Sunday Dinner, 5/17 – A WOW!

This past Sunday saw a more involved than ususal dinner.  I held a party for a few friends, the occasion being to welcome a dear old friend back into the Cork & Bottle fold (more on that later) and what do you do when the Prodigal (sister?) returns?  Well, you hold a 3 hour, 5 course, 6 wine dinner for six, that’s what.  All tasting notes are anecdotal, I didn’t take notes instead just enjoyed, held on for the ride and tried to remember what I could. The theme of the dinner was classic French Bistro meets New Orleans (La Menu Francais meet La Menu Nouvelle Orleans) and it was a hell of a ride.

We began the evening with

2002 Henri Billiot Vintage Brut.
The wine was beautiful and expressive with a toasty-yeasty lively finish.  A little caramel, a little fresh baked bread and a gorgeous acidity.  Not a bad toast at all.

We had an early party crasher, who thankfully crashed soon.

Course 1
Aiee! That’s Cold!!!! – Craw-Vichysoisse.
I made a traditional Vichysoisse, cold potato leek soup, and really nailed the texture.  At the end I added just a touch of ground clove instead of the traditional nutmeg.  I topped the soup with fresh crawfish tails that had been tossed in a only a little salt and pepper. Score: 92

The Craw-Vichysoisse

The wine – 2000 Chateau Laville-Haut-Brion.
This white Bordeaux might just be one of the best white wines to pass my lips in recent memory – at at $90 a bottle retail it damn well better be!  That said, the wine had a prefect balance of high toned citrus acidity with a strong, firm mouthfeel unlike any domestic Sauvingon Blanc you’ll find.  Really a wine that is drinking at the peak of its life.  Pairing rating: Nailed it, perfect pairing.

Course 2
No Complex Here.  Crabmeat and Creole Tomato Napoleon
The simplest and most perfect dish of the night.  I made a lemon zest infused olive oil and sweetned some white balsamic with a little touch of agave nectar.  The crabmeat was also just tossed with sea salt and cracked pepper.  I lined the plate with a spoonfull of the sweet/bitter white balasmic, layered a tomato, crabmeat, repeat.  I topped with dish with some freshly ribboned thyme and then drizzled with the lemon olive oil I made.  Fresh, clean, perfect.  Score: 99

Simple perfection.

The wine – 2005 Domaine Boyer-Martenot Meursault-Perrieres 1er Cru, Cuvee Unique
This wine is what the French would call “L’enfant”  It was round and big with a lot of room to grow.  I chose a Meursault-Perrieres because (a) the Boyer family makes some godamned good Chardonnay and (b) the Perrieres vineyard has this trademark bright lemony acidity that I thought would be a natural fit.  Had the wine been a little younger, or a little smaller it might have been a better pairing.  The wine was really gorgeous, but still has a way to go.  Pairing rating: Off center, too much wine for the course.

Course 3
March to the Beat – Grilled Louisiana Black Drum with Asparagus and Parmesan “Rockefeller”
You have to try really hard to screw something like this up, and thankfully I didn’t.  This fish had been swimming less than 48 hours before it showed up on my dinner table so to respect its freshness I rubbed some Frescobaldi Olive Oil, Sea Salt and Cracked pepper on it and let it chill for a few hours.  I made a puree of steamed aparagus and grated parmesan which while the fish was grilling I sauteeed and let the parmesan carmelize a little.  Top that on the (may I say) PERFECTLY grilled fish – moist, juicy, fleshy and not over cooked – along with a little lemon and chive and the result was everything that is good and right about Louisiana seafood on a plate.  Score: 95

You have to try hard to screw this up

The Wine
2005 Marquis d’Angerville Pommard 1er Cru Les Epenots
It was almost unfair to serve this wine with food at this point in its life.  Its also unfair for me to ask Jose to pour the wine while I grilled the fish (he has a heavy hand when it comes to his glass and a very poor excuse).  This wine could have been a course by itself.  I took a real leap of faith with this one, and it was really more to take the temperature of the ’05 vintage of Burgundy than it was designed to be a perfect pairing.  The pairing worked with all the fresh fruit and acid in the wine, but the wine was so rich and deep that it really did fight the sublte freshness of the course.  n.b. – don’t let Jose have a corkscrew when ’05 Burgundy is involved, this was the only wine we opened two bottles of – thanks Jose.  Pairing rating: Off center, Big, big wine – but I knew that.

Guess which glass belongs to Jose?

Course 4
The Wine Merchant.  Petite Filet with Marchand de Vin and Bistro Frites
I would pay $30 to eat this course in a restaurant and it is not hyperbole to say that this course could have been served at ANY restaurant in the city that night.  I started my Marchand di Vin (sans Mushrooms) at around Noon and let it stay on a low, slow, steady simmer all day long.  The result was a sauce that was so rich and intense but still had the freshness of the wine – man was it good.  I also had some really first rate petite filets from Whole Paycheck and all I did to them was add a little cracked pepper and kosher salt on the grill.  I prepared the frites in the blanch-fry method and I NAILED THEM!!!  They were perfectly crispy on the outside, soft and billowy on the inside – it was a truly perfect fry.  The simplicy of this course along with – may I say perfect – exection was a study in what is so great about French bistro fare, simple ingredients prepared perfectly.  Score: 97

I'd pay any one in this city $30 to eat this in their restaurant.

The Wine
1995 Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf-du-Pape
I carried this wine back from France with me about a month before Hurricane Katrina and I’ve had an itchy trigger finger on it since then.  Patience has its rewards and what we had here was a wine that transcended its origin, it was roasted meat and rich fruit in a bottle.  I could have written an entire blog post on the depth and complexity of this wine alone, but I’ll just leave it saying this wine was a textbook example of how great and ethereal properly aged Chateauneuf-du-Pape can be.  Pairing rating: 95

Course 5
How Come you Taste So Good.  Brown Sugar, Brown Butter Banana Tart
The name pretty much says it all.  Baking is the least of my culinary skills so the fact that I was really impressed with this course isn’t really saying a lot.  What I was going for was the same dish at Herbsaint.  I got the flavors spot on, but my consistency was a little off, I think, and it was just a tad more dense that what I was going for.  No one seemed to notice, as evidenced by empty plates and Graeme’s second helping, but I suppose when you have enough browned butter and sugar anything tastes good.  It was a good dessert, but I would have been disappointed in a fine dining restaurant.  Score: 89

The wine
2005 Baumard Quarts de Chaume
In the words of Homer Simpson : Agghhhhh.  Wow!  Wine of the night!  Even though I was hyper critical of the dessert, the flavors of the dessert and the wine were both exactly spot on.  Moreover, this wine transends what Chenin Blanc can and should be.  This is the kind of wine that makes you want to crawl in the glass and do the breast stroke.  Bursting with lemon and lychee and peaches and hazelnut and more lemon and honey – wow, just f***ing wow!  I shudder to think what this wine will be doing in about 10 years.  We had a discussion at dinner about how it seems that in this economy that sales of dessert wines had fallen off significantly, but if you’ve thought about treating yourself, this is the wine.  Pairing rating: 99+

Not too shabby for a school night

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