2232 W Roscoe

A friend who likes and understands her wine a whole lot better than we do (she actually writes He Sipped / She Sipped formally on the topic with her husband) hosted a tasting at one of her favorite Wine Stores. A store we know we should have visited by now, but it's outside that useful and convenient distance from home.

They have a tasting room out back (technically off to the side) were we spent our time with our hosts and perhaps another 20 people.  Plenty of room for all of us, and in this sort of situation perhaps another 20 or 30 could join in.  Simple decor, a big bar / serving area with a few seats, a couple of sofas and plenty of room to mingle.  Also, really fun chandeliers made magically from wine glasses - an idea we could be talked into 'borrowing' quite easily.  As we understand it, the plan is to open up this Tasting Space as a sort of Wine Bar / Cheese & Charcuterie type of place.

We took a quick peek around the actual Wine Store on the way out and there's some fun stuff out there to keep you amused no matter how you classify your wine skills and / or wine budget.  Our 'tour guide' shared with us that there are actually a couple of Lush stores around now, each tweaked a little to suit their location.  Sadly, none closer to us than this one. 

The store had a designated keep-an-eye-on-the-crowd person and she was not there to give a speech, but she would happily answer questions and offer her opinions on the wines if asked.  We didn't ask a lot of questions, but she certainly didn't mind when we did - she didn't even get mad when we caused a small incident in the region of the open bottles...

If there was an official theme of the tasting, I either missed being told or forgot.  In lieu of anything official that I know of, I'm declaring the theme here's-5-wines-you've-probably-never-tried-before-and-even-if-they're-not-your-favorite-you'll-be-better-off-for-having-given-them-a-go.

Our tasting went pretty much like this:

• A Selection of Wine Tasting appropriate treats. - didn't think to ask for specifics, but there was at least one really yummy sausage and a couple of cheeses I could easily sit down with.
• NV Lattitude 50° N. Sekt Brut Weiss (Germany) -This may have been my favorite, certainly the one I was most inclined to return to once we'd been through the range.  Not overly bubbly, a little acid and a great smoothish dryish finish.
• 2009 3 Wines Sweet Water Ranch (California) - a pretty fruity nose but short finish.  Perhaps honey on the palette?  I could probably sit in the sun on the deck with this one.
• 2009 Domaine Ott 'Les Domaniers de Puits Mouret' (France) - nothing particularly memorable.  Not sorry to have tried it, but no reason for me to return.  Possibly the earthiness (I kind of want to say that I found dirt though) you expect in a Shiraz or Grenache that I found tricked me a bit?
• 2009 Château Cambon (France) - perhaps needed more food than the yummy treats provided.  Not bad alone, just probably better with food due to the tannins.  Don't compare this Beaujolais to the Nuveau you've probably seen on sale somewhere!
• NV Coeur D'Alene Cellars 'Switchback Red (Washington) - I don't hate this for being a NV, but I admit to looking at it a bit differently.  It was well balanced and sort of smokey and spicy at the same time.  I wonder if this would work out with a big plate of BBQ?

If our friend throws another do, there's no reason to think we wouldn't join in but as a wine store we have a closer one we're happy with.  The thought of a fun Wine Bar is appealing and we would definitely make the trek back to check it out at least once.

Stay JOLLY!
D

131 N Clinton

Thanks to a friend who blogs He Sipped, She Sipped - a fun wine blog on a subject dear to us - wine, we were able to get enough of a heads up so as to get a hold of tickets for Meet Alpana Under the Eiffel Tower - A Champagne Brunch Tasting Event with Alpana Singh that sold out quickly and proved to be a hit with all who attended.

The market itself is about what I'd expect from a place with about 50 vendors over 3½ aisles all doing their own thing with not too much overlap.  A pretty good balance between groceries and treats ready to be consumed right there and then.  Bright and well maintained with French music playing it's easy enough to find what you need (or didn't know that you needed).  Occasionally very noisy as the Metra Trains do their thing right above you, but on a Saturday there's not too many of them.

The normal 'dining' area was set up quite nicely in communal quick-hurry-get-a-good-spot seating.  Pure luck had us with in range of our friend the blogger (but we couldn't sit together because she got a special seat with the Guest of Honor) and we made friends of they type we'll probably never see again with the people sitting around us.

Can you say organized bedlam?  The whole thing was supposed to be from 11am to 1pm with the owner of the place saying hello before Alpana shared some wisdom with us.  Did you know she's kinda funny?  She also did a very good (and generous) job of mingling by signing any book (which we got as part of the deal) that came her way and posing with a smile for photographs no matter how confused the photo taker got.  We kind of feel bad for her in that she didn't really get to sit down and enjoy the treats, both wine & food.  It was probably more like 11:30 before the first dish made it to us and was certainly closer to 2:30 than 2:00 when we retrieved our coats.  I admit to being a little bit wound up at how slow everything started off (and perhaps how little wine I'd get to taste), but they actually did a great job with the wine and kept it coming the whole time so concern alleviated and then it didn't really matter how long everything took...

