The Capital Grille

Posted on October 2, 2012 by thewineraconteur

I have only been to the Capital Grille in the Detroit area, which is located in the Somerset Collection-North in Troy, Michigan.  When we are traveling we prefer to dine at establishments that are not available in our area.  This is not because the quality is not to our liking, but we like to try local restaurants that have local color and flavor.  I am sure that every chain restaurant strives to give the same quality and ambience at each location, which is admirable.

 

We have some friends that are from out of town, who like to always have lunch or dinner at the Capital Grille.   Who are we to say no, to their selection.   The steaks are always well aged and tender, grilled to one’s specifications.  The salads are fresh, which is something that some restaurants do not understand, and is beyond my comprehension.   Since my knowledge is rather parochial, I would presume that they all offer a similar menu and wine list, and I can find no fault with either listing.

 

They carry enough different choices of wines to make each location listed by the Wine Enthusiast’s list of restaurants each year.  That in itself makes it worth a trip, as I use their guide for all of my dining choices when we are on holidays.    On one of our trips we enjoyed a Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon with an Alexander Valley designation.  It was a great wine to pair with our filets.   The wine list was crafted to accommodate their fine array of entrees.

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Roma Cafe at the Eastern Market in Detroit

Posted on October 1, 2012 by thewineraconteur

I can’t tell you how many times we have eaten here.  It is off the beaten path, even when you are in downtown Detroit.  If you are going to go to Roma Café, you are going to go there.  It is a destination spot and will continue to be.  It is Detroit’s oldest and continuous run eatery and it is where the Easter Market is situated just off of downtown.   They have one of the best staffs of wait people around, and as we like to joke, they should be, since they have been there since the opening.   The service is classic old world style with the tuxedoes and the table clothes.   I thank God that they haven’t tried to redo the restaurant, as that is the charm of the location.  It is not trendy, it is a tradition and you know it, as soon as you see the red and white awning on the building.

 

It is one of the places that I truly want to order the Antipasto plate as it still charms me with its simplicity and quality.   I love the pastas, including their Gnocchi which does not end up sitting at the bottom of your stomach for hours afterwards.  It is still one of the few places that one can still get Road House Style Frog Legs, which used to be a mainstay and now seems to have disappeared.   The seafood and all the grilled meats are worth the trip.  This is not a frou-frou place and dare I say it, a man’s restaurant, though my Bride loves it as much as I do.

 

The wine list is not extensive by today’s terms, but it is a good list.  You will not be looking at fifty pages of wines or a fancy hand held computer listing.    There are around seventy or eighty choices to pick from, which is more than ample and all have been selected to be paired with the dining menu.  It is one place that I know that I will always find my Ruffino Riserva Ducale Chianti Classico.  Year in and year out, it is usually consistent in quality and taste, so much so that I don’t even worry about the vintage year.   This wine is always great with the heartier red sauce pasta dishes, as well as most of the grilled offerings.  It is a full bodied Chianti, and I wish all Chianti wines were this good.  Ruffino has other Chianti wines that they offer, but do try the Gold Label Ducale the next time you see it on a wine list, you will be happy that you did.

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Harvey and Chandon

Posted on September 30, 2012 by thewineraconteur

The first time I saw Rich Little was at the big room at the Riviera, backed with the biggest orchestra, even bigger than the singers had.   His opening act was Bernadette Peters and when she walked down the steps from the stage and sang at my table I was in love, and yes I still carry a torch for her.  My Bride is probably tired of hearing me mention that story.  Be that as it may, while we were visiting our children and grandchildren in Las Vegas, I looked at the magazine that was in our hotel room talking about restaurants, shopping and the shows.

 

There was an advertisement for a new Rich Little show, a pre-Broadway run, of his salute to James Stewart.  Now James Stewart is one of my Bride’s loves.  So she immediately booked the show, which was at the Las Vegas Hotel, which coincidently was across the street from the Riviera.  We went early to pick up the tickets, because it was Maitre’de Seating, and camped out, outside of the entrance.  My Bride is very open and talkative and had a conversation with the manager of the theater, who was waiting for the earlier show to let out, so that we could be seated.

