SPRING IN YOSEMITE APRIL 2012

We had some special guests here in Yosemite over the Easter holiday weekend, Ted's mom Wenche and two very dear family friends. Earl and Marion planned a week in Yosemite to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary - and they've camped in Yosemite for almost every one of those fifty years, usually in Tuolumne Meadows. This outing they stayed at the Yosemite Lodge and we planned an Easter Anniversary Brunch at our place. We took our guests on a wildlflower walk and we also dined at the Wawona Hotel to enjoy the exceptional spring weather. We ventured out to every Yosemite locals' favorite spring wildflower hike, Hite Cove, located just outside the park in the Merced River Canyon. We were treated to quite a show of Sierra Nevada wildflowers, including Western Redbud and California Poppies, and ended the afternoon with a picnic lunch by the river.

Easter Brunch was a festive and al fresco affair. We dined in our completely and privately fenced yard on prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, deviled eggs, sliced fruit, Creamy Lemon Soup with Lamb Mint Meatballs, BLT Salad, and Crispy Potato Galette with Smoked Fish and Dill Creme (though I skipped the galette and used puff pastry cups instead). Since this is a crew that enjoys their cocktails, we naturally served Bloody Marys and Mimosas, but we also mixed it up with Shooters with Bloody Mary Granita (the original recipe calls for oysters, but we used shrimp) - a frozen Bloody Mary concoction with a seafood garnish. The day was sunny, the wine was flowing and the company was excellent.

To commemorate Earl and Marion's anniversary, we gifted them with a book created on Blurb, "50 Years of Camping in Yosemite (and Marriage Too!)" which included personal photos of previous visits to Yosemite. Personal photo books are easily created online at sites like Blurb, which provided exceptional and speedy service. We were all very pleased with the way the book turned out: seven inch sqaure hardcover with full color photos and text. See the link above to preview the book.

The visit from the LA crew wrapped with a trip to Wawona and dinner at the Wawona Hotel, where our friends Joe and Christy joined us. The Wawona Dining Room has a new chef, Dwayne McFann, and we were treated to some new and creative menu items after sipping pre-dinner cocktails on the veranda. We feasted on Crab Cakes with Red Pepper Fennel Slaw and Lemon Caper Remoulade, a California Cheese Sampler, Wawona's House Made Meatloaf, Grilled Big Bison Burger and a pork special, along with some lovely California wines. The crab cakes were a big hit with our table. As ever, the ambiance of this National Historic Landmark hotel at Wawona is relaxed and friendly, and I really dig the historic Sequoia tree lampshades.

After a disappointing winter, spring has been good to us here in Yosemite and we don't even need to leave the house to catch the wildflower show this year. First we were graced with purple Western Dog Violets which have now given way to entire bed of white-with-purple-center MacCloskey's Violets. Whitey approves.

Junket Rating:

Wawona Dining Room: Junk-O-Rama

FOOD/HOME: DINNER AT THE WAWONA HOTEL YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

The Wawona Hotel kitchen staff has just updated the dining room menu for the summer season and we took a tour of the new dishes.  Kudos to Chef de Cuisine Robert Stritzinger and his staff for turning out tasty and memorable meals in the venerable old dining room of this historic hotel that was built circa 1880. We tried three appetizers, three entrees and two desserts with accompanying wine and port and every dish was good, some exceptionally so.  The ambience of the dining room, along with the good food, combined to create a memorable dining experience in Yosemite National Park.

Just as delicious as they look, the Mango Avocado Shrimp Cocktail and Fresh Tomatoes Three Ways - Gazpacho, Caprese and Bruschetta set the tone for the summer menu.  We shared our meal with hotel General Manager Joe Alfano, and in addition to expressing pride and satisfaction with the new dishes, he also said he looks forward to late summer when Fresh Tomatoes Three Ways can be made with heirloom tomatoes.  Our appetizer tour was capped with a Dungeness Crab Dip served with pita chips and several glasses of white wine (one for each diner!).  We left the selection of wine to our friendly server, Laila, and she wisely chose chardonnay and sauvignon blanc to pair with the apps.

The Wawona dining room was a sun porch in the past, according to Joe.  Those quaintly thematic light fixtures are replicas created by the previous concession company that operated the hotel before Delaware North Parks and Resorts at Yosemite.  They honor the originals created by hotel owner Mrs. Washburn, who also renamed the hotel in 1884 from Big Tree Station to Wawona.  Though no longer created from deerskin, the light shades depict Giant Sequoia Trees on each panel and feature dangling Giant Sequoia cones.  The replicas were created in the 1980s by students at a San Francisco school for the deaf.  I encouraged Joe to encourage DNC to sell replica light fixtures as a fundraiser for the school while making people happy with such a distinctive souvenir of the history of Yosemite.

A savory interlude arrived in the form of Strawberry Spinach Salad with lemon poppy seed vinaigrette, toasted sunflower seeds and jicama.  I plan to copy this salad creation immediately.  Salad was followed by entrees: Oven Roasted Pacific Halibut Oscar, Vegetarian Black Bean Chili and Grilled Big Bison Burger.

The fun presentation of the Vegetarian Black Bean Chili made up for the lack of alluring name.  A goat cheese stuffed chile relleno was perched atop corn pudding - like a square of savory bread pudding in a sea of black beans.  The taste of the Pacific Halibut Oscar dish was exceptional, and Joe assured me that the seafood menu choices are guided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program, making the dish especially satisfying.  However, the star of the meal was the incredibly tasty Bison Burger.  Served on a remarkable ciabatta bread, the bison meat was tender and topped with some deep-fried onion pieces and a roasted garlic chipotle aioli.  The burger was unanimously agreed upon to be the most original plate on the table.  Again we let Laila choose the red wine for dinner, and she treated us to a Malbec, a Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Ravenswood Zinfandel.  But of course, we didn't stop there.

We shared two desserts amongst the three of us, both accompanied by vanilla ice cream.  We also elected to sample a port wine flight.  I know there was a local Ficklin from the Central Valley and Fonseca and Cockburn's, but cannot recall any other details about each except the delicious taste.  The port complimented the Gugelhupf: a German/Alsatian style Bundt cake, and the famous traditional Yosemite dessert: Pine Nut Pie. Baked like pecan pie, this dessert was created by Ahwahnee Executive Chef Percy Whatley (also responsible for the ridiculously delicious Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Fiscalini Farms Cheddar Cheese Soup).  You can find other recipes from Chef Robert and Chef Percy's recipes in the Western National Park Lodges Cookbook.  You will find a brief review of this book on the Cookbooks I Use Most page here on Junket.

On the way out I noticed this:

Though the low lighting levels in the dining room prevented this photo from doing it any kind of justice, this beautiful quilt hangs in the Wawona dining room.  The handiwork of server Tara, this original quilt is entitled "Knock at My Door Camp Curry - Deer".  Depicting Tara's experience as an employee resident in Curry Village, the quilt is available from Tara for $700.00.  Contact Tara at the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite National Park, or send me a message and I will pass it on to her.

Junket Ratings:

Wawona Dining Room: Junk in the Trunk!