Gott's Roadside (formerly Taylor’s Automatic Refresher) in St. Helena has been a Napa Valley institution for years. Everyone talks about wine when they think of Napa, but they should also think of great hamburgers.
My wife, Patricia, and I visited the St. Helena location on an unseasonably hot Saturday in November. This is a great time of year to visit Napa, because the fall colors are in full swing. The great weather brought out a throng of like-minded folk. The mid-century style building sits just south of town. A sheet metal smoke stack belched smoke form the grill.
At the refresher you order at one of two windows. They take your name and you sit at one of the many picnic tables outside to wait for your order. There was a line of at least 50 people waiting to order when we arrived. It took a good 20 minutes. But we got acquainted with burger lovers from Fresno, Denver and Mississippi while we waited in line. Pat got a white wine for her and a beer for me while we waited.
What if your favorite restaurant was in the same state you were in but it was 9 hours away???
The Mountain Room restaurant at Yosemite Lodge in Yosemite National
Park in California is a great place to have a burger after a hike. If
you have never visited Yosemite, there are plenty of hikes to work up
an appetite. I joined 10 friends as we assaulted Half Dome over 2 days.
The hike covers about 4800 feet of altitude gain over a 17-mile hike.
Whilst in the Napa Valley, this Farmer gave into a deadly sin – no, not drunkenness in the wine country…gluttony! There's no beating around the bush about my love for food - I write about food, I photograph food, I travel to eat and relish in reading a cookbook like a good novel. Between design projects and book tours, I was able to squeeze in a few days in the Napa Valley proper after the ACS convention was adjourned. A dear friend from home said she would meet me there, and our journey through the aforementioned valley began.
Slider Bar Café in Palo Alto recently opened on the popular main drag,
University Street. There were countless restaurants bustling on a
Friday night, including this place. A striking, high ceilinged room
welcomes folks to the café. We sat at the bar as all the tables were
full. Slider Bar Café has a sophisticated take on the slider concept,
also serving several micro brew type beers and mid-level wines. If you
sit at the bar, the friendly bar tender will take your order and get
your wine, while you watch the soccer game or ESPN on the flat screens
behind the counter. If you sit at a table, you have to order at the
counter, take a number and have the food brought out later.