Delius & German Wines

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Took a friend of mine for dinner tonight for her birthday. She is an independent wine rep so it was a treat for her to sit for the entire dinner and not have to work the room. We shared our table with Warren who is a regular at Delius. His wife does not drink wine so he was an independent diner tonight.  Lucky for him that he ended up with two hot dates for the evening. This is an annual dinner at Delius, www.deliusrestaurant.com. The rep from Rudy Weist Imports was not available so Dave, the owner was hosting. But I did miss talking with  Allie. 

We started out with a glass of NV Fritz Muller , Muller Thurgau, Secco, Rheinhessen. A nice, light, refreshing white wine.

Our first course  was Kumamoto Oysters, blackberries and champagne with chervil. Interesting combination and seemed to blend well. Susan doesn't eat oysters so I devoured her plate also. So I had  6 oysters. Nice way to start a meal.  Wine paired was a 2014 Wagner Stemple, Pinot Blanc, Siefersheimer, Rheinhessen. Again a good pairing of wine and food.

Next came a plate with Grilled Cornbread, Knockwurst, Arugula Frisee salad with a jalapeno-apricot vinaigrette. Cornbread was good, and a little different, But that damm frisee to me is a pain to eat but the jalapeno-apricot dressing was excellent. . A 2015 Schnaitmann, Rose, Evoe! Wurttemberg was the wine of choice. A very nice Rose and a good pairing.

Third course served was a Seared Monkfish, Baked Cambozola and Roasted Black Grapes.. Monkfish is one of my favorite fishes. This was very good quality - much better than the monkfish at a dinner somewhere else awhile back.  Better quality and cooked much better The Cambozola cheese was in a puff pastry and it was good. Normally cheese does not pair well with fish The roasted black grapes weer a surprise. Nice added touch the the plate.  Paired with a 2006 Gunderloch Riesling, Auslese, 3 Star, Rheinhessen,  (Halbtrocken) . Excellent wine and a perfect pairing.

Entree was a Horseradish Braised Short Ribs with baked baby radishes, pea greens and sweet potato gratin.  Short rib was excellent, good flavor and very tender.  Baked radishes were a surprise and different. The pea greens were like micro for me and could have been left off the plate. I like pea shoots at Chinese restaurants but they are bigger and much easier to eat. I think these "micro greens" have seen their day and should be put to rest with Kale. Chefs should come up with something more innovative instead of riding a horse to death with an ingredient.  The wine was a 2012 Wachtrsetter Red Wine Cuvee "Louis" Wurttemberg, 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Lemberger. The Lemberger was very predominate in this wine. It was a decent pairing but not quite perfect.

Vanilla Pot De Creme with blueberry compote and green tea cookies was the dessert course. I am used to Pot De Creme being thicker, This was almost like a soup and I wonder by them adding the blueberry compote if that was the difference. Flavor was OK but it just wasn't my thing.

Basically this was a good dinner but I don't feel it came up the Delius' standards. It fell short on numerous points.  A different chef handled this dinner instead of Patrick who normally does the special wine dinners. I think it showed. I think I would say it was a bit more rustic than refined.