Mad Mary's Musing on Wine & Food

Seafood Palace Again

2012-02-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

Friday, February 3, 2012

A big table of 8 tonight. The old "Dong Son" just opened but we want to give them a few days to get their feet under them so back to the Seafood Palace.

We started off with a new soup for us "Shrimp Ball Soup". Broth was great and the shrimp balls were like "shrimp nuggets". Then our old favorite "Salt & Pepper Calamari". They make the best around.

Next two dishes were "Fried Tofu" and "Chicken with Bok Choy and Fat Noodles." I really get into those fat noodles as they absorb all the great flavors of the dish.

Then came "Beef with Chinese Broccoli" and "Whole White Fish with a Brown Sauce". The fish was excellent. Whole fish deep fried. Very moist and the brown sauce was really good. We will have to have this dish again very soon.

At 2 dishes were "Shrimp with Crispy Rice" and "Thin Pork Strips with Spinach".

Dessert was sliced oranges which were really good. A lot of flavor.

Wines brought tonight were quite a variety,

NV Tobin James California "Champagne" Way too sweet for me.
2010 Halter Ranch, Paso Robles, Rose - very nice
2009 Avalon, Napa, Cabernet
2007 Petroni, Rosso di Sonoma Reserve, red blend
2008 Barrel 27, Paso Robles, Hand Over First, red blend
2009 Parker Estate, Paso Robles, Zinfandel
2004 Loring , Cargassachi Vineyard, Pinot Noir - showing very well

Another "Wake" For Cora

2012-02-05T10:46:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 28, 2012

After leaving Pinot Days in Santa Monica I drove to Newport Beach to attend another "Celebration of Life" for Cora.

She enjoyed the one we held for her two weeks ago that her family threw one for her. She comes from a very large family and I think they were all there for her. Abundant food and wine along with music and singing.

It is so nice to able to do something for someone when they are still alive and with us instead of waiting until they have passed away and then try to make amends.

Take care of the living while they are still here. They appreciate it.

Pinot Days

2012-02-05T10:32:00.000-08:00

Attended the Pinot Days event at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. Got the VIP pass so I could get in 2 hours early and attend a seminar on 4 different Pinot growing areas. Then they had a seminar on clones given by Davis Bynum.

The clone seminar was interesting because you tasted wine made with individual clones and then a blend of several clones. An eye opener.

Saw numerous people there that I knew. Some people attending surprised me as I had not seen them at this particular event before.

Some of the better wines I tasted besides the obvious, Clos Pepe & Ken Brown were Arcadian Roessler, La Fenetre, Papapietro Perry and Thorne. Jim Ontiveros has a label called Native 9 . I was very much impressed with that wine.

Naples Rib Factory

2012-02-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

Friday, February 27, 2012

Dine LA week is upon us and we choose the Naples Rib . 5 of us descended on the place which was packed. No recession here.

It took awhile to get our order in because of the crowd. Since it was Dine LA week they had a special 3 course menu to choose from for $26 which was quite reasonable. Two us us had the prime rib, two had the rib & shrimp combo and the other the full rack. vegetables, fruit and choice of two sides. I took the baked potato and the mac n' cheese. My appetizers was the grilled artichoke which I devoured. Ate two inches of the prime rib, the asparagus and one bite of the potato. Boxedeverything up and took it home.

When i ate the leftovers I noticed that the potato had a dark spot on the end , I pulled it away and the whole;e end of the potato was black. Approximately one quarter of the potato. I had not noticed this in the dim lights of the restaurant. How anyone in the kitchen could cut and place this on the plate is beyond me.

They charged us $10 per bottle for corkage. There were five bottles brought and they made sure they counted them at the very beginning.

2009 Ryan Patrick, ColumbiaValley Naked Chardonnay
2009 Byington, Quenneville Vineyard, Santa Cruz, Red bland
2009 Turley Howell Mountain, Zinfandel
2009 Tablas Creek Espirit de Beaucastel
2001 Chateau Margene, Paso Robles, Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Himilayan

2012-01-24T08:49:00.000-08:00

Friday, January 20, 2012

7 of us got together tonight at the Himilayan in Sunset Beach. Excellent food.

Big disappointment as they had taken the lamb chops off the menu. Sanjiv the owner explained that chops had gotten so expensive that he needed to drop them. I would pay more money for them but many others won't. Always looking for that$60 meal at a $10 price.

I also have come to the conclusion that for this particular restaurant 6 is the max for a table. 5 is ideal.

We started off with Samosa's and Meat Momo's. Always have to have the garlic Naan. Other dishes that were ordered were Vegetables Korma, Lamb Korma, Lamb Vindahloo, Chicken Tiki Masala and rice Biryani. The rice came at the very end of the meal. I would have liked to to be served at the beginning. We did have plain rice but its not the same.

Wines that graced the table tonight were:
NV Perrier Joulet Grand Brut
2009 Caravan
60/07 blended - Cain Cuvee, Napa
2009 Metier Doyenne (red)
2009 Curran Grenache Blanc
2005 Williams Selyem Russian River Pinot Noir
2004 Zegeshio Old Vine Zinfandel
2006 Lone Madrone Syrah
2006 Sea Smoke Southing Pinot Noir.

Jnauary 2012 - The Winos

2012-01-24T08:37:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Today's theme was California Central Coast Rhone Varietals. 23 bottles showed up. Football playoff game was today but Oliver had the TV on for those who could not stay away from it.

One of the better wines today was a 2006 Saxum Broken Stones Syrah from the Paso Robles area. That bottle was consumed and gone before some people knew it was there. And that was with the 1-1/2 oz pourers that we use.

As usual there were the god, the bad and the ugly. Mostly good but a few that should have gone into the vinegar jar,

Lisa & Oliver grilled some nice steaks and Oliver relented and made one rare for a few of us carnivores. Oliver likes his meat well done. Funny thing is at the end of the day the rare meat was gone and the medium and well done still have pieces on the platter.

Cora's Celebration of Life

2012-01-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Our dear friend Cora's cancer has spread to her liver. We decided to have a "Celebration of Life" or a "wake" for her while she is still with us. She wanted to able to say her goodbyes to friends while she is able.

Terry her husband brought a magnum of McKeon-Phillips CPR Caberent. This bottle was to be emptied because it will become the vessel for her ashes. Some people may think this is off the wall or maybe even morbid. I feel its great tribute to a wonderful person who loved wine, food and friends.

4 of us got together to host this event. Part of it covered by KCET who is doing a documentary on Hospice.

People attending were generous in their contributing wine and food altho we did not ask for it.

Cora gave a very moving "speech".. The tears flowed. We all have great memories with Cora and will always remember her . I think over the years whenever we fill a glass with wine we will offer a toast to Cora.

Start off The New Year at Francos

2012-01-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Small table tonight at Franco's in Cypress/Los Alamitos. Great family run Italian restaurant. The place was packed. People know good food and support it.

Ordered the shrimp appetizer but it was not what I was expecting. I thought we would be getting the Franco;s Special and it was not. I love the special because the butter/garlic sauce is so good for dipping bread into it. This dish was a tomato based sauce. Good but not the same.

I ordered the filet with gorgonzola . Excellent. Cooked perfect for me. Just this side of dead. There were a couple of other filets ordered, a pork chop and alas another dish I do not remember. But there is never a bad dish at Francos.

Wines were really good tonight:
NV La Saltelle Premier Cru
2001 Stolpman La Croce - perfection
2004 Il Sasso Carignan
2005 Melville Indulgence
2009 Charles Hrug, Younville Cabernet.

Nayada

2011-12-31T07:27:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 30, 2011

Last dinner of 2011. This restaurant used to be the Tantalizing Thai in Long Beach but new ownership. This was my first time back since the takeover. CJ wanted to try a few new dishes so 6 of us gathered together tonight. Nice to see Clyde & Libby again.

The new menu is written on shiny black paper. Difficult to read under dim lights. So I did not get the "official Thai" names for the dishes. Just let CJ do the ordering.

Started out with 3 appetizers. Lettuce wraps with some kind of chicken/rice noodle mixture, Vegetable rolls and Shrimp wrapped in noodles then fried. We have had this dish before but I can't remember the official name. But they are good.

A new dish - Soft Shell crab with Curry Sauce. I am not a big fan of curry but I really liked this sauce.. I would order this dish again.

Crying Tiger Steak - this was ok but not the same as the previous owners. This dish I would not order again. I felt the strips of beef were extremely small and with that you loose flavor.

Hot Braised Pork - spicy. CJ ordered it mild but it still had too much bite to pair well with wine. This is a beer dish.

A dish of Pineapple Rice appeared. Wish this had come at the beginning of the meal with the plain white rice which I do not eat. I do like the pineapple rice because of all the add ins. Better flavor. I grew up on potatoes not white rice so I have never been able to get into it. The only time I can recall having white rice was in Rice Pudding. As I got older and since we were in California sometimes it would show up on the table but only if there was some kind of meat and gravy to pour over it. My family never ate plain white rice.

No bubblies were brought tonight. I thought CJ would bring one so I opted for a Chardonnay. He forgot to put his in his bag.

2001 Stolpman Angeli , Santa Ynez (Syrah) - in its prime - fantastic wine
2005 Sea Smoke Botella, Sta Rita Hills, Pinot Noir ( beautiful after opening up)
2006 Huber, Sta Rita Hills, Pinot Noir - showing very well
2008 Quivera Elusion, Blend, (Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre & Petit Syrah)
2008 Toulouse, Anderson Valley, Gerwuztraminer
2008 Center Of Effort, Edna Valley, Chardonnay (went well with all the appetizers)
2007 Bridlewood, English Pleasure, Santa Ynez, Syrah

Good dinner tonight. Small table which I like, makes for better conversation. Very foggy driving home . Fog will probably be around for the weekend. Glad I am not a New Years Eve person. Would not want to be out in it with all the drunks who can't see anyway. Add fog to the scenario and its a disaster

Last Seafood Palace Dinner

2011-12-31T07:05:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Yes we did manage to get one more dinner in. Table of eight tonight. I prefer six people but sometimes the invite list grows.

Seafood Palace was busy tonight so we were at a smaller table. We always try to get a larger table because of all our wines and extra wine glasses we bring. The wine and food gets put on the turntable so at times its quite a load.

John had this week off of work so he got to join us. He was happy.

We started out with the sweet-sour soup. Unfortunately it was luke warm which Henry was not happy about. I think he had a few words with the management.

Next two dishes came out. Salt & Pepper Calamari and Beef with Chinese Broccoli. Both standards with us. Always good. Then the deep fried Tofu and Shrimp with Bok Choy and Fat Noodles.

Mark & Erin were in the group. Erin doesn't eat meat. Mark is allergic to shellfish. This was not known to us ahead of time. So naturally next was Lobster and Noodles and Cooked Oysters with Ginger & Scallions.

Last two dishes were Spicy Pork Strips with Fish Sauce and Kung Pao Chicken. Best Kung Pao around. By this time I am stuffed. Just ate a very small portion of each.

A good selection of wines were on the table.

NV Graham Beck Brut, South Africa
NV Chateau de Pampelone Cotes de Provence ( excellent with the oysters)
2005 Niner Fog Catcher, Paso Robles, Red Blend
2008 Arnot Roberts, Santa Cruz, Cabernet ( great wine after it opened up)
2008 McKeon-Phillips, Santa Maria BPR Cabernet
2009 Sea Smoke Ten, Sta Rita Hills Pinot Noir
2010 Denner, Teresa Vineyard, Paso Robles White Rhone Blend
2010 Longoria Albarino

Duong Son opens up Friday. It will be next month before we have a dinner there. Need to let them get their legs under them first. So who knows we may be back to the Seafood Palace again soon.

Seafood Palace

2011-12-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Last dinner here I thought would be the last one but Duong Son still has not opened. Supposed to be this week but we are still waiting.

There was 7 of us tonight. Terry & Cora were there in spite of the fact that Cora cannot eat much because of the effects of her chemo and her liver cancer. She put up a great front. Wants to see everyone and say her good byes. I hope when it is my time I can be as gracious.

As usual we had the salt & pepper calamari. Best calamari around. Followed by Manila clams in black bean & jalapeno sauce. Excellent dish.

Pekin duck, Beef with greens, garlic green beans and a spicy soup. Cora had requested the sauteed lobster with noodles. Good as always. Dinner was followed by a Mango pudding.

CJ & I both brought sparklings. I brought a Francois Chidaine Mount Louis Sur Loire and CJ brought a Louis Bouillet Brut Rose of Pinot. They were empty by time we got finished.

I also brought a 2004 Clos Pepe VS Pinot Noir. A 2006 Clos Pepe Pinot, 2004 McKeon-Phillips BPR Cabernet, NV Stella Rosso, 2005 Testarossa Fritschen Russian River Pinot Noir and a 2005 Levendi Stagecoach Vineyard, Napa Cabernet rounded out the selection.

CJ was disappointed in his Testarossa Pinot. Good nose, great front palate but then it went nowhere . Fell off fast. For the price of Testarossa wines this should not happen. I tasted all the wines except the Stella Rossa. Not my style at all. All were excellent. Impressed with the Levendi that Terry brought. If I had been at home with this wine I would have drank more.

Since John has next week off work we are going to try and schedule another dinner right after Christmas so he can join us. Don't know if it will be Seafood Palace or the new Doung Son. Looking forward to it in a big way. Can never have too much good Chinese food along with good wine and great company.

Christmas Open House

2011-12-24T07:08:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Attended an annual open house today in site of the rain. Getting into the holiday spirit. Lots of nibblies. I brought a 2005 York Petit Verdot. Glad I have a few more bottles of this stashed away.

Stayed longer than I expected so I must have had a good time. Kept the drinking down to bare minimum.

Too many police out this time of the year and with all the budget cuts the cities are really hurting for money. I have a firm belief that the police are writing more tickets than a few years ago. I see them everywhere now

Franco's

2011-12-24T07:01:00.000-08:00

Thursday, December 15, 2011

We have not been to Franco's in quite awhile. On a Thursday night the place was full. in spite of the rain. 7 of us gathered for dinner. I did not make any notations about food or wine. I was brain dead from the traffic and the drive from Torrance to Cypress.

I did bring a NV Clos Pepe Sparkling Rose of Pinot which was excellent. Along with a 2004 Stolpman LaCroce. La Croce is my favorite wine that Stolpman makes. A blend of Syrah & Sangiovese. It was the first bottle emptied. Always a good sign that the wine was top notch.

There was Champagne, a French white that Jan & Bob brought back from France, A Brunello, Nebiollo, another Italian red, a Pinot Grigio and a couple more reds on the table.

Bob & I ordered the lamb shank and neither of us were disappointed. Margie had the pork chop, Paul the Flounder, Jan had Salmon, Steve had the Steak Diane and I cannot remember what John ordered. We all ate hearty. The food at Franco's is really good. Must make a point to get back there soon.

Cakebread Cellars Wine Tasting

2011-12-24T06:51:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

ABC Fine Wines in Long Beach hosted at Cakebread Cellars tasting this evening, They normally do a higher end tasting every month to 6 weeks. I have been going to the majority of these tastings. The price is a little higher than the weekly events at other wine stores but their quality is always higher. Since I no longer do all these weekends tastings I prefer to spend more to have higher quality .

Tonight's line up was 2009 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc. Decent wine, better than most California Sau Blancs but I have had better at a lower price. Priced at $32

2010 Napa Valley Chardonnay - a clean wine, nice balance. Again a nice wine but at $46 - sorry Charlie.

2008 Napa Valley Carneros, Reserve Chardonnay, A little oaky for my taste. It did blow off with a little cheese. Again a nice wine but at $70 - No Way Jose.

2009 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. A light Pinot, good balance but too light on the end finish. At $60 - No No Nannette.

2008 Napa Valley Cabernet. I felt this was the weakest wine of the evening and several others agreed with me. $84 - Are you kidding.

2008 Red Hills, Lake County Zinfandel - personally I felt this was the best wine of the evening. Good fruit, balanced, good, clean finish and the price was OK - $32.

We all know that Cakebread Cellars is over priced for what it is. They have a big following. Do I buy - No - but I will drink if someone else puts out the money. For me there is too much good wine out there at decent prices. To pay a higher price your quality better be equal.

Christmas The California Way

2011-12-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Attended a party in Huntington Harbour to watch the annual boat parade. Donna lives on a corner lot which means the boats go down the main channel past her place and then come back and turn down another channel in front of her. So we get to see the decorated boats 4 times. Could not ask for a better viewing spot.

They block off entrance to the complex because of the parking problem. Donna and some of her neighbors got together and arranged for a shuttle bus to take us from the shopping center to the complex. Unfortunately the bus was running late. It was supposed to make its first pickup at 6:00 and it was 6:40 before it showed up. Then it did run every ten minutes.

All of the Harbour was decorated to the hilt. They run special sight seeing boats through the channels to view the decorated houses during the holidays. A spectacular sight.

An abundance of food was served along with free flowing drinks of every kind. Bruce, who is the fish buyer for The Fish Company restaurant brought a beautifully decorated slab of salmon. Quite the show piece. It was the talk of the evening. And tasted equally good.

There must have been 70 people in attendance tonight. Huge crowd but we had a lot of outdoor space to hang around in and watch all the beautifully decorated boats.

I did leave right after the parade's completion. I am still fighting this head cold and did not want to get overtired or overly cold. It does get cold living right on the water.

A great party and hopefully it will happen again next year. Donna has had health problems for the past few years so no party for awhile.

Christmas Brunch

2011-12-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

Sunday, December 4, 2011

I hosted my annual Christmas Brunch today. About 30 people attended. We lost 5 people at the last minute due to illness and other reasons. But picked up 2 that didn't rsvp until the day before.

I did my usual menu, ham, sausages & peppers, green chile egg & cheese casserole and a gouda cheese & artichoke egg casserole. A lot of great appetizers and desserts were brought to load the table with food. Along with bottles of wine. I put out the "inexpensive" bubbly to make mimosa's etc. Anyone that wants something better brings it themselves.

I did out out a magnum of Chardonnay that I got at a silent auction. Gave it to William and Patte to take home afterwards as it was so oaky I could not handle it. They like oak so they took home the opened bottle. Also put out a "box" wine. A blend of four red varietals that I picked up at Chateau Margene in Paso Robles. Frankly it tasted better at the winery . But I did find after a week sitting on my counter the taste had changed quite a bit. There really should have been no change because it is sealed with no possibility of air getting in. But it did change.

Came down with a nasty head cold just before Thanksgiving so it took it's toll on me. Had to have help from my sons decorating this year. Between the cold and "old age" I found it increasing difficult to get up and down the ladder to decorate. I keep thinking it may be that I should give up doing so much but then I don't want to be bored with life. Or maybe I should just have the knee replacement and get it over with. I am waiting for them to perfect the recovery time.

Novembers Wino's Gathering

2011-12-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Today's "gathering of the flock" was a vertical of McKeon-Phillips Baileys Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Years from 1998 to 2008. Terry also brought some other older McKeon-Phllips varietals to round out the selection. 20 reds along with a couple of whites, a blush and some extra bottles just in case we ran out of wine. Oliver "ole eagle eye" did spy 2 really good bottles that I had put in the back, so they were opened. A 1998 Silver Oak, Alexander Valley and a 2005 Krupp Brothers Stage Coach Napa Valley.

Since Terry & Cora provided all the wines everyone else was to furnish the food. I had asked people to make their appetizers substantial and did they. We had so much food and all of it good. Big group turned out for this special tasting and we were all thankful for the generosity of T & C.

Terry's two daughters helped him as Cora was not feeling well. They did a great job in helping "ole dad".

I wish all of our monthly tastings were of this caliber. We would be so spoiled which I have no objection to at this stage of my life.

