Healdsburg | Cena Luna | Cloverdale KOA

Wednesday | 28 February 2007 | Cloverdale, California: We left my parents in Yuma (they headed off to Padre Island, Texas), spent several days camped in Pomona visiting our daughter in LA and are now slowly making our way north (home). And so we come to the end of another month.

Our goal was the Alexander Valley RV Park, just a few short miles from Healdsburg in the northern wine country. DT and I had visited Healdsburg before, but we wanted to explore a bit more. The road to the campground was just awful - narrow and winding - and when we arrived, we found it closed for the winter (winter being over in May). Just our luck. Trudging further on, we saw a sign for a KOA in Cloverdale. This KOA is six miles off the highway and then when you finally reach the KOA, you get to travel along their two-mile long driveway, up and up and up on a one-lane road until you are sure you have made a wrong turn (with no where to turn around). Finally we found the campground and checked in. We are one of three campers here. I figure the other two are just too frightened to drive the road back towards town, and just decided to live here. It is a very old campground, with very friendly and accommodating owners, best for tenters and small trailers and RVs. Luckily, they were not very full, as we are taking up three campsites (they only charged us for one). Forty-five bucks.

It took three campsites to hold our bus at the Cloverdale KOA


Typical campsite in the very pretty Cloverdale KOA

After settling in, we drove the Honda back into Healdsburg - nearly 20 miles away - and walked through the shops and looked at restaurant menus. Two of America's finest restaurants are in Healdsburg. Did we dine at either of them? No. Cyrus has two Michelin stars and we were not dressed to even attempt this option, no matter how shiny our platinum American Express card. Charlie Parker has a new spot, the Dry Creek Kitchen. The menu looked interesting to me, the restaurant seemed gorgeous, there were (too many) empty tables, and DT was not interested. However, we both liked Cena Luna and, of course, it was an Italian restaurant. The two of us could find an Italian restaurant in the middle of a Mongolian village. It suits our style. Cena Luna was a worthy choice. Of course, the wine list was nearly all Californian (this still bugs me that an Italian restaurant in Napa won't offer more Italian wines), but the menu was incredible this week.

 
Appetizers: Fritto misto - calamari, white shrimp, zucchini
and cauliflower in a Meyer lemon aioli


Insalta Bleu - butter lettuce with Point Reyes Bleu Cheese
(usually served with applewood smoked bacon)


Bistecca  - pan-seared flat iron steak - at Cena Luna in Healdsburg


  Angello - roasted lamb sirloin with a porcini mushroom risotto

For our second course, we shared a serving of Linguini con aglio e olio, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, parsley, baby Arugula and fresh parmesan. This was a fabulous dish - the Arugula really set-off the flavors perfectly. For a main course (burp) I ordered Bistecca (photo left) - pan-seared flat iron steak, roasted fingerling potatoes in a black truffle butter and asparagus spears. The flavor was divine, but it was a little too rare for my "medium" tastes. (Most of it came home with us.) DT ordered Angello - roasted lamb sirloin with a porcini mushroom risotto. It was also served with asparagus. Okay, no dessert. This was one-course more than we usually order anyway. Over all, we rate Cena Luna 4 (Camping Journal trailers).

I mean, which would you you trust - Camping Journal trailers or stars handed out by a tire company? Think about it.

RV Park: KOA in Cloverdale