Hey! I left you all hanging for a while but happy to be back to dish on the rest of my amazing trip with Lorin Cook and the goodness of getting to share her prize in San Francisco. The prize, as you may know, was being hosted by Tyler Florence at his restaurants in California and time spent at the vineyard that produces his wine. It was a whirlwind of fun that exceeded all of our expectations!

Here is how it all went down:

Once we made it out of the cook house in NYC, we hopped on Virgin Airlines to jet off to San Francisco. As we got on the plane, Lorin spotted Tyler already on the plane. It was fun to meet him pre-San Fran! Spending a minute chatting with him about the fun that was coming, with him as our host, made us really look forward to getting to San Fran!

At last, we landed and got to our posh hotel and proceeded to get a really good nap in (I love naps!). Then, we got ourselves all gussied up and met our fancy car service that whooshed us away to what would turn out to being an incredible evening.

The Wayfare Tavern in San Fran was our destination. We were two of 12 fortunate folks set-up with the best seats in the house. The restaurant is a cozy, beautiful space, very tavern-esk with dark ornate architecture and yet balanced with beautiful flourishes of delicate lighting and a grand and lovely fireplace that we sat in front of. There was the warmth from the fireplace and a genuine warmth that came from Tyler and his staff.  The open kitchen, where Tyler and his team worked intensely, was within touching distance. It was dinner and theater. The wine flowed along with lots of sit-down conversations with Tyler and members of his crew.  We each ordered our own plates but we made sure to all get something different from the menu so we could taste everything that was offered. Then, in the hospitable style that we would come to know of Tyler and his team, we were treated to several soon-to-be added menu items.  The thing that was cool was that they listened carefully to what we liked about each item. It was fun to offer up our thoughts on their newly developed food.

It was late by the time we rolled ourselves out of Wayfare.  Then, it was a quick rest-up for the next day of non-stop wine and food!

The little white luxury bus picked us up early and scooted us to the Michael Mondavi Vineyard in Napa; a pretty little vineyard that produces Tyler Florence’s tasty wines. We got a fantastic tour, took in the fresh air, walked through the vineyard-landscape and had a delicious lunch in the shadow of Tranquility Mountain (a perfect name for this perfect place). We got to sample wines right from the barrel (By the way, I am a Pinot lover… and TF 10 Pinot Noir… if you can find it, you should try it! It’s a favorite of mine).  I am super glad they kept the pours small, because it was a whole big day of lots and lots and lots of little samples, making me grateful that later we had an hour drive to our next destination, which gave me a chance to get a nap in (yeah, I probably drooled and looked weird, sorry Lorin- thanks for the shoulder!).

We pulled into another pretty little town. Actually, it wasn’t just pretty, but kind of idyllic. This little town called Mill Valley is 25 minutes outside of San Francisco and is flanked by mountains. It’s like…hard to explain, just a sweet little town tucked in and surrounded by nature. It is simple and sweet.  This is where Tyler and family live and run three businesses. They have a beautiful William Sonoma –esk retail store where he periodically hosts cooking classes and uses it to film various programs-. In addition, he also has the unique and beautiful El Paseo (The Passage) Restaurant one block down. Close by, his father-in-law owns a cute antique shop that is positioned at the end of walkway (the passage-way) that runs through the restaurant. If you have a chance, I would recommend heading to Mill Valley and checking out all of it! You never know, you might even get to catch a class with Tyler at his shop.

We were fortunate enough to get to have a class with Tyler. He and another chef created three items from his newest book entitled, “Fresh.”  The book is awesome. Like, super good. On my ride home on the plane, I read it over and over again, devouring each page. The images are gorgeous; the recipes pretty simple, yet inspired. After my love fest on the plane with the book, I got home and made like six items from it. Yeah, I’m a super-dork food fan, but it was so fun to try it out and even more fun to eat the fresh flavors up. I recommend this book! Can you tell I like it!

But, I digress, let’s get back to Mill Valley. I loved the class, learned some cool things from Tyler and crew and then we had time to wander about before our 8pm dinner… yes, this is the same day still! So far, we have been to Napa, drinking all morning thru lunch, we have had a nap, and now a carb filled class (much pasta was made and served) with Tyler and we are now roaming about Mill Valley taking it in… until our next meal. Hilarity did ensue as we were a little drunk on food and wine, bumbling around the town “meeting” new friends. We lounged about town, shopped a bit and then it was time to head over to the restaurant for yet another fabulous meal with Tyler, this time, with his family at El Paseo.

El Paseo is one of the most unique restaurants I have been to. It is exquisite in its old world charm. I loved it – The food, the wine, the staff, and Tyler and his family, too! They lavished us with graciousness. They were all so lovely and really fun! They treated us like family; it truly was an incredible night. Do yourself a favor. If you are in San Fran, take a trip to Mill Valley and to El Paseo, you will not be disappointed. The next part of the trip was standard tourist-in-San Fran stuff, except for our dinner at Chris Cosentino’s restaurant…where we got pretty brave, ok me more brave than Lorin…I ate…Tuna Heart. Lorin was scared by the “offal” stuff on the menu.  I am pretty sure she wimped out and had something from the kid’s menu! Ha!

That wraps up this edition. Stayed tuned for my next food competition moment, filled with lots of incredible stuff, all from my life as a crazy food competitor!