4/5/2023 – 4/7/2023
Today I took a mini vacation down to Santa Rosa and Napa, CA. I got down to Santa Rosa around 7PM and went to Henhouse Brewing Company. They were recommended to me from someone along the way. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I got to Henhouse. It’s a normal building on the outside, but once you get in, it’s alien and space themed. It has black lights and was pretty wild.
I closed the brewery down and asked where the hot spot was. They told me that the only place open on a Wednesday night was Old Main Street Saloon in Sebastopol,CA, a few miles away. When I got there, there was only a handful of people and it was a glorious cash only dive bar. I talked to locals and played pool until they closed at 2AM.
On the 6th, after the gym, I started by going to a game store, then going to my actual destination, Russian River Brewing. Once I got there I was met with a line down the block waiting to get into the brewery. I asked around and found out they were doing a limited release of Pliny the Younger and the place had at least a two hour wait. I was not going to wait that long for a couple of beers though. I hung out in the van for the rest of the night.
The next day I went back to Russian River Brewing, but they didn’t open until the afternoon and I didn’t want to wait around again. I was not able to go to the destination that I wanted to go to. Sad face. I left Santa Rosa and drove to Napa. I walked around all of downtown Napa, CA. You can tell it’s a place built for rich people. My first stop was for lunch at Gracie’s Table. This was a really highly rated, globally inspired restaurant. I really wanted to try the cassoulet, but they only were serving the brunch menu. I decided to leave and ended up skipping lunch all together.
There were a bunch of other four star restaurants around, but non really sounded good. My next stop was at Oxbow Public Market. On my way there I found the Napa Wine Train. I would love to go on this some time. Oxbow was a big public market with food, vendors, with a brewery, restaurant, and deli attached. I bought a few fancy cheeses and had an empanada. Fieldwork Brewing Company was attached to the market. I headed in for a flight and a pint. It had rained earlier that morning so the patio was soaked. I ended up finding a dry spot and enjoyed the beer.
After the market and brewery I went back to the van to move it, there is a two hour parking limit everywhere in town. I parked on the other end of downtown. I was in Napa so I had to go to a wine store. Nothing caught my eye though. I found one of my favorite restaurants though, Bounty Hunter Wine Bar & Smokin’ BBQ. I ordered the prime rib special, a wine flight, and a beer since it was happy hour. The steak was amazing, one of the best I’ve ever had. The mashed potatoes were very wet though, a bummer for how expensive the meal was. The wines that I tried were really good and worth the money for the flight. After supper I made my way back to Chico.