Dinner with the family is a special treat. But it's family. So in my case there are two uncles who are always good for some memorable face-slapping moments.
Last night was a lovely and delicious dinner at Little Park, which was very much appreciated by the folks at my end of the table. (Among several stand-out dishes I particularly liked the watermelon steak. Stupid me, expecting a riff on grilled chunks of watermelon like they do in Greece. Instead, these were thin slices of watermelon fanned out and dusted with bbq spice to look like seared steak. Even better was the cooked and crunchy yet sweet slippery and succulent texture, which utterly transcended the watermelons I eat for dessert in the summer! Of course I don't eat actual steak, but still had fun filtering it through my katsuo no tataki frame of reference. Regardless, it was pure clever deliciousness.)
Meanwhile, at the other end of the table one uncle starts by sending back perfectly cooked scallops because he won't eat until they are 'well-done'. Ok. Should have seen that coming. Later comes an extended interrogation of the waiter about why they do not have any vanilla ice cream in the restaurant to be served with the blueberry cake. Said cake was proposed with popcorn ice cream, which in my view was a broad enough flavor that it was essentially pandering to mass tastes already. But for my uncle the dish was a perversion against ice cream, popcorn and blueberry cake. Another skirmish flew up when the dark chocolate rum cake was plated in several smaller pieces and the other uncle was beyond unnerved by the fact that it was not one big thick slice.
I love everyone and don't want to poke (too much) fun. But it never ceases to amaze me how many different ways there are to approach food.
Of course we had wine.
We started with 2015 Huet Vouvray Le Haut Lieu Sec, which was my first exposure to 2015 Loire and it did not disappoint on the ripeness front. Rich and intense and almost golden orange in color and flavor, but it did not veer into that tropical leaf thing that LhL can sometimes do (at least for the few pours that I had). Some of the family complained that it was a bit too sweet, but it still felt like a rich sec to me and nothing I would call off-dry (although maybe I've spent too much of this year drinking 'dry' German GGs to properly calibrate). And of course the precision and elegance of the site was there underneath. So I didn't fall in love but would be happy to drink more and explore.
We followed up with the 2014 Pinon Vouvray Silex Noir, which is not a neutral wine but was milder and more restrained in flavor, sleeker in body and all around a more refreshing wine than the 2015 LhL. This was a much bigger hit with the family. I of course was not choosing favorites, and was happy to drink my glasses of both. But it was nice to see the non-geek family members get a little analytical with their chenin!
Last night was a lovely and delicious dinner at Little Park, which was very much appreciated by the folks at my end of the table. (Among several stand-out dishes I particularly liked the watermelon steak. Stupid me, expecting a riff on grilled chunks of watermelon like they do in Greece. Instead, these were thin slices of watermelon fanned out and dusted with bbq spice to look like seared steak. Even better was the cooked and crunchy yet sweet slippery and succulent texture, which utterly transcended the watermelons I eat for dessert in the summer! Of course I don't eat actual steak, but still had fun filtering it through my katsuo no tataki frame of reference. Regardless, it was pure clever deliciousness.)
Meanwhile, at the other end of the table one uncle starts by sending back perfectly cooked scallops because he won't eat until they are 'well-done'. Ok. Should have seen that coming. Later comes an extended interrogation of the waiter about why they do not have any vanilla ice cream in the restaurant to be served with the blueberry cake. Said cake was proposed with popcorn ice cream, which in my view was a broad enough flavor that it was essentially pandering to mass tastes already. But for my uncle the dish was a perversion against ice cream, popcorn and blueberry cake. Another skirmish flew up when the dark chocolate rum cake was plated in several smaller pieces and the other uncle was beyond unnerved by the fact that it was not one big thick slice.
I love everyone and don't want to poke (too much) fun. But it never ceases to amaze me how many different ways there are to approach food.
Of course we had wine.
We started with 2015 Huet Vouvray Le Haut Lieu Sec, which was my first exposure to 2015 Loire and it did not disappoint on the ripeness front. Rich and intense and almost golden orange in color and flavor, but it did not veer into that tropical leaf thing that LhL can sometimes do (at least for the few pours that I had). Some of the family complained that it was a bit too sweet, but it still felt like a rich sec to me and nothing I would call off-dry (although maybe I've spent too much of this year drinking 'dry' German GGs to properly calibrate). And of course the precision and elegance of the site was there underneath. So I didn't fall in love but would be happy to drink more and explore.
We followed up with the 2014 Pinon Vouvray Silex Noir, which is not a neutral wine but was milder and more restrained in flavor, sleeker in body and all around a more refreshing wine than the 2015 LhL. This was a much bigger hit with the family. I of course was not choosing favorites, and was happy to drink my glasses of both. But it was nice to see the non-geek family members get a little analytical with their chenin!