Fishbone’s

Posted on May 11, 2016 by thewineraconteur

I had gone to the original site of this restaurant once with a dinner club member for lunch, as we were looking for new venues for the club. Years later they opened up another restaurant much closer to our home and my Bride and I went there to check it out. As one would surmise the restaurant leaned favorably to fish and sea food, but they really had a New Orleans Creole/Cajun bent. As we have been to that fair city a couple of times on holidays, it was a good fit for us.

Merryvale Starmont Merlot 2000

We were going there for dinner, but the menu also had plenty of “Po-boy” types of sandwiches to offer as well. We started off with Bayou Caviar which was crayfish battered and fried, and we also tried some of their farm-bred alligator prepared in a similar method. We both went with New Orleans themed dishes for our entrée choices and of course we had to share and compare notes. One of the dishes was the Crawfish Etoufee which is a stew type dish loaded with sweet crawfish. The other dish we tried was their interpretation of Jambalaya, which is also a stew type dish with shrimp, Andouille sausage and rice. I have to say that both dishes were spicy and tasty, but it did make us yearn for another trip to the Big Easy. Of course for dessert we had to share an order of Bread Pudding with warm Bourbon sauce, but unfortunately, all Bourbon sauces will always take a backseat to the wonderful sauce made at Commander’s Quarters in the Garden District.

MI Fishbone's MB

Since we were having a spicy dinner we went and had a milder wine for dinner, and there was some decision pondering as to whether it should be white or red, since the dishes were seafood. I chose red wine because of the tomatoes and thought a softer red would work like Merlot, and I am glad that I did. We enjoyed a bottle of Merryvale Starmont Merlot 2000. Merryvale Winery is one of the old guard in Napa, as they were the first winery production facility to open up after the repeal of Prohibition. As I did more research, the wine back then showed that the fruit was from Napa Valley, and now most of the Starmont line from the winery leans heavily towards Carneros AVA, and of course Napa Valley, especially back then had more sway on the label than Carneros; and much more readily identifiable to the public.

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Zorba Meets Menopause

Posted on May 9, 2016 by thewineraconteur

The Great White Way is most fortunate for losing a potential thespian, when I was in college, one of the plays that I performed in was Zorba, and they were wise to cast me as the villain and I only sang and danced with the chorus. My Bride to maintain her sanity abandons me at time to spend time with her lady friends. On one of her adventures they were going to see a production of Menopause the Musical at the Historic Gem Theatre. I had read about the play when it first came out in Detroit and one of the leads in the play was an actress that I had appeared with in Zorba and she played the Leader and  even then she had considerable talents and abilities. Unbeknownst to me, at the end of the play, they invite the women in the audience to join the leads up on the stage, and my Bride who is no wall flower, immediately made a bee-line to the actress that I spoke of. The actress acknowledged that she had been in the play and asked my Bride to come back with me for another show. I went, and I was one of the few males in the intimate theater and of course my Bride after the show went up on stage again and told the actress that I was in the audience. After the show was over, we sat and finished our drinks and the actress came back on the stage and sang the theme song from Zorba and then we spent a few minutes chatting, and it was fun.

McWilliams Hanwood Estate Shiraz 2002

The Historic Gem Theatre has that name as it has had a storied past from the beginning. It was a venue for productions of all types, at one time it became a cinema and during the dark days of Downtown Detroit, ended up, a very classy place to watch pornography as it had fallen on hard times. Then the stadiums came to the downtown and a new owner bought the building and another building and the Gem Theatre is now in the Guinness Book for being the largest and heaviest building ever moved to another location five blocks away. Not only is it a venue for small intimate theatrical productions, but it is also a grand setting for weddings and other private festivities. When there is a theatrical production, the on-site restaurant is also open for dining and it is called the Century Club.

