Saturday, May 25, 2013

Hyatt Huntington and Medlock Ames Wines

Friday, May 24, 2013

This was the 4th wine dinner I have attended at the Hyatt. The first were mediocre , the 3rd improved at lot and this 4th one was very good. Small crowd in attendance tonight. We had a table of 8 and there were only 6 other people plus the wine rep and the winemaker. Total of 16. Small turnout probably because no one was familiar with the wines. The winery is based in Sonoma and was new one for me. An organic and holistic winery.  The wines are all very good but a little pricey.

We started out the a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc and passed appetizers out on the lawn area of the hotel facing the beach.

Our first course also included another glass of the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc served with Sustainable California Crudo -  sliced scallop with red grapefruit slice, micro thinly sliced French Breakfast Radish. Sitting in a sauce of green. Cannot remember what they said it was but it was not to my liking. Others at the table disagreed with me.

Next came Laura Chanel Cabecou Cheese with a tomato, nut tapendae and crostini. Goat cheese aged in olive oil and herbs. Excellent. The chef gave me 2 small containers of the cheese to take home. A 2011 Chardonnay was poured. Too oaky for me but it did pair well with the fattiness of the cheese otherwise I would have been able to drink it.

Third course was a Braised Lamb Ravioli, Cilantro Pistou, English Peas , Pea Puree and Cotija Cheese. Again a very good dish. Loads of flavor. Paired with a 2009 Oldest Vines, Jefferson Clone,. Merlot. Best wine of the night. Well balanced and loads of complexity.

Main course was Roasted Brandt Rib Eye (the very center cut of the ribeye), Ramp Bernaise and Crispy Cippolinis. Steak was cooked perfectly and had good flavor. They poured a 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon with this dish. Nice wine but the Merlot was better.

Dessert was a plate with Dried Blueberries, Roasted Marcona Almonds, Dark Chocolate Truffles and Point Reyes Toma Cheese. The wine was a 2009  red blend

This was a very good dinner and wine pairing. Another dinner is being planned for August. Hope they keep up with the good food,

Seafood Palace

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Back to the Seafood Palace - when food is good you return a lot.

We started out with a hot/spicy soup. No real name - probably just a lot of leftovers thrown into a pot but it was good. Had two bowls myself.

Next came the crowds favorite, Salt & Pepper Calamari. Always good, very tender and great flavor. They serve it with thinly sliced Jalapeno peppers. Terry took several slices of the pepper, ate them and then a few seconds later was reaching for the water. He turned bright red. I like the flavor they impart but will not eat even a small slice.

Clams with Basil showed up. The broth was excellent. Problem with clams is they sure look like a huge amount of them in the bowl but you just don't seem to get that much meat from them compared to what is leftover in the shell bowl.

Since we had a cab on the table Henry ordered Beef with Chinese Broccoli, Always a winner.

Chef's Special Shrimp was the next dish. We decided that it got its name because no one knows whats in the sauce. We figured it was whatever leftover in the wok. Sauce was great and the shrimp were very meaty and tender.

Last dish was Kang Kung with shredded pork. This vegetable was new to us. It grows near the pods and had a leaf like spinach but the stalks were like ramps. It was quite good

We had a nice selection of wines. When the few of us get together we have a tendency to bring good wines.

2006 Clos Pepe VS Pinot Noir
2008 McKeon-Phillilps BPR Cabernet Sauvignon
2010 McKeon-Phillips BPR Cabernet Sauvigon
2010 Jules Taylor, Marlborough, Savignon Blanc - excellent wine
2006 Rey, Central Coast Mouvedre

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Wilmore & Phil Trani's

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Margie's Fun Wine Activity event for May started off a tThe Wilmore, a small wine tasting bar in the Bixby Knolls area.

