We've finally made it to the month of May! And that means Vegas for Jason's fortieth birthday, baby!
We have our reservations all lined up, and while it's always possible that something could change at the last minute, this is what we have booked... we will be taking plenty of pictures along the way and will be sharing them here with reviews of the events and restaurants we're going to be trying on this visit.
Here's a list to whet your appetites (and ours!):
Enoteca San Marco (Mario Batali)
Bradley Ogden (Vegas Uncorked Signature Dinner)
Cut (Wolfgang Puck - Vegas Uncorked Signature Lunch)
Fleur de Lys (Hubert Keller)
Bouchon (Thomas Keller)
Payard's Patisserie (Vegas Uncorked Afternoon Tea & Dessert Demo)
Eiffel Tower Restaurant (Sunday Brunch)
The Mansion (Joel Robuchon)
House of Blues (breakfast)
Petrossian Lounge (Bellagio - Afternoon Tea)
Dos Caminos (Mexican)
Mesa Grill (Bobby Flay)
Table 10 (Emeril)
We have plans to lounge hop as well and that should include visits to places like Stripsteak, Red Square, Shibuya, Bradley Ogden, Luna Champagne Bar, and some place over at the Aria with an Absinthe Bong!
Can't wait to come back and share all the food and booze love with everyone!
EDITED TO ADD VACATION POST-SCRIPT: well, we ate and drank at almost of all those places. We skipped Bouchon, House of Blues, and Dos Caminos and missed Shibuya due to our hightened interest in the absinthe bong at Aria! Still, that's not a bad result for seven days in Vegas and you can include Julian Serrano, Sage, Daniel Boulud, Double Helix Wine Bar, Lagasse's Stadium, The Lobby Bar (Encore), and Serendipity to the list of reviews. It was a gut-stuffing good time!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Chandler Hill Winery
A few weekends ago Jay and I decided to visit Chandler Hill Winery for lunch - it's a fairly new establishment and the vineyards are young, but luckily Chandler Hill has a sister winery in California so there is still a nice selection of wines to choose from. It's located in Defiance, MO, only about 20 minutes from our homestead in outer Stinktown, and is situated on rolling hills in the Missouri River Valley ... prime wine-making real estate for Missouri wines. The winery is really lovely with a large, rustic, indoor tasting room and massive outdoor wine deck that overlooks the wee baby vineyards. There is usually live music out on the deck on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and it's a great place to relax with a bottle of wine and some snacks from the kitchen.
The place was jam packed when we got there and we had to wait about ten minutes for a table to empty out, but once it did we were fortunate enough to find ourselves with a primo spot at the edge of the deck looking right down into the vineyards. Admittedly my pictures aren't the best, especially because it was the middle of April and the vines were just starting to show some green, but I can tell you from experience in late summer or in the fall, this setting is truly spectacular.
We ordered a cheese plate and a bottle of 2005 Savage Norton to start our lunch - the cheeses were appropriately mild so as not to overpower the wine and included Brie, Gruyere, and a lightly smoked Gouda. Norton is a grape varietal that finds a lot of success in Missouri and some of the best wines you may ever taste from the armpit of the Midwest are likely to be reds that incorporate it - the result is usually a dry, yet rich and dark red wine with hints of berry that is very drinkable. The notes from the winery state that their Savage Norton is combined with Cabernet Franc to yield a bold taste of black currant and dark cherry.
Cheese plate and Savage Norton
As we nibbled on cheese and enjoyed our wine, Jay and I couldn't help but notice how much winery hopping has changed since our younger days when we used to make a day out of it driving from one Missouri winery to the next along highway 94. It used to be a casual, lighthearted experience but now apparently the rules of the game have been re-written. There were a handful of couples and groups scattered around the deck like Jay and me - comfortably dressed and there to enjoy the fabulous weather, lovely setting, and tasty wine - and then there was everyone else. These people were dressed to impress ... someone. A number of women were wearing white dress pants; nearly all of them were wearing heels and lots of makeup. And a few in particular were trying to out-aroma the wine with their perfume.
They were obviously there to be seen and smelled ... hahahaah!
On a purely academic note, I would really like to know how these ladies were able to make it so that their hair didn't move in the not insubstantial breeze that day.
To be fair, it's possible that many of them had arrived three hours early for a private event the winery was hosting later that evening. But still, I don't think I like being around this younger, trendy, hang-out-at-the-winery-and-drink-beer crowd. Those of them who were actually brave enough to drink wine didn't even know how to properly hold their wine glasses. We're not wine experts by any stretch of the imagination, but folks, you don't need to be an oenophile to know that the glass has a long stem for a reason - for gawd's sake, use it!!!
