What to Drink With What You Eat
What to Drink With What to Eat is a just published book that's well, all about what to drink with what you eat.
The authors, Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, received a James Beard award for a previous book (either Becoming a Chef or Culinary Artistry), which they joked may be a bit hard to top with any book. It's an excellent skimming read - I received a free copy when I attended a special dinner at Dahlia Lounge and got a chance to chat with the authors. Without going into a lot of details (because you can either read the book or the reviews on Amazon), the authors do a fabulous job of listing a variety of liquids and foods and what pairs best. It's not just wine, but covers everything from fruit juice to sake to spirits to water to champagne. I'm happy to see that the "chocolate" category has a significant list of items, including my all-time favorite chocolate pairings porter and cabernet.
The real content for this blog however, is about the Dahlia Lounge dinner, a scrumptious eight-course meal carefully paired with wine in honor of the book and the authors. I can honestly say that this meal is one of my all-time favorites, close in quality and arts to memories of the French Laundry, Michael Minna, Quince and Fifth Floor. Tom Douglas gave a small speech about the moment in France years ago when he realized the perfect pairing of cheese and wine. He also spent a few minutes explaining the forthcoming meal, which while eight courses, would be small plates (despite the small plates, I was stuffed at the end, the portions were sized perfectly). He also hung out for a while, talking around the room (not to me, because, well, I get a little flustered around amazing chefs); a few of the women at our table convinced him to bring us a pizza from Serious Pie (his very excellent new pizza place, similar to my beloved Pizzeria Delfina in San Francisco), which was a lovely addition to the meal. The authors also said a few words. And then the food and drink began.
First course: A small piece of slow roasted pear, with a few scattered hazelnuts, slivers of bacon and chicory salad. This was great - the salt and sweet were nicely combined, and the salad was lightly dressed with a lemon based dressing. I enjoyed the Steinberge Riesling Qba 20045 from Germany; it had some fruity flavors that perfectly matched the pear.
Second course: A piece of caramelized fennel with a sort of green olive tapanade and then what was called "fennel frond verjusenette", basically pureed fennel. I especially love fennel, and it was perfectly caramelized which was so delicious. I did remark to Jackie (my neighbor at the Park Rose Terrace) that this was my favorite course. Little did I know what else was coming. Two wines were poured for this course and carried to the next: a 2005 Mark Ryan Chardonnay and a 2005 Chinook Sauvignon Blanc. I did not care for the chardonnay, I'm just not a chardonnay person, although I should note that I did manage to drink it, as it makes me sad to waste wine. The sauvignon blanc was fabulous, and I loved it with both the fennel and the next course.
Third course: This became my favorite dish so far: a small portion of thick cauliflower-lemon soup adorned with a spoonful of curry infused oil, topped with a perfectly seared scallop and crispy garlic. The scallop was amazing and the flavors worked very well together. I wanted seconds.
Fourth Course: A piece of Dahlia's smoked salmon with a sesame seeds and hot mustard. Good and a nice way to move into the heavier meat courses.
Fifth Course: Duck was served with a 1999 Castillo Labastida Rioja Reserva. Actually, it wasn't just duck: it was a generous helping of five spice duck with a scallion pancake and a kung pao cashew mixture. The duck was cooked with "five spices", which gave it a great depth of asian flavors and made the skin extra tasty.This was absolutely delicious, although I wasn't so fond of the rioja pairing with the duck - for some reasons, the flavors just did not marry well. However, the Rioja went very well with the next dish...
Sixth Course: A wood roasted lamb chop with a gratin of kale and potato and a "roasted pepper-anchovy chow chow", sort of a relish. This dish was delicious; the anchovies weren't too overpowering and held up nicely against the lamb. And the rioja, well, the rioja was deep and tasy and perfect with the lamb.
Seventh Course: As I'm typing this up, I've begun to realize just how decadent this meal was. A tiny apple dumpling was paired with a piece of soft cheese from Jasper Hill Farms (which I think is located in this area, since I've seen the same cheese on other menus). The cheese was soft like a brie, although the flavors were not as pungent. I enjoyed the 2003 Townshend Late Harvest Viognier. I also never realized that Viognier was a sweet dessert wine wine - I had always assumed it was a blend of white wines and paired with chicken and fish. Or maybe I'm just confused.
Eighth Course: It makes me sad to write this, but the final course simply fell flat. I would have been content with a piece of Tom Douglas' signature coconut cream pie, although it may have been too rich, and perhaps too plain to stand up to the rest of the meal The dessert was good, don't get me wrong, but it just did not stand up to the quality and genius of the previus courses. A vanilla-citrus ganache, cocoa nib spice cake and mulled wine sorbet, which seemed to be a mishmash of leftovers rather than one signature dessert that would have sparkled all on its own. However, the wine, a 2005 Brachetto d'Acqui Prieto from Italy was simply out of this world. It was sparkly, like a champagne (and was served in a flute), but creamy and deep rich color at the same time. I had a second glass and want to pick up a few bottles.
And that was a Monday night at the Dahlia Lounge.