We had 4 wines and nibblies. A NV Louis Perdrier Champange, Nice wine. The second pour was a 2011 Domaine Mureaux Sancerre. To me this was the best wine of the tasting. Third wine was a 2011 Luli, Santa Lucia Highlands, Pinot Noir. I found this wine to be relatively weak.  Not much going for it. The last one was a 2020 Dragonette "Seven" a blend of 7 Rhone grapes. This also was a good selection.

Ernie, the owner, put out a nice selection of cheeses, salami, olives, etc.

After finishing at The Wilmore we headed down the road to Phil Trani's restaurant. This place has been in business it seems forever. The original one in San Pedro was a hang out for a lot of sports figures and some of the memorabilia is on display in the bar of the restaurant. They have redecorated the restaurant which is good because it was in dire need.

We had  a large round table which was nice  because of all the glasses and bottles that were on the table. A wide variety of food is available here. Everything from steak to Italian dishes. Several people ordered fish. I had the herb crusted Chilean Sea Bass which was very good. In retrospect I should have ordered it without the herbs. Dinners came with soup or salad. I had the house salad which consisted of romaine lettuce which was very cold and crisp and choice of dressing. Nothing special but because the lettuce was so crisp it was nice. After the salad and the nibblies at the Wilmore I could have stopped eating at this point and been quite satisfied.

Phil Trani's used to have no corkage but had raised it to $10. Margie did talk them into $5 per bottle since we bring out own glasses and open the bottles and basically are self sufficient when it comes to taking care of our wines. We had a good selection  of wines.

NV Piper Heidsick , California, Sparkling
2006 Clos Pepe, Sta Rita Hills, Pinot Noir
2003 Thomas Fogarty, Vallega Vineyard, Yountville, Napa, Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Halter Ranch, Paso Robles, Viognier
NV Veuve Du Vernay, France,  Brut Rose
Bret Brothers, Vive-Classe Cimat-La Verchere
2008 Grand Vin de Bourgeone
2010 Argiolas S'elegas, Italy, Nuragus di Cagliari
2009 Argiolas, Perdera, Isola dei Nuragau (blend of 3 Monica grapes)


Saturday, May 18, 2013

Andrew Murray Wines & Delius

Friday, May 17, 2013

Sold out dinner tonight at Delius. Andrew Murray was in attendance and pouring his wines. I was seated at the table with Andrew and Kevin Butler of the Henry Wine Group. It had been quite a few months since I have seen Kevin. Another wine geek that knows more about wine than most people.

Andrew was running a little late so they poured us a glass of the newly released Viognier. I am not a big fan of white Rhone wines but this actually went very well with the Sea Bream

First Course: Crispy Skinned Mediterranean Sea Bream, Roasted Marble Potatoes and Roasted Apricots - served with a 2011 RGB (Roussane - Greanche Blanc) - you could really get the Grenache Blanc out of this wine and the Roussane was just a bit player. The fish was excellent, moist, and cooked perfectly, The lightly salted skin had a nice crunch to it.

Second Course: Roasted Fig and Pork Cheeks - full of flavor and tender - Wine paired with this dish was 2011 Esperance. Again a very good pairing.

Third Course: Braised Rabbit, Cassoulet, Squash Blossom Fritters. I love rabbit and wish more restaurants would have it on their menus.  The fritters were to die for. Paired with a 2011 Tour les Jours Syrah.

Fourth Course: Rack of Lamb, Blackberry Rosemary Compote, Fava Beans, Creamy Polenta. . Very good dish except that I am not a Fava Bean lover. I ate them but I would not have missed them if they were not on the plate. The polenta was very creamy. Lamb was cooked perfectly for me.. Served with a 2011 Watch Hill Vineyard Syrah. Excellent pairing.

Dessert was an Espresso Panna Cotta, Chocolate Sugar Cookie, Caramel Sauce.

At  the end of the meal I was stuffed. Pours of the wine were generous. A bonus wine thrown in.  Food was great. Service excellent.  And had great conversation with Andrew and Kevin.

