Hill Family Wine Tasting at Table 301 Bistro

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

I missed the first wine tasting event that Table 301 did last month so I was anxious to attend this one. www.Table301bistro.com.  This is Dave & Louise's new restaurant that they opened after closing Delius. Located in downtown Long Beach which is now one of my preferred areas is one of the reasons I have not supported them much since the opening. I did drive around the area because I had time to kill. Nothing much has changed. It still looks scuzzy no matter how much money the city dumps into it. Constant road construction. It seems to never end. They do one thing then decide months later they don't like it and change things again.

Had trouble leaving the parking garage. It took my ticket but would not take my credit card to pay. Tried to use 5 different cards and none worked. So I backed up and let the person behind me go ahead. Wouldn't take his card either. Security had to be called. A man walked by and I told him what was happening and all he said "well this is Long Beach". Sad situation.

Table 301 Bisto is located at  the end of the Pomenade at 3rd St. Two large outdoor seating areas. One has a huge fire pit and a stage where they have live music.  Way too noisy for me. This is a younger persons venue. Metal chairs which I dislike, hard surfaces which does not help the acoustics.

The wine tasting was held outside on the front patio area. Two large overhead heaters kept the place decent but I could still feel the breeze. Had to keep my jacket on all evening. Food was served family style and the seating was family style also. 9 people at our combine tables. Food was brought out and shared.  That is too many people at one table to pass a pizza around too. I found it chaotic. We had 3 courses for 3 wines. First round was rose's & whites. All the food was brought out when we were on the first wine. This was a timing issue. We were expected to drink up before they poured the second wine. That does not work for me. I and several others did end up with 3 glasses so that helped but that is the way is should have been set up to begin with.  The pours were good size. 

The food was good. Much better with this new chef. But nowhere the caliber of Delius in its heyday. 

Hill Family Estate has 1,000 acres planted but sell of about 98% of their grapes to well known labels. Keep a very small amount to put their own label on. Wes Kohler is the rep. Haven't seen him since the Stolpman dinner at Taste last year. 

We started out with three wines. Hill Family Rose, Albarino and Carly's Cuvee Chardonnay. The chard was a bit oaky and I dumped it. The Rose was OK but not stellar but the Albarino was wonderful. I thought it ended up being the best wine of the night. 

 The three dishes that were served with this trio of wines were Pacific Gold Oysters, Shrimp Risotto and Mushroom Pizza.  The oysters were good and decent size. 2 per person but I did end up with 2 extra because of people not liking raw oysters.  But they had small slices of lime in a small bowl to squeeze on them. 5 pieces for 9 people.  That does not make sense. A slice per person.

The Risotto was very good, the shrimp were fresh and succulent. But not enough in the bowl for 9 people, The size should have been for 4. I ended up with about a third of a cup of rice and one shrimp.

The Mushroom Pizza and about 10 to 12 inches in diameter. The slices were cut very thin. About an inch at the outer edge. No way should this be for 9 people. Pizza was good but  that did not make up for not enough.

The next trio of wines poured were Hill Family, Barrel Blend which consisted of 8 red varietals, Beau Terre Vineyard Merlot and Clarke Vineyard Syrah. All good wines but nothing knocked my socks off.
The trio of food was Lamb Cavatelli, Pizza Diavola and Shortribs.

The Lamb Cavatelli was excellent. Good flavor. Again small serving.  The Pizza Diavola was made with spring garlic, calabrese salami, stracciatella and green onions.  Very good flavors but again very small serving.  The Short Ribs had a sweet chili glaze and Asian Pear Slaw.  This was the best dish of the night. The glaze was perfect on the meat. I did end up with a whole short rib because the others were not into it.

This family style serving of food only works if there is enough food for everyone to get a decent  portion. When a few take a lot the rest get less.  We had originally had a table for four but pushed it together with the next table of five because the food came out for the nine of us. It would have been so much better to have the family style dishes proportioned for each table.  This was a Tuesday night. The kitchen wasn't that busy so it would have taken a little bit more effort to do it correctly but not that much more effort. They know ahead of time how many people at each table. It is all about portioning. 

Table 301 is doing another tasting next month. I have reservations that night for the Playground so I will not be attending. But my dining companions tonight plan on going. Hopefully this kink with the food dishes will be worked out. I was told at last months wine tasting they had so much food that the restaurant actually took a loss. So the restaurant  upped the price but cut  back on portions. That apparently did not work out either. Maybe the third attempt will be the saving grace.