As another part of my class, I am required (sounds terrible
right) to do some wine dinner’s. What we
mean by that is basically we are to have at minimum 3 bottles of wine paired
with three different dishes. So for my
first wine dinner, I decided to do a date night with my other half and go to
the
Blue Apron. The Blue Apron is about
30 minutes from me but is probably the best quality restaurant in the
area! They serve American style cuisine in
a very traditional looking restaurant.
It had the original brick walls still there with the old creaky wooden
planted floors but it was dressed up with well-done accents of dry wall and
crown molding to give it a very homey feel.
First impression was definitely a hole in the wall style (only could
seat 40 people at once) but felt very exclusive for being there.
So we had a reservation for 5:30 for the two of us. Surprisingly enough, we were not the only
one’s there. There was another table
that had a couple at it and another table with the parents and their one
son. Anyway, we sat down and the
adventure started. First thing we did
was tell our waitress, Christine (I think), that we were with this wine
class. Christine was familiar with it
and said that she would go ahead and pick out wine pairings for our dinner as
we went along. She would just pour a
flat (not a full glass but less than a tasting) and leave us the bottle so we
could take pictures and write down what we needed. For warned, she knew what she was doing!
For the meal part of dinner, that was
much more complicated. The restaurant
has daily specials and their regular
menu, and both of those you can have an
appetizer, a small plate, or a regular plate to eat for dinner. Having never been there, I had no idea how to
choose. Christine recommended that we do
three small plates (for those of us who are indecisive). Since she sounded just like me, I decided to
go with the three small plates while my other half went for an appetizer and a
regular plate. With my meal, Christine
decide to break it up into three courses so that I could have a wine paired
with each meal and they went from lightest fair to heaviest fair, which was
kind of hard since I basically went down the seafood for my dinner. And with my other half, she would bring his
appetizer when she brought my second course and then we would be eating at the
same time.
We started the night off with some
Italian Prosecco by Tocco to cheer’s to.
The smell was very nice with a full nose of pears and then hints of
mango and papaya. The color was a warm
golden tone and of course looked so pretty with its bubbles! The taste was a great way to start the
night. It was definitely very good and
light on the tongue and refreshing. It had
a nice balance between the sweetness and acidity with the bubbles.
Once we finished with the cheers
round, we put our food order in and within a few minutes they came out with my first
round of food. I had chosen, based on Christine’s
suggestion, a Blackened Rare Hamachi. A
Hamachi is sometimes referred to as Yellow Tail, a very light and good
fish. It was served over a bed of asparagus
and red potatoes with mandarins as a final touch. As paired with wine, Christine brought me a
2012 Crois Torrontes from Argentina. (The
way I did the pairing was by first tasting the wine, then the food and then
tasting them together.) The wine smelled
mostly like plum with some earthy undertones.
It was a very light in color and definitely a light wine to pair with
the Hamachi. The taste of the wine was quite
interesting. It started out as if it was
going to be sweet when it first hit your tongue but dried right out. It seemed to have a fuller body but had a
very light finish. It had some floral
tones to which I wasn’t too much of a fan of but it was definitely a nice
wine. The Hamachi was some of the best
fish I had had in a very long time. I am
very picky about my fish (have spent years catching some of my own) so I can be
very judgmental. It did have some fishy
undertones to it but with the sauce you could barely even taste it. The best part of this fish was the true
blackened and rare part, the outside was literally seared so it was warm but
the inside was still cold! Now for the
pairing part. The pairing went very well
together and the fish actually brought out the acidity in the wine. I think it made the wine more refreshing and
when you had them together they brought out the best in each other.
Now we went onto round two. This is where food came out for both of
us. I had ordered the Spinach and
Radicchio
Salad with a grapefruit vinaigrette and goat cheese. Very light fair but the combination of the vinaigrette
and the goat cheese was amazing. My
other half ordered the Potato-Leek Soup, which was very interesting. It was a potato puree soup with bacon in it
and some smoked paprika on top. It was
interesting and a heavier soup than I expected.
The wine paired with it was a 2009 Pinot Blanc from Oregon. The smell was very similar to a Chardonnay
but had only a few hints of oak on it and of course some toasted barrel with it
too. The taste of this wine was
definitely more full bodied than I expected with a nice back bone to it. It was a little more acidic and had a citrus
bite like a perfectly ripe granny smith apple.
Due to the lightness of the food, I wouldn’t say that they helped or hurt
each other but were a good break in the meal.
For the third round, it was time
for the heart of the meal. I had ordered
a small plate of a crab cake with orzo and my other half ordered the pork chops
with a cabernet reductions sauce and toasted vermicelli. What was great about this part of the meal
was that Christine actually brought us two different wines to go with our very
different choices in meals. She brought
me another white, an Austrian that I had never had before. It was a 2011 Lois Gruner Veltliner, never had
anything like it before. It was similar
to the first one but much less floral. It
also had more an acidity which suited me very well. My other half had a Touringa from Portugal by
Cabeco de Mocho. Once again, we had no
idea what this was but it was very good.
It was similar to a pinot noir from a lightness side but it tasted like
a cross between a Chianti (smoothness) and a Carmenre (spiciness). Now for
the food part, my crab cake was made very true to the Chesapeake Bay style with
lump crab meat and no filler. The crab
meat was very fresh and it was fantastic.
The rice on the bottom was good but I would have been just as happen
without it. My other half’s pork chop
was quite good, it was a little sweet with both the sauce and the vermicelli
but it was very good. For the pairing
part, my wine pretty much became a pallet cleanser between the meal and my
other half’s wine was a great addition to his meal. I think his wine offset some of the sweetness
and made the pork even better. So far,
my food wins but I think the Touringa was the best wine I had had in a while.
We originally were going to do dessert
but ended up not having time. My other
half had a friend coming in so we had to get back to host him. Lucky for us, Christine was understanding and
let us finish our meal with a dessert wine.
She brought both a Porto from Portugal and Sauternes from France. I have had port before but this was really
good. It did not taste like cough
syrup! It reminded me of maple syrup but
had a very hot feeling from the alcohol.
The finish was much lighter than I thought it was going to be and was pleasantly
surprised. The Sauternes was definitely
my favorite of the two. It was much
lighter and not as thick as the port and it really finished off my white wine binge
of the night! In the end, it was a wonderful
finished to a romantic night.
Overall, I was very impressed with
this whole experience. I love the restaurant
because they made you feel at home. The staff
there was very pleasant and wanted you to enjoy your time there. And trust me, you spent a lot of time there. We easily spent 1.5 hours there and if I had
it my way it would have been over two.
And the best part is the staff there knew that because they only take
reservations but they space the reservations at minimum 2 hours apart so the
whole time we were there, no one was waiting to get to a table. Which meant you never felt rushed. The other amazing thing that my other half
noticed is that food was only brought out when you were ready for it. The servers and table runners were attentive and
made sure that the service the whole time was impeccable. In addition, we did get to meet the owner and
chef so that made it even better. I have
never been to such a nice restaurant and I was very impressed with having something
that nice so close to my school! So, if
you are ever in Salem, VA get a reservation at this restaurant and plan on
eating there! It was a very romantic
night and lived up to its ratings!
Here are all the pictures of some of the wines we tasted:
