Tag Archives: Restaurants

A TRIPLE-HEADER OF REALLY INTERESTING WINES

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Last night, we spent some time and had dinner with Brad Kieffer and Karen Oxrider, our good friends and wine buddies.

Initially, Karen came over to our house where she and Dorianne did some work for a non-profit they are involved with. During this time, we opened a bottle of 2007 Au Bon Climat Hildegard White Table Wine, the wine, from the stable of the great Jim Clendenen, is an amazingly well-crafted white wine; made from 55% Pinot Beurot (Pinot Gris), 40% Pinot Blanc and 5% Aligote inspired by the composition of the Corton Charlemagne vineyard in Burgundy as it was believed to have been planted during Charlemagne’s reign as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (Parker). I have blogged about this wine before (Link).

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It made the non-profit work go very smoothly!

Unfortunately, it was our last bottle of this great wine.

After the work was done, it was time to meet Brad for dinner. We chose Galetto’s Grill in Westlake Village, one of my favorites – a mixture of Brazilian and Italian cuisine with an excellent wine list.

But tonight, we would be bringing a couple of bottles.

Brad and Karen had a bottle of Hungarian wine that they brought back from a trip to Europe a few years ago. The wine, a 2002 Sandor Pince Egri Pinot Noir, was an unknown quantity. Would it still be good in 2015? Was it a good wine to begin with? An internet search revealed next to nothing about this particular wine.

A bottle of 2010 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir would serve as a back-up.

Our conversation ranged from travel, past trips and future plans, to wine to food, to our impending move away from California and our extended stay in Europe. It was an evening of good company, good food, and good and interesting wine.

2015-02-02 18.35.21The waiter opened the bottle of Sàndor Pince and poured a taste for Brad. He sniffed and swirled and very slowly tasted. After a pause, he said, “Interesting.”

The wine was very earthy – mineral on the nose, terroir (dirt) with a hint of rust was evident in the wine – not in an unpleasant way, but there was a nearly total absence of fruit on the nose and in the mouth. I liked the wine more than the others, but I agreed that we should see what it would be like in a few minutes. So we ordered.

I ordered a Brazilian style rib eye stake that would come with black beans and rice, pico de gayo, and other spices. Dorianne had a fish dish, Karen had salmon, Brad a skirt steak prepared much like my rib eye.

I will say that the Hungarian Pinot Noir was a good compliment to my steak with the dry Brazilian spices. The mineral nature of the wine was a good pairing. It’s relatively high acid and medium tannins went well with the dish. The others were ready to turn to the Clos Pepe, however.

Wine - Clos Pepe LabelAs always, the Clos Pepe Pinot Noir did not disappoint. Smooth, with a wonderful balance of mineral and fruit on the nose and the pallet, with a hint of pepper and spice. It was a nice finish to the evening after the harsher Hungarian Pinot Noir.

In fact, that wine was book-ended by two splendid wines from the California Central Coast. Our experiment with the rare (for us) Hungarian Wine from the “Valley of the Beautiful Women,” was really not all that dangerous, as we were definitely working with a net, as it were.

So it was the best of both worlds – a chance to try something new and also to enjoy two well known wines that never disappoint.

BIRTHDAY DINNER AT A RESTAURANT – SOME INTERESTING WINE EXPERIENCES

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Words in BOLD BROWN are links.

Last night, we celebrated Richard Clark’s birthday – Richard is the winemaker of the Conejo Valley Wine Co-op, which I have blogged about in the past. So six of us went  to Cafe 14 in Agoura Hills, CA, a restaurant known for good food and good wine.

Richard brought a bottle of Clos Pepe Pinot Noir 2012, a very nice wine made by one of the better craftsmen in Santa Barbara County, Wes Hagen. The wine did not disappoint, as Wes’ wines never do. His Pinots are rich, made in the Burgundian style, with some creep toward the fuller California style in recent years.

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The 2012 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir and the 2012 Rombauer Zinfandel

Next, we ordered a bottle of 2012 Rombauer Zinfandel. The last Rombauer Zin I had was the 2010. Rombauer makes big wines and is probably best known for their Chardonnay, which is a classic rich, buttery version of that varietal. I also am a fan of their Merlot, which is often a bargain in restaurants.

