Friday Liquid Lunch at Gourmand

It has been quite a while since my last meal in Gourmand (some time December if my memory does not fail me) and honestly I was really craving for my comfort food. We were 4 that day for lunch and we had a great time.

For starters, Foie Gras Terrine, one of Marc's bets sellers in the restaurant. It is done perfectly and always a good way to start a meal.

For my first course, I had Special Escargots, which Marc makes for us upon special request. I had this the first time in Daniel Boulud Brasserie in Las Vegas. Escargots with Chicken Oysters, Panceta, poached Egg and Salad. Lovely dish. We paired this with Rene's Bottle of 2008 Domaine Tempier Bandol Rose. Without doubt, this is the best Rose in the world for me. Such an elegant wine, of a pale salmon color. It also pairs very well with Escargots.




For main, Onglet with caramelized Onion and fries. We asked it rare and it came out Medium rare, which was already for me. Onglet is a cut that is near the kidney, so it is a a bit gamey but very tender and tasty if cooked well. Gourmand serves very good Onglet (Hanger Steak) in my opinion.


For the wine, we had 4 bottles of Red: Jojo's 1989 Tinto Pesquera Reserva, from Ribera del Duero, Noel's 1988 Chateau Talbot from St. Julien, Rene's 1999 Leoville Les Cases, also from St. Julien and my 1995 Dalmau Reserva from Rioja.

We enjoyed Pesquera (well at least Noel and myself) the most paired with our Steak. It had the body to stand up and pair well with the gaminess of the Onglet. The Chateau Talbot was very good also and could stand up a bit to the Steak, although I detected a bit of a funny(stinky) smell at first, which dissipated after a few minutes. The Les Cases was a very elegant wine, and was perfect for after the meal, with a cheese platter. My wine was opened last and we all agreed that it would have paired very well with with the Steak.




We lingered around until around 5:30 PM and headed home after .It was good to be back in Gourmand with good friends and good wine. I hope we can repeat this again soon!!

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.

6 hour Burgundy Lunch at Je Suis Gourmand..

This was the first of our Wine themed lunches, even before Pepato, but I am only posting it now a few weeks after. We were the usual suspects: Noel, Rene, Jojo, Jay, Laraine and myself. The theme was Burgundy so a special Menu was prepared by Marc Aubry that would match the wines that we brought. We started with some Bubbly that Rene brought: Sieur D'Arques Aimery Cremant de Limoux Grand Cuvee 1531 Brut. A fresh Bubbly fom LanguedociRousillon Region for France. I brought a Bottle of 2006 Domaine Rimbault Pouilly Fume, but we decided not to open it as we had too many wines already.

For starters, we had: Salad with Magret du Canard and Pan Seared Foie Gras. Slices of Magret with the Foie Gras was heavenly, and the lettuce and tomatoes gave it a good crisp and a sensation of lightness...(of course who am I kidding??)..... With this we had Jojo's bottle of 2004 Maison Leroy Bourgogne. It was typical Burgundy, with 100% Pinot Noir. It was quite light and was a good match to our salad.

The we had: Cream of Watercress and Frogs Legs Soup. The soup was very light even if it was a cream. The Frogs legs were already deboned so it was much easier to eat. With the Soup we did not have any wine, but I'm sure a nice white would have gone well with this dish.

For our Main course, March prepared: Duo of Roasted Veal Kidney and veal Loin. Equal amounts Veal Loin and Kidney were on our plate, with some Roesti. I enjoyed the Veal but did not eat much of the Kidney, since I had just had a Gout attack and was try to avoid another one...


With this we brought out the big guns: 2002 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Volnay Santenots du Milieu Premier Cru, 2001 Domaine Daniel Rion Clos Vougeot Grand Cru and toward the end we opened Jays Bottle, a 1999 Domaine Faiveley Nuits St Georges Premier Cru Les Damodes. I enjoyed N's wine (Clos Vougeot) since I tried it in a Dinner we had in Lemuria the week before, and wanted to enjoy it more. Definitely I enjoyed it specially with the Veal and Kidney.

For dessert, we had Strawberry Mille-Feuille, and with that we had 2 sweet wines: 1988 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey and a 2005 Peller Estates Oak Aged Icewine. Both were half bottles. It was my first time to try an Ice Wine, and comparing both of them, I would say the Ice wine was not as sweet as the Sauternes.

We stayed on for some espresso while Jojo and Laraine had to leave. We ended up staying til almost 6 PM with coffee and complimentary glasses of green Chartreuse. A very enjoyable lunch which I hope we can have again soon....

Boulud Escargots a la Marc Aubry...

Lunch yesterday was in Gourmand. I had talked to N about how I very much enjoyed the Escargot I had in Daniel Boulud Brasserie in Las Vegas during my last trip, So he asked Chef Marc if he can replicate it. Marc willingly agreed to give it as shot. We gave him the link to my blog and based on what he saw, he would create the same dish for us.

We also had a nice surprise during the lunch: A Special bottle from N that he wanted us to taste blind to see what we thought of it. As we arrived, we proceeded to chill our 07 Domain Rimbault Pouilly Fume, which we were going to have with our Escargot. N's wine was open already, wrapped with a newspaper since he wanted us to taste it blind.

