Day 3 Evening - WOPN at the Bacara Resort

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Still raining, so time to call for the cart to take me to the Louis Jadot Wine dinner.

After being scanned (our badges are scanned for every event) we headed down to the wine cellar at the Miro Restaurant and claimed our seats. Again two long tables but not as many people so it was not the tight squeeze like last night. Amuse Bouche were passed around and again like last night I only was served two. Did not get to taste the Savory Carrot Cake with Gorgonzola Espuma. I did get the Confit Tomato Tart with Sweet Onions and the Roasted Pear with Iberco Ham. Both were good but not great. A 2011 Pernand Vergelesse Clos de la Cross de Pierre Blanc was served. A nice wine to start off with and it was a decent pairing.

First course was a Garden Party Salad, Young Lettuces, Basted Goat Butter Baby Carrots, Chevre Croquettes with a Beet Root Vinaigrette.  Very large pieces of red lettuce, almost like someone could not take the time to tear them into smaller pieces. You must use  a knife to cut them. The vinaigrette was non-existent. Dry, dry, dry. Also again one carrot was so raw and left whole - not edible.  Wine was a Beaune 1er Cru Greves Blanc.  Did not pair well with the salad. Good on its own.

Second course was set in front of me. Plate was very hot (like keeping food warm hot) on it was a piece of Crispy Skin Steelhead Ocean Trout, (very dry)  Chestnut Spatzele, Candied Bacon (almost to the burnt stage), Garden Herbs, Crispy Quinoa (looked for it but did not find it) and a Walnut Maple Emulsion. Pathetic. Paired with a 2010 Nuits Saint Georges. Good wine but where is the good stuff we paid through the nose for.

Third course was served. Sous Vide Tenderloin of Wagyu Beef  (why sous vide a good piece of meat ?)  void of flavor. What a waste of meat. Why not grilled so there is some flavor.  A Brown Butter Celeriac Puree, Blackberry Pearl Onions, Black Sea Salt and Truffle Demi Jus rounded out the plate. The Celeriac Puree was good along with the onions. I looked for truffles in the jus but could not find those. Probably ran away with the Quinoa from the last course. A 2010 Gevrey Chambertin was served. Again a good wine but not Grand Cru.

Fourth course was a cheese plate and like yesterday it was the best dish brought out.  A Camembert Foam, Shaved Tome de Savoie, Fried Olive Bread and Quince. A glass of 2011 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Ursules was the wine. Good pairing.

Dessert - should say DISASTER - Sweet Mascarpone Stuffed Crepes, Ruby Red Grapefruit Segment, Vanilla Bean Citrus Caramel and Braised Marcona Almonds. What is the idea of grapefruit and cream ??? The crepe was thick and gummy. I took two bites and shoved it aside.

 I can do a far better job of menu planning and wine pairing than whomever did this fiasco. 

So at $350 for a dinner - no Grand Cru wines, mostly Villages.  And food that again sucked. Another rip off. Yes I know they did not specify Grand Cru wines but at the price of this dinner you would think that they could come up with a few. I do a fair amount of wine dinners and these two I  had this weekend are by far the worst. These are no more that $125 dinners and that is a stretch and the only reason for that comment is because of the wine. I am doing a wine dinner on the 10th and the 28th and would wager money the wines will be just as good, even if they are different and the food will be far better and the price will be in the $100 range each.