 

When they opened up the doors for our show, we were the first to be seated and they gave us primo seats, that were “Reserved for Harvey.”  My Bride, myself and a six foot three quarter inch Puka settled in for the show.  We also ordered some Chandon champagne for the show and neither the wine nor the entertainer disappointed us that evening.   It sure beat a cocktail or a beer for this evening out.

    

Posted in Wine | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Day in Las Vegas

Posted on September 29, 2012 by thewineraconteur

We just came back from a visit to Las Vegas to see two of our children and five of our grandchildren.  We always like to take the children to a museum or some place educational, as we are sure that they play enough.   So one day we went to the Mob Museum, the last time we were there it was about three weeks early for the opening of the museum.   It was fun for all, as they got a chance to be photographed in a line up behind a two way mirror.  They also got to “shoot” a Thompson Machine Gun, much to the chagrin of the other patrons that day, as they would not leave that room for what seemed like hours with the rat-a-tat-tat going on endlessly.

   

 

There were also inter-active displays to keep them interested through out the three floors of information.   That sat through all the little films in assorted rooms and listened to wire taps, as well as listening to the gambling “wires.”  They could identify many of the actors’ pictures as when they depicted “gangsters.”

 

We then walked over to the old section of Las Vegas, the downtown area, which has become one large covered arcade of casinos for several blocks.   We stopped at several areas, just like tourists and watched how the children reacted to all the excitement of the street.   We also stopped at the new casino the D (as in Detroit) so I thought a classic Detroit Coney Island would be perfect for the kids to try, as they have never been to Detroit.  Alas, not only did the new casino hand me a blank book of matches, when I was looking for a souvenir, the Coney Island restaurant was not ready to open.  It was a thought that will have to wait until the next visit.

 

Afterwards my daughter wanted to cook for her dear old Dad.  I checked to see where the closest hospital was (just joking Michelle).   She made a dinner of classic stuffed cabbage and smoked kielbasa, which was wonderful.   We had bought a cupcake birthday cake with the names of the birthday people for the balance of the year, and we sang six times to cover everyone’s day.

 

We started with a bottle of Chardonnay Bourgogne Louis Jadot 2010.  I had hoped for a more “French” Chardonnay but ended up with a bottle that was made by the blender with an eye for the American market.   It was pleasant enough, but it was a “Chablis Lite” as far as I was concerned.   The other wine we had was a Beaulieu Vineyard Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 and it was enjoyable with our dinner.  Some forward fruit along with the tannins, kept this wine from being overpowering to the stuffed cabbage and kielbasa.    The evening, the food, the company and the wine all paired very well together.

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gene & Georgetti – Chicago

Posted on September 28, 2012 by thewineraconteur

During one of my semi annual buying trips to Chicago, one of the vendors asked if I wanted to go to the private party his company hosted during the show in a private room at this acclaimed restaurant.  I told him, that I personally was not responsible for buying enough products from his firm, so I would feel uncomfortable being a guest at the party as well as for my Bride.  I did ask him if he could get me a table at the restaurant and that I would pay my own freight, as I paid for my own dinners on these buying trips, as my dinners far surpassed any per diem for dinner that would be allowable.  He made a call and got me a reservation at Gene and Georgetti Restaurant.  This is a venerable old school Chicago style steak house.

 

When my Bride and I got to the restaurant and told the front desk that I had a reservation, they took us to the best table in the house.  From our focal point we could observe everyone coming and going in the establishment.  We felt like celebrities.  I saw vendors and other merchants that I knew from the show being seated at their tables.  Several even came over to ask how I rated the table that I was at.  The vendor that got me the reservation came down several times from his party to see if I was happy with the food and service.  He also told me that he had ordered me a bottle of wine for dinner, and informed me that I must accept it, and he still kept asking me to join his party after dinner, which we declined again.  We graciously accepted the bottle of wine.