For our Servers they'd rounded up some trainee chefs and they worked hard the whole time (well, apart from when they got their group pic with Alpana) but they had us jammed in perhaps a little too tightly to facilitate efficient service.  We really do appreciate their efforts! 

The goal was to get us 4 wines, coffee, orange juice and 8 tasting courses with everything being provided by the Vendors who make up the French Market.  An awesome plan!  But, hindsight says that we didn't get to see some things in their absolute best light, but we saw more than enough to let us know we MUST get back as 'real' customers sometime soon. 

Our meal went a little like this:

• Veuve de Vernay Brut Rose
• 1
  • Quiche
  • Grape Leaves Stuffed with Rice
  • Cavapi Beef and Lamb Kabobs
  • Fresh Feta Salad
• Espirito Lagoalva
• 2
  • Raw Vegan Lasagna
  • Crushed Red Pepper Popcorn
• 3
  • Op la Frittata
  • Hot Chili & Teriyaki Chicken over Fried Rice
• 4
  • Pastrami on Rye
  • Belgium Fries with Curry Mayo
• Monastery Tvrdos Cabernet Sauvignon
• 5
  • Sole Fish Taco
  • Guacamole and Chips
• 6
  • Croque Monsieur
  • Rigatoni and Marinara Sauce
• Domain Saint-Vincent Brut
• 7
  • Ambre Dessert
  • Red Velvet Cupcake
  • Strawberry and Cheese Kolacky
  • Sorbetto Cremespresso
  • Marzipan and Raspberry Macaroons
• 8
  • Delice de Bourgogne
  • Aged Marieke Gouda
  • Aderkase Reserve
  • Fig and Black Tea Spread
  • Cinnamon Roasted Almonds
  • Assorted Berries

The Fries were probably the highlight.  The Taco was not far behind along with the Kabob.  All the cheeses did well.  The Lasagna the biggest surprise of the meal.  The wines were all pleasant enough, but we didn't spend anytime critiquing them amongst ourselves.  The Cab Sauv probably our favorite.

Was it a lot of fun?  Yeah, absolutely!  Was it the best example of a brunch with a wine tasting?  Probably not.  Did we get insane value for money.  Indeed I believe we did!  Did we get a signed (naming us both) copy of Alpana's new book?  Yep!  Did we get to say 'hi' to and get our picture taken with the same person who signed our book?  Yes, yes we did.  Did we get introduced to a Market we probably never would have found on our own.  Embarrassingly, yes.

We could probably get talked into (without all that much arm bending) attending another brunch similar to this one at the French Market, but we don't need any talking into to know that we'll be back for some grocery shopping and / or lunch one day soon.

Stay JOLLY!
D 

638 S. Michigan Avenue

We went with High Expectations!

We felt very Underwhelmed to start with!

We ultimately left Exceedingly Pleased with our experience!

You could probably argue that we didn't dine at Mercat...

The theme of the event was to pair 5 Wines from the Portfolio of Jorge Ordonez (4 coming from his own Vineyard in Malaga Spain) with Fare prepared by Iron Chef Jose Garces.  Jorge did not attend but his sister Victoria did as she's a significant part of the Jorge Empire.  She spoke well and although perhaps not entertaining as a public speaker, definitely enlightening.  Not being a Native English Speaker was not a problem for the audience, but she did bring some great support in Robert Hall, one of their Distributors who is quite happy sharing his slide show and very vast knowledge some (if not a good portion) coming from his time at Charlie Trotter's - we understand he's one of the few Master Sommeliers based in Chicago.  Chef Garces came in to chat a little about each dish and did explain why he chose the dishes he did and what we could expect from them.  From all his now 'Celebrity' Chef commitments he didn't come across as overly comfortable with being the center of attention, if only for a few minutes at a time, but was VERY gracious in showing his thanks for our appreciation.

Our high expectations for the event took a hit from a couple of different sides, but ultimately all conspired to get us to the very enjoyable meal we had. 

As we are finding a little too common, the hostess didn't do us particularly proud.  Due to the weather (it was raining) we arrived quite early rather than wandering around Grant Park as planned.  We didn't expect to get in at that time, and she sent us off to the bar saying she would come get us when the room was ready - she never came. We didn't miss out on anything, but...

