Regional Wine Dinner From Friulana

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

La Parolaccia Osteria Italiana in Long Beach hosted a wine dinner this evening. I wanted to do this dinner as the menu had all light cheese and wine sauces and not a marinara sauce was to be seen. The area in Italy was Friuli which is in the northeastern part of the country bordering with Slovenia and on the Adriactic sea.

First course was a dish called"Involtini di verza alla Giuliana" - cabbage, filled and rolled with Italian ham and shredded cheese, baked with a light cream sauce. This was my favorite dish of the evening. I have never had a cabbage roll made this way and I though it was great. They served this dish with a wine called Ribolla Gialla. A nice white wine and that name is the grape that it is made from. Another new grape varietal to add to my quest to taste 200 different varietals of grapes.

Next was a pasta dish - penne type pasta with Italian sausage, white wine and mascarpone cheese. This had a little bite to it and went quite well with the Pinot Nero wine that was served.

Then the salad course, baby lettuce with sauteed onions, pear tomato and grated cheese. Nothing over the top but nice flavor. We had a Pinot Grigio to drink.

Main course was marinated duck breast, cooked in red wine with herbs and served with a walnut and mushroom sauce. This dish was quite good. You got a one half of the full breast and the sauce was excellent. I had to take most of mine home as I was starting to get a tad full and we still had dessert. They poured a Refosco wine with it and again the pairing was good.

Dessert was a cream puff filled with creme Anglais and sliced strawberries, A nice light touch at the end of a heavy meal.

All the wines were poured generously and you did not want for an empty glass.

The food was very good, the wines paired well but we had the usual noise factor to contend with. I'm getting just old enough that I like some sense of quiet when I'm dining. The trend nowadays seems to be no acoustics. I hope this trend stops soon. As usual they gave away T-shirts, bottles of wine, aprons etc., which made for a fun way to end the evening.