walla walla, wa

c and i went to walla walla, the washington wine country, for a short getaway. after a 5-hour drive going southeast through desert and lakes and apple fields, then more desert and lakes and apple fields, we finally got to lowden and saw some golden wheat fields! our first stop was blue mountain lavender farm, but found out they were closed on saturdays (or should i say i forgot they closed on saturdays). so we took a walk among the wheat fields under the sun then back on road to walla walla.

it was about lunch time when we arrived in downtown walla walla. the weather was warm with cloudless sky, and the small town was busy. while we were deciding what to have for lunch, we walked upon this cute restaurant that was serving escargot to eaters sitting outside, and the smell of pesto and garlic made me drag c into brasserie four; then i immediately fell in love with all the paintings on their walls (works by helene wilder)! 

studying wineries and maps while waiting for food :)

of course we ordered the escargot. the pesto just a perfect accompaniment to the breads! i ordered the mussels in spicy tomatoe and garlic sauce sided with pommes frites; and c went on the light side ordered a plate of salad (not the usual him).

then i was seriously staring at my mussels and was amazed by the unexpected portion...then slowly moving my sights to c's beautiful plate of flowers (salad)! the flowers themselves didn't have much flavors, but the egg white stuffed with anchovies was my favorite! lunch was so delicious with all the flavors going on in the soup and the freshness of the mussels. c and i almost finished my soup. we'd probably kept drinking if there were refills or if we hadn't had reservation for dinner. so yum that i could still imagine the taste in my mouth while writing now.

as we were too stuffed from the lunch, we decided to alter our plan a little bit. we stayed and walked around in downtown. like any other small towns in washington state, it got mini blocks and cute stores. we went into a bookstore (book & game) that also sold boardgames; a toy store (inland octopus toy store) with lots of trains and stuffed animals; a home and paper store (sweetwater paper & home), usually our favorite and c bought some beautiful green sealing wax; and this antique store filled with ancient chinese decorations and mid-age furnitures.

and sure we visited a couple cellars for wine tasting in downtown. rotie was our first stop, tasting fee was $5/person, and refundable if you purchase any bottles. they served two whites and four reds on the menu, however was running out on one of the reds; so we only got to taste three. our favorite was surprisingly their northern white (considering we were more of red drinkers). it was a nice bottle for summer, smooth with acidity and bright fruity flavors (the professional tasting notes). and we took some awkward drinking posing photos! we left with empty hands but my head was getting dizzy, screw the low tolerance! :P

we had to walk around more before i could drink again. so we stopped by olive marketplace and cafe, where we planned to have lunch the next day, to peak on the menu. by the time we ended up at mark ryan, i was ready for another round! 

tasting fee at mark ryan was $8/person, also refundable if you purchased any bottles. we tasted one white and four reds. the viognier (the white) was a little bit too sweet for both of us. then moved onto the dissident red 2012, it was delightful on the nose and easy to slip through your tongue with all the beautiful notes of berries and spices, and this definitely could use another 2-3 years to shine! the next two reds we tried were mark ryan's new sub-label that was just released this year: the numbskull gsm and bdx. they were not as good as the dissident, and were a little mild on the after-taste. the last one was the wild eyed syrah, c was not a syrah drinker at all, and this was not an exception, also too spicy for me. so far mark ryan was my favorite: the atmosphere they were trying to create with the big windows by the entrance to invite the sunlights in, and the fact that they were streaming fifa live on tv. we finished the penalty shoot-out of netherlands vs. costa rica before we left with our bottle of the dissident.

and that was it for our cellar visit in downtown. i started to get too dizzy to walk in straight line and had to lean on c till we got to colville street patisserie for our gelato break! i had one scoop of earl grey and another of pistachio. the earl grey was really strong and i loved it. c couldn't resist his favorite canele and i ended up finished half of it cause it was really good with the crunchy skin and a perfect soft texture inside. we finished them so soon that i didn't get any chance to take a picture. 

we ended our first day in walla walla by driving north to the airport area to visit some vineyards before dinner at saffron. 

grilled walla walla sweet onions with braised pork

wood grilled quail

lamb tagine al maftoun

wood grilled washington country beef hanger steak

the dinner didn't wow us. the flavors were there but only average quality. i wanted medium rare for my hanger steak, but it came raw in the middle. they sent it back to the kitchen and grilled it for a bit longer then part of it went more of a medium...so we left without having any desserts. 

more wines and vineyards on the second day in walla walla!