And then it was time to stop snarking at the younger generation and have some lunch before taking our crotchety selves back home. I ordered a tuna salad sandwich on a fresh croissant with a side order of kettle chips while Jay ordered the turkey, pesto, and dried cranberry sandwich on a baguette, also with a side of kettle chips.
Tuna salad
Turkey, Pesto & Dried Cranberry Sandwedge
Both selections were tasty and generous - nothing to make us do back flips, but just well prepared, solid food offerings that really hit the spot. Chandler Hill's restaurant menu is a little limited but the items we tried were quite satisfying and we would go back again. The winery itself is lovely and their wines, at least the ones we've tried, have been very good (except for the ruby port which set my teeth on edge it was so damn sweet). Jay and I look forward to going back to visit them again, hopefully with some friends next time so that we can share the fun. For those of you here in the Stinktown metropolitan area who haven't stopped at Chandler Hill yet, we strongly recommend that you do - it's worth the time!
The place was jam packed when we got there and we had to wait about ten minutes for a table to empty out, but once it did we were fortunate enough to find ourselves with a primo spot at the edge of the deck looking right down into the vineyards. Admittedly my pictures aren't the best, especially because it was the middle of April and the vines were just starting to show some green, but I can tell you from experience in late summer or in the fall, this setting is truly spectacular.
We ordered a cheese plate and a bottle of 2005 Savage Norton to start our lunch - the cheeses were appropriately mild so as not to overpower the wine and included Brie, Gruyere, and a lightly smoked Gouda. Norton is a grape varietal that finds a lot of success in Missouri and some of the best wines you may ever taste from the armpit of the Midwest are likely to be reds that incorporate it - the result is usually a dry, yet rich and dark red wine with hints of berry that is very drinkable. The notes from the winery state that their Savage Norton is combined with Cabernet Franc to yield a bold taste of black currant and dark cherry.
Cheese plate and Savage Norton
As we nibbled on cheese and enjoyed our wine, Jay and I couldn't help but notice how much winery hopping has changed since our younger days when we used to make a day out of it driving from one Missouri winery to the next along highway 94. It used to be a casual, lighthearted experience but now apparently the rules of the game have been re-written. There were a handful of couples and groups scattered around the deck like Jay and me - comfortably dressed and there to enjoy the fabulous weather, lovely setting, and tasty wine - and then there was everyone else. These people were dressed to impress ... someone. A number of women were wearing white dress pants; nearly all of them were wearing heels and lots of makeup. And a few in particular were trying to out-aroma the wine with their perfume.
They were obviously there to be seen and smelled ... hahahaah!
On a purely academic note, I would really like to know how these ladies were able to make it so that their hair didn't move in the not insubstantial breeze that day.
To be fair, it's possible that many of them had arrived three hours early for a private event the winery was hosting later that evening. But still, I don't think I like being around this younger, trendy, hang-out-at-the-winery-and-drink-beer crowd. Those of them who were actually brave enough to drink wine didn't even know how to properly hold their wine glasses. We're not wine experts by any stretch of the imagination, but folks, you don't need to be an oenophile to know that the glass has a long stem for a reason - for gawd's sake, use it!!!
And then it was time to stop snarking at the younger generation and have some lunch before taking our crotchety selves back home. I ordered a tuna salad sandwich on a fresh croissant with a side order of kettle chips while Jay ordered the turkey, pesto, and dried cranberry sandwich on a baguette, also with a side of kettle chips.
Tuna salad
Turkey, Pesto & Dried Cranberry Sandwedge
Both selections were tasty and generous - nothing to make us do back flips, but just well prepared, solid food offerings that really hit the spot. Chandler Hill's restaurant menu is a little limited but the items we tried were quite satisfying and we would go back again. The winery itself is lovely and their wines, at least the ones we've tried, have been very good (except for the ruby port which set my teeth on edge it was so damn sweet). Jay and I look forward to going back to visit them again, hopefully with some friends next time so that we can share the fun. For those of you here in the Stinktown metropolitan area who haven't stopped at Chandler Hill yet, we strongly recommend that you do - it's worth the time!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen
Downtown Disney, Anaheim, CA - The Last Supper before the Sad Return to Stinktown ...
We didn't have concrete plans for dinner but found ourselves wandering through Downtown Disney perusing various menus. Eventually we rolled the dice and decided on Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen which, like so many Disney-property establishments, gets decidedly mixed reviews.
I'll pass on this stew ...
We were seated in the restaurant's outdoor courtyard, which has been decorated to resemble a nineteenth century French Quarter dwelling - there's lot of wrought iron and sculptures and even a fountain slopping water cheerfully on the floor, so when you slip and fall and bust open your spine on those beautiful tiles you can do so to the sound of happy water gurgles. Not that anyone fell while we were there, but it sure seemed like a law suit waiting to happen.
