Text 3403, 99 rader
Skriven 2013-08-11 22:50:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: banquet wines 986
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Well after closing time we closed down the place;
Gunther, Beth, and I piled into the Brookline-bound
car with Otto and his son Andrew who had helped out
at the restaurant.

When I got back just before midnight, I was greeted by the
news that Helen was just then being prepped for surgery,
which, as it turns out, she weathered fine; she was back
home in time for dinner the next day.

The wines for our dinner were rare and extraordinary but not
by any means the finest wines I had ever had.

We started off with a couple bottles of Bollinger Special
Cuvee n.v., with perhaps five years in John's cellar, which
lent a nice slightly maderized accent to the natural
toastiness of this wine. The first bottle seemed just a
little bit over; the second had a little lemony quality
left. The first actually went better with the chicken soong
dish, though.

Otto had brought the famous Barsac Chateau Doisy-Daene 07
from his own cellar: it was an infant, and though it had
plenty of botrytis, it was a bit of a lightweight and was
overmatched even by the very delicate lobster preparations.
The sweetness did complement the lobster nicely, though,
which was Otto's plan.

Nicholas sacrificed two of his best, the Barolo 78 from
Bruno Giacosa. The first bottle was very fragile and at
maximum age, pale pink in color and with aromas of smoke,
earth, and leaves in addition to the expected raisininess.
It went surprisingly well with the sole dishes. The second
had fared better, with richer color and a floral aroma
reminiscent of old roses. It had a lot of that overripe
fruit quality, which persisted quite a long time, much
longer than the first bottle's rather abrupt finish. This
bottle went nicely with the lamb chop dish and the noodles,
though it kind of warred with the conpoy fried rice.

A pot of bo li (an aged fire-dried black tea, apparently a
variation of pu erh, which I initially thought it was) was
available for those who wanted to take a break from wine.

An e-mail regarding the menu follows. You might find it
amusing. John K was a consultant to the big Cognac houses
when they were trying to break into the lucrative Asian
market and is partially responsible for the Hennessy
Exclusif stuff that I encounter in fancy places in Japan
and Singapore and that I dread.

From: John K
Subject: RE: What shall we eat?

Otto left a message while I was out of town.

He has a 19 pound lobster, live, in the tank at Su Chang.  These
lobsters come up as off catch in the nets. There is little market
for them because they are difficult to cook western style. But,
the Cantonese style of preparation is very great. Three ways:
Salt and pepper, ginger scallion, and in a kind of tomalley
omelet. This last item, if you have not had it, is one of the
great dishes of world cuisine. (Even as it evokes the childhood
classic "Green Eggs and Ham."). You can not boil a lobster this
size, western style. But in these three Cantonese treatments it
is uniformly succulent and flavorsome.

The only problem, if there is a problem, is the amount of food.
Ordinarily we would just eat lobster, and a vegetable or two.
Messy fun.

A Chinese banquet, however, should always include a lot of
dishes, even to what we laowai might regard as excess. 
 
Otto has no problem with excess. I am only sending this out
to determine if anyone has a shellfish allergy. If you do,
let me know and we will have a few other small dishes prepared.

Right now Otto is thinking of the following:

Fresh conch with yellow chives.
Lobster three ways.
A really fresh grey sole, steamed.
Otto's Cantonese Lamb chops.
Several vegetables.
long life noodles.
Etc. 

I will bring two bottles of good champagne. Otto has offered
some white wine from his cellar. Nick will bring some well
aged red to go with the lamb.

A feast.. I will review it with Gunther.

Let me know if you have any recommendations, additional desires.

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