#79 - Spanish-Style Skirt Steak & Onion-Potato Gratin With '05 Jimènez Landi

We went for Indian food at a restaurant which I won't name Tuesday.

As we sat there, we were flipping out how much we loved it. Took two wines - the 2009 Crios Torrontes and NV Albero Brut - that we were iffy on with Indian but even the wines matched up well. Sweetness was working fine with sparkling, floral dryness was performing admirably with spice. Up was down, black and white. We loved it.

Four hours later...food poisoning. A lot of trips to the bathroom ensued. It's too bad because we freakin' loved the food. So much so that I might be up for giving it another go with a huge emphasis on "might."

So...we were leery about jumping back in to...well...food after that.

But it's about heart and passion, giving 110%, pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, being a gamer, doing what has to be done...

Screw it. We were hungry.

Food: Spanish skirt steak, onion-potato gratin and carrots in cumin-scented butter

The body needed some fat and we needed our version of soul-satisfying comfort food. For us, that's Spanish first, second and third.

Skirt steak marinated in onion, olive oil, parsley, garlic, soy sauce and lemon juice and grilled. All. Onion. In such a great way. I'm writing this three hours after starting the meal and it's still gloriously bleeding out of my cheeks - that sort of almost onion-garlic butter taste without the dairy that is entirely welcome.

Onion-potato gratin may be taking over for our standard Spanish tortilla. Instead of going through the torture of flipping a tortilla out of a scorching hot and brutally heavy cast-iron skillet, this one requires no flipping and is as good as it gets. From the New Spanish Table, a cookbook that completely belies any first impression from its almost cartoony cover. If you want to know Spanish cooking, from beginner right through advanced, and be told how to do it right and proper, buy it. Worth every cent. We've owned it for probably three years now and we're still getting great things from it.

Pure onion goodness oozed from the gratin and coated every inch of the potatoes. Bit of a crispy crust, beautifully cooked potatoes, and then, underneath, onions that turned into butter, (again, without the dairy) and a nice textural mix going from crispy to semi-soft to onion butter mush. Just great stuff.

Carrots steamed in water, chicken stock, thyme and finished with cumin-scented butter. Tasty and Mrs. Ney needed to justify the fat in the meal with something superficially healthy. Carrots will do.

Aioli also from the New Spanish Table, substituting 1/2 quantity sherry vinegar for lemon juice and smoked paprika added at the end. Great with the meat.

I think that's what I love most about Spanish food. Saffron and smoked paprika are of course wonderful. Serrano ham and manchego cheese are ridiculous. Tomato bread is delicious. Copious amounts of onion used in so many different ways is right and proper. Garlic = goodness. Chorizo's great. Their olive oil is fruiter, their dishes have a rustic feel with the perfect brightness in the right spots, their use of right amount of char and marinade is uniquely great. Piquillo peppers, marcona almonds, and on and on and on.

And there's so much more, oh, so much more. But any cuisine that has flavored mayonnaise for use on everything automatically wins.

Great meal made better by the fact that the idea of food in general made us queasy for much of the day.

Wine: 2005 Bodegas Jiménez-Landi Méntrida ($18 - WDC)

Grape: 50% Merlot, 35% Tempranillo, 15% Syrah

Region: Castilla-La Mancha

Appellation: Méntrida

Located smack in the middle of Spain near Madrid in the province of Toledo, Méntrida, unlike most Spanish regions, has a fair amount of cabernet, merlot and syrah being grown. The region was mostly known for mediocre rosés for years but a few wineries, Bodegas Jiménez-Landi being one of them, has created a great track record for making solid wines of late.

Deep red in the glass. On the nose, grilled prunes. Nice plummy core on the palate with a bit of cassis and background red fruits. Initially, if given blind, I would have thought it was a cab. Slightly thicker texture and bit of a rustic red fruit bent with fading tannins, a wee hint of sweetness in the fruit and a touch of alcohol on a medium finish. A beginning of a stewed fruit quality that hasn't taken over yet. By itself, it was over-cooked black cherries.

And by itself, it was pleasant enough. Not particularly great or distinctive but not bad in the least. Probably done very soon but still making jokes as it gently passes away.

With the food, it kinda shined.

Pairing: 89 Matched up well while coming alive and staying right in line with the food

It was good to have you there, Jiménez-Landi. With the food, it took off, forming a nice core and broadening out gracefully with the meal. Never odd or disjointed in the least with the food. No bite of anything didn't play nice with the wine.

Best with the skirt steak alone. Good with the gratin. With the aioli and steak, not the best but just fine. It was even acceptable with the carrots.

