They do a great job at these dinners at Ardeo, often held upstairs in their private room, sometimes downstairs? We do not know yet, depends on how many of you have signed up for this dinner. Ardeo always pulls out all the stops and does the best possible job possible, their best foot-forward each and every time!
And the wines from Alejandro will speak for themselves, and Alejandro will fit in all the juicy little factoids to make their flavors and tastes come even more alive, more vibrant, more relevant, more an interest to us all.
The weather tonight should be perfect to enjoy a fine winemaker/owner meal at Ardeo with Alejandro Jofre. Do come, do call and reserve your places. Cheers, e hasta esta noche a 7PM! Venga venga venga.
A GORGEOUS WARM DAY so far, and you have to stay hydrated, drink lots of water, and enjoy our late summer return as we had plety of gray and cold days in August, we really did. I, for one, am happy to have such nice weather once again. Feels good to have small gentle breezes and to bake a bit some in the heat of the day.
LOTS GOING ON in the news and that can be quite the challenge to absorb, digest, survive with even a partial smile?!? So we will not dwell on any of that except to say that you are welcome here and we can speak of the things that we share in common more, that make us more alike than we think or chose to acknowledge, but that ultimately might serve to help us heal and move forward as a community of communities bonding and working for all of our common good.
WATCH THE GREAT MOVIE " Babette's Feast " and smile as two of the men in this small coastal sea village sit at the same table at last and speak again and are in the same company again, even if it be strained, it be a start. I love this movie, always makes me feel good, it really does.We have the great bottles of French Burgundy if any of you want to recreate this amazing meal for your family, guests and friends. Some things never age or get old. Talking and smiling, laughing are some.
1) Meursault dry white from DOMAINE VINCENT BOUZEREAU 2015, $82.99, 100% Chardonnay would be a great white to include as it has a really nice dry and leaner start that opens slowly and gracefully as both it and your palate adapt to each other, and that should never be rushed. Take your time, let the flavors get clearer, strengthen, flourish and grow and impress you more. You will see, you will start to smile, you will relax, you will start to form the sound : " Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh WHoooooooooooooWoooooooowwwwwwwwww " . A special treat.
2) Morey-Saint-Denis " Herbouttes " from Frederic Magnien, 2013, On Special for $43.99, regularly $49.99 is a great 100% Pinot Noir treat to enjoy. It, too takes both your time and your patience. You cannot rush this kind of taste and experience. You have to move slowly, you have to find the right coordination, tempo, dance-step, movement - progression that will ultimately draw the other out and create flavors and tastes to soar on thier winds with, yes, si si oui oui oui si si! It is medium bodied, flavorful, some real body, and will stand up to many a dish well. Babette would have known just what to do with both of these wines being French as she was. Put your French on!
WERE THAT LIFE WERE PERFECT?!? It can be at times, and it was just for me a few minutes ago at lunch! What a treat! Incredible, I took some photos and will include them here if I get the chance.
IT WAS SATURDAY and I was walking past IndiqueDC restaurant here across the street from us on Connecticut Avenue and I stopped to take a picture of the other side of the outdoor sign that I had missed earlier. I had to wait for people to walk past as not to disturb them and so I took several and was greeted by owner chef KN Vinod that invited me in for a bite to eat. At first I said ' no ' that I did not have time, but he insisied and I went inside into the bar space where he was working on his next week's notes. I told him to please make it quick.
KN sia do me : " You eat everything?! " I answered that I did, to make me whatever he liked? He did, too. I took the opportunity to take pictures of his restaurant while he was in the kitchen. I saw the customers ans waiters and waitresses, loving it all, soaking it all up!It was a great visual treat, many of them I have put up on Instagram at : Tonythewineguy and I will add them soon to our Facebook apge at : Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits, and to our Twitter, too at : CPWineSpirits. So be on the lookout!
Then as I was waiting my phone rang. It was Santos here at the store. He said : " Tony a customer has been waiting for you for twenty minutes. " So, when the food arrived I asked KN to please put it in a doggy-bag and give it to me. I asked the bartender when he saw me and asked what I would like to drink? I responded that I would like to have a mango drink. He said that they had mango smoothies! Oh yeah, it came with the food and I slurped it down quickly : YUM! That I enjoyed immeately as I took pictures of the food and al, of the people there, of it all! Yes. Shukria KN , thank you so!
IT WAS BUSY HERE with Robert Kennedy tasting so I put the food into our walk-in cooler here and immediately forgot about it as I helped customers. I had asked KN how much time I had to eat the meal, he wanted me to eat it within the hour if possible. Well, that did not happen unfortunately.
I DID NOT EAT my KNVinod / INDIQUEDC restaurant meal Saturday Sept. 23rd, Sunday 24th, Monday 25th, not until Monday at 2PM here back at the store did I eat on Sept. 26th, 2017 this fabulous meal prepared by KN of three separate dishes! I was wondering how they would taste? I loved their look on the plates at the bar at IndiqueDC, and I wondered what he had made and how they would hold up? They had been properly refrigerated the whole time, and so I was not worried about spoilage, just taste?
ONE DISH with the Safron small mini pancake had a hardly boiled egg on it, still fully round and runny in the middle. My wife does not runny eggs so I knew that one would be mine. The egg had broken over this time.
I CONFESS AGAIN KN, besides waiting to eat your FABulous meal, I also nooked it in the microwave : two of the dishes, not the third, for 80 seconds I believe?!?
WELL, if thiese dishes suffered from all of this they were then spectacular when forst made for me. I loved them, the flavors rising and soaring, screeching, stabbing, biting, nipping, pulling, twanging like fine strung and plucked strings on a guitar or violin, and so much more. The colors alone, the forms, the textures, the hard and soft, thick, airy, crisp, tart, fresh and hard against the more accomodating, welcoming, plaint tastes : all great contrasts on every level.
