Tuesday, April 16, 2019



Nola in Graton   -  Saturday April 13th


 Mat and I took a vacation to New Orleans in January. The food scene is unique and different. We also have a chef friend that lives in Sonoma county. All these components came together for our Foodie Night in April.

We started with three wines to taste with each course, our newly bottled 2018 Rose' of Pinot, a new wine for us and Mat's pick, 2017 Manchester Ridge Pinot plus 2015 TNT Vineyard pinot. Really three completely different wines.


From Mat's days working at a Restaurant in Calistoga owned by a Nola Chef - Bienville Oysters. Traditionally made with mushrooms and shrimp, tonight we used Mat's locally foraged black trumpet mushrooms and crawfish.


Big oysters, big taste and rich. These were truly enjoyed even by a few people that told me they never eat cooked oysters. The purist that only eats raw oysters LOVED them!
 
The winning wine for the group was the Manchester Pinot. This is the dish that Mat wanted specifically paired with the winning wine. My favorite was hands down Rose' of Pinot.
 
Next course: Alligator and Boudin Balls with remoulade sauce.
 

Once again the Manchester Pinot won the favorite pairing although, I'm sticking with Rose' on this one too. I think Brut Rose' could of won if we gave it as an option.
It was a little over whelming as this dish had 2 proteins but the sauce was really the driving force for the pairing.

We had purple, gold and green napkins and some beads to add to the ambience. Many of the diners were wearing the beads too!


The next course, not on the menu and what we called the "Graton" course, a mixed greens with a creole mustard vinaigrette.



Main dish a classic seafood gumbo. For this I had to pull out our Syrah from 2016, which did win the best pairing. Not as pretty in picture but truly a great dish with such great flavors!

 
The all red line up. 
 
 
We did finish with beignets that had no wine pairing. We don't usually offer dessert but a Nola Dinner isn't really complete without them. Prepping beignets....


and then eating them warm.
 Some really great table art...
 


Also some really great notes.
 

And more great table art!
Next up Rose' Dinner with another guest chef. It's so much fun playing with flavors, food, wine all in our Dining room.

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