huevos con vino

On my second of three nights in Chicago recently, I went to Spring. This restaurant receives great reviews, has wonderful decor, and is generally regarded as a smart place to visit in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago.

That said, something was lacking at Spring. Granted, I was there on a Sunday evening, so the place was about as festive as a mortuary. That’s not very festive. Also, the elite of the service staff were at odds with the rest of the service staff, which made things a tad uncomfortable. I don’t even know what I ate for my third or fourth courses from the tasting menu that I ordered. But I did hear a waiter taking other people to task over serving me too quickly. Strange.

Yes, I ordered the tasting menu, and because of some food allergy issues I asked for a more seafood-centric menu. The waiter and chef were more than happy to oblige, which was nice. Here’s an abbreviated list of the delicious food:

• Amuse bouche - Buckwheat soba noodles in an aged soy glaze
• First course - Raw maguro (tuna)
• Second course - Seared hamachi
• Third course - Maine diver scallops
• Fourth course - Raspberry/blackberry melange of sorbet with a red/black raspberry drink thing

I also had the suggested wine pairings with the meal; I never saw a bottle nor a description of anything I drank, so I have no idea who made these wines, how old they were, etc. Now that’s annoying:

• Sparkling rosé - a nice start!
• Sake - tasty, but a little strange after the rosé
• Riesling - delicious, wine of the night for me
• Viognier - absolutely one of the worst pairings I have ever had, and not a great Viognier either

After the meal, I asked the waiter for a copy of the menu listing what I had, or at least the wines that I had. He said that was not possible because the computer was down, or some such strangeness. Huh? Just write me a list? Nobody else was eating at this point! Oh well. The decor was nice.
In the end, I wanted to like Spring, but I doubt I’d go back, even on a Friday or Saturday. They need to sort out a few quirks before they can justifiably consider themselves in the same league as Blackbird, one of their sister restaurants. Apparently in Chicago, many places prepare great food, but it’s really the service that can make or break the dining experience.

If I ever want to get my Chicago trip reviews written, I think I need to publish them in reverse order. So, I’ll start at the end with my dinner at Blackbird. By this time, the conference I was attending had started to wind down and it was my last night in the windy city.

Here’s a description of what I ate for dinner, all of which was absolutely amazing:

• Appetizer - Crispy confit of swan creek farm suckling pig with cavollo nero, shaved chiogga beets, horseradish and banylus vinegar
• Entree - Seared loin of venison with black mission figs, sugar snaps, bacon panisse and lime salt
• Dessert - Mission fig beignet with black raspberries, butterscotch and bacon ice cream

I had a couple of terrific wine pairings that bear mentioning, starting with the 1995 Domaine A. Mazurd & Fils “Cuvee Mazurka” Cote du Rhone (with my appetizer):

• Aroma: Smooth, tart black and red cherry, brown in color.
• Flavor: Blackberry, potent tannins, very nice and approaching its prime; smooth but with a strong acidic backbone and tannic activity; nice!
• General impression: A great Cote du Rhone that is nearly ready to drink.

With my main course, I continued with the 2005 Ridge “Three Valleys” Sonoma Coast Zinfandel:

• Aroma: Menthol, eucalyptus, and mint; very strong nose, very herbal and minty.
• Flavor: Vanilla and oak, rich black fruit, quite nice despite the young age.
• General impression: Wow! I liked this Zinfandel, especially with roast venison.

And, with dessert, I had a small snifter of the 1959 Cerbois Bas Armangac. This stuff was quite amazing too: lots of green and red pear on the nose, rich and soulful mouthfeel, much like a nice Scotch or a big Grappa. Very nice.

The place itself is very plain; apparently the same people who own Spring and Green Zebra also own Blackbird.  At least, I think that’s the case.  The decor and general ambiance do seem similar to Spring in terms of the minimalist, Asian influences on display.  Blackbird is a nice, simple, comfortable restaurant to which I intend to return someday.

Summer is in full swing in Seattle. The skies are blue, the sun is shining, the crows are slowly roasting to death on the power lines. You get the picture.

