5 in 5: Day Five

The trek to five concludes tonight. And what a conclusion. I sprinted to the finish last night with good wine, and more importantly, good company. Yesterday, myself, Phil, and my sister Diane, ventured north to the great state (ha!) of Rhode Island to celebrate Katie's last class of the semester at Brown. Seriously though, I do love Rhode Island. I can get anywhere there in less than an hour. People in LA can't get to the next exit on the Santa Monica Freeway in that time. We decided to dine at Napa Valey Grille. Their website said reservations recommended. I made reservations. I felt like a schmuck. There were maybe a dozen other diners in the expansive restaurant all night. Napa is a beautiful restaurant. There is an upper dining room that is dim and quiet, very romantic (wink, wink!) and a lower dining area near the bar that is still inviting and exciting without being loud and overbearing. We dined in the lower area in a great corner booth. Phil, Diane, and I begin the night without Katie over a half-bottle of Pine Ridge's Chenin-Blanc/Viognier Blend. This a delicious lemony wine that is slightly sweet but tremendously enjoyable. Katie polished the last of it off when she arrived and promptly ordered a full bottle of one of our favorites, the Honig Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc. Those of you who have dined at Up River with us before can probably attest to this wines outstanding flavor. For appetizers we shared a plate of cheeses and calamari. The cheeses were a hazelnut encrusted Chevre, a chocolate Chevre (amazing!) and a Manchego (I think...which is from sheep's milk). The three were extremely tasty, especially with the accompanying chutney. For entrees Katie and Phil had the Ostrich, Diane had the Filet, and I had the Ahi Tuna. It's safe to say we all enjoyed every morsel. With these dishes I had picked out a 1996 Heitz Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Heitz makes the famed "Martha's Vineyard" Cab, but that was well out of my price range. But the '96 Napa didn't disappoint. And here is an example of Wine Spectator not knowing my tastes. They rate it as 87 points and gave it a nice review. I felt it was outstanding. The cedar and black currant flavors are what I absolutely love about California Cabs! This wine was much higher than an 87 in my book, but perhaps my palate isn't as accurate as James Laube's of the Spectator. Heitz is a label I had been itching to try and was glad to share it with such good people. In the end, it was a terrific evening and a fantastic way for me to wrap up my five days of focusing on my blog. But fret not, I hope to become much more of a regular poster as time marches on. Till next time..."Here's to Katie finishing class, Phil working for Pfizer, Diane teaching Pre-K, and me being a smart ass son of a (expletive)."--Me