Veritas Supper Club

Earlier this week, the first ever Veritas Supper Club was held. I enjoyed it so much. Chef Randall Copeland of Restaurant Ava in Rockwall prepared the food at Veritas. Since Veritas does not have a kitchen, he prepared all of it on portable burners. And the food was amazing. Veritas offered by the glass and bottle discounts for the event. I opted for BTG. I am not sure I have the menu exactly right, but it's pretty close. I could go on and on about each course, but let me just say that every single bite of everything was lick-your-plate delicious - so much so that I am going out to Rockwall for dinner Tuesday night. (And I rarely break the 635 bubble.)
First Course
Granny Smith apple and Prairie Breeze white cheddar fritter with Tassione Farms mixed greens, apple fennel salad and house made apple butter. Bradley recommended the Kung Fu Girl Riesling, which was a good match.
Second Course
Scallop with malted butternut squash, lardons, mushrooms - I think there was some black truffle and some brussels sprouts leaves going on here too. I can't eat scallops, so Chef made me a plate with all the other stuff and it was great. I paired my standby Louis Perdrier Brut.
Third Course
Pan seared beef tenderloin that was unbelievably tender. I cannot believe I can recall the sauce. I had a French red with the beef.
Fourth Course
Lemon Honey Cake with berries and ginger ice cream, paired with a tawny port. I think it was Taylor Fladgate 10 year old. (If I am going to start blogging again, I guess I need to pay better attention.)
It was really, ridiculously good. I am so glad to have attended the inaugural event and look forward to future ones. I also highly recommend Chef Copeland's food. I look forward to checking it out at Restaurant Ava.

Whites

I drank white tonight because I felt like poo today. I didn't have the internal fortitude for red, though Veritas has Inwood Estates Cornelius 100% Tempranillo on the BTG menu. It is SO good. I will have it next time. I have only had it at tastings twice, so I am interested to drink a full glass.
2006 Santos Beck Chardonnay-Viognier blend - This wine is very light. You could drink a bottle on the patio. I always think it is hard to find a wine that is good with salad, but this would fit the bill with most, I think. It seems like a summer wine, but would be a good pre-dinner wine, especially if you aren't sure of your guests tastes (or if there is something wrong with you and you don't want to serve bubbly).
Tonight I also tried a Roussanne for the first time. It was a new grape for me. It was interesting. It provided a full, thick mouth on the outset, but had a very acidic finish. I don't know the winemaker or what it was blended with (if anything). As Brooks said, "Needs food." I wouldn't want to sit around and drink a bottle, but it could be enjoyable with the right meal. I am not sure what that meal would be, however.
Also had another glass of the St. Supery SB. Liked it even better this time.

So I spent too much....

Things I bought on a recent night at Veritas

Schott-Zwiesel Lead Free Titanium Stemware - The best stemware ever. I have praised it in prior entries here. They put it on sale, so I didn't fight the urge to buy it.

Inwood Estates 2005 Tempranillo-Cabernet (65% Tempranillo - 35% Cabernet) - Best Texas wine I have had. I tasted this back in July out in Grapevine and enjoyed it then. Both grapes are grown at Newsom Vineyards in Yoakum County, Texas, near the Texas-New Mexico border. Tempranillo is a Spanish grape which does well in Texas. It is delicious. (BUT, be advised that I have had a very enjoyable tempranillo-cab for about 1/5 the price. I wish I would have thought of that at the time.... oh well, I am glad to do business with local folks.) I think this may be one to put up for a few years. I am going to inquire of the wine maker about cellaring. It is actually made here in Dallas. I might go there this afternoon.

2006 The Prisoner - (I didn't write this. I have not tasted this wine, but bought it on the recommendation of others.) The 2006 Prisoner received a stellar 91 Point Score in the May 31, 2008 issue of The Wine Spectator. The 2006 Vintage is NOT a one-hit wonder. The 2005 Prisoner, which is no longer available from the distributor, received a 93 from The Wine Spectator and the 17th Ranking in the vaunted 2007 Wine Spectator Top 100 List. Here is the Wine Spectator Review for The 2006 Prisoner: "It's rare that a Zin has this much structure and finesse. Offers appealing aromas of plum, pepper and tobacco, with focused, layered wild berry, pencil lead and sage flavors. A hint of rusticity on the tannins suggests that there's no hurry to drink. Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Charbono and Grenache. 91 Points." The tasting notes I have read online indicate some folks think this is a good one to drink now.

Some $13 French bubbly - I figure you can't go wrong with a nice, dry $13 French bubbly.

Wine Tasting at Veritas

Yesterday I attend a tasting at Veritas of wines from Serendipity Wine Imports. Eight different wines were offered at this free tasting. That was plenty of wine for a Saturday afternoon.