This Zinfandel was a surprise – very rich, almost syrupy, with strong overtones of caramel and vanilla. Everyone at the table agreed that it was too sweet for dinner. Oh, and it weighed in at 15.9% alcohol. The heat of the alcohol came through, even with all the sweetness. I was surprised because I remembered the 2010 Zin as being more restrained. We set it aside to save to have with dessert.

So on to a third bottle, a 2008 Chateau la Caminadi La Commandery Malbec from Cahors, France.

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The 2008 Chateau la Caminadi La Commandery Malbec

The Malbec was a perfect compliment to the dinner. Dry with hints of dark fruit, it balanced well, even though a couple of our party were having fish. Not a great wine, but a very drinkable wine.

The food at Cafe 14 is very good. The service tonight was a bit slow – hard to tell exactly why. The wine was delivered to the table after a delay because, apparently, only the bar tender can go to the wine storage area to get wine and the bar was busy (?), a questionable policy. As a result, the waiter ended up taking the $20 corkage fee for the Clos Pepe off of the bill to apologize for the slow wine service.

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Bouillabaisse at Cafe 14
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The amazing Braised Short Ribs

Dessert was a caramel pot-au-feu with creme fraische – so rich that we could only eat a bite or two each – but delicious. The Rombauer Zinfandel was a good accompaniment to this rich dessert.

So Happy Birthday, Richard!

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A VERY PLEASANT MERLOT WITH GOOD PIZZA

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NOTE- Links are in BLUE.

Dorianne and I had dinner at NAPA TAVERN  in Westlake Village, CA, last night. It is a good restaurant with mostly Italian food, but no pastas – lots of grilled meats, fish, tapas, pizza, etc., in a fairly upscale setting.

The wine list is good, but not extensive. I would say it is well-chosen, although with the name NAPA TAVERN, one might expect a larger list.

We were each ordering a pizza – Margarita for me and Veggies and Goat Cheese for her – so we thought a lighter red would do the trick. We ordered the 2012 TOAD HOLLOW MERLOT, a single vineyard wine from the Russian River Valley the second least-expensive Merlot on the list at $43.

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The wine was fruit-forward with a very nice nose and a very pleasant feel on the palate. Dorianne, of the amazing palate, liked the wine very much and declared that it was 14.5% alcohol, which was verified on the bottle.

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By the way, you can get this wine via AMAZON.COM (LINK)!

So a nice wine with some very good pizza in a restaurant with a very good atmosphere – I’ll call that a good evening!

A GEM OF A BISTRO NEAR DOWNTOWN FORT LAUDERDALE – AND A NICE SHIRAZ

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Just off the plane during a visit to Fort Lauderdale, a good friend, Tom Schon, took me to Hardy Park Bistro, a very nice little bistro near downtown. It’s located next to an open air Crossfit Gym and across the street from Hardy Park, one of the oldest in Fort Lauderdale. There is inside and outside seating – we chose an outdoor table. This gem is definitely off the tourist track, and it is one of those places that is worth looking for.

The menu is short, fitting a small space, and there are a few specials. Tom had a Caesar Salad (he had been noshing and drinking Champagne earlier). I had the Caesar – very light and refreshing – very fresh ingredients, no anchovies, which I would have liked, but a hard-boiled egg with some treatment on the yolk, which added a nice touch; and a house burger, the H.P.B. – a statuesque beauty with Cheddar, Crisp Onion, Tomato Chutney and French Fries. The burger was excellent and the French fries were perfect, something I rarely say about restaurant fries. They were served with home-made catsup. Very nice.

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The H.P.B. Burger and fries. The Shiraz is nearby.

The wine list at Hardy Park Bistro is short but very well selected. Most are available by the glass, and they mix California wines with selections from Australia and France. I selected a 2012 Two Hands Gnarly Dudes Barossa Valley Shiraz.

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The Shiraz of the Evening.

The wine was a perfect match for the burger. It has a spicy nose and a nice mixture of fruit (berries, cherry) and spice in the mouth. Very smooth, nice mouthfeel, and a pleasant finish. This wine, it seems, was made for burgers. It is modestly priced (the Bistro seems to have a low markup, although I was not familiar with all of the wines).

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The back label of The Shiraz.

I really would like to see Hardy Park Bistro succeed. Ft. Lauderdale is a tough restaurant market, but this is a worth, if off the beaten path, entry. The also do a nice brunch. Our dinner check, with two salads, the burger and fries, and the bottle of wine was under $80 with tax.

A NEW ZEALAND RESTAURANT IN WESTLAKE VILLAGE – WITH GUESS WHAT KIND OF WINE LIST!