No tasting in December because of all the holiday events.

Pinot & Paella

2011-12-04T07:16:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 19, 2011

John & Remy hosted a Paella & Pinot dinner tonight. Remy does great Paella and the pinots flowed. Good group of people, not all the wine group. A mixed bag of people. Some great appetizers brought by the guests. I went by La Espanola a Spanish deli and market for cheese and pates. Defying tradition I brought a Rose and an Albarino. The albarino was the first bottle emptied. It was a Longoria from the Lompoc/Santa Ynez area and was showing really well. There were at least 20 bottles of Pinot on the table and some really good ones. Dessert was flan which Remy makes from a old family recipe. Nice evening and much enjoyment.

Champagne Dinner at Delius

2011-12-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

Friday, November 18, 2011

Another dinner I cannot find my notes on. I do remember we had oysters, sweetbreads, and several other dishes. When I find my notes I will edit this posts.

Vacation Time

2011-12-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

Took my annual trip to Avila Beach. Cut it short my two days this year. My sister came in from St. George, Utah for her high school reunion so I had dinner with her before I left the next day. Had not seen her in 5 years. Returned early because of the Champagne dinner at Delius.

Only spent one day on Paso Robles. Spent most of my time this trip in the Edna Valley, San Luis Obispo area and the Santa Ynez/Lompoc area. Did not rush anything and came back with 2 cases of wine. Two cases more than I wanted to but everything was tasting good.

Weather was perfect. Got some Christmas shopping done. Only downer was two episodes of my acid reflux which knocked me out for two afternoons.

Lots of new wineries and it's impossible to get to all of them. Asked a few winemakers that I knew for suggestions. At least it keeps me away from the "run of the mill" type wineries that are not worth the stop.

Lobster Season is Open

2011-12-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Stan went diving last night and got lobsters. He called me at work in the afternoon and invited me to dinner that night. Can never turn down an offer of lobster with Stan. Since I had no bottle of wine with me I brought dessert. Can never miss with something from the Hawaiian Bakery in Torrance.

Freeway wasn't bad tonight and made it to Santa Monica in about and hour.

A bottle of 2007 Kosta Browne Kanzler Vineyard was brought out. Really showing well. There also was a champagne, a chardonnay (high end) that was way to oaky for me and another red on the table. Did not keep notes and am posting this 4 weeks later so my memory has faded a lot.

Another great dinner and good company. Life is good.

Heidsick-Monopole Tasting

2011-12-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Cannot find my notes on this tasting, along with others. In the rush for vacation and decorating for the holidays I have misplaced them When things settle down I will revise this post.

The tasting had to be good because I bought 2 bottles of champagne that night.

October Meeting of The Winos

2011-12-04T06:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Our monthly meeting of the flock was held today and the theme was Carneros Whites ands Howell Mountain Reds. Along with bring yourself and /or your bottle in costume. I am not a Halloween person so I brought myself and bottle "as is". Some costumes were quite clever, The house and outdoor area was decorated and made for a very "spooky" atmosphere. All the wines were good. The theme dictated that. When a person choose a "generic" theme to their tasting you have a certain portion of people who will take the cheapest way with a bottle.

The food was supposed to be "spooky" also. We had mummified meatloaf, mummy fingers etc., The tasting was such a hit that the hosts will be doing the Halloween theme next year.

Domanine de Montille Wine Tasting

2011-10-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 21, 2011

Wine Country, www.TheWineCountry.com, in Signal Hill hosted Michael Sullivan from Beaune Imports and Etienne De Montille head of the family estate Domaine de Montille in Volnay tonight for a burgundy tasting. This was one of the better tasting I have done in quite awhile. Etienne is also the wine maker and manager at Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet.

We tasted 6 reds and 5 whites tonight. Etienne was very informative about his wines and the Burgundy area of France. These were all Grand Cru wines tonight. Makes you want to take a trip just to Burgundy to taste all that is available.

I ended up purchasing a 2008 Domaine de Montille Beaune 1er Cru Les Sizies, 2008 Domaine de Montille Pommard 1er Cru Les Pezerolles and a 2007 DEuxMontille Auxey-Duresses (white burgundy).

This tasting was sold out and they added extra seats and really pushed people close together, As usual I got there early so I could grab a seat at the front. When I sit in the back area I have a hard time hearing when the noise level gets high after a few glasses of wine. I am glad I signed up for this tasting weeks ago.

Autumn Wine Dinner at Utopia

2011-10-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Utopia restaurant on Long Beach hosted a Autumn wine dinner this evening. Their pricing is always good, $45, so it becomes an OK dinner to attend. The wines are never high end but the food is decent and its a chance to get together for dinner.

The City of Long Beach has decided to dedicate more street space to the bicycle riders which is probably great if you are one of them. But in doing so they have taken away numerous parking spaces for cars Parking in downtown Long Beach is always a hassle but now its worse. I found a spot close to the restaurant after only one trip around the block. My dining companions found a spot over four blocks away  after 3 trips around the block. The food at Utopia is alright but to me not worth the longer walk to get there.

We started off with "Stuffed Roasted Roma Tomatoes with Pesto Goat Cheese, Chopped Black Olives and Fresh Herbs. Good dish, the stuffing was tasty  Served with a 2010 Jacob's Creek Chardonnay. Decent Chardonnay for a cheap wine and it paired well with the dish.

Next was a Seared Ahi With Fresh Ginger, Garlic & Fresh Thyme Sesame Sauce. They poured a 2010 Stoneligh Sauvignon Blanc. It was terrible and did not pair well with the dish at all. Do not know whose idea that was but is was a disaster, I had them take the Sau Blanc away and replace it with the Chardonnay which was a much better pairing. Margie had substituted deep fried artichoke hearts for the ahi and the Sau Blanc was much better with that dish.

Main course was a Grilled Filet Mignon with Chopped Shallots, mushrooms and Balsamic Reduction Sauce. Flavor of the sauce was good. I had asked for my filet to be "just this side of dead" and it came out medium. Hate to think what it would be alike if I had ordered it medium rare. The wine  poured was a 2009 Stoneleigh Pinot Noir. It was a decent wine.

Dessert was the best dish of today's meal. Homemade Crispy Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream. They could have kept the wine which was a Sandeman Ruby Port. Cheap Port and not that good tasting.

If the parking situation does not improve this may be the last dinner at Utopia. Their food is OK but not the quality that I would be inconvenienced for.

Delius Annual Passport Tasting

2011-10-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Delius Restaurant in Signal Hill hosts a "Passport" wine tasting the 2nd Sunday in October. I have been attending these tastings for well over ten years. This is the first time that I did not get to taste the majority of the wines. The set up was good , the food was great so it was not the restaurants fault. Our "group" was sitting in the Prix Fixe dining room away from the "action". Not a good choice for me. So next year I will be out in the main room even if I sit alone.

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars

2011-10-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

ABC Fine Wines and Spirits in Long Beach was having a Stag's Leap Wine Cellars tasting this evening. This is the higher end "Stag's Leap". Frankly I could  never remember which label was what unless I looked at the prices. Very confusing.   The cheaper of the two is Stags Leap Cellars, no aposthrope between the g and s in the word "stag" and it has the leaping deer. The higher end label is Stag's Leap Wine Cellars and has a standing deer. I still don't think I will remember 1 year from now.

Mike Gallo from Southern Wines was pouring. He asked if I had heard of Justin. They just took it on as a client. My comment was a nice wine but very overpriced for what is was. He looked a little taken back. But I speak what I think. Its my personal opinion and a lot of people do not agree with me.

They poured 6 wines tonight. A sau blanc & a chardonnay were the whites,  OK  but. The 2007 Merlot was next. At $46 for tonight's pricing - not worth it.

Next came the 2007 Artemis Cab, 2008 Fay Cab and the 2008 SLV Cab. I have had all of these wines before. Nice wines , overpriced. The Artemis was lacking a back finish. I felt it was weak. The Fay Cab was a little better but at $80 it should have been really good and it wasn't. The SLV was the best of the night but it still lacked what I expect in a $120 bottle.

My way of thinking is if you as a winery,  expect to get top dollars then produce a wine that deserves it. Don't lie on your laurels from previous years.

Oktoberfest at Delius

2011-10-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

Friday. September 30, 2011

A celebration started by King Ludwig for his upcoming marriage to some broad. Undoubtedly a "princess". The Germans have perfected this into a mass marketing fest. Good thing to. What we we do in October if we didn't have this month long party leading up to Halloween ?

This was a last minute reservation for me. Delius had some cancellations so they sent a email out in the afternoon. In a few hours it was sold out again.

We started out with a Savory Fig & Goat Cheese Tart served with a Hofbrau Oktoberfest. A liitle bitterness to the beer but a good pairing.

Second Course was an Arugula Salad, Smoke Trout, Beer Vinaigrette and Rubarb Gelee. My trout still had fine bones in it and that did not make me happy. But the beer did, a Bitburger Pils. I have had this beer before and it is good.

Third Course: Veal Mushroom Stew, Polenta Cakes and Beer Focaccia. This was my favorite dish of the evening. Full of flavor and the focaccia really sopped up the gravy. A Schneider Hopfenweiss was served. Not for me. Too hoppy.

Fourth Course was a Leg of Lamb, Mint Pesto and Heirloom Tomato Risotto. The risotto needed some more cooking time. Flavor was excellent but just slightly "al dente" for me. Served with a Weihenstephaner Festbier. This brewery was started in the year 1040.

Dessert was a Hazelnut Tart, Beer Scented Ice Cream and Caramel. Served with a Weihenstephaner Dopplebock. Dopplebocks are always good. They can be dessert themselves.

Everyone got to take their glass home. There was a variety on the tables. I had a "Old Speckled Hen" glass which I think Dave & Fred gave to me deliberately. So I now have a new glass to add the my beer glass collection. Different beers call for different glasses, same as wine.

Last Stand at The Seafood Palace (maybe)

2011-10-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

6 of us ended up at the Seafood Palace in Westminister tonight. We keep thinking that this will be the last dinner here but we might squeeze one more in before Doung Son reopens.

We started off with Salt & Pepper Calamari with Jalapenos. Went well with the sparkling wines. Then shrimp with Chinese broccoli. A new soup came. I looked at the liquid which was grey with green something floating . The green was cilantro and it had diced 1000 year old eggs and finely sliced pork. It definitely tasted much better than it looked. I ended up having two bowls of it. Never judge something by the looks you might be surprised.

Beef with soft noddles and vegetables appeared along with Shredded Pork with fish sauce, Boneless chicken with spinach and Thin Rice noodles Singapore Style with curry rounded out the meal. I am not a curry fan and this was over heavy with the curry. I had a taste and that was it. The others seemed to like it.

We had a Von Buhl Riesling Brut sparkling along with a Louis Bouillot Rose of Pinot Sparkling. Both were good choices for the meal. 2008 Joseph Swan Saralees Vineyard, Roussane/Marsanne blend. I am not a big fan of Rhone whites so I did not even taste this wine.

I brought a 2005 Kosta Browne Russian River Pinot Noir along with the Von Buhl sparkling. The KB was really showing well. It was one of the first bottles to be emptied.

2007 Rusack Santa Maria Piniot Noir, 2006 Argeano Brunello (thought for sure John would bring a Cab) , 2003 Turner Road Caberent Sauvignon which was very nice. And there was another bottle of red but for some reason did not get on the list.

As normal we closed the place up. I like these dinners for 6 people. Smaller tables, better conversations. Maybe one more before the end of October.

Lunch at Prime Cut

2011-10-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Orange County Wine Week is in full swing. Paul & Margie and I decided to try lunch at a place called "Prime Cut" in Anaheim. Next to the Honda Center. There is a complex that is nothing but movie theaters and restaurants. The restaurant itself is very "art deco" and looks like it should be on the west side of Los Angeles, It is a single owned establishment not a chain. They list a 3 course lunch for $20 but since we got there at 2:00 we could also order the 3 course dinner for $45. Paul & Margie opted for the lunch and I went for the dinner. 3 wines (3 ounces each) came with the meals and there also was no corkage so I brought on a bottle of Von Buhl Riesling Brut sparkling and Paul & Margie brought a Merry Edwards Pinot Noir.

Paul ordered the string onions off the appetizer menu to start. They were very good. Went well with the sparkling.

Margie selected the menu with Tomato Bisque soup with 2009 Leese Fitch, Sonoma Merot, Filet Mignon Tacos with 2008 Chateau De Bel Caberbet Sauvignon, Bordeaux Superior and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert with NV Alvear, Pedro Jiminez Sherry, Montilla-Moriles, Solera 1927.

Paul had the Mixed Greens salad with2010 Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough New Zealand. The Prime Cut Cheeseburger with the same Cabernet as Margie and the cookies with sherry same as Margie.

Both said their food was good. They were nice sized portions.

Since I went for the dinner I started with a Cheese Fondue and it came with a Segura Viudas, Cava, Spain. So both the sparklings went well with this dish. Main course was Braised Short Ribs with Marscarpone Polenta and roasted root vegetables. A 2008 Treana Caberent/Syrah blend form Paso Robles was served. Not a big fan of Treana wines so I was glad I had the Merry Ewards Pinot to drink. For dessert I choose Creme Brulee and it was served with the same sherry that Paul & Margie had.

The sherry went well with the cookies but not with the creme brulee. The sparkling was a better choice.

Nice restaurant, service was slow but the servers were extremely pleasant. They have a room set for up the 12 people for private dining. Their regular menu looked good. They age all their beef up to 3 weeks. I think getting a group to go that distance from the Long Beach area would be difficult. I am about 20 minutes closer than they would be. But some day maybe we will try.

All "Hog" Dinner & Croatian Wines at Michaels

2011-10-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Michales of Naples, www.michaelsofnaples.com, hosted a all "HOG" dinner this evening. Every dish was pork. This old broad was in Seventh Heaven. Stetson Robbins of Blue Danube Wines was pouring Croatian wines tonight and the biggies from the Croatian embassy were there. The dinner sold out.

We started out with a Crostini of Headcheese with Peppadew Peppers. Peppers were slightly sweet, crostini was thin and the headcheese divine. A 2009 Daruvar, Grasevina (grape) from Slavonia was the wine. This wine really came alive after warming up a bit. When it was cold it had an acidic taste to it which seemed to disappear after it warmed up a few degrees. Similar to a Sauvignon Blanc.

Next up was Braised Pork Belly with Poached Duck Egg and Arugula Salad. Nice dish but I still prefer Delius' pork belly. The wine was a 2009 Krajancic, Intrada, Posip (grape) from the island of Korcula. This was a white wine also. This was a nice pairing.

A plate of Potato Gnocchi with Slow Cooked Pork Ragu appeared. This was my favorite dish of the evening. The ragu was excellent, great flavor and the gnocchi was cooked to perfection. Light and delicate. Not the lead anchors that The Factory served. If Michael's served nothing else that night I would have been happy. A 2009 Dingac Winery, "Peljesac", Plavac Mali (grape), from the Peljesac Peninsula on the Dalmatian Coast was poured with this dish. An excellent pairing.

Main course was a Mixed Grill with Whole Leg, Smoked Tenderloin and Garlic Sausage served with slow roasted Cannellini Beans and Caramelized Brussel Sprouts. This was another outstanding dish. We were dissecting the brussel sprouts trying to figure of how they cooked them. We decided that they must have been caramelized whole and then very thinly sliced. At this point I was getting full so have the this plate boxed up for take out. The sausage reeked of garlic which I loved. I need to find out where the bought the sausage. The wine with this dish was a 2009 Terzolo, Teran (grape) from Porec, Istria.

Dessert was a cheese plate drizzled with honey. Nothing to get to excited about. I wasn't even over enthused with the selection of cheeses. They poured a 2006 Milos, Plavac Mali, with this course.

At the beginning of the dinner, a couple of people that I was sitting with complained about the small sizes of the potion. By the end of the meal everyone had "doggie" bags to take home.

September's Monthy Gathering of The Flock

2011-10-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 18, 2011

This months theme was interesting for some and a turn off for others. Bring your favorite wine (varietal). They were then put in random numbered brown bags. You received a piece of paper with the numbers on it and boxes to check of the different features of the wine, along with what type and the cost. Out of 17 wines I got 8 correct. Stan got 11 correct. After the unveiling of the wines it was interesting to see what I missed. I got all the pinots correct. But a few I really should have and did not. I think I got into a tunnel vision mode and concentrated on the list of varietals that William had listed on the sheet of paper and did not stray from there. That was a big mistake. I just was not thinking. I feel this happened to several people. I will say it is difficult to tell the difference between Zinfandel and Sryrah in some bottles. They are so similar.

There were some very nice wines brought to this tasting. And it turned out quite well. William had built two long stands for the bottles with shelves and holes for the bottles to sit. He had the room for this type of table. Most people would not.

Patte got kabobs for the Olive Pit where she works, beef, chicken and shrimp. So we had a really good meal. As usual we had a nice variety of food and lots of it. Along with good wine and a very pleasant sun shiny day we all agreed it was a lot of fun.

Pasta & No Corkage

2011-09-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Spaghettini's in Seal Beach is running a special on Sunday night.    Half off their pasta dishes, no corkage or 50% of their wine list up to $100.

Eight of us decided to try this. Turned out much better than expected and we will be going  back.

7 of us ordered the pasta dishes and one ordered halibut. No complaints were heard. I had the pasta shells with seafood and a chardonnay cream sauce. Loaded with seafood and 3 very large scallops.Excellent dish. It went well with my 2008 Clos Pepe Chardonnay. I ate half and boxed it up for dinner on Monday night. I also had a side of spinach, artichoke heats and olives. GOOD.

I ordered a cheese plate for dessert since I brought a Port. Plate was brought out and had a whole wheel of Brie cut in half with honey drizzled on it. Who wants to eat all of the same kind of cheese. Cheese plates are supposed to have variety. After discussions with the waiter on what a cheese plate should be I finally ended up with a plate with 3 cheeses, nuts, dried fruits and toast.  They serve Maytag blue cheese with their salads so I cannot understand why it was not on the plate. The website indicated honeycomb. I got drizzled honey - not the same.. A restaurant of this caliber and the do not know how to make a cheese plate. The first plate out was ridiculous.

Wines were really good tonight. NV Pommery Brut, NV Francois Chidaine Montlouis Sur Loire Brut, 2008 Clos Pepe Chardonnay, 2009 Palmini Arneis, 2009 Patricia Greene Aita Pinot Noir, 2005 Parris Sangiovese, 2006 Villa de Ceggialno Chianti Classico Reserva, 2006 Coro Graniano, 2008 Huber Dornfelder Hafen (port), a white dessert wine that did not get on my list. I must have missed some wines because the count does not add to the people. I brought 3 wines. Paul & Margie brought at least 2, maybe 3. There was a Sauvignon Blanc on the table but I did not get the information on it.

This was a good dinner for the price. With no corkage it made it great. This is a definite go back to on Sunday night. A little noisy even in the back room where we were. Seated at a long table so it was hard to have conversation with other than the ones on both sides and across from you. This might be a better place for 6 people not 8. We did have a good time and everyone was impressed with what we got for the money.

Can't Get Enough Chinese

2011-09-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

A quick, inpromtu dinner tonight at The Seafood Palace. Small table just 4 of us and it turned out great. Everyone brought really good wines

Maybe 30 days to the opening of the new Duong Son restaurant. Perhaps we will get another quick last minute dinner in at the Seafood Palace before then.

Wines brought tonight were, NV Francois Chidaine Montlouis Sur Loire Brut, 2004 Ca Crois Domaine Robert Demogente Pouilly Fuisse, 2006 Testarossa Garys Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2006 Roar Rosella's Vineyard Pinot Noir and a 2007 Frank Family Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. There were some back up wines but we did not need to open any of them.