The four of us had to order drinks to celebrate our last dinner together - when I saw a sazerac on the menu I had to order it; Jason and Jason ordered spicy bloody marys and Chelis went with a mint julep. The drinks all tasted quite good but my sazerac showed up in a half-full cocktail glass with no ice and was the color of children's cough syrup. *SIGH* Doesn't anyone outside of New Orleans or our house make a proper sazerac? Absinthe is legal for crying out loud ... do it right or don't do it at all!
Cheers to us!
And then the appetizer parade began! In our defense, not that we needed one, we really hadn't eaten very much throughout the course of the day. And while I can speak for Chelsi and Jason, my Jason and I wanted to do as much as we could to prolong the evening since it was going to be the last one we'd spend with our dear friendies for another six months. So what did we start with and why did our waitress secretly think we needed a second table?
Chelsi ordered the Gumbo Ya-Ya ... a heaping, helping of spicy gumbo chock full of everything but Plankton!
Gumbo!
And to help absorb all that liquid-y goodness ... grilled garlic cheese bread! Our waitress recommended this and it was excellent - chock full of buttery, cheesy goodness with a mild garlic flavor.
Mmmmm, bread plate!
Porkie Chop
And I ordered the supremely boring, but always safe to eat before a long day of tavel, Grilled Chicken and Penne which included Pancetta, Basil, Asiago Cheese, and Pink Vodka Sauce. It was supposed to include a bunch of caramelized onions but I asked our waitress if the kitchen could please leave them out and they very kindly obliged. I enjoyed this dish but had the same problem I usually do with pasta dishes - too much food to finish in one sitting.
A whole lotta drunken pasta!
The weather was getting much cooler with the setting sun and the wind was picking up - we'd left our jackets in a locker earlier in the morning when we'd arrived at the park because it was too warm to wear them during the day and no one wanted to lug them all over Disneyland and CA Adventure. The only warm-up option left to us was alcoholic coffee! And I wish I could remember which alcohol went into whose coffee but I don't any longer - all I do know is that these were some tasty caffeinated boozie concoctions and definitely did the trick.
Mmmmm, swirling boozie coffee
Chelsi is soooo cute!
One of us had to drive back to San Diego and that meant the sad, sad prospect of non-alcoholic coffee reared its head for Jason, who generously took one for the team. 
I would be sad, too!
All in all our dinner at Brennan's was a tasty and enjoyable experience. We received great service and really flavorful ,well prepared food - it ended up being a good choice and was a lovely end to a wonderful trip. Jason and I couldn't have asked for a better evening, unless it involved winning a mega lottery that would have enabled us to stay in San Diego with our friends indefinitely!
We didn't have concrete plans for dinner but found ourselves wandering through Downtown Disney perusing various menus. Eventually we rolled the dice and decided on Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen which, like so many Disney-property establishments, gets decidedly mixed reviews.
I'll pass on this stew ...
We were seated in the restaurant's outdoor courtyard, which has been decorated to resemble a nineteenth century French Quarter dwelling - there's lot of wrought iron and sculptures and even a fountain slopping water cheerfully on the floor, so when you slip and fall and bust open your spine on those beautiful tiles you can do so to the sound of happy water gurgles. Not that anyone fell while we were there, but it sure seemed like a law suit waiting to happen.
The four of us had to order drinks to celebrate our last dinner together - when I saw a sazerac on the menu I had to order it; Jason and Jason ordered spicy bloody marys and Chelis went with a mint julep. The drinks all tasted quite good but my sazerac showed up in a half-full cocktail glass with no ice and was the color of children's cough syrup. *SIGH* Doesn't anyone outside of New Orleans or our house make a proper sazerac? Absinthe is legal for crying out loud ... do it right or don't do it at all!
Cheers to us!
And then the appetizer parade began! In our defense, not that we needed one, we really hadn't eaten very much throughout the course of the day. And while I can speak for Chelsi and Jason, my Jason and I wanted to do as much as we could to prolong the evening since it was going to be the last one we'd spend with our dear friendies for another six months. So what did we start with and why did our waitress secretly think we needed a second table?
Chelsi's Jason ordered the Soup of the Day, which I think was a seafood bisque (correct me if I'm wrong, Jason).
Mystery Soup of the Day
I ordered the Louisiana Crab Cakes which were served with fire-roasted corn and black bean salsa with horseradish cream and chili aioli. These were pretty tasty but a little more spicy than I typically like - undoubtedly that chili aioli was tough to avoid.
Sweet crabby patties!
