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If you caught my Monday post, you know that I spent the evening with a friend at a Chinese wine dinner at Su Chang’s in Peabody, MA. Pretty much everyone I told about the dinner was curious, and I have to admit I was too! My friend’s friend booked the tickets, and she has been to the wine dinners here before and couldn’t say enough great things. She was right!

Unfortunately I didn’t know what to expect, so I left my camera at home. I really wish I brought it! Su Chang’s is decorated with lots of white, creating a beautiful, open and clean looking space. The wine dinner was held upstairs, and it was full! We were definitely the youngest people there by about 30 years, but we had so much fun with our tablemates! Below I have included my recap of the event with each course.

Reception

Murphy-Goode Fume Blanc
Chinese Hors d’oeuvres

We arrived and were immediately handed glasses of Murphy-Good Fume Blanc which I found out was made with a Sauv Blanc grape. It was the perfect way to start the evening, crisp, cool, and paired well with the marinated shrimp and scallion pancakes served. Bowls of sweet and spicy nuts were also on each table, which we nibbled on while catching up and making new friends.

First Course
Catena Chardonnay
BBQ Ribs with black bean sauce
Chicken with Pine Nuts
Mango Won Ton
Chef’s special Wings

This was a night for no holds barred eating, so I tried just about everything. Chicken with pine nuts was presented to us beautifully in crisp lettuce cups. I love eating these things! The mango won ton were won tons filled with meat (pork I think?) and smothered in a fresh mango sauce. While I normally do not eat pork, I had one of the won tons with a heaping spoonful of mango. Salty + sweet = yum! I also had a couple of the chef’s wings which were excellent, especially dipped in spicy Chinese mustard. I love that stuff!

Second Course
Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve Chardonnay
Lobster “Lo Mein”
Clams with Yellow Bean Sauce
Summer Flavor Chicken
Whole Fish “Chef’s Choice”
White Rice

Normally I am not a chardonnay fan, but this Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve was impressive. It had a slight oaky flavor, but the crisp and fruity finish more than made up for that. This course would have been fun to photograph, with its heaping plate of lobster in the shell on top of noodles and a crispy whole fish. Not healthy, but oh so good! The older gentlemen at the table enjoyed making the fish head talk 🙂 The lobster lo mein was by far my favorite of the evening. The lobster was cooked perfectly and paired well with noodles; I have never had that combo before!The fish was fried whole and topped with a sweet and sour type sauce. It was so good!

Third Course
The Crusher Petite Syrah
Peking Duck
Presentation Rack of Lamb
Baby Bok Choy
Lotus Leaf Wrapped Rice

My friend Jill, who invited me to the event, said that it was not for picky eaters, and to prove that I am not picky, I had my first duck ever. It was served in a martini glass in a tortilla type shell, so I wrapped it up like everyone else did and took a few bites. The flavor was really strong and was accented with a cinnamon-y sauce. I was not a fan, especially when the server talked about where the duck came from the day before. I like ducks. I also like and have never eaten lambs which is why I definitely skipped that dish. Everyone who tried it loved it though. This course was dominated by the bok choy and rice for me. The bok choy was cooked perfectly in ginger and garlic, and the rice wrapped in a a lotus leaf had an earthy flavor to it, like nothing I have tried before.

Dessert
Hook and Latter Gewurztraminer
Fresh Seasonal Fruit
Chinese cookies

The Hook and Ladder Gewurztraminer was definitely my favorite wine of the evening. As my palate grows up, super sweet wines don’t appeal to me as much anymore, and this was a nice crisp wine that was actually more perfect for dessert than most traditional dessert wines. Along with the wine I had a couple of small almond cookies and super fresh, ripe watermelon, pineapple, and melon.

Su Chang’s hosts two wine dinners a year, always with a different theme. We talked to Su herself, and she told us about their Greek nights, their Marco Polo night, Italian night, and Scottish night, which was a Scotch dinner. We already told our tablemates that we would be back to sit with them again. . . and while some of the regular guests are snowbirds who will be in Ft. Lauderdale the next time we attend, I can guarantee that the entertainment will be just as good as the food 😉

P.S. The Food Buzz blogger award nominations are open. Don’t forget to visit their site to nominate your favorites!

http://www.foodbuzz.com/blogs/1408216-nominations-for-the-2009-food-blog-awards-are-open

Tags: Food, wine

I can’t not even believe the number of restaurants in this city alone, not to mention the ones we have eaten at in wine country! I think we are already planning a trip back here in early November. I know there is a Food Buzz waiting list, but we were told that early November is gorge in Napa, so I may just come out anyway, see if I could grab a drink with some of you, then head up to wine country for some autumn wine drinking 🙂 More on that later, after we look at the financial damage of this trip!

For our first dinner in San Francisco, I booked a little Mexican restaurant that I found on Open Table, a site that I sometimes seem to live on 🙂 Colibri was only a few blocks from our hotel, off of Union Square, and it was adorable. It is always a good sign to me when I see a restaurant packed with people in work clothes. If locals are flocking there after work, one would hope the place is good!