Started out with Shrimp with Broccoli and cooked Oysters with Chives and Ginger. These dishes are a staple with us. Always fresh and good.

This was followed by a Tofu and Daikon Radish soup. Interesting comes to mind. The tofu is a harder consistency than the fried tofu we have. Probably so it does not break down in the broth. The radish did not have that much of a flavor. More texture. Would I order this myself ? No. I ate it but I prefer the spicy/sour soup they make.

Then came out a fresh, whole, red fish, steamed. Flesh was excellent and sauce outstanding. Henry took the head and I took the tail. I would have this dish again. It is only good for small groups because of the size. More than 4 people and there would be several additional fish needed.

Next was beef with soft noodles and bok choy followed by Fungus with string pork. The pork dish was different. I think I like the spicy pork dish better or maybe it was the fact that I was really full by now and the dish add a disadvantage being last.

Dessert was honeydew melon. Always refreshing to have something very light after a heavy meal.

Could not have asked for better food.Wines were excellent and the company great. We closed the place.

German Wine Dinner at Delius

2011-09-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 26, 2011

The Wine Country in Signal Hill and Rudi Wiest Imports co-hosted a German wine dinner this evening at Delius Restaurant. The dining room was booked with a waiting list of 18. hey even had 6 people in the Wine cellar room for the dinner.

Toby and I sat at the table with Randy from the Wine Country and Nancy from Rudi Wiest Imports. Even though they circulated the room talking with people when you sit at their table you get a lot more information.

We started out with a glass of 2009 Von Buhl Riesling Brut Sket, Pfalz. This was a nice dry wine with just a touch of sweetness. Pleasant enough for me to buy some.

First Course: Smoked Salmon with Red Onion, Cucumber, Micro Herbs and Cream Cheese Foam - The salmon was smoked in house that morning. This was a really good dish and paired extremely well with a 2009 Ziiliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinnett, Saar. The cream cheese foam was thick and held its texture. I feel it was my favorite of the night as far as pairing well. Also this was the only dish of the evening that had micro greens on it. Past dinners have had almost all the dishes enhanced the "micros" and it was starting to get old.

Second Course: Braised Pork Belly with Spicy Green Papaya, Cliantro, Mint and Yuzu Gelle. As for the meat itself I like the pork belly and on the appetizer menu in the dining area better. I feel it is much more tender. This pork was good but not quite the same. The "salsa" that it was served with was superb. The wine paring was a 2007 Von Hovel Oberemmler Hutte Riesling Spatlese, Saar. Again and excellent pairing.

Third Course: Duck Breast with Duck Confit-Swiss Chard Terrine, Beet Gelee and Crispy Fried Beets. I thought the Terrine was the showcase of this dish. The breast was good but the Terrine really stood on its own. Add the crispy beets added just the right touch. We were served a 2009 Becker Estate Pinot Noir. Again a good pairing. The German Pinots are not big so they tend to go very well with food.

Fourth Course: Roasted Lamb Loin with Sweet Potato Spaetzle, Braised Cabbage and Lamb Jus. Wine was a 2008 Salwey Red Wine Blend, "16 Degrees", Baden, a Pinot and St. Laurent Blend. I did not taste this dish at the dinner. If I wanted dessert I would have to forgo something. I had Fred pack the plate up before it even got to me. I ate it the next day and it was excellent. Especially the Sweet Potato Spaetzle. I did drink the wine without food. It was my least favorite of the night. I got a strange, odd taste in my mouth from it. Perhaps it would have been better with the food. But that is not what I did. So it would be hard for me the venture an opinion.

Dessert: Black Forest Cake, - dark chocolate cake with cherry gelee and caramelized white chocolate foam. Delius has a new pastry chef so it will interesting to see what comes out of the kitchen in the next few months.

I did purchase the sparkling and the 2 Rieslings. I felt they were the best wines of the evening. Dinner again was excellent. A couple of minor things that personally for me weren't there. But I would do it again with no complaints. Rieslings are underrated wines in the United States. A lot of people consider them "sweet" but the run from very dry to very sweet with a lot of levels in between. Excellent food wines.

August Gathering of The Flock

2011-08-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Our monthly meeting the "winos" was held today. Normally it would be on a Sunday but a few people like to host on Saturdays. Their choice but the attendance is usually down on Saturdays.

The host made a brisket and grilled corn on the cob. Corn was good. Barbara brought baked beans which were excellent. Need to get the recipe for those. Henry brought a Tofu, Tomato and pork dish which was quite good.

Today's theme was Zinfandels and Pinot based Rose's Sparklings and Champagnes. The weather today was mild for August. Usually I roast at Doug's but today was quite pleasant and I did taste all the wines. I do not do well in hot weather with heavy red wines.

A couple of the wines I really enjoyed were the 2010 Domaine Phillippe Gilbert, Monetou-Salon from the Loire. and the 2007 Gambia Old Vines, Russian River Valley Zinfandel.

On to next months gathering.

Weekend in the Sta Rita Hills - Futures Tasting at The Clos

2011-08-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Today was the futures tasting and release party at Clos Pepe. Bash started at 11:00 so we had "Breakfast" pizzas from the wood burning oven, along with fresh fruit and homemade cookies. Tasted the "Library" wines from 1999 on up and all the 2010 barrel tastings. Looks like another great year for Clos Pepe. Picked up my wines I ordered last year. Placed my order for the 2010 and ate and drank again. What a weekend.

Jan & Bob had to leave early so they could not attend. Clyde & Libby went as my guests. CJ & John came up this morning for the event.

Left the Clos and went into Santa Ynez to pick up wine at Stolpman Vineyards. They produce excellent Rhone varietals along with Sangiovese. One of my favorite wineries. Tasted at Tecero and bough a few wines there. On the way out I stopped at Buttonwood but they were completely sold out of their peaches. They have some of the best peaches I have ever tasted.

I was supposed to go to dinner with CJ & John at AJ Spurs but by time I got back to my room in Lompoc I was to tired to dive back 20 plus miles to Buellton to eat dinner. Wish we could have stopped on the way out of the area for dinner. It would have worked better for me. Clyde & Libby and I want back to the Jalama restaurant and had dinner. By this time I was so wined out I had a Blue Moon beer instead.

Need to get some rest as I will be getting up early on Monday and driving back. Bringing back 11 cases of wine. Glad to say 7 of them are for other people. 4 cases is bad enough and I have absolutely no room for storing them now.

Great weekend. A lot of fun. Very tiring but I would do it again

Weekend In The Sta Rita Hills - Wine & Fire

2011-08-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Hit the Wine Ghetto in Lompoc before heading over to the La Purisima Mission for the big wine bash this afternoon. This is put on by the Sta Rita Hills Winegrowers Alliance. Tasted at several tastings rooms (free tastings if you had the passport). Lots of good wine being made in the area. Worth a look at. Closer to home than Napa and Sonoma. Went to lunch with friends in Lompoc and then headed out to the Mission for more food and wine. All the Pinot producers in the area were there. Even a few from the Santa Ynez area who buy Pinot grapes from the Sta Rita Hills producers.

Ran into several people I knew. Everyone loves to come out to this event. It did not disappoint . Food was abundant. Great barbecue. Whole roasted pig, great ribs, beautiful beef sliders shrimp tacos. roasted duck. Lots and lots of wine. 30 Wineries pouring their juice.

They had a silent auction which it seemed most people did not know about. I bid and won 4 items.

This has been a long day. Great but tiring.

Weekend in the Sta Rita Hills -Dinner at The Clos

2011-08-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 12, 2011

Looking forward to this big, busy weekend. Dinner at the Clos at 6:00 on Friday. Glad I left work at 11:00am. It took me 4 and half hours to make the drive to Buellton. 3 accidents and 3 road closures. I had planed on making a couple of stops on my way into Lompoc but those would have to wait. Had enough time to check in and get ready to leave for dinner.

Clos Pepe has not had a dinner in a few years so I was really looking forward to this one and it did not disappoint. We started out with appetizers pizzas in the courtyard (most people would say patio but not at the size of this one). They have a woodburning pizza over built in and those pizzas were really flying out. New West Catering was again in charge and they are really good. And these pizzas are not ordinary. Epoisses (cheese) with Summer Truffle. (lets hope Frankie got her fill of truffles). Dandelion, Pancetta & Quail Egg. Carmelized Onion, Gorgonzola Dolce and Arugula. Sheep's Milk Ricotta with La Quercia Prociutto and Bone Marrow, Rapini with Fontina. These were all washed down with the 2009 Clos Pepe Rose of Pinot Noir.

Just before we entered the house for dinner they passed around a Roasted Peach - Chardonnay popsicle to cleanse the palate. This was Divine. Apparently very easy to make. Roasted peaches, chardonnay wine and some sugar - cook to reduce and freeze.

As in years passed the house was filled with tables in different rooms. I sat at a table set up on Cathy Pepe's office. Cathy and her son Rob were seated there also. The hosts all sit at different tables so to mingle with their guests. The table in the office was set for 10 people. 60 wines glass were on the table also. It really sparkled and glimmered when you went in. Very festive. If you figure 50 people in attendance that would be 300 glasses on the tables that night.

We started out with "Kumamoto Oysters with Avocado, Sea Urchin and Steelhead Roe" (caviar). Wines with this dish were the 2009 and 2005 Clos Pepe Homage to Chablis Chardonnay.

Second course was"Crispy Duroc Pork Belly with Chanterelles and Flageolets" (beans). Served with 2009 Clos Pepe Estate Vigneron Select Pinot Noir and a 2009 Loring Wine Company Clos Pepe Vineyard Pinot Noir.

Third course was "Smoke Roasted Wild Antelope with Duck Fat Fries, Blackberries and Thyme". Wines poured were the 2006 Clos Pepe Estate Vigneron Select Pinot Noir and 2005 Loring Wine Company Clos Pepe Vineyard Pinot Noir.

Fourth course was a cheese plate. San Andreas, La Tur, & Fourme D'Ambert with Honeycomb, Sweet Butter and baguette. Again more wine. 2008 Axis Mundi Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Syrah and 2008 Loring Wine Company Divergence (Mouvedre/Caberent).

Dessert plate was filled with Brown Butter Peach Ice Cream Sandwich, Lemon Raspberry Tart and Salted Caramel Truffle. This was served with Wes' Home Roasted Coffee - Costa Rica San Martin de Leon Cortes. The coffee smelled wonderful but I cannot drink it anymore.

Dinner as always was excellent. My only "flaw" would be the pork belly - good but not up to Delius ' pork belly (which is the best I have ever had).

People at the table I sat with were all great. Good conversation. Great food and wine. Beautiful surroundings. Perfect evening.

Another Dinner at The Himilayn

2011-08-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

We started out tonight with an appetizer platter which included Samosas, Vegetable Pokorma, Grilled Lamb and Chicken and a platter of meat momo's. I really have to watch with appetizers as I will eat these only and not really want dinner afterwards. And usually at the start of the meal you are hungry and "pork" out.

We all ordered a separate dish and shared family style. Works better with this type of cuisine. There were 3 new people to the group tonight. Nothing new but all good dishes.

Lamb Chau Chau, Mixed Grill, Chicken Tiki Masala, Lentils Dahl, Vegetable Korma and Cheese Paneer.

Usually at these dinners we get a lot of Pinot Noir wines brought. But not tonight. The closest was a 2009 Clos Pepe Rose of Pinot and a Francois Childaine Touraine. The bubbly which always shows up when Margie is around was a NV Mas Daumas Gassae Rae Frizant.

There was a 2008 Tabalas Creek Roussane but I am not a big fan of Rhone Whites so I did not taste that one. I brought a 2004 Stolpman La Croce which was showing exceptionally well. The rest of the lineup included 2002 Hunt Ovation Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006 Lancaster Sophies Hillside Cuvee which was tasting well, 2006 Salvestrin Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2005 Primus Sierra Foothill Syrah. All the wines were good.

Interesting evening with the 3 new faces at the table. Excellent food and wine.

Birthday Party

2011-08-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday August 7, 2011

Busy day today. Brunch at noon, Birthday party for Dave Solzman, owner of Delius Restaurant in Signal Hill at 3:00.

Party was held at Dave & Louise's home. Approximately 50 people in attendance. Since this was not a restaurant event those in attending were mostly good friends and neighbors. But then a lot of these people frequent the restaurant so it was a lot of familiar faces.

Lots of wine, beer and a very good Sangria which I drank. I had enough wine earlier in the day.

Food was abundant. Fabulous grilled shrimp with a spicy garlic sauce. Pulled pork, sausages, grilled chicken, Excellent potato salad. A lot of food on that table.

I have over consumed this day. Left about 6;30 and the party was still in full swing. I have a huge week coming up and leaving Friday for 3 days of dinners and wine tasting in the Sta Rita Hills area

Sunday Brunch at Arte Cafe

2011-08-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

Sunday August 7, 2011

Wine Country in Signal Hill hosted a Sunday Brunch at Arte Cafe in Cerritos today. 80 people in attendance. In the past there has been a problem with the service at this establishment but today they seemed to have enough servers to handle the crowd

The wines today were from Francois Chidaine in France. The rep from Beaune Imports was on hand.

They poured freely with the first course of Eggs Benedict with Country Smoked Ham. Small potion which was good. The ham was julienned so it was easy eating. The wine was a NV Montliouis Brut. Dry yet had a light fruitiness to it. I did order 3 bottles of this one. My egg was slightly undercooked but the Hollandaise sauce was good.

Second Course was Dungeness Crab Cakes with Mixed Greens. The crab cake was very good. Not to much binder or filler. Just lots of crab. Served with 2010 Touraine Sauvignon Blanc. Nice pairing.

Next up was Seabass with Saffron Beurre Blanc and Asparagus. My fish was slightly overcooked. It still had moistness to it but it was headed to being over cooked in a few more seconds. Flavor was good. Sauce was good. The wine pairing was excellent. 2009 Vouvray Les Argiles.

Main Course was Short Ribs with Thai Barbeque Sauce. Served with mashed potatoes. Good flavor, meat was moist and very tender. Pulled away from the bone nicely. Paired with a 2009 Touraine Rouge. A blend of Cab Franc, Malbec and Petit d' Aunis. Again a nice pairing.

I took most of my seabass and short rib home. A lot of food and wine for $45. A bargain in today's market.

Dessert was fresh diced mangos on top of mango sherbert. A refreshing way to end a meal.

I will say my opinion of Arte Cafe was better today than in the past. Service was good. No long wait for food. Food and wine paired well. Hope they keep this up.

Justin Wine Dinner at Sebastiani's

2011-08-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Thursday, August 3, 2011

Sebastiani's in Huntington Beach hosted a Justin Wine dinner tonight. They had one last week but it sold out immediately so they decided to add another. This dinner was 90% sold out. Big following for Justin Wines. The dinner was $75 so it was a good but compared to some of the other restaurants that are having a Justin Wine dinner at $125. The food at Sebastiani's is decent and a few times darn good. But they are not consistent in their quality. I do not frequent them too much because of that.

We walked in and the room was set up with high "bistro" tables with high stools. I found it a big turnoff. I want to dine not nibble in a bar. This I cannot do and neither could Toby. They did bring in a normal table for us and a few other people.

We started off with a 2010 Sauvignon Blanc. A little to acidic for me. I had to end up taking a Prevacid so I could continue dinner. I found the Duckhorn Sau Blanc last night was far more to my liking. The dish we were served was a Salmon Ripiene. Cooked Salmon rolls filled with goat cheese, chives and asparagus. Had a Sau Blanc reduction and served on a bed of spinach leaves.This was good. I could have stopped there and had dessert. I will say that the portions here at Sebastiani's are always good size.

Second course was Duck Ravioli with a Porcini mushroom and Pancetta sauce. This was the best dish of the night. Had nice earthy flavors. Sauce was very good. Unfortunately they served it with a 2009 Justin Cabernet Sauvignon. Doesn't anyone ever taste the wine with the food before making a menu ???? It was such a clash. At least in my mind and Toby's. Others in the room were raving. I sometimes wonder if people really know what they are tasting or are so enamored with the wines that they think the winery can do no wrong. I saved my wine and after finishing my Ravioli I drank the wine. The wine was so so to me. I did not feel it was ready to drink. It needed a few more years of aging. It also lacked something in its makeup. I have had so many other Cabs that were far superior to this one and better priced.

Main course was a grilled fillet in a peppercorn sauce. Not choice meat but you could cut it. It did not have a lot of flavor so the sauce helped a lot. It came with seasoned vegetables. The wine was a 2008 Justin Justification which is mostly Cab Franc. Much more to my liking.

Dessert was Vanilla Bean ice cream with fresh strawberries drizzled with chocolate grenache. A good ending to a meal. The Raviolis and dessert would have been enough for me. A glass of 2008 Justin Obtuse was served. Again I waited until I finished my dessert before having the Obtuse. I just do not care for sweet with sweet. It's overkill.

I took a lot of my steak and vegetables home. Far too much food for me. The wines were OK. But I am not a cult follower of Justin. They made their mark years ago with the Iccosoles and have been riding those coattails lately. Overpriced for what they are but if you are a big fan of Justin you would have been gushing like the others in the room. To those people that winery can do no wrong.

It took us over 45 minutes to finally get our check. We asked twice for it. We were the last ones to pay up. One person was handling all the transactions. So once in awhile I need to go back to Sebastiani's to remind me of why I do not frequent this establishment to often. Not overly bad but not the greatest also. Was it worth $75 - NO. They got that price because of the overpriced wines. But is better than paying $125 and getting almost the same quality.

Duckhorn Tasting

2011-08-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

ABC Liquor & Fine Wine in Long Beach hosted a Duckhorn tasting tonight. I was lucky to find a parking space immediately. This area of Long Beach is almost to Belmont Shore and is notorious for the lack of parking. And I did really want to avoid parking under lamp posts and trees. The birds are notorious here also.

For some reason tonight's tasting seemed in a little bit of insanity. Too much noise, not enough talking from the rep.

Imre the wine buyer for ABC was flitting away constantly. It seems several of those in attendance had been on a wine trip with Imre and they visited Duckhorn so the conversations were running that way. The rep from Duckhorn was accommodating but the situation was not in her control.

We started out with a 2010 Duckhorn Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc. Excellent wine, not to acidic and muted tropical flavors. Next was a 2009 Migration Russian River Valley Chardonnay. Nice Chard but I have had many as good and lower priced. It also was on the oaky side. Drinkable for me but I would never buy it.

2008 Migration Anderson Valley Pinot Noir was poured. It had the smokey taste to it. That year there was a large fire in Mendocino County and it affected the flavor of some of the wines. This particular wine showed it.It also was a little one dimensional to me. Weak after finish. Then they poured the 2007 Goldeneye Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. What a difference. This wine was complex, lots of layers, well balanced. But it also was $20 more than the Migration.

The 2007 Paraduxx Napa Valley Red Wine was tasted. I frankly thought this was the best wine of the evening. A 2008 Duckhorn Napa Valley Merlot was next. Nice Merlot if that is your wine. Not mine so I won't judge. Those who were Merlot fans really seemed to like it. And of course every time a rep pours a Merlot the movie "Sideways" is always referenced, Its time to that movie a burial.

All in all a good tasting and I did stay for awhile afterwards talking with several people. Enjoyable evening.

Single Malt Scotch Tasting

2011-07-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 28, 2011

I have drank Scotch for years and have always preferred single malt over blended without really knowing the difference. I just never got into the research of Scotch like I did wine.

ABC Fine Wines & Spirits in Long Beach hosted at Balvenie tasting tonight. The right time to go and learn.

What I did learn is the Scotch is made with three ingredients, Barley, water and yeast. Blended Scotch is made with whiskeys from several different sources. A single malt is made at a single source (Scotch House). They do not bring in any outside Scotch to blend with their own. I also assumed (and we know what assuming can be) that since it said single malt it had something to do with the grains.

