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The end of lobster season is mid-march,

so you can bet there will be another HUGE dinner in the next few weeks… For now, I wanted to share some food and wine pairings from some dinners with accompanying pictures.  What is life without wine?

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When I build the menu, (I could keep building if people could keep eating!) I try to either build it around a specific ingredient such as lobster or a dry-aged beef(but usually around something that is hunted or caught, not farmed) or around certain bottles that are begging to be opened.  Where I could, I linked the specific bottle(s) to the dishes.  For the Lobster Dinner, champagne was an obvious pairing, but I got some different heavier wines that could hold up to preparations including cream like the Etna Bianco, or some that already taste like the ocean a bit like the Pigato grape.  Also pair regionally i.e. Germans eat a lot of pork, so we went with a Riesling Spätlese.  I could make excuses or arguments for or against a grape – sometimes we just need an excuse to open some bottles, enjoy good company, STFU and smile 🙂

Cheers,

E

Lobster & Champagne Dinner February

• California Spiny Lobster Sashimi. Many champagnes including: 1) N.V. Vilmart & Cie Champagne Grand Cellier d’Or 1er (Premier Cru), 2) Agrapart & Fils Blanc de Blanc, 3) Moet Chandon, champagne imperial & 4) rose imperial, 5)Veuve, 6) Agrapart & Fils Terroirs Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Champagne blend
• Octopus Carpaccio that I took off the menu because I got sick from it (allergic reaction to the raw preparation. Fine for the braised prep, but didn’t want to risk it).  See, eating food is rough…
• Chargrilled Spiny lobster w/ curry oil, bell pepper sauce, boiled fingerling potato, sour cream & micro cilantro Pigato wine
• Butter poached lobster w/ Leek Ravioli & Lobster Bisque shooter Etna Bianco volcanic soil, old vine 2009
• Duck leg, chicken gizzard & heart confit (and if that wasn’t enough) it was wrapped in a puff pastry w/ wine reduction Flowers Pinot
• Roast Berkshire Pork belly, braised cabbage & Swiss chard, 2001 Forster Jesuitengarten Riesling Spätlese
• Grilled lamb chop w/ creamy mashed potatoes, mushroom cream sauce, 2009 Bourgogne Domaine Maume
• California Spinies

duck leg, chicken gizzard, chicken heart confit in puff pastry & red wine reduction w/ oyster mushrooms.  Hope your arteries are healthy

Leek Ravioli, butter poached lobster paired w/ lobster bisque shooter

chargrilled lobster, curry oil, boiled fingerling potatoes, sour cream, red mullet roe(bottarga)

the lobster’s not gonna catch itself!

• Organic butter lettuce salad w/ lobster, mustard & molasses vinaigrette, pancetta, and fried quail egg
• Duo of raw oysters: Fanny Bay oysters, Local. Only one way to eat them for me! Reserve the juice, wash, ice the oysters, and re-hydrate with strained shell-less juice.  lemon, cocktail, 2 drops of tabasco
• Special delicious lamb dish that chef Ori made and brought over – name wont be released till Bestia restaurant opens  :p
• Linguine w/ live Manila clams and Bottarga cooked w/ red pepper, white wine
• Duo of quail – roasted farmed quail and roasted wild quail with red & white wine reduction (taste winner: wild quail, except the single shotgun pellet in mine :))
• Duo Jacob sheep: braised Jacob sheep backbone w/ San Marzano tomatoes, herbs, stock / grilled medium rare filet mignon & dirty Chinatown string beans
• Goat’s milk Rice pudding, candied orange peel, pine nuts & pistachio

We eat a lot of oysters here: malpeque, kushi, kumamoto, fanny bay, blue point. Yasuda to the girl and guy on a date sitting next to us: “We have best oyster in the US.”  Girl cringes at the thought of oyster.  Girl says to the guy she doesn’t want oyster.  Guy to Yasuda: Just one oyster for me.  Yasuda says: Oyster. Good for man.  Guy chuckles.
I laugh. He needs all the help he can get.

• Watercress & Wild arugula salad, bacon lardons, ground chicken liver, crispy blood sausage, sherry vinaigrette, poached egg
• Crostini of organic chicken hearts, bacon fat mayonnaise w/ spicy paprika, balsamic & simple syrup reduction
• Homemade tagliatelle w/ veal & beef ragu, parmiggiano-reggiano, Monsanto 2007 chianti classico. (Chianti + Tomatoes = <3. That’s a heart, not a hadoken)
• Crow (yes crow) cooked rare, w/ parsley salad. It was on a farm.  With a good taste, but a slight tang aftertaste.
• Wild mallard duck crostini w/ shallots, egg, beurre-insigny, Ghemme nebbiolo wine
• Braised pork ribs w/ white wine, mustard vinaigrette
• Prime outside skirt steak, sautéed bok-choy & scallions, acciughate sauce, Ripasso Valpolicella