Restaurant, Wine Review, , ,

Dorianne, Richard Clark and I went to the new restaurant in Westlake Village tonight, sort of by accident. Our house is for sale and they wanted to show it at dinner time, so . . .

I suggested Ahroha, the new New Zealand Restaurant that we had seen the night before. It’s been open for nine weeks. Chef Gwithyen Thomas and his wife opened this place on their own after Gwithyen had worked as a chef in eight previous restaurants over eleven years. He looks like he is about 28.

The restaurant is in a small space that had been empty for some time.

We had an amazing meal – venison, lamb, scallops, etc. Entrees run in the $30’s, but are well worth it – excellent ingredients, many sourced from New Zealand, beautifully prepared and served very competently.

The wine list is very heavily New Zealand oriented, which is both what you might expect and very nice. We chose a mid-range 2012 Pinot Noir from Forest. Very nice, evenly balanced, peppery. It struggled to keep up with the heavy meats, but it did fairly well. We ordered the wine before deciding on entrees, or we might have ordered something more substantial.

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2012 Forrest Pinot Noir

I noted that on the wine list, wine by the glass was a bit expensive and the bottles were something of a bargain. The bottle price was just about the cost of three glasses.

I look forward to returning and exploring more of the New Zealand wines – there are also a smattering of California, French, and Italian bottles, by the way.

There is also a nice brunch menu.

We now have a New Zealand restaurant and a Kurdish restaurant (Niroj Levant) within a mile or so of each other. Very nice!

TIPS FROM A SOMMELIER ON BUYING AND ORDERING WINE

Wine Education, ,

From Esquire Magazine – Link

“Aldo Sohm, the aptly named wine director of Le Bernardin, was the 2008 winner of the “Best Sommelier in the World” award given by the World Sommelier Association. He is the man. We talked to Aldo to ask for some basic tips for a guy that wants to buy a bottle of wine at the store and doesn’t know anything beyond “it should cost more than $15.” (Which, by the way, is not bad advice as far as it goes.)”

A SOJOURN IN MANHATTAN – WINE ON THE RUN

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This past weekend, Dorianne and I visited Manhattan to see our daughter, Heather. During our short visit, we had three dinners with wine and went to a rooftop bar atop our hotel – The Indigo Hotel on W. 28th Street in Chelsea.

Friday, Heather made reservations at Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina, known as Rana, located in the Chelsea Market (a must visit in NYC). Known for their fresh pasta and other Italian fare, the restaurant is bustling and noisy – in a good way. We had reservations for three and they put us at a table for six, which was fine because it was in a corner and allowed for our conversation to be heard without too much trouble.

We ordered a 2012 Guado al Tasso Vermentino from Tuscany – a white wine to go with seafood pasta. It was the second Vermentino I have had – oddly enough the first was the night before at a friend’s home where we had a Vermentino from Tablas Creek in California’s Central Coast to begin the evening. I did not take a photo of the Sicilian bottle – both wines were light and crisp with a hint of spice. The Tablas Creek was perhaps a bit spicier, and the Guado al Tasso had more of a green apple taste, but they were very similar. I recommend both the restaurant and the wine.

Saturday we went to the RoofBar at the top of our hotel (17th Floor) and watched the sun set and the lights of the city come on. Our wonderful bartender, Costa from Greece, showed us around the fairly spacious rooftop area, some covered and some open. The wine list is short, and features a number of Greek wines (the owner is Greek, we were told). We ordered the French Sauvignon Blanc – a “Lulu” 2013 from Touraine. It was everything you would want in a Sauv Blanc – crisp and fruity, with hints of citrus and lemongrass, but very well contained, unlike the wines from New Zealand, for example that tend to be heavily citrus based. We returned to the Roof Bar on Sunday evening for a repeat performance of the sunset and some more Sauv Blanc.

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Costa behind the bar at RoofBar in Chelsea.
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Manhattan sunset.
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Night Falls on the City.

Saturday dinner was at the Petit Poulet on 33rd Street off of Avenue of the Americas. The food was classic French (I had steak frites) and we chose a 2012 Les Jamelles Pays d’Oc Merlot, which was recommended by our waiter, a classic New York waiter who treated you grandly if you looked like you knew what you were doing and were also appropriately subservient to his opinion. The wine and the food were both wonderful.

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The French Merlot at Petit Poulet.
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Steak Frites at Petit Poulet.

