Antica Wines at Chianina

Tuesday. April 18, 2017

Really looking forward to this dinner. Have been out of the social scene for close to three weeks due to whatever creepy crud that is making its way around the nation.  Have not had a taste of wine in that time also.

Chianina in Naples,  www.chianina.com,  hosted Antica wines tonight which is the US operations of Antinori from Italy.  Michaels restaurant hosted a tasting earlier in the day for these wines. Had to work so I could not attend but two of my dining companions went. They did taste wines that were not on tonight's menu.
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When the basket of bread came out I limited myself to one. A salted honey roll. I could make a meal out of the bread they make here along with the marscapone butter

We started out with a glass of Proseco and an Amuse Bouche not listed on the menu. Chianina is always good about little extras. The trio consisting of braised pork meat on a mini crostini, mini lasagna bite and a foie gras laudron.

Then onto the menu.  First course was a roasted scallop, fennel, PEI mussels, fava beans and saffron emulsion. Excellent flavors. A good start. Paired with a 2014 Chardonnay. A little oaky, heavy viscosity. Did pair well with the scallop but not my style of chardonnay.

Next was a spring pea agnolotti with prosciutto, fennel and parmiggiano. Nice that they gave you a spoon to get all the flavors of the broth that was poured onto to the dish tableside. A 2014 Pinot Noir was the selection. It was ok but again not to my taste. Just did not knock my socks off. It was Burgundian style but had a strange back palate taste.

Third course served is a superior farms lamb lion, green garlic, fiddlehead ferns and ramps. Ramps have a garlic taste to them so this dish was my kind of  good. Lamb was very tender and had great flavor. Two wines were paired. A 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2004  was best by itself and the 2013 went with the food. Both very nice wines but pricey

Main course consisted of ribeye with roasted mushrooms, yukon gold potato confit and crispy sweetbreads. Perfectly cooked. Very good dish.  Paired with a 2012 "Townsend" Cabernet Sauvignon. Best wine of the night but also the most expensive.

Dessert was a pistachio sponge with a preserved bing cherry, candied ginger and ricotta ice cream. Glad I only had one roll at the start of dinner. Portions are always small but the food is always on the rich, decadent side so when you are close to the end you are starting to feel very full. The served a 2013 G & G Soracco with the dessert. Not overly sweet and a nice pairing.

Along came another small plate of tiny cookies. Chianina loves tiny cookies.  A lavender maccaron, honey, earl grey tea and meyer lemon cookie and a toffee truffle cookie

A really good dinner again. My taste buds are still off I found out. So hopefully by next week when I do the Joseph Phelps dinner at the Waterline restaurant at the Balboa Bay resort they will be in better shape.