Epicurean Slug

$85 Ariana Wine Dinner

2009-08-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Ariana Restaurant in Bend, Oregon

I went to the Hamacher Ponzi Elk Cove Winemakers Dinner last night at Ariana. It was wonderful. The young chefs (graduates of COCC's culinary program) had sampled the wines and created wonderful pairings. As a single diner I was lucky enough to sit with the winemakers, three delightful people who were not only fine creators but also good conversationalists.

Every pairing was perfect.

First Course: 2008 Elk cove Pinot Gris. This bright white was served with a White Gazpacho (made with cucumber, garlic, and olive oil) with slices of Marcona Almonds and small balls of Crenshaw melon.

Second Course: 2008 Ponzi Arneis Luisa Ponzi told a story about her Dad going to Italy while she was being educated in France. He came back with a bunch of odd Italian varietals including this one. She said it's very difficult, with the vines bearing fruit at different times and different rates. Nevertheless, this was a super white, with lots of figgy nose. It was served with my favorite food of the evening, a thin slice of Olive Oil Marinated Swordfish (very warm) toped with a terrific Fresh Summer Herb Gremolata (salad -- with currants).

Third Course: 2005 Hamacher Chardonnay. Usually, I hate Chardonnay but this beauty didn't have that heavy thickness so many do. It went perfectly with the Handmade tagliatelle paste with white truffle and sweet summer corn. The pasta smelled terrific and tasted same.

Fourth Course: 2007 Elk Cove Pinot Noir. A sharp and intelligent wine that perfectly accompanied my second favorite dish of the night, the spice rubbed breast of duck with root vegetable puree and slow roasted heirloom cherry tomatoes with 20 yr balsamic. The tiny tomatoes were a sudden burst of absolute deliciousness on my tongue.

Fifth course -- 2006 Hamacher Pinot Noir. A more complex Pinot that did a good job cutting into the verrrry fat hunk of 20 hour roasted pork belly with wilted local chard. This was way more fat than I'm used to eating, but I ate every bite.

Sixth course: 2005 Ponzi Pinot Noir Reserve. My favorite wine of the evening. A big, deep, pinot that balanced off my least favorite dish of the evening, two somewhat undercooked slices of Wayugu beef roasted with Pincess la Ratta Potatoes and steak sauce.

We took two in house made candies home with us, one a truffle (I gave this to my spouse who doesn't like fancy dinners and had stayed home) and the other a very chewy caramel that I enjoyed with a glass of milk.

It was a wonderful dinner served with intelligence and grace and presided over by Nancy, the voice of Ariana.

Alanis Style Ironic

2008-10-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/epicureanslug/sets/72157607469784051/
Like, it's so ironic that my friend who has inspired me to become more interested in fancy food wouldn't spend the money on the Herb Farm. But I digress. I really should get my shit (or my slug poop, don'tcha know) together and post my impressions of the Herb Farm. But you see I didn't take notes. I actually had gentle, funny, convivial dinner companions who were just as interested in the food itself as I. They were an international group. A gay couple celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary -- they were both ITS guys, if I remember correctly. A heterosexual couple with an Israeli female partner partnered by a handsome man with a beard. They were so cosmopolitan and gemütlich. And there was this intense woman who looked about twenty but said she was older who has a food blog and somewhere I have notes about where that blog was located but I've forgotten in the overall wonderfulness of my memories of that evening. And I just haven't been able to find a way of saying it the way I want to.

The $250 Dinner - Herb Farm

2008-09-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

Coming soon - my discussion of this question: Was the $250 dinner at the Herb Farm worth the money?

Until I get my slimy behind in gear to write, here are the photographs http://www.flickr.com/photos/epicureanslug/sets/72157607469784051/

Zortziko

2008-04-20T18:15:00.001-07:00

Please see photographs of my dinner at http://www.flickr.com/photos/epicureanslug/sets/72157607450265610/

Zortziko is my inspiration for starting this blog. I took myself out for a meal there when I was on a trip to Bilbao. I traveled with a group of students, taking advantage of the cheap cost but I didn't have an official relationship to them. They're all adult students anyway.