I just pray that I keep liking Scotch but not become fascinated with it. At $100 and up for good single malt I could be in trouble. Granted you do not drink a bottle in a couple of days like you do wine. The bottle would probably last you months. At least that what I am trying to convey to my brain.

The casks/barrells that Scotch is aged in come "used bourbon" from the US and Europe. We tasted Scotch that had been aged in Maderia casks and Sherry casks. It was interesting to taste how the whiskey takes on a slight flavor from these casks. We also tasted one that was Peat smoked. The peat from the bogs is set on fire and since it is dense it smokes instead of burns. They do that with the sprouting grain to impart that peaty flavor to it. It did not show up on the nose but it was very predominant on the palate.

We tasted (I think, it was dark I could not read what was put in front of me - ABC really needs better lighting) The Balvenie, 12 Year Old Doublewood, 15 Year Old Single Barrell, 21 Year Old PortWood and the Peated Cask. Prices for a bottle ranged from $60 to $200.

They gave each of us a eye dropper to added a drop or two of distilled water to the scotch. I did try it and it seems to really take the heat away. Just 2 small drops changed the taste completely. We came away the glasses, dropper, pens. I always like a few freebie's .

So now I will have to do some research and learn more about this whiskey and hope I do not get to addicted to it

We could have second tastes if we wanted. But being my own designated driver I deferred. Do not need a DUI for any reason at all.

Seafood Palace - Maybe The Last Dinner Here

2011-07-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Doung Son still has not reopened so eight of us made a spur of the moment last minute decision to have dinner at the Seafood Palace again.

Cora is starting chemo again so this would be her last wine dinner for several months. In fact she had a treatment Tuesday but it does take a while for the chemicals to build up in your body so she still was feeling decent and had not lost her taste buds yet.

We started out with 4 seafood dishes all served at the same time. Salt & Pepper Calamari with jalapenos, Fried Oysters with ginger and scallions , shrimp with Chinese broccoli and Lobster with noodles. I was in seventh heaven. I could have had seafood for the entire meal. These dishes paired exceptionally well with a Chablis that T & C brought. There was a Sauvignon Blanc on the table but I am finding that I have to stay away from these wines. The acidity is starting to really bother me,

Next up was a dish, "choice beef" with spinach. I took one piece of beef and by time the dish made its way back to me all the meat was gone. What I did have was very good. It was cubed instead of sliced like we normally get.

Shredded spicy pork with noddles, Tofu with spinach and chicken with soft fat noddles (great sauce) rounded out the meal.

Dessert was Flan with a coffee sauce. This was a new one.

The table next to us was celebrating a special occasion. They had a whole sucking pig brought to the table. It was on a silver tray surrounded by flowers. It even had a bid red flower on its head. Now I am talking "whole" pig. Reminded me of a movie years ago. Can't remember the title right now or the name of the young model/actress that was brought out on a large tray and showed off to the potential clients. The highest bidder would be the first to get her virginity. It was a bordello and her mother worked there. So the pig looked innocent also. What I found fascinating was they cut the skin from the top of the backbone and made like it was Peking Duck.. Put the skin inside these dough "pillows" and added shredded scallions and added a sauce. All this table did was eat the skin. All the meat was taken off the bones and packed for them to take home.

The wines that were brought tonight are as follows:

2005 Loring, Russell Vineyard, Pinot Noir
2007 Williams Selyem, Sonoma County, Pinot Noir
2008 Justin, Paso Robles, Sauvignon Blanc
2006 Talley, Arroyo Grande, Pinot Noir
1997 Kalin Cellars , Livermore, Semillion
2001 Rosenthal, Malibu Newton Canyon Meritage
2007 McKeon-Phillips, BPR, Caberenet Sauvignon
2008 McKeon-Phillips, BPR, Cabernet Sauvignon
2009 Domaine Clos De L'eglise, Macon, Albert Bicholt, Chablis

Utopia

2011-07-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Utopia Restaurant in Long Beach hosted a "Summer Wine Dinner" tonight. They used to do a lot of wine dinners but have really scaled back in the past year or so. Could be the economy or the fact that every restaurant within the LA/Orange County area has decided this is the way to go. I feel we are completely saturated with dinners.

I was glad to get parking. Since Long Beach has put in all those bicycle lanes on the streets it has taken away close to 40% of the avialable parking spaces. It was great for the city ot understand the needs of the cyclist's but they forgot the needs of the car people. Not everyone lives downtown and not everyone is capable of riding a bicycle. And there is not enought parking structures or lots to make up the difference.

There were just two of us tonight at the table. Margie and me. It was a nice break not to have a larger group.

We started out with a Seafood Ceviche. I have had this before here and it is well prepared and good. Probably because of the Mexican cooks. Margie does not eat seafood . Utopia has always been good about substitutions. She was served fried artichoke hearts. This course was paired with a 2009 Sofia, Rose from Napa Valley. Nice wine. Perfect combination.

Next course was a Grilled Portabella Mushroom with a herb/shallot/balsamic reduction sauce. Idea was good but the sauce was so way over with the vinegar. It tasted like several people in the kitchen added vinegar not knowing someone else did before them. It really detracted from the mushroom. This was served with a 2010 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. This wine is always a good wine. But they were selling it for $15 and you can get it around $12 to $14 almost anyplace else.

Main course was Grilled Filet Mignon with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and grilled vegetables. My steak was cooked the way I liked it. Margie said hers was a little more done than medium. Flavor was ok. The grilled vegetables had herbs and pepper on them. The potatoes were potatoes. Decent but nothing special. The wine for this dish was a 2006 Franciscan Napa Valley Merlot. Nice wine if you like Merlot. It did pair well with the meat.

Dessert was the best of the meal. A Chocolate Lava Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce. I tried to eat all of mine but did leave one bite on the plate. This was so rich it was all I could be to get as far as I did. They served a Sandeman Ruby Port. Overkill on the sweet. I really prefer my port with savory, like cheese. I waited until after dessert to drink the port.

This dinner was $45 with the wine. Compared to The Factory at $30 and you bring the wine, this was a better deal. Yes we get small portions compared to if we had ordered off the regular menu. But I don't eat large portions anymore anyway. So the size is good for me.

Utopia plans on doing another wine dinner in September. I will sign up for it if I do not have any conflicts. Amir was glad to see us and asked where we had been. Explained to him we seemed to have been dropped form the email list for some reason and only saw the dinner listed at Localwineevents.com. He took our email addresses again so hopefully it will straighten the matter out. But frankly I would not put money on it.

Margie won a bottle of wine and everyone was given tickets to the Laugh Factory in Long Baech.

Sta Rita Hills Wine Dinner at The Factory

2011-07-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Theme tonight at the Factory was Sta Rita Hills. This would be mainly Pinots and Chardonnays. Dishes were taken from a restaurant menu in the Santa Ynez area. Why they felt it was compatible with wines from another area is beyond me. Dinner was 40 minutes late in starting. They know how many people are coming. They advertise it at 7:00 so I cannot understand how they cannot have something ready to go with 15 minutes. I know for $30 I can't expect much but how hard is it get an appetizer on the table. As I have indicated before, quit being so creative and get back to basics.

We started out with a pizza - had a lemon sauce and grilled cherry tomatoes on it. Flavor was good but the crust was soft. Some kind of whole wheat thing.

Grilled eggplant showed up. Two rounds of eggplant that was breaded and fried. Not greasy, had good flavor and was served with a Pesto sauce and Marinara sauce.

Main course was Rigatoni Bolognese - at this point I felt this dinner was far better suited with last months Italian wine theme than this months theme. The Bolognese sauce had Spanish Pork Loin in it. Sauce was good. Way to much Rigatoni on the plate for the amount of sauce. First time I have taken food home from this restaurant.

Dessert was supposed to be a Fresh Blackberry and Lemon Curd. I was really looking forward to this after such a heavy meal. But no - Natalie decided to be inspired - so we had a corn pancake/crepe thing stuffed with Mozzarella and a Blackberry sauce with Marscapone cheese. This was good but at this point we were really carbed out. I think that instead of Mozzarella inside if she would have out some Marscapone cheese it would have been lighter in taste. The sauce was very good. This was probably the best dish of the evening.

The theme tonight was Sta Rita Hills. One person who seems to think he knows everything brought a Jaffurs Mouvedre and a Santa Barbara Winery Chardonnay. His reasoning was they sourced grapes from the Thompson Vineyard and he thought it was close to the Sta Rita Hills because it was near the Melville property. I did not say much as I wanted to double check that I was right and he was dead wrong. Next month at the dinner I will tell him my findings. He is way off base. If he wasn't so much of a pompous "a--" I would let it go. But sometimes you just have to get in someones face.

Some other wines tonight were 2007 & 2008 Huber Chardonnays, 2006 Loring Clos Pepe Vineyard Pinot Noir, 2007 Flying Goat Rio Vista Pinot Noir, 2006 Longoria Pinot Noir, 2009 Clos Pepe Chardonnay, 2004 Curran-D'Alfinso Tancho La Vina Pinot Noir and a Flying Goat "Goat Bubbles". A few other wines were there but I seemed to have missed them

July's Gathering

2011-07-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Our monthly get together was held today. Theme was White wines from South America and Reds from New Zealand & Australia. Good selection but nothing really stood out as outstanding. Three people brought the same white wine. That's why if I do not have a wine that fits the theme in my cellar I go someplace away from the area to purchase the wines. Too many people are fans of Bev Mo and Total Wines. They like convenience and don't really want to be put out into finding something unique. Good appetizers and the host made a really good pork tenderloin with a Chipolte sauce. Did not try desserts as I was stuffed by then. The weather was a little warmer than at my place and I could feel the heat. I do not do well in heat with red wines. I did leave a little earlier than usual but sometimes ---- happens.

On to next month and another batch of heavy red wines in August in the heat.

Annual Bus Trip to Wine Country

2011-07-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Our annual bus trip with Delius Restaurant started out about 8:00. An hour earlier than in the past. Since we were going to the Wine Ghetto in Lompoc they wanted to get on the road early. Instead of having a "Champagne Breakfast" in the restaurant before departure we were served breakfast on board. They did have pastries and coffee inside the restaurant for early arrivals. Fresh fruit cups, mimosa's bubbly, breakfast burritos were served on the bus. Concept was good but execution did not work out well. The bus was a rougher ride than normal. You had to balance your drink cups along with your food. They ran out of bubbly right away. I got one glass. I know they had coffee but I did not see anyone at the front of the bus getting any. The breakfast burritos were good but it was impossible to add the salsa to them and hold your cup and burrito at the same time. Louise said that doing the breakfast this way was far more work for her than serving it in the restaurant. Perhaps this will be a one time event.

We arrived at the Ghetto a few minutes early. Most of the tasting rooms open at 11:00. Our first stop was Flying Goat Cellars. Norm Yost the owner and winemaker gave us a short description of the Sta Rita Hills wine area. We tasted, bought and then were free to wander the Ghetto. We had tickets for no charge tastings at Ampeolos, Palmini. La Vie, Loring and Samsara. I made it to Ampelos, Loring, Samsura and La Vie. I get free tastings at Palmini & Loring both of which I will be at in August. La Vie I was very disappointed in. I did stop into the Taste of Sta Rita Hills to pick up a case of wine I had ordered from Clos Pepe. I also bought some Moretti Bianchetto. Very good white wine with an attractive price. Antonio Moretti makes very good, true to the variety Italian wines. The tasting room also features several different wineries.

Evening Land was recommended to me but I did not get a chance to get to it. I will do that in August.

I felt we needed another hour at the Ghetto. But at 1:30 we left to go to Foley for lunch and a tasting. The setting was nice. Foleys wines are overpriced for what they are. After that we headed to Cold Heaven & Prodigal. By this time I was wines out so I wasn't too keen on these wines. Maybe another time with a fresher palate I may feel different.

All in all a decent day. But I prefer breakfast in the restaurant. I felt rushed on this trip for some reason. I hope next year they break the mold for lunch and so something different. Its been the same sandwiches and salads for the last 5 or 6 years now. One year they had lunch catered at one of the wineries. An off site company came in and did a barbecue with tri tip and chicken with all the sides, It was great. It would be nice to have that again.

Traffic was good the way up and back. No slow downs. Perfect for traveling. Weather cooperated. A good day.

Back to The Himilayan

2011-07-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 7, 2011

A few people had those noses out of joint because they were not included in last weeks dinner at the Himilayan so we ventured back this week. Again we had 3 people that had not been to this rrestaurant before. Everyone said they would be back.

The only new dish that was ordered was the Mango Chicken. Everything else we have had in prior trips. We started out with Samosa's which are the best around. The rest of the dishes were Rogan Josh Lamb, Shrimp Tandorri, Chicken Vindaloo, Tibetian Fish, Lamb Saag.

W e have never ordered dessert here but 2 of the females decided to try the Pistachio ice cream. It was a very good quality ice cream..

Interesting group of wines tonight. I found that the Cabs went best with the food.

2007 McKeon-Phillips BPR Cabernet Sauvignon
2008 Coelho Amity Hills Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
2007 Provence Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 St. Francis Old Vine Sonoma Zinfandel
2009 Margerum Sybarite Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc
2008 Dumol Russian River Syrah

Himilayan Grille

2011-07-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

Thursday, June 30, 2011

6 of us gathered tonight at The Himilayan Grille in Sunset Beach for dinner. There were 3 people who had never been to this restaurant before but I think they will be back.

Since everyone orders a dish or two and we share we had a few new ones tonight. We started out with Samosa's which are always good here. Very light and not greasy. Then came a chicken dish. Can't remember the name but since Oliver ordered it we referred to it as "Chicken Nuggets". Small pieces of chicken with a light batter and fried. They were very good.

We also tried the eggplant dish and the lentil dish. None of which I had before. Not two of my favorite foods but these were actually good and I would have no problem ordering them again We rounded it out with Rack of Lamb, Shrimp Saag, Lamb Vindaloo, Garlic Chicken, Tibetan Shrimp, Vegetables Korma and Lamb Chou Chou.

Wines brought tonight were interesting.

2006 McKeon-Phillips Cab Franc Reserve
2005 Williams Selyem Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
2008 Hitching Post Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir
2007 Lewelling White Vineyard Napa Cabernet Sauvignon (Robert Parker 97)
2010 McKeon-Phllips Sauvignon Blanc
???? Beckman Syrah

Monthly Gathering of The Flock

2011-07-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Our monthly wino get together was held today. Theme was Red French Bordeauxs and French Champagnes. People went out for this tasting. The theme was a good one. Some people have a knack for picking out a good theme and others have no imagination. Small group today. A lot of people on vacations. We had 12 reds and 4 champagnes

A couple of exceptional wines were the 2004 Crystal Champagne and the 1989 Chateau Leoville Barton Saint Julien Bordeaux. The 2003 Chateau Ferriere-Margux stood in there also,

All the wines were very good and this tasting was really a pleasure to attend.

In Search of More Varietals

2011-07-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

Thursday, June 23, 2011 I have 4 people in that are active in the Winecentury.com quest for tasting numerous varietals of wine grapes.

I have my 200 certificate and they all have their 100 certificate. I purchased a bottle from Italy that supposedly had 152 varietals in it. I also put out a few other odd bottles I picked up in the last few weeks.

Steve Delong of Winecentury.com says that the bottle of Cento Uve I bought has many duplicates. After I submitted my list for the 300 certificate he said to double check. A little disappointing but since I had 277 varietals already I have no doubt that I will surpass the 300 mark. Now I just need "hours" free to be able to do this.

Mid Week Wine Tastings

2011-07-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

Normally I do not post about the wine tastings I do on a regular basis but I have done two in the past weeks that were exceptional.

On Tuesday, June 21, 2011 I stopped at Wine Country before going to The Factory for dinner. They had a special German Riesling tasting that night. Two winemakers from Germany were showcasing their wines. all were very good and the exceptional one was a 1985 Auslese. It had such depth to it. I can see why people can get hooked on older Rieslings.

On Wednesday, June 29, 2011 I went to ABC Liquor & Fine Wines in Long Beach. This place is a block off the beach and just at the beginning of Belmont Shore. Theu were tasting Dragonnette wines. I have tasted these wines a few weeks back at the Santa Barbara future's tasting at the Wine House in Los Angeles. Small winery. Sources most of their grapes from other vineyards. I was very impressed. So much so I paid $160 for 3 bottles. Their Fiddlestix Pinot was outstanding. Had a very chocolate, black cherry thing going on. The other was "MJM" a blend of 4 varietals. Both of these wines will cellar nicely for a few years.

I will definitely have to check on Dragonnette at the "Wine & Fire" event in August.

Piedmont Wines & The Factory

2011-06-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 21, 2011

Missed last months dinner at the Factory due to their changing the date. Heard it was good so decided to try again. This place is always such a hit and miss.

Again late getting the first course out. Crostini with homemade mozzarella and fresh diced tomatoes with basil and balsamic vinegar. Crostini is getting old. Its being overdone. My piece of toasted bread was odd shaped with a very thick large end. Like they didn't want to waste any part of the loaf. Natalie gushed about making the mozzarella from scratch. Asked her if she bought mozzarella curd but she said no, she made her own curd from skim milk and rennet. I thought is was tough and had very little flavor. Instead of wasting time making it she should have gone to the local market and purchased a round of good mozzarella.

Next came a salad of field greens with chirizo, curds left over from the mozzarella , olives and a dressing made with olive oil and the brine from the olives. The salad was good. But it was served in a square bowl, all the dressing, olives and chirizo went to the bottom and you were constantly having to mix it it be able to get all the flavor. It would have much better on a plate.

After a long wait our "main" course arrived. Gnocchi with asparagus, white truffle oil, a green asparagus puree and a red bell pepper puree. Both of the purees were very good. I could not taste any "truffle" which is to bad because Piedmonte, Italy is known for its truffles. Natalie hand made the Gnocchi. This pasta should be cut evenly for cooking. It was not. Various sizes and what looked like the uneven ends of the roll of pasta. My Gnocchi on the outside of the plate was cold and in the middle luke warm. It was also heavy and Gnocchi is supposed to be light. They actually talked about it being heavier and prided themselves on it.

Dessert was a chocolate mousse with baked red cherries and cannoli whipped cream with chopped pistachios. This was good.

This was an OK dinner. It again was hit and miss. I sometimes wonder if in doing this BYOB dinners they try to get too creative on the food dishes. Sometimes it is much better to stay in your comfort zone and cook what you are really good at. A little more attention to detail on the crostini and the gnocchi would have been a good thing. If you can't get your plates out to your customers in a timely manner than you are taking on too much. They have upped the price of dinner to $30 which would be OK in light of the fact that everything has taken a jump in price lately. But this was not a $30 dinner. I could have had braised lamb shank at Delius with the sides for less money

The big "problem" with this dinner is NO PROTEIN. The only protein we had was a few slivers of chirizo in the salad. They could have added some chicken pieces to the main dish and it would have solved the problem. Natalie had left but we pointed this out to Eric her husband. He looked like he was shocked and did not realize what had happened. I think they were so busy trying to be creative they lost sight of the basics. We also pointed out to him that it would be nice to have the menu posted a few days in advance so we knew what types of wines to bring. Natalie has said she likes to be inspired by the Farmers Market that day. But does she have to be inspired for the entire menu ? A little less inspiration and more thought would be a big help.

Like Steve said if he had known there was not meat on the menu he wouldn't have opened a $70 bottle of Barolo. There were some good wines on one end of the table. Do not know what was on the other end as they seemed to hording them. They did pass down a Asti but I passed on it. Too sweet for my taste. We had a nice assortments of red & white. The wines passed the test but the dinner ????

