Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Arte Cafe in Cerritos hosted a dinner featuring Charles Krug wines which is now owned by the Mondavi's. Riana Mondavi was in attendance to show case these wines. Large crowd tonight but not packed full as the last dinner was.
My biggest complaint was the music. A live band playing outside on the patio was so loud that you could not have a quiet conversation. Sure glad I was not an outside diner tonight.
We started out with a Seared Sea Bass with greens, blue cheese crumbles and a Sauvignon Blanc vinaigrette. Interesting to have warm sea bass with cold greens. But it worked. Paired with a 2018 Charles Krug Sauvignon Blanc. Way to acidic for my taste. More in the line of New Zealand Sau Blanc which are not on my favorite list.
Second course is a Grilled pork loin with apple cider cream sauce and couscous with herbs. A very good dish. sauce was excellent. Pork was cooked perfectly for me. The couscous was perfect. A 2017 Charles Krug Chardonnay was paired with this dish. Slight Oak but drinkable.
Main course is a grilled flank steak with blue cheese butter, to die for and some greens along with a roasted potato and Brussels sprouts. Good flavors. Wine selected was a 2016 Charles Krug Merlot. For a merlot this was good.
Dessert is a dark chocolate cake with raspberry puree and fresh raspberries. Cake was light and a good ending to a very good dinner. Wine paired is a 2016 Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon. A OK pairing .Wine was good.
Good dinner, a fun time and Arte Cafe 's wine dinners are the bargain of the year compared to other restaurants.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Molto Italiano Dinner at the Playground
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
The Playground restaurant in Santa Ana, www.playgrounddtsa.com. hosted another "road trip" dinner. I liked the first one so much I returned.
Started out with a cocktail made from smoked tea, Contrieu and Red Rosso a vermouth style liqueur from Italy. Light and refreshing. I liked it but I noticed about a third of the 18 diners didn't drink it.
12 course tonight and 3 desserts. Up first was a plate of house made Foccacia which they make with their own sourdough starter. House made butter and fig jam accompanied it.
A salad made with frizee, radicchio and other greens, pistachios and pears along with a shallot vinaigrette . Flavors were very good. But not date night food. I
Next was a dish with various diced tomatoes, fennel and green and purple basil. None of the ingredients are on my like list. But it did have good flavor if you are into tomatoes and basil.
Cheese Financier ( almond french cake) with pinenuts, house made burrata and caviar. This I could have ate all night. Outstanding flavors and extremely addictive.
A dish of Tripanata , have no idea what that means and googling it result in nothing. Had some tomatoes among other things with buckwheat over toast. Very good but odd.
A chicken thigh in soffritto with mascarpone polenta. To die for.
Another to die for dish, Gnocchi in beure monte sauce with parmesan. Gnocchi was so soft and pillowy . Melted in your mouth. Justin is a master at making these jewels.
Escarole with caramelized onions, pork shoulder and toasted breadcrumbs. Another great flavored dish. Makes you want to like escarole. One diner (blond female) thought it was escargot. Obviously she doesn't know much about either.
Another great dish from Justin, Garlic Risotto with pinenuts. Loads of garlic Perfect texture.
Grilled sea bass with porcini sauce and grilled zucchini. Cooked almost perfectly Just a teeny, tiny off perfect.
Grilled flank steak , cooked perfectly for me. Nice red interior. Hot gill marks outside.
Hash brown with gremolata. Potato was a large rectangle with the sauce on top. My least favorite dish. I think the hash brown itself was overcooked and had a hard exterior..
Desserts were a poached pear sorbet, nice light and refreshing. Good palate cleanser. A Pistachio Lava cake with semifredo and a Budino tarte biete with whip cream.
Wines tonight are Adriano Adani Prosecco, 2018 Aia Vecchia, Vermention. 2016 Isole e Oleans, Chianti Classico, 2016 Vigneto Bordin, Barneresco, 2014 Ciacca Piccolomini d'Araga, Brunello de Montalcino. Topped off with a small glass of Amaro Montenegro. A botanical liqueur.
Another great dinner at the Playground 2.0 Room. Looking forward to the Charcoal dinner next month and the Road Trip to Israel dinner in November.
