Return to Utopia

Thursday, April 14, 2011 Went back to Utopia in downtown Long Beach www.utopiarestaurant.net , tonight for a 4 course wine dinner. At $40 it was hard to pass up. We have not been to this particular place in over a year. For some reason they redid their email list and we were did not get put back on. And its the saying "out of sight, out of mind". We started out with a Seafood Ceviche, grilled calamari, shrimp & scallop in a spicy fresh tomato cilantro olive oil sauce. It was tasty and it helped cut the over oakiness of the 2009 Cuvaison Napa Valley Chardonnay. I just cannot get into the over oaky taste that California winemakers seemed to think is necessary in Chardonnay. Wine is made from grapes (fruit) not the stems and twigs of the grape plant. Second course was a Pork medallion with a spicy roasted red pepper sauce. The pork was thin but cooked nicely and the sauce was very good. Slight smokiness. Wine was a 2006 Gouguenhelm Syrah, Mendoza, Argentina. Wine was ok but nothing to write home about. I would have liked to try a good Malbec with this dish. Main course you had a choice of roasted duck breast or grilled lamb chops. We all chose the lamb chops. They were served with fresh basil, tomatoes, garlic sauce , saffron rice and grilled vegetables. The flavor was good, the lamb chops (2) were very small and thin. The grilled zucchini was over cooked but the grilled carrots were nicely done. A 2007 Eponymous Mertiage, McAllister Vineyard, Sonoma was poured. This was the best of the night. And they did give us second pours. Dessert was a bread pudding with vanilla ice cream, It was good. At $40 plus tax & tip the dinner was ok. I know all restaurants are having a hard time and there is a lot of competition. Everyone is doing wine dinners so it needs to be something that catches you for you to come back. I certainly would not pay more that $40 for the above dinner. And I would take a really hard look at the next wine dinner menu before I would commit.