UYE Brunch #3 at Phillips Farms Michael David Winery

My friend and I decided to come here on a Sunday after the Lodi Zin fest that was going on that weekend. We wanted to really try their Lust Wine. It was busy, but we got some one to help us with the tastings right away. 6 tastings for $ 5 and boy did we enjoy them. They had a lot of Syrah’s (MY FAVORITE). The wine we finally came for was so wonderful. It was amazing how the taste was silky and soft. The only downfall to this was it was so warm in there and it wasn’t the alcohol. There air conditioner wasn’t working. It was a warm weekend but tolerable for the Valley.

Ok so this was my very 1^st UYE, i didn’t really know what to expect. As it turned out it was a great experience. Of course i arrived late but it didn’t take long for Maureen to find us and we were escorted to the back room where all the Unilocalers were. The group all introduced themselves and welcomed us newcomers with open arms. So we started off by ordering the mimosa and then Marina who kept on referring to me and my friend as the babies took our order. I ended up getting the Turkey bacon melt and my friend Mike got the Chicken bacon club. Each meal came with either chips or potato salad or you could pay $ 1.50 for the fries. I opted for the potato salad and Mike ordered the fries, we both split our meals so we could experience each others food. Both of the meals were great. I only wished that i had saved room for dessert, because the pies that others ordered looked so good especially with the scoop of ice cream on the side. Did i mention that the pies are all made there from scratch. After our lunch the red carpet was rolled out for our UYE group, we were treated to a wine tasting outside over looking their beautiful ground were you could either play bocce or some bean bag toss game. The guys all went to play ball while we opted to head back indoors to do some more wine tasting. If all UYE are like this then i say bring it cause i had a blast. It was a gorgeous day and being around all these interesting and kind people who were welcoming and friendly made it so much better. Cant wait for the next one…

I had this vision that Phillips Farms was going to be a dirty run down restaurant next to Flag City with a dirty little fruit stand out front, a shack to taste wine around back next to the out houses, and a crazy old overly sassy waitress with a stained smock taking our orders with an attitude while chewing on an extremely large wad of gum. I could not have been more wrong.
Phillips Farms is tastefully decorated and clean with a quaint little restaurant at one end, an upscale looking produce market in the center close to the front door, and a charming little wine tasting area decorated with bottles of wine and bicycle racing paraphernalia at the other end.
They had a long table set up and waiting for us when we arrived and a delightfull sweet little waitress named Marina waiting to serve us mimosas. Special little menus printed up for our event were waiting at each place setting with a complimentary wine tasting card. They had items on the menu to accommodate meat eaters and vegetarians alike and the vegetarian items proved to be much more than an after thought.
Omnnivorous Joe ordered a tri-​tip and asparagus sandwich with an upgrade of sweet potato fries on the side. The tri-​tip was flavorful and not overcooked and the asparagus was cooked to perfection as well with just the right amount of cheese melted in to add flavor and bind the ingredients together. The fries were very good as well but let’s get to what is really important. How was the pie?
Omnivorous Joe had the mixed berry pie ala mode. Oh yeah! Just think of flaky crust with the perfect mixture of sweet and tart berries and a nice sized scoop of vanilla bean ice cream to mix with it. I have never had berry pie with cinnamon before but the next berry pie I make is going to have cinnamon on it. Nice touch Phillips Farms. Now; can you say mixed berry pie ala mode without drooling?
After lunch, we sauntered into the tasting area for our complimentary wine tasting and to our complete astonishment; a special tasting area had been set up, just for us, in a nice shady spot under a large willow tree with millions of weeping strands of willow leaves cut to just above our heads and a thick carpet of plush green lawn under our feet. The very lovely, pleasant, knowledgeable young woman hosting our tasting session added the perfect finishing touch of class.
The day could not be complete without a little male bonding so we headed over to the bocce ball court. I had no idea how to play this game but fortunately we had Erin C. that happened to be sufficiently knowledgeable in the ways of the bocce ball and turned us into bocce ball extraordinaire in record time.
I would like to give a big thanks to Maureen for working so hard to set this wonderful event up.

One of the special things about being a Unilocaler is, that we get to attend UYE’s! (Unofficial Unilocal Events). They are put on by any one that likes to Unilocal and meet fellow reviewers. That is why I looked forward to going to this special get together that was planned by Maureen G. Special, because it involved Unilocalers that lived out of the recognized Unilocaling area of Sacramento, CA. This time we wanted to meet new friends from Lodi, Stockton and even Modesto. Sister cities that just don’t get enough attention!
The Phillips Farms Michael David Winery was an ideal location for this intimate gathering. The restaurant gave us special treatment with a private table, special menu and even assigned our lovely waitress Marina who took great care of us! Yes, she was special too! She helped make our UYE fun and enjoyable.
The restaurant and winery are all on the same grounds. And what beautiful grounds they are! I can’t say enough at how nice we were treated by the staff. The food, mimosas and wine were all excellent! And the new Unilocal friends that took the time to meet here for some socializing, eating and drinking made the turn out into a wonderful Sunday afternoon.
Thank you again Maureen for setting up this event. Joe K and I may live in Sacramento, but we both have ties to the Stockton, Lodi and Modesto areas. I look forward to doing this again!

What a great time by all!
Arrived to find our Unilocal friends gathered around a private table in the back of the restaurant. So happy to meet everyone, so glad to catch up.
Marina was a fantastic waitress! Funny, witty and attentive. We started off with a mimosa (or two) and decided on the Greek salad and tri-​tip sandwich for lunch. My Greek salad was huge! Tons of mixed greens, various veggies, kalamata olives and feta. The dressing that the salad was served with was fantastic! I Greek dressing with a slight hint of pesto. Shoe leather could have tasted good dipped in that stuff!
My husband had the tri-​tip and asparagus sandwich, which came with chips, potato salad or fries (for an additional fee). He loved the sandwich!
A few people in our group tried the mixed berry pie and the apple-​rhubarb pie served with vanilla ice cream. Both pies were raved about and everyone who sampled them seemed to love them!
We moved outside to sample a few of the wineries wines, a couple of whites and a few reds. Jennifer was kind to offer information about the winery and about the wines. A few of us moved inside to avoid the heat and to sample wines, while others moved to the bocce ball courts for a friendly game.
What a fun UYE! A great turnout, fun friends and good connections.
Looking forward to the next time!

A great time was had by all. We didn’t clear out til almost 4pm. What a fantastic setting, meal, but mostly, what fun, nice, friendly Unilocalers we met! Our server Marina was just precious. She took such good care of us-​saw to our every need. I only heard positive comments about the food. Most of us started with a mimosa, which by the way, was wonderful. I chose a Greek Salad. Marina recommended I add the chicken and boy am I glad I did. Tons of mixed greens, kalamata olives and feta cheese. I couldn’t finish it; that’s how big it was. We were invited by Jennifer to follow her out to the garden under the trees for a free tasting. We got to sample 2 whites and 3 reds. Jennifer was very pleasant, sweet and knowledgeable about Michael David wines, operations, and marketing. She told us about herself and her history and we really enjoyed our time together… she really rolled out the red wine carpet for us Unilocalers!
After the tasting, the boys went off to check out the bocce ball courts, seems Alex L. was the victor of all the bocce ball spoils-​if there is such a thing. Unilocalers came from Modesto, Sacramento, Elk Grove, Tracy… it was a real Central Valley Unilocaltastic event!