Corkage,
Could you post the recipe for the trout and avocado salad? It sounds incredible!

Ahh, enough with the wine (same old, same old...). The BIG question is: how was the coffee?

Looks like you all had a blast. Good times.

Well I've been away from the computer since Saturday. Much of the time was spent relishing the memories of the fantastic evening at Vince and Nicol's. Joyce and I consider ourselves blessed to have such good newfound friends who love all the good things in life- humor, friendship, food, laughter, good wines and the time to share them.

The meal was memorable for a number of reasons. It was a visual treat to see each course prepared with such care by Vince and all his Sous Chefs. I loved the Fred imitation of a real chef who knows how to flip vegetables in a pan over a hot flame-- he was good and the dish was superb. I also saw so many who tried to Bogart cookies and get their hands on my wife's oyster chowder- when they found out she was allergic. But, then Vince showed some more real class when he served an aged balsamic with truffle oil for MS Capitolkat to compensate for the oyster dish-- what a gentleman.

Ms CK is on the road today to get some of the 50 year old Balsamic and truffle oil so we can indulge ourselves- a la Vince.

I'm always fascinated by discrepancies in wine and the Beaucastel was really strange. I bought both bottles at the same time , cellared them together, brought them out together, they were decanted in the same fashion, and one was superb and the other stunk- literally, even though some of the funk blew off. Any thoughts on how this happens would be appreciated.

Thanks to all of you-- DC cru- and Vince and Nicol for your gracious hospitality.

capitalkat-
That little flip trick didn't come without it's share of pain. That pan was wicked hot! Gave myself a nice little burn on my index finger. No pain no gain!

TJ... did you add captions to the photos yet???

raybanz: go for it. The investment is not that much, & well worth it. Once you taste pressed fresh coffee, you will deny that you ever used that drip-drop garbage.

TJ: that's funny. Pressed coffee, I always + just a touch of sugar. That's it, nothing else (personal preference), just a touch. A well-made espresso or espresso drink (which is practically non-existent), I + nothing.

I finished my wine TNs, but I am not up to all of the cutting and pasting that is entailed in doing it 'the Eric White' way. Plus, I'll need to cross copy/paste into Cellar Tracker as well, so it ain't happening tonight.

But, I will toss out some of the LOTN -- Lines of the Night as heard by me during the evening that I had the sense at the time to jot down. Here we go!

"I'm allergic to oysters too!"

"Mullets as far as the eye could see!"

"Toast the cookies!"

Tomorrow, My take on the food and festivities!

Now, for the courses. Shall I do a write-up? I think I shall! But, before I do, I must say that trying to really decide which of these courses of food was better then this course or that course is really, well, ridiculous. The food, ALL of the food, was unbelievably good. Folks, if there is anyone/anything that lives up to the hype, It is Corkage and his cooking and creativity in the kitchen. Sweet Nirvana I tell you!

The first course was a pair of excellent thngs fishy--
Smoked Trout & Avocado Salad & Tuna/Grouper/Scallop Tartare thingie. I really enjoyed both of these, but I think I gave the edge to the Smoked Trout thing. Whoa.

The oyster chowder ROCKED. The layers of tastes here were deep and ever so flavorful. The presentation was fantastic and the different textures gave it a great complex mouthfeel. This would have been my course of the night were it not for the beef, I think.

The Lobster Paparadelle was sublime. To have to place this course as 'third' is just nuts, but I have to if I am going to have to place these in any order. I loved it.

Now, my course of the night was the beef. I tell you, the beef was excellently prepared, but what made this dish go into excellence as yet uncharted was the combination of role-players to this dish that accentuated the experience for me. The Parmagiano_Reggiano Spinach was superb -- done perfectly and allowing thetwo main elements -- the cheese and the spinach -- to both shine through and complement each other without one or the other getting in the way of the other. The duck relish provided a completely different layer of tastes, and, importantly IMO, texture that elevated this dish to the next level. The thing that blew me away though, the star of the dish, was the 'sauce' made of the veal glace reduction. Omygoodness. Sticky-goodlick the enamel off the plate good. And, by my preferred measure for evaluating a dish, the combination of all of the elements of the dish, together on a fork and tasted together, gave me a raving case of babbling idiot syndrome.

The cheese course was great. I'm in love with Humboldt Fog and I was glad to see the Morbier (or whatever the spelling is) I brought showed well. There was so much good cheese there though, it was all good. I also enjoyed the fig & walnut tapenade -- it was a good pairing that with all the cheese.

