Tails From Provence

While in California for Christmas, we spent a pleasant day touring and wine-tasting in the Napa Valley.  My sister’s son, The Nephew, was our driver and had planned our itinerary for the day.  He had even come up with some suggestions for lunch, one of which was Taqueria 3 Hermanos in Napa.  It was recommended by some of the wine-touring sites, and to be honest when we heard “Mexican” we all said Yes Please!

We made our way into Napa, figured out where the restaurant was, parked the Minibus and made our way back to it on foot.

The exterior could be described as “modest” and to be honest the interior should be described as “basic” – a couple of tables on either side of the square room, a TV in one corner and a counter where you place your order in another corner, with the kitchen area in full view behind it.  It’s located in a little square in the middle of the town with a couple of bigger and posher eateries nearby, but I am beginning to understand that “bigger and posher” does not necessarily mean better.

Having just left a winery, we steered clear of the alcohol on offer, although I have to say the very best thing to have with Mexican food (and Indian food for that matter) is beer.  I was tempted by the Dos Equis, but only momentarily – I needed a clear head for the rest of the day’s wine-tasting!

You place your order at the counter, take a number, help yourself to cutlery, water and salsa, then sit down and wait to be served.  Fast food, basically – it was served within five minutes of us sitting down.  

I ordered the Chicken Nachos Special.  It was very tasty, not too spicy for my sensitive Irish palate, but there was a wide range of salsas available to spice things up for those who wanted to be more adventurous.  On the downside, the nachos went soggy quickly and the guacamole was a bit bland, but on the whole I was happy with it.

Special Nachos with Chicken

The YD ordered a vegetable burrito.  The burritos in Taqueria 3 Hermanos were the biggest I’ve ever seen – giant rolls of spicy goodness!  The vegetarian version was packed with beans, rice, sweetcorn, rice, lettuce, rice, tomatoes, rice, salsa and rice.  Very tasty, but very, very filling.  It’s probably the perfect lunch for a vegetarian who has been toiling in the vineyards all morning, but it was too much for my petite YD, who only managed to eat half of it.  Too much rice, she said.  Really?

Veg burrito

The Nephew, our trusty driver and tour-guide for the day, had the Super Burrito with beef.  This was even bigger than the YD’s veggy burrito and it had proportionately less rice in it.  The Nephew was happy with it, anyway, as was the Brother-in-Law, who also ordered it.

Super Burrito

Another Super Burrito.  All it needs is red underpants and a cape…

My sister ordered a Chicken Chimichanga, which was a little more dainty than the giant burritos.   It came with lettuce and salsa on the side, all of which went down well.

Chimichanga

 The LSH ordered the Super Burrito 49er with Beef.  This burrito came with The Works – tomato sauce poured over it, melted cheese on top with salsa, lettuce, guacamole and sour cream all crammed onto the plate beside it.  He managed to eat it all.  He’s a growing boy, after all.

Super Burrito 49er

The main courses all worked out somewhere between $7/8$ per head.  None of us went for starters or dessert – thank goodness, I think we would have exploded – but I reckon that $8 (€6) was amazing value.  Yeah, the ambiance was very Fast Food, but the food itself was excellent.

We waddled back to the Minibus and carried on to the next vineyard.  Strangely, those wines were our least favourite of the day.  Hmm, perhaps the spicy food killed our sensitive wine-tasting palates.  Oh well, it was worth it!