Bastide Tasting Menu

snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net wrote in news:1117156234.153873.236410 @g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

??!!?? That sounds just strange to me. Was it as sweet as it sounds and if so what wines did they throw into the mix?

For a restaurant with a great reputation that has to be the nastiest menu I have ever seen. It's like what a 5 year old might design. Cap'n Crunch?! Orange soda?! Was there any, like, real food served?

Dimitri

Salut/Hi snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net,

le/on 26 May 2005 18:10:34 -0700, tu disais/you said:-

I think I need to post a critique of El Bulli that appeared in the Financial Times a month ago. I've rarely seen more nonsense purporting to be food.

Shudder.

Thank god that's over

Drinks? Water.

I'm sceptical of some of these deconstructionist/mad chemist menus, but I have had some surprisingly good ones. Proof is in the tasting, hard to guess from words. As for wine matching, these are (a) hard to imagine, and (b) often complicated combinations of flavors. Here's what I'd do, though, and I'm interested in what they came up with:

Texture-wise this is a hard pairing, but if pressed I'd go with a rose, maybe the Cantalupo Mimo. If there's heat (I don't know whose Bloody Mary they're deconstructing, mine are pretty spicy) then maybe a sparkling rose with a bit of sugar, say a Cerdon de Bugey or Brachetto

Water.

Hard to imagine, but maybe demi-sec Vouvray (later in meal I might try a real dessert wine)

Pretty opposing tastes. I'd say Chablis or Pouilly-Fume with the scallop, Rhone red with blood sausage. If I had to go with one, I'd go with Alsatian Riesling . >

Modest white Burg or Cal Chardonnay

Assuming the wasabi isn't dominant, Pinot Noir.

I'm useless with desserts.

Taking the 2 Sabathi SBs to BWE mini-convention tomorrow, will report!

][] ] >

] > Scallop Profiterolle Ying Yang ] > (this was essentially a seared scallop on one side of the plate, and ] > some blood sausage on the other) ] > ******** ] Pretty opposing tastes. I'd say Chablis or Pouilly-Fume with the ] scallop, Rhone red with blood sausage. If I had to go with one, I'd go ] with Alsatian Riesling .

Actually a fairly dry Riesling is an excellent match with boudin, odd though that may sound. Around here it is the match of choice.

I'm with Dmitri on this one, the menu sounds truly foul. Was it any good, Emily?

That bloody mary thing, brrrr.

-E

"Actually a fairly dry Riesling is an excellent match with boudin, odd though that may sound. Around here it is the match of choice"

Emery, I love most sausages with Riesling (think Choucroute, that's why I put it as my utility infielder) , but don't think I've ever had a black/blood sausage with it. Thanksd for info.

Disaster! I was sure I had my wine notes with the menu, but alas, they are gone. And unfortunately my sieve of a brain can't seem to come up with the exact wines. How useless of me!

Here's what I remember, though. First about the food: some dishes were excellent, some just ok, and a couple were not so good (guess I don't like Cap'N Crunch on my cod or Pop Rocks with my strawberries!)

The bloody mary deconstruction was excellent, but was just a spoonful. It worked great with the glass of Rose Champagne we had started with.

The Chorizo cream dish was a real standout, and the pairing stood out as well: a Fino Manzanilla Sherry (I know- horrible that I can't remember exactly which, but the idea in itself should show how the pairing worked!) Other than this Spanish wine, all the other wines were French.

With the foie gras we had an Alsatian blend. Oddly, while I can't remember the wine, I do remember that it had about 50 g/l residual sugar, and so was a nice match sweetness-wise.

It was a nondescript Chardonnay with the cod.

It was a Pinot with the duck, which was my third favorite dish of the evening.

With the desserts we were served dessert wine, and I have to admit that all I could think (after the shock of a mouthful of Pop Rocks) was that I knew some much better Austrian contenders. Bastide has this incredible selection of Chateau Y'quem in their cellar, but that's not what they were pouring! If they had, my thinking might have been different.

I think that with food like this, you have to roll with it. I really enjoy a mad evening like this once in a while. As I said, some of the combinations were outstanding- in flavor, texture, presentation, everything. I'd go back just for that chorizo cream dish!

Sorry to all about the wine notes. Can't tell you how disappointed I am myself to have lost them!

-e