The Most Handsome of Fare

“Mr. and Mrs. Bliss, please follow me.”

With that, we were welcomed into a palace.

Paul Anthony, my partner in love and business, and I had a delightful Valentine’s dinner this year at the Addison Grand Del Mar. I've traveled all over the world and eaten many fine meals, but this was hands down the best meal I've ever had!

The first thing I noticed and loved was the quiet of the place. The Addison is large and spacious, with fireplaces in each room, an open floor plan, and a huge, exquisite wine cellar. Despite the size of the place, we were seated in a luxurious private booth and treated as if we were the only people there.

The wine director, Jesse Rodriguez, was brilliant, helping us choose our aperitif drinks and directing us through the menu. Because we felt very safe, in the capable hands of Jesse, we chose the added option to have each of our menu courses paired with wine, already planned ahead by their experts.

To begin with Chef William Bradley (of whom we became extremely fond of as the night went on) made us a gorgeous amuse bouche to delight our palate: a refreshing sweet champagne consommé with raspberries and actual gold slivers in it.

Before the first course we had beautiful canapés paired with a lovely glass of La Guita, Manzanilla, Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain NV and Txomin Etxaniz, Hondarrabi Zuri, Pais Basco, Spain 2010

The first course consisted of fresh calamari with a red pepper confiture and wild arugula. For a first course we also enjoyed a buttery hamachi with champagne, cucumber and caviar. The hamachi was incredibly fresh and melted in my mouth. 

The hamachi was paired with Weingut Ecker, Grüner Veltliner, "von Stokstal," Wagram, Austria 2010. The naturally high acid and full-bodied texture of the Veltliner made a perfect exotic pairing.

That course was followed by a creamy butter-baked St. Pierre with a citrus, vermouth and basil sauce served at the table. We also had a separate course of wild-caught king salmon on a bed of green apples, radish and dashi.

The creamy St. Pierre was perfected complimented with the crisp freshness of a glass of Domaine Leroy, Chardonnay, Burgundy, France 2006.

The king salmon was paired with Betts & Scholl, Marsanne / Rousanne, Hermitage Blanc, Northern Rhône, France 2004. This wonderful Hermitage presented rich aromas on the nose and earthy minerals on the palate. We felt this was a very good pairing indeed.

Still excited, we anticipated our next course with glee. We weren’t disappointed. We were presented with canard roti and bavette “en eschallotte.” The canard was the most tender juicy duck I've ever tasted. I especially loved how Chef William paired the succulent bird with sweet date morsels. Along with the canard and dates the dish had caramelized endive and ginger. What a delight.

The canard was paired with a glass of Salchetto, Colli Senesi, Chianti, Tuscany, Italy 2010. This fresh, vinous red was bursting with sweet red fruit which made it a great pairing with the duck.

As a separate course we were served BAVETTE “EN ESCHALLOTTE” a delightful shoulder of beef paired with cremini mushroom gratin, potato croquettes and port wine. The beef was cooked rare to perfection, and the little potato croquettes were light and fun and absolutely delicious! 

The beef course was paired with Mamete Prevostini, Nebbiolo, “Botonero,” Lombardy, Italy 2009. This wine showed great freshness and a smooth mouth-feel for such a young nebbiolo. Paul and I both thought this pairing was wonderful.

Each course was served with a separate bread service. The warm brioche straight out of the oven were so enticing that Paul Anthony and I had two each.

After an artisan cheese course that included a wonderful goat cheese and a bleu cheese that had just the right amount of sharpness and sweetness, we cleansed our palate with lychee sorbet and passion fruit zabaglione. 

The cheese course was paired with a beautifully light, dry Riesling: Weingut Hermann Dönnhoff, Riesling, "Estate," Nahe, Germany 2010.

Then it was time for dessert. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate cake but this cake was fit for royalty. Alongside this decadent slice of heaven was a crispy meringue just like my mum made for me in Ireland while I was growing up in the early 80s! And to top the meringue and cake was a raspberry, caramel sauce.