LOVED MY MEAL KN, thank you, Shukaria.
I WILL WRITE A MEAL of our wide range of spirits to go with these three courses I just ate.
I SPOKE TO JAGIR just now about enjoying an Indian meal and what he either enjoys or sees others enjoying round the table at home or in an Indian restaurant : and he siad that they enjoy everything from non-alcoholic fruit drinks made from peaches, mangos, grapes, to hard whiskey, beer and wine of course. So I will focus on some of those here.
SO : Here are our BEER SElections for this incredible meal :
TWO IPA's :
1) Acme Exquisitely Balanced IPA ( India Pale Ale ) from NORTH COAST Brewing Co. in California, On Special for $10.99, with 6.9% alcohol by volume, from Fort Bragg, CA>
2) Soul Style IPA ( India Pale Ale ) Bright Tropical ' Taste Enlightenment ' from GREEN FLASH, with 6.5% alcohol by volume, selling On Special for $10.99 a 6-pack of 12-ounce bottles, from San Diego, California, with waves op hops, Simcoa Citra Cascade, yes!
TWO Pumpkin beers :
1) Imperial PUMKING Ale Brewed with PUMPKINS from the SOUTHERN TIER Brewery, for a 4-apck of 12 ounce bottles, with 8.5% alcohol by volume, in Lakewood, NY, made , brewed with 2 varieties of Hops and 2 types of Malts, On Special for $16.99, ... yes, a class-act, very popular
2) Pumpkinhead from SHIPYARD Brewing CO., with 4.5% alcohol by volume,from Portland, Maine, this is milder, lighter, gentler ...a 6-pack of 12-ounce bottles, On Special for $9.99, yes!
TWO LIQUORS For This Indique Meal :
1) Indian Single Malt Whiskey Non-Chill Filtered Vintage Select Casks from the RAMPUR Distillery, product of India, On Special for $74.99 a bottle, since 1943, with 43% alcohol by volume ..... mmmmmmmmm good! It is an experience all in itself, you have to taste it yourself, be amazed! Be pleased, teased, tried and found worthy with a slow and gradual sipping here of this golden single malt. Yes! Shukria.
2) Dry Rye Gin from California's ST. GEORGE Distillery, Pn Special for $39.99 a bottle, with 45% alcohol by volume, I smell the essence of Mango in the nose, the rest is wonderful, love it, cuts and adds, holds together, defines many food flavors. Yes.
WINES For This Indique Lunch From Chef KN Vinod :
1) From owner winemaker Alejandro Jofre of his own J.A. JOFRE winery in Colchagiua, Chile ( REMEMBER - We Have Our Winemaker Dinner At Bardeo with him tonight 7PM, what a treat, and I asked Alejandro which of his wines he is pouring tonight would go well with Indian food and he immediately said : Blanco!
BLANCO " Frios Del Ano " 2016, $25.99 a bottle, is a filed blend of approximately 65% Semillon and 35% Sauvignon Vert , made from approximately 75 year-old vines! It stays six moths on the grape skins/ lees, done in stainless steel but with a lot of complexity, not an orange wine, but a great mouth-feel, texture, taste and weight! It will refresh, it will brighten, soften, delineate the flavors of KN Vinod's food!
2) Bonarda 2015 Maipu , Mendoza, Argentina, from MONTEVIA from BODEGAS VIAMONTE, 2015, $16.49 a bottle, I was quite literally entralled when I tasted this red. It impressed me so and it will cut through the vegetables that KN used and refresh and soften and yet enliven to a great glow, grin and spin the food flavors!
We Need THREE Sparkling Wines For Fun :
1) 4478 Methode traditionelle delicate salmon-color rose dry 100% Pinot Noir grapes Italian Val D'Oasta sparkling, On Special for $27.99 : this will be amazing with chef Vinod's food as it will wake, stimulate, shimmy, hop , skip and jump around the food flavors and charge them as they might not ever again be so charged! Mmmmm, love this wine from Italy, cannot wait to taste it with KN's food next.
2) Brut De Peche is a french sparkling wine made from peaches which is dry and slightly sparkling, smooth lively, lovely and will complement any of the chutney and dried fruit flavors in KN's food! It will please everyone to sip as they eat : period! $10.99 a bottle.
3) Mamamango a blend of Moscato and Mango ( M+Mango ) 2 - yes, : thicker, more tactile, more textural, more lush and delicious on the palate, this will work amazingly well with chef Vinod's food : what a great treat, love it.$16.49 a bottle.
SAVE ON WINE Up to 20% OFF sticker prices, come buy bottles of wine at $19.99 and SAVE 20% OFF immediayely on each bottle - three ways to save tomorrow. Call and Pay if you cannot come : 202-363-4265. Talk to me, Tony or to Chris.
WEEK'S TASTINGS :
FRIDAY, Sept 29th, 2017 ( 5-8PM ) : We have Narayan Campbell here to pour an assortment of his fine imports Still to be decided tomorrow.
SATURDAY, September 30th, 2017 ( 2-6PM ) We have Libby Edwatds here to pour some fine wines as well, that will also be decided tomorrow, maybe Spanish, maybe Italian, maybe a mix? Maybe French? We have lots of irons in the fire, will pull them out tomorrow and make a final decision.
JOIN US : Never any charge, always glad to see you, always a great honor, treat and pleasure. COM SEE US, come dine with us tonight!
CHEERS, TONY Tues. Sept. 26th, 2017 ...
