Autumn Wine Dinner at Utopia

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Utopia restaurant on Long Beach hosted a Autumn wine dinner this evening. Their pricing is always good, $45, so it becomes an OK dinner to attend. The wines are never high end but the food is decent and its a chance to get together for dinner.

The City of Long Beach has decided to dedicate more street space to the bicycle riders which is probably great if you are one of them. But in doing so they have taken away numerous parking spaces for cars Parking in downtown Long Beach is always a hassle but now its worse. I found a spot close to the restaurant after only one trip around the block. My dining companions found a spot over four blocks away  after 3 trips around the block. The food at Utopia is alright but to me not worth the longer walk to get there.

We started off with "Stuffed Roasted Roma Tomatoes with Pesto Goat Cheese, Chopped Black Olives and Fresh Herbs. Good dish, the stuffing was tasty  Served with a 2010 Jacob's Creek Chardonnay. Decent Chardonnay for a cheap wine and it paired well with the dish.

Next was a Seared Ahi With Fresh Ginger, Garlic & Fresh Thyme Sesame Sauce. They poured a 2010 Stoneligh Sauvignon Blanc. It was terrible and did not pair well with the dish at all. Do not know whose idea that was but is was a disaster, I had them take the Sau Blanc away and replace it with the Chardonnay which was a much better pairing. Margie had substituted deep fried artichoke hearts for the ahi and the Sau Blanc was much better with that dish.

Main course was a Grilled Filet Mignon with Chopped Shallots, mushrooms and Balsamic Reduction Sauce. Flavor of the sauce was good. I had asked for my filet to be "just this side of dead" and it came out medium. Hate to think what it would be alike if I had ordered it medium rare. The wine  poured was a 2009 Stoneleigh Pinot Noir. It was a decent wine.

Dessert was the best dish of today's meal. Homemade Crispy Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream. They could have kept the wine which was a Sandeman Ruby Port. Cheap Port and not that good tasting.

If the parking situation does not improve this may be the last dinner at Utopia. Their food is OK but not the quality that I would be inconvenienced for.