Napa Rose Day 1...

This past weekend we went to Disneyland for the weekend. Julie (John’s sister) got tickets to a special Halloween event at California Adventure. Before we got to in event we went for dinner at Napa Rose. John and I both feel this is the best restaurant at the Disneyland in Anaheim. It was going to be my first time to Napa. In fact I was so excited I worked a half day so I wouldn’t risk sitting in traffic and missing dinner. You would’ve been that excited too if you listened to John go on and on for weeks about how great this place was. So we get to dinner and we get the best waiter who knows more about wine than Robert Parker. If you ever find yourself at Napa Rose make sure to request Saucy. John and I didn’t even bother looking at the menu as we knew what we wanted; tasting menu with the wine pairing we told Saucy. Now to get to the real point of this post the food!!

To start they give you a basket with so many different kinds of bread. If you know me then you know I love my carbs, but this time I think the smooth creamy butter out did the bread. The butter was so good I could’ve just kept eating it by itself.

3 kinds of bread...yummy.

 

 

 

Creamy butter.....yum...yum..yum

 

Christina had pepperoni pizza, but not just any pepperoni pizza this had roma tomato sauce. Allie had Buttered noodles. John and I were wondering why Allie was so excited by buttered noodles. Well John forgot to snap photos of the pizza and noodles so you can’t see them.

 

There will be another post shortly as we did the tasting menu two days in a row. Napa Rose calls the tasting menu “The Vintner’s Table”

Friday night:Course one: Cedar Planked Alaskan Wild King Salmon with Golden Chanterelles (mushrooms well really good mushrooms) Butter Leeks and a Truffle Honey Glaze. This course was so great the Salmon was cooked very rare and just enough to give the crust of the fish a flakey crust. For you non foodies chanterelle mushrooms are so good even I eat them and I hate mushrooms. The wine served to complement the meal was a white wine Chardonnay. You had to go with a white wine like this so it wouldn’t fight the fat and acidity of the fish.

    Note the chilli pepper on the left. Both of us and Saucy scratched our heads as to why the chef put it on the plate.

Wild Salmon

 

 Course two: Lobster Pumpkin “Pot Pie” (NO this is not like a Marie Calendar pot pie) served with sautéed Roasted Lobster with Lemon Grass Ginger Pumpkin Essence. This was more up John’s ally since he like lobster, but since I don’t care for it I was amazed at how good it was. Saucy paired this meal with a Pfeffengen Riesling, Pfalz, Germany 2007. I loved this and I was shocked since I normally only like Dr. Loosen Rieslings as most are too sweet for me. John thought it was yummy and says things like do you taste the citrus or smells like a barnyard? I think he just makes stuff up since I tasted no citrus or smelled a barnyard.

 

 

Not your Marie Calendar Pot Pie

Break time from the tasting menu… 

…Julie arrived right after the second course. She was late to dinner since she didn’t get off of work early like us Disneyland freaks.  Julie had Ravioli which I remember tasting and thought it was really good. So good they were sautéed in truffled sage brown butter, American Prosciutto and topped with Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese.

 

  Julie’s Brown Butter Ravioli

 

Now back to the journey of the tasting menu.

 I thought next entree was our duck but I was wrong, the chef said thank you by giving us an amuse bouche. It was a Portobello Mushroom Bisque Cappuccino with Brandied thyme froth. Again I was surprised that I found mushrooms yummy. It combined my love for cappuccinos with mushrooms. Sadly there was no wine pairing with this meal.

Soup or Cappuccino??? Mushroom Cappuccino!

 

 Now it was time for the main entrée in the tasting menu. Well just say I am glad John and I took that trip to Seattle where I learned that I loved eating duck. So yes that last entrée was duck, but not just any duck Roti Roasted “Maple Leaf Farms” Duck Breast served with Toasted sweet potato bread pudding and cranberry cider glaze. Both of us thought this dish would’ve been good if the portion was smaller. After about the 2nd piece of duck we both got tired but continued eating it. The wine served with this was a “Paraduxx” by Duckhorn, Zinfandel-Cabernet Sauvignon Blend, Napa Valley 2006. John was surprised I like the wine as it was very earthy and metal type flavored. Most red wine I drink is fruity and tannic that has a strong in your face kind of taste.  

Duck Breast... But not as good as duck liver aka foie gras.

By this time we were pretty full but knew that dessert was next. But the worst part about dessert is you know once you finish that the whole food journey is over.

Dessert was so good since I love pumpkin…Pumpkin Cheesecake with Pumpkin ice cream. Sorry no picture since the photographer and I just chowed down on this part of the meal. The wine this meal was paired with was a Domaine Jo Pithon, Le Bonnes Blanches, Coteaux du Layon, France 2002, but as with most dessert wines I didn’t care for it. I personally think the dessert wines have to much sugar and taste like gas mixed with sugar. John liked this one.

 

Sadly now the meal was over. But on a happier note we were now on our way DCA for Mickey’s Trick-or-Treat party.  Till next time…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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