My Jason ordered the Soup 1-1-1 ... a tasting trio of the Soup of the Day, Gumbo Ya-Ya, and Creole Onion Soup. The hubba really liked this - he had a chance to try more than one item that he'd really enjoy but the portion sizes were small enough that he wouldn't be bursting at the seams due to liquid overload.
Soup times three!
Chelsi ordered the Gumbo Ya-Ya ... a heaping, helping of spicy gumbo chock full of everything but Plankton!
Gumbo!
And to help absorb all that liquid-y goodness ... grilled garlic cheese bread! Our waitress recommended this and it was excellent - chock full of buttery, cheesy goodness with a mild garlic flavor.
Mmmmm, bread plate!
The two Jasons ordered Krusty the Fish, also known as Andouille Crusted Mahi-Mahi which was served with Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli Rabe, and Smoked Tomato Chardonna Reduction. In a word: Excellent!
Krusty the Fish!
Chelsi ordered the Caramelized Pork Chop with Bacon Braised Turnip Greens, Jalapeno Potato Croquette, and Calvados Demi-Glace. In another word: YUM!
Porkie Chop
And I ordered the supremely boring, but always safe to eat before a long day of tavel, Grilled Chicken and Penne which included Pancetta, Basil, Asiago Cheese, and Pink Vodka Sauce. It was supposed to include a bunch of caramelized onions but I asked our waitress if the kitchen could please leave them out and they very kindly obliged. I enjoyed this dish but had the same problem I usually do with pasta dishes - too much food to finish in one sitting.
A whole lotta drunken pasta!
The weather was getting much cooler with the setting sun and the wind was picking up - we'd left our jackets in a locker earlier in the morning when we'd arrived at the park because it was too warm to wear them during the day and no one wanted to lug them all over Disneyland and CA Adventure. The only warm-up option left to us was alcoholic coffee! And I wish I could remember which alcohol went into whose coffee but I don't any longer - all I do know is that these were some tasty caffeinated boozie concoctions and definitely did the trick.
Mmmmm, swirling boozie coffee
Chelsi is soooo cute!
One of us had to drive back to San Diego and that meant the sad, sad prospect of non-alcoholic coffee reared its head for Jason, who generously took one for the team.
Sad, plain coffee ...
I would be sad, too!
Dessert was a foregone conclusion and we decided to share the Creme Brulee sampler, but our cute little waitress saw Chelsi's birthday button and brought her a plate of complimentary beignets! Who doesn't like warm, fresh beignets coated with powdered sugar? These were really good, especially with our boozie coffee.
Birthday Girl!
Beignets!
The creme brulee sampler included a generous portion of Grand Mariner, Cafe au Lait, and Vanilla Ginger Creme Brulees with a yummy cookie. These were all well cooked, creamy, and flavorful and provided a sweet, but not too heavy end to a wonderful meal.
Trio of creamy goodness
All in all our dinner at Brennan's was a tasty and enjoyable experience. We received great service and really flavorful ,well prepared food - it ended up being a good choice and was a lovely end to a wonderful trip. Jason and I couldn't have asked for a better evening, unless it involved winning a mega lottery that would have enabled us to stay in San Diego with our friends indefinitely!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Bourbon Dinner at Eleven Eleven Mississippi ... How'd That Happen?
Tuesday, March 30th - Bourbon Dinner Featuring Beam Spirits ... We Were Beaming Alright!
Many of you may be wondering how in the name of all that is food-n-booze did Jay and Bendy end up back at Eleven-Eleven a mere month after declaring right here in blogsville that the place was over-hyped with mediocre food that tried too hard to be something it wasn't. That would be a totally fair bit of wah-wah-wah-wah-wonder on your part and all I can say in our defense is the promise of five bourbon tastings followed by a four-course dinner paired with bourbon cocktails went a long way towards softening our attitude. We also figured that after trying five bourbons, straight, we probably wouldn't notice if the food was good or not!
Now, all joking aside, this was another one of those events that had me doing the Nervous Nelly because our friends Anila and Artan were joining us. The last thing either Jay or I wanted was to have them attend this tasting and dinner only to be on the receiving end of bleargh-food like we had in February, so our fingers were crossed and our hopes were high that Eleven Eleven would pull out the stops and dazzle us all.
The bourbon tasting was scheduled to begin at 6:30 that evening and somehow Jay and I managed to get there with about fifteen minutes to spare. We staked out a good spot for the four of us and proceeded to breathe deep, the hovering fumes .... waahahahaha!!! Each place setting had five small glasses with half-an-ounce of bourbon already poured and shimmering seductively in the late evening light. A souvenir dinner menu was waiting there there for us as well as a fun Maker's Mark pen and a small bottle of sample booze: Red Stag Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey infused with Black Cherry.
