Napa Foodie Road Trip

Napa Foodie Road Trip

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RoadTripOil #CollectiveBias 

It's a glorious day when my two favorite things collide: food and travel. Being close to Napa has probably been what I've most treasured about living in the North Bay Area, it's the ultimate foodie destination and is gorgeous year-round. My absolute favorite town in Napa Valley is Yountville, which just so happens to have the highest concentration of michelin stars in the world. It's been an amazing experience getting to know all the delicious offerings there and in the rest of the valley, and today I'm sharing some of that with you! For this post I explored some new spots, and revisited some old favorites to come up with a 2-meal foodie road trip itinerary. So follow along, either to get some ideas for your own road trip, or just to enjoy the eye candy.

Before starting this journey there are two steps that need to be taken: 1) go with an empty stomach, and 2) road trip prep! Before beginning this foodventure I made a quick stop at the Walmart Auto Care Center for an oil change. I have been on the road non-stop lately, so it was well overdue. And with a million things going on for me right now, being able to drop the car off for an oil change and do some shopping while I wait is pretty groovy. We like to treat our car as well as it's treated us, so it's always always synthetic, specifically Pennzoil® Platinum: Full Synthetic Motor Oil with PurePlus™ Technology. If you're over 75,000 miles like our second car is, I recommend the Pennzoil High Mileage Vehicle oil. Going with a quality oil I promise in the long run saves time and money. It helps clean out the sludge that lesser oils leave behind, yuck, and using the high mileage motor oil helps reduce leaks and oil consumption on your weary cars. Plus the Pennzoil High Mileage Vehicle oil is on rollback at Walmart right now ($4 off!), so it's a good time to get the oil change I know you've been procrastinating ;)

With those two steps out of the way, you are all ready for a smooth road trip. Check it out:

We're starting in my favorite town in the entire Bay Area: Yountville. This restaurant is an old favorite, one that never disappoints. Chef Thomas Keller owns three restaurants in this small town, all very different price points, and this is the lowest of them. Addendum is open only a few days per week only for lunch, and they sell fried chicken, ribs, and a selection of sides including this honey cornbread and signature cookies. You can order ahead of time online so that you don't have to wait in the long weekend lines, and then find a seat in the beautiful shaded garden the little restaurant is situated in. These gardens service his other restaurant Ad Hoc right next door, which is one of our top favorites. Keller's third restaurant, French Laundry, the owner of 3-michelin stars, is down the street with it's own quaint little gardens as well. I haven't been to that one yet (I won't tell you how much it runs...) but I have plans, don't tell shhhhhh. Big recommend to this lovely little spot, it's a classic.

After lunch at Addendum, I recommend heading up the street to Kollar Chocolates. We love their beautiful chocolates (the Dang Hazy with crunchy coconut is one of my favs) and tried out their gelato for the first time. This is a lemon cookie gelato, delish! And btw, this beautiful trellis which has served as the background for many, many family photos I've snapped over the years, is just south of Kollar in the parking lot, and makes for gorgeous photos. You're welcome.

Moving on to meal two! After some Instagram perusing I came across Southside Cafe in western Napa. Wow their dishes are simple but stunning, and didn't disappoint. This is the stone fruit salad with burrata and proscuitto. The perfectly ripe fruit combined with this beautiful mixture of colors and textures made for a lovely brunch. Can't wait to go back and try some more.

In downtown Napa there was one new restaurant that caught my eye: Miminashi. It's a Japanese gastropub that also sells Japanese inspired soft cream. Sadly I didn't have stomach space for the restaurant, but I definitely had room for the soft serve. This is banana brown sugar topped with miso caramel sauce and sesame honeycomb. YUM.

And last but not least: a perfect meal for me ends with boba. So I made my way up to Bel Air plaza, which houses a popular spot for quick bites called Heritage Eats. The cashier recommended the horchata, but I was pulled in by this pretty pink strawberry basil. Perfect way to top off two perfect meals.

What dishes stuck out to you, and where are you most interested in visiting?? Thanks to Pennzoil and Walmart Auto Care for making this trip such a smooth ride. Make sure you take advantage of the Pennzoil High Mileage oil change while it's on rollback! Click the link to see the deal, and use the location finder to locate the Walmart Automotive Care Center closest to you. Where are you planning your next road trip?