This lovely desert was paired with San Francisco Chronicle 2011 Wine Competition Award Winner Tom Eddy, Zinfandel, “Late Harvest,” Sierra Foothills, 2008.

We finished our noble dinner with an extra treat as Jesse brought us a gorgeous Sherry: Alvear, Pedro Ximenez, “Solera,” Montilla-Moriles, Spain 1927. This Sherry is a tasting sensation not to be missed by any wine lover who appreciates the beautiful richness of a well aged dessert wine. 

We’re not going to tell you how much the bill was, but let’s just say it was close to a couple of car payments! 

On our way out one of the lovely staff took our photo next to the roaring fire. They even had the menus and wine list in the car for us. And the treats kept coming…as we left they presented us with housemade shortbread wrapped with a ribbon. I enjoyed mine with my coffee the next morning. Now, the question is, how am I ever going to top that meal!

Posted in Company News, Food and Vine, holiday, Local Business, Recipes, Valentine, Wine, Wineries |

Catch the Luck of the Irish!

	Saint Patrick's Day is on its way, and it's bringing a brand-new BEER TRAIN TOUR with it! Come celebrate the luck of the Irish with us as we sample the best brews San Diego has to offer. And in keeping with St. Patty’s Day, Go GREEN by traveling with us on this exciting beer tour by train!
	Saint Patrick's Day commemorates the life of one of Ireland's patron saints. Here in the States, St. Patrick's Day is a party for two kinds of people –Irish and those who wish they were — and celebrated with green clothing, green beer, and traditional Irish food and music. Side Note: Our founder Shira Bliss was born on St. Patrick’s Day in Belfast Northern Ireland!

The party doesn't stop at the border. Just a few miles south, Mexico celebrates its own version of Saint Patrick's Day.  After Ireland's potato famine forced many Irish out of their home country, many went to the United States, joining the U.S. Army with the understanding that they would receive American citizenship for their service.

Some of those Irish soldiers were sent to fight in the Mexican-American war. Eventually, the soldiers balked at the idea of shooting Mexican soldiers, many of whom were the only friendly faces on the lonely and windblown border outposts. They defected to Mexico, where the soldiers of the Batallón de San Patricio fought against their former employers.

The United States rounded up and hanged most of these defectors, but Mexico still considers them heroes. To this day, you can find streets and towns named San Patricio and Obregon (O'Brien) and a Mexican flag flies in Galway, Ireland, to celebrate the enduring friendship between the two countries.

No matter what side of the border you're from, celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, or any day with us, and tip back a pint on our Beer Train Tour*.

Sláinte!

Brooke Binkowski
Resident Journalist for San Diego Beer & Wine Tours

*Beer Train Tours run daily, year round, rain or shine.

Posted in Beer, Breweries, Company News, holiday, Theme Tours, Tours, Travel, Uncategorized |

A Soy Stroganoff Did You Say?

Posted in Beer, Breweries, Company News, Food and Vine, San Diego Wine Country, Wine, Wine Train, Winemaking, Wineries |

Welcome Stephen!

The San Diego Beer and Wine Tours Team is thrilled to announce a new addition to our team! Stephen Ansley has just joined us and we couldn't be more pleased!

Stephen Ansley is well-known and respected in the local craft beer community, and a personal friend of many highly respected local brewers. As a recognized BJCP judge (since 2007), he has been a judge at several home brewing and commercial craft beer competitions in San Diego, as well as a judge at the Great Alaskan Beer & Barley Wine Festival in 2010 and a steward at the World Beer Cup in San Diego in 2008 (and will steward the upcoming World Beer Cup event in 2012).

In 2011, Stephen achieved certification for Level 2 Sommelier with the International Sommelier Guild and also completed the certificate program for the Business of Wine at San Diego State University’s College of Extended Studies.