Friends, why do booze makers insist on ruining good, strong alcohol with fruity infusions?
This stuff reeks of sweet - if you didn't know it was booze you would take a whiff and think it was Krusty Brand Non-Narcotic Cough Syrup. We're not sure that even the addition of more booze will salvage this stuff. Maybe that's why they gave everyone a free sample??
Place setting
The Bourbons waiting for us were all from the Jim Beam family ... from left to right in the picture below we tried the following: Booker's, Jim Beam Black, Knob Creek, Maker's Mark, and Ri.
Have a drink? Don't mind if I do!
Allow me to provide you with some Jim Beam Bourbon ed-u-ma-cay-shun, courtesy of the glossy tasting notes also included in the place setting.
Booker's - is considered an ultra-premium bourbon. It is bottled straight from the barrel, uncut and unfiltered so that you can experience the true taste of nineteenth century bourbon whiskey without going blind (haha). It's aged anywhere from 6-8 years and is bottled between 121-127 proof. For what it's worth none of us really cared for this one - it was too strong, even after adding a few tablespoons of water and then some ice. It didn't just taste like burning ... it felt like it burned a path all the way down my throat to my belly.
Jim Beam Black - is considered a premium bourbon and is the company's highest rated whiskey with a score of 93. It's aged 8 years and is bottled at 86-proof for a smooth, rich taste. We liked this one a lot - it really was smooth and it made a great cocktail later in the evening.
Knob Creek - another ultra-premium bourbon, this baby won a double gold medal at the 2005 San Francisco Wold Spirits Competition. It's aged 9 years in newly charred oak barrels to obtain sweet vanilla flavors and a maple sugar aroma. Knob Creek is bottled at 100 proof and it embodies the flavor of pre-prohibition whiskey ... bold and uncompromising, just like Eliot Ness! This was the universal favorite in our party of four and it did have a nice hint of vanilla but was not too sweet at all.
Maker's Mark - this is sooooper-premium! It is Jim Beam's original hand-made bourbon and is made with winter wheat instead of rye as the flavoring grain. I gotta be honest ... this one just doesn't do much for Jay or me, but we found that it made a great pork tenderloin marinade a few weeks ago!
Ri - This is actually spelled with a mark over the letter "i" to let you know that it's a long vowel sound. Pay attention because this will be really important when I tell you a story about what a dummy I can be sometimes. This is a new product for Jim Beam, a Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey which is both smooth and spicy with a hint of pepper and honey. It was alright, but Jay and I much preferred the High West Rye that we tried (and purchased) and the Harvest bourbon tasting in January.
The story of my denseness is as follows ... I had never heard of or seen this Jim Beam product before this event. Not that I'm an expert on Jim Beam boozes, because I'm not. Anyway, when I saw the event menu and tasting list in advance of the event I thought this was a formatting error because it looks like this: (ri) ... with a long mark over the letter "i" and the number 1 outside of the parenthesis. I really just thought it was a glitch in the email ... until I saw it at the place setting that night. Wahahahahahaa!!! Color me dumb because I missed the joke!
Artan & Anila
Bendy & Jay
We were seated close to the bar so we could see them lining up glasses before making the cocktails to be served with each dinner course - we only took one picture because we didn't want to bother the bartenders while they were performing their mixology magic.
Pretty cool, don't you think?
My only criticism of the tasting portion of the event is that there was no food on the table to help soak up the very potent five bourbons we tried in about thirty minutes. I could swear when I received the original email that appetizers were supposed to be included with the tasting portion of the evening but there was nothing on the table other than booze and water. Surely a basket of bread, which is provided to all patrons having "normal" meals at Eleven Eleven, wouldn't have been too much to ask for, would it?
As it was, when that first course showed up at the table, I was one hungry, buzzing, ol' crohn. The first course, by the way, was Jim Beam Black Smoked Salmon with Baby Greens and Pineapple Bourbon Vinaigrette served with a Jim Beam Black Sparkling Cider Cocktail.
Jim Beam Black Smoked Salmon
Surprise, surprise ... they served the salmon cold and it was really good - a nice combination of lightly smoked fish with a hint of sweetness. The bread stick was nice (would have been better during the tasting) but was very chewy. And the cocktail was amazing - crisp and refreshing it would be a great drink to serve on a hot summer evening.
The second course was Orecchiette Pasta & Italian Sausage with Maker's Mark Basil-Garlic Sauce served with a Maker's Mark Basil Julep.
Under-Sauced pasta in Stinktown? That's Unpossible!
Damn! I think this was my favorite course of the whole evening - it was full of flavors, none of which overpowered the others, and had a very light application of sauce; the pasta was cooked perfectly and the Italian sausage was nicely spiced with a hint of basil coming through now and then. The Maker's Mark Basil Julep was wonderful although a little more sweet than it probably needed to be.