The dessert cakes were delicious, but I must agree with you all -- Mrs. TJ's Ginger Spice cookies ROCKED. I love those cookies, I dream about those cookies. All Mrs. TJ has to do to get me to do something is tell me she'll whip up a batch of these cookies. I showed her the comments about the cookies here and it put a smile on her face.

What a fantastic night of food, wine and fun!

And, I thank all of you. I thank everyone for the laughs, the fun and the conversation. I thank Jaimetown for the great wine service, dude you kept the wine a-flowing all night long. I thank the kitchen support staff including JohnnyB for sous chefing, Fred for his plating prowess, Swill for his Dish-magic cleaning capabilities, Raybanz for his plating and other sundry kitchen duties, Brian, the other sous chef who helped prep and cook and plate for all of us and then had to take off. But most of all I have to thank Corkage and his wife for hosting the motley DC Crü once again. What a spread. What generosity. What a great host & hostess! Dude, we had a fantastic time! Many thanks!

I can’t comment on the kitchen wines since I didn’t get there early enough (or help out much!), so the Kitchen Krüe deserved it.

With the 1st Course:
1996 Veuve Cliquot Brut Reserve
I didn’t get a taste since the bottle was killed right before Jaimetown got to me. Ah well.

1995 Pol Roger (Blanc de Blancs?)

1996 Bollinger Grand Annee Rose

With the 2nd Course:
2002 Josef Hogl Gruner Veltliner Ried Schon Viessling

With the 3rd Course:
2001 Kistler Vine Hill Chardonnay

1988 Badia a Coltibuono 1998 Sangioveto IGT

With the 4th Course and 5th Cheese course:
2001 Ch. Beaucastel Condulet de Beaucastel Cote du Rhone


2001 Behrens & Hitchcock Ode to Picasso (magnum)

1995 Ch. Langoa Barton St. Julien

Radio Coteau 2002 Pinot Noir Hellenthal Vyd
2002 Radio-Coteau Pinot Noir Hellenthal Vineyard

August West 2002 Pinot Noir Rosella's Vyd
2002 August West Pinot Noir Rosella's Vineyard

With Dessert:
1998 Ch. De Cosse Sauternes

Quinta do Noval 1997 Vintage Port Silval
1997 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port Silval

A great night of food, fun and wine!

Hey TJ, thanks for posting all the notes and the links.

Well I get back from vacation and have to read about this great meal that I missed. I am so jelious. You all seemed to have a great time and of course the food was out of this world. We did raise a glass of a BC Pinot Gris to you all on the 21st (a Jackson Triggs I think) but it was no substitute for being there.

Glad all had a great time.

Cheers everyone,

Again I have been admonished for a failure to promptly join in the required gladhanding and backslapping these events produce.....but this time I have a solid excuse. Go back and look at TJ's photos of Brian and I plating the Tuna Tartare and you will see me bending over the counter in furious concentration....it aggravated my chronic back condition and I have been lounging around all week as a result. Not a good thing when you bill by the hour.

And yet I press on with some thoughts.....For me the Bolly Rose was superb. I thought the SQN No.6 (which is Oregon Shea Vyd fruit) was fairly good in the kitchen as a whistle while you work wine for staff. Overall there were so many wines it is hard to remember them all....but not a bad wine int he bunch.

Food was outstanding as usual and for those who are curious there was quite a bit of thought put into this menu to try some new things....hence a soup (a first I believe) and a pasta (the second I believe). For me a big part of the enjoyment is going to lunch with Corkage and kicking around different possibilities for the plates (both content and presentation). I am still lobbying for some type of salad...and if successful you can bet it wont be traditional. Personally I was shocked I enjoyed the beef as much as I did......I think the lobster pasta dish was the biggest risk of the night and I am glad it came out so well....I know it received several dish of the night votes.

Thanks to the Corkages for everything....the rest of the kitchen staff as well, which grows with each meal and of which I have a theory. This dinners are so amazing I think people want to be involved in them in any way, shape or form.......which is why I weaseled my way into the kitchen with wine bribes long ago.....so that's a hint for you new carpetbaggers..... bribe your way in with kitchen wine......I leave it at that. Brian, thanks for the 6 hours of prep work.....we had great team chemistry prior to the event.

Ive still got alot of plonk I need to get rid of......

Plonk away Johnny!

Here are more pictures from my father in lawpics

Also in ofoto.

Kewl pics!

Next time, I am heading over early to help out. I need to get some dish creation tips.

You see, I am like a line cook, while Corkage is like a Chef Extraordinaire.

What, TJ didn't join you guys for Cubans, shame, shame.