Exploring culinary delights in Napa Valley and San Francisco
BY VICKY RATNANI
If you are going to San Francisco, you are going to meet some very gentle people there. Scott Mckenzie’s famous song keeps playing in my mind as I set my journey to a place which has been very close to my heart.
I start my trip with Napa, which is north of San Francisco in California. It is known for hundreds of hillside vineyards in the Napa Valley wine region.
In the city of Napa, Oxbow Public Market features regional gourmet food. With an assortment of eateries under one roof, you will have multiple menus to choose from and get excited about.
Take a full loop around, before you make a commitment. There are many delicious options to choose from oysters, tapas, butcher, delicatessen and beautiful fresh produce. A trip to the winery is a must to actually understand the labour of love and expertise which is needed to produce those beauties.
I spent a day walking around downtown Napa, exploring some great spots for coffee, wine tasting, lounges and some fab eateries. I actually had no real agenda for San Francisco but great plans to eat, visit markets and check out what is going on in the most neo-hippie or boho chic hub of the world.
I had to start by heading down to the Ferry Building. The Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is a California-certified farmers market operated by the non-profit organisation which promotes farmers and supports sustainability.
The market is widely acclaimed for both quality and diversity of its fresh farm products, and artisan and prepared foods. It is renowned throughout the country as one of the top farmers’ markets to visit.
On any day, and especially on Saturdays, some of San Francisco’s best-known chefs and most famous farmers can be seen at the market. The market provides a forum for people to learn about food and agriculture. Each week nearly 40,000 shoppers visit the farmers market.
Next up, I had a well-spent Sunday at the Heart of the City Farmers Market. The farmers who run Heart of the City Farmers Market strive to bring high-quality, fresh, and reasonably priced food from small local farms to the heart of San Francisco’s poorest urban neighbourhoods to support sustainable, small-scale agriculture efforts.
If you want to eat some really good Californian Chinese food, you have to hit Chinatown. This is one of the oldest and most established Chinatowns in the US. Beyond the iconic Dragon’s Gate, a bustling maze of streets and alleys brims with dim-sum joints and other traditional eateries.
Also found here are herbalists, bakeries, souvenir shops, and dark cocktail lounges and karaoke bars. There are ornate temples, including the landmark Tien How as well as the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum.
Some really good dumpling shops, grocery stores and fish mongers sell some top quality fish and shellfish. It was surely a treat seeing fishes like idiot fish, sturgeon, lobster, eel and loads more.
To be honest, I was given a long list of restaurants to eat. I ate in most of them and totally loved them. It was great to see Indian chefs doing so well and their restaurants making waves in the culinary map of San Francisco. Rooh by Chef Sujan Sarkar and Campton Place by Chef Srijith Gopinathan are a must visit. The Nuevo Cali-Indian menus feature Californian produce with a jugalbandi of Indian spices, aromas, smoke and fire. I simply loved the menu and its execution. At the end of the day, I always say “produce is king.” It makes it or it breaks it.
My local friend there took me to Sausalito, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a steep hillside covered in chaparral and eucalyptus drops from Highway 101 which leads to a flat, sunny shoreline, two miles long and a couple of blocks wide facing the bay.
The day-trippers from San Francisco walk or cycle over the bridge or arrive by ferry. When you are there, sit and have a coffee at a café on the charming main street of Bridgeway, and look back across the Bay at the city centre skyline.
My heart was all set to eat cioppino de pesce, which is a hearty seafood broth with crab, mussels, squid, red snapper with tomatoes, fennel and fresh herbs. Cioppino is a fish stew which originated with Portuguese and Italian fishermen in San Francisco. This was a divine sitting by the water, eating the soup and enjoying the Mediterranean style of weather.
One thing that I can never get over is the sourdough bread and the iconic bakeries. One must check out Tartine Bakery, Tartine Manufactory and the Mill for their outstanding bread and pastries.
One of my favourite meals on my trip was at State Bird Provisions.
I was fortunate to get a seat as the restaurant as it is always booked for weeks. The food is ordered in one of two ways: from a brief list of “commandables,” (à la carte) or from a dim sum-type system, in which a roving platoon of carts and trays bears numerous smallish dishes.
Small bowls of kennebec potato chips with even smaller bowls of smoked trout crème fraîche, oysters garnished with shreds of fermented daikon and brightened with splashes of the radishes brine, fried pierogi-like dumplings filled with duck neck and braised in sauerkraut and riesling is served.
Though you could easily make a full meal from these small plates, during our visit, we ordered a couple of the “commandables.” We were served an intensely crispy griddle-fried trout fillet dressed with brown butter and seasoned with garum (a sauce made from fermented fish) and toasted hazelnuts.
My favourite was the quail which was deep-fried and crunchy, savoury and spicy and crust nicely complementing the little bird’s subtle gaminess.
Say no more … meals or memories, for me never die or fade away!