Dinner at the Doc's House

December 14 was dinner at the Doc's house. I had been looking forward to this dinner, since I heard that food is always good in his house, and I was not wrong. Noel was to to season/Grill the Steak while we had our appetizers, which he did while the others had not arrived yet.

As we arrived and for starters, we were served Champagne Krug Grande Cuvée Brut NV paired with Sushi from Toki and Dulong with toast. The Sushi, I think served in honor of Keichi, was excellent and the spicy Dulong, excellently paired with the Champagne.





We were also served a 2007 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett , a Riesling Kabinett. This was also quite enjoyable, since it is not as sweet as a Spatlese. A very good match with the Spicy Dulong.

Noel then proceeded to grill the steaks, as Doc and I watched how he did it. I've always thought grilling steaks was quite hard, but after seeing how Noel did it, it did not look as complicated and it was done quite fast actually.




After grilling, the steaks where let to rest around 10 minutes before serving:

Dinner was then served in their formal dining room. For starters, we had a simple yet delicious Caesar's Salad. This is a salad I really enjoy, so simple yet when well done can be very good.


The Doc then served us 2 reds blind, which I had with the Snake River farms US Prime Grade Rib-Eye. I enjoyed wine #1 better with the Steak, since it seemed to be a younger more full bodied wine, while the second wine was a more elegant wine. Wine #1 was a 1998 Vega Sicilia Valbuena 5 and wine #2 turned out to be a 1994 Vega Sicilia Único. I loved both wines, enjoying the Valbuena with the Steak and the Unico on it's own and later on with the Cheese platter. Thank you Doc for this special treat, since I really love Spanish wines and Vega Sicila is probably the best if not one of the best producers in Spain.

The Doc then opened another bottle, this time a Bordeaux: 1990 Château Gruaud Larose which we had with the Cheese platter, Dried Figs, dates and Apricot. Noel had mentioned later that the bottle was slightly off, or corked, but for me it was still quite enjoyable. Doc also opened a bottle of Sauternes for the cheese: 2001 Château Suduiraut, a light Sauternes which went very well with our cheese.

More dessert followed with the sinful and delicious Home made Ice Cream of Mrs. Doc. I must say this is probably the best Ice Cream I've had, so rich and creamy, I could not help myself from having 2 servings. They also served home made cookies served with the Ice Cream.

Thank you Doc and Mrs. Doc for inviting us to your house. I enjoyed everything, every thing, from the food, the setting, the wines and the company was great!!

Usual Suspects Roast Goose Lunch at Je Suis Gourmand

Another one of those Christmas meals..I think we had a total of 4-5 before Christmas..this time it was as Je Suis Gourmand. Noel had suggested we have a typical Roast Goose (typical German Christmas meal I think) and of course we all agreed.

For starters though, we had a bottle of Piper Heidsieck Cuvée Rare Champagne NV of course care of Jay. Very refreshing fruity, slightly sweetish Champagne.

Photo care of Noel

Our First course was then served: Warm Duck Foie Gras Gateau with Roasted Scallops & Pan-Seared Duck Foie Gras. I love this dish, which we had already last year for another Christmas Lunch at JSG. This is a very rich dish, since the Gateau is also made of Foie Gras. I enjoyed this with the little Champagne I had left in my glass.

As soon as we were done, most of the reds were opened: Jojo's 1999 Château Trotanoy, My 1999 La Granja Remelluri Rioja Gran Reserva, Keichi's 2001 Peter Thustrup Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru, Aarons 1990 Château La Fleur de Gay.




I enjoyed all wines, my favorite being Aaron's la Fleur de Gay. I was also expecting more from my Remelluri, which I found was a bit soft and a very safe wine. It was very light bodied and perhaps needs more time in the bottle.

Our main course was then presented to us by Marc, who appeared out of nowhere and said: "Gentlemen, your Goose is ready"

Photo care of Noel

He then brought it back to the kitchen, to carve and plate it, and this is what we got:


I must say at first I was not too sure about having the Roast Goose for lunch, since I had never tried it. This turned out to be delicious, complete with stuffing, gravy and Red Cabbage and Potato Dumplings. The best thing about this dish was the wine we had with it. Jay had suggest during our emails about the menu that a typical/regional paring for this would be a Riesling, so Jay brought a 2003 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg Riesling Spatlese. This was for me one of the best if not the best food and wine pairing this year. Thank you Jay for bring this wine..it was a great match.


We had to take a long break before dessert, since we were all quite stuffed with all the food. The food was so delicious that I just ate it too fast and was really quite full...so after an approximate 20 minute break, we continued. We first had a cheese course, which we continued having with the reds. Another red was opened: Rene's 2001 Chateau La Tour Haut-Brion. I have had this a few times and it is quite enjoyable. a Medium bodied wine which went very well with the cheese platter.

