Anyhow, had a great birthday. Vinomaker made the whole day a lot of fun; a couple of wine tastings (in Sonoma), lunch at the Oxbow Public Market (a crab taco), a Kara's Cupcakes passion fruit cupcake (which has become a tradition) and last, but not least, dinner at yet another restaurant we haven't tried before. Tarla Mediterranean Grill, located in the trendy-ish west end of 1st Street, downtown Napa, is a rather small restaurant, but they look like they are currently expanding into the next unit. They need to, people are packed in like sardines - and loud? Yikes!
Wine list was a little small, but we settled on a inexpensive imported white, Boutari's Elios, an interesting blend of 50% Moscofilero, 30% Chardonnay (what?), 10% Roditis and 10% Savatiano. Paired well with my Spanakopita appetiser, not so good with the dolma, but went great with my diver scallops and shrimp entrée (spot a theme here? Crab? Scallops? Shrimp? My birthday happened to fall on a Friday in Lent). Dessert was baklava with vanilla gelato, paired with Bonny Doon's Vinferno, a blend of 51% Grenache blanc and 49% Roussanne (produced using an Amarone-like process)...yum! All yum!
Thank you Vinomaker for my busy birthday day. I was pooped at the end of it, but a good pooped. Ta la!
