Arte Cafe & Oakville Wines

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Could not pass this dinner up. Price was so right. $39. Four courses and three wines.  Was not expecting it  to be over the top and it wasn't. Good and adequate for the price. Arte Cafe in Cerritos was packed for this dinner. www.artecamellia.com, so others wanted a bargain also. 6 tonight for dinner. Knew the wine rep, John from previous dinners around town. Nice to chat with him for a few minutes. He is going to be working on a dinner at Delius next year.

Started out with fresh Bay Scallops, Brie Cheese Raviloi. Bay scallops to me have very little flavor. All the flavor from this dish was the ravioli which was quite good along with the sauce. This would have been standout dish if they would have used sea scallops. Wine selected to go with this dish was a Oakville, Elizabeth Rose, Rose. Blend of Syrah, Grenanche and Cinsault. Mixed reviews at the table. I did not care for this wine. Others did. But we all agreed that it was not the best pairing.

Second course was a Fresh California Stripe Bass with grilled vegetables and Dijon cream sauce. Fish was cooked perfectly. Only complaint was they left the skin on one side and had that side on the bottom of the dish in the sauce. Skin gets very moist this way and is really not tasty. Vegetables were good and the mustard cream sauce was excellent.. A Oakville, Elizabeth Rose, Chardonnay was poured.  Clean, crisp wine and went well with the fish. This wine also would have been much better with the scallops.

Main course served was New York Steak, dry cherry and Cabernet jus with mashed potatoes, mushrooms and  avocado egg roll. Steak was excellent. Had a good sear to it and lots of flavor. Jus was good but I did not even venture to the egg roll. I noticed several people at the table took one bite and put it down. Paired with a Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon. Wine was high in alcohol and to be had a bitter taste.

Dessert was a Berry Souffle with a berry cream sauce. Very good dessert.

Nice, enjoyable inexpensive evening out. Company was good. Food had ups and downs as did the wine but the price was right.