So this past Thursday Gabe and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary! We been together since 1999.
We decided to celebrate our Anniversary at one of Park Aves. wine dinners.
The wine dinners are so amazing. We usually like to get a small group of friends who also love good food and Wine and a charming atmosphere to join us. I did happen to get to meet up with a old family friend of ours there and her boyfriend. It was so wonderful to see her.
Park Ave is a mid century ranch house which use to be back in the 50's a old Park Pantry coffee house. Park Ave still has that very mid
century charm to it and is just a little over 5 acres. They have their own garden which they grow their own herbs and veggies so your getting fresh picked produce when you dine there and a wonderful chef David Slay. I highly recommend it!
We started out waiting at the bar inside where I had a glass of Champagne. Once more people showed up they started seating everyone in the private back dining room. Where they also had the fireplace going. We had a beautiful place setting and some flyers from the wine host of the evening which were Davis Bynum and Rodney Strong.
The Husband
They had nicely folded in the linen napkin the courses. We got our wine first a Sauvignon Blanc which was very fruity and crisp
The First course was a grilled artichoke with a Chipotle aioli sauce and a chicken Nugget with risotto and fontina filling. It was so unbelievably delicious. It was like a thin roller fresh chicken breast and stuffed with risotto and fontina cheese and it had a nice light flaky crisp crunch. I could have eaten a Dozen of them!
As you go through each course you have one of the wine makers stand up and tell you about the wine and how they make it and about some history of their vineyards..you always get some great history and some knowledge on wines when going to these wine dinners, As the rep was talking they came out and poured the Chardonnay. We than also were served our second course.
The second course was a fried green heirloom Tomato ( picked from their garden that morning) with a very delightful smoked Trout on top and wasabi caviar! This was also just scrumptious. The trout was so smokey and fresh and the light heat of the Caviar just took it even further up their on a delcious level. We asked our wine-tress if she could pour us another glass of the Sauvignon Blanc cause we thought it actually paired much better with this dish than the chardonnay. Their Chardonnay was not bad but I have never really been much of a fan. I am actually much more of a red wine kinda gal!
The Third course they had a very fresh and crisp chopped salad. It had all kinds of chopped veggies with a light vinegar and oil dressing. I think it was full of celery,asparagus,grape tomatoes, edemame and other stuff. I can't really recall cause by this point...I must admit I was pretty buzzed!. They served with this dish a Pinot Noir which I must say was the best Pinot Noir I have EVER had in my life. It blew me away. It was so full of Fruit and was a Huge red...as a matter of fact it to me was more like a juicy Cab or Zin. Gabe is not a fan of chopped salads so I ate his too! I had 2 glasses of the pinot. I was so tempted to buy a bottle but I held off. I figure I will be buying lots of bottles come my girls weekend getaway wine tasting in a couple weeks!
The fourth course was now being served. It was a play off of a deconstructed Philly Cheese steak. It was a very tender Filet Mignon with sweet grilled onions smothered on top with a Provolone Cheese Sauce off to the side that you could dips your steak into and the steak was on top a Brioche Buttered Crouton. It was SO Mouthwatering and Devine. Also served with the steak was fresh picked of the morning fingerling potatoes and peas. They had a delightful cab to pair with this wine.
Taking a breather...I wish I could remember how good the cab was at this point..they came around pouring a few different cabs...I think I had about 3 filled wine glasses sitting in front of me...they really drown you with some great wines at these dinners. It was nice to have the wine makers and the chef stop by each table and greet us. That is the wine maker in the background talking with the table behind us.
Our fifth and Final course was dessert. a Creme brulee Napoleon It was a very light and flaky puffed pastry with a creme brulee and caramel sauce drizzled on top with fresh berries and mint. Yep...and I ate the WHOLE thing along with the glass of port wine they served with it. Once we paid our bill we took our glasses of wine and went to take a walk through their premises and to check out their garden.
Gabe in the garden. They expanded it. They have private gardeners that tend to their crops everyday all day.
So many fragrant flowers
I love the smells and the trellises ..I sat int heir for awhile sipping on wine
mmm more pretty flowers
They had lit tiki torches along the pathways a nice stranger offered to take our picture together
I just love this property. So green and all the twinkling lights. I can't wait to go to another wine dinner here. They usually have 1 or two each month in the spring. They will probably only have a couple more. They have one on the 23rd this month coming up. I hope to get a small group together again. They used to do these on Fridays but now they only so them on Thursday cause they said it was just too busy and too many people booked for Fridays and they wanted to keep the wine dinners intimate where they only seat 50 for the dinners. Fridays it was get doubled that.
All in All it was a fantastic evening...and I didn't even have a hang over the next day!
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