Our third course was (Ri) Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Green Beans and Fig Bourbon Sauce served with Fig Infused (Ri) Bourbon.
Pig and Fig ...
This was both good and not-so-good. The pork tenderloin was wonderful - tender and juicy and flavorful but I thought it was served with too much sauce. The balance between the fig and and the bourbon in the sauce, however, was very nice and I did like the flavor, I just didn't care for the amount that was on my plate. The drink, unfortunately, was not very good. I return to my original question about the need to ruin good booze with fruity infusions - in this case rather than resulting in a drink that was too sweet we ended up with a drink that was very, very bitter. You may find this hard to believe but I didn't finish this drink ... didn't even come close.
Our dessert course was Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie with Knob Creek Ice Cream served with a Knob Creek Tawny Port Cordial.
YUMMY!
Having never tried sweet potato pie I was really looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint. It was like a very light, creamy, pumpkin pie and I really enjoyed it; the Knob Creek ice cream was also very tasty and paired really well with the pie. The real tragedy of this course was the cocktail - I was very intrigued by the idea of a port cocktail, but really ... I should have known better. YOU DON'T MESS WITH TAWNY PORT - PERFECTION CANNOT BE IMPROVED UPON!!!
Ahem.
Tawny port is already sweet, usually with notes of caramel and coffee and sometimes fruit. Adding Knob Creek, which was the sweetest of the bourbons we tried, to an already sweet, fortified wine, was not really a very smart idea. They should have served the Knob Creek straight, in my humble opinion, or perhaps a Knob Creek Coffee would have been a nice way to finish the evening, but the drink we got was just not good. And it looked to be a universal opinion because no one sitting at our table of ten finished it and I heard another guest say the same thing I did, "this just isn't good."
Having voiced my displeasure with the tawny port cocktail, I will now tell you that overall we were pleased with the evening. We all thought the food was quite good, which certainly made Jay and me feel better about the restaurant and our decision to come back with friends. The bourbon tasting was interesting and informative and gave us a chance to sample four new bourbons that we'd never tried before, aside from Maker's Mark. We still preferred the event we attended at Harvest because that featured bourbons from different distilleries rather than focusing on booze from one producer, but this was a good evening and we're glad we booked it. And I have to be fair and go on record as stating that this time the food at Eleven Eleven Mississippi really did live up to the hype - it was simple yet creative, and very tasty. We really enjoyed the evening, the meal, and of course, the company!
Now if they could just offer an event like this on a Friday or Saturday night so that we don't have to get up and go to work the next day ...
Many of you may be wondering how in the name of all that is food-n-booze did Jay and Bendy end up back at Eleven-Eleven a mere month after declaring right here in blogsville that the place was over-hyped with mediocre food that tried too hard to be something it wasn't. That would be a totally fair bit of wah-wah-wah-wah-wonder on your part and all I can say in our defense is the promise of five bourbon tastings followed by a four-course dinner paired with bourbon cocktails went a long way towards softening our attitude. We also figured that after trying five bourbons, straight, we probably wouldn't notice if the food was good or not!
Now, all joking aside, this was another one of those events that had me doing the Nervous Nelly because our friends Anila and Artan were joining us. The last thing either Jay or I wanted was to have them attend this tasting and dinner only to be on the receiving end of bleargh-food like we had in February, so our fingers were crossed and our hopes were high that Eleven Eleven would pull out the stops and dazzle us all.
The bourbon tasting was scheduled to begin at 6:30 that evening and somehow Jay and I managed to get there with about fifteen minutes to spare. We staked out a good spot for the four of us and proceeded to breathe deep, the hovering fumes .... waahahahaha!!! Each place setting had five small glasses with half-an-ounce of bourbon already poured and shimmering seductively in the late evening light. A souvenir dinner menu was waiting there there for us as well as a fun Maker's Mark pen and a small bottle of sample booze: Red Stag Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey infused with Black Cherry.
Friends, why do booze makers insist on ruining good, strong alcohol with fruity infusions?
This stuff reeks of sweet - if you didn't know it was booze you would take a whiff and think it was Krusty Brand Non-Narcotic Cough Syrup. We're not sure that even the addition of more booze will salvage this stuff. Maybe that's why they gave everyone a free sample??
Place setting
The Bourbons waiting for us were all from the Jim Beam family ... from left to right in the picture below we tried the following: Booker's, Jim Beam Black, Knob Creek, Maker's Mark, and Ri.
Have a drink? Don't mind if I do!
