Saturday, April 6, 2019
This month's dinner is at Issara Thai in Huntington Beach. New owners so it will be interesting to see how the food holds up. Issarathaicuisine.com
Last dinners we have had here where served family style. This year we were to choose between a couple of selections for each course. Now my way of thinking that this is much more work for the restaurant with 16 people at the table. Waitstaff had to take individual orders and serve individual orders.
We started out with a choice of Fried Shrimp Salad or Fresh Spring Roll. I opted for the spring roll. It was good but not outstanding. Wasn't taken with it that much. Way too big lettuce leaf compared to the filling which was minuscule. Menu said "rice paper".
Soup course was a choice of Tom Kha Chicken or Tom Tum Shrimp. My choice was the Tom Yum Shrimp. Made with lemongrass, galangael ( a rhizomes) and lime leaves spicy broth, mushroom, cilantro, tomatoes and dried chili. Soup was good but it needed just a tab more seasoning to it. It was missing something. I have had much better.
The small plate course was a choice of Salmon Sashimi with house seafood sauce or Issara Chicken Wings. Took the chicken wings and they were as good as I remembered. Marinated with a special chili sauce and crispy basil.
Main course had a choice Issara Beef Steak, Roasted Duck Curry or Crispy Sole. My choice was the crispy sole. Lightly breaded fried fillets with a green apple salad, cashews, red onion and cilantro. Very good fish. Light, moist and coating was perfectly crisp. On par as the last time I was here.
Three choices for dessert, Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream, Mango with sweet sticky rice and Thai Tea Cream Brulee. I picked the brulee. A nice light ending to the meal,
Big selection of wines. Most I did not taste. We had had 4 small tables with space in between. The bottles did not move unless you actually got up and walked around. I find this a "royal pain" to get up from the dinner table and walk around looking at wines and deciding what I want to drink while my food gets cold. Unless someone brings me a wine to try I have a tendency to just taste what is within arms reach.Margie used to have people send there wines down to the next table a few times during the course of dinner but that has not happened in quite awhile. Probably because a lot of people wouldn't let their wines leave their side. And most of those wines weren't much good anyway. I used to pour myself a healthy pour of mine before I let it go so in case it never got back to me I had a good wine to drink.
I brought a 2014 Tercero, The Outlier,which is a dry Gewurztraminer. This wine pairs well with Asian foods. Also had a 2009 Clos Pepe, Pinot Noir which I considered the best wine of the night.
2014 Pacific Rim, Dry Riesling - did not taste
2017 Zaca Mesa, Pinot Gris - did not tasate
2017 Ironstone, Pinot Noir - did not taste
2016 Firestone, Riesling - did not taste
2016 Monchoff, Riesling Spatlese - did not taste
2015 Stolpman, Grenache - did not taste
2008 Sea Smoke Botella, Pinot Noir - a well balanced wine, showing well nice
NV, Charles Heidsieck, Blue Label, Brut Reserve - a good bubbly
2016 Freemark Abbey, Sauvignon Blanc - did not taste
2015 Frisby Cellars, Pinot Noir - mediocre
NV, Laurent-Perrier, La Cuvee, Brut Champagne - very good
2015 Williams Seylem, 35th Anniversary, Sauvignon Blanc - did not taste
2016 Twomey, Garys Vineyard, Pinot Noir - good wine - Gary's Vineyard is always a winner
1986 Chateau Bel-Air Lagrave Cru Bourgeois-Moulis-En-Medoc - was was not bad but it had lost its fruit was not showing well at all
2015 Fesstivity, Brut Cuvee - nice wine
2018 Youngberg Hill Aspen, Pinot Gris - I am not fond of Pinot Gris but this wine had something going for it - I had a second pour
2016 Williams Selyem, Late Harvest Gewurztraminer - a light, not overly sweet wine
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