Will try again next month and then re-evaluate if it worth the $30.

Walts Wharf & Copper River Salmon

2011-06-18T07:40:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

6 of us met at Walt's Wharf in Seal Beach to get a taste of Copper River Salmon before the short season ends. Parking is always a problem in downtown Seal Beach but as luck had me I found a parking spot right by the back door of the restaurant.

We all brought higher end Pinot Noirs to share. Corkage was $10 which I was surprised that it wasn't more seeing as Walt's Wharf has an extensive wine list. The restaurant is owned by Dr. Babcock of Babcock Wines in the Sta Rita Hills area.

I brought a 2003 Clos Pepe Vigernon Select. There was a 2001 Williams Selyem Rochioli Vineyard. Both of these wines were excellent. Also brought was a 2005 and 2007 Sea Smoke Southing. Nice to compare the years. The 2005 was showing beautifully. The 2007 was good but could use a few more years aging. Rounded out with a 2008 Dundee Hills, 4 Graces, Black Family and a 2007 Abiouness Stanly Ranch.

Dinner was good., A bit pricey at $36 a plate but Copper River salmon is not cheap. It sells for about $26 + a pound in the fish markets.

The restaurantt was busy all night. Not packed but a constant turn over of tables. That is a good sign. Maybe the economy is starting to loosen slightly.

Pinot Noir Tasting

2011-06-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

Friday, June 10, 2011

Decided to do another Friday night seminar at the Wine Country is Signal Hill. Tonight is is Pinot Noirs. As I indicated at my last post on these seminars I have not been overly thrilled with them so I stopped going.

The person conducting this seminar was a lot more interesting than the last. What did I learn ? Not much but I did get to taste a lot of Pinots that I had not had before. So it was a $35 tasting of 13 wines with a small amount of new information.

The wines I particularly liked were the 2008 Mt. Eden, 2008 Nalle, 2008 Domaine Drouhin and of course the 2006 Clos Pepe which is one of my favorite wineries.

The other wines were good but not to my palate as much. 2010 Cardwell Hill Rose, 2007 Matthew D. Taylor Michaud Vineyard, 2006 Joseph Swan Saralee's Vineyard, 2009 Antica Terra, 2009 Felton Road. 2007 Pyramid Valley, 2007 Belle Pente, 2007 Rippon and the 2009 Copain Wentzel Vineyard.

As always in these seminars after a few tastes of wine the noise level rises and the "chatter" from the females increases, If it was about the wines it would be OK, but it was not about the wines. It becomes very distracting. It was an interesting evening. I would go back and do anothet seminar with this person but it would be a pick and choose situation.

Seafood Palace

2011-06-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Just had to get another dinner in before Henry leaves on vacation. Duong Son will not open until July or August so we may do another at the Seafood Palace before then. I will say that this restaurant has good food. I do like some of the dishes better than Duong Son others less. Their seafood is fresh and that is a big plus.

We have been going mid week to this place because weekends are so crowded and noisy. Luck ran out tonight. They had a large party of 140 people in the area next to us. Not bad but still a lot of noise.

We started out with Salt & Pepper Calamari which is always good. No heavy fishy tastes here. Really fresh seafood.

Next was Shrimp with Chinese Broccoli. Had to coax Margie into eating a shrimp and then I saw no greens on her plate. Asked why and "she does not like broccoli". After telling her that the Chinese broccoli is so much different than the one we are used to and that it tasted like spinach she consented to try a taste. And guess what ? She liked it.

Sweet and sour soup was ladled up. This was really good tonight. Had seconds and maybe a third helping myself.

Henry ordered Peking Duck but with the crepes this time not the "little soft pillows". At least it wasn't as filling - less bread. Good but I still prefer Duong Son's version.

Kung Pao Chicken made its way to the table. This is a really good dish here. One of the better Kung Pao dishes I have had.

Beef with Spinach appeared. Again very good. Beef is tender and the spinach is cooked to perfection.

Last dish was Chicken with Rice Noodles and Salted Anchovies. Margie commented on how good this dish was. Of course we had not told her of the ingredients yet. After she finished we let her know about the anchovies. She did say she liked it. There is hope for her :) LOL

Dessert as usual was fresh fruit. Tonight is was Cantaloupe which was good and sweet.

Our wines tonight were a mixed bag which made it interesting.

NV Louis Bouillot Cremant de Bourgogne, 2007 P2 Montazi Pinot Noir, 2004 Keenan Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, 2010 Kiamie White blend from Paso Robles, 2007 Fort Ross Sonoma Pinotage, 2007 Halter Ranch Paso Robles Cotes du Paso, white blend, 2009 Foxen Rose of Mouvedre, 2007 Edna Valley white blend.

Another good dinner with good food, wines and most importanly good friends.

Italian Wine 101 & New Grape Varietals

2011-06-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Friday, June 3, 2011

Attended a class of Italian Wine 101 at Wine County in Signal Hill. http://www.thewinecountry.com/, It had been quite some time since I have done of these class/tasting events. Frankly I got to the point that I felt the people "instructing" left a lot to be desired. When the owner Randy does an event I seem to learn a lot. The others are a crap shoot to what I will walk away with. The motivation for this class was it listed grape varietals that I had not tasted yet. Ulterior motive but one I can live with.

We tasted a variety of wines from sparkling, white and red from (11) different regions of Italy. Some were good wines the others OK. But the price point was attractive.

What did I learn from this class that I did not already know ??? That Valpolicella means "Valley of Many Cellars" and Regioto is a style of wine. There was a small amount of information about what foods went with certain wines and where the regions in Italy are and why certain wines come from that particular region. They had a detailed wine region map of Italy and the areas were pointed out. I happened to have the same map (but in a fold out form) at home. In hindsight I should have brought it with me so I could see the detail more clearly.

I will say that this class was more informative that the last one I took with this particular person but I still felt it was not as adequate as it should. I realize not everyone is a natural teacher but if you are selling a product that you are supposedly knowledgeable about, then step up your game.

The best thing about this class was that I picked up several new grape varietals and now I am at 277 varietals tasted. Pushing for that 300 mark. The "winecentury.com" club has 1032 members. Out of that number 30 have reached the 200 mark, (including me) 7 the 300 mark and 2 the 400 mark.

May Gathering Of The Flock

2011-05-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Stan was hosting today's wino gathering. He lives in Santa Monica which is a trek so I hitched a ride. Merlots was the theme for today. I am not a fan of Merlot but grinned and beared it. As my late friend Orv always said, Merlot is a blending grape. Especially in the USA. France is another game. They make wine to last. eg: Petrus. I am always "ticked off" by peoples excuses of why they don't attend these monthly gatherings." Its to far to drive". Altho Stan drives the same distance to come to their house." I don't like the theme". So what. Maybe people don't like your theme but they show up anyway. These same people are the ones that get upset if they don't get a big crowd attending their function.

Stan made a great tri tip and and an excellent pork loin with a mustard sauce. This was the day of pasta salads. Fortunately we got 2 desserts. Sometimes its a crap shoot to what food is showing up.

One of the better Merlots to show up was a 2007 Turnbull. The McKeon-Phillips was good. The rest including the one I brought were ok but I don't like Merlots. So I am not the best judge.

Next month - Red Bordeauxs and French Champagnes.

Haras di Pirque Wine Dinner

2011-05-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 27, 2011

Delius Restaurant in Signal Hill hosted a Chilean wine dinner tonight. The dining area was full which surprised me because it being "Chilean" wines. People always seem to want a "popular" wine when they sign up for theses dinners.

Haras di Pirque is owned partly by the Antinori family in Italy. Chile & Argentina are getting a lot of interest from successful wineries in different countries.

Lorenzo Mottola was the wine rep sitting at our table. Delightful person and is the rep for Ste Michelle Wine Estates which takes in a portfolio of 29 labels from 7 regions. Domestic and foreign. I will keep his card and if I go back to Italy I will definitely take his offer to set me up with some wineries for tasting. Most foreign countries do not have the open tasting rooms that California enjoys.

I will state now that this dinner was one of the most prefect dinners with wine pairings I have ever had. I have a few stored in my memory bank but this is at the top of the list. Wines were extremely reasonable in pricing. Less that $12 each. I do not feel I would want to drink a glass of any of these wines without food because they do not show what they are alone.

First Course: White Asparagus Custard with Micro Herb Salad. A savory custard with pureed white asparagus and a two thin strips of asparagus on top. Excellent flavor. Paired with a 2009 Sauvignon Blanc. This wine had the citrusy nose to it but had a very soft, long finish.

Second Course: Crispy Oyster Salad, Pork Belly, Pineapple Gelee & Upland Cress. A small fried oyster with a nice briny taste, small piece of excellent pork belly. The pineapple gelee really set this dish off. Wine was a 2009 Chardonnay. First sniff of this wine showed the oak. I personally would not dink this wine alone because of the oak but the fat of the oyster and pork belly cut through the oak and made an excellent pairing.

Third Course: Roasted Pheasant Breast with Yukon Gold Potato, Duck Confit, Blackberries and Pistachios. The blackberries really added a new dimension to this dish. Set off the pheasant breast really well. Paired with a 2008 Carmenere. Again a perfect pairing.

Fourth Course: Venison Loin with Turnips, Parsnips, Carrots, Micro Arugula, Foie Gras Foam. Wine served was a 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. The root vegetables paired so well with the venison. A classic pairing since deer is traditionally hunted in the fall.

Dessert: Strawberry Rhubarb Terrine, Vanilla Gelato & Pecan Streusel. Just the right touch for the end of a perfect meal. The Terrine was excellent and the homemade gelato was a perfect accent.

Since the Pheasant & Vension were farm raised they have a tendency to be less gamey and available all year. No hunting season for them.

I think aside from the oyster my friend Margie who is the pickest eater I know would have liked this dinner.

As each new dish was brought to the table and people started eating you could hear the low rumble of approval. This dinner was so perfect in wine & food pairing. Chef Daniel Hyatt got a rousing applause. Which is good as his father and his girlfriend were dining that night. Made Dad really proud.

Santa Barabra Futures

2011-05-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Moseyed up the freeway today to the Wine House in Los Angeles. Almost to Santa Monica. Todays tasting was Santa Barbara Futures. 32 labels were pouring today, 58 wines. I paid the extra $9 to get in a hour early so I would not have to hassle parking and walk up the steep stairs. The purpose of the event was to taste the new releases and place orders (paid for in advance) and pick up your wine later this year or next year. Pricing reflects this. Good bargains.

Saw several winemakers that I knew and found a few people in the crowd that I knew also. Wine house passed appetizers around. I managed to snag a few. Do not feel they passed around enough for the crowd.

I found it interesting that some of the very small production wineries were producing better quality that a few of the big names. I was thoroughly disappointed in Foxen today.

A couple of the small timers that I particuarly enjoyed was Rey-La Cosecha. They poured a Grenache Blanc and a Grenache. Both priced under $20. I also liked "tercero" . His Larner Vineyard Grenache was excellent and his Mouvedre was really good.

Ampelos, Stolpman, Cargassacchi, Clos Pepe, Dagonette, Flying Goat, Jaffurs, Margerum were among the group.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. Traffic was light which made for a really nice day. Now I have to decide if I want to lay out any money on futures. Have a few days to make up my mind. There is a 3 bottle minimum for each wine so that has to be factored in.

Darioush Wine Tasting

2011-05-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

ABC Fine Wines & Spirits in Long Beach hosted a Darioush tasting tonight. The upstairs room was packed with 38 people. Difficult to move around. About 8 people to many. The amount of people also made it hard for us in the back to get our pours. We were forgotten a few times and had to bring it to their attention.

It started out with a tasting of Lurisia Sparkling Spring Water from Italy. Then we proceeded to the Lucien Albrecht Brut & Brut Rose. These are from the Alsace region and for the price point were very nice.

All the Darioush wines were Napa Valley. First wine was a 2008 Signature Chardonnay. Too oaky for me so Jan got a big pour of it. Next we had a 2007 Signature Merlot. Nice wine but overpriced at $55 .I am probably not the best judge of this because I do not particularly like Merlots. 2008 Cravan Cabernet was next. This wine is a second labe for Darioush. It was listed at $49.99. I used to get it from a rep for $18 quite a few years ago. Last wine was the 2007 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon. 94 points with the Wine Spectator and priced at $85. They actually poured from a 375 ml bottle. Both the 375ml & the 750 ml were listed but only the one poured. I think it would have been interesting to see the difference in the wine because of the bottle size. I would imagine that the small bottle was more drinkable at this time. It was still tight and had many years to go.

There was a 2008 Darioush Signature Syrah listed but not being poured. It was available for purchase only.

So for $30 it was a good tasting because of the price of the wines but I feel if they produce a flyer that lists 8 wines they should pour 8 wines. 38 people times $30 is $1,140. The price listed for the wines was the stores retail price not what they paid. Retail costs on the amount of wine poured was approximately$650. They get an industry discount so I feel they could have included the other two wines in the tasting. We were getting about 1-1/2 ounce pours on the red wines. About 2 ounce pours on the sparkling.

Zimzala & Groth Wines

2011-05-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 14, 2011

New restaurant in downtown Huntington Beach at the Shorebreakers Hotel. Zimzala, http://www.restaurantzimzala.com/, Found the notice on, http://www.localwineevents.com/ . Did not know what to except. Paul, Margie and I decided to check it out. Aside from hotel personnel, wine vendor it seems we were the only outside guests for this dinner. Could not access the menu from the website which is not good. People like to see a menu before they commit almost $100 to dinner. This was there first wine dinner. The hotel is very "hip" and young. Lets face it , downtown Huntington Beach is young. Hotel reminded me of the westside or South Beach. Attractive venue but young. Almost all the patrons in the bar/lounge area were under 35. In the dining room the age came out.

Event was advertised at having a wine/appetizer reception at 5:00 and dinner afterwards. Arrived a few minutes before 5 as its only a 12 minute drive from my "Casa". We were shown a lounge area beside the patio area. Too cold for outside tonight. They poured the 2010 Groth Sauvignon Blanc along with two very good appetizers. A crisp pita bread wedge with tomato jam and deep fried okra with a sauce which may have been some type of aoili. This "reception" before dinner was the hotels reception for their hotel guests also which was fine. But the big mistake they made was shutting it down at 6:00 and telling us dinner would be served at 6:30. Bullcrap. Not a good PR situation. Dinner should have been at 6:00. We sat around with nothing to do for 30 minutes. No wine, no nothing. I would have showed up at 6:30 if I had known that.

At 6:35 we were seated for dinner. As I posted earlier we were the only "guests" for dinner. Matt Stuhl who is with JDV Hotels came and sat at our table. They had a basket of fresh made bread and served a small container of olive oil with it. We had to ask for butter which was rock hard. I find this happens a lot. Who wants to tear up their bread with rock hard butter ? But it seems that most places do this. Probably a "health" issue. But it seems to me that they could have a few containers set out of the cooler and be ready for the tables without endangering the world.

First Course: Diver Scallop Crudo with Avocado, Ojai Pixie Tangerines & Crispy Wild Fennel. This was a very good dish. The light acid/sweetness of the tangerines really set off the delicate flavor of the scallops and the buttery texture of the avocado was just the right touch. Served with a 2009 Groth Chardonnay. A little oaky but paired well with the food.

Second Course: Carnarolu Nano Risotto with Squash Blossoms, Lemon Verbena and Hand Made Mozzarella. Extremely good dish. The Mozarella was outstanding. They buy the curd and produce the cheese fresh everyday. Dish had great flavor and the risotto was cooked correctly. But they served this with the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc that we had at the reception. By now I have had my fill of this wine.

Main Course: Lamb Roulade with Cauliflower Olive Oil Puree, spring vegetables, morel mushrooms and lamb jus. This dish was good. I tried a few bites and had them box it for me to take home. We have dessert coming and I cannot finish both dishes. This was paired with a Groth 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. Good pairing.

They then brought a brique of 2009 Caberbet out. This barrique traveled down the coast with the guest chef. It went surfing, bartered for fresh vegetables, had happy hour and "Barique" had a great time. What they should have done is have a slide show on a laptop of all the "events" " Barique" did on his trip down. They had pictures on a cell phone but it would have been better to see them larger. They tapped the barique and served the wine with dessert. The wine is very young and still have vibrant fruit and paired very well with a Strawberry Shortcake with Albion Strawberries, Fresh Made Strawberry Ice Cream and Chantilly Cream.

The chef then brought out fresh made truffles. One was peanut butter & jelly and was quite good.

Both chefs are young. The chef at Zimzala is Roy Henrickson. No formal culinary school but very good at what he does. The guest chef form Americano Restaurant was Kory Stewart who trained at the Culinary Institute of America I was impressed with their depth.

Susanne Groth was in attendance pouring her wines. They very generously filled a bottle of 2009 Cabernet from the barique and gave us each one to take home.

The regular dinner menu looked very interesting. The food is good. The place has a nice vibe about it. But it is noisy. This seems be the trend with the under 35 crowd. I find it irritating that you have to yell to have conversation. But I also think that having your cell phone attached to your ear or constantly texting is rude also. I sometimes wonder if they do this while they are having sex.

Dinner was $78 plus tax & tip. I am ok with that what really ticked me off was went I left the parking structure they charged me $16. The restaurant gave us a voucher for 2 free hours. I did not expect $16 for the balance. When I think about sitting around for 30 minutes twiddling my thumbs waiting for dinner it really irks me. I could have been ok with $5 to $8 but not $16. Unless the hotel changes its parking policy I would not go back to the restaurant. Parking in downtown Huntington Beach is bad and that is why I do not go down in that area. Its a young person domain which I understand because of the beach and surfing. But I have a hard time with spending close to $100 for dinner and then get nailed for parking. I stopped going to the restaurants in downtown Long Beach for the same reason. There are too many good restaurants that I can give my money to that I do not have a parking fee.

Seafood Palace

2011-05-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Six of us gathered tonight for a midweek dinner at the Seafood Palace in Garden Grove. We have decided to do 6 people dinners midweek at this restaurant because weekends are too crowded and noisy.

As usual we let Henry do all the ordering. Tonight's bill of fare was a lot of our normal dishes Nothing to new. All were good as usual.

Sweet Sour Soup
Salt & Pepper Calamari
Shrimp with Chinese Broccoli
Kung Pao Ckicken
Spicy Shredded Pork
Beef with Spinach
Cooked Oysters with Chives
Baked Tofu

Dessert was a green melon hollowed out with melon balls in a liquid. There were bits of ice floating in the it. How they make it and what the liquid was I do not know. But it was tasty. It may have been a Vietnamese dish as in this area of town the restaurants have a tendancy to combine both cultures. They also served fresh sliced oranges and fortune cookies.

I brought a bottle of 2006 AP Vin Kanzler Pinot Noir and CJ brought a 2007 Testarossa Rosella's Pinot Noir. I thought the 2 best wines on the table.They also were the first to be emptied. Other wines were a Proseco that was flat so we did not drink it. These things happen sometimes. 2005 Stolpman Estate Syrah, 1998 Saxum Brown Willamette Pinot Noir, 2008 McKeon Phillips BVP, 2006 McKeon Phillips Cabernet Franc.

Hope to get another dinner in before Henry leaves on vacation in June. Word is Doung Son will reopen in July. We shall see as they are 18 months behind schedule now. Right now we are looking for a Dim Sum restaurant that is close. Driving to downtown LA or Monterey Park is an effort.

Arte Cafe & Stolpman Wines

2011-05-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 10, 2010

Arte Cafe in Cerritos (Town Center) was hosting a Stolpman wine dinner this evening. Eight of us decided to try this restaurant again because of the wines. We have had issues with Arte Cafe before. Dinner was late being served due to Tom Stolpman running late. They did serve several glasses of the Sauvignon Blanc along with an appetizer of Quesidilla and a mushroom cake, similar to a crab cake. The mushroom cake was very good and we couldd have a few more of these. The size was very small so it would have been nice to have a couple. The quesidilla was very small also.

