All "Hog" Dinner & Croatian Wines at Michaels

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Michales of Naples, www.michaelsofnaples.com, hosted a all "HOG" dinner this evening. Every dish was pork. This old broad was in Seventh Heaven.  Stetson Robbins of Blue Danube Wines was pouring Croatian wines tonight and the biggies from the Croatian embassy were there. The dinner sold out.

We started out with a Crostini of Headcheese with Peppadew Peppers. Peppers were slightly sweet, crostini was thin and the headcheese divine. A 2009 Daruvar, Grasevina (grape) from Slavonia was the wine. This wine really came alive after warming up a bit. When it was cold it had an acidic taste to it which seemed to disappear after it warmed up a few degrees. Similar to a Sauvignon Blanc.

Next up was Braised Pork Belly with Poached Duck Egg and Arugula Salad.  Nice dish but I still prefer Delius' pork belly. The wine was a 2009 Krajancic, Intrada, Posip (grape) from the island of Korcula. This was a white wine also.  This was a nice pairing.

A plate of Potato Gnocchi with Slow Cooked Pork Ragu appeared. This was my favorite dish of the evening. The ragu was excellent, great flavor and the gnocchi was cooked to perfection. Light and delicate.   Not the lead anchors that The Factory served. If Michael's served nothing else that night I would have been happy.  A 2009 Dingac Winery, "Peljesac", Plavac Mali (grape), from the Peljesac Peninsula on the Dalmatian Coast was poured with this dish. An excellent pairing.

Main course was a Mixed Grill with Whole Leg, Smoked Tenderloin and Garlic Sausage served with slow roasted Cannellini Beans  and Caramelized Brussel Sprouts. This was another outstanding dish. We were dissecting the brussel sprouts trying to figure of how they cooked them. We decided that they must have been caramelized whole and then very thinly sliced.  At this point I was getting full so have the this plate boxed up for take out. The sausage reeked of garlic which I loved. I need to find out where the bought the sausage.  The wine with this dish was a 2009 Terzolo, Teran (grape) from  Porec, Istria.

Dessert was a cheese plate drizzled with honey. Nothing to get to excited about. I wasn't even over enthused with the selection of cheeses. They poured a 2006 Milos, Plavac Mali, with this course.

At the beginning of the dinner, a couple of people that I was sitting with complained about the small sizes of the potion. By the end of the meal everyone had "doggie" bags to take home.