Vino created a new themed special last night: A Taste of Veneto. So of course we had to pay a visit to sample the Venetian specials. The menu read like this:
Home-made Squid Ink Pasta
with English peas & salted cod
Grilled Marinated Duck
with Venetian bean stew
Roasted Mary’s Free Range Chicken
with red wine risotto, Hamakua mushrooms & roasted
red onion marmalade
We also sampled the Ceaser Salad
The Duo of Sushi (from Hiroshi)
And the Salumi and Cheese Platter
We started the evening with a bottle of 2006 Pahlmeyer Chardonnay. As heavy as bottles come, it had a nose of ripe stone fruit, new oak and a touch of citrus curd and was mouth filling on the palate though not really heavy and a long finish. Big alcohol but the body more than balanced it out so that the alcohol wasn't at the forefront.
Since this was a Veneto evening, we also had to sample one of Venice's special wines, a 2000 Quintarelli Valpolicella which had spice and red fruit on the nose with nice palate flow and a medium long finish (I valiantly tried to order one of Venice's other wines, a Pieropan Soave but Chuck refused to let me order it since he said it wouldn't pair with the food).
We finished the night with a bottle of NV Lancelot-Pienne Grand Cru Blanc de Blanc. It must have rolled in the cooler since I ended up wearing some of it as I uncorked it. It had a nice nose of ripe stone fruit and citrus with a very nice palate flow and medium finish. I love these grower-producer Blanc de Blanc Champagnes!
The table had several desserts - YES!, Vino is now doing several desserts as well as grappas.
Another great evening with good friends, good wines and good food. Next up, the Riesling Dinner at Orchids at the Halekulani.
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