Yesterday I shared food from our first day in Napa; I spent a nice, long early morning in bed blogging and drinking coffee and then finally got out for a late morning workout, which was fabulous. I returned to the hotel and went directly to the restaurant to see what I might find for breakfast. Oh happy day!
I ordered the green smoothie and continued to look at the menu. I asked if I could order the omelet, just hold the egg, cheese, and meat. She didn’t blink an eye and said “So you’d like a nice vegetable plate?” Yes, please.
The smoothie was fantastic and the plate was filled with cauliflower, mushrooms, eggplant, onions, tomatoes and zucchini. Delicious.
Dave and I spent the afternoon with his athlete for race registration (he is, right this minute, waiting for his wave to jump in the Russian River for the Vineman Ironman 70.3 race!). Lucky me, they had veggie burgers at the race site – and three bean salad – so I had a perfectly fine lunch at a picnic table. I had fun watching people read my t-shirt at the race expo.
I picked this t-shirt up from the nice folks at My Voice Gives, who had a tent right next to our Vegan for Her table at VegFest Colorado (I couldn’t resist getting my Susan Nichole handbag label “animal and earth friendly fashion” in this shot).
We returned to the hotel for a quiet glass of wine in the room.
I teased my husband, saying there’s something seriously wrong when my first glass of wine in Napa Valley is poured at 5:00 p.m.!
We walked across the street for dinner last night. Even though the concept of “carbo loading” before a race is dated, we couldn’t resist going to an Italian place where our friend could have whatever his heart desired to fuel up for his big half-iron race this morning. Oenotri Restaurant boasts a diverse menu (pizza, antipasta, pasta, and entrees) mostly full of meat and cheese. I really wanted to start with the fried green tomatoes but they use buttermilk. Bummer. I did start with a glass of sparkling Pinot Noir.
The server was able to help me navigate the menu and she confirmed that each day they chef walks them through the menu and specifically talks about the pastas and that yesterday every pasta on the menu was made with flour and water – no egg – which makes it vegan (unless it’s pasta stuffed with cheese, naturally). I opted to start with a vegetable from the list of sides: pole beans with a hot pepper sauce and pine nuts
and ordered the spaghetti with chanterelle mushrooms, garlic and thyme. I liked that it was a reasonably sized bowl of pasta (meaning only about a cup and a half, not a mound!).
Compared to our eats Friday this meal falls in the category of “just fine” and I wouldn’t rush back. I do, however, always appreciate an accommodating server and kitchen so a big thanks to everyone at Oenotri.
I’m now getting ready for my book event and demo at Whole Foods in just a few hours but you can bet I’ll be having a hearty breakfast here at the hotel soon. That Wine Away Juice with coconut water, melon, ginger, apple and carrot is calling my name!