It was one of those meals that we didn't have to think about the pairing because everything pretty much matched up in a proper way. The food wasn't greatly enhanced but we didn't expect much. It was Spanish food with a nice bargain Spanish wine; the kind of meal where we both said, "THAT...was just goooood."

And I don't feel like I should run to the bathroom. As per usual, home meals win in every way.

#78 - Moroccan Chicken & Modified Quinoa With '07 Savennières

A lot of screaming came from the kitchen last night.

The chicken fell over four times in the oven, the quinoa didn't fluff up and a general sense of frustration from all angles in Mrs. Ney's cooking world oozed from the kitchen.

Throw that on top of the first 90 degree day and it wasn't fun for her.

The result, though, had none of that frustration. It was good eats.

Eric Asimov did a Savennières tasting report just two days ago in the New York Times, which prompted the Moroccan direction of last night's meal to go with the wine, and we had a Savennières that is just adored by our favorite wine person at WDC. Mr. Asimov steered us wrong on this one, though. Not a pairing we would do again.

But Savennières...you're weird and mysteriously lovely. And that's why we're starting to love you. You're the Polish Poster Shop of wine.

Food: Moroccan-spiced wine can chicken with modified quinoa, mâche and baguette

Honey, bee pollen, lemon, garlic and wine in a can and shoved up the rump of the chicken. Rubbed with paprika and cumin and roasted. Turned out magically delicious. Good chicken for a hot day.

A sauce on the side made from a spoonful of tahini, chicken stock, lemon thyme and wine from the wine can. Goopy good.

After the quinoa didn't fluff up, Mrs. Ney improvised by adding wild rice to the golden raisin, walnut, parsley, shallots, lemon juice and olive oil mixture. Not only was it salvaged but became something quite good.

A Moroccan-influenced, Pan-Arab meal was the intention and the result. The chicken brought the right hint of spice along with crispy skin and the tahini sauce, especially drizzled over the mâche at the end of the meal, served as a solid accompaniment to everything. We liked the plate of food and were happy.

Baguette and butter rounded everything out and, unfortunately, was the item that worked best with the wine.

Wine: 2007 Mathieu Tijou Croix Picot Chateau de l'Eperonniere Savennières ($24 - WDC)

Grape: 100% Chenin Blanc

Vintage: 90 Drink or hold, A warm, dry September helped save the vintage for Chenin Blanc

Four-hour decant on recommendation from our favorite wine person at WDC. Darker gold in the glass. Soft, closed nose. On the palate, anything that resembles honey and the honey-making process showed up. Honey, beeswax, bee pollen, you get it with a hint of cinnamon pear, especially as it came closer to room temperature. Not big. A bit of wax and dry, dry, dry. An oily texture without the oil note and the right amount of alcohol that brought about a nice, slow burn on the finish. Good length, not too long, but beautiful nonetheless with a light honeyed oil coating everything on the way down.

This is maybe our eighth Savennières and they keep getting more interesting with each passing bottle. Chenin blanc, you win. You're my favorite white grape with splashes of viura mixed in.

A pretty, seamless wine by itself. Not so much with the food.

Pairing: 84 It broke up with the food and didn't enhance the overall meal

This wasn't a big, burly Savennières. It was missing that overarching nuttiness that comes with the bigger ones. With the Moroccan chicken, it turned slightly bitter and broke up a bit, throwing all the honeyed notes to the front of the line and leaving a hint of bitterness on the mid-palate while leaving the food to fall a bit flat.

Not much better with the quinoa-rice salad but pretty spectacular with the baguette and butter. And that's unfortunate. The Mathieu Tijou is a borderline great wine that's light on its feet while at the same time bringing the goods.

Moroccan-inspired spice and preparation is not this wine's bag, though. Even with the copious amounts of bee-honey foodstuffs added to help it along. With the baguette and butter performing the best, something lighter and more subtle would have served it much better.

#77 - Plantain Chicken & Saffron Risotto With Two Wines

Yesterday, we finally went to and I can recommend Big Star in Wicker Park, Paul Kahan's take on Mexican street food. The hipster quotient was a bit through the roof but the staff is wonderful.

But it didn't touch plantain chicken and saffron risotto with two of our favorite wines. Not. Even. Close.

It's an absolute shock to me that we hadn't had this meal since starting this blog. We took a bit of a hiatus since the discovery of wine can chicken.

Food: Plantain chicken with saffron risotto and spinach

Plantains mashed and wrapped with sandwich ham, then wrapped with chicken pounded flat, forming a sort of roulade in a way. The roulade-style concoction was then rubbed in rosemary, salt and pepper and then braