Birthday Dinner at Delius

Friday, June 20,2014

I have a friend, Joe, that I have known for 35 years. We have treated each other to lunch on our birthdays in all the period of time. Joe is now retired so this year I suggested dinner. I made reservations at Delius, www.deliusrestaurant.com, for Friday night. Menu looked good for the Prix Fixe Room. I was hoping he would be impressed and he was. Joe has never done Prix Fixe dining before and he became a big fan of it right away. No rush, no noise.

We started out with a Heirloom Tomato Salad, House Made Tuscan Flatbread and Buratta Cheese. I am not a big fan or raw tomatoes but I did eat the small grape tomatoes. At least they are not acidic.Joe finished off the rest of my tomatoes.  Burrata cheese was wonderful. They paired this dish with a NV Grendin Sparkling Rose from the Loire Valley. It was a very good pairing.

Second course was Spicy Shredded Pork Sopes, Goat Feta, Baby Arugula and Cilantro Pesto. Sopes is a corn cake. This dish had loads of flavor and the wine poured was a 2013 Purato Nero D'Avola. Decent pairing, not perfect but decent.

Next was a Pan Seared Ivory Salmon with Morocccan Spiced Preserved Lemon Polenta. Polenta was very good. I had never heard of Ivory Salmon before. After googling it up apparently it is not common but is starting to become the darling of chefs. I found it exceedingly good. Wine was a 2012 Hill Family Albarino from Napa Valley. Wine went well with the salmon.

Fourth course was a Mushroom Crusted Hangar Steak, Blue Cheese Butter and Hassleback potatoes. Loved the potatoes. Steak had good flavor and was very tender. A 2012 Equinox Crozes-Hermitage from France was the wine choice. Good pairing.

We finished the meal with a Summer Nectarine Almond Crisp with House Made Ice Cream.

As usual by time I get to this point I am stuffed. Portions are small but so packed with flavor.

My friend really enjoyed his first experience with Prix Fixe dining. Loved the food. A good birthday present for him. He lives in Altadena so it is a bit of a ride for him to come to Long Beach but I have an idea he may want to try dinner again.