Zorba

Of course we had dinner at the Century Club prior to seeing Menopause the Musical. We started off our meal sharing an order of Crab Cakes with Chipotle spice.  My Bride had the Grilled Colorado Lamb Chops done in a Greek style with Dauphonois potatoes, while I had the Beef Wellington with a Mushroom Pate and mashed potatoes.  We finished off the meal with some coffee and Chocolate Mousse.  Of course we had wine and we were allowed to finish the wine in the theatre and that is so civilized. The wine carte was simple and complimented the choices, and I am sure also worked well for the private events as well. We had a bottle of McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate Shiraz 2002 from South Eastern Australia. This is a good work horse Shiraz and it became popular around town as the Shiraz grape took off and of course every restaurant had to have a Shiraz from Australia; and there is nothing wrong with it. I enjoy watching wines as they become popular, because it means that people are paying attention and they can actually try something new and expand their wine knowledge. The great thing is that now Shiraz in some form is usually found on most wine lists even today. So as I leave today I will mention a most fitting line from Zorba for this article: “I sniff at a woman, you can’t imagine how often, I sniff at a woman, but each time is the first time.”

Menopause The Musical

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A Flight of Rioja Wines

Posted on May 7, 2016 by thewineraconteur

While still in the bar area at Fleming’s Steakhouse to accompany our Bacon Cheeseburgers we were trying to decide on the next wines to try. I looked at the bar menu and saw that there was a special wine flight of Rioja wines offered during the later round of specials. I asked our server if it was available earlier and she said that the manager agreed to let us have the wines early at the stated price, so it felt like a bonus. Rioja is one of the first red wines that I introduced to my Bride, back in the early days, when she was strictly into white wines, and I thought that Rioja would make a wonderful introduction to the world of red wines.

Bodegas Izadi Rioja Riserva 2011

The first wine in the flight was Navardia Rioja 2013 from Bagordi Navardia Joven Ecologico and they state that the wine is made with organic grapes. I have discussed my thoughts on organic winemaking before, but I realize that it is a hot buzzword and topic today. This Rioja wine is made of a blend of Garnacha, Graciano and Tempranillo; and it is the first tier in the levels of Rioja wines. Thankfully it was the first wine served of the flight, as it was fine, but not really what I would look for in a Rioja.

Torres Altos Ibericos Crianza 2012

The next wine that we had I thought was very interesting and it even offered that ethereal quality of terroir. The Altos Ibericos Crianza 2012 from Miguel Torres was most enjoyable. This wine is from the Northern part of the Iberian Peninsula, hence the name and was entirely made from the Tempranillo grape. The term Crianza is the second tier of Rioja wines and requires twelve months in oak and then another year in the bottle before it can be sold, and here was what I would call a Rioja wine.

Navardia Rioja 2013

The last wine from the flight was Bodegas Izadi Rioja Riserva 2011. Rioja Riserva is the third tier of Rioja wines and the top tier is Gran Reserva. This wine also had great terroir and was a blend of Tempranillo, Graciano and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Rioja Reserva wines must have a minimum of fourteen months in oak and a required two years additional aging in the bottle before release. The last two glasses of wine were great representatives for what Rioja wines should be, and they made our cheeseburgers all that much fancier.

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Two for the Heart

Posted on May 5, 2016 by thewineraconteur

As much as I like to try different restaurants, there are times when we just need to go have a quick meal. There are plenty of places that I guess can fulfill this need, but how can one go wrong at a steakhouse? One of our sure-fire ideas for fast food with wine is Fleming’s Steakhouse, especially when one can sit in the bar area and take advantage of their special bar prices. We went in and split an order of the Baked Brie, nothing out of the ordinary, but not an item, one usually encounters in a more generic family style restaurant, and couple that with house made potato chips that are served in the bar. We also went with two orders of their great Bacon Cheeseburger, of course I miss the hand battered onion rings, because now it is served with French fries, and I am not a fan of those.

Colby Red 2014

The two wines that we had while enjoying the Baked Brie both evoked the heart, in different ways. The Benvolio Pinot Grigio 2014 that I had is from Friuli-Grave and is just a light white wine that is pleasant enough, especially on an early warm spring day. You may ask what does Pinot Grigio have to do with the heart. I guess you have to be a true romantic to realize that Benvolio was the attempted peace maker between the Capulet and the Montague’s in the famed story Romeo and Juliet.

