Text 23407, 137 rader
Skriven 2012-04-06 22:31:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip report 510
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We decided to be lazy and have breakfast in the executive
lounge, as aside from the omelet station and the sausage
gravy, the so-called continental upstairs had all the other
stuff. I ate a plate of bacon and sausage and took back a
couple bananas (for potassium), which I neglected to eat.

Padres at Cubs at Ho-Ho-Kam Field, Mesa. Joining the three
musketeers were my friends Ellen and Carl. Old Style was
the beer of choice, mostly for old times' sake. It is your
neutral domestic cheapie, slightly better than the usual
Miller product. The Cubs actually won, 2 to zip. Bill left
for home after the game: he didn't want to have left Connie
alone for much longer. The original plan was for the rest
of us to dine at Royal Thai; but Alex had found a wine
dinner at Zu Zu at the Valley Ho, so we arranged to see
Ellen and Carl next day for an early meal, and we went
off to our fancy dinner. Oh, it is said they are going to
replace this stadium with a fancy new one right near where
Carl and Ellen live. Why mess with a good thing, say I.
This is a smallish, cozy place, not a fake major league
park like Tempe or Glendale, and one guesses that the new
one will be more the latter.

Alex is fond of Zu Zu and of the wine dinners here; he is
proud of them and was eager to show me a good time.

Zu Zu welcomes Chateau Ste. Michelle

Some marketing honcho from Washington gave a little welcome
spiel; it was pleasantly brief, though loud (he mentioned in
his introduction that he was a loud sort of guy, which no
one would have failed to realize on hearing him). This was
not a particularly serious occasion. You will notice that
there are no vintage dates given for the wines, for example.

 Saffron Risotto, peas + chanterelle mushrooms

The best dish. A pretty good risotto; the peas were fresh
and properly done, the mushrooms, well, there was a tiny
bit of grit, but they were tasty, first of the season, said
the chef in his little spiel. The serving was tiny.

 Horse Heaven Sauvignon Blanc

Not bad for a SB, softer and less acid; a bit of tropical
fruit, some citrus, a whiff of spice, the usual. I had
suggested on reading the menu that the mutual metallicities
of saffron, peas, and Sauvignon would yield a bitter and
not so great synergy. It was true.

 Asparagus Salad, Duncan's wild arugula, chopped egg,
 pickled shallots + black truffle vinaigrette

Four threads of asparagus, a quarter ounce of greens,
the vinaigrette redolent of artificial truffle, rather
more rubber tire than truffle, actually. The best thing
was the little tangle (half a teaspoon?) of sweet-sour
shallot rings. The serving was minuscule.

 Indian Wells Chardonnay

Alex had described a wine he'd had recently (actually a
Chateau St. Jean, if I recall) as "stupidly oaked, but I
liked it." I called this one "retardedly oaked." It was
fine, fairly oaky but with an extracty taste. The fruitiness
was still present, which some oaky wines cause to disappear.
A little dessertish, as raspberry trifle. I thought that
maybe the wines should have been switched around.

 Duck Three Ways, cured breast, pressed + leg confit with
 kabocha squash, herb roasted campari tomatoes + spring
 greens

Alex was really displeased by this course. I thought it
okay, but the portion was embarrassing, maybe 3 ounces
including vegetables. The breast was undercured, which was
fine with me; mine had a nice layer of fatty skin, which
Alex's lacked. The pressed was an inch cube of mysterious
meat that could just as well have been pulled pork. The
confit was not confit - just shreds of stewed meat, no
discernible aging or saltiness or flavoring. Kabocha
was just like any other winter squash; the tomatoes were
tiny if nice. What do you think spring greens are? Chard
- bitter as anything.

 Columbia Valley Merlot

A lot was made of the two wines, how they were similar, but
the second was so much classier than the other. This was
your ordinary $10 red wine. Open fruit, some pepper, mostly
nothing. A little on the wimpy side.

 Indian Wells Merlot

Maybe this was a little better; Alex thought the nose was
more interesting. I kept sniffing the one against the other.
Some random guy and his wife came up and said, we can't tell
the difference, either. There was no substantial difference
in fact. I'd rather have three bottles of the ordinary
bottling than one of the fancy one. And I'd rather have one
bottle of the ordinary bottling than three bottles of it.
Singularly disappointing.

The scuttlebutt was that apparently they were going to pair
one of the Merlots with the duck and one with dessert. Good
thing they didn't; neither would have come close to standing
up to the chocolate and peanuts.

 Chocolate Peanut Butter Decadence, vanilla bean anglaise

The second best thing. A fairly accurate representation of
a Reese's cup, only with darker chocolate. And for once at
this meal a proper-size serving. Very nice custard drool.
The filling of the cup had some unresolved crystals of
sugar, though; my only concern with this course. No, I had
another concern, that being that there was no wine pairing.
I asked the winery rep, and he claimed that the restaurant
had drawn the line at four wines. Nah, guy, you just cheaped
out, why not admit it. The winery makes some perfectly fine
sweet wines - I had a late harvest Semillon that was
extremely fine, for example, and that would have stood up
to the dessert.

It wasn't a bad meal, actually, just not special in either
food or wine, and there wasn't so much of either. We've had
quite a number of meals together, and you win some and you
lose some, and then there are these, which I guess count as
a loss, but at least not a shutout.

Afterward, one of Alex's friends invited us for after-dinner
drinks. I had a Remy, which was as expected, and had a fun
conversation with an anesthesiologist who apparently had
once played for a Dodgers farm club or something.

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