Last night, Jimmyv, Doc, and myself got together for some drinks and dinner in NYC. I showed up at Morrells wine bar around 5:15 where Jimmyv was already enjoying a glass of 2001 Melville Syrah Santa Rita. He said it was nice so I also ordered a glass. A few minutes later Doc came by and also ordered a glass of the Melville. After we finished our wine Jimmyv handed me the wine list (a book) to make a selection for another glass before we headed to dinner. I selected a 2001 Downing Family Vineyards Zinfandel Fly By Night, a in your face fruit bomb zin. After we finished the zin, we walked a few blocks north to a restaurant that Jimmyv had picked out, Rm.(60th bet Madison & Park) Rm stands for the chef/owners name, Rick Moonen. We walked in, and we were promptly seated at a comfortable table. I had asked for the wine list to be emailed to me earlier so I already had an idea as to what some bargains on the list were. Jimmyv picked out a 1999 Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru, Les Chalumeaux, Pierre Matrot, Doc and I decided on a bottle of 1999 Robert Sinskey, Four Vineyards - Reserve, and a half bottle of 2000 Etude Pinot Noir Carneros. Our very serious waiter who never cracked a smile was professional however, when we made our wine selection he would always recommend one or two other bottles that we more expense, kinda annoying. We were served some bread while we looked over our menus. Jimmyv started with a creamy porcini risotto, with English peas, crispy sage, and lobster, and a striped bass, with artichoke stew, green olive pesto and Tuscan olive oil as an entree. Doc started with oysters on the half shell, served with traditional cocktail sauce and mignonette, and his entree was steamed east coast halibut, with mushroom nage, fava beans and porcini oil. I started with spice crusted tuna, served with shaved radish and champagne vinaigrette, and a dry aged NY strip steak, served with crispy potato and broccoli rabe as my entree. My tuna was awesome and the steak was very good. We also ordered a side of pasta with truffle butter and parmesan cheese which was awesome. While walking past the bar to use the restroom I saw a familiar face. Mike Colameco, who has a food show here in NY was sitting at the bar having a glass of wine. He did a show about a year ago about small downtown NYC restaurants which I enjoyed watching b/c I work downtown. He and I emailed a few times and I invited him to lunch next time he was in the area. So I went over to the bar and introduced myself. He remembered our emails and was very friendly, I invited him to our table for a glass of wine, he never came. Rick the chef/owner of Rm, joined us at the bar and we all chatted for a few minutes. With lots of excitement I told Jimmyv and Doc of my run in with a "celebrity". They thought it was neat. Having some pinot left we decided to go for a cheese plate, good move. These cheeses included, Chevra, Montbriac (SP?) a Wisconsin blue, Tete du mua (SP?) it translates to monk-head, Explorateur, and Monsavra (SP?) along with some walnuts and pastry puff figs. It was a excellent. We had eaten enough so we decided to have a bottle of 1999 Kracher Chardonnay-Welschriesling Trockenbeerenauslese Neusiedlersee Nouvelle Vague No. 3 intead of desert. One whiff if the Kracher and I knew that it was the WOTN, with a huge nose of apricot and honey, sweet and intense on the pallet, this was awesome. A fork and spoon was placed beside each of us, I figured that they had made a mistake and not realized that we didn't order desert, I was wrong. The waiter brought us each a wonderful desert on the house, a peanut butter chocolate muse(Jimmyv said "Reese's pieces"), passion fruit tart with a great coconut sorbet, and a chocolate sorbet muse thingy served with a warm chocolate frangelico severed in a double shot glass and a straw. Jimmyv had an espresso and I had a beer (Spaten). We headed over to the bar to for a few drinks and chat with Mike. Jimmyv, Doc, and Mike all had a glass of 12 year old Macallan, I had another Spaten. Our waiter came over to me and asked if we were in the restaurant business. I assume he did this b/c I was taking notes on everything so I could post this. We conversed about all kinds of things including great restaurants and the cost of living in different cities in the US. Luckily Iraq and religion never came up. We had been at Rm for nearly six hours, last call had been called so we said our goodbyes and headed home. Jimmyv, thanks again for inviting me and Doc to join you for dinner , its always great to see you guys. Welcome back Doc, it was great to see you again. We must do it again soon |