napa, oh, napa

So, coming in to this experience I’ve had immense anxiety. First of all… am I supposed to feel comfortable here? What if everyone sucks? All I have heard is amazing reviews of this 5-city+ area (Napa, Sonoma, Yountville, St. Helena, Calistoga)… but what if these reviews are all about the need to “say” that Napa is all that, and it really isnt’?

In fact, these feelings have existed even before embarking on my Napa excursion – I actively avoid this region while wine shopping. Why? Because of the same rationale – Napa wines can’t really be ALL THAT just because they are from Napa. BTW, this feeling does not generally apply to the surrounding areas – even if it should. I almost couldn’t enjoy myself the first night here because of these anxieties.

I’d probably not suggest flying into San Francisco International airport to drive in to Napa – kind of takes away from the whole experience of coming to wine country. There is a Napa regional airport – I’d suggest this entry point even though I haven’t been there. We flew in on a Saturday – so it wasn’t that bad. BUT, I bet it would suck big time if it was even remotely close to rush hour.

I had a rough time getting out the door to get to our first reservations at Celadon in Napa. I felt like I had no idea where we were – and my nails weren’t painted. Not only were they not painted, they were living through a month-old chipped-up state of disrepair. As Brady tried to get reception on our GPS, I madly tried to paint my nails in our suite – feeling the whole time that I am going to be late and miss our reservation. Not that I would normally be worried about these sort of things – we all know I am notoriously late everywhere. I just kept thinking I’d be stuck dining at the McDonald’s playland if I missed these reservations… and I can barely handle that in Greendale.

Luckily we arrived uncommonly early. UNCOMMONLY early.

Still feeling wildly unsettled and nervous – not wanting to act like someone who I am not, but feeling this nagging feeling to fit in, I anxiously awaited for our server. Even when she arrived to take our drink order – I did not feel settled. When asking her what she suggested, I didn’t get the to-the-point recommendation I was hoping for, expecting. She sort of hesitated, and in retrospect, I appreciate this. She wasn’t posturing, or pretending to be that “Napa” person I so pre-emptively detest.

I had read a blog about wine lists in Napa before arriving here, and it mentioned to not steer away from the entry-priced wines, just because of their price points. So, I decided to take this advice… especially feeling like I needed to stick my ground in not being that “Napa type” and that we had a big vacation ahead of us full of expenses. We ordered the Pope Vineyards Sangiovese – they remarked they had only recently brought it into the restaurant. Both our server and the owner (who poured the wine for us) remarked they were pleasantly surprised. It was very nice, unassuming and a lovely way to start our Napa trip.

We had an amazing meal – the calamari which is what Celadon is famous for (highly addictive), the goat cheese with crostini (yum, yum), soft shelled-crab salad (nothing spectacular), and the fettucini with pork pasta special (“it was good,” Brady says). But the service was awesome and down to earth.

The night ended up just right – and we took some pictures of swans.