The Playground restaurant in Santa Ana, www.playgrounddtsa.com. hosted another "road trip" dinner. I liked the first one so much I returned.
Started out with a cocktail made from smoked tea, Contrieu and Red Rosso a vermouth style liqueur from Italy. Light and refreshing. I liked it but I noticed about a third of the 18 diners didn't drink it.
12 course tonight and 3 desserts. Up first was a plate of house made Foccacia which they make with their own sourdough starter. House made butter and fig jam accompanied it.
A salad made with frizee, radicchio and other greens, pistachios and pears along with a shallot vinaigrette . Flavors were very good. But not date night food. I
Next was a dish with various diced tomatoes, fennel and green and purple basil. None of the ingredients are on my like list. But it did have good flavor if you are into tomatoes and basil.
Cheese Financier ( almond french cake) with pinenuts, house made burrata and caviar. This I could have ate all night. Outstanding flavors and extremely addictive.
A dish of Tripanata , have no idea what that means and googling it result in nothing. Had some tomatoes among other things with buckwheat over toast. Very good but odd.
A chicken thigh in soffritto with mascarpone polenta. To die for.
Another to die for dish, Gnocchi in beure monte sauce with parmesan. Gnocchi was so soft and pillowy . Melted in your mouth. Justin is a master at making these jewels.
Escarole with caramelized onions, pork shoulder and toasted breadcrumbs. Another great flavored dish. Makes you want to like escarole. One diner (blond female) thought it was escargot. Obviously she doesn't know much about either.
Another great dish from Justin, Garlic Risotto with pinenuts. Loads of garlic Perfect texture.
Grilled sea bass with porcini sauce and grilled zucchini. Cooked almost perfectly Just a teeny, tiny off perfect.
Grilled flank steak , cooked perfectly for me. Nice red interior. Hot gill marks outside.
Hash brown with gremolata. Potato was a large rectangle with the sauce on top. My least favorite dish. I think the hash brown itself was overcooked and had a hard exterior..
Desserts were a poached pear sorbet, nice light and refreshing. Good palate cleanser. A Pistachio Lava cake with semifredo and a Budino tarte biete with whip cream.
Wines tonight are Adriano Adani Prosecco, 2018 Aia Vecchia, Vermention. 2016 Isole e Oleans, Chianti Classico, 2016 Vigneto Bordin, Barneresco, 2014 Ciacca Piccolomini d'Araga, Brunello de Montalcino. Topped off with a small glass of Amaro Montenegro. A botanical liqueur.
Another great dinner at the Playground 2.0 Room. Looking forward to the Charcoal dinner next month and the Road Trip to Israel dinner in November.
Sunday, September 8, 2019
Wine dinner at New Moon
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Margie chose the New Moon Chinese restaurant in Buena Park as Septembers selection for her monthly wine dinner. We were here for the first time last year. I was not impressed last year and even less impressed this year. Several people were raving about the food but for my taste I found it mediocre. Of course the price was low, $26 per person and that included tax and tip, They did not charge us corkage fee. Dinner was about an hour late getting started as we were waiting for two people who were running late.
This restaurant is right next to Portos Bakery so I had time after dinner to get a few goodies.
Started out with Cha Shu, which is BBQ pork. To me it was dry and tough. Then onto a Chinese chicken salad. This was OK but bland.
Shrimp with candied glazed walnuts in a white sauce. Have no idea where the white sauce was. This dish was also OK but that was it. OK. I have had so much better.
Mongolian Beef - a dish I never order. I associate it with Chinese fast food and I find it very unappealing in looks and flavor.
Braised green beans. Nothing wrong with these. Could have used some garlic but they did have decent flavor.
Sliced chicken with sweet basil and snow peas. I am not a basil fan so I picked it out. Snow peas were good. Chicken was dry.
Vegetable fried rice - no way can you make this dish bad unless you burn it.
For dessert they served a Chocolate dipped fortune cookie and Margie had brought a box of Godiva chocolates.
A real mixed selection of wines tonight. I tasted a few. With wines on two dining tables and a back table it is inconvenient for me to get up and down to pour the wines.
