Some friends asked us if we would join them for dinner at the St Andrews Cafe at the Culinary Institute of American in Hyde Park. I hurried home from work and we drove north. arriving just in time. My first time on this campus (quite nice and collegial, though the route from parking to restaurants could be better defined)
This evening was part of their dinner series, the theme was Slow & Savory Cooking. Just in case it sounds like I'm carping/complaining, let me say at the outset that I had a good time, I found the kids delightful in their trying so hard, and the food was mostly good.
There was a nice bread basket brought out (including cheese biscuits that I really loved), and then an amuse of crusted goat cheese topped with candied pecan and orange. Tasty, but crust separating, and I personally thought a dish that would have been far better hot than room temp. They brought the wine for the first course, a bubbly, the NV Clinton "Naturel." I wasn't at all fond of this wine, canned pears with a metallic edge, a little sweetness, short, herbal. C
The first real course was my favorite of the night, a slow-roasted cauliflower and garlic soup with beet chips on top (and black truffles, though I only got one tiny bit that I noticed). Really a wonderful soup, and a perfect thing on a cold cold night.
The next course was braised beef short rib ravioli with pecorino and a side of caramelized onions. Filling great, ravioli could use a little work. Now, one can see into the kitchen, and in front of the kitchen was the bar. A student was very carefully filling glasses (I think about 40 people were in dining room), and servers brought out the glasses. I sniffed my Merlot, uh oh. I'm not the most sensitive, but this is clearly corked. Betsy agrees, and once I explain to Rachel what corked is (they aren't wine geeks) she clearly gets the cardboard smell. Joe doesn't, but Betsy does from his glass, I think he is just TCA insensitive. I quietly ask the waiter to have the wine guy from faculty smell the wine, as I think it's corked. We see intense discussion, but not much sniffing. Eventually a student and faculty member bring over 4 new glasses, and it's night and day. No cardboard, the 2006 Bonterra Merlot (Mendocino) is a fairly fruit forward plummy wine, red fruit accented with smoke and a little vanilla. Not very long, but not corked! B-
Next up, lamb shank stew with glazed root vegetables (rutabaga, celeriac, and carrots) and caramelized pearl onions, topped with fried onion. Lamb could use a tad more seasoning, but good. Unfortunately, the wine (2006 Alexander Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon) wasn't - corked again. I found it corked (though not as dramatically as the Merlot), Betsy too, Rachel said "hey,it smells the same as first glass of the last wine, but I like the taste," Joe doesn't notice. They didn't mind, and Betsy and I quietly agreed that we'd just live with it (it had been a production that took 8 or 10 minutes before). So I didn't drink mine. I know the arguments for calling over waiter, but at this point I didn't want wine flaws to be focus of evening. I don't eat desserts, but others enjoyed lilttle sampler plate with creme brulee, chococlate tart, and cherry chocolate brioche pudding.
Fun night. But I'll write a note to CIA. Now, I'm not super-senstive, about average, I tend to find maybe 3% corked. So chances are about one in a thousand of me finding two corked wines in a row, but it happened. Though it took some time, they handled the first sendback well. I'm sure they would have with second, too. However, it seems to me that those wines should never have made it to table. Part of teaching service should be identifying flaws in a non-bottle service enviroment. If student doesn't know about TCA, someone else should be there to check. The difference between the flawed bottles and a fresh bottle would be readily apparent side by side, even if one didn't know "corked" (unless they were genetically insensitive). I mean, I sent back the Merlot, and it was my choice to stay mum about the Cabernet. However, I think the pours were roughly 4 ounces, so I'd assume 2 more glasses from each bottle were floating around room. I know many (most?) people don't pay attention to wine, and even less understand re TCA, but my guess is those people enjoyed their wine less than a clean bottle. Checking the wine for correctness should be done before wines by the glass are sent to table. It would be useful for a student even just to learn if they were among the insensitive.
Overall, despite the wine angst, a very fun night. I'd do again (though next time we'd go for a B&B, too much driving. Luckily, since my consumption was probably 6 ounces (2 ounces of bubbly, 4 ounces of replacement Merlot) over 2.5 hours, no driving issues.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.