dining at on Friday night so he could pay for all of us! It was such a nice way to start the weekend and Ken was definitely the star of the evening. Most of us after dinner:

The restaurant is on the main drag of Yountville, close to some wineries and Bouchon. Definitely worth visiting (and I want to take Ken there when we go to Napa together someday!)