2016 Buscador, Santa Ynez Valley, Grenache Rose, I brought this wine. I prefer my Rose's to have some body instead of being a wimpy strawberry flavored liquid.
2014 Huber, Sta Rita Hills, "Hafen" a port style Dornfelder
2016 Kremser Goldberg Privat, Gruner Veltliner - good
2016 The Hilt, The Vanguard, Pinot Noir - nice medium bodied wine
2016 Schrumsberg, Brut Rose - always good sparkling
2014 Longoria, Sta Rita Hills, Blanc de Blanc, extra brut sparking - I did like this wine, nice and dry
2017 J & A Family Wines, Trisaetum, Coastal Range Estate, dry Riesling - nice
2016 Sea Smoke. Sta Rita Hills, Ten, Pinot Noir - typical Sea Smoke, big and in your face pinot
2017 Kudos, Willamette Valley, Riesling - did not taste
2016 Schrumsberg Brut Rose - two people listed this wine - not sure if there was one or two bottles
Buttonwood, Rose of Syrah - did not taste
2016 Imagine, Merlot - had a small taste. I am not a Merlot fan
2013 Dragonette, Santa Ynez Valley, John Sebastiani Vineyard, Grenache - did not taste
2017 Larner, Ballard Canyon, Rose (Syrah, Grenache & Mouvedre) - did not taste
Margie chose the New Moon Chinese restaurant in Buena Park as Septembers selection for her monthly wine dinner. We were here for the first time last year. I was not impressed last year and even less impressed this year. Several people were raving about the food but for my taste I found it mediocre. Of course the price was low, $26 per person and that included tax and tip, They did not charge us corkage fee. Dinner was about an hour late getting started as we were waiting for two people who were running late.
This restaurant is right next to Portos Bakery so I had time after dinner to get a few goodies.
Started out with Cha Shu, which is BBQ pork. To me it was dry and tough. Then onto a Chinese chicken salad. This was OK but bland.
Shrimp with candied glazed walnuts in a white sauce. Have no idea where the white sauce was. This dish was also OK but that was it. OK. I have had so much better.
Mongolian Beef - a dish I never order. I associate it with Chinese fast food and I find it very unappealing in looks and flavor.
Braised green beans. Nothing wrong with these. Could have used some garlic but they did have decent flavor.
Sliced chicken with sweet basil and snow peas. I am not a basil fan so I picked it out. Snow peas were good. Chicken was dry.
Vegetable fried rice - no way can you make this dish bad unless you burn it.
For dessert they served a Chocolate dipped fortune cookie and Margie had brought a box of Godiva chocolates.
A real mixed selection of wines tonight. I tasted a few. With wines on two dining tables and a back table it is inconvenient for me to get up and down to pour the wines.
2016 Buscador, Santa Ynez Valley, Grenache Rose, I brought this wine. I prefer my Rose's to have some body instead of being a wimpy strawberry flavored liquid.
2014 Huber, Sta Rita Hills, "Hafen" a port style Dornfelder
2016 Kremser Goldberg Privat, Gruner Veltliner - good
2016 The Hilt, The Vanguard, Pinot Noir - nice medium bodied wine
2016 Schrumsberg, Brut Rose - always good sparkling
2014 Longoria, Sta Rita Hills, Blanc de Blanc, extra brut sparking - I did like this wine, nice and dry
2017 J & A Family Wines, Trisaetum, Coastal Range Estate, dry Riesling - nice
2016 Sea Smoke. Sta Rita Hills, Ten, Pinot Noir - typical Sea Smoke, big and in your face pinot
2017 Kudos, Willamette Valley, Riesling - did not taste
2016 Schrumsberg Brut Rose - two people listed this wine - not sure if there was one or two bottles
Buttonwood, Rose of Syrah - did not taste
2016 Imagine, Merlot - had a small taste. I am not a Merlot fan
2013 Dragonette, Santa Ynez Valley, John Sebastiani Vineyard, Grenache - did not taste
2017 Larner, Ballard Canyon, Rose (Syrah, Grenache & Mouvedre) - did not taste
Al Fresco Wine Dinner with Wes Hagen
Friday, September 6, 2019
Dave and Louise who had Delius Restaurant are now doing dinners in private homes. Louise has had Chef Louise's Catering for several years. With the close of Delius and Bistro Table 301 they are venturing off into private dining experiences.
