Heitz Cellar Wine Dinner at Watertable

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

This was to be the first wine dinner at the newly renovated Watertable Restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Huntington Beach.  Seven of us signed on for this dinner.

We started out with "appetizers" in a small area off the patio that seems to be set up just for this. They had various items in canning jars, most with olive oil. Some artichoke, red peppers. Some type of jerkey was listed but I never saw it.. Bread was very small loaves in paper bags. Warm and good but if you only want a small piece you had a problem. I sure don't want to take a piece off after someone else has had their hands on it. Flavors of the things I tried were good but olive oil with everything got to be messy. They poured a Proseco very freely which was nice.

After the reception we went outside to the patio area where it has been designed  to host dinners. Our name cards were set up around the fire pit. At first I thought that would really be nice but after a while the flaws came through.  Had to keep the wine glasses away from the inner edge as they became warm from the fire. Chairs were comfortable but way to low for comfortable eating. The height of the surface was just about at my boobs and I felt like a little kid eating at a large table. You had to yell across the table to talk with anyone who wasn't at your side.  First couple of food courses were fine by time the 3rd one arrived it was starting to get dark you could not see the menu or what the food looked like. Very poor lighting for a dinner. The other tables had a big advantage.

First course was a Yellowtail Hamachi Crudo with avocado, compressed cucumber, red jalapeno pepper gel and micro citrus. Best dish of the evening. The avocado and red pepper gel were just the right touch to enhance the raw fish. A 2013 Napa Valley Sauvignion Blanc was paired with this dish. A nice Sau Blanc. Full mouth feel, not overly citrusy or acidic. A good pairing.

Second course was served -  Organic Beet Tartar with Drake Farm's goat cheese, fresh herb salad, rye crisp and enfuso olive oil. As far as I am concerned the beets needed a extra minute of cooking. Just this side of raw and you could not get the nice sweet beet flavor from them. A 2013 Napa Valley Chardonnay was poured. Too much oak for me and there also was not enough cheese in the dish to cut the oak in the wine.  Others said the Sau Blanc was a better pairing with the beets. But mine was gone and they did not offer second pours. Most of this dish went back to the kitchen and I gave my wine to Margie. She is into oak.

Third course up - a Maple Leaf Farms Duck Breast, forest mushrooms, house pickled summer cherries, fresh pea blini and kale chips.  Duck lacked seasoning. Also just a cube of meat. I prefer diagonal slicing. Makes a much better presentation. I tasted the cherries but could not see where they were. It was dark. I spyed the pea blini and it was good. The wine paired with this course was a 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Ok wine . Did not like the pairing with duck. Maybe if the duck had a Cabernet sauce or heavier accompaniments it might have worked better.

Fourth course came to us - Espresso Rubbed Short rib, carrot puree, potato-leek foam, carmelized romanesco and a cabernet sauvignon reduction.  Meat was very tender and fairly good. Again very little seasoning beside the espresso. Since I could not see what I was eating, I had to go by taste. Could not find the carrot puree, the foam was good but not enough of it was on the plate. The romanesco was almost non-existent. Best wine of the evening was served. A 2005 Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc. Short pours. It was a good pairing/\.

Dessert was a huge disappointment. A" Fall Harvest"  Black Mission Fig Tart with marcona almond crumble, thyme infused honey, valencia orange sorbet. The sorbet was the best past of this dish. Figs had good flavor the tart itself was limp. Had the texture you get when you microwave pastry. Most of this went back to the kitchen. As required it seems, dessert wine was a NV Ink Grande Napa Valley port. Nice wine but please do not give me sweet with sweet. A cheese plate would have been much better.

What I figured out about this dinner was there were no starches with the dishes. I actually left hungry when most wine dinners I do I take some food home. Yes I did not finish a couple of dishes but that would not have made a difference. Portions were very small, almost skimpy. If they would have added more vegetables and / or starch to the dishes it would have been much better. Also no bread was served at the table.

Out table paid $95 for this dinner as we had been quoted a price by email. But the others paid $110. This was not a $110 or a $95 dinner.  I have had Heitz wines before but I don't feel the prices justify what you are getting. Maybe the winery was not that accomodating to the resturant. All wineries operate differently when it comes to pricing their bottles for these dinners.  But  the higher end wine did not justify the very small portions of food. Potatoes and rice are cheap

Dining in the dark has huge drawbacks. Part of eating is the look and presentation of the dish. When it is so dark that you cannot see what is set down in front of you it does not become a pleasant dining experience. Fire pit would be great for cocktails but for dinner it was the pits A lot of bugs seem to be in the need of fixing with this new venue. Setting was beautiful and the service impeccable. Food should have been also.