Falafel's Drive In

Falafel's Drive In (2301 Stevens Creek Boulevard, San Jose, California, USA)

408-294-7886

Hours: 

Mon - Sat 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

This joint was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, so I wanted to check it out because Guy Fiery and the Food Network in general can be convincing. 

Banana shakes, falafels, and onion rings.

I liked how the little balls were slightly crunchy on the outside, and I enjoyed the hot sauce. The onion rings were reminiscent of the ones from Craft Burger in the way that they were battered. I didn't like that my pita was ripped and only fell apart more as I ate it. I approve of the banana shake. I'm sure people would appreciate that they're made with non-fat milk and low-fat ice cream.

Would I return? Yes, if I'm in the area.

Total damage: I don't remember, but the prices are on their website.

Korbel

Korbel Moscato Frizzante

I don't know why, but this particular wine was slightly more expensive than most of the others at the Korbel winery. It came in one of Casey's shipments, and he was kind enough to share it with me after noting my keen interest in it.

It's light in colour, and sweet. I really enjoyed this, and I'm not just saying that because I like to drink money. 

California champagne: you drink it like pop. The Korbel man said so! No swishing it around or any of that other wine nonsense.

Total damage: free for me thanks to Casey! Cheers!

Alcohol!

If there's one thing the United States isn't short of, it's alcohol. It's everywhere there!

BevMo!

I've never been to a BevMo! before, so it was quite the treat when I finally walked into one. It's like never-ending aisles of glorious booze from seemingly everywhere!

A tiny fraction of what the store had to offer:

A sample of mine and Casey's combined purchases from Korbel and BevMo!.

Anchor summer beer.

Tastes light. Goes down easy. I approve.

Lindeman's Belgian pomme beer.

It has a cork!

I think they mostly do wine of the fruity variety.

It looked like apple cider, and tasted a lot better with meat than it did with peach pie.

The sweet apple flavour comes out more when paired with warm, savoury foods. The beer tasted really sour when eating the peach pie. I suppose that was my fault for eating and drinking what I wanted when I wanted. 

The selection of alcohol at the Target isn't too shabby.

Total damage: lots of punches to my liver.

Korbel

Korbel (13250 River Road, Guerneville, Sonoma County, California, USA)
Wine shop: 707-824-7316
Delicatessen: 707-824-7000
Wine tour hours: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. daily
Tasting room hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily
Delicatessen hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.

They call it California champagne, but legally, they're really not allowed to label it as such. Only champagne from France can be called champagne. Everything else is just sparkling wine.

Here's something interesting about the Korbel winery: the tour, which includes a tasting of four of their wines, is free.

They make brandy, too.

Tasting #1: Natural.

I like.

Tasting #2: Blanc de noirs.

Not a huge fan.

Tasting #3: Sec.

I don't remember...

Tasting #4: Sweet rosé.

It's feels a bit gimmicky, but it tastes quite nice.

Korbel Delicatessen & Market

Mimosa ($5 USD)

It was okay, but I think the orange juice actually ruins the flavour of the "champagne".

My prosciutto sandwich ($7.50 USD)

It was okay and had a decent amount of meat.

Jess's sandwich and mango salad.

There was mango in there?

Casey's BBQ pulled pork sandwich.

Casey's sandwich was way more exciting than any of our food.

Casey joined the wine club and paid for three shipments for the year. He also gets discounts on any other purchases in the wine shop.

There are lots of other wineries in the vicinity, but we didn't have time for any others.

It should be noted that if you go on the tour, they don't let you have any more tastings (free or otherwise) in the tasting room. We found this strange because that tasting room was packed with people right after our tour, but so empty before it. Also, had we not gone on the tour, we would have been entitled to four free samples of our choice each. This was discovered when the lady behind the counter was about to give us a sample, but our tour guide stopped her. After seeing my disappointed face (because I wasn't there to get drunk, but I just really wanted to try before I buy), the lady let us have one free sample anyway. Good thing too, since it gave me insight on which wines I was going to purchase.

Free tour. Free samples. It's a pretty good visit. If I return, I'll skip the tour and just try the wines that I want to try.