I think we have to accept to being a little naïve in thinking the event would be held in Mercat.  Being housed in the same building as the Blackstone Hotel, of course they're going to use a private room there.  Straightaway we understood why (probably going for a more intimate setting, able to set up a screen for the presentation, but mostly to keep the restaurant open for business as usual), but the vibrance of the Mercat space is NOT replicated in a hotel meeting space.  It didn't occur to us until during service, but that also means you get Banquet Servers who are not likely to have the specific food knowledge of what the Chef is about compared to the Servers who work the restaurant floor, even if the specific dishes were new to them and the Chef was coming in to do the talking.

Through the lottery of seating 2s & 4s at tables of 10 and a not quite sold out event, we ended up on a table by ourselves.  We weren't there to meet a whole bunch of new friends, but having the option to chat to other people taken away from us was noted.  Hind sight shows us that we were in fact the luckiest of the guests by being put in this position.  Had this not happened, I'm pretty sure we would have left saying that our High Expectations were almost met and we'd have had no reason to complain.  But it did, and order was restored much sooner than it might have.  After an initial chat from Chef Garces, Victoria and Robert the Chef took off to do his thing.  Victoria & Robert needed a place to sit and they joined us.  In your face guests not having to sit at a big table by themselves!  She was wonderful to talk to and through out the evening we got extended information on the wines, some interesting insights into the people that work Jorge's very rugged vineyard (so rugged that the only vines she's ever touched are the ones at the very top of the vineyard - she seems really quite scared of it!) and some general chit chat that had nothing to do with wine from a person we think loves her profession and where it takes her, but is relieved to talk about something else when given the opportunity. I say again, In your face guests not having to sit at a big table by themselves!  Robert also was enjoyable to talk to as he shared stories from his trips to Jorge's and other vineyards throughout Spain.

Once our Expectations were crushed reduced everything else just worked to restoring them and probably exceeding them when all was said and done.

Each of the 5 wines were wonderful as were each of the 5 dishes.  The pairings worked great together but I would argue that only one of the dishes was enhanced by the wine and that 2 of the wines were enhanced by the food.  But that's the beauty of wine and food pairings - there's lots of room for argument...

Our Meal went exactly like this:

• Salmorejo (a soup of Peekeytoe Crab, Quail Egg, Strawberries, Black Olive) - probably a great soup with out all the little treats, but an awesome, almost fun, soup with them.
  • 2009 Botani (Dry Muscat) - fine with the Soup but our first thought was actually to sit out on the deck in the sun, perhaps with just the wine.  Perhaps why it was chosen for the pre-dinner drinks?
• Foie Gras Torchon (with Orange Marmalade, Brioche French Toast, Orange Blossom, Creme Fraiche) - the really really rich of the Foie Gras was almost softened by the sweetness of the accompaniments.  Best bites were with a bit of everything.
  • Jorge Ordonez Selection Especial #1 (Sweet Muscat) - Yep, a sweet wine before dessert and it was perfect for this course.  Not sticky sweet, just good sweet and really made the dish.  Almost refreshing.
• Pernil Asado (Roasted Pork Shank with White Beans, Arugula & Orange) - a very fatty cut of meat, and at first glance not overly appealing, but the eating a whole other thing and we thank the Chef for selecting it knowing it wouldn't look appealing to everyone.  The texture of the tender meat, melt in your mouth fat and crispy skin was a treat when combined in one bite.
  • 2007 Atteca Armas (Dry Grenache) - needs the food to round it out a bit, perhaps.  Not as dry as I've come across in other straight Grenaches, perhaps a little tart, but that was a good thing.  
• Sous Vide Buffalo Tenerloin (with Cabrales Demi and Bone Marrow Creamed Spinach) - Melt in your mouth tender, rich Sauce and even richer Spinach.
  • 2007 Atteca Armas (Dry Grenache) - a little surprised to get the same wine again, but as it turned out it had opened up a bit having the cork out a bit longer.  Probably better with this dish, but perhaps with the extra time the Pork dish may have appreciated it a little more too?
• Mango - Lemon Pudding (with Cool Grape Salad and Lucuma Ice Cream) - Only made better with the pairing of the wines.  A bit hard to figure it out with 2 choices, but with 2 great wines it would have been a shame to miss out on either of them.
  
  • Jorge Ordonez Selection Especial #2 (Sweet Muscat) - Perhaps the fruitiest of the 3 Sweet Wines.  I would argue the better of these 2 in terms of working with the Dessert.
  • Jorge Ordonez Selection Especial #3 (Sweet Muscat) - One of the few really sweet wines I would consider drinking on it's own.  Pale and smooth and sweetness in just the right amount.

Each Course and each Wine really were treats in their own right, but as a complete meal we really feel we got our money and enjoyment's worth.  Had we declined the invitation because the event was on a Thursday would have been a horrible mistake...

We will return to Mercat for a normal meal, but we recognize we'd be extremely lucky to be there on a night when the Iron Chef is in the kitchen - the side affect of being a celebrity chef is that they need to be off being a celebrity...

Stay JOLLY!
D