Now this problem occurred again. By time the first course arrived they were out of the Sauvignon Blanc. This happened before at another dinner at Arte Cafe. Running behind, serve your guests several glass's of wine and then nothing for the food course. Mis-management.

First course: Dungeness Crab & Asian Noodle with Truffle Oil. Good dish but it needed a little punch to it. I did not taste any truffle in it so apparently the oil was used very sparingly. Wine was supposed to be the 2009 LaCoppa Blanc but that was not served. You had what was left of your Sauvignon Blanc.

Second course: Roasted Sweet Bell Pepper with Mozzarella Cheese with Prosciutto. Pepper had good flavor. They came round and added diced proscuitto to the pepper if you wanted it. Mozzarella was rubbery. . The was listed as 2009 La Coppa Sangiovese but they changed it to the 2008 Grenache.

Third course: Seared Halibut with Eggplant Caponta - Dish had very good flavor, halibut was cooked just right. Caponta ws good. Pairing was not. 2009 Estate Syrah. It went Ok with the halibut when when you added the Caponta it was not the best pairing.

Fourth Course: Marinated Rack of Lamb with Garlic & Spinach Confit. Rack was excellent. Cooked the way I like it, red in the middle. Flavor was good. It was a double chop on the small side but adequate. Paired with 2008 Hilltops Syrah. Good pairing

Dessert was a Apple Custard with Grand Marnier coated with Mixed Berries and served with a 2007 Late Harvest Viognier. This dish was very good and the pairing was good. Tom explained that this wine was a single year endeavor. Left over Viognier grapes and they decided to make the dessert wine. They do have a winner. Not overly sweet.

Arte Cafe had a trio playing music and singing. They were good but too loud. I want to have conversation which to me means talking not shouting.

So to me the same old problem at Arte Cafe. Not enough wait staff to handle a special wine dinner along with their regular dining trade of the night. We had one server pouring wine and serving food. Tom helped pour and they finally got another waitperson to help. Several times one of us at our table had to flag down someone to get our plate or wine. It seemed they kept missing people. This is a poor job of management and scheduling. Not the fault of the wait staff. They hustled. All in all dinner was good - nor great. They were generous in their pours. The food was good. At $58 is was a good dinner.

Lioco Wine Dinner

2011-05-01T06:56:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 29, 2011

Delius in Signal Hill, wwwDeliusrestaurant.com, hosted a Lioco Wine dinner this evening. From what the rep told us Lioco is a wine made by two people who were involved in different aspects of wine. A Matt Licklider, wine import specialist and Kevin O'Connor, a wine director at Spago. Hence taking part of both last names to come up with the winery name Their case production looks to be about 15,000.

Everyone now days is getting into the wine making business. There are now over 3,000 wineries in California and new ones popping up every month. A lot of them will never make it in the long run. Over saturation.

Big problems on the 405 freeway tonight so dinner was a few minutes late getting to the table. The restaurant was waiting for people to arrive. Now again I am having the same problem as I had with The Factory a few weeks back. Why not put the bread on the table NOW. Tonight the bread came out with the third course, but we did get bread.

First course: Roasted Octopus, sweet potato, pickled green papaya & micro celery. Sounds strange but worked very well. The octopus was diced as were the sweet potatoes. Very good flavor. This was served with a 2009 Lioco Sonoma Chardonnay, stainless steel fermented. This was a good pairing. The wine was to my palate.

I always have to warm of my white wines at Delius. For my tastes they are served a bit too cold. The flavor enhances as the wine wine comes closer to room temperature.

We even got Margie to try one piece of the Octopus. She decided it was too fishy for her. You have to understand how picky of an eater she is but she did make the effort to try so we are making progress with her. We have gotten her to eat duck now. Big accomplishment. But somehow I do no think we will ever get her to even try sea slug or jelly fish. Her mind works overtime.

Second Course: Goat Cheese Tart with beet gelee, crispy blood orange & Upland Cress. OK is "Upland" different from "Downland" Somehow I am not sure what or where the cress is, it is still "cress". The crispy blood oranges were really good. Micro thin slices and roasted in the oven. I could have eaten a big bowl of them alone. Wine with this dish was a 2010 Lioco "Indica" Rose from Mendocino County. "Indica" is supposed to be a blend that the Mendocino County wineries are pushing to be unique to that area. The notes on this wine says a "bleed" from 70 year old Carignan grapes. I was not a big fan of this wine. It was dry which I like but I felt it was really lacking in flavor and depth. I have had much better Rose's

Third Course: Duck Confit Roulade, Swiss Chard, crispy shallots and dried cherry red wine reduction. Duck had excellent flavor and was rolled in the swiss chard (roulade) . This dish was a real winner. Served with a 2009 Lioco Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. Non discript Pinot. It did improve dramatically with the food. But lacked something. But the bread showed up.

Fourth Course: Pork Tenderloin Sous Vide, tea smoked with roasted Kabocha squash and shaved fennel. Pork was cold smoked in the morning and then sous vide before serving. The squash was mashed and had good flavor. Similar to a sweet potato. Fennel is one of the few foods I do not care for. I am not a fan of licorice and fennel tastes just like it. I pulled most of it off to the side. I will eat some but too much is a turn off. The pork had excellent flavor, just the right amount of smoke flavor to be real interesting. Wine served with this dish was a 2009 Lioco, Hirsch Vineyard, Pinot Noir. This was a better Pinot than the first one but it also was twice the price.

Dessert was a Vanilla Panna Cotta with crispy crepes, pineapple granite and rum caramel. Very good. None left on my plate.

Daniel Hyatt the Chef de Cuisine, is now responsible for all the special wine dinners and the menus for them. He also does the wine pairing for them. I think he is doing a really great job. Louise handles the day to day menus. Big difference in the two styles. Both are very good at what they do and with recipe development.

Best Deal

2011-04-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Just a random "musing". Why are the polish dogs at Costco so good ? A drink & a dog for $1.50. Best deal around and they are good.

The Factory Again

2011-04-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Sorry to say the Factory "bombed" again. Natalie went home with back problems and it showed in the kitchen. I also was not overly impressed with the menu. Tonight's wine theme for this BYOB dinner was "Sustainable /Organic Wines". Having no idea of the menu you were at a loss to what varietal to bring.

There was a mixed bag of wine brought. I noted about 8 of them. I brought a 2005 Ampelos Epsilon Syrah. Others were 2009 Riverbench Chardonnay, 2009 Saucelito Zinfandel, 2009 Halter Ranch Rose, 2007 Adeladia Verasion, 2008 Ponzi Pinot Noir, 2007 D'Amare Super Tuscan and a Bonny Doon Cigare Volante. Their was another Rose & Saugvignon Blanc brought but I did not note what they were. A few other also.

Dinner was 35 minutes late being served. No bread or anything on the table to help while you are waiting. Big mistake. When you problems in the kitchen keep people happy with bread. Its cheap.

First up was a Empanada made with diced beets, roasted hazelnuts, raisins, garlic, onions and goat cheese. A cream sauce of mint, honey & thyme was on top. Flavor was good. Beets were way undercooked and I felt the dough on the Empanada left something to be desired. It seemed a little tough to me.

A salad of mixed field greens was served. I think there may have been some cheese in it. A few strawberries were in it. Dressing was non-existent.

Main course was grilled shrimp with strips of skirt steak wrapped around. A few vegetables on the plate. Luke warm. It would have been better to have a small steak along with the shrimp instead of trying to be clever. Especially when they were short handed.

Dessert was an apple crisp with ice cream and chopped dates on top. It had decent flavor but unfortunately the ice cream was melted and it became a cream sauce.

When you become short handed in the kitchen it really shows. Also the idea of "being inspired" by the farmers market the morning of the dinner doesn't help. It might be fine for the vegetable and salad but you really need a game plan in advance of a your main dish. Also it would be nice to know what is being served ahead of time so you can plan you wine accordingly.

I will go to the next dinner in May but The Factory is on "probation" with me again. If they fail next month I will not go back. With a price of $25 you give and take a little. I do not expect a $100 dinner for $25 but I expect warm food and what is served is correct. A grilled cheese sandwich with soup and salad would have been better that tonight's dinner. Don't try to be too clever and over sophisticated. Keep it simple but good.

April Wino's

2011-04-24T08:37:00.001-07:00

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Our monthly gathering of the winos today was a small group. Too many other events conflicting with today's event. Long Beach Grand Prix, Santa Barbara Vintners Festival, a really good tasting at Wally's and the Orange County Wine Society's annual event at the Anaheim Hilton and another wine group that some of our winos are part of also was hosting a tasting. So we had a split group today of about half.

Today's theme was wines from Mendocino County. The hosts wanted to compare wines from before and after the big fires in 2008 to that vintage. Frankly I could not taste any difference. I could not get smokiness out of any of the 2008 wines. The only smoke I could get was from the smoker that they were cooking the tri tip in.

There were 2 Williams Selyem Weir Vineyards Pinots brought, a 2006 & a 2008. That should have been a good contrast but no smoke in either of them.

It was nice having a smaller group of 14 people. At least you you have conversation with everyone. Weather was a little on the cool side but we all sat outside on the deck and were quite comfortable.

Franco's

2011-04-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday April 16, 2011 After the Clos Pepe tasting at MAWL today a few of us headed over to Franco's in the Los Alamitos/Cypress area for dinner. Food is good, moderatly priced and no corkage for us. I ordered the Linguine Pescador. Nice light tomato sauce and loaded with clams, mussells, shrimp, scallops and calamari. With dinner came soup or salad and I opted for the 5 onion soup. Great soup. Everyone said their dishes were good also. Their was a veal dish, a flounder dish, a steak and another dish similar to mine only made with alfredo sauce. We had a nice assortment of wines. I brought a bottle of Clos Pepe Sparking Pinot Rose and a bottle of 2005 Chateau Margene Sangiovese. Also on the table was a 2007 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir, 2008 Tobin James Refusco, 2005 Lugaya Zenato amd a 2002 Uccelliere Brunello. Papa Franco came out and got a couple of glasses to taste and Mama came a got a pour of sparkling. Nice evening to end a nice day, And the weather was beautiful also. Breeze at the beach and I could hear the Indy cars taking laps for the pole position at my place which is probably about 12 miles from my house. The wind was blowing just right for the sound to travel down the coast.

Clos Pepe tasting

2011-04-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 16, 2011 MAWL Wine store in Garden Grove hosted a tasting today of Clos Pepe wines. Wes Hagen, winemaker and vineyard manager of Clos Pepe was in attendance. 12 of us sat at a table with 7 glasses each. Wine was poured and Wes walked us through the characteristics of each wine. For 90 minutes we tasted, asked questions and really enjoyed ourselves. Wes is the ultimate teacher and really knows what he is talking about. He is entertaining without being boring. We started out with the new not released yet Sparkling Pinot Rose. This particular wine is made by Norm Yost of Flying Goat out of Clos Pepe grapes. So if you ever taste a Flying Goat sparkling Pinot Rose you will notice the similarity. Norm makes all the sparkling then the bottles are split between the two wineries. Just different labels. A 2009 Clos Pepe Pinot Rose was poured. This will be the last of the rose produced. Too expensive to produce for what they can sell it for. Next on the table was a 2007 "barrel fermented Chardonnay. Slight hint of oak. It is aged in 3 year old barrels. I can handle this chardonnay although I like the "Homage to Chablis" more. Unfortunately they were not pouring the other chardonnay today. Three years of Pinot were next 2006, 2007 and 2009. It always interesting to taste different vintages side by side and see the difference that "Mother Nature" can make. I brought along a 2008out of my cellar to fill the gap. The last wine on the list was the 2009 Axis Mundi Sleepy Hollow syrah. This will be the last bottling of Sleepy Hollow as someone not in the right mind decided to tear out the syrah grapes and plant Pinot instead. This is a really good cool climate syrah. The Wes surprised us with a pouring of the 1999 Pinot. A little past prime but a nice example of "old" wine. A very informative and enjoyable day. It was nice to be with people that were truly interested in tasting and learning about the wines instead of those that show up and want to drink and chatter away endlessly.

Return to Utopia

2011-04-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 14, 2011 Went back to Utopia in downtown Long Beach www.utopiarestaurant.net , tonight for a 4 course wine dinner. At $40 it was hard to pass up. We have not been to this particular place in over a year. For some reason they redid their email list and we were did not get put back on. And its the saying "out of sight, out of mind". We started out with a Seafood Ceviche, grilled calamari, shrimp & scallop in a spicy fresh tomato cilantro olive oil sauce. It was tasty and it helped cut the over oakiness of the 2009 Cuvaison Napa Valley Chardonnay. I just cannot get into the over oaky taste that California winemakers seemed to think is necessary in Chardonnay. Wine is made from grapes (fruit) not the stems and twigs of the grape plant. Second course was a Pork medallion with a spicy roasted red pepper sauce. The pork was thin but cooked nicely and the sauce was very good. Slight smokiness. Wine was a 2006 Gouguenhelm Syrah, Mendoza, Argentina. Wine was ok but nothing to write home about. I would have liked to try a good Malbec with this dish. Main course you had a choice of roasted duck breast or grilled lamb chops. We all chose the lamb chops. They were served with fresh basil, tomatoes, garlic sauce , saffron rice and grilled vegetables. The flavor was good, the lamb chops (2) were very small and thin. The grilled zucchini was over cooked but the grilled carrots were nicely done. A 2007 Eponymous Mertiage, McAllister Vineyard, Sonoma was poured. This was the best of the night. And they did give us second pours. Dessert was a bread pudding with vanilla ice cream, It was good. At $40 plus tax & tip the dinner was ok. I know all restaurants are having a hard time and there is a lot of competition. Everyone is doing wine dinners so it needs to be something that catches you for you to come back. I certainly would not pay more that $40 for the above dinner. And I would take a really hard look at the next wine dinner menu before I would commit.

Seafood Palace

2011-04-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 5 brave souls gathered at the Seafood Palace in Garden Grove on a Tuesday night for dinner. Tuesdays are off days for a lot of restaurants and the main chef's and staff have the day off. You take a chance of quality of food and service. But in exchange you get a small crowd and a lot less noise. Especially in the local Asian restaurants which are frequentted daily by the locals. We were assigned a very good server which was nice. Henry as usual did all the selection and ordering for us. Great that he reads, writes and speaks Chinese. Otherwise who knows what we would end up eating. As it is we have had sea slug and jelly fish with Henry. And both were decent. Seafood Palace is a Chinese restaurant with a Vietnamese twist. So a few more spicy components to the dishes and a heavier hand on the "peppers". Tonight we had several repeat dishes, Salt & Pepper Calamari, Shrimp with Broccoli, Beef with Spinach and the Sweet Sour Soup we had at the last dinner here. With the soup you could tell the difference in who was cooking in the kitchen. Tonight's soup was good but not the caliber as the dish we had last month. Something was not quite the same. The waitress brought us out a platter of Vietnamese sausages (on the house). The sausages were about the diameter of a quarter and sliced thin. You could taste the lemongrass in the sausages. Immediately you knew they were Vietnamese and not Chinese. Served the julienned cucumbers and peanuts. We had a dish that Henry called "Chow Mein" Chicken and vegetables on top of very thin slightly crispy noodles. We had something similar to this at Duong Son but I preferred the Seafood Palace version. A new item was a Spicy Fried Pork. Julienned strips of pork and vegetables. This was a very good dish. Spicy but not enough to kill your palate. I would have this dish again. Ted really enjoyed this one. We were served sliced oranges for dessert (Chinese are not into sweets) and then the waitress brought out a tray of Mango puddings for us. Compliments of the house. This is why Henry is so valuable. We would not get this if we went in on our own. Plus Henry is a great friend and good company. And he is a good dancer. A man of many talents. As always we had a wide assortment of wines. I did not get all the particulars written down as I was too busy eating and chattering away and forgot to make a list. 2007 Huber Chardonnay 2005 Sinor-LaValle Aubaine Vineyards Pinot Noir ???? Marsanney Burgundy 2005 McKeon Phillips BPR Pinot Noir ???? Ken Brown Santa Maria Pinot Noir

Dunarea Romanian Restaurant

2011-04-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 9, 2011 A small group of 6 gathered at Dunarea Restaurant in Anaheim for dinner. We had not been back here is a long time. It was nice having a small group instead of the 20 plus people that CJ usually had when he was doing his monthly "wine n' dine" dinners. Better conversation with everyone instead of just the immediate people around you. Better wines. We ordered a lot of appetizers and when that was finished I was almost also. Way too much food but so good you just kept eating. We started off with: Salata De Vinete - an eggplant spread - I normally do not care for eggplant but this was good. Delta Appetizer - Caviar spread with olives and lemons Cabanos Sausages - small grilled smoked pork sausages Mamaliguta Cu Branza Si Smantana - polenta with feta cheese and sour cream Our main courses were: Stuffed grape leaf rolls, Lamb pastrami (I passed, its too dry for me) and Cordon Bleu, a breaded pork sirloin roll filled with ham and kaskaval (cheese) and mushrooms. I was absolutely stuffed and could not even have a bite of the dessert. Wines were very good tonight, ???? Windward Pinot Noir, 2004 Alapay Rebecka ( a bordeaux blend) 2004 Williams Selyem Flax Vineyard Pinot Noir 1998 Staglin Family Rutherford Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 Gypsy Boots Sonoma Pinot Noir 2000 Battaglini, Twin Vines Ranch Russian River Zinfandel 2009 Tobin James Late Harvest Zinfandel NV Provenance California Port The Staglin was a big surprise. It was decanted and when first poured seemed light and maybe over the hill a little, but after about an hour it changed dramatically Became much bigger in scope, more body, fresher fruit and longer on the palate. It did have what I took as a hint of petrol on the nose but that did not show up in the taste. We had entertainment tonight. For some reason all Romanian, Hungarian etc., music seems to be alike. But it did have a few of us bouncing in our seats. We will have to make a point of coming back to Dunarea a little more often.

Indian Again

2011-04-10T07:17:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 A quick impromptu dinner at what is becoming our favorite Indian restaurant, the Himilayan Grille in Sunset Beach. Didn't take notes but I do remember we had 4 chicken dishes, 2 lamb and a vegetable dish. Seems all had different sauces. A guest from out of state ordered the chicken mango. That was a new one Nice flavor with the sweet mango. I ordered the garlic chicken which I had the time before. I think that will become a regular for me along with lamb saag. I brought a Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noir sparkling. Inexpensive but tasty. I also brought a 2006 Huber Dornfelder. Other wines were a Hartford Court Pinot, a Les Duc Rhone, along with another pinot and a white wine that somehow have slipped by feeble mind.