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P9030792  P9030793

We started with the house made guacamole. They actually make it to order, so you can choose your level of spiciness. We chose medium, and it had a nice little kick. It was served with the BEST tortillas ever. Not the chips you see in the basket, which we were also good, but the hot, fluffy, homemade corn tortillas kind of hidden by my water glass. They were so warm and pillowy soft that I really can not imagine store bought tortillas ever again. I just need to learn how to make my own.

The guac was chunky with excellent flavors of fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, and peppers. We devoured this bowl over the course of the meal. It wasn’t as deep as it looks! We ended up splitting a bunch of appetizers as we often do. We ordered the fish tacos, the jicama salad, and Colibri’s famous Tamales Oaxaqueños with their legendary mole sauce. The fish tacos were my absolute favorite, with lightly breaded tender fish, onion, cilantro, and pineapple. They also served us 3 ramekins of various salsas, one of which was pineapple. I feel as though the pineapple made all the difference in making this dish really stand out. It brought the flavors together and gave them zing!

The tamales were interesting, in a good way. The flavors were definitely intense, the tamales themselves were soft and full of chicken, and the mole just had a complexity that I liked most of the time, but found almost too sweet at other times. This would definitely be a dish I would order again, I think I need a second round to decide!

For dessert we saw that Colibri served caramel-filled churros rellenos. Our Brazilian waiter at Upstairs on the Square told us about this deliciousness from his homeland, so we had to try them!

P9030794

Hot, crispy, filled with real caramel, not the grocery store, cloying stuff! Topped with dulce de leche ice cream.

I am so glad that I found Colibri and that we were able to get a reservation. The food was top notch, our server was sweet and accommodating, and the prices were totally reasonable which was key as you will soon learn about our wine country splurges! I would definitely go back to Colibri next time I visit San Francisco which I hope will be soon!

I am off to enjoy our last day here, but I can assure you that this is just the beginning of my CA recap. Question- do you prefer to read long posts about multiple things or shorter ones that zoom in on one event, like this one? I have so much to write about this week (ha, very unusual!), and sometimes I hate going on and on. Just curious to see what your reading styles are.

Enjoy the rest of your Labor Day!

Tags: Food, San Francisco

I can’t not even believe the number of restaurants in this city alone, not to mention the ones we have eaten at in wine country! I think we are already planning a trip back here in early November. I know there is a Food Buzz waiting list, but we were told that early November is gorge in Napa, so I may just come out anyway, see if I could grab a drink with some of you, then head up to wine country for some autumn wine drinking 🙂 More on that later, after we look at the financial damage of this trip! For our first dinner in San Francisco, I booked a little Mexican restaurant that I found on Open Table, a site that I sometimes seem to live on 🙂 Colibri was only a few blocks from our hotel, off of Union Square, and it was adorable. It is always a good sign to me when I see a restaurant packed with people in work clothes. If locals are flocking there after work, one would hope the place is good! P9030790   P9030791   P9030792  P9030793 We started with the house made guacamole. They actually make it to order, so you can choose your level of spiciness. We chose medium, and it had a nice little kick. It was served with the BEST tortillas ever. Not the chips you see in the basket, which we were also good, but the hot, fluffy, homemade corn tortillas kind of hidden by my water glass. They were so warm and pillowy soft that I really can not imagine store bought tortillas ever again. I just need to learn how to make my own. The guac was chunky with excellent flavors of fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, and peppers. We devoured this bowl over the course of the meal. It wasn’t as deep as it looks! We ended up splitting a bunch of appetizers as we often do. We ordered the fish tacos, the jicama salad, and Colibri’s famous Tamales Oaxaqueños with their legendary mole sauce. The fish tacos were my absolute favorite, with lightly breaded tender fish, onion, cilantro, and pineapple. They also served us 3 ramekins of various salsas, one of which was pineapple. I feel as though the pineapple made all the difference in making this dish really stand out. It brought the flavors together and gave them zing! The tamales were interesting, in a good way. The flavors were definitely intense, the tamales themselves were soft and full of chicken, and the mole just had a complexity that I liked most of the time, but found almost too sweet at other times. This would definitely be a dish I would order again, I think I need a second round to decide! For dessert we saw that Colibri served caramel-filled churros rellenos. Our Brazilian waiter at Upstairs on the Square told us about this deliciousness from his homeland, so we had to try them! P9030794 Hot, crispy, filled with real caramel, not the grocery store, cloying stuff! Topped with dulce de leche ice cream. I am so glad that I found Colibri and that we were able to get a reservation. The food was top notch, our server was sweet and accommodating, and the prices were totally reasonable which was key as you will soon learn about our wine country splurges! I would definitely go back to Colibri next time I visit San Francisco which I hope will be soon! I am off to enjoy our last day here, but I can assure you that this is just the beginning of my CA recap. Question- do you prefer to read long posts about multiple things or shorter ones that zoom in on one event, like this one? I have so much to write about this week (ha, very unusual!), and sometimes I hate going on and on. Just curious to see what your reading styles are. Enjoy the rest of your Labor Day!

Tags: Food, San Francisco

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