Utopia an Raymond Wines

Thursday. June 9, 2016

Arrived about 5:30 for a 7:00 dinner so I headed over to District Wine for a glass of bubbly. First time there. Nice place and I can see why people like it. Set up with lots of seating areas. More like a lounge. But it still is in an area with no parking. My biggest complaint about Long Beach. They are taking car parking away to accommodate bicycles and also to accommodate business who want to have sidewalk seating. Great for locals but not for me. There is always parking in the hotel lots for about $5 but I have this quirk. Why should I pay for parking when I am patronizing wine and food establishments. I am spending money to do this and have to shell out extra to park. Not my favorite thing.

Dinner tonight at Utopia, www.utopiarestaurant.net, with Raymond wines. $55 prepaid so I know what to expect but tonight was not my night.  Two dinners this week that fell short of what they should be. 

Started out with a glass of 2013 Raymond, Napa Valley, Chardonnay. Wine was oxidized. Replacement was better but still too much oak for my liking. Paired with a Ceviche Mariscos, salmon, shrimp, calamari in a spicy tomato sauce served on a bed of red cabbage leaves. Ceviche was way too thin. too much liquid and a very small amount of seafood. Favor was good.

Second course was a Wild Mushroom Ravioli in a sun dried cream sauce. This was a good dish Wine was a 2011 Raymond Sauvignon Blanc. I would have preferred the chardonnay with this dish. The Sau Blanc was good but I think would have paired better with the ceviche.

Main course served was a Grilled Wild Salmon with risotto and dill cream sauce. Salmon was a tad dry but everything else on the plate was good. Unfortunately the wine they picked to go with this dish did not. A 2011 Raymond Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. What were they thinking ? Total disaster. Wine was way too big. It also was too warm. Cab and salmon is not a good pairing.

Dessert was a housemade Tiramisu with Blandy's 5 year old Maderia.  This was good. Both the wine and food.

For some reason out table seemed to get neglected throughout the evening. We had to ask for bread 3 times before it came out. It also was too crusty. Like it had been heated up a few times.  Also too many heels of the rolls . Three rolls and only 2 small middle pieces. We were the last ones to get food and wine. It we had been in a corner I might have understood it but we were in the middle of the dining room. No excuse. The waiters seemed to look right past us like the table did not exist. 

Have another dinner saturday night at Russo's in Naples. Hope this trend of mediocracy does not continue.