Click here to read more about Stephen's accomplishments and career…

Welcome to the team Stephen!

Posted in Beer, Breweries, Company News, Food and Vine, Local Business, Wine, Winemaking, Wineries |

Ballast Point Beer Pairing Dinner

Beer dinner at PB Ale House 12/8/11

This was an amazing meal with expert food pairings by the chef at PB Ale House.   After being seated next to Karl, clearly a regular based on the number of hugs from the beautiful wait staff, and Ballast Point's very own sales person Laura Slayter, things got underway quickly.  We were early so PB Ale House offered up a sampler of their own and for the life of me I cannot remember what it was, however it was a tasty start.

For the first course we got to dive into BP’s Abandon Ship Smoked Lager. Yum, it was hard to not drink it all before the food pairing arrived, but arrive it did and it paired nicely.  It was a Brioche Monte Cristo with La Quercia Prosciutto and New York White Cheddar topped with a fried quail egg and maple thyme emulsion.  “I could have this for breakfast” said my beloved Shira; I nodded in agreement as I placed another bite in my mouth followed by a dose of Abandon Ship Smoked Lager.

On to the Second course and a Collaboration Beer. This was a mix of Ballast Point's Big Eye IPA and PB AleHouse's Hopulent, a double IPA, infused with Ballast Point's Rum soaked oak chips.  This was amazingly balanced and had a wonderful floral nose but didn’t taste overly hopped up.  It paired well with the Frog More Stew which was a savory blend of tiger shrimp, andouille sausage, red potatoes and a roasted garlic crostini.

“Are you going to eat that sausage” I beckoned Laura, to my delight she replied, “No” and I consumed it much more slowly than I did the first one, wanting to stretch out the delicious enjoyment of the prized morsel.

With the arrival of the Third course we were blessed with a Barrel Aged Black Marlin Porter, and again I had to struggle to not drink it up before the food pairing came, in fact I hid it behind my water glass in order to avoid temptation, it was that good.  Once the food arrived and I tasted how the pairings matched little hearts started to float up in the air around me, it was that scrumptious, I was in love. The porter paired well with the House Smoked Wild Mushroom Ragu served over a polenta cake with lemon thyme froth and chive oil drizzle, however I was enthralled with my new favorite in the county, maybe the world, Barrel Aged Black Marlin Porter! 

For our Fourth course I gingerly sipped at the Habanera Sculpin IPA. I have tried this in the past and was put off by the shear heat of the burn on the back of my throat. Tonight I was in luck, the spice was nice, a bit more then subtle but not overpowering, and the Loch Durat Scottish Salmon with confit fingerlings and a crème fraiche orb was nice to pair with it as the spice in the beer brought up the mildness of the food dish and the food dish calmed the spice in the IPA, they canceled each other out and met in a sweet spot much like a perfect shore break wave.

I am not a huge dessert fan, and I am certainly not a lover of Crème Brulee, however the Fifth course beer, a Barrel Aged Victory at Sea Imperial Porter was paired with a Vanilla bean crème brulee with a Victory at Sea foam. The server literally whipped up a nice head on a pint of the porter and poured it over this rather light airy (not flan or pudding like) Crème Brulee.  It was like a coffee cloud. Heaven.

We stayed a bit late and we were rewarded with a second tasting of the Victory at Sea, and now I am frantically trying to get my hands on more of that Barrel Aged Black Marlin Porter.  See you at the brewery!

Paul Anthony, Tour Guide ( & COO of La Jolla Wine Tours)

Posted in Beer, Breweries, Company News, holiday, Local Business, Recipes |

A Saturday Full of Wine and Celebration!

I love my job. I always wished that I could say that phrase with complete sincerity rather than the usual tongue-in-cheek sarcasm. As a tour guide for LJWT, I work for a company of like-minded people who value and embrace the talents, ingenuity and contributions of their employees. I have the opportunity to spend several hours at a time sharing my knowledge about things I feel passionate, food and wine, history, and the culture of food and wine.

