Attention Foodies!
You can look all day at a map and see how many things you can see and do using Novato RV Park as your home base, but until you actually go out there and realize how close everything really is, do you discover that this is the perfect place to be.
My favorite discovery is The Culinary Institute of America located in St. Helena, California in the Napa Valley. This is the foremost cooking school in the United States with 3 campus locations, Napa, New York and Texas.
Greystone is certainly impressive. You can go there for an incredible meal in their Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, visit their Spice Islands Marketplace, attend cooking demonstrations, lectures, tours or sign up for a weekend bootcamp.
If you're into fine dining, cooking, baking or wine pairings, Greystone is a must stop on your tour of the Napa Valley. Makes me want to be a student again! You can get an associates degree in baking and pastries!...that sounds like me!
Be sure to take your truck or tow vehicle into the Napa Valley. The roads are single lane (some narrow) and none of the wineries we visited had parking for trailers or big rigs.
Dinner reservations: 707-967-1010
Here's a slide show of the school:
http://www2.ciachef.edu/california/facilities.htmlInfo on tour times and cooking demonstration times and costs:
http://www.ciachef.edu/enthusiasts/cookingdemos/The main website:
http://www.ciachef.edu/Directions from Novato RV Park:
- Turn right on Atherton to Hwy 37
- Take Hwy 37 East for 7 miles to Hwy 121
- Take Hwy 121 North, then follow it to the east for 15 miles to Hwy 29
- Take Hwy 29 North 19 miles to the CIA.
- The CIA is just one mile north of downtown St. Helena on the left side of the road.
- After entering the parking lot, follow the signs to the north end of the building for our complimentary valet parking.
Address for your GPS
The college is located at 2555 Main Street, St. Helena, CA 94574 The trip will take about an hour...or more if you stop to visit any wineries along the way.