Euro Beer #35: Dinner In

In the fall of 2007 (yeah, I know, OVER 5 years ago, but I am not ending this series until ENDS) my wife and I traveled through Europe for 10 weeks. We ate a lot of food and drank of a lot of beer (and wine). Not enough food, not enough beer. In Annecy still, let's hurry this up and get onto Italy: 

 

 I guess if I am gonna stay up late procrastinating I better at least blog. After our long ride around the lake we decided to relax at our host's place and make dinner. I don't know what these drinks were. I think rum and pineapple juice.

 

 And we made some "Indian" cuisine. 

Streat/Jorge Ordonez Wine Dinner

You read that right. Wine dinner. Once in awhile it's nice to take a break from beer. Right? Well, if you don't think so, don't worry, this will be over soon. I'll try to make it as easy as possible on ya'.

About a week ago Streat, a new restaurant in town, put on a Spanish wine and tapas tasting. Wine from Jorge Ordonez. Food by Streat.




This was the first plate of "tapas." All the food was very good, well it was all tasty, most of it was very good. Streat has a pretty cool concept going: Global Street Food. I love street food. Gyros, kabob, tacos, noodles, gorditas, etc. And Michael Vilim and crew do it well.

I'll go through the pairings one by one:

I. The Marques de Gelida Cava, Brut was paired with the Mexican Ceviche. I missed the Cava, but the ceviche was tasty.

Whites first . . .

1. The 2008 Borsao Rose was fruity, a bit musty and dry. It was paired with the Pork Flautas, which were tasty, wait, I already used tasty . . . they were yummy. Yeah they were, and I don't usually like flautas.

2. The 2008 Paso a Paso Verdejo was dry, yet smooth and cut right through the chive crepe rolls. Great pairing.

3. The 2008 Botani Dry Muscatel was light, sweet, easy drinking which made for a natural pairing with the mexicanish baja fish tacos.

4. The 2008 La Cana Albarino was apple-ish and was paired with a Spanish frittata (tortilla). Not sure why they called it a Spanish frittata, it's a tortilla. There is no such thing as Spanish frittata (this is sounding like those kooks who argue about black IPAs). Whatever. It was ok, not my favorite pairing.



The wines.



The second plate.

5. For the 2008 Shaya Rueda Blanco all I have written down is typical, classical white Spanish wine. So there you go. And of course it went great with shrimp.

And then the reds . . .

6. The 2008 Venta Morales Tempranillo had a great smokiness to it. The beef with chimmi churri was a bit tough, the beef that is. But that was probably the style. The chimmi churri was of course delicious, I could drink a wine glass of that.

7. The 2009 Monte Oton Garnacha was spicy and wet. Light bodied. Went nicely with the chipotle pork sopes. I really enjoyed the pork part, the sope part sucked, too dry and thick.

8. The 2009 Juan Gil Wrongo Dongo Monastrel had a BANGIN nose, loved it. Exactly what I look for in a "red wine." The flavor was not as pleasurable, but it had a nice spice to it. The ham, basil and manchego torta they served with this wine was quite chomp-able.

9. The 2008 Can Blau Montsant is a blend, it had a subtle nose but smooth spiciness. BAM!—served with slow braised pork on a bed of polenta, amazing. Loved the polenta. My wife is not a fan of polenta, but she is insane.

Man Up Texas BBQ's "Gettin' Sauced!" Texas BBQ Sauce Contest

More info at Man Up. Saint Arnold will be providing beverages.

The Future of Beer Bars? Not Likely.

Whilst doing some work research I came across these photos of the wine bar in the St. Regis Hotel. I can't believe I have not heard or read about this before. Obviously, wine bars are not my thing, but think of the beery implications. It is like a giant iphone app (I am thinking Beer Cloud) projected on to your bar or table. This would be interesting to see in a beer bar. But really it's just a novelty. I could not imagine this going on in a place like the Draught House, maybe Flying Saucer. Any place with this swanky action is not going to want me taking up a bar stool.

Photos snaked from The Map Office. They designed the graphics.

Fear of the taste of alcohol

"Golly, It don't even taste like vodka." What is the bloody point? Getting wasted I guess. I am sure someday someone will produce a beer that tastes like sweet tea.