One of the themes on our trip to California was the lagniappe (pron: lan-yap). A lagniappe is a creole word that comes from the American South — probably around New Orleans.

According to author Julia Alvarez, Dominican Spanish la ñapa refers to “the little extra” added on at the end. Just when you thought you’d gotten all that you would get, along comes your ñapa, like a baker’s dozen (13), with one more kiss, one more pastelito, one more mango at the mercado.

The first lagniappe was adorable Jonah — my cousins Jami and Andrew’s son. He was sweet, smiley, silly, and such a pleasure to be with at only eight months old. I can’t wait to meet him again when he is a toddler.

Great Aunt Linda and Jonah

Another lagniappe was traveling from Berkeley to San Francisco on the BART: Bay Area Rapid Transit System. How cool to have a metro train system named after your family? I mean, it was one thing to name the most beloved cartoon character of our time after us but the main transport system of SF? Too much!

Riding the BART

In the theme of Passover, if we had just gotten a last-minute reservation at Alice Water’s Chez Panisse, it would have been enough. Beyond that, I was able to enjoy this delicious and historic meal with three of my favorite women (mom, Jane, and Aunt Wendy), and treat them to a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate the occasion.

At the end of our meal, the waiter brought us a bowl of Churchill-Brenneis Orchard Page Mandarins and Flying Disc Ranch Barhi Dates. This was unexpected and so simply delicious, they were the perfect ending to our meal at a restaurant dedicated to wonderful seasonal foods.

mandarin + dates

If you go to Berkeley, I highly recommend Chez Panisse for lunch, or check out their Monday night dinner price fixe menu — just $60 a person for three courses.

After lunch, Aunt Wendy took us to The Claremont, a club she belongs to with heated pools, a lovely locker room, classes, and more. The lagniappe here was that two guests were free the first Tuesday of the month — and that happened to be the day we were there. Also, they didn’t ask us for our member cards so we ended up all getting in free of charge.

Claremont Berkeley

During the second half of our trip, it was just me, mom and Jane. Our first stop was Calistoga Springs in the Napa Valley. We passed so many historic wineries and sites on our way to the hotel but the one that really caught my eye was the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone. I suggested we go there for an early glass of wine and appetizers.

Apps at the CIA

The CIA Greystone restaurant offers five different international appetizers for $10 — and a glass of wine is included! It was festive and a great way to start our wine country visit. We went back to our hotel for a swim in the hot springs and a shower before dinner. I think the idea of going out for two meals in a night totally blew my mother’s mind but Jane was totally on the same page. After all, we didn’t have lunch that day and we knew we would be hungry three hours after having that little appetizer snack.

Wine at Press in Napa

Dinner was at Press and you can read more details on what we ate here. The part that felt like a lagniappe was actually a coincidence — we were there on a Wednesday night and Press offers 1/2 price bottles of wine. We bought one of the bottles on the list below…not the $1100 one even though it would have been a steal at $550!

Wine Pricing at Press

The next day we stopped in Yountville to visit the French Laundry. We had no intention of eating but checking out the grounds was very rewarding. There is a huge garden across the street with signs showing what each row was growing and a beautiful garden inside the property as well.

French Laundry Pilgrimage

As we were wandering [read: snooping] around, a man walked out a back door and introduced himself. He asked if we wanted a tour of the kitchen. You can bet your beets we wanted a tour!

French Laundry Kitchen

The kitchen was spotless, bright with lots of windows and skylights, and packed with attractive young chefs busily preparing for an event that night. Anyone can eat a meal at the French Laundry for a couple hundred bones but how many people have actually been inside the kitchen?!

Our final stop in Yountville was at Bouchon Bakery where we picked up an almond croissant and a caramel macaron. The lagniappe would have been the extra chocolate macaron that they put in the bag until we realized that we were charged for it. However, that chocolate macaron was amazing and was something that I would come back for again and again.

Chocolate Macaron at Bouchon

The best lagniappe was you guys — my social network on Twitter and Facebook. You all helped me find a great spot for dinner in Monterey (thanks Sinda for suggesting Passion Fish!).

The list you provided that I’ll clip and save for next time was the wineries. We ended up visiting Cline Winery in Sonoma (meh) and David Bruce Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains (mmmm) but when I go back to wine country again with Adam, we’ll definitely visit some of these spots.

Spots you recommended in Napa include: Black Stallion, Cakebread, Darioush, Domaine Carneros, Duckhorn, Frog’s Leap, Goosecross, Grgich, Jessup, Kuleto, Mumm, Stags Leap, and Sunce. For a meal, it sounds like L’Auberge Soleil is really special.

In Northern Sonoma and Healdsburg, you recommended Ferrari-Carano, Kaz, and Quivira.

Did we really get many lagniappes while in California? Ok, not really in the traditional sense of the word. However, I hope you enjoyed this blog with “a little extra” fun information thrown in that you can use on your next trip to Northern California.