Allow me to provide you with some Jim Beam Bourbon ed-u-ma-cay-shun, courtesy of the glossy tasting notes also included in the place setting.
Booker's - is considered an ultra-premium bourbon. It is bottled straight from the barrel, uncut and unfiltered so that you can experience the true taste of nineteenth century bourbon whiskey without going blind (haha). It's aged anywhere from 6-8 years and is bottled between 121-127 proof. For what it's worth none of us really cared for this one - it was too strong, even after adding a few tablespoons of water and then some ice. It didn't just taste like burning ... it felt like it burned a path all the way down my throat to my belly.
Jim Beam Black - is considered a premium bourbon and is the company's highest rated whiskey with a score of 93. It's aged 8 years and is bottled at 86-proof for a smooth, rich taste. We liked this one a lot - it really was smooth and it made a great cocktail later in the evening.
Knob Creek - another ultra-premium bourbon, this baby won a double gold medal at the 2005 San Francisco Wold Spirits Competition. It's aged 9 years in newly charred oak barrels to obtain sweet vanilla flavors and a maple sugar aroma. Knob Creek is bottled at 100 proof and it embodies the flavor of pre-prohibition whiskey ... bold and uncompromising, just like Eliot Ness! This was the universal favorite in our party of four and it did have a nice hint of vanilla but was not too sweet at all.
Maker's Mark - this is sooooper-premium! It is Jim Beam's original hand-made bourbon and is made with winter wheat instead of rye as the flavoring grain. I gotta be honest ... this one just doesn't do much for Jay or me, but we found that it made a great pork tenderloin marinade a few weeks ago!
Ri - This is actually spelled with a mark over the letter "i" to let you know that it's a long vowel sound. Pay attention because this will be really important when I tell you a story about what a dummy I can be sometimes. This is a new product for Jim Beam, a Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey which is both smooth and spicy with a hint of pepper and honey. It was alright, but Jay and I much preferred the High West Rye that we tried (and purchased) and the Harvest bourbon tasting in January.
The story of my denseness is as follows ... I had never heard of or seen this Jim Beam product before this event. Not that I'm an expert on Jim Beam boozes, because I'm not. Anyway, when I saw the event menu and tasting list in advance of the event I thought this was a formatting error because it looks like this: (ri) ... with a long mark over the letter "i" and the number 1 outside of the parenthesis. I really just thought it was a glitch in the email ... until I saw it at the place setting that night. Wahahahahahaa!!! Color me dumb because I missed the joke!
Artan & Anila
Bendy & Jay
We were seated close to the bar so we could see them lining up glasses before making the cocktails to be served with each dinner course - we only took one picture because we didn't want to bother the bartenders while they were performing their mixology magic.
Pretty cool, don't you think?
My only criticism of the tasting portion of the event is that there was no food on the table to help soak up the very potent five bourbons we tried in about thirty minutes. I could swear when I received the original email that appetizers were supposed to be included with the tasting portion of the evening but there was nothing on the table other than booze and water. Surely a basket of bread, which is provided to all patrons having "normal" meals at Eleven Eleven, wouldn't have been too much to ask for, would it?
As it was, when that first course showed up at the table, I was one hungry, buzzing, ol' crohn. The first course, by the way, was Jim Beam Black Smoked Salmon with Baby Greens and Pineapple Bourbon Vinaigrette served with a Jim Beam Black Sparkling Cider Cocktail.
Jim Beam Black Smoked Salmon
Surprise, surprise ... they served the salmon cold and it was really good - a nice combination of lightly smoked fish with a hint of sweetness. The bread stick was nice (would have been better during the tasting) but was very chewy. And the cocktail was amazing - crisp and refreshing it would be a great drink to serve on a hot summer evening.
The second course was Orecchiette Pasta & Italian Sausage with Maker's Mark Basil-Garlic Sauce served with a Maker's Mark Basil Julep.
Under-Sauced pasta in Stinktown? That's Unpossible!
Damn! I think this was my favorite course of the whole evening - it was full of flavors, none of which overpowered the others, and had a very light application of sauce; the pasta was cooked perfectly and the Italian sausage was nicely spiced with a hint of basil coming through now and then. The Maker's Mark Basil Julep was wonderful although a little more sweet than it probably needed to be.
Our third course was (Ri) Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Green Beans and Fig Bourbon Sauce served with Fig Infused (Ri) Bourbon.
Pig and Fig ...
This was both good and not-so-good. The pork tenderloin was wonderful - tender and juicy and flavorful but I thought it was served with too much sauce. The balance between the fig and and the bourbon in the sauce, however, was very nice and I did like the flavor, I just didn't care for the amount that was on my plate. The drink, unfortunately, was not very good. I return to my original question about the need to ruin good booze with fruity infusions - in this case rather than resulting in a drink that was too sweet we ended up with a drink that was very, very bitter. You may find this hard to believe but I didn't finish this drink ... didn't even come close.