 

 

You must go to this restaurant famished, because you will not believe the quantity and the quality of food that is brought to your table.  I was warned by several people that I knew at the show, to only order one salad for the two of us, which we did.  This salad is called “the garbage can salad.”  Anything and everything can end up on this salad as they are making it in the kitchen.  From my vantage point I could see that every salad appeared to be different as they were delivered to the diners.  Ours not only was an antipasto style salad, with vegetables, cheeses and different Italian lunchmeats and sausages, but it also had shrimp and crab meat covering the plate.  We knew that if we finished the salad, there would be no room for our steaks that would soon be arriving and the steaks were just as large and impressive as the salad was.  Believe it or not we even forced ourselves to share a dessert afterwards.

 

Our host’s gift of wine was a Brunello di Montalcino labeled Altesino 1996 and it paired perfectly with our dinner.   It was a classic Italian red wine full of tannin that just demanded a big steak to compliment its flavor.  From what the staff told me, it was one of my host’s favorite wines when he is having dinner there, which they told me was quite often.   I never saw the wine list from the restaurant, and I am not sure that I would have selected this particular wine from the carte, but I can most assuredly say that I am happy that we had this bottle that night.  Before I left the restaurant, I went and stopped at the private party to once again thank him for his graciousness.  To this day when I see him or talk to him, I still thank him for what he did for us that evening.

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Morel Mushroom Dinner – Five Lakes Grill – Milford, Michigan

Posted on September 27, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Five Lakes Grill was this wonderful restaurant off the beaten path of Metro Detroit, located in downtown Milford, Michigan.  It is a charming downtown of several blocks with shopping, restaurants and taverns.  It was here that Brian Polcyn the Chef/Proprietor decided to open his doors.   He had a wonderful regular menu as well as “special menus” through out the year.  I am going to discuss one of his “special menu” offerings.

 

My Bride was scheduled to go to the upper peninsula of Michigan on her annual trip, the same time as The Morel Mushroom Dinner was going to occur.  Due to my employment, I could not take the time to join her as I have done in the past.  So I did the next best thing, and went with one of her co-workers and his wife to enjoy this dinner.  We spent the next couple of hours calling her to tell her about each course and what she had missed.  I know it seems cruel, but it was all in good fun and she really would have enjoyed the evening, the good friends, the food and the wine.

 

 

Chef Polcyn came out before the dinner started and announced that every course would include morel mushrooms, and that on average, each dinner would consume close to a pound in total aggregate weight of these delicious and hard to find mushrooms, an that there would be Morel Mushrooms featured in every course.  We had opted to have the wine package that had been carefully paired for four of the courses.

 

The First Course consisted of Warm Potato and Morel Mushroom Terrine with Michigan Sweet Corn Sauce and Fresh Pea Tendrils.   This was paired with a 2004 Spy Valley Riesling, New Zealand.

 

The Second Course was Pan Seared Slate Wing with Fiddlehead Ferns, Petit Morel Mushrooms and Pomes Robishon.  This course was paired with 2003 Nugan’s “Frasca’s Lane” Chardonnay, Australia.

 

 

The Third Course was a Poele of Squab with Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Werp Farms Organic Baby Vegetables and Morel Mushroom Risotto.  This was paired with a 2004 Tres Picos Garnacha Campo de Borja, Spain.

 

 

The Fourth Course was a Morel Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Stuffed Loin of Organic Hog with Black Pepper Spatzle, Grilled Longs Farm Asparagus and Black Truffle-Morel Mushroom Demi Glaze.  This dish was paired with a 2001 Corte alla Flora Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva, Italy.

 

The Fifth Course was an Organic Green Salad with Bacon Shallot dressing and Warm Morel Mushroom Custard.

 

For Dessert we received a Fresh Blackberry Tart with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.  Now as you are reading this, you are saying, well where is the Morel Mushroom that is supposed to be in each course.   The plate had been dusted with cinnamon and a Morel Mushroom had been drawn in the dust.  It was very pretty and clever and you could hear everybody laughing as they discovered the trophy mushroom.

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Les Amis du Vin and Harry Waugh

Posted on September 26, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Les Amis du Vin is an American organization based in Austin, Texas and translates as The Friends of Wine.  A customer of mine was the Michigan director of this group, but I have lost touch with him, and I am not sure if there is still a Michigan chapter or not.  This customer knew of my fledgling interest in wine and invited me to a special tasting to be held at The Dearborn Inn, which in itself is a famous location as it was the first hotel built adjacent to an airfield.  The airfield has long been gone, but The Dearborn Inn is still holding its own.