Benvolio Pinot Grigio 2014

The other wine is straight to the heart; Colby Red 2014 is a California red blended wine made with Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Shiraz, Merlot and Petite Sirah. It is an interesting popular priced red wine, but the real interest is behind the wine. Colby is the son of Daryl Groom, the winemaker, and his son underwent heart surgeries as a child. Every bottle of wine helps support charities that promote heart health. Colby is almost an adult now, and is a seasoned volunteer with the American Heart Association and is the national spokesperson for the Children’s Heart Foundation. They have already raised $750,000 from sales of the wine and their goal is to raise one million dollars. So having an appetizer can be good for the heart in many ways.

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Four Years of Writing

Posted on May 3, 2016 by thewineraconteur

I have to announce that on the Fourth of May, this Raconteur has been penning some unusual remembrances. Ever since I was young and first discovered the word “raconteur,” I embraced the word. Of course I am just old enough to have enjoyed seeing films and the old television shows when raconteurs were lauded. There were such greats as Myron Cohen, Henry Morgan, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, Noel Coward, William Saroyan, and Buddy Hackett and though I never heard his discussions, they say that Harpo Marx, who was famous for being silent, was one of the great raconteurs of his time. Some of them were famous for being part of what was referred to as the Algonquin Round Table, and to pay homage to that questionable group, I once went to the Algonquin Hotel just to see the table.

2 Bloggers and 2 Brides

What is a raconteur? Basically one who is a story teller, some utilize great wit, and I wish I could say that I belong to that subset, but I do not. Though I realize that I am a storyteller, not in the league of Aesop, as most of my stories do not have morals, but I try to talk about the joys and pleasures that I associate with having wine. Some wine writers are very erudite and rate wines by numeric ratings, some with great wordings of the color, the nose, the taste; and some are extremely knowledgeable about the production. Some of the writers have had training and are very serious about the craft and to relay their knowledge. I guess that I learned about wines from the School of Hard Knocks, as we used to say. I have had the pleasure of meeting some fine mentors over the years, but my learning about wine, has been normally one at a time, and sometimes in a concerted method.

CC Champagne Flutes

As for me, I guess I shall continue to write my non-scholarly articles, because it is fun, and wine is so enjoyable. I have had wines, that I may wish never to encounter again and I have had wines that I wish that I could meet again, but alas, they are too dear to try again. I have also over these past four years had the pleasure, sometimes in person, but mostly through Social Media many others that enjoy wines as well. I also lament that I have seen many Blogs wither and die away, during these four years, and I am sure that there are myriad of reasons why this could occur and it is not mine, to even offer an opinion. In the vast spectrum of horticulture, viniculture is but one small aspect, but it is what draws our attention. While I speak of wine to my imaginary friend that sits across the table, in my mind’s conceit as I write, I just wish to impart the fun times and the enjoyment of wine. As I look at the huge assortment of wine labels that I have soaked off, that I still have not wrote about, I realize that I can write for years, longer than most people would be interested in. For every Chateau Latour or Domaine de la Romanee- Conti wine, there are perchance thousands of affordable wines that I have enjoyed. The same can be said for the restaurants that I have had the good graces to have dined at as well, and I do like to vary the mix. So, with that in mind I shall leave you with one of my favorite quotes about plants by Dorothy Parker; “you can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her learn.”