This dinner tonight was held at their home. 4 large tables are set up in their backyard. Wes Hagen, formerly of Clos Pepe and now with the Miller Family wine group was our winemaker in attendance. Was nice to see Wes again.
We started out with an appetizer of house made meatballs with a smoked cheese. It was supposed to be mozzarella but Louise was not able to procure it so she substituted a German cheese. Quite good. This was accompanied by a 2017 Ballard Lane, Zinfandel that was slightly chilled. Very fruit wine.
First course is a Kabocha Squash Quiche with oven dried tomatoes and Burrata. Very good flavors that went well together Paired with a 2018 J. Wilkes, Santa Maria Valley, Pinot Blanc. Good selection and one of my favorite wines of the night.
Next was a House smoked salmon salad, with roasted sweet corn, frisee, arugula, pickled shallots and a chardonnay whole grain mustard vinaigrette. A 2017 Ballard Lane, Central Coast, Chardonnay was the wine choice. Slightly oaked but not offensive.
Third course is a Duck and mushroom confit crepes with dried cherry relish. Loads of flavor. Paired with a 2017 J. Wilkes, Santa Maria Valley, Pinot Noir. We also have a small pour of the 2018 Pinot that has not been released yet. Nice pinots.
A braised boneless short rib with parsnip-potato puree and broccolini was our fourth course. Cooked perfectly. tender, good flavor. 2017 Barrell Burner, Paso Robles, Cabernet Sauvignon was the selection for this dish.
Dessert is a Stone fruit crumble with crème anglaise and spiced whipped cream. A light touch at the end of dinner. '
Good dinner, great dining companions. Perfect weather for dining al fresco. Wes Hagen was in his normal perfect form. We learned how everything in life from the wine press, printing, press, eye glasses, telescope etc. originated with wine. Only Wes can come up with these unusual facts and tell a great lesson in life.
Dave and Louise who had Delius Restaurant are now doing dinners in private homes. Louise has had Chef Louise's Catering for several years. With the close of Delius and Bistro Table 301 they are venturing off into private dining experiences.
This dinner tonight was held at their home. 4 large tables are set up in their backyard. Wes Hagen, formerly of Clos Pepe and now with the Miller Family wine group was our winemaker in attendance. Was nice to see Wes again.
We started out with an appetizer of house made meatballs with a smoked cheese. It was supposed to be mozzarella but Louise was not able to procure it so she substituted a German cheese. Quite good. This was accompanied by a 2017 Ballard Lane, Zinfandel that was slightly chilled. Very fruit wine.
First course is a Kabocha Squash Quiche with oven dried tomatoes and Burrata. Very good flavors that went well together Paired with a 2018 J. Wilkes, Santa Maria Valley, Pinot Blanc. Good selection and one of my favorite wines of the night.
Next was a House smoked salmon salad, with roasted sweet corn, frisee, arugula, pickled shallots and a chardonnay whole grain mustard vinaigrette. A 2017 Ballard Lane, Central Coast, Chardonnay was the wine choice. Slightly oaked but not offensive.
Third course is a Duck and mushroom confit crepes with dried cherry relish. Loads of flavor. Paired with a 2017 J. Wilkes, Santa Maria Valley, Pinot Noir. We also have a small pour of the 2018 Pinot that has not been released yet. Nice pinots.
A braised boneless short rib with parsnip-potato puree and broccolini was our fourth course. Cooked perfectly. tender, good flavor. 2017 Barrell Burner, Paso Robles, Cabernet Sauvignon was the selection for this dish.
Dessert is a Stone fruit crumble with crème anglaise and spiced whipped cream. A light touch at the end of dinner. '
Good dinner, great dining companions. Perfect weather for dining al fresco. Wes Hagen was in his normal perfect form. We learned how everything in life from the wine press, printing, press, eye glasses, telescope etc. originated with wine. Only Wes can come up with these unusual facts and tell a great lesson in life.
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