After another long break, we finally had the dessert. Another 'special' request from Noel and one that would match perfectly with our Roast Goose meal: Chestnut and Butter Cream Christmas Log with Sauce & Marrons Glacés (Buche de Noel). Very very rich dessert, which none of us were able to finish (except Keichi). We had this great dessert with another good pairing: 1998 Leon Beyer Gewurztraminer Selection de Grains Nobles (Noels wine). I must admit I was not a fan of sweet wines but I have learned how and when to enjoy them, and this time was one of those times i really enjoyed it.

With no more space for anything, we lingered around over coffee and more wine. Thank you guys fro all the good wines we had, Noel for suggesting the Roast goose and Marc for preparing it!! Truly a great and fun lunch! Thank you again to Noel, since I used some of his pictures for this post.

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.....

Usual Suspects last Meal for 2009 at Masseto

I know it's been a while since I've updated my blog. I've just had too many things going on, work, relatives, Holiday rush, etc...I've resumed blogging but will start from my latest meal, then work backwards from there.

This a was dinner organized by Jojo. He had prepared a set menu care of Chef Tippi Tambunting. It was one of those "I'll take care of all the wines' by Jojo, so we were sure to enjoy. Obviously it would not be complete if he did not serve some of them blind...he likes playing those 'guess the region/year" type of games..

For starters, as we arrived , we were served by Jojo himself (who was our Bartender/Sommelier for the night) nicely chilled glasses of 2000 Champagne Jacquesson Avize Grand Cru. I have only tried a few vintage Champagnes, so I don't have much experience. I was expecting this to be not as fresh and Fruity but I was pleasantly surprised with this Champagne. Very nice, lemon, fruity... a perfect way to start the night.


Once we were complete,. food and more wine started arriving. We had for appetizers: Scrambled Eggs-Chorizo and shrimps with Garlic Chips, we were served 2 reds blind. Clues we got were it was the same maker and we were to guess which was the older vintage and the region of possible.



I decided to leave the blinds reds and have the tapas with the 2004 Maison Leroy Bourgogne, which I have had twice this year, I enjoyed this light fresh red wine. As for the blind reds, I was almost immediately able to tell which was the older one, as it was quite of a brick color, while the other one was still a brighter more vivid ruby red. I enjoyed Wine number one (the younger one) which turned out to be a 1998 Château Le Bon Pasteur. With wine number 2, I detected a weird smell, which Noel pointed out to be saline aroma..I called it a 'fishy' smell and Rene had mentioned salt water If I'm not mistaken. I left the wine and the particular smell was gone in about 45 minutes. The wine was revealed as 1982 Château Le Bon Pasteur. It was an enjoyable wine, but not as good as the same bottle we had on our DEC 21 Dinner at the Goose Station.

Done with the reds, we moved on to the whites. We were served 3 New World Chardonnays, all of the, very different in style. 2000 Château Montelena Napa Chardonnay, still quite fresh for a 10 year old wine. It was oaky and buttery, typical qualities of Chardonnay. The second wine was 2003 Ridge California Chardonnay Montebello, a lot oakier. A few had mentioned that it was like Buttered Popcorn and i definitely agree with them. Not really my style of wine. The last was 2006 Leewin Art Series Chardonnay, this was more my type of wine. Much less oak and with some fruit and acidity on it.

After this, yet again another wine served blind. This was a magnum and we were to guess if it was New World or Old World. Many had voted new world, but at the end it turned out to be a 2000 Chateau d'Aiguilhe. My first time to try this wine. Many said this Chateau really makes Modern wines, that's why many were confused.


More food was served: Halibut, Clams and Clam Jus, Fideo, Aquid and Prawns and Prime Rib Eye Steak.




Then, 2 more wines were served blind: this time, Jojo wanted to to say which was Right Bank and which was left Bank. It was very hard for me to guess, so I just decided to enjoy the wine instead while the rest analyzed and analyzed. I preferred the first one, which turned out to be a 1998 Château Pape Clément, mostly the one preferred by everyone. The 2nd wine was a 2000 Chapelle d'Ausone, for me no where close to the first one and not as open and ready to drink yet. Maybe this will get better after a few more years in the bottle.

This last 2 wines were served with a cheese platter (sorry no photo). We had more wines after this, but at this point I don't remember most of them, so no pictures of them anymore. Here are some 'fun' pictures:

Greg threatening to take home all the Droste that Aaron had brought for all of us..

Noel, Greg, Jojo and Aaron..

Johnny fulfilling his long time dream of being behind a bar..although he did not serve us anything

Jojo, not just a great host but also our Bartender/Sommelier

Rene and myself, Cheers to a great 2009 and looking forward to 2010!!