JH and EH met me at Veritas. We had a fabulous cheese plate to go with the yummy wines. I hate to go on and on about how much I like Veritas and the folks who work there. Earlier posts attest. But I have to make some comments about the really neat stuff they are doing. There are cheeses, chocolates, jerky, pate' and honey from Texas producers. Brooks (one of the owners) seems genuinely passionate about offering these great finds from his home state. Then again, I think he is passionate about the business period. I feel like I take too much of his time when I am in there, but he has interesting stuff to say. He gave us some education on some of the cheeses - and a little sample of a cheese made with porter ale, which was great. Veritas is going to be so great this winter - there is a fireplace up front, and it is dark and cozy.

But back to the wines... I don't think I have ever been to a tasting at which there was no wine I didn't like, until this one. One interesting thing was that every one, even the ones I didn't love, had a great nose. Maybe my olfactory system was just ready for some grapes, but the smells were super yummy (that's a technical term). I didn't make notes while tasting (trying to look slightly less dorky than I really am) so I will make notes of my scattered recollections.

* 2006 Vina Robles Red4. I picked up a bottle of this one. At $16 it is a great one to take to your holiday party host and to have around the house. It is a good everyday red.

Somebody other than me wrote this: "This blend of Syrah, Petite Sirah, Touriga and Tannat received a Gold Medal and 90 Points at the Beverage Tasting Institute World Wine Championships 2008, where it was labeled 'Exceptional' and a 'Best Buy'."
* 2007 Renato Ratti Dolcetto d'Alba Colombe 2007. Touted as a great wine for pairing with pizza and pasta, I really wanted to be crazy about this wine. But it fell a bit flat. I never had a dolcetto until a few months ago at Times Ten Cellars. Theirs is made with Mendicino County grapes and it very, very enjoyable at only $14 for a bottle to take home. For sipping, I really like softer reds. With food I can enjoy a stronger red with a firmer structure. The dolcetto is soft. I definitely prefer the dolcetto at Times Ten to this one.
* 2003 Attila Gere Kopar Cuvee. Seriously - this is a Hungarian wine. Read this interesting article which mentions a prior vintage. It is indeed yummy, but over $50 is more than I will typically spend.
* 2006 Durigutti Mendoza Malbec. Wine Spectator says: "89 points."

A few years ago, I let my first experience with Malbec be my last for a long time. I just didn't like it. (In retrospect, I am starting to realize that my experiences at La Duni don't really measure up.) But I liked this wine. And I liked the Malbec Veritas is offering by the glass right now. I guess I have a new grape to explore. Retail is about $16 - a good value.
* NV Carpene Malvoti Prosecco di Conegliano. Wine Enthusiast says: "88 Points"

This prosecco is tasty and easy to drink. I picked up a bit of yeast in the nose. It is clean and fresh on the palate, but finish is a little sweet for me. Folks that don't drink a lot of bubbly would probably like this very much. I find the more that I drink bubbly, I want Brut. Retail is about $22. (Note: I know some of you that read this aren't big into wine. Be advised that NV means "non-vintage" - it isn't from a single year.)

* Domaine de Montvac Vacqueyras Variation. From Wine Spectator: "92 Points." Only 500 cases of this one were made. It was hearty and flavorful.

2005 Petroni Syrah. Only 150 cases of this wine were made. It was good and retails for about $49 a bottle.

* 2005 Spann Merlot. Only 193 cases of this wine were produced. This blend of 97% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc was very nice. (This is where I wish I had made some notes to come up with more than "very nice". We were talking drinking and eating cheese... sorry.)

If you go to Veritas, and you should, be sure to put your e-mail address in the notebook on the bar so you will get notice of tastings. There was a good discount on all bottles on the day of the tasting. Also check it out for happy hour - a plus is that, unlike Times Ten, Veritas offers some beers. As amazing as it seems, not everyone wants all wine all the time. Also, on Monday nights, they are offering half-price wines by the glass all night! That might be enough to miss Monday Night Football for, especially if the 'Boys keep stinking it up.

Soley!

