Old menus are always a lot of fun; they are like a low-tech time machine. I was looking at a website devoted to the history of Mt. Lowe, a former resort above Pasadena, when I found these menus.
It does seems that tongue was more popular 100 years ago than it is now, and while some of the beverages are familiar: Budweiser, Blueribbon -- what was White Rock, or A. B. C., or Rainier, or Acme? And, while I am wondering about things, I wonder what "Half and Half Toast" was.
To properly cap off a day at the Wine Cask Futures Tasting, 18 (!) wine fanatics (including a professional or two -- and why can't someone ITB be fanatical about wine?) met for dinner at 6:30 p.m. in the European Room of the Wine Cask wine store. Why not? Restaurants have private rooms that look like a wine cellar, why not have a wine "seller" that doubles as a private room?
The strange death of the liberal West - Mark Steyn
America this Holy Week is following the frenzied efforts to halt the court-enforced starvation of a brain-damaged woman for no reason other than that her continued existence is an inconvenience to her husband.
Since I have now joined the mob (albeit a very sophisticated one) that has blooged about Manresa Restaurant I figure this is the time to provide some links to those who have gone before. Readers may be interested in getting more than one opinion!
Manresa Restaurant: a fascinating ride - Chezpim
Manresa - Along for the Ride with Pim and Matthew - Chezpim
Jay Rayner on Manresa - Chezpim
Restaurant Review: Manresa, Los Gatos - Vinography
Vinography/Manresa Wine Dinner Recap - Vinography
Shafer Wine Dinner at Manresa on Sweet and Sour Spectator (that's here!)
I am sure there must be other worthy links. Leave them in the comments and I'll eventually post another summary.
Restaurant Review: Manresa - the Pig Dinner (Sweet and Sour Spectator - here!)
Manresa: The Mauro Colagreco Dinners (Sweet and Sour Spectator - here!)
UPDATE: Manresa has been named one of the world's top 50 restaurants by the British magazine Restaurant.
UPDATE2: Link to my review of Manresa added
UPDATE3:Link to my Manresa Pig Dinner added
UPDATE4: Link to my Manresa Mauro Colagreco Dinner review added
Nine wine lovers from the San Francisco Bay area got together for an evening of memorable wine and food at Manresa in Los Gatos. The tasting was devoted to sampling Shafer wines,
especially the fabulous Hillside Selects. Since the wines were so special, we wanted to have food and company that would be worthy of the wine. Chef David Kinch was kind enough to put together a seventeen-course tasting menu customized to the wines. Additionally, we were extremely fortunate in having Elias Fernandez, winemaker extraordinary from Shafer accept our invitation to join us.
Paul Homchick, Randy Wigginton, Sam Lai, Randy Cunningham, David Niederauer, Richard Leland, Ken Emery, David Sankaran, Al Osterheld and Elias Fernandez were all at the restaurant by 5:30 p.m. and the festivities started.
(Tasted 3/6/2005)
A very impressive and hedonistic bottle of wine. The color is a deep purple-red, nothing Tawny about this! On the nose it shows coffee and a touch of molasses. The palate is big but complex, showing firm smooth tannins, a full body and tastes of blueberries, eucalyptus and cloves. Long, lingering finish. Palate and finish are a bit rough, not unexpected at this price point and age. Why wait 30 years for your 2000 vintage port to mature? Drink this; it's certainly the best $14 bottle of port I've ever seen. Krohn is known for well-priced coheitas which I also like. (90 pts.)
I have been remiss in chronicling my wine and food activities lately, so here is the first entry intended to remedy the situation:
"Mark NYC" posted a message on the Parker/Squires message board that he would be in San Francisco for a few days and would like to get together with some San Francisco wine collectors for an informal dinner. Bob K from Boston, saw the message and chimed in that he would also be interested in such an event. After some nudging, Gene K and I said we'd be happy to meet the prodigal duo at Fringale for an evening of wine and food. One thing lead to another and Mark NYC said his client wanted to go out to dinner at Michael Mina so he was going to have to back out of sipping wine with strangers at Fringale (imagine that! we were jealous), and Gene K was overwhelmed with work and also had to back out. It was looking dark and stormy.
This can't be good news...
German Unemployment Rate Highest Since Depression
