Goddesses of the Glass at The Fountain on Locust

The Goddesses of the Glass event was my second event in a row celebrating women in food and beverage! This one was held at The Fountain on Locust, who paired their regular menu items with the selected wine, sake, and cocktail that was the focus of the evening. 

Darryl Vennard was our host as he explained their connection to exceptional women!

Wines and Sake

Honestly, I was also interested in trying some of the Fountain dishes that I normally would never order. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about the pickle soup, and it lived up to the hype! The Fukucho sake was an interesting pairing, but it did cut through the thickness of the soup.

Pickle Soup

The Spinach Artichoke Dip was shared at the table, and this totally could be a full meal. It's very addictive to eat and it stood out because there weren't huge chucks of artichokes to get in the way. Every bite was super creamy. This made the Heron Sauvignon Blanc a good pairing, although normally something more crisp would be required. 

Spinach Artichoke Dip

The Prosperity Panini was actually a vegetarian sandwich of spicy hummus, tomato, onion, red pepper, and zucchini. With all those rich flavors, the Graffito Malbec was able to stand up to it. Unfortunately, I was so stuffed from the previous courses, I had to skip the bread. I would definitely recommend this to a vegetarian friend, although you could add turkey or ham to this sandwich when ordering it off the menu.

Prosperity Panini

One last Fountain classic was the World's Smallest Ice Cream Sundae and you better believe I somehow found room for this dessert! The Epilogue Cocktail made up of Kamora an Fernett Branca was a bit too bitter and heavy for me.

World's Smallest Ice Cream Sundae

Hopefully there will be more themed dinners on Monday nights while they are closed!

Menu

Resources:

The Fountain on Locust = https://www.fountainonlocust.com/

Mavaro Women

Chef Marie-Anne Valesco and Angela Ortmann (STLwinegirl) have been wanting to do a wine dinner for a very long time, but life kept getting in the way.

So I was super excited to hear that this finally was going to happen, and just in time for International Women's Day too! Chef Marie-Anne has quite an extensive chef resume, and I was excited to see what she would make for us!

In order to honor several female chefs, these dishes were Chef Marie-Anne's own take on them. What creativity!

Turns out Chef Marie-Anne was also quite familiar with shucking oysters and I think this was the largest one I have ever had! I could have used a couple more of these east coast oysters. I think sparkling sake is the best version of sake, so it was a perfect pairing with seafood. 

Eagle's Nest East Coast Oyster

The salad course brought back the famous goat cheese on greens, but this time the cheese was in the form of a crisp on the side. The dressing was delicious...could I buy a bottle of it? The goat cheese crisps were my favorite of course. The Bull and Brook rose stood up to all the flavors and I love that Ashley Trout, the winemaker, also has a wine brand that donates money to the field workers.

Goat cheese sourdough, endive, arugula, parsley, fennel, red wine vinaigrette

I am a HUGE fan of agnolotti or any kind of dumpling, so I would have been happy if this had been the main course. Angela requested a clarified butter "brodo" and Chef Marie-Anne made it happen! I was also blown away by this Luca Chardonnay pairing as well because while there was the traditional oaky flavors, it didn't coat your mouth as a medium-bodied wine. It really let the pasta shine!

Kabocha Squash Agnolini

You can't have a women's themed dinner without a nod to Julia Child, but Chef Marie-Anne's take on it provided a unique version of beef bourguignon that had seared edges. We also got to try her specialty, caramelized pickled onions, which was included on the side of this dish. We definitely wanted a jar of those to take home as well. Of course a big red Cotes Du Rhone was a good match with the beef dish.

Beef Bourgignon on top of a Pomme Puree with mushrooms,
tournee carrots, sunchokes, and caramelized pickled onions

We were plenty full at this point, but the Buko Pandan Cake that looked like a Baked Alaska was so unique. The Moscato from Black Girl Magic was just as sweet, so it was perfect for dessert.

Buko pandan cake, ube custard, toasted meringue

This was just the first-time experiment so look for more to come!

Chef Marie-Anne Velasco and STLwinegirl Angela Ortmann

Menu

Photos by Patience Scanlon