Tonight CB and I dined at Soley! (pronounced sole A). It was lovely. The initial impression was great. The raw brick and painted yet rough ceiling beams were offset by super shiny dark tabletops formally set with white dishes and fancily upright napkins. There were several occupied tables, but it wasn't a "scene". That may not be good for them, but it certainly makes for a pleasant dining experience. Our reservation was a bit early - 7:30 pm - and the place was filling up when we left. Our server was a tiny bit dingy, but adorable and sweet. We enjoyed a South African sauvignon blanc, which was nice. (I always prefer a New Zealand SB to one from anywhere else.) Each of us chose the onion soup for our starter. Delish. CB and I both love French onion soup. It is described on the website as: Lemony onion soup, Oaxaca cheese en crouton, avocado. I don't recall a bit of avocado, but the soup has some bite from jalapenos. I think we were full after the soup! But we persevered. CB ordered the red snapper, which I sampled from her plate. It was served over a jalapeno cilantro risotto and an artichoke broth with two artichoke heart halves. I ordered the chile en nogado. So did a lot of other folks. We sat by the open kitchen, and I watched lots of these fantastically glorified chile rellenos go out. The poblano was perfectly cooked to tender crisp. The breading was light, yet had a very slightly chewy texture. It was reminiscent of breading on some fried pickles I have had. (Do NOT dis fried pickles. They are darn good.) The really amazing thing about the chile en nogado was the perfect balance. The textures were diverse and amazing. Each ingredient was perfectly cooked - denseness to the mushrooms, chewy depth to the duck, the crunch of thinly sliced almonds. When I say perfect, I mean perfect. I cannot imagine how it was done so well. The flavors were varied and diverse, yet not a single one overpowered the others. This dish was a really artfully crafted piece of work.
CB's dish also was tasty, though I must say that jalapeno is definitely not my favorite pepper.
The sorbets sounded amazing, but we were STUFFED. But then we went to Veritas and drank more wine. As earlier posts here reflect, I love that place.

Trying some new-to-me local spots

Last night my friend Julia from the neighborhood and I planned to go out to dinner. I picked Kozy Kitchen (really cheesy, dumb name) on McKinney. I have wanted to try it for a while. The menu is healthful - not in the sense that it is low fat diet food, but it is natural. The veggies are fresh, the salmon is wild caught, the beef is grass fed, etc. And the place is BYOB! That always makes dinner cheaper. Julia had been there for breakfast a couple of times (which is supposedly fab) or we would have driven right past the place. It is very non-descript on the outside. It is small, maybe about 12 tables. It is entirely too dark inside; we could barely read our menus. But that was the only real negative. The service was very pleasant and the food was yummy. I had called Saturday afternoon and inquired about specials so that we could choose wine. I was assured that a reservation was not needed; nothing was on the books. Apparently they had a rush after I called, so the guy on the phone had reserved a table for me. Very nice! Two nice folks tended to us during our dinner. Props to the gentleman for being so honest about the menu.
The pricing seemed a bit strange. Some dishes seemed rather expensive for what was on the plate, but others seemed to be a very fairly priced. The specials were quite expensive - each was $26 even though they varied widely in the cost of ingredients and complexity of preparation. So we opted for menu items that were a full $10 cheaper than the specials. We were not disappointed. We shared a fresh caprese salad - stacked mozzarella slices and brilliant red tomatoes with mixed greens and dollops of pesto on the plate. We chose the same entree, which I always hate to do, but it sounded the best. It was wild caught Scottish salmon on a bed of herbed risotto with an assortment of seasonal sauteed veggies. The salmon was perfectly cooked. It had that perfect little crust fish gets when cooked on a hot surface. The risotto retained a little firmness but was nice and creamy without being saucy or mushy. The veggies may have been a little more tender than crisp, but were very enjoyable.
I suggested we walk across the street to Grand Tastings, a retail wine shop with a small bar and about six table where folks can sit down for wine tastings. We opted for the $15 per person basic tasting for which each of us chose five wines to taste from a list of about 15-20. The bubbly was very flat. The servers didn't know wine. The retail prices were a little high. We weren't very impressed.
On the way home as we drove down Henderson, I told Julia about Natsumi, the new organic gelato place I had read about in the little strip mall full of hip new places. She decided we should stop, so we did. Yum! Natsumi is a neat little place. It has nonfat frozen yogurt and gelato made with organic milk. They also have coffee and smoothies. They have standard and funky flavors and are quick to give little samples. (Avocado was good!) I got lychee. Julia got pistachio and something. Then we decided to peek in the window, then walk in just to check out, the new wine bar Veritas in the same strip mall. About an hour later, we knew an owner, the adorable college student bar tender and his uncle Fernando. Veritas has a similar concept to Grand Tastings (and Wine Therapist, and Wine'tastic ... clearly it's a trend). It is a retail shop that has limited food, wines by the glass. You also can consume your bottle(s) there for a price slightly more than the retail price. I had a good glass of bubbly for $7! And we tried a yummy grenache with blueberry notes called "Bitch", apparently because that is such a hard grape to grow. They had really nice stemware at Veritas, fitting for a nice wine bar, but nicer than at any other local wine bar I have visited. I read an unfavorable post about one of the owners on another blog or review site, but the experience overcame any bias I had in my mind when I walked in the door. We definitely will go back. They also feature local artists' work on the walls for sale, which I always like.
It was a great evening of checking out new-to-me places. And all of them were pretty close to home. Julia and I had a very enjoyable time talking and hanging out. She and I are very different in some ways, but also have a lot in common. Every time we get together, we both wonder why we don't do it more often.
So remember to get out there and try some new places!