My DH and I spent all of last week in Napa following a weekend in Sonoma for their wine Barrel Tasting Festival. Besides all the great wine and fabulous food we witnessed miles and miles of beautiful fruit tree blooms while driving through the Central Valley - between SoCal and NoCal.
While in Napa we dined at Julia's Kitchen, named for culinary legend Julia Child, at Copia, the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts. As you can imagine the food was delicious but what made it extra special to me was that most of the vegetable ingredients are grown on the premises. Wine, naturally, local stuff.
In addition to the over 30 different herbs that are grown, during fall/winter, 50-60% of the produce on the menu comes from these gardens – including kale, chards, beets, carrots, broccolis and cauliflowers. During spring/summer that number jumps to 80-90% - including cucumbers, tomatoes (120 varieties), sweet peppers, chilies and basils.
Always sourcing out the freshest and the best, Chef Jeff's California-French cuisine references the use of produce and products mostly grown/raised in California, utilizing the French technique for preparation. Depending on the season, guests may find such specialties as Don Watson Milk Fed Lamb, succulent Sonoma Liberty Duck, delicate Petrale Sole, or Dungeness Crab.
I hope these photos give you a peak of the awesome gardening happening on this property.
