Yakima: Last minute

[mb7o]

Last minute, we're going to head to the Yakima Valley tomorrow. Is this a good time to visit wineries? Who knows... Maybe I can find some tomatoes though.

Any suggested wineries to visit? All the websites I've found so far just have lists. Any place for dinner? This may just be a day trip, so time for travel is somewhat relevant.

[mamster]

I've never been out there, mb7o, so I don't know--sorry. Please let us know if you find someplace worth writing home about.

[mb7o]

Well I just got back home, been in Seattle for a while but will try to write something before I fall asleep. Sorry it's so long and rambling, as Mark Twain once said I don't have time to make it shorter.

We left Seattle ~ 9:30, got to Cle Elum ~ 10:30, stopped in the Cle Elum bakery for donuts. Pretty good, then back on the interstate to Yakima. There we picked up the tourist brochure for the Yakima Valley. Later we picked up a farm produce brochure, don't remember where but lots of places have them. Also online at http://www.yakima.net/agriculture_farmguide.htm .

My suggestions? Bring a picnic lunch from home. Then you can buy wine at a winery with a nice setting (Hyatt, Silver Lake, some others) and have a picnic right there. After stopping at the first 'winery' (Sagelands), we tried to find lunch and ended up at El Ranchito in Zillah. Not really planned, but this is often rated the best Mexican restaurant in the NW. Well, I guess that says something, it certainly ranks as one of the best I've had out here, I went with a simple dish: taco combo, two beef tacos + rice + beans. It was a style of taco I haven't seen before, since the shells were hard but formed around the meat--maybe the shell was fried, the meat added, and the whole thing folded before it got hard? Dunno. Rice was excellent, I didn't like the beans. My friends had good food to, but I can't comment on it. The restaurant also includes a bakery (no labels on the items, so I can't say what they all are, but we bought some fruit empanadas at .50 each) and gift and spice shop.

Oddly enough, many of the other restaurants in Zillah were closed. There is a big 7th day adventist church, perhaps that is why.

Anyway, back to wine. Now that we had lunch, tasting sounded like a better idea. We stopped at the Hyatt, Bonair, and Silver Lake wineries. There are a few things in common with all the places we visited. First, they all feel like primarily gift shops to varying degrees. Sure, half the shop was targeted at wine, but lots of other cute things of the type you'd expect. Second, none of us are picky enough about wine to feel comfortable going through a whole run of tastings, or the type of person who just wants to drink a lot of wine. The people behind the counter weren't so interested in educating that it felt like an educational experience.

So that part was kind of fun, but not as educational as I hoped. I only ended up with one bottle of wine, a '99 Hyatt Fume Blanc, which is funny because I almost always drink red.

The best part was seeing new things: at the Hyatt vineyards they have a black muscat wine, which is red colored and tasted to us like fruit punch. They also have an ice wine I didn't try.

The Bonair vineyard has way too many bad puns; instead of a cab-merlot, they have a camerlot (think King Arthur). But they did have a mead, it was the first time I've had one. Can't say much about it other than it's sweet. In this case it was cherry juice + honey + a little red wine left in my glass (uh...) Better than the fruit punch, I'd have to say overall they had the lest impressive wines of our few stops.

The Silver Lake winery had the most impressive setting, slightly above the valley. They also advertised a salmon dinner Sunday afternoons, which might be nice.

After that we started the return trip. I'm much more excited about fresh produce than wine, since wine (at this time of year at least) comes out of a bottle with a comparitively long shelf life. We headed towards a place in the farm products brochure, Schell's Produce south of Toppenish. En route we gawked at but did not stop in Granger, the Town "Where Dinosaurs Roam."

Schell's grows their own flowers and corn, but other things seem to be brought in and not-so-cheap prices.

Before Wapato, we headed over to Lateral A starting at Branch Road. Whoever suggested this, it's a great idea. Full of stands and u-pick places, we randomly stopped at Dagdagan Produce, which had a much better choice of produce at much better prices. (Cukes, 4/$1; corn 6/$1, which was young and excellent; green peppers 4 or 6/$1 depending on quality). Enough for the day, except for a high-speed turn in when I saw the Pence Orchard sign. They only sell by the case, but it was the end of the day so I got a half-case. $6/case, just a little bit less than the price on the top of Queen Anne; I forget the variety, they had two available and this was the expensive one. Anyone want some peaches?

That was the last real stop, back through Yakima Canyon to I-90 to Seattle, then fresh veggies for dinner, then here I am, should be sleeping!

Good night!

[malarkey]

excellent mb7o!! You did everything I love to do over there. Lateral A, El Ranchito (btw, their cheese enchiladas are the BEST) and a bit of tasting. I'm going September 22nd. Can't wait.

[Blue Heron]

When we go to Eastern WA, I always like to stop in Cle Elum at Glondo's Sausage Co. on the main street there. They have excellent beef jerky.

Occasionally, we make a slight detour and go to Roslyn and stop for lunch (either Roslyn's Cafe or the place across the street). Most people know Roslyn as the little town they filmed tv show Northern Exposure at. If you go, don't miss the Brick Tavern. Built in 1889 it's the oldest saloon in WA, and has a 23 foot running water "spitoon" under the foot rail. I happen to know that the "spitoon" was used for more than just spitting in (before women were allowed in the tavern), as my great grandfather who was a coal miner in Roslyn's early days confirmed to us. Roslyn also has an incredible historic cemetary which is interesting, too.

We haven't found any great places to eat in the Yakima area (although I had a wonderful gourmet dining experience once many years ago at Birchfield Manor, I have not been in a long time...has anyone been recently?). We also stopped at El Ranchito for mexican food...that place sure is popular!

Covey Run winery in Zillah was very memorable to me. The grounds are beautiful, and they are set up the hill with a beautiful panoramic view of the valley (and a nice deck, too). There was a wine festival going on that weekend when we went with nice jazz music and lots of good nibbly things to eat while we were tasting wines.

We also spent some time in Benton County and visited Seth Ryan and Kiona wineries, and I liked the wine at both of those places. They also had good nibbly things as part of the wine festival. I think it's nice to combine a trip with one of their wine festivals.

If one heads out towards Walla Walla, don't miss the Woodward Canyon Winery in Lowden. It's a very small place off the side of the highway, and their cabernets are absolute tops. They are expensive, limited, and it's a real treat to sample them.

malarkey, when you get back, please give us a report!

[Schielke]

My parents have stopped in Roslyn where there is a really great butcher. I am sorry to say that I dont have any more details about it, but I bought a really nice hand cut steak there.

In Yakima, Miners is a fast food institution. We would always stop there after Tennis matches when we were in the area. Many a school bus has pulled up there after sporting events.

Ben