Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Home Wine Kitchen FEAST Tasting

Unfortunately, Home Wine Kitchen has closed.

I know that I have already blogged about Home Wine Kitchen but I got to go again, for free, thanks to another monthly FEAST tasting hosted by STLwinegirl, Angela Ortmann. Since Home Wine Kitchen is always changing its menu, you don’t have to worry about going back more than once. Chef Cassy Vires is known for her unique twist on comfort foods or home cookin’, if you will. In the past, the FEAST tastings are usually just that…a small taste…but this was a five-course meal.

We started with Cranberry Confit on grilled bread but what made this dish was the thin layer of Missouri goat cheese that helped to mellow the tartness of the cranberries. This was paired with a Domaine St. Vincent Sparkling Wine from New Mexico. I believe I had this sparkling wine at the Home Wine Kitchen Traveling Table as well!

Next was my first time trying Beef Tartare and I learned that tartare is really any diced raw meat. The beef tasted so fresh…and even more delicious with the quail egg on top! To help cut through some of the grease, we already moved to the reds: Dauvergne Ranvier, from my favorite region, Rhone Valley, France.

The third course was a risotto mixed with caramelized onions, wild mushrooms, thyme, and brie. I tried not to take too many helpings in order for the vegetarian of the table to load up on this dish, which was paired with Domaine Depueble Beaujolais. I think I will now just make the blanket statement that you can’t go wrong with Beaujolais at any age. Light and fruity…MY kind of red!

While I enjoyed all the courses, I was blown away by the Lamb Chop. Normally I avoid lamb in a restaurant just because I don’t like to fight with getting the meat off of the bone, but this was definitely worth the work! We were only allowed one per person and I caught myself looking around for leftover chops. Of course, a strong, dry red wine (Haraszthy Old Vine Zinfandel out of Lodi, California) was paired with the lamb so I didn’t drink much of it.

Last but not least by any means, the dessert was out of this world…home-made Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (think Nutella) on top of Honeyed Waffle Bites. And yes, I did use my finger to get to the leftover chocolate on the plate. Again, I only sipped the Quinta Do Noval Tawny Port from Portugal since it’s way too strong for me and interfered with the chocolate.

After the FEAST tasting, I made plans to have dinner with friends…yes, I was still a little bit hungry, and yes, I wanted more from the tasting. My dinner consisted of the Beef Tartare and another order of the Lamb Chop. I could only eat one out of two so I had a delicious meal the very next day too!

Resources:

FEAST magazine = http://www.feaststl.com/

Home Wine Kitchen = http://www.homewinekitchen.com/

STLwinegirl = http://www.stlwinegirl.com/

2 comments:

  1. I've only had beef tartare once and it was at Edmonds 15 and it was amazing. I think it tasted even better because it was the Grand Opening of the place and Edmonds walked by me on the dance floor and said, "Excuse Me" to me. LOL

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  2. That is AWESOME you were at 15 on opening night! hehehe

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