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Ewan McNay
 
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Our thanks to Ian/Jacquie for providing the excuse, to Dale/Betsy for
organising, and to both for such delightful company . A few comments
below..

Dale Williams wrote:
> A few tasty amuse-bouches started off the evening. First, little shot glasses
> of a chickpea-soup with cumin, kind of "hummus in a glass." Then skewers with
> mussels and marinated cauliflower. Both tasty, but the best IMHO were the last
> amuse- skewers with chicken livers and (tender) dried apricots. Yum.


Agreed. There seemed to be more experimentation in flavour combinations
throughout the meal than had been the case on our prevous visit in June;
the chicken liver/apricot was one of several very successful such.

> My courses we
> Maine crabmeat and panther soy beans over thinly sliced beets.
> Wing of skate in a stew with mushrooms, bean, crab, and a lobster broth.
> Cavatelli with bits of house-cured pork
> Roasted lamb plus amaranth crusted braised lamb loin, in a mild horseradish
> broth


I also had the lamb, but sandwiched between courses of cod (then the
lamb), the pig mentioned below and finally bass ditto. My ordering
prooked some amusement as to the order, but it flowed (for me at least!)
pretty well.

The pig had been the highlight last time, and was again - I gather that
the belly is braised in white wine for three days, leaving it without
almost any grease, but remarkably nutty and delightfully textured. Just yum.

> All quite tasty, especially the crab and the lamb. My only quibble was with the
> skate, because the reduced lobster broth (though very tasty) seemed just a bit
> too intense, one notch more concentrated than it needed to be. I was surprised
> at the next course when Ian got the same thing, and declared the sauce a tad
> dilute. But I tasted, and indeed it was less intense and salty than mine. One
> on the stove a few seconds too much, the other a few seconds too short.


Jacquie and I had a similar experience on the bass vinaigrette sauce: she
was surprised by my comment about the level of acidity (too high) and a
quick sample showed it to be a different sauce from the 'same' dish she
had ordered two courses previously. That was my only serious quibble,
though; the rest was delightful (the cavatelli, sampled from Jacquie,
burst with garden flavour and seemed to be the closest to hitting the
underlying philosophy; the scallops, served raw, were intensely honey and
clean).

All of this is somewhat OT, of course, so:

> Good wine list, with some good choices from around the world. Prices are
> reasonable for upscale restaurant. We stuck to less than $50 a bottle.


I bowed out of the choice process, given the level of expertise at the
table .

> We had:
> 2002 Jean-Marc Brocard "Vaillons" Chablis 1er Cru
> I thought this might be crisp enough for the lighter dishes, yet hold enough
> body for the bigger fish dishes- it did well, except for that caper vinaigrette
> with the bass. Floral/flinty nose, rich white (pear) fruit with a green plum
> note. Mouth-filling, yet with a delicacy that allowed it to do well with the
> crab and scallops. There's a delicious oyster-shell minerality to the finish.
> This is a young wine with a future, but it's drinking quite well now. B+/A-


Yes - this was great both alone and with a mix of foods. I'd certainly go
A-. Didn't fade during the three hours in the glass.

> 2000 Jean-Maurice Raffault "Les Picasses" Chinon
> We thought that Pinot Noir might be the way to go with a red, but the most
> appealing choices were above our agreed-upon budget. We decided to choose a
> different light red, this Cab Franc was in the low $30s. Medium-bodied with
> raspberry fruit and a light leafy quality, a pleasant café-quaffer. Ewan didn't
> care for it much, but I found it a very good match with the pig (I was stealing
> from Betsy's plate), as well as the cavatelli. B


Dale's right: I thought this lacked substance and length, although it
improved a little on sitting (served too cold for me, although I gather
that's normal temp for Chinon). Nothing offensive, just unexceptional.

> 2000 Ch. Pique-Caillou (Pessac-Leognan)
> This was by the glass, as I felt the Chinon was a bit too light for the lamb.
> Medium-to-full bodied, ripe blackcurrant fruit. Modest tannins, could use a
> little acidic "oomph", comes across as a bit of a simple fruitbomb. B/B-


Dale was good enough to offer both a taste, and then when I smiled upon
tasting, a larger serving - thanks . I thought this a much better wine
than the Chinon both alone and with the meat dishes; some structure which
the former lacked, and a darker flavour mix more to my taste.

On the other hand, I also had a much stronger difference of taste with
Jacquie, who had ordered an Amontillado sherry aperitif, which I found
quite undrinkable but she greatly enjoyed. So don't pay too much
attention to my commentary .

> Some ordered desserts (Betsy was pleased with her walnut cake with fig ice
> cream); a couple glasses of a Chambers sticky were around, but I passed. Very
> nice evening with nice people. Betsy was happy when she ran into old friends
> (people who helped run the Naumberg competition) at the coatroom.


This (the sticky) was the Rutherglen Chambers Rosewood Muscadelle.
Grainy, strong raisin notes matched well the fig/walnut combo (that I also
had). Some treacle, orange and rose underneath. I'm going to track down
some of this - very much up my street. A-/A.

I had started with a glass of the Nino Franco Prosecco Rustico; not too
impressed, actually. Too restrained, little mousse, some yeast and chalk
but not a lot else. B-.

Delightful meal - we had to rush off to get back for the sitter's curfew,
and it came as a shock to look at my watch and see that three hours had
gone by. Great to have both the excuse and fooodie friends to share it with.

e