On our first night in the city, we didn't have any dinner reservations so we simply decided to peruse the neighborhood around the Mayflower Park Hotel to find somewhere to eat. NOT a good evening for perusing as there was a constant rain that evening. I almost bypassed Purple Cafe (which was on my original list of dining choices before leaving HNL) because it looked packed. The Mrs persuaded me to see if they could squeeze us in. As luck would have it, the upstairs counter seats were available so we settled in. I started with the Rose Three Ways flight which included Lillet Rose from Podensac, Jaillance Cuvee De L'abbaye Brut from Bordeaux and Chateau de Pellehaut from Gascogne;
While the Mrs started with the France flight which included Christian Banniere Grand Cru Brut from Bouzy, 2009 Chateau Cabanes from Graves and 2011 Gerald Talmard from Macon-Uchizy
We then started with our server's recommendation, the Baked Brie in Filo with apricots, walnuts and house made crackers. GOOD Choice! Just enough gooey brie balanced by fruit and nuts with great crackers.
We also sampled the Beef Carpaccio
The Duck Liver Pate with sherry-vanilla gastrique which nicely balanced the richness of the liver (in fact I plan on topping my chicken liver pate with some gastrique).
And the special Farro Salad with Butternut Squash, Foraged Mushrooms and Arugula
I then selected The Other Port(ugal) flight which included 2003 Quinta das Bagueiras "Garrafeira" from Bairrada, 2006 Quinta do Judeu from the Douro, 2003 Alves de Sousa "Quinta da Gaivosa" also from the Douro and 2008 Herdade dos Gros from Alentejano for my entree
While the Mrs "selected" (okay, I selected it for her) the Italy flight which included Dama del Rovere "Brenton" Brut, 2011 Ca' Montebello Pinot Nero Bianco and 2009 Taburni Domus Falanghina
Her wines were paired with the Creamy Basil Pesto with grilled chicken on tagliatelle with tomatoes, pine nuts and Parmigiano
While I had the Lamb Bolognese with orrechiette, ricotta nd marjoram. I was thoroughly enjoying my dish until the Mrs sampled it and "ran" into a long hair in the dish. It wasn't mine since I'm hirsute-lacking upstairs and it was a lot longer than the Mrs'. Our server did remove the charge from our bill even if we didn't ask for it to be removed so kudos to our server.
The Mrs did sample dessert - a fruit tarte with berry sorbet (despite the hair fiasco)
While I simply finished with a French 75 or gin, Champagne and lemon juice
Despite the mini hair fiasco, I would revisit Purple Cafe and Wine Bar as they have an extensive wine list and wine flights (for smaller samples) and the food is good... even with the added "fiber"...
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