Sunday afternoon, we had lunch at BoludSud, a Daniel Bolud restaurant across from Lincoln Center, next to Bar Bolud. As you would expect, food, wine and service were impeccable. It was warm enough to dine alfresco, which was a bonus. I had a glass of 2012 Au Bon Climat Chardonnay while Dorianne opted for tea. Jim Clendennon would have been half-happy.

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Dorianne making her selection at BoludSud – my Au Bon Climat in the foreground.

Sunday dinner, after our second stop at Roof Bar (which by the way, does not even have nibbles, which is unfortunate), we opted for the John Dory Oyster Bar at 29th and 6th Avenue. This is a beautiful restaurant with a very limited menu – shellfish based, as you might imagine. It is also the first restaurant that I have ever been to where I did not recognize a single wine on the wine list. The list is short, to be sure, but not a familiar winemaker in sight! There are four house wines that are “on tap.” The wine prices were, shall we say, sky high, so we opted for one of the on-taps and ordered a ½ carafe of Vinhos Verde (at $34). The wine was a fairly typical Vinhos Verde in my experience, young and raw – not very pleasing. It was ok with the oysters and clams that we ordered. This might be a good place to bring your own bottle.

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Where the Magic Happens at John Dory Oyster Bar.
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Waiting for our somewhat disappointing Vihno Verde at John Dory.

Oh, and we went to Eataly – which may require another post even though we did not drink any wine. So a quick trip into town, a bit hit or miss on the wine scene (we did not plan around the wine), some good food, and uniformly good service. I look forward to a more wine-centric visit to this great city in the future.

ORDERING WINE IN RESTAURANTS

Wine Education,

Many newer wine drinkers are very hesitant to order wines in a restaurant. They may find the prices too high or the notion of ordering from an “expert” waiter, wine steward or sommelier too intimidating.

A few tips can help to alleviate most, if not all, of these concerns.

First, let’s look at mark-ups. The traditional mark-up in a restaurant is 250% of retail, or two-and-a-half times the regular cost of a bottle. This goes to cover a variety of things, personnel, storage and inventory, and general overhead, AND it adds quite a bit to the profit margin of the restaurant. I have found that this standard is more and more rare these days, and I have seen markups of less than 50% of retail in some restaurants.

Of course, you have to have an idea of the retail value of a wine to know what the markup is – and there are smartphone apps for those who want to be able to look up this information at the table. But beyond markup is the real essence of what you want – what kind of wine is on the list? You will want look over the wine list and get a sense of what they specialize in (Italian wines? California Central Coast?) and get a feel for the overall pricing. Then, decide your budget and see if there are appealing wines in your range.

In a restaurant, I usually stay in the $45 to $60 range, often relying on the waiter or sommelier if I am not aware of many of the selections. You can find very good wines at the lower price-points in restaurants, because the wines are selected for quality and to go with their menu; they don’t want you to have a disappointing experience. Feel free to give the staff your preferred price point when asking for their advice – and remember it is just advice; you can order whatever you like.

Even on a recent trip to Burgundy in a restaurant with an award-winning wine list, when I told the sommelier that I wanted something in the 40 euro range – something local and distinctive – he instantly produced a bottle of Pinot Noir that was simply wonderful.

Another option is to buy by the glass – although if you are having more than 3 or 4 glasses in your party, you are probably spending more than a bottle would cost. Of course, this is only of concern when price is a significant concern and would not apply if different members of your party are having different wines.

Dorianne and I will often have a discussion about what wine or wines to get. She steers away from red meat and I steer toward it, so she is often having a white and I am having a red – so we go by the glass or half bottle if that is an option. We have also been known to agree on a single menu item to share a bottle of the same wine together.

Yet another option is to bring your own bottle and pay corkage. A corkage fee is established by the restaurant and covers the cost of providing wine glasses, opening your bottle, and serving the wine. It will usually include an ice bucket for white or rosé wines. Corkage varies by the restaurant, but usually is higher in more expensive places, as you might imagine. About $15 is normal for each bottle.

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Dinner with Wine in Paso Robles

So, bottom line – there is no need to fear asking for help from the staff, be that the waiter or a wine steward. While in rare cases, they might be trying to move certain bottles, normally, you will get a good recommendation. If you are a regular, you will likely get some special treatment, perhaps a bottle not on the list or something that the staff is particularly enjoying at the moment. So have fun and enjoy wine with your restaurant meal!