A PERFECT BLEND at THE BIJOU CAFE
The Bijou Café was the perfect home for the Forks and Corks Festival Wine Dinner hosted by Allen Meadows. Jean-Pierre Knaggs, owner of the Bijou Café, referred to Meadows as “the world’s most renowned writer of all things Burgundy.” Meadows is the pioneer of burghound.com, an online wine journal initially devoted solely to the wines of Burgundy. The journal is read in 54 countries and was the first of its kind to focus on only one wine. Burghound is now also inclusive of Pinot Noir and Champagne. Throughout the day at Forks and Corks University, remarks were made about Meadows’ brilliance and endless insights into the world of Burgundy - making it a real pleasure to participate in this wine dinner.
In my mind, what makes a wine is the accompaniment of outstanding food to highlight it. Chefs Peter Arpke and Robert Camilli made that statement with precision. After tasting the wines to be featured for the dinner, a menu was designed to specifically accompany the selected wines. “Like ad libbing,” Knaggs said “you build on the wine.” In spite of his youth or perhaps because of it, Chef Arpke constructed a divine union of food and wine. The fact that he is the nephew of Euphemia Haye’s Ray Arpke lends credence that culinary art may be in the blood. Just wait till you hear the menu!
The night began with passed hors d’oeuvres accompanied by 2007 Vincent Girardin Macon-Fuisse. The goat cheese in the Veal Roulade with sundried tomato and a delicious pesto sauce delighted my taste buds. Or it could have been the Roast Lamb and Truffle Crostini, or fresh Gulf Shrimp Spring roll with soy and sweet chili dipping sauces that made my taste buds dance in ecstasy. All I can tell you is that the elation lasted the rest of the evening. I arrived too late for the Chilled Melon Soup, but I’ve ordered it enough times to know how wonderful it is.
Next on the agenda was Almond Encrusted Sea Bass with vanilla, fines-herbes beurre blanc and micro greens paired with 2006 Etienne Sauzet Puligny Montrachet Villages. It is a feat extraordinaire to serve perfectly tender melt-in-your mouth Sea Bass to that many people at once, and Arpke accomplished it. Exclamations could be heard at the table as guests relished the surprising element added by the vanilla. Sweet and savory again coupled well in the Duck Leg Confit with roasted fig au jus and spinach pancetta risotto paired with 2006 Bruno Clair Marsannay l er Cru, Les Grasses Tetes. A deliciously refreshing Mango Sorbet with Chambord was served as intermezzo. The flavor of smoke dominated the next course of Smoked Tenderloin of Angus Beef with Burgundy reduction. This course was paired with 2006 Mongeard-Mugneret Echezeaux Grand Cru and served with a potato and sunchoke gratin and haricots verts au beurre noir. And the food and wine kept coming the way of the French with a selection of artisanal cheese, fresh fruit, nuts, and 2006 Thierry Matrot Volnay l er Cru Santenots. The outstanding meal ended with yet another melt- in- your- mouth course of Mixed Berry and Georgia Peach Parfait with sabayon, and crushed ginger snaps that gave the dessert new meaning.
It was as if every course had an ingredient that reinvented it. The goat cheese in the roulade, the vanilla with the sea bass, the roasted fig with the duck, the smoke of the beef, and the ginger snaps crushed in the parfait gave each dish a special statement to be savored. The applause and toast to Jean-Pierre Knaggs as the “Grand Cru” of restaurateurs in Sarasota was well-deserved.
Don’t let my preoccupation with the food and wine overshadow how fascinating it was to have Allen Meadows host the dinner. You can’t be in the room with him without catching his infectious enthusiasm for the complex wines of Burgundy. Meadows spends 4 months each year enveloping him self in the region. His philosophy is “You may not get what you pay for, but you will never get what you don’t pay for.” I agree; don’t skimp on the wine or the food. For a dinner such as this one, the splurge is well worth it -- leaving no doubt in this case that you got what you paid for.
In my mind, what makes a wine is the accompaniment of outstanding food to highlight it. Chefs Peter Arpke and Robert Camilli made that statement with precision. After tasting the wines to be featured for the dinner, a menu was designed to specifically accompany the selected wines. “Like ad libbing,” Knaggs said “you build on the wine.” In spite of his youth or perhaps because of it, Chef Arpke constructed a divine union of food and wine. The fact that he is the nephew of Euphemia Haye’s Ray Arpke lends credence that culinary art may be in the blood. Just wait till you hear the menu!
The night began with passed hors d’oeuvres accompanied by 2007 Vincent Girardin Macon-Fuisse. The goat cheese in the Veal Roulade with sundried tomato and a delicious pesto sauce delighted my taste buds. Or it could have been the Roast Lamb and Truffle Crostini, or fresh Gulf Shrimp Spring roll with soy and sweet chili dipping sauces that made my taste buds dance in ecstasy. All I can tell you is that the elation lasted the rest of the evening. I arrived too late for the Chilled Melon Soup, but I’ve ordered it enough times to know how wonderful it is.
Next on the agenda was Almond Encrusted Sea Bass with vanilla, fines-herbes beurre blanc and micro greens paired with 2006 Etienne Sauzet Puligny Montrachet Villages. It is a feat extraordinaire to serve perfectly tender melt-in-your mouth Sea Bass to that many people at once, and Arpke accomplished it. Exclamations could be heard at the table as guests relished the surprising element added by the vanilla. Sweet and savory again coupled well in the Duck Leg Confit with roasted fig au jus and spinach pancetta risotto paired with 2006 Bruno Clair Marsannay l er Cru, Les Grasses Tetes. A deliciously refreshing Mango Sorbet with Chambord was served as intermezzo. The flavor of smoke dominated the next course of Smoked Tenderloin of Angus Beef with Burgundy reduction. This course was paired with 2006 Mongeard-Mugneret Echezeaux Grand Cru and served with a potato and sunchoke gratin and haricots verts au beurre noir. And the food and wine kept coming the way of the French with a selection of artisanal cheese, fresh fruit, nuts, and 2006 Thierry Matrot Volnay l er Cru Santenots. The outstanding meal ended with yet another melt- in- your- mouth course of Mixed Berry and Georgia Peach Parfait with sabayon, and crushed ginger snaps that gave the dessert new meaning.
It was as if every course had an ingredient that reinvented it. The goat cheese in the roulade, the vanilla with the sea bass, the roasted fig with the duck, the smoke of the beef, and the ginger snaps crushed in the parfait gave each dish a special statement to be savored. The applause and toast to Jean-Pierre Knaggs as the “Grand Cru” of restaurateurs in Sarasota was well-deserved.
Don’t let my preoccupation with the food and wine overshadow how fascinating it was to have Allen Meadows host the dinner. You can’t be in the room with him without catching his infectious enthusiasm for the complex wines of Burgundy. Meadows spends 4 months each year enveloping him self in the region. His philosophy is “You may not get what you pay for, but you will never get what you don’t pay for.” I agree; don’t skimp on the wine or the food. For a dinner such as this one, the splurge is well worth it -- leaving no doubt in this case that you got what you paid for.
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