Also, summer marks the release of each new vintage of Domaine Drouhin Willamette Valley Pinot Noir; this year, it’s the 2005 vintage that will be released on August 1st. Apparently the 2005 vintage yielded a small crop of grapes again, although by “small” they meant almost 7,500 cases of the 2004 vintage, which was down from 8,907 cases of the 2003 vintage. I think of the concept of “limited” a bit differently; 189 cases of 2004 Louise Pinot Noir sounds limited to me.

Anyway, the 2005 will be shipped to me in mid-October, once the summer ends and football season begins. That’s “football” as in American football, not “soccer.” And from the sound of it, the 2005 Pinot Noir from DDO will require 7-10 years of aging before it is fully ready to drink. Nice! That’s quite a long aging cycle for their basic Pinot release, so I’m quite excited to hear what that means for the Laurène and Louise releases.

The 2005 Willamette Valley (aka Classique) hits the market at $45/bottle, the same price as the 2004 release. I get 15% off as a member of the DDO Direct club, which is pretty darn sweet. I can also order a Jeroboam for $200 if I want. For those of you not in the know, a Burgundy Jeroboam is a wine bottle with 3 liters of wine inside, equivalent to 4 regular bottles. Hot damn! That’s a big party waiting to happen, I’d say.  In Bordeaux, a Jeroboam contains 4.5 liters of wine, so be careful if you’re buying a Jeroboam at auction and it seems cheaper than you expected.  I know this sort of thing happens to me on a weekly basis.
I look forward to the 2005 releases from DDO; the other Oregonian Pinot I have tried from the 2005 vintage has been universally worthwhile. I think Lachini really produced some of the best 2005 wines that I have had the chance to taste so far. But I expect DDO to make some really awesome wines that should compete with anything from California, or possibly Burgundy….

I just got back from a business trip to Chicago, and I have some good restaurant tales to report.  But that will need to wait until after I get some sleep.  I do love Chicago from a cuisine perspective, and this trip outdid even the trip I took last year.  This time, though, it was more business oriented, as I was in town for a conference.
Here’s a quick list to whet your appetite for detailed reviews:

• Food:

• Good - Spring Restaurant

• Better - Blackbird

• Best - Avenues

• Good - Blackbird
• Better - Avenues
• Best - Spring

• Good - Spring
• Better - Blackbird
• Best (by far!) - Avenues

I’m going to write up some details about each of these places; I wound up getting the tasting menu at Spring and Avenues because of the people I dined with, so I have a lot to say.  More to come soon!

I don’t get out much these days.  I mean, I have gift certificates to two Seattle-area wine stores.  At this rate, I’ll have those gift certificates for a while longer.  I rarely get to wine stores anymore, which is good in some ways because it reduces the temptation to buy stuff.  But it’s bad because I love wine and I want to see what’s new.

So, when I found myself at a wine store today over my lunch hour, I decided to make a purchase for the upcoming Wine Blogging Wednesday: #36, unoaked Chardonnay.  After careful deliberation, I decided on the 2005 Mer Soleil Santa Lucia Highlands Silver Unoaked Chardonnay.  This wine rated a 92 in Wine Spectator, placing it at the top of their “unoaked Chardonnay” list in the July 2007 issue.  Robert Parker gave it a 90-point score.  Clearly, it’s worth tracking down, if you believe in the cult of the 100-point rating system.  I almost do.

You can still buy this wine for about $28 online if you know where to look.  I paid $34.21 with tax and a 15% discount, courtesy of my friend.  The maddening thing is the official Mer Soleil Web site has not been updated in a while, so the 2005 is unlisted as of 7/19/07.  In fact, none of the unoaked “Silver” line of Chardonnay is listed at all.  I’m sure that will change soon given the amount of publicity this wine seems to be receiving.

The lineage of this wine is quite potent, so to speak.  Charlie Wagner founded the Caymus winery in 1971; his son Chuck took over the winemaking duties there in 1984.  Chuck, in turn, had two sons, and one of them (Charlie II) runs Mer Soleil.  His winery is named after the Mer Soleil vineyard in Monterey, California, in the Santa Lucia Highlands.  I love the wines that come from this region of California, so I look forward to tasting the 2005 Silver Chardonnay in a couple of weeks!