Text 35771, 126 rader
Skriven 2013-04-05 20:03:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: another big dinner 383
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ENTREES
 Porc Klaus - Carved roasted pork tenderloin stuffed with
 'Schnitzel' garnishes of puree of green peas, chives, cured
 bacon and mustard, served with creamy confetti lentils and
 rich herb scented pork glace

This was off and replaced with a braised lamb shoulder thing,
about which there were no complaints.

 Lenden Filet und Wachteln - A slice of bacon wrapped roasted
 filet of beef served with port wine beef glace sauce and
 semi-boneless quail stuffed with wild rice, sausage and
 pecans served with in wild game Chardonnay sauce

It might have been filet, but it was cooked to and beyond the
texture of pot roast. The sauce was right out of the can and
had no seasoning but salt. The quail was okay, but its sauce
did not exist, or if it did had no taste at all. Stuffing,
okay but underseasoned. On the whole on the bland side.

 Lachs Reuter - Fillet of salmon stuffed with a lobster
 mousseline, wrapped in puff pastry and baked golden brown,
 sliced and served with an emulsified Riesling butter sauce

People liked this. It was a big blob of shellfish paste,
some lobster flavor, rather rubbery, wrapped in a very thin
layer of fish, with a crust that hadn't puffed. The sauce
again was insignificant.

 Hasenpfeffer mit Aepfeln - Prepared tableside, braised
 tender rabbit leg served boneless with flambeed sauteed
 loin of rabbit, paired with julienne apple, mushrooms,
 spring vegetables, and rich Gewurztraminer braising sauce

This was also off but not replaced. Oddly, about half of us
had been looking forward to it. Mike tried to kick up a stink
about this but was shushed by everyone else. It later turned
out that Dan complained about this to somebody next day, with
no apparent result.

CHEESE COURSE OF THE EVENING
 Chef's selection of cheese to complement your meal

This was a thin slice of Cambozola, a silly CAMembert analog
infected, BAh humbug, with the blue mold of gorgonZOLA. I
passed. Some of the others said that though they normally
didn't like blue cheese, they liked this one, probably because
of its richness. Even so, I refused a tiny taste of the stuff.

PATISSERIE
 Tonight's selections prepared for you by Chef Callie and
 our Restaurant Desserts class.

The offerings were bread pudding with bananas, a mocha hazelnut
mousse with a puff pastry cookie and supposedly caramel ice
cream on the side, a maple sundae, and something else that
didn't sound interesting. Mindy had the first, which she said
she liked but offered some around (nobody took) and left the
rest behind. I had the the mousse thing, which was pretty good
all around but that the caramel was actually the same maple
ice cream that was the main component of the sundae.

$ 30.95

Includes coffee, tea, & iced tea; all other beverages priced
separately

The coffee (decaf in my case) was weak and tasteless. I put a
Sugar in the Raw in it, and it tasted like very diluted brown
sugar water.

15% service charge, 6% sales tax will be added to the check

We had asked for a quite complex rearrangement of the bill
into four couples, but the fact we weren't sitting together
made it difficult. And of course they screwed it up. Not badly,
and we could have paid the bills as were and exchanged some
money (no more than $20 a couple) on the side, but no, the
other guests all wanted everything to be right. After
everything was fixed, Mindy's wine still ended up on our tab,
so she said she'd reimburse us, but we said why bother, it
was only $14 or so.

The place has an incredible wine list, but when I was here
before, I was seated with some wine idiots, so I didn't get
to sample anything interesting. This time I came armed with a
wish list, but of course it turned out that the wine list was
largely theoretical, or fictional, or something. I hypothesize
that someone had seen this online and made an offer the school
couldn't refuse. There were anomalies such as $200 bottles
going for $75, stuff like that. I was interested in the Dominus
89, which as it's at the end of its natural life, they were
selling off at less than what it cost at retail on release, but
that turned out to be gone; so the next great bargain on the
list was the Far Niente Cabernet 93 for an unbelievable $51 a
bottle; of course it was also gone. Aha, thought I, I'll go a
little off track with the Ojai Vineyards Syrah 01, but Charlie
pulled a long face and said he'd pass on the wine, and he'd
really prefer a Pinot Noir. So I cancelled that and asked for
the Anderson Conn Valley Valhalla 95, a rarity and an expensive
one. Out. The 96 was also out.

I ended up with the Bannister Anderson Valley Pinot Noir,
Floodgate Vineyard 98, for $37 a bottle. Not a huge bargain,
but as current vintages go for about that, and there was over
a decade of bottle age on it, I considered myself lucky. It's
still a pretty big wine, with wonderful fruit, probably as
good as the Selyem stuff. Charlie took a quick look at the
label and pulled another long face and passed again. Dan
really liked it and, curse him, convinced his brother to give
it a try, whereupon Charlie turned at me with this astonished
look and said, hey, this is really good. So everyone wanted a
taste now, including people who don't drink wine, so we bought
more of it.

Other than Mindy being very tired and Charlie feeling unwell
and excusing himself to go home early and Mike taking away a
glass of Bourbon away from Jill, saying she had had enough, it
was a pleasant though not inspired or inspiring meal. About
$50 a head all in with drinks except for $90 for us because of
the wine. I think that Annie and I were the poorest at the
table, by an order or two of magnitude, but maybe that's why.

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