This being Lent, it has been a rather dry period around here, as one of us gave up wine. I have also been working on the project that was stopped in the initial stages during my week of hell, and now the whole house is a mess, but soon the remodeling will be done, it has to be done by Easter, as everyone is coming here for dinner. I have the Sword of Damocles hanging over me, if I don’t. Even with the house in total disarray, I have found time to go through one of the boxes of wine labels, to look at my notations on the back, I guess I can be rather anal in my passion about wines. Sometimes it is a matchbook and sometimes it is the label, and for this restaurant it should have been both, as there was still smoking in restaurants back then, but I guess we didn’t get a book or they didn’t offer them.

Boocoo was one of those restaurants that was hot from day one and it was in the right city at that time. Royal Oak was almost the epicenter of where new restaurants were popping up, of course they were a little off the beaten track from the downtown district. They had a European flavor to the food, but it was a bit across the board, from pizzas to some fussy dishes. They also had live music several days of the week, but their flame did not stay lit for that long.  We even were there before it became a “restaurant of the year” by one of the local publications.  My Bride had Georges Bank Scallops with asparagus, Trumpet Royal mushrooms, onions and carrots. I had the braised short ribs, Crème Fraiche mashed  potatoes and pea tendrils. I remember the pea tendrils as I think that is the first time and I think the last time that I ever had that served.

We went with a wine that evening that was a bit off of the beaten track back then.  We chose a bottle of Domaine du Poujol Rosé Coteaux du Languedoc 2002.  This winery was established in 1998 by some Americans from Napa Valley who liked the limestone terroir in this area of the Midi.  The wine is a blend of Cinsault, Carignan, Mourvedre, and Grenache.  It was in 2007 that the area became AOC Languedoc, as the district received more and more attention.  A wonderful wine and a wonderful meal, it is a shame that the restaurant is no longer around.  The name is a play on the French word beaucoup which means “great quantity” and I think they were invoking that name for full bodied taste of the dishes on the menu.