Usual Suspects Pre-Christmas Dinner at The Goose Station

As I said, I would be posting backwards from latest to earliest, so this was our one of our Pre-Christmas meals with the group. We all had decided to have it at The Goose Station, since we feel quite at home there and food is great. Rene was in charge of making reservations and preparing our Degustation Menu. We were the usual group (Jojo, Rene, Keichi, Greg, Aaron, jay and myself..unfortunately Noel could not join us although he came for a few drinks)

For starters, some Champagne: Freixenet Reserva Real from Aaron and a BilleCarte Salmon Brut Rose from Noel. I always enjoy good bubbly before starting a meal and both of them were very good, crisp and fresh.

We were then served with the Amuse Bouche: Foie Gras Cones, Potato and caramelized Onion, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Prosciutto and Brie. I have tried all of this before and spoken about it in my previous blog, so I will only talk about the new dishes I have tried this time.


We then had: Salmon Tartare - White Asparagus Foam, Mango, Cilantro, Daikon Sprouts, Avocado oil and Caviar. My first time to try this and I loved it. All the flavors perfectly balanced and with good contrast. I had this with a 2007 Domaine Rimbault Sancerre (sorry no picture).

We then had 2 wines served blind. Keichi had already mentioned that he was going to bring an 82 Cos D'Estournel. Jojo then pulled out a wine saying it was the same years as keichi's Cos, so he suggested we serve them blind and see how they fair...so we did



As we were tasting, we had the 3rd dish of the night: Beet Garden (see my previous post on this), which I also like very much.


Eventually everyone had their votes and 5 out of 4 voted the 2nd wine better then the first. At that point we still did not know what wines was Jojo's, we only knew Keichi's wine. After Keichi Voted, we asked him to reveal the bottle of the wine that he voted 2nd, and to his disappointment, it was his wine. The winner was Jojo's 82 Le Bon Pasteur.

Notice Keichis 'serious' face...



Next, we had one of my favorite dishes: Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise Foam, Bacon Tuille, Fleur de Sel and White truffle Oil. This we had with Rene's Bottle of: 2006 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte. Not really my type of white wine, since i find many of the Bordeaux Whites oaky, although still quite enjoyable. I did not drink the wine with the Eggs Benedict, as it is really quite hard to pair any Egg dishes with wine.


Next, the Seared Foie Gras, a tribute to the Holiday Season, with Roasted Pumpkin Pudding, Ginger Bread, Blueberry, Toasted Brioche, Chestnut and Micro Mustard Greens. With this we had the perfect wine: 2007 Dr. Loosen Riesling Spatlese. I think one of the better pairings, since I find Sauternes too sweet.

After a break, them main dish arrived: Black Angus Rib Fillet, Sausage Jus, Haricot Verts, Truffle Oil, Whipped Potatoes, Burre Schublig, Peas and Crisp onions.

With the Steak, we had several wines on the Table: 2002 Lynch-Bages from Greg and a 2005 Chateau Taillefer from Aaron. Both wines were very good and match perfectly with our steaks.



For Dessert, we had Chocolate Candy Bar, Earl grey Mousse, Ganache, Bisquit. With this, Jay pulled out his bottle of Benriach 15 year old Single Malt. The Dessert was sinful and the Single Malt, what can I say? Before enjoying wine I was a scotch drinker so I loved it. In fact I am now more into Single Malts than Scotch, So I really enjoyed this one.

And now, for the 'fun' photos:

Group Shot

Too much Single Malt???

Another group Shot....

Final Group shot with The Chefs and Owners of TGS, Rob and Sunshine

We had a great time, food and wine was great. My next post: the Pre-Christmas Lunch to this dinner, a Roast Goose lunch specially prepared for us by Chef Marc Aubry in Je Suis Gourmand.....