   

 

 

This special evening by the Les Amis du Vin had a guest speaker, the legendary Harry Waugh.  Harry Waugh who lived to be 97 was considered the “grand old man of the English wine trade.”  He was referred to as “the man with the million-dollar palate.”  He was also known for the famous wine quip as to whether he had ever confused claret with a Burgundy and answered “not since lunch.”  He was the author of several wine books plus a series of diaries on wines.

 

The evening started off with a talk by Harry Waugh and then progressed to a special tasting of 1973 Burgundy wines.  This was a chance for the members to try some classic wines while they were still young.  The wines were presented after an aperitif of “La Ina” a Fino Sherry from Pedro Domecq.

The wines we tried were:

Gevrey-Chambertin Domaine Armand Rousseau

Vosne-Romanee Louis Latour

Chateau Corton Grancey 1er Cru Domaine Louis Latour

Echezeaux Domain Dujac

Clos La Roche Domaine Dujac

Clos St. Jacques 1er Cru Domaine Armand Rousseau

 

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Commercial Wine Tasting Party at Home

Posted on September 25, 2012 by thewineraconteur

About a year after I graduated from college I went with a group of friends to a “singles” exposition.   We had a grand old time, and I must have signed up for a company to come and have a wine tasting party for a group of friends.  This is a marketing arm of Pieroth Wine Imports of Burg Layen, Germany.  They poured six different wines as my notes tell me, but I did not do a good job recording the proper information (well I was young and this may have been my first formal tasting).  At the end of the evening they took a group order which was delivered to me, to disburse among the guests per their order.  I was also given as a token of the evening a cork-screw that was inserted through a petrified grape root.  I still use this cork-screw to this day.

 

Since I have some of the notes, but not the proper names of the wines.  I will make discuss the wines that were purchased.  This was really the first time I had encountered any wines from Germany, so I had no preset knowledge or expectations.  I have since had many other wines from assorted regions of Germany that I will discuss at later times.

 

 

The first wine was unique to me, a red wine from Germany.  It is labeled as a Qualitatswein Rheinpfalz Blauer Portugieser 1974.  Now with my rudimentary knowledge of the German language I will try to translate.  This is a Quality Wine from the region know as Rheinpfalz.  The Rheinpfalz is the largest wine district in Germany, and since it is just listed as a Quality Wine it is probably a blend from many areas with no known pedigree listed.  The grape is listed as Blauer Portugieser, which to me would translate as Portuguese Blue grapes, which is not a major grape varietal even for this area.

 

 

The next wine is a Nussdorfer Bischofsckreuz Muller-Thurgau Kabinett 1975.  At first I thought as I looked at this label that it was perhaps from Austria, as Nussdorf is a city I am aware of in Austria.  Then I looked at the label again and there was a notation Anbaugebiet Rheinpfalz, which roughly translates that it is from one of the German Government, guaranteed wine districts the Rheinpfalz.  So this wine is also from the Rheinpfalz.  There is also a line that states Qualitatswein mit Pradikat, I mentioned about Quality Wine; mit Pradikat means with a Special Word and in this case Kabinett, which is a rather flexible wine term in German Wine Laws, just meaning that the winery feels that this wine is a step up from their basic Qualitatswein.  I also must state that only Qualitatswein can have a mit Pradikat.  The Pradikat leads into special ratings for wines depending on how late the wine was harvested and how much more concentrated sugar the grapes have.  The Bischofsckreuz is the name of the vineyard from the town of Nussdorf.   The Muller-Thurgau is the grape varietal, the most common varietal from Rheinpfalz is the Sylavaner grape and the most esteemed is the Riesling grape.

 

The last wine from this evening was a Burg Layer Schlossapelle Silvaner Kabinett 1976.  This wine has the Anbaugebiet Nahe which means that it is from the Nahe wine district (located between the Rheingau wine district and the Moselle wine district).  This is a Quality Wine from the vineyard Schlossapelle in the town of Burg Lay made of the Silvaner grape varietal with the designation of Kabinett.