A'Roma Ristorante

2011-04-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 2, 2011 A'Roma is a new place for me. A little out of my way but less than 30 minutes drive from my house. I would guess the city would be either Cerritos or La Palma. Near the 91 freeway and Orangethorpe. The dinner was "Hook & Ladder Winery" out of the Sonoma/Russian River area. I had stopped by their winery a few years back. Good every day solid wines. Reasonably priced. Josh DeLoach the owner's son and winemaker was hosting. This used to be the DeLoach winery and some of the acreage and name was sold off. The renamed themselves "Hook & Ladder" because the founder of the winery was a fireman. There were approximately 60 people in attendance tonight. Family style seating. Bread was put on the table along with a dish of butter that had a marinara sauce in the bottom of the dish. People seemed to like it that way. I really prefer my butter "plain". I really like the taste of pure butter. Bread was good. First Course: Blackened Shrimp on a nest of Capellini pasta tossed with julienned sauteed vegetables. This had an Asian twist to it. A bit different for an Italian restaurant. People really liked this dish. I was not that big of a fan of it. It did pair very well with the 2008 Russian River Gewurztraminer. Second Course: Osso Buco Manicotti. Manicotti pasta filled with Osso Buco veal, ricotta, parmesan and braised vegetables with a avery light marinara sauce. This dish was excellent. My favorite of the evening. Paired with a 2008 Russian River Pinot Noir. Wine was too young and tight. You got a real taste of alcohol on the back palate. After taking the wine and sloshing it back and forth between two glasses it improved quite a bit. The alcohol went away and the fruit became a bit more vibrant. I still did get an oaky/tannin taste on the back palate. Main Course: Beef Short Ribs - slow cooked beef short ribs in a red wine reduction served with a creamy polenta and oven baked broccoli with pine nuts and shaved parmesan. Meat was excellent. polenta was good correct, sauce was very good. I felt the broccoli could have stayed in the oven a few minutes longer. I would have preferred a more "roasted" taste to it. The wine for this dish was the Tillerman Red Blend, Russian River Valley. This wine is their "staple" They make and sell more of this blend than any other wines in their portfolio. It has always been a nice solid wine for the price. Dessert: Panna Cotta with a strawberry/grand marnier sauce. Good flavor. A nice light ending to the meal. Pours of wine were generous. You could have seconds or even third pours if you wanted. They ave a themed wine dinner at A'Roma every few months. I would definitely go back.

New Place In Town

2011-04-03T08:51:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Went to a "new" place tonight for a wine tasting. New to me but I recall seeing this place years ago. Close to the Belmont Brewing Company. ABC Liquors & Wine in Long Beach/Belmont Shore. The tasting was held upstairs in the ":Attic". Narrow steep stairs. Old building but that's what they had then when the building was built. They set around a tray of cheeses. Some were excellent and meats. Tonight's theme was Patricia Greene wines for Oregon. 6 wines were poured. Pours were generous. They also at the end of the evening put the bottles that still had wine left in them on the table for you to help yourself. For $20 it was good. I will seek out some other tastings here in the future but with the sucked parking it would have to be a winery that I was really interesting in. Their tasting are also on Wednesdays and that is my Happy Hour night out with friends.

March Gathering Of The Winos

2011-04-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

Sunday, March 27, 2011 Today's them was Rhone Blends from California or France. You would think that people who say they have an interest in wine and seem to think that they something about wine would know what a "Rhone Blend" was. NOT. 100% Syrah is not a "blend". California blends with Zinfandel in them are not. Wines from provence are not Rhone blends. Interesting to see who brought what. We had 27 wines today and 6 of them did not conform to the theme. Hosts food dish was ribs which the wines paired well with. This again was a gathering that had a lot of appetizers and just a couple of desserts. Since it is always pot luck you get what you get. Out of all the wines a few I found that I really liked were the 2008 Les Pallievas, Lesacines Gigondas, 2007 Perrin & Fils Cotes du Rhoine Villages, 2006 L'Aventure Cote a Cote and the 2004 Tablas Creek Espirit de Beaucastel. The 2001 Caudulet de Beaucastel also was nice. We had one corked wine and one oxidized wine. That's the luck of the draw when it comes to wines. Next month off to "Mendocino" for the theme.

Loire Valley Wines at Delius

2011-04-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 25, 2011 Full house tonight at Delius , www.DeliusRestaurant.com, , for tonight's wine themed dinner. Sat at the table with George Pavlov the wine rep. First time meeting him. First Course: Duo of Oysters, one with raw citrus granite, black pepper vinaigrette and a baked oyster with horseradish, parmesan, garlic, micro arugula. Both were excellent. Served with a 2009 Clos de La Chapelle, Muscadet, Sevre et Maine. Very good pairing Second Course: Pork Belly Sous Vide, citrus glaze, cantaloupe spears, Upland cress. Wine was a 2008 Vincent Raimbault, Vouvray. Good food , but I personally like the glazed pork belly on the regular appetizer menu better. Again was a good pairing. I particularly liked this Vouvray, Third Course: Baby Arugula, toasted walnuts, blue cheese, balsamic reduction. Two wines were served with this. I was told because of the blue cheese. Wines were 2008 Joel Delaunay Touraine (Sauvignon Blanc) and a 2006 Xavier Frissant, Renaissance, Touraine Amboise (Malbec, Cab Franc & Sauvignon Blanc) Food was good, Wines were good. I could have done without this entire course. Other people loved it. I just do not happen to be a fan of greens with wine. Fourth Course: Pan roasted duck breast, pancetta & lentil stew, mini slices of brussel sprouts, micro mirepoix. Paired with a 2009 Pascal Bellier, Cheverny (Pinot Noir & Gamay) As always duck cooked to perfection. This was a top notch dish along with a very good wine. Dessert: Raisin spice cake with walnut gelato, mascarpone gelato and carrot syrup. OK when I first saw this on the menu I am wondering how this is going to taste. Sounded a bit off to me especially the carrot syrup. The syrup was on the outside of the plate. and had a very good flavor. Carrots are naturally sweet and I doubt if too much is any sugar was added to this syrup. The cake had wonderful flavor but to me the two gelatos were the absolute best. None of the wines were expensive but all paired well with the food. This makes for a very delightful dining experience. My favorites of the night were the oysters and the gelatos. I could have eaten a couple of dozen oysters and a pint of each gelato and been a very happy person. The two wines I enjoyed the most were the Vouvray and the Cheverny.

Penfolds at The Sky Room

2011-03-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 18, 2011

The Sky Room at the Breakers Hotel in Long Beach hosted a wine dinner this evening. It has been several years since I have been here and the view is still spectacular. The City government hasn't had an opportunity to screw that up yet. They seem to have gone out of their way to screw everything else up in the city.

Penfolds was the wine of the evening. I was the first to arrive at the table and the wine rep, Matt from Penfolds along with Margaux Pierog the rep from Heirloom Wine Group were already seated. I was poured at glass of Penfolds 2009 Bin 51, Edna Valle Riesling. Nice and dry with a slight sweet hint of fruit. I was also offered a pour of Champagne which was the second label of Salon. It was very nice. I had met Margaux at Delius when they had the Hartford Court dinner last year. Always pays to know the wine rep. She was doing a blind tasting of the champagne to see if she could identify it. Margaux is an Advanced Sommelier.

A small reception in the bar upstairs (steep stairs) was being held so we climbed up. They were pouring the Riesling for this portion along with a small plate that had a raw oyster(very small) on a bed of salt and a Risotto/Mozzarella ball (fried). Then we had to climb down the stairs (steep) to go into the main dining area. This I do not think was a wise decision on managements part.

Dinner was held a very large round table with a stunning view of the shoreline and ocean.

First Course: Grilled Calamari with tempura vegetables and walnut sauce. - they took a tentacle of calamari and stuffed it. The stuffing, sauce and vegetables were good but I thought the calamari was tough. Certainly not the great calamari we have had at the Seafood Palace. This was served with Penfolds 2009 Bin 311 Tumbarumba Chardonnay.

Second Course: Duck Confit Tacos, napa cabbage, black forbidden rice & berry gastrique. The small shell portion (flat) was very hard to cut. Some people picked it up with their hands but I wasn't keen on that as then I would have a very messy wine stem. The Duck filling was very good. The wine paired with this dish was a Penfolds 2007 Bin 138 GMS, Barossa Valley. I thought this wine was the best of the evening.

Main Course: Fennel Herb Crusted Lamb with peppercorn pomme frites. Flavor of the lamb was excellent. But the chops (3) were way too fatty. Served with a Penfolds 2006 Bin 128 Kalimna Shiraz, South Australia. This was also a good wine and a good pairing.

Desert was a Pecan and Cheese Duo - a couple of pieces of cheese on the plate along with pecan halves with a soft cheese sandwiched between. OK, nothing to write home about. They also then brought a small creme brulee tart which was good. Served with a MV Club Reserve Classic Tawny Port.

We then had a pour of the 2009 Penfolds Grange. You could taste how good the wine should be but unfortunately it was going through a "dumb" stage and was not showing well at all. I have had Grange before so I know how good it can be and how long the bottles age. This particular year, 2009, the Grange is 100% Shiraz.

All in all a nice evening with decent food but nothing spectacular. The wines were good along with the company. I would attend another wine dinner at the Sky Room to see if I still feel the food is not quite up to the level this restaurant should be. I do not write off a place because of a "missed" dinner.

Himilayan Again

2011-03-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

Thursday, March 17, 2011

A very small group of us went the the Himilayan at Peters Landing in Sunset Beach tonight.

We started out with two appetizers , a Vegetable Pokora and Samosa's. A couple of new dishes that we had not had before Rogan Josh (lamb) and Garlic Chicken. The chicken had the best garlic cream type sauce on it. I will definitely remember this one. We also had Lamb Saag, Shrimp Marsala and Lamb Vindaloo.

The wines brought were:
2004 Melville Clone 115 "Indigene" Pinot Noir
2005 Lucia Pisoni Vineyard Pinot Noir
2006 Ken Brown Clos Pepe Pinot Noir
2003 Shirvinton, McLaren Valle Shiraz
2005 Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits
Albecht Mann Alsace Grand Cru, Pinot Gris

Even though we arrived at 6:00 for dinner we were still at the restaurant at 9:30. A small group which made for very good conversation. And the wines weren't bad either. We just lingered over the wines. and talked. CJ was just back from India. His mother passed away and he spent several weeks over there for the funeral. At least he did get to see her before she passed away.

The Factory BYOB - Napa Wines

2011-03-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

At The Factory in Bixby Knolls tonight's BYOB theme was "Napa" wines. When I think of Napa I immediately think "Cabernet". So I found it strange that the main course was chicken breast with a lemon sauce. Nothing on the menu screamed "CAB" and knowing people they will bring red wines to this dinner. Some people just do not know how to pair wine and food together to make dinning an enjoyable experience.

We started out with a lamb meatball with two sauces. The sauces were white and a dark red/purple tone. The lamb was good and the sauces were good. Too bad we didn't know what they were No one let us know. This dish did pair well with a few of the red wines that were brought.

Next was a mixed green salad with sliced beets, fennel, shaved Manchego cheese and walnuts with a herb, lemon olive oil dressing. I was surprised that this went well with a Neyers Merlot that was brought.

A plate of crisp baked potato rounds along with seasoned vegetables was served. I found that this paired better with a Chardonnay.

The main dish of Lemon Roasted Chicken was set before us. This had a bed of onion & garlic noodles which was very good. But no way did this dish pair with red wine. And a few people were doing that. I felt it paired well with the 2009 Twisted Vine non-oaked chardonnay that I brought. Other people must had agreed as it was the first bottle emptied.

The menu of the website had dessert as a chocolate pudding with lemon & coconut infusion. Do not know what happened but we were served a vanilla ice cream with basil and something else in it. Again no explanation or description of what was served.

There were 15 people at this dinner tonight. The crowd has fallen off. Those two bad meals in a row last year apparently influenced people and they have not been back. A young couple has this restaurant and they have made a few mistakes in the past year. Hopefully they have learned from them and will be successful in their endeavor.

There was one person in attendance that was so full of himself it almost became laughable. All he talked about were ratings and $ and especially with his wines. But this is the person that wanted me to try the BV Tapestry with the chicken because he thought it was so good. I think I hurt his feelings when I said it was ok but not a good pairing and that my chardonnay was a much better wine paired with the dish. Most of the time this person brings mediocre wines and then brags about them

I did not keep a list of what wines were on the table but along with the 2009 Twisted Vine Chardonnay and the BV Tapestry there were numerous Sauvignon Blancs which I tried none . A Josph Phelps Syrah, Neyers Merlot, Turnbull Caberent & Chardonnay, Joe Gott Sauvignon Blanc and a Domaine Caneros Bubbly. A couple of Chardonnays and a Pinot Gris were seen also,

Chinese Again

2011-03-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Duong Son still has not opened so we headed back to the Seafood Palace in Garden Grove for dinner. This is a very large restaurant which has a lot of "private" functions on Saturday nights. Tonight the had a large Chinese wedding reception going in the main dining area and a Vietnamese church fund raiser going in the banquet area. That left a small "VIP" dining area left for the rest of anyone eating there that night. And that dining area was full and also had a birthday party going on at one of the tables.

This made for a "loud" evening. The banquet room had a band playing and naturally they were loud. I think I will check with Henry and see if we can move any more dinners we have at the Seafood Palace to a weeknight. Doung Son now is supposed to open May 5, but it also was supposed to be open last July. So we shall see.

Fried Tofu - good but it seemed the pieces were too large. Even Henry had problems picking it up with his chopsticks.

Fried Salt & Pepper Calamari - exceptional good, the quality of the calamari made the dish

Shrimp with Chinese Broccoli - again excellent quality

Sweet and Sour Soup - one of the best I have had

Beef with green - again good quality meat and good flavor

Kung Pao Chicken - we had this last time and it is still the best Kung Pao I have had

Chicken with Rice Noodles, vegetables and anchovy sauce - I could have made a meal of this alone

Chicken with Spinach - Henry told me they blanch the spinach in boiling water for just a few seconds and into an ice bath - dry the spinach out and then stir fry it. I did eat a lot of this spinach

Shredded Pork with bamboo shoots and fish sauce - again another very good dish

Dessert was "Herbs In Coconut Milk" a Vietnamese specialty - it did nothing for me. Maybe if I was in Viet Nam and it was hot and humid I would like this.

They also came around and offered us another dessert that was being served in the banquet room. An Almond pudding type mixture with fruit cocktail in it. This again is another Vietnamese dessert. This one was better that the other.

Jan was getting good at pouring with her let hand. Her broken arm is not quite healed yet. But her left hand chopstick skills were non existent. The room was so loud that Terry & Cora had problems with their hearing aids and the rest of us shouted a lot. But it was a good evening out and a lot of fun. We had a good time watching the church party through the glass doors. They sure liked to dance and sing karaoke. We were sat at a table that could accommodate 12 people and we were 8 so that added to the "shouting". Of course by the end of a wine dinner we are plenty noisy ourselves so we seemed to blend right in with the crowd.

I tasted most of the wines but I think I missed a few.

I brought a 2008 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir. I brought this to taste it and find where it is in aging. It took awhile to open up even with the aerator on but it did become one of the best wines that night. Glad I have 6 more bottles of this wine stashed away. I will not open another bottle for a couple of years unless I decide to do a vertical tasting.

2007 Clos Pepe Chardonnay - slightly sweet, small amount of residual sugar
2006 Privada, Norton (blend)
2009 Rancho Sisquoc Sylvaner
2006 Graziana Coro Mendocino (blend)
2006 Rusack Santa Barbara County Syrah
2007 Redemption Mission Ranch, Monterey, Pinot Noir
2009 Vieillies Vignes Pouilly Fume
2006 McKeon-Phillips Leonardo (blend)

310 Main

2011-03-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

In conjunction with Orange County Dine Out Week we decided to try at new restaurant in Seal Beach. 320 Main. That is the name and address. Seal Beach is always a challenge because of the parking but there were two small city parking lots close by and since it was in the middle of the week I lucked out.

This restaurant took the place of the old Bayou St. Jean. Still small but it seemed a little noisier. Noise seems to be the trend now with the younger generation. Maybe because they are losing their hearing because of the earpieces that they stuck in their ears to listen to music 24 hours a day.

Since this was a "special" with Dine Out week we had our choice of 3 appetizers, 5 main dishes and two desserts for $30 and with $5 corkage on Wednesday night we knew this should be a good deal.

I ordered the "Mac n' Cheese" with duck appetizer. Had 4 cheeses in the sauce. Very good. A small portion but I could have stopped eating right then it was so filling. The other appetizers ordered were "Fried Brussel Sprouts" with mustard sauce and caramelized onions and a bruschetta. I tasted the brussel sprouts and they were good also except I do no think I could eat the entire serving of them. The mustard sauce tasted good but a little went a long way.

My main course was the "Lamb Chops" with a mustard rub and a pistachio crust. Served with a salad. I ate the salad because it doesn't travel well and then one double chop. You got 4 double chops. The lamb was excellent, cooked the way I like it. Took the three remaining chops home for dinner on the next night. After all we have dessert coming up. Paul ordered the 12oz Rib Eye steak and was happy with it and Margie had the Gnocchi which she said was good. Clyde & Libby had the lamb chops also.

You had a choice of 2 desserts. Creme Brulee and a Fried PBJ sandwich. Four of us opted for the creme brulee and Margie had the "PBJ".

Wines brought that night were 2005 Stoplman Syrah, 2007 Turley, Hayne Vineyard Zinfandel, 2008 Lancaster Estate, Samantha Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, 2008 Joseph Swan Russian River Valley white Rhone Blend and 2005 Bridlewood Dustry Trails Syrah.. Not a bad wine in the bunch

We all decided that 320 Main was worth going back to dine there again. The quality of the foods was good. It was a laid back place and no need to feel like you needed to dress up. And the nice thing was they did not charge us corkage. Only negative was the noise. And they were really crowded and that was on a Wednesday night.

Franco's

2011-02-26T08:18:00.000-08:00

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Six of us gathered at Fanco's in Los Alamitos tonight for dinner. Had not been here for awhile. I arrived ahead of the group as I came straight from work with a quick detour to Costco. Nibbled on bread and opened my wine. Had to check it out to make sure it was good. Any excuse to sip the red.

3 of us ordered the veal chop special. Huge chop (as big as the ones at Traders Joes) stuffed with spinach, Fontina cheese, sun dried tomatoes with a mushroom Marsala sauce. Sopped up the sauce with the bread. A risotto dish, pasta with clams and a stuffed sole rounded out the evening All were good. Did not hear any complaints from the gallery. I took half of my dish home and will have it for breakfast on Saturday.

I brought a 2002 Ciaccipiccolomini d'Aragon Brunello di Montalcino, A little light but good. Also on the table for our consumption was a NV Michel Loriot Extra Brut Champagne, 2008 Tobin James, James Gang Reserve Primotivo, 2005 Bottega Vinaia Trention Pinot Grigio, 2004 Brunacio Casella Brunello, 2008 Tablas Creek Vermentino, 2008 Anthill Farms Syrah and 2008 Lynmar Estate Quail Hill Pinot Noir.

I will have to make sure it is not as long between visits to Franco's again. Small family owned restauant and the food is good.

Monthy Wino's Gathering

2011-02-26T08:01:00.000-08:00

Sunday, February 20, 2011

The monthly group of winos ascended on my "Casa" today. My theme was Wines Rated 93 to 100. This always brings out a mixed bag of wines. But always good. They do not necessarily have to be expensive to get a good rating. There were several bottles that were in the $20 range.

With all gatherings this is a pot lock. I made the main dish, this year was chili. Everyone brings a dish of some type and you hope for a variety. Last month there was an abundance of desserts, so this month everyone went the other route. If it had not been for Patte bringing a birthday cake for William there was only 1 other dessert brought. Edie brought an appetizer of Filo pastry cups filled with brie cheese and candied nuts. Excellent. It went fast We do have a group of "gluttons" I think.

The weather was cold which made it great for having the wines outside on the patio. Managed to get through most of the event without too many red wine spots on my white couch until later in the evening after everyone was gone Ted knocked over his glass so I will be washing all my white slipcovers.

An interesting set of wine showed up. a 2008, 2005 and 2004 Schild Barossa Syrah. Big difference in the taste between the years. A 1995 Simi Reserve Cabernet was still drinking nicely. The 2006 Saxum Broken Stones disappeared fast. All the wines were good but a few were better than others. 27 wines total. Everything from Brut Rose to Royal Tokaj

The nice thing about hosting is you get to keep the bottles of wine that are left. So for 2 days I could enjoy several glasses of different wine in the evening. Sometimes I enjoy that more.