So. ZORTZIKO. I made a reservation for one person and showed up at 9 o'clock -- early by Bilbao standards. Right when it opened. The night was a bit stormy, so I had an umbrella. It was just three blocks from the tube stop.

I told them I spoke no Spanish and apologized. They brought the Engish menu. I asked if I could take a picture of my plates as long as I didn't take a picture of other diners and was given the O.K.

I ordered the spectacular tastes-of-the-day or as it was called on the souvenier menu, the "Sample Menu."

So, rather than putting you through a moment by moment memory (and then she brought the silver for the fish dish, and then she brought the silver for the meat dish, and then she brought. . . .) I will just say that after each plate the remains of the dish were taken away with the silver and a new place setting was brought for each dish.

Here is Daniel Garcia's webpage (containing the Zortziko info http://www.zortziko.es/zortziko/zortziko.php )

Anyway, even though I was a woman alone they treated with with utmost respect and service. I received each part of the dinner in a timely manner. (The only one I actually asked for was the cake at the end -- perhaps they assumed I'd eat it after the coffee -- but I wanted it American style so I asked for it with my coffee. Well, I felt a bit guilty about asking for it so I tipped in the American style -- 20% rather than what the tourbooks told me was cutomary -- 10%. Perhaps they thought I was an idiot.

Oh, well. I am kind of a doofus. See my profile.

Anyway, I've posted pictures in the Zortziko Album. You can look at the various parts of the menu. The flavors of each dish were very intense. I was drinking a white sparkling to begin (they had no prosecco -- were serving a Spanish sparkling white.) I didn't want a bottle of anything because it was just me.

My favorites

First choice gotta be that intense glass of liquified baby squid in its own ink with seaweeds and yellow pepper....wow. That little shot glass of the most intensely squiddy dark sea dark deep flavor. Wow. And at the very bottom this tiny cluster of tentacles...crunchy.
Other parts of the meal had that intense set of differences of texture -- crunchy and soft. If you look at the pictures you'll see that I ate the three bites of crunchy-with-a-liquid center chestnut thingee. Wow. Was that an example of what they call food chemistry?

At the other end of the meal in the desserts I also favored the iced apple drink with cream cheese and quince -- the mix of fatty thick texture with the sharp bite of the quince and the cold apple...THAT is the dance on the tongue -- the soothing bland kiss of the cream cheese followed by the sharp remonstrance of the acid in the apple and that fruit member of the rose family.

The lobster with the crispy pasta and the bock choi was really terrific as well -- the sharp flavor of the cabbage combined with that sweet fat fish kiss of the lobster.

All in all, just and absolutely terrific meal, served with energy and efficiency by the waitstaff.

I left Zortziko at around 11:30 at night, a bit too embarrassed in leaving (they got my coat, they shook my hand) to ask where the ladies room was. But I expected to be back to the hotel in ten minutes by underground. When I hit the street I saw there were not many people on the old city streets. Then I saw the submay near El Corte Ingles was closed! I'd forgotten to check the times. Ack! I thought, "I could take a taxi or walk." I knew it wasn't that far from Zortziko to the Barcolo Avenida where our tour group was staying.

It turned out to be about 25 minutes and a long walk up a few hundred stairs. I also just don't trust cabs in places where I can't speak the language -- no offense to Bilbanians in particular. That goes for Oslo and Firenze as well. So I wound up walking to the hotel -- in REALLY heavy rain fall and wind, up all those stairs, pretending to talk on a cellphone (my current self-protective performance). Wild, wet, wacky ending to a wonderful evening -- but perhaps justified, since I paid 140 Euroes for dinner, wine and tip. Does someone who doesn't require punishment spend that much on a mere dinner? But to me, the experience was worth the money.

And it was good to go by myself so I could spend every euro paying attention to the food instead of a companion.

Just call me, "The kitty who eats by herself."

Purpose of the Blog

2008-04-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Greetings

The purpose of this blog is to share some of my gustatory experiences with anyone with an interest.