Himalayan With The Boys

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Last week at Nayada, Terry piped up and asked if CJ & I were available this week to go back to the Himalayan Grill.  www.himalayangrill.com. Thursday was selected and Henry joined us.

Henry who is Chinese raved about the sauces on the meat and vegetables, He took a small container of the Tikka Masala sauce home to his wife, Evan, to show her how good it was. Indian sauces are so different from the Chinese sauces.

We had  a small plate of appetizers, did not want to spoil our dinner. The Himalayan makes the best Samosa's. Very light and delicate dough around the potato, pea mixture.

We ordered Tibetian Lamb which is always good and tonight for some reason just tasted better than normal. We also had the Saag Paneer, Chicken Tikka Masala and Vegetables Korma.

Again our wines were good.

2006 AP Vin, Keefer Vineyard, Pinot Noir
2006 Kosta Browne, Sonoma Coast, Pinot Noir
2006 Williams Seylem, Hirsch Vineyard, Pinot Noir
2007 Vie, White Hawk, Syrah

It was good to see Sanjiv , the owner back. He was trying to open another place in Los Alamitos but ran into problems and backed away. The place was crowded tonight and people were still coming in after 9:00 pm.

After a night of good food, good wine and great company, we decided to go back to the Seafood Palace next week,

Nayada

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Terry, CJ & I met tonight at Nayada. Terry shortened his 6 week road trip to 2 weeks and we were anxious to hear about it.

Since it was only the three of us we just ordered 3 entrees and shared. Interesting selections and none that I had had before.

Thai Basil Scallops - scallops were sweet and tender and the dish was heavy on the basil. The Thai people really get into herbs.

Thai Baby Back Ribs - excellent, tender and full of flavor.

Lime Leaves, Chou Chee Prawns - again excellent flavor with basil and lemongrass.

With just us three the wines were good and we finished all 3 bottles over the course of 3 hours or so

2005 Williams Seylem Rochioli Riverblock Vineyard Pinot Noir
2006 Kosta Browne Russian River Pinot Noir
NV St. Clair Winery, Gerwurztraimer, Denning, New Mexico - Terry bought this on his road trip and it turned out to be a really good wine that ent excellent with the spicy Thai food.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Buon Gusto Recon

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Buon Gusto is within 3 blocks of where I live and I have to admit I had never been. This restaurant moved from Long Beach and started out on the opposite corner of where it is now  as a very small place with a big takeout business, Outgrew that location very quickly and when another building became available moved there. There is always people waiting to get in and weekends are really crowded.

Paul, Margie and I decided to check the place out to see if it would fit into one of Margie's monthly wine activities. Buon Gusto charges no corkage for wine bottles brought in. Which is a huge plus for the wine group.

Inside the acoustics leave a lot to be desired. All hard surfaces and loud. They do have an outdoor area but that would be only feasible in warm months.

I stared out with a grilled artichoke with aioli. Good. Nothing anything different that numerous other Italian restaurants. Paul & Margie both had salads which were huge. They were a meal in themselves. They both liked their salads.

For Dinner I choose the Veal Oso Bucco, Margie had the Pasta Carbonaro and Paul had the Veal Marsala. The  "bowls" that they were served in were very large. The servings were large. Large enough to split between two people.  A small dish of chocolate gelato finished the meal.

Looking around the place we noticed that all the meals except pizza was served in the large "bowls". Margie asked the waiter if everyone took home the "doggie bag" and he said yes, no one finished their meal there. Prices were reasonable. My oso bucco was $16.95. or $2 more you can get the house salad to go with it.  The food was good, the service was good so this is a definite place to be put on the list. The place is not upscale but the portions and quality of the food make up for it.

I brought a 2007 Sinor-LaValle, Anniversay Cuvee, Pinot. The other two wines were a 2011 Martin Codax Albarino and a 2007 D'Bruno Sangiovese. (the sangio grapes used to be sourced from the Stolpman vineyards but not sure if they still are).