 

This essay is also a bit of a primer of how to read a German wine label, because there is a lot of information that can be gleamed from the label, once you know what to look for.

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Whitney – Detroit – Cabernet Sauvignon

Posted on September 24, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Ask any native Detroiter and he knew about the David Whitney building in downtown Detroit.   Most of the natives were not aware of the Whitney mansion only a couple of miles away near the campus of Wayne State University.  The Whitney family was originally in the lumber industry and the first time you enter into the building of the Whitney restaurant you will be impressed by the high quality of the wood in the rooms.  This was a house that was not a cookie-cutter house.

 

The home was converted into a fine restaurant and there are many different settings to dine in.  One could dine in the parlor area, or in the dining room or even in a library.  One could even go up to the third floor to listen to music drinks and even enjoy coffee and dessert.

 

 

Through the years, we have availed ourselves to the Sunday brunches served at the Whitney as a prelude to attending a symphony, an occasional matinee of legitimate theater or an afternoon at the latest exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts.   The brunches there, were not a brunch one encounters at a resort or a country club, but is actually a sit down affair with several choices of well crafted plates of food, normally accompanied by Mimosas.

 

 

One night for a change we tried the Whitney for dinner before seeing a play at the Fisher Theater.  The same attention to detail that we enjoyed at their brunches was also used for the dinner menu, even for a Pre-Play dinner option.   The first dinner that we had there was accompanied with a Merryvale “Starmont” Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 from Napa Valley.   It was a new wine for me, as well as a new dinner venue.  I am happy to inform, that both were well crafted and totally enjoyable.

 

We have been back many times since, both for more brunches and dinners.  When my Bride heard that her God-daughter and niece was getting married, she even rented an hour for wedding photos in this grand mansion.  It was a stellar venue for such an awesome event.

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Golden Mushroom – Southfield, MI – Cabernet Sauvignon

Posted on September 23, 2012 by thewineraconteur

The Golden Mushroom may have been the pivotal point in the Metro Detroit area in terms of a new wave of restaurants, where the emphasis on the chef was important.  Chef Milos Cihelka started a new restaurant that created a maelstrom of restaurants with a concept of Nouveau Cuisine.  Up to the time that they opened the doors, restaurants were places to have dinner, some were fancier, some had better prepared food, but menus were not exciting.  All of a sudden, the chef becomes a focal point and people start noticing the nuance of the dish presented to them.   The beginning of the age of “foodies” for the Detroit area, and it was a training school for many of the other chefs who opened up restaurants of their own.

 

The restaurant created a discussion among critics and diners alike, as the dishes were unique at the time.  One of the greatest plates that I remember, most fondly, was not even on the menu, it had to be requested.  It was the mushroom appetizer plate.  Here was a plate of maybe seven different types of mushrooms, each prepared in a way to bring out the special taste and texture of each type, all presented on one large platter.  It was an appetizer for two, very easily and a great way to start getting excited about the rest of the plates to be served.  Up to this time, the only mushrooms that were usually seen in a restaurant were the small “button” type usually just sautéed in butter, which is still a great side dish for a well prepared steak.  This can still be confirmed by dining at any of the many chain steak houses out there, from the ordinary to the top names.

 

 

It was the food, which drew the diners into the restaurant for dishes that had a little twist or dash to the preparation.  All of a sudden, conversations would include the food, which had been just part of the background when dining out.  It was also one of the first restaurants that attempted to feature wines and not just the great wines of the Medoc, to give the diner a well rounded dining experience.  They were offering wines from this start up area known as California.  They were letting people know that not every bottle of wine had to have the word “chateau” on the label.   They were offering wines that they felt had merit and not just a name.

 

It was there, that I first really had a bottle from the winery of Ferrari-Carano of Alexander Valley (it was another valley, not called Napa).  It was a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon that was even more delightful and enjoyable then my go-to wine of the period known as Bordeaux Superior or even Haute Medoc.  The wine world had just grown for me; no longer would I just have to study the wines of France, Germany and Italy, but now the New World as well.  I am happy to say that I am still a student, except now the country lists have expanded, perhaps with no end in sight, which is a great concept.

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , | Leave a comment