The Olive Pit

2011-02-26T07:44:00.001-08:00

Thursday, February 17, 2011

A new restaurant has opened a couple of blocks from where I live. The Olive Pit. Apparently thy have a place in Brea also. Stopped in a couple of weeks ago to check it out and decided to come back with a few "foodies". The first time I was in it was not "full service" . You placed your order at the counter, received a number which you placed on your table and they brought your food to you. Reminded me of Carls Jr.. Ok idea but not the best.

Tonight they had a few serve staff to help take your orders. Like a real restaurant.

We started out with a couple of appetizers. Dolmades and the Three Dip Combo (Humus, Tzatziki and Melitzanosalata) along with pita bread. Dips wre exceptionally good. The Dolmades I wrote about in an earler blog. Good but different than Prevaza's. I had seen the grilled octopus on the blackboard when I walked in then promptly forgot about it. Maybe next time. Grilled octopus is so different from the rubby, chewy kind that you get with sushi.

4 of us had the lamb chops and two had mixed kabobs. Everyone was happy with their selections and the prices are reasonable. They did not charge us corkage so with tax and tip dinner came out to $25 a person.

We did have a good assortment of wines. the 2006 McKeon-Phillips Cabernet Franc was very good. We also had a Procesco which the bottle was real interesting. Didn't write the name down but it looked like a "Greek" painting instead of Italian I brought a 2005 Kosta Browne Amber Ridge Syrah whuch was showing well. A 2001 Stolpman Syrah, Arbor Brook Pinot Gris, 2004 Halter Ranch Ancestry, Ken Brown Clos Pepe Pinot Noir and a Alma Rose Chardonnay rounded out the evening.

We had Akis, the manager try our wines. He was feeling "good" when he left our table.

The Olive Pit is convenient to stop into on my way home from work. That I plan on doing on a regular basis. And we will be back with our wine to try new dishes.

January Gathering of The Winos

2011-02-05T09:43:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 30, 2011

The "Winos" gathered at Oliver & Lisa's today for the first wine tasting of the year. This month's theme was California Cabernet Sauvignon and California Sparkling. 26 cab's, 5 sparkling's and 1 Bordeaux showed up. Ranged from 1985 to 2009. Interesting selection. Most were good, a few over the hill and a few memorable ones. I did like the 1993 DeLoach and the 1993 Raymond Reserve. There was such a wide selection that it was real interesting to compare years and region. The 2005 Provence was good along with the 2006 Keenan,

Desserts were the hit of the day. Big selection. An abundance of food and a scattering of rain. The rain kept the party inside most of the time.

Big turnout for the first one of the year. Next month it's my turn to host. Hope it doesn't rain that day. I count on using my balcony for the wine.

Roll Out The Barrels

2011-02-05T09:09:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 29, 2011

We headed up the highway towards Santa Maria today to attend McKeon-Phillips barrel tasting. Stopped at Ellen's in Buellton for breakfast. I always order the biscuits and gravy. Its the only time I get them . They are so good tasting and so bad for you. I figure a couple of times a year should be ok.

We were at Huber Vineyards at 11:00 when they opened. Picked up a case of 2007 Huber Pinot Noir for $259. That is $21.58 a bottle for $40+ wine. Norm absorbed the sales tax so it was a better bargain. Naturally we had to taste what was on the counter. They Hubers really make nice wines. If I go back up the end of February I may pick up another case. At that price it makes a very inexpensive house wine.

We informed Norm & Traudl where we were going. They had not heard of McKeon-Phillips so next time I stop in I will drop them off a bottle of Cabernet along with some red wine vinegar that I have been making. Its time to pull off some vinegar as it has been in the jar for close to a year now. If I do say so myself , it's damm good vinegar.

Caught up with Terry & Cora and their 2 daughters at McKeon-Phillips. Had to walk around the corner of the complex and pick up fresh tamales at the Santa Maria Tamale Shop. I get them raw so I can freeze them and then I just steam them whenever I want a really good fresh tamales. Better flavor than freezing cooked tamales then reheating them.

We sat down to lunch along with barrel tasting 8 wines. Remember all these wines were taken straight from the barrel and had not been bottled yet.

Up first was Cavatelli pasta with Prince Edward Island mussels. Mussels were good. I would have gone with a different pasta myself. This was served with a 2010 Sauvignon Blanc. This wine improved dramatically with allowing it to sit for at least 15 minutes. Got rid of the sharp acidity. I have found McKeon-Phillips Sau Blancs to be best the year they are released. They go down hill fast from there.

Then we were served a soup. I was "PINK". Said it was "Yellow" beet and fennel. Now yellow beets are yellow inside and out. How it turned pink I do not know. I have never made soup from yellow beets so maybe it turns color. But when you steam a yellow beet it stays yellow. It wasn't awful tasting but I would never order it in a restaurant nor would I make it. This was served with a 2008 Pinot Noir, which I wasn't wild about but Terry thought it had great potential. Also a 2008 Cabernet Franc was served which I felt was a far superior wine.

Main course was a Lamb & Butternut Squash multigrain pasta. This dish was so sweet from the squash I had a hard time eating it. The lamb was hard to find. I think this dish would have been really good if there was someway to tone down the sweetness. It was served with a 2008 Petit Verdot and a 2008 Leonardo. Both were nice wines but I preferred the Petit.

Arriving next was a Pork Chop on a bed of Braised Radicchio. This was a very large chop. Too big. The radicchio was excellent The chop would have befitted form a brining. It was good but it could have been so much better. The wines served were 2008 Bella's Nebbiolo and 2009 Baileys Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Both good wines.

Dessert was a Blueberry Buttermilk Cake with Spiced Whipped Cream. Plain and simple. OK tasting. Nothing spectacular. The wine was a 2009 Malbec which was very good.

I only ordered the 2009 Baileys PR Cab through Terry. I would have liked to order some Cab Franc & Malbec but I have so much wine sitting around in cases right now and I have to start drinking more and buying less. I also had just bought a case of Huber which Steve took half. But that was still 6 more bottles to add to my collection.

I may go up the end of February for the release party. Will have to see how I am doing at that particular time. Been fighting the "bug" that has been going around so I will not make plane too far in advance.

I will say that the bottles I listed were all good and some were really good. They should be in top form when they are released in 2012. We paid about 1/3 to 1/2 half of what the price will be next year when they are released. Of course your money is tied up for a year in advance, but but 50% return is good.

Stars of Santa Barbara

2011-01-23T08:40:00.001-08:00

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Scott's Seafood restaurant in Costa Mesa was the venue for this tasting. About 40 producers were there pouring a variety of wines. Several of these people I had seen Saturday at the Pinot Days tasting. This event was put on by "Learn About Wine". I do know if I attend another event sponsored by this company I will bring my own wine glass. The "small" glasses were ridiculous.

Also no water was available unless you went out to the main bar/restaurant and asked for it. The cheese, bread etc was in another room separate from the tasting.

Tasted at several new wineries along with old favorites. They had a silent auction but fortunately for me my purse with all the credit cards was locked in the trunk of my car at Steve's house.

These events are a really good way of checking out new wineries without having to buy a bottle of wine and then find you are disappointed. One winery that I liked was "Carr". I will have to watch out for then at other events.

On the way out to the parking area one of the producers walked by and gave me an unopened bottle of wine. Made the price of the entrance ticket come down more than half. It was a $48 bottle and who can complain about that.

Dinner at the "Thai"

2011-01-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Got home from the Pinot tasting just in time to grab my wine bag and off to the Tantalizing Thai for a dinner with a very small group of people. 6 of us decided at the last minute to go for dinner. The restaurant is being sold and we decided to dine one last time under the old owners. When we got there we discovered that the new owner had already taken over but one of the old chefs was still there temporarily.

Everyone ordered a dish (instead of being pre-ordered for us). We had the Catfish with Apples, The Crying Tiger Steak, Scallops, Lamb, a beef dish (spicy), ribs, pineapple rice, brown rice and white rice. The food is still good.

Will have to back in a few weeks to see how the new chefs and owner are doing. Maybe worse, maybe better and at least we can hope that it stays the same.

I took a bottle of 2005 Roar Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot. There were several more Pinots and a couple of bottles of champagne along with a chardonnay

Pinot Days

2011-01-23T08:15:00.000-08:00

Saturday. January 15, 2011

Headed off to the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport for a Pinot tasting. Paid extra to get a VIP ticket which got me in 2 hours early and had a "tour" of the Sta Rita Hills producers with Wes Hagen of Clos Pepe. This is the second year for this event.

98 wine producers were there, each pouring from 3 to 6 wines each. Naturally you cannot taste much less drink all of them So it was a pick and choose.

The wineries that I tasted from were, Cargasacchi, Clos Pepe (4 year vertical), Gypsy Canyon (beautiful hand blown bottles), Inception, Ken Brown, Loring, Melville, Olivia Brion, Papapieto Perry (his 777 clone was under the table - good wine) Prodigal, Rozak, and maybe a couple of others. But at this time I had more than enough wine, my palate was gone, I had to drive 45 miles home and I had a 5:30 dinner set up.

We definitely go back in 2012. A good venue and the ticket price was reasonable for what you got. The hangar is a hangar. Concrete floors, not too many places to sit, altho this year they did have a small cafe set up with tables and chairs. The acoustics are terrible but with all the loud talking you just seemed to get into the "mood" little faster.

Preveza

2011-01-23T07:52:00.000-08:00

Thursday. January 13, 2011

Tonight 8 of us gathered at Preveza. We had not been back here for several months. Good chance to compare to the Olive Pit which I ate at Tuesday.

We started off with a wide selection of appetizers. Fried Mozzarella, Dolmades, Spanakopita and a flat bread with cheese and smoked salmon. (no longer on the menu you have to ask for it)
Of course after all of this I am full.

I ordered the Poseidon's Shrimp (shrimp with white wine, olive oil, garlic, fresh tomatoes, herbs, shallots, basil & feta cheese). After it was set it front of me I decided it had too much tomato for me to comfortably eat so Ted, gentlemen that he is (sometimes) traded his linguine with fresh clams with me. All the dishes were good.

I have decided that I do like the Dolmades at Preveza better than the Olive Pit. Both are good but I would say the at Preveza they were a bit more elegant and at Olive Pit more rustic. I feel that the lamb chops at the Olive Pit are a better deal, 5 for $18 compared with 3 for $17.

Corkage is $5 so naturally we had 9 bottles of wine. I have to get back into the habit of writing down the wines again. Alas I cannot remember what was brought except for a 2008 Patricia Greene Pinot, An Italian white wine , Tocai Friucano from Palmini, a french champagne, 2007 Loring Rancho Las Vinas Pinot, a Malbec and I brought a 2005 McKeon Philips Reserve Pinot.

Marc tasted the Patricia Greene Pinot and said it was bad. There was nothing wrong with it. Marc thought it said 2003 instead of 2008 and he has a thing about older wines. He also did not like his 2007 Loring Rancho Las Vinas Pinot. I felt it needed a couple of years aging. So the debate goes on. Young against age.

New Restaurant In Town

2011-01-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

A new restaurant opened up 2 blocks from my "Casa". Stopped in tonight to check it out. A Mediterranean Grill called the Olive Pit.

A different concept, cross between a take out and sit down. Lots of tables but you order at the counter and they give you a number to put on your table (shades of Carl's Jr). They then will deliver the food to your table.

The official opening is Saturday so this is a "shake down" week. Cash only till the credit card machines are working. Very limited wine selection at this time. But corkage is only $5 if you want to bring your own. Their wine glasses are the stemless kind. Great for Cognac and brandy but suck for wine.

They seemed to do a big take out business. Desk was busy all evening. I perched on a chair at a bistro table near the kitchen so I could see how the place was being run.

I ordered the Dolmades, 3 for $5.85. These Dolmades had very good flavor but I would call them more rustic. Next I ordered the lamb chops with a choice of two sides. My selection was the grilled mushrooms and the grilled artichoke hearts. I received 5 chops and the 2 sides along with pita bread for $18. The chops were good and not overcooked. I rounded off the meal with a glass of "ok" red wine at $5. The manager gave me a small pour of the owners homemade red wine. Could not place what is was but it was a decent table wine but don't think it will age more than a year.

A definite go back to restaurant. Several dishes I want to try but I think at $5 corkage I will bring my own wine.

Mixed Bag For End Of The Year

2011-01-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

November and December 2010

Between being under the weather, doctors appointments, tests and surgery I have fallen behind in posting. Since my notes are incomplete this will be a short run down of what has happened the last month.

November 21, 2010 -Gathering of The Flock - Theme was Oktoberfest. Good selection of wines and German Beers. Food was great and a lot of it. The hosts had a German friend cook all the authentic dishes.

December 3, 2010 - Lobster dinner at Stan's. Stan went diving (Pacific Lobsters) and put in a call to me to join him and others for dinner that evening. Good wine, butter poached lobsters with truffles. Doesn't get any better.

December 5, 2010 - My annual Holiday Brunch - Egg Casseroles, Ham, Sausages & Peppers. Lots of Bubbly and juices. Wine. Everyone had a good time. My house was decorated. Tree shimmered and glimmered.

December 11, 2010 - Dinner at Seafood Palace. This is where Henry has been going waiting for Doung Son to reopen. 10 of us gathered. 11 dishes of food. Lots of wine. We even had Sea Slug. Non discript taste. Like Tofu, Sea Slug picks up the flavors of what it is cooked with. Best Kung Pao Chicken I have had. The sauce with clams was great.

December 14, 2010 - Himilayan Grille. Julie took me to dinner tonight so no multiple dishes. I had the Lamb Chau Chau and it was good. Took the leftovers home for lunch the next day.

December 25, 2010 - Had the family including 5 rug rats under the age of 7. Since I was not able to lift anything heavy, dinner this year consisted of Tamales & Pizza. It worked out well. I may do it again next year as it was so easy. No mess. Few dishes. Little cleanup. And the rug rats seemed to like it better than a formal sit down dinner. Opened a few bottles of bubbly and had a good day.

December 29, 2010 - Hosted Happy Hour at my place instead of the local bar we usually go to on Wednesday nights. Having the house decorated made it seem more festive.

New Years Eve - I have never done anything on New Years Eve. I always stay home. Restaurants are over priced, set menus, under staffed. And a lot of people who have over indulged. For me it is a turn off. I don't care for drunks and female drunks are even a bigger turnoff. I have my bubbly, caviar and go to bed early. Christmas is my holiday. New Years Eve I can live without. Have been that way since I can remember. Even as a teenager I would not go out. Sometimes we would go up to the Rose Parade and camp out the night before but that was the extent of my celebration.

Dining in The Wine Cellar

2010-11-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Tonight was a special treat. Five of us dined in the Wine Cellar Room at Delius, www.deliusrestaurant.com . This room is private and has a window that looks out into the kitchen so you can see all the activities going on. 10 courses which is a lot of food even with the small portions. Half way through I had reached my saturation point.

I let the others pick out the wines for this evening. As long as they went well with the food is all I cared about and they did a good job or doing that.

We were seated at 7:15 and left at 10:45. No one trying to push you out for the next diner.

We started off with an appetizer plate which had, Spanish white anchovies, Kalmata olives, a very good Hummus, tomato salsa for bruschetta, endive, feta cheese and toast points. Only missing for me was a pate.

Next was a seared Ahi which was exceptional in flavor.

Scallop with carmelized shallots, fried mushrooms, carrot puree and chive oil.

Salad was very thinly sliced gold and red beets with micro arugula, goat cheese and a balsamic reduction.

Soup was a roasted garlic and carmelized onion. Very good. I have had this soup before and always enjoyed it

The two whites wines we had with these dishes were a 2007 Xavier Frissant, Val de Loire, Sancerre and a 2009 Vionta Albarino. Very good pairings and the wines were very reasonable.

This is where I hit the wall.

Entree was roasted duck breast with potato gnocchi with raspberry gastric. Had one bite and asked Fred to box it up for me. As always the duck was excellent.

We were then served a pink grapefruit sorbet to clean the palate.

Main course was a beef filet with mushrooms, onions, green beans , parsnip puree and a red wine reduction . Again one bite and boxed to go.

The red wine we chose for this part of dinner was an 2008 Miner, Garys Vineyard, Pinot Noir. A good choice.

A cheese plate appeared with a soft brie type cheese, manchengo a blue cheese, crackers and grapes. I did not have any at all as dessert was next and I needed to save room for it. But the plate got cleaned up by the others.

Dessert was a Filbert (Hazelnut) gelato over a thin slice of a decadent chocolate cake.

All the food was top quality as it usually is at Delius. Had good service with Fred and Phillipe. Company was good along with the wines. It was a very enjoyable evening. Could not have asked for anything more. Will have to do this again.

BYOB Diiner at The Factory

2010-11-20T14:27:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Theme for tonight's BYOB dinner at the Factory, www.TheFactoryLB.com, was Zinfandel. Since they redeemed themselves with last months dinner 9 of us decided we would try again. All the Zins on the table were good. Ridge, Seghesio, Chateau Margene, Turley Rattlesnake. I tried to remember them all but it got lost in my brain the last few days.

First course was a Roasted sweet potato soup - good flavor.

Salad was Warm Wild Mushrooms with Dandelion Herbs and Roasted Hazelnuts. Surprisingly it was very good.

Next was a Pomegranate Glazed Grilled Duck Breast with Creme Fraiche, roasted grapes and potato bacon gratin. Everything goes good with bacon. Duck was good.

Dessert was a Pumpkin Cake with Pecan Strusel and Maple Ice Cream. A nice end to a meal.

These dinners are only $25 and you bring your own wine. It is a lot of fun and reasonable. The portions are not big but for $25 I think you get your moneys worth.

They are talking about having a dinner in December but it would be so close to Christmas that I doubt that I will be able to attend.

Last Wine & Dine

2010-11-20T14:02:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Dinner tonight was at Fritto Misto's in Hermosa Beach. CJ has deceided that after 10 years of organizing these dinners this will be his last. It is a tremendous amount of work on his part to have new and different menus each time to we out.

There were 29 in attendance tonight for the "Last Hurrah". Since I just got back from vacation and a lot of driving, I rode with friends tonight. The food here is good but the parking really sucks. A few people who live in the south bay area came by taxi to avoid the parking issue.

A lot of wine was on the table. As usual I did not keep track of anything besides the 2005 Stolpman LaCroce I brought. This wine was showing very well. Glad I have a few more bottles left. I did not taste a bad wine tonight. Everyone seemed to bring out the good stuff for the last supper.

We started off with Misto Salad - To me it is a "salad", greens with a few additives.

Next was Fritto Mist which is vegetables and seafood, battered and deep fried, served with a roasted garlic mayonnaise and a marinara sauce. Always a favorite.

Garlic Shrimp was next up shrimp sauteed in garlic and olive oil. Good flavor.

Chicken Cilantro Ravioli - ravioli filled with chicken and served with a cilantro cream sauce with tomatoes and green onions. This was very good.

Italian sausage and Roasted Peppers - sliced Italian turkey sausage, marinara sauce, roasted green peppers and carmelized onions on linguini - the sausage was too spicy for me but the sauce and the linguini was great.

Fresh Mixed Vegetables With Beef Tips - just what the name says. Good flavor.

Food was good. But unless I was in the area for some reason I would not make the trek to Hermosa Beach to eat here. There are some very good Italian restaurants within 20 minutes driving time to my "abode". I would much rather stay close to home.

Good home close to 1:00 am which is very late for me. Sure glad it was on a Saturday so I had Sunday to rest before going back to work.

Sad to see it being the last Wine & Dine. But everything has a shelf life and this one came due.