food & wine - part X

who knows what blog post this is the series of posts about food and wine -LOL I know there are so many I have lost count but last night we had a wonderful meal with Mike & Leslie at Cafe Marbella. This inconspicuous and unassuming place on Milwaukee just south of Bryn Mawr has a terrific chef and a lovely front of the house in the couple who own and run the place.  We have been here several times before and really liked it so we had no qualms about going back on Friday night.  We had some terrific wines as well (it is BYO with corkage fees)

We started with two special salads - avocado and bacon with goat cheese and a scallop salad- which we paired a Corton Charlemange for trying (to see if we wanted to buy- answer- NO) and a terrific Chablis Montée de Tonnerre that Mike brought from Maison Montille.  We switched off tasting the wine to try with various foods and enjoying the amazing Chablis with each as well...

The Chablis was definitely showing much better than the Corton Charlie last night...

Here is the specials menu for last night (we eventually had 5, 6, and 7 below) and then there were a few unlisted specials as well-

Then we had the grilled calamari - (photo MIA) - then we had the shrimp and garlic- tender shrimp perfectly cooked and seasoned with a zippy garlic and pepper sauce (bring us more bread for dipping please!)

we had a wonderful Dover Sole after the shrimp but somehow that photo too went MIA-

Switching over to the reds- with the garlicky shrimp and then mushrooms - the Bordeaux was the wine of the evening - a "Pichon Baron" from 1989 - drinking perfectly....

We then went for the Cerdo with the sherry cream sauce and followed it with the steak and the sausage of duck and foie gras (yum yum yum)

the Chateauneuf du Pape was also showing well -

a tidbit from the chef- duck sausage with white truffles - top die for (not on the menu - just a taste to tease us with LOL)

so here is the info from the menu cover -

and to top it off they make their own fabulous desserts! a fruit tart (for the guys and the chocolate and espresso for the gals- LOL)

here were notes on how to put in the food orders to go with the wines LOL and then finally a shot of the table underneath the plates - all the spots looked like this - nearly ever dish came with a sauce to dip into!

and thanks Mike for the full wine shot below!

schedule is packed for June so lots to look forward to.... stay tuned-

a big win!

so tonight we went to try out a new BYOB in the hood- and it was fab! the place is called Bien Me Sabe and it is Venezuelan - with wonderful service and an extensive menu and terrific food... here it is in photos-

We brought a Chassagne Montrachet to try (checking it out for buying) and Mike brought a very nice Rhone (shown below) - and missing from the photos were the shrimp tostones which two of the group ordered and were wonderful and the empanada sampler which we split up four ways - so we each got a taste of the beef,chicken, and cheese empanadas- all good and opinion split on which was best- LOL

winner all around- and we will definitely be back here for sure!

a visit

Our cousin Michele came for a visit over Memorial Day weekend - she came from Seattle where the weekend was sunny and warm, 80* or so... to spend time with us in 55-65 and rain... seriously bad weather is what we have had all May and it continues- although we had sun this morning by 1:30 it was pouring rain - bucket style rain...

So she went off to explore the Art Institute and then another day Navy Pier... she has been here numerous times and entertains herself - we meet up for meals and evenings... On Friday we had lunch at Falstrom's and then dragged her to the wine shop next door to buy some samples to try for potential purchases....

Then in the evening we went to Osteria Langhe and had 2 bottles of the 1999 St Innocent Wines - the Shea Vineyard and the Seven Springs Vineyard - side by side tasting - Shea won out of the gate but the Seven Springs got better and better- never quite overtaking the Shea but in the end made it a closer contest than it seemed upon opening...

The next day we grabbed a quick bite at Burrito House LOL- our favorite dive-y place down the street for tacos...and then headed to Andersonville for an exhibit of things made in Chicago from 1900-1970 - some fun stuff in the tiny museum at Ashland and Balmoral... a lot of the items in the museum are related to the Edgewater Beach Hotel and the Edgewater neighborhood...

 

here's a funny one- our friend Barb used to work in this postcard factory when she was in High School LOL- it is really close to us on Irving Park at Ravenswood...

Then after trying several of the wines we bought from Howard's the day before, we were on to Ruyi for sushi later in the evening where we had some old faves (stuffed avocados) and some new things (sashimi and a new kind of roll)

Michele and I got a few brief periods to spend on the deck - which I had rushed to get planted BEFORE she arrived on Thursday evening... I had been to Gethsemane (our local garden store) twice last week in an attempt to get settled in for the summer season... and things did look pretty good but the weather didn't support any extended outside time- sadly...

so tomorrow, a friend is coming over for dinner and then we will be truly in the calendar of summer (post Memorial Day to labor Day weekend) let's hope sometime soon that it warms to summer temperatures as well.... Can't wait to get some really beautiful outdoor time with classic sun and warm days and nights - #canyouhearme? Weather Gods!