It has been ages since being in the city of Port Huron; normally we end up on the overpass to the Blue Water Bridge on a trip to Canada. The trip was uneventful until getting to the city with all of the construction and as they say “you can’t get there from here” sounded like a truth. I was tagging along with my Bride for another board meeting and we were staying at the Thomas Edison Inn, which was a quaint establishment, but it has morphed into a new complex albeit with out the quaintness into the DoubleTree by Hilton Port Huron. Stopped in at the restaurant, tavern on the establishment to see who was an early bird and we had a drink with another member, actually I would have liked to have stayed longer, as they had Cain Cuvee on the wine list for a very reasonable price, but alas we didn’t and by the time we got back to the hotel, it was late, and my scheduled appointments for the next day had changed, and as they say the “best laid plans of mice and men…”

The dinner the night before the board meeting on Saturday was held at a restaurant in downtown Port Huron. Since I got waylaid on my trip to the hotel, I was able to observe some beautiful architecture in the city, both in homes and in commercial structures, which made getting lost a little better. When we arrived at the restaurant Fuel Woodfire Grill and made our way to where our dinner group would be, I asked for a business card, since matchbooks are not offered anymore, and the hostess could only offer me a flyer of their “to go” offerings; which is better than nothing. The restaurant offers “smokehouse” type foods and we were able to select some nice entrée dishes. My Bride started off with a Caesar Salad (which was not nearly as good as her own), but she did enjoy the croutons which were made from the cornbread muffins. I started off with the house soup which was a bowl of Lobster Corn Chowder and it was great (I might add that my Bride was going to go for it, but she really only wanted to taste it, so I ordered it and she had the salad). She then ordered grilled, blackened Atlantic salmon with sautéed artichokes, while I tried one of the “specials” of the evening, “Smoked Prime Rib.” I had never had Prime Rib smoked before, and I was interested in trying it, especially after I learned that it was done in house and not a frozen dish. It was one of the largest slices of Prime Rib that I have ever encountered, and the “smoke” was a bonus and a mild extra taste suggestion to this fine cut of meat. As a result, my Bride and I had a unique version of “surf & turf” that evening, and she opined that I had the better dishes that night. We must be getting old, as there was no room for dessert afterwards; in fact I noticed that none of the diners at our table had dessert.

The wine list was not long, but I was trying to figure out a wine that would work with our dinners and I opted on a fuller red wine, as my Bride has a preference to a red wine when she is having salmon. We ended up having Llama Malbec “Old Vines” 2013 from Mendoza, Argentina. I was curious about the “old vines” description and discovered that the vines are 104 years of age, so I guess they have a point. The wine is also from a new appellation to me from Mendoza, as it is from Alto Agrelo Valley – Lujon de Cuyo. This wine is from the Belasco de Baquedano Winery and is hand harvested with aging of six months in French Oak and then six months in the bottle, before releasing. I was impressed with the wine, especially since it was reasonably priced and worked well with both dishes, and it even was able to stand up to the fresh horseradish that I had requested for my Prime Rib. It was a nice evening among some of my Bride’s professional associates and a few extra people like me, who were spouses.