Our dessert course was Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Pie with Knob Creek Ice Cream served with a Knob Creek Tawny Port Cordial.
YUMMY!
Having never tried sweet potato pie I was really looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint. It was like a very light, creamy, pumpkin pie and I really enjoyed it; the Knob Creek ice cream was also very tasty and paired really well with the pie. The real tragedy of this course was the cocktail - I was very intrigued by the idea of a port cocktail, but really ... I should have known better. YOU DON'T MESS WITH TAWNY PORT - PERFECTION CANNOT BE IMPROVED UPON!!!
Ahem.
Tawny port is already sweet, usually with notes of caramel and coffee and sometimes fruit. Adding Knob Creek, which was the sweetest of the bourbons we tried, to an already sweet, fortified wine, was not really a very smart idea. They should have served the Knob Creek straight, in my humble opinion, or perhaps a Knob Creek Coffee would have been a nice way to finish the evening, but the drink we got was just not good. And it looked to be a universal opinion because no one sitting at our table of ten finished it and I heard another guest say the same thing I did, "this just isn't good."
Having voiced my displeasure with the tawny port cocktail, I will now tell you that overall we were pleased with the evening. We all thought the food was quite good, which certainly made Jay and me feel better about the restaurant and our decision to come back with friends. The bourbon tasting was interesting and informative and gave us a chance to sample four new bourbons that we'd never tried before, aside from Maker's Mark. We still preferred the event we attended at Harvest because that featured bourbons from different distilleries rather than focusing on booze from one producer, but this was a good evening and we're glad we booked it. And I have to be fair and go on record as stating that this time the food at Eleven Eleven Mississippi really did live up to the hype - it was simple yet creative, and very tasty. We really enjoyed the evening, the meal, and of course, the company!
Now if they could just offer an event like this on a Friday or Saturday night so that we don't have to get up and go to work the next day ...
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Hash House A-Go-Go!!
Tuesday, February 16th: We Ate-Ate Twisted Farm Food at Hash House A-Go-Go!!
Chelsi and Jason had been singing the praises of Hash House ever since we started planning this trip - they sent us fabulous breakfast food porn and linked us to the restaurant's website. Originally founded in San Diego ten years ago, the restaurant prides itself on serving "twisted farm food" ... old family recipes with a twist. Although we ate breakfast there, they are open for lunch and dinner as well. The really exciting news is that they recently opened a location on the Vegas Strip, so Jay and I may just have to pay them a visit for breakfast on our trip in May because it was truly an amazing meal!
Oh what a beautiful morning ...
In addition to the morning coffee, always a must, I ordered a sparkling wine concoction the name of which I no longer have. It was similar to a light sangria, I think made with pomegranate and sparkling wine and vodka - it was really tasty, and since we were headed to some wineries after breakfast I figured I might as well get a head start on the day's drinking!
So pretty ... so good!
There were a ton of items to choose from on Hash House's breakfast menu - I selected a Farm Scramble - ham, spinach and cheddar cheese. All scrambles included griddled potatoes and a big 'ol biscuit with a small pine tree growing from the top. And because breakfast isn't breakfast without some kind of extra pork, I also ordered a side of bacon. We don't eat bacon at home, so it's a must during a vacation breakfast.
Two people could eat this ...
Bacon ... from that most magical of animals!
I was very pleased with my choice - the eggs were perfectly cooked with lots of gooey cheese mixed in with sweet-n-salty chunks of ham; the potatoes were crisp on the outside, pulpy on the inside, and nicely seasoned; and the bacon was perfect ... chewy-crisp, just the way I like it!
Chelsi & Jason shared what I believe is their favorite breakfast entree: The Hash House Quesadilla Stuffed with Potatoes, Jalapenos, Eggs, and Tomatoes with Chili Cream. I really thought this was something Jason was going to order as well, because it's right up his alley, but he opted for something different.
Hash House Quesadilla ... it's huge!
Jason ended up going with a special that morning - a breakfast skillet with flank steak, bacon, taters, and lots of peppers topped with a big 'ol poached egg. He loved this - ate every bite and said it was one of the best breakfasts he had "dining out" in a long time.
Mish-Mash skillet hash!
We thought Hash House was tremendously tasty and are so glad we had a chance to try it while in San Diego. It was good enough that we're seriously thinking of visiting their Vegas location in May, but we're afraid it just won't be the same without our friendies. Still, we strongly suggest that if you ever have the chance you pay Hash House a visit - they serve a huge, tasty, and very satisfying morning meal!
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