One day, one city...Napa, CA

Leland "Lee" Mitchell -  Napa Firefighters Museum

Thursday we explored the Oxbow Public Market in downtown Napa. Today we'll be looking at other things to do in the city of Napa.

The Napa Firefighters Museum: www.napafirefightersmuseum.org.  contains a collection of artifacts that spans Napa's firefighting history. It is open free to the public and has been at it's current location, 1201 Main Street in the city of Napa for over 16 years.

Unfortunately, it appears the museums day are numbered having lost their lease. The Napa Community Redevelopment Agency, which had been leasing the historic sight, was eliminated by the State of California and all their assets are being liquidated.

For now the museum remains open free to the public  from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays.

Loose Caboose Hobbies: www.loosecaboose.com. 820-A Third St. is a complete model train and hobby shop.

They carry a complete line of model trains, railroad accessories, and supplies to build your dream layout. They also have all the popular scales (G 1/22.5, O 1/48, HO 1/87, and N 1/160) as well as popular brands such as; Athearn, Walthers, Atlas, Bachmann, LifeLike, Proto2000, MTH Rail King, Lionel, LGB, Accucraft, AristoCraft, Kato, and Micro-Trains. For the kids, they have a complete Wooden Thomas the Tank Engine section with a Thomas play table.

The Loose Caboose carries several other things to satisfy your hobby desire. They have an extensive assortment of hobby needs including plastic models, rockets, slot cars, strategic tapletop games, wood, landscaping materials, radio control planes, tools, science experiments, rock polishing equipment and more. 
Store hours: Tues-Sat 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sun 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Mark Harold Wines: www.Heroldwines.com. 710 First St. 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. closed Wednesdays. So what does one do with two PhD's in Biology? Why, become a winemaker of course! After a stint at Joseph Phelps as an Research Enologist, Mark produced his own label Merus in the garage of his downtown home in Napa in 1998. It was good enough to receive 93 points from Robert Parker! 

Dean Williams, director at Mark Herold Wine Tasting Room.

On our recent visit, we sampled some of Mark's current lables, including Acha, Flux, Collide and Mark Harold. These are all small batch wines that are well worth investigating. We also tasted from a wineries he is currently consulting for. One of our favorites was the 2009 Maze Cabernet Sauvignon. This 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Coombsville, Pritchard Hill and Oakville is an outstanding value at $60 per bottle.

Among our other favorites that we sampled were the 2011 Acha Blanca which is made from 100% Albarino grapes, the 2011 Flux Blanc which is a Grenache Blanc dominated white blend, and the 2012 Flux Rose, a blush made from Grenache, Carignane and Syrah grapes.

Zuzu Tapas & Paella: www.zuzunapa.com. 829 Main St. Mon to Thurs 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fri 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Sat 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., Sun 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Zuzu is a marvelous tapas bar that I visited for the first time. Tapas are small plates. The restaurant offers a modern, California version of tapas along with some traditional offerings based on the cuisines of Spain, Portugal and the Mediterranean.

Wild Mushroom Empanada

Are favorite dish was an Empanada filled with roasted local wild mushrooms & herbed chevre and came with a Guajillo Sauce & Micro green salad with a Honey-Sherry & Apple Cider Vinaigrette. Both the empanada & salad were way good.

Gambas al ajillo

Gambas al ajillo, fresh Gulf Shrimp with Garlic, Piquin Chili and Pimenton was a close second. Although the Mrs. complained about burning her fingers peeling the hot shrimp...I got it. Sometimes a little pain is necessary to attain pleasure (Socrates). Cooking the gambas in the shell equals succulent, flavorful shrimp and these were cooked perfectly in a very good sauce. Naturally you need slice baguette to polish off the sauce. A traditional Spanish dish executed perfectly. A glass of their house-made Sangria made this a perfect lunch. Almost perfect.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Artichoke Hearts and Onions with Ancho chile sauce.

 A third dish left me frustrated over what might have been. Our final dish, Roasted fingerling potatoes, artichoke hearts and spring onions had my mouth watering in anticipation. The individual ingredients were cooked perfectly. Unfortunately, the kitchen forgot to season this dish. Just a little sea salt away from perfection; woe is me! Perhaps a drizzle of olive oil as well. Anyway, two out of three ain't bad!

Giovanni Scala, proprietor Bistro Don Giovanni

Finally, we end our day in Napa at my "go-to" restaurant, Bistro Don Giovanni:
www.bistrodongiovanni.com. Very few restaurants attained the "triple crown" of dining. Excellent food, service and setting. Bistro Don Giovanni attains all three, and they've been providing it since 1993.

Lindsay preparing my favorite salad.

Beet, Hericot Vert, Fennel & Avocado Salad w/Roquefort Vinaigrette. Awesome!

As a former chef who worked with and for Italians from Italy, Donna Scala is my hero. Her French technique and California sensibilities with traditional Italian dishes is a thing of beauty. Salads, appetizers, pizzas, pasta and main dishes all reach a high level. You really can't go wrong with whatever you choose. I'm a pasta-risotto fiend so that's usually where I hang out on the menu.

Seared Salmon w/buttermilk mashed potatoes, tomato-chive butter. 

Garganelli Bolognese: Wild Boar Ragu, sage & aged Provolone

I hope you enjoyed our day in Napa. It hardly covers everything. We didn't have time to mention the great shopping at the downtown mall or the factory outlets. A Bose factory outlet, who knew! Or mention such great dining spots as Morimoto Napa, Oenotri (where my favorite pizza in all Northern California is made). That means we will have to make another trip to Napa soon!

Ciao for now!