Our beautiful guests enjoying their Saturday Walking Wine Tour!

But the most important reason why I enjoy my work, and one that came entirely serendipitously, is because of our guests. Our guests choose to take our tours for many different reasons: an extra day in San Diego at the end of a convention or business trip and they are looking for something different to do in San Diego other than the zoo or Sea World; a corporate team-building group; someone who just wants to learn more about wine and/or beer. And then there are the more festive occasions, the bachelorette parties, birthdays, anniversaries, families reuniting that reside on opposite ends of the continent. It is these latter experiences—the festive occasions—that I have the pleasure of witnessing on a daily basis. The atmosphere of celebration is infectious. By the end of the tour, people who were complete strangers to one another at the beginning of the tour are exchanging contact information as friendships and business alliances develop over good food and wine and the discovery is made as to just how much we all have in common. After one tour in particular two women took it upon themselves to send care packages to a young man on the tour whom they befriended who was about to leave for his deployment in Afghanistan.

On Saturday’s tour a group of eight friends came together to celebrate a birthday. Another group, mother, daughter and their niece/cousin joined the tour to drink and learn about wine, eat some good food and explore La Jolla.

We started our tour at Café Milano, where Chef/Owner Pasquale provides the best homemade food and efficient service with humor. We had homemade ravioli with ricotta and Swiss Chard served a heavenly vodka cream sauce.

After indulging in some wonderful Italian wines and food, we headed to Chedi Thai where we paired a Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, Clean Slate Riesling from Mosel, Germany and Colores del Sol Malbec from the Mendoza region in Argentina with some Thai appetizers.

The birthday girl, Laura, with friends Neal and Sarah.

As if this were not enough, we headed to Finch’s Bistro and Wine Bar on Girard Avenue where the festivities continued with more food and wine pairings: Santa Margherita Prosecco paired with cucumber rounds topped with hummus, Mar de Frades Albariño with maza sopes cakes topped with avocado and crab salad. We ended with drunken goat cheese (aged in Cabernet Sauvignon) served on sliced baguette with Kumquat jam garnish. Paired with the 2009 Bellaruche Côtes du Rhône, superb!

Deanna, Alicia and Deyrdra at Finch's.

Sarah, the proud winner of the wine raffle.

Our last stop was at We Olive on Prospect Street. There we tasted a wide selection of California grown extra virgin olive oil and other California food products prior to more wine tasting paired with dark chocolate.

Diana, Laura, Jennifer and Amanda drinking La Storia Zinfandel by Trentadue.

Neal and Sarah enjoying Pianetta Barbera at We Olive.

- Marti
LJWT Tour Guide
 

Posted in Company News, Food and Vine, Local Business, Tours, Walking Tours, Wine |

Spotlight on Marti–Tour Guide

Marti Bommarito was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. She began cooking at a very early age as the entire family–including her father–bonded by preparing dinner together regularly. She gained further inspiration from her watching her Sicilian grandmother make homemade sausage, bread, pasta and sauce from homegrown tomatoes and basil.  In the late 70s she lived la vie bohème in Paris, France, and later studied Italian and Italian Renaissance culture and language in Italy.  She graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State University with a degree in Art History.

Marti in the kitchen 

Marti attributes her adventuresome palate to the fact that she was “raised in a household where the only dinner-table rule was that you had to at least try everything before leaving the table. Cleaning your plate was not a requirement but disliking something that you had never tasted before was frowned upon.” And, after moving to California 15 years ago, she caught the wine bug after going wine tasting for the first time in Temecula.  

In a previous life, Marti was a legal secretary for 15 years before joining La Jolla Wine Tours in April 2011.  When Marti is not leading tours, she is practicing yoga, reading, swimming, cooking, or discussing food and wine with other foodies and wine enthusiasts.

Posted in Company News, Food and Vine, Local Business, Recipes, Tours, Travel, Wine |