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Back to The Courthouse

Posted on May 1, 2016 by thewineraconteur

Once again my dinner club had another meeting at The Courthouse Grille in Plymouth, Michigan. There are a few occasions that I cannot meet with the members for various reasons, and then there are some meetings where the selection of wine offered makes me drink cocktails with my meal. I just went and researched when I joined, and it was in 1989, so that has been quite a few meals with the club. When I joined I was the youngest, and the funny thing is that I am still close to being the youngest member of the group. Over the years we have had many characters in this august society, and when I first became a member I was placed with two other men for hosting duties, which is only once a year. Our club secretary found it amusing to place me with the eldest member, in seniority, as he had joined in 1928 and even had his own radio program during the Great Depression. I still remember him vividly as I would watch him enter the room where our meeting would take place and he would select his seat. He would then count out and place twelve cigarettes to the back of his placemat and then he would lay out four “intermission” cigars next to the cigarettes. He would order two “boiler-makers” and one glass of cognac for after dinner, and he always ordered beef as an entrée, and the most delightful air about him was the way he would sweet talk his waitress. These tales go back when smoking was allowed in restaurants and the man’s constitution was close to immortal, I remember when he got sick at age 96 and three months later he was having dinner with other members that had passed away before him.

Montpellier Pinot Noir 2013

I think one of the reasons that The Courthouse Grille is so popular with the members is that they offer us seven choices for an entrée, whereas most of the time we have a choice of three. I have discussed the history of this establishment before and one of the more unique aspects is the amount of private dining areas that are there, and we have enjoyed being in different rooms. After our cocktail hour, we sat down for dinner and enjoyed a well prepared garden salad along with freshly baked bread. I was the only one at my table to have the Veal Marsala, but they make such tender veal, that I find it hard to go with any other dish.

MI Courthouse Menu April 2016

While the restaurant has a very nice wine carte, the selections by the glass are ample, but not terribly exciting, but since I was not one of the hosts that evening, it would have been in poor taste for me to order a full bottle of wine, though I am sure that there would be acceptance by the other members that drink wine as well. I wanted to try a different wine, so that I could write about it, I realize that it can get boring, just writing about the same restaurant and the same wine constantly. I had a glass of Montpellier Pinot Noir 2013 with a California designation. While the wine may have been bottled in Napa Valley, the fruit was from across the state. The wine is made of 76% Pinot Noir, 8% Petite Sirah, 5.3% Malbec and 10.7% Proprietor’s Dry Red; I found that to be an intriguing mix. Montpellier Wines owned by Bronco Wine Company, the Fifth largest producer of wines in the United States, and they are family owned and started in 1973 and they are now international in scope of offerings. Let me say that the wine was fine, though I am not sure if in a blind tasting that I would be able to attest that it was a Pinot Noir, but at its price point, it sufficed.

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Third Fridays

Posted on April 29, 2016 by thewineraconteur

Detroit is one of the oldest cities in the nation and it is surrounded by the suburbs and the Detroit River. If you follow the River in a south-western direction you will leave Detroit and venture into an area that is known as Downriver. Detroit was founded in 1701 and as you go Downriver, the city that is known as the Heart of Downriver is Wyandotte and it was founded as a village in 1854. Downtown Wyandotte is very quaint and most of the buildings there have the facades that were current when the business began there. It has evolved like most cities from a majority of retailing to a mix of restaurants, taverns, financial offices and still some retailing. The city has the cachet of being “hip” and it is curious in the fact that one can find taverns mixed in the residential areas as well.

Cooks Brut NV

I mention all of this because the Business Association has created an event that is held once every month called “Third Fridays” and is a way to generate extra interest in the Downtown area. Each “Third Friday” has a different theme and it has quite the following, not only for the locals, but also for the people in the neighboring communities. All this exposition is finally getting to wine, in my typical rambling way. There are “Beer Crawls” and “Wine Nights” and the last one was “Ladies Night” and for each of these, most of the businesses have tables set up with beverages that they pass along to the visitors for the events, according to the rules set up by the host committees.

Welcome Ladies

The Men’s Clothing store on the main drag had a sidewalk sign that proclaimed “Welcome Ladies ***Free Champagne Tonight.” A very gallant gesture and there were plenty of people that took advantage of the evening. The businesses use “Third Fridays” as a way to introduce themselves to the public in an open way, so that people can see what is found inside the doors that they may just walk past. The beverage that was being doled out was Cook’s California Champagne Brut Grand Reserve NV. Cook’s bills them as “#1 Sparkling Wine in the U.S.” The three basic grapes in a Champagne blend are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. I am sure that since Cook’s was founded in 1859, they are grandfathered in and are allowed to call themselves California Champagne, since the name Champagne is now protected. This wine has the secondary fermentation before bottling, which are the bulk method and not the Traditional Method. It is a good wine especially for events like this, could you imagine the expense of giving people off of the street glasses of Dom Perignon.

