the week in review LOL

So we started our week with dinner with Uncle Neil at Oceanique - as always an really good meal.

then the next night we were at Oriole (see post - Starry Eyed)

and then the next night we were with the Chicago Gourmets at Emilio's (see post Before We Go Back)

and then last night we had a concert at City Winery - the group was Solas- and it was Phil's choice-
He liked them I thought they pretty much made everything sound the same- and I found it distracting to have the vocalist running on and off the stage all evening-

 
for the encore the sound man got to sing too (too bad they didn't feature him earlier- he had a lovely strong voice that actually was different than hearing the other (they pretty much all ended up jigs) music

This is a venue I really dislike- bad wine - mediocre food - people jammed into tables smaller than the chairs seated around them - if more than two people try to eat the plates don't fit on the table - and the cocktail list is extremely limited for those who don't want beer or (bad) wine.  They make it there- in the middle of Chicago (my Oregon winemaker friends I am sure shudder to read that sentence). My Dad used to make wine in the closet of the laundry room and I think the wine making at this facility is an expensive shiny version of that LOL.

so the week draws to an end and we ready ourselves for the next group of activities.... while we continue with planning for our future travel.  Our Venice to Istanbul by Private Train trip has been canceled for next year and so we are revisiting alternative destinations - meanwhile the website was built for that one and will be taken down (so if you want to see it I would suggest going now - LOL)

https://privatetrainjourney.shutterfly.com/

now it looks like we will be doing Wine & Food in Georgia (which is actually known for its wine- unlike City Winery) - See I can make it all come together in the end LOL!!!
Onward & Upward! So stay tuned....

we come home and go out

Our road trip was planned to be completed in time for our return to Chicago for the Mark Cohn concert at City Winery (tickets we got long ago with Phil's folkie friends) We arranged to meet for dinner before the concert at a location other than City Winery as we are not huge fans of the food there.  We selected Macello - an Italian place around the corner.  We found the food decent and service friendly - if a bit laid back... 

the front of the house has a store

the dining area is spacious and airy- they have outdoors but since the place is right under the EL it seems less conducive to conversation than we wanted...

on to the concert-

Tall Heights the warm up act- were a bit to stylized for me but have lots of potential - lovely harmonies and I really liked the use of the cello - bought a richness to the melodies that enhanced the music IMHO-

sadly no one seems to pay attention to the message on the candles-

Mark at the piano

and on guitar

a good concert - he sang many of the big hits from the eponymous album Mark Cohn, including a rousing Walkin in Memphis... but what I really liked were the times he went for the blues or for soul variations in his performance.  I kept wishing he and his "bandmate" would break out into the Blue Notes hit of Wake Up Everybody - a song that was just made for his vocal and emotional range....

I never thought about it before but this guy has a fabulous voice for covering some of our greatest blues and soul music and it was the improvisation that most impressed me at this concert--- despite the fact that I had agreed to go based upon the hits I knew.

The following evening (now home two nights) we went to Senza for dinner on the recommendation of Alexa (from 42 Grams) - and had a knock your socks off meal that I have no photos of (phone in parking garage blocks away- WAH!) but since we will definitely be back I promise photos the next time.  And you are lucky because they did give us menus at the end of the evening.  We did not have the pairings because we brought a 1996 Corton Renardes from Marius Delarche (they do have corkage fees.)

so here it is- wish I had photos because it was a beautiful meal visually, as well as reading well....

while everything was excellent I particularly liked the onion soup with crab, the foie gras course and the steak tartare- those would be my first tier favorites - followed by the beet salad, the pork rib, the oatmeal dessert and the aerated cheese.  but seriously you can't go wrong with a menu as strong as this one was! Great time- every single one of the front of the house staff was friendly (genuinely friendly not professionally friendly) and the food was marvelous - thanks Cara and Noah Sandoval (front and chef) and thanks Alexa for recommending it to us.  

good wine, good times

so before I move into full depth of our recent journey to the Nordic capitals of Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen - let me catch up on the end of last week.  after returning to Chicago on Wednesday we had a Thursday of getting through mail, finances, laundry etc. 

 

but on Friday we managed to break away for a wine dinner featuring the wines of Joseph Drouhin and Domaine Drouhin Oregon (DDO) held at City Winery.  City Winery opened last August and is going strong with wine, food and song.  It is a combination restaurant and music venue and wine bar/tasting venue in the hip Randolph Street corridor. 

 

We knew the Drouhin wines- we have bought at DDO for years and even visited the Beaune cellars of Domaine Drouhin while in Burgundy.  So we were not at all surprised by how good the wines were.

 

 

 



 

Since the wines were the reason we had come we will start there:

Everything showed well over time but it was a bit disconcerting when the staff kept grabbing glasses away from us that we wanted to keep tasting OVER TIME and with more air and "age" on them.... after years of the IPNC (International Pinot Noir Celebration) in Orgeon we were unaccustomed to a wine tasting giving short shrift to the wines themselves-

I may be wrong but there seemed to be an issue with availability of glassware which really shouldn't be an issue in a wine bar... but-

back to the wines- we own a couple of the vintages of the Chablis but haven't delved into the Vaudon which we did buy last time we were at DDO visiting to taste- here is what we have- and over time you might get reports on these - but we aren't drinking 05 and later- we are still working on the 00 and 02s in the white burgundy area

2005	White Burgundy	Chablis Premier Cru	Drouhin
2008	White Burgundy	Chablis Premier Cru	Drouhin - Moirein
2009	White Burgundy	Chablis Premier Cru	Drouhin - Vaudon

the clear winner in the whites was the beaune clos des mouches which was no surprise at all... the winner in the reds depended upon who you asked- I liked the Gevrey but Phil preferred the Volnay - and as the Volnay opened up (we clung tightly to our glasses) I found them both to be lovely elegant wines.

and as I write this post and I went back to my wine inventory and find- LOL- I already have purchased some (must have been with Howard Silverman or with Knightsbridge from the 09 burg tasting last December...LOL) this would be a good reason to put this document in my drop box so I could call it up on the phone - because at the end of the evening I ordered more - LOL

2009

Burgundy

Drouhin

Gevery Chambertin

although that is the only Drouhin red burg on the list I bought another two Gevreys as well so no wonder I liked that one...LOL

2009

Burgundy

Dugat

Gevrey Chambertin

2009

Burgundy

Humbert Freres

Gevrey Chambertin - Poissenot

the meal was somewhat hit or miss- the chilled mussels and clams salad didn't hit the right note - all the elements really needing to be at least room temperature to get the essence of their unique flavors versus the alike-ness of their chewy consistency when chilled...

the frisee and goat cheese on beets sounded like a choice destined for my "worst course" award but instead it was really right on with a light touch of vinaigrette and a lovely balance of each element of the pairing.

the mushroom course with the escargot in pastry would have been first rate but didn't make the grade for a dish served to 35 people- the pastry came out a big soggy versus light and crispy...

and finally the main of short rib and puree of turnip was a winner as well - so we were two out of four on the plus side...

we were kind of dumbfounded when the intro remarks from the wonderful Dreyfus Ashby host went to really basic Burgundy geography and French wine terminology (named for regions and villages and plots of land versus the new world grape varietal naming- that kind of basic) but perhaps the audience was less into wine than what I would have expected for this kind of specialized event... anyway- we had some good wines and a decent meal and our table mates were very compatible- so we came home happy that we had trekked down to the west loop during rush hour to do the event.

and for those of you who may never have laid eyes on a map of the world's best wine making region- here you go: