January 20, 2020, St. Helena
I bought two tickets to the Napa Valley Truffle Festival Lunch at Raymond Vineyards in St. Helena.
It better be worth our time, effort and money.
The venue was inside the actual cellar. The decor was more like a trendy bar and cabaret.
A kilometric-long plastic table was set-up in the middle of the cellar. Based on the number of chairs, we estimated that the number of people who would be dining either as guests of the owner and ticket-holders number around 80-100.
I made the mistake of not eating anything for breakfast. I was starving and was very eager to grab food. Good there was a waitress who passed by in front of me with a few pieces of canape. I grabbed one tiny piece to get me through a few more minutes of actual lunch.
The other people were drinking wine, unfortunately I came here to eat truffle only. There speeches, welcome speeches, hello speeches, and a short and simple demonstration by a guest chef of how to make pasta with some truffle. It was dark, noisy, and it was difficult for me to appreciate what really was going on. The gracious owner was there explaining, introducing, reminiscing, and he seemed to be in good company— top-rated chefs from the region.
My niece and I were placed at the farthest end of the long table. There was a puddle beneath our chairs and it would be difficult to sit with our legs hanging so as not to get wet. I didn’t pay this amount of money to dine in this situation. I approached one white female staff to inform her about the puddle. Her quick answer was it was a working cellar. When my niece approached another white woman, that was also her convenient answer. The water couldn’t be avoided and should be expected because the place was a working cellar. We knew that but they could at least wipe the floors.
When it was announced that it would be the start of lunch, I just couldn’t bear to dine in that condition. I felt like we didn’t deserve that. We were not there for free. The cost of our lunch tickets could buy a round trip ticket to Manila on economy class. I stood up and approached another white lady For the third time, and that was what she said— it’s a working cellar. I told her I knew that but at least they could bring a rag to wipe the floor. I approached another fabulously dressed white lady wearing white. They probably realized I would not live them in peace. True, I was very irritated already. Super starving, tired, cold, I went back to my chair and in about 15 minutes, one of the women arrived with several rags and wiped the floor. She came back again for more rags, until the puddle was gone. I appreciated it and thanked her. I couldn’t help but feel that because we were Asian and tiny-Asians, they wouldn’t lift a finger to remedy the situation. I couldn’t help but wonder, what if I were a fabulously- dressed white blonde female with big pearls around my neck and a fur coat, I bet they would act faster. Some of the women there wore fur coats.
The celebrated chefs and sous chefs came one after the other, giving each plate generous shavings of fresh black truffle. The woman across the table had a more than generous helpings of truffle. When it was my turn, I requested for some more but the chef didn’t hear me while he was beside me. It was noisy– music, people, laughter, people getting drunk.
The couple seated across me flew from New Jersey to spend the weekend in Napa Valley. They are wine drinkers and love truffles too.
The lunch began but the lighting was too intense that I couldn’t appreciate the whole experience. The owner and his friends were having a great time somewhere in the middle of that long table. I could only hear them conversing, reminiscing. This could have been a great party without strangers like us. They should just have hosted a smaller event, like for 50 people, although the opportunity to sell more was greater.
It was a set-up ideal for an intimate gathering. Since we were at the farthest end, I felt we didn’t belong.
My seat mate is a social media PR and he knows a lot about food. He shared with us a photo of fresh eggs he kept in a jar with fresh truffles. After a few days, the truffle smell would permeate inside the eggs. You will now have delicious truffle eggs without the need to add truffle flavor.
My niece just got engaged to her longtime beau. She showed me this gigantic 2 carat diamond solitaire.
Food was good. I heard them announcing that the chef has a Michelin star. I could not embrace the whole experience for several reasons. I wanted to leave already. I was just staying because I wanted my niece to experience some fancy dining. The shivering cold also made us want to leave right away. We were not wearing very thick winter jackets. There was nothing in their website that suggested that we would be dining inside a 53-degree controlled temperature cellar. My niece told me “tita we would be indoors”.
We proceeded to their tasting room.
Some fancy wine bottles.
Free chocolates to go with the wine.
While the rest of the group were having fun at the very opulent tasting room, Kayleen and I made our way to the exit.
They were selling fresh truffles but I decided not to buy. It must be consumed within 6 days and I didn’t think I could do that. Baka masayang lang eh ka-mahal-mahal. $2.4 per gram and average weight available was 20 to 35 g.
