Arte Cafe & Stolpman Wines

Tuesday, May 10, 2010

Arte Cafe in Cerritos (Town Center) was hosting a Stolpman wine dinner this evening. Eight of us decided to try this restaurant again because of the wines. We have had issues with Arte Cafe before. Dinner was late being served due to Tom Stolpman running late. They did serve several glasses of the Sauvignon Blanc along with an appetizer of Quesidilla and a mushroom cake, similar to a crab cake. The mushroom cake was very good and we couldd have a few more of these. The size was very small so it would have been nice to have a couple. The quesidilla was very small also.

Now this problem occurred again. By time the first course arrived they were out of the Sauvignon Blanc. This happened before at another dinner at Arte Cafe.  Running behind, serve your guests several glass's of wine and then nothing for the food course. Mis-management.

First course: Dungeness Crab & Asian Noodle with Truffle Oil.  Good dish but it needed a little punch to it. I did not taste any truffle in it so apparently the oil was used very sparingly. Wine was supposed to be the 2009 LaCoppa Blanc but that was not served. You had what was left of your Sauvignon Blanc.

Second course: Roasted Sweet Bell Pepper with Mozzarella Cheese with Prosciutto.  Pepper  had good flavor. They came round and added  diced proscuitto to the pepper if you wanted it. Mozzarella was rubbery. . The was listed as 2009 La Coppa Sangiovese but they changed it to the  2008 Grenache.

Third course: Seared Halibut with Eggplant Caponta - Dish had very good flavor, halibut was cooked  just right. Caponta ws good. Pairing was not. 2009 Estate Syrah. It went Ok  with the halibut when when you added the Caponta it was not the best pairing.

Fourth Course: Marinated Rack of Lamb with Garlic & Spinach Confit. Rack was excellent. Cooked the way I like it, red in the middle.  Flavor was good. It was a double chop  on the small side but adequate. Paired with 2008 Hilltops Syrah. Good pairing

Dessert was a Apple Custard with Grand Marnier coated with Mixed Berries and served with a 2007 Late Harvest Viognier. This dish was very good and the pairing was good. Tom explained that this wine was a single year endeavor. Left over Viognier grapes and they decided to make the dessert wine. They do have a winner. Not overly sweet.

Arte Cafe had a trio playing music and singing. They were good but too loud. I want to have conversation which to me means talking not shouting.

So to me the same old problem at Arte Cafe. Not enough wait staff to handle a special wine dinner along with their regular dining trade of the night. We had one server pouring wine and serving food. Tom helped pour and they finally got another waitperson to help. Several times  one of us at our table had to flag down someone to get our plate or wine. It seemed they kept missing people. This is a poor job of management and scheduling. Not the fault of the wait staff. They hustled.  All in all dinner was good - nor great. They were generous in their pours. The food was good. At $58 is was a good dinner.