As we we poured the wine, my initial assessment was that it was an old vintage, since it had that brownish earthy color, not as dark as other younger reds that we had. Basically that's all I could decipher from that wine. It had a particular smell, which I thought was the glass, but eventually as indicated by N, it was 'bottle stink', a stale, somewhat stinky odor that sometimes exists when a cork is first withdrawn from the bottle. Bottle stink usually dissipates fairly quickly. We let the wine in our glass for another 20 minutes and after the 2nd sip, it seemed to have opened up more. S said he thought it was a very old vintage and was only 2 years off from his initial guess and R said he thought it was from Margaux. While they were thinking all that, I was just enjoying the wine...

Finally we removed the newspaper to reveal the wine. It was a 1978 Chateau Siran. The wine was re corked in 2005, which is a normal practice for wines of that age. We continued to enjoy the wine but after a few more minutes, the wine seemed to have lost a bit and fell apart. This is probably the oldest wine I have tried, so thank you N for sharing this with us. At the end, we all had our guesses but R was right by saying it was from Margaux and S was pretty close on the year - I think he said it was 76...so pretty close...

So on to the food: We were initially served with the Boulud Escargots a la Marc. The dish was plated beautifully, almost an exact replica of the one I had. The taste was superb and everyone enjoyed it. The bread was smothered with garlic butter and the poached egg was perfectly done,with all the goldy egg yolk oozing out. The chicken oysters (Oysters are two small, round pieces of dark meat on the back of a bird near the thigh, regarded by some to be the most flavorful and tender part of the bird) were ok but I remember mine being crispy, which gave the dish a bit more of texture, but never the less this dish by Marc was excellent (so much so that S ordered another one as his main course). It is not on the regular menu but we told him that it should be part of his menu already since we would be ordering this more often.

For main, I had the Seared Lamb Tenderloin with Tomato and Garlic Butter and Saute Potatoes. The Lamb was perfectly cooked (medium is the way I like my lamb) and was a perfect match with the Tomato and the Saute Potatoes). With this, we had 2 wines form Rhone, which we had purchased some time ago for a Rhone night dinner. E. Guigal Gigondas and an E. Guigal Cote Rotie. Both are AOC's in the Southern and Northern Wine Region of Rhone. Both wines are mostly made of Syrah. I can't remember the vintages of the 2 wines but all I can say is I enjoyed the Gigondas with my lamb and it also was a good match to the Cassoulet that N and R ordered.

For dessert, we had Poached Pear in Red wine with Nougatine Ice Cream - delicious. The Pear was still quite 'crunchy' and sweet and the Nougatine Ice Cream was a perfect. It also had some lemon rind which I think was poached with the red wine. I am not sure if this is on the regular menu, but if it isn't, then it should be placed as it was really delicious.

We finished at around 4 PM with some double espressos. Great lunch as usual and would like to thank Noel and Marc for coordinating everything...I hope we can repeat this soon...

Wine Lunch at Je Suis Gourmand

When N told me he was planning a lunch in Gourmand I knew it was going to be good. After several messages back and forth regarding what wines he/we would bring, we set the lunch for Monday December 22. It was Chef Marcs rest day but he still came to prepare for us a special menu to match the wine we were bringing...Where else will you get this kind of service?? for he 4 of us, we brought 6 bottles of wine.

For starters, we had Fin de Claire Oysters Cooked 3 Ways. This dish was paired with my bottle of 2006 Domaine Raimbault-Pineau Pouilly-Fumé. I had fist tried this white in R's birthday dinner and bought a few bottles to stock up at home. The oysters were imported from France and my favorite was the top right which had smoked Salmon. It was really a perfect way to start a meal specially with the Pouilly Fumé. A perfect match and as N said, Cant get any better than that..


Next was the Pan-Fried Foie Gras w/Foie Gras Gâteau and Scallops. The meal would not have been a meal if it did not have sinful Foie Gras. R brought a half bottle of 2002 Château Rieussec Sauternes. A perfect wine for this dish. It cut right through the richness of the Foie Gras. Although a bit too sweet for me, still a great wine to have with this dish. The Gateau was a made with Foie, seemed very light but as pointed out by Chef Marc, its quite heavy as it had lots of cream, butter and Foie of course..

For the main course, we had Roasted Venison Rack with Bacon-Laced French Beans, Braised Endive in Truffle Oil Sauce. The venison was very tender, although it had too much sauce, still a great dish. The Bacon gave the dish the contrast it needed. This dish was paired by N with 2 reds: 1989 Château Lagrange -from St-Julien and a 2000 Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron Clos Vougeot Grand Cru. Both wines were superb. The Burgundy, as pointed out by S, was a good match with the Venison but didn't drink well alone.



The 1989 Château Lagrange, a third Growth Bordeaux from St. Julien was a very mature wine. It went very well with the Venison but we enjoyed it mostly on its own after the meal.

For Dessert, we had a special Chestnut Souffle paired by N with a 1988 Domaine Hugel et Fils Gewürztraminer Sélection de Grains Nobles. For me this was the best paring of the lunch. I would really never pair wines with Dessert before but this pairing was just fantastic. The Chestnut Souffle perfectly done, not too sweet, went perfectly well with this wine. I think this is the reason N enjoyed this lunch so much...and for me this was the highlight of the lunch...

Thank you N for organizing this lunch and thank you Chef Marc for taking time in preparing this special menu for us. I hope we can repeat this lunch and do this more regularly, say once a month :) ....