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The Root in White Lake

Posted on April 27, 2016 by thewineraconteur

The Root Restaurant & Bar is the last of the Restaurant of the Year establishments that I have been to, but missed writing about. The only reason is that there was not a memento that had reminded me about the establishment until the list. They had opened in 2011 and were awarded the honor for 2012. We went there after reading about The Root in a newspaper article about their opening and how they were so Michigan oriented. The restaurant is located in White Lake, Michigan and there was no quick and easy way to get there, so we just drove and drove and finally came to a strip center where one would expect to find one of the many chain restaurants, but lo and behold there was The Root. In fact, there were only a couple of dishes that we had that evening that was not from Michigan and one was Foie Gras, but since we are both very partial to it, we could readily forgive that and who would expect to find that dish in a strip center in White Lake? I remember questioning our server who was telling us how, other than the Foie Gras the other items were all from Michigan, as much as possible. The pork and grass-fed beef came from a ranch in Yale, Michigan, while most of the produce came from farms in Yale and Fenton, and the dairy products came from Guernsey Dairy. I thought I had caught her when I saw that they had shrimp on the menu, as shrimp is found in estuaries and Michigan is far from any of the oceans. She surprised me and told me that the shrimp is farmed in a man-made estuary outside of Lansing.

L Mawby Blanc de Blanc Brut

We began the meal with alien food for the state, as of course we had to have an order of seared Foie Gras with Onion Jam, and we also tried the Crab Cakes with Avocado Mousse and Salsa. Of course the dishes were perfect and made us look forward to the rest of the meal. We passed on the shrimp dish, and my Bride had Pork Shoulder with Smoked Cheddar Grits. I went with one of my favorite dishes when I can find it, as I find that Free-range Chicken is so much tastier then just chicken. My dish was a half chicken and house made Chorizo, Swiss chard, roasted mushrooms and white wine sauce. We were sharing our meals back and forth and were sad to see the plates empty after awhile. We finished off the meal with coffee and Crème Brulee.

MI The Root Logo

Since The Root was so into Michigan fare, even though they had some good California and European wines, we stayed totally domestic. They had one of my Bride’s favorite wines from Michigan and we have been to the winery several times in our journeys. We had a bottle of L. Mawby Blanc de Blancs Brut, which I think is one of the best sparkling wines made in the Leelanau Peninsula of Michigan. Lawrence Mawby is considered in some circles as the “Godfather” of the wineries of that area, and this is a very serious winemaker. Hand sorted Chardonnay grapes are used for this wine and stored in Stainless Steel, and this sparkling wine is made in the Traditional Method, which takes much more time and finesse then the easier Charmat Method that many bulk wine makers use. It was almost pointless to even think of another wine for the evening, when this wine was seen, and one must always keep the Bride happy, or as happy as I can keep her. I am glad to have been able to write about some more restaurants and wines that were wonderful times, that had just slipped my mind, but that is very easy to do at times.

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Michael Symon’s Roast

Posted on April 25, 2016 by thewineraconteur

Back in the days of past glory in Downtown Detroit, there were two grand hotels both on Washington Boulevard; the Statler Hilton and the Book Cadillac. I wrote about the Statler Hilton and the Trader Vic’s restaurant years ago, and now that hotel has been razed. The Book Cadillac was shuttered for awhile, but survived and has been brought back to life as the Westin Book Cadillac. These two hotels showed the pomp and the splendor of the heady industrial days of Detroit, when the automobile was king, and they were able to compete with any of the fine hotels across the country. Years ago in the glory days of the old hotel the area where the Motor Bar was located, is now where one can find Michael Symon’s Roast restaurant.

Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

Michael Symon is a James Beard Foundation award winning chef, an author and also a television personality and I know this from reading articles about him, because it has been at least thirty years since I have watched television. Roast is a steakhouse designed for the younger crowd that would not feel comfortable in the classic steakhouses from an older generation. Our Son and his wife took us there one evening. We started off with charcuterie and roasted marrow appetizers, which seems to be the trending items for appetizers at that time. There were mixed green salads and Arugula salads as well. Of course steaks were ordered, but my Bride had Halibut and I had Short Ribs, as we both like to order dishes that we normally do not make at home. We did make Short Ribs once at the house, and they were wonderful, but it was an all day job, so we shall leave all that work to the professionals for the time being. We also shared some sides, as that is de rigueur at steakhouses of Wild Mushrooms and also a side of Brussels sprouts with Walnuts.

MI Roast BC

We enjoyed a bottle of Caymus Fortieth Anniversary Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, which was found in most steakhouses at the time. The Wagner Family of Wines was celebrating this anniversary in a very big way and it was a delightful bottle of wine. A full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon from Rutherford is just what almost anyone could enjoy with steak, and Caymus is always a great call if you can find it. I might also suggest that if one can find a bottle of Caymus Special Select, which is a wonderful bottle of wine from them, and well worth the expenditure at least once just to try it. Roast was the Restaurant of the Year in 2009 and I did find a business card, not as classy as matchbooks though, and it was fun to look at how the old hotel was remodeled, as I can still picture the old classy Book Cadillac of my youth.

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Jeremy Restaurant & Bar

Posted on April 23, 2016 by thewineraconteur

Thankfully for the list of the Detroit Restaurants of the Year, to spark my memory banks and allow me to utilize the “Way-back Machine,” so that I can remember going to Jeremy Restaurant & Bar. It is not because we didn’t enjoy our meal there; sometimes I just need something to remind me. There was a period of years when all of the interest in dining was centered in the suburbs rather then in Detroit proper, as was the case here. I may live in one of the suburbs, but it always seemed that they would honor an establishment in another community that was considered to be hot at the moment. We packed a lunch and went off to try Jeremy Restaurant & Bar, and that is just an old expression that I like to use, when it was a bit of a drive to get to.

Lindemans Bin 50 Shiraz 2002

The restaurant was a very curious and eclectic mix of foods, all quite high end and masterfully prepared and presented, but the menu offered some of everything. There was fine dining, burgers and sandwiches and pizzas. It was also hinted by many that they catered to more of the gentry, as the clientele was older and more “well heeled.” To me that was not a problem, even though I did not fit either of those two categories, and we were off to a boating area in the Northern suburbs. Of course my Bride started off with Caesar Salad, which was a traditional interpretation, while I tried the Bean Soup, which was touted to be one of the best in the area. My Bride followed that up with Sea Bass, another of her favorites from the sea, while I went with Beef Tenderloin Medallions, which I find is always safe to order, and if done properly can be a fine dish. I might add that every dish that we had was delightful and worthy of the write-up, and so was the Bread Pudding that we shared afterwards, though I am not sure that I would have bestowed such an honor to the restaurant that they received, but then I am not a serious food critic.

MI Jeremy Logo

As for the wine that we had for dinner, the Detroit area was awash with Shiraz and especially Shiraz from Australia. Wine like food gets trendy and then it tends to be found everywhere for awhile. That evening we enjoyed Lindeman’s Bin 50 Shiraz 2002 from South Eastern Australia. Shiraz is one of the varietals that readily adapted to Australia and really rode to the top, and I have enjoyed the grape, even when it is offered as Syrah, and whether it comes from France, the United States, Australia or South America. It is just a good dependable wine, and as I have stated often, my Bride enjoys a full bodied red wine, with a meatier fish entrée. Jeremy Restaurant & Bar has changed names, same location and with the same chef, but it is now a Texas style barbeque eatery called Yardbird Smoked Meats.

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