Farmstead instead...

The weather around the bay has been gorgeous lately. It’s warm and sunny, no more rains (excepting this week). I’m feeling like a ground squirrel. Being outside is almost more comfortable than being inside the house sometimes. I planned a short hiking trip on a random Monday, which is not typical of me at all. We left the house early in the morning to beat the commuter traffic and hiked up Mt. St. Helena. Although there were ugly signal towers crowding the summit of the mountain, seeing San Francisco, the bay, vineyards of the Napa valley, lakes, and a couple of snow capped mountains south of Shasta was really neat.

But of course, any trip isn’t complete without a delicious meal somewhere -- whether it’s a homemade sandwich on top of the mountain or a simple meal at a local restaurant after getting back to the trailhead.

I had been eyeing on this restaurant for the past several times I’ve driven to St. Helena, heart of the Napa valley wine country and home for many star chefs. It’s right along on the main street and they’ve got a small farm/garden in front of the restaurant. It looks like a cute country house, but once you step inside the restaurant, it looks like a barn converted into a restaurant. I was mesmerized by every detail of the décor both inside and outside the restaurant.

I took a quick walk around Farmstead before we went in. They had herbs growing in the garden, apples growing around the patio. While taking photos of the baby Granny Smith, there were a couple of small squirrels, looking so curiously as if they were checking out what was on the menu that night.

The first dish we ordered was Wood Roasted Asparagus with Bellwether Farm Ricotta, Meyer Lemon and Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which came in a cute cast iron. These asparagus were at least twice as thick as regular ones I see in a grocery store. Usually when asparagus gets so large, they get firmer and too fibrous I would have to peel off the skin a little bit, but not these ones. They were tender, easily cut, yet not too soft or mushy. I really liked how it was just the asparagus. A simple dish like this makes you appreciate the quality of the ingredients.

Then we got Farmstead Cobb Salad with Little Gem Lettuces, Smoked Turkey, Cured Bacon, and Point Reyes Blue Cheese. This was the biggest Cobb salad I’ve ever seen. No, they didn’t use filler either: biggest chunks of bacons, not slices, and super generous amount of turkey, eggs, and cheese. You might actually get more protein from dish than their other entrées.

Wood Grilled Berkshire Pork Chop with Braised Greens, Celery Root Puree and Apple Butter came with two big pieces of pork chops. This was definitely two meals for me. The pork chops were so juicy that I still enjoyed eating the reheated leftover the next day. The celery root puree was silky smooth. I ate it like it was a creamy sauce for the braised greens.

We could’ve easily passed on the dessert since we were pretty satisfied already, but the dinner so far had been so good that it made us curious to see what they had in store. They didn’t have a menu for the dessert. Instead, the server recited the offerings. There was chocolate pie, panna cotta, cookies, and something else. All sounded like comfort and country styled desserts that perfectly fit in the restaurant image. But to us, the Farmstead cookies sounded the best. Who would normally put such classics such as peanut butter, double chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin, on the desert menu unless if it was just that good?

They brought it out, stacked cookies, two of kind, each so wide that you couldn’t dunk them in a mug if you tried. On the top and center was the king-of-the-hill peanut butter cookie with a light dusting of powdered sugar. They were all incredibly moist and equally soft. The oatmeal raisin cookies particularly were so chewy that it barely held shape when picked it up. It had honey-like sweetness with both dark purple and golden raisins. It was my favorite. The double chocolate chip cookies were more on the bitter-dark side with a hint of espresso, but we still ooohhed and mmmed. I’m usually not so crazy about peanut butter cookies, but I didn’t give up my share for this one.

About the summit of Mount St. Helena, it’s far from an endpoint. Besides the easy downhill slog to the trailhead (the other 50% of any hike), there was another sign pointing South East. Apparently, this leads to the Palisades area, or Table Rock, which descends over two thousand feet into the floor of the Napa valley. It’s full of wildlife, but doesn’t share its highpoint with crowds of communication dishes, or people. I’ll be coming back to find out on my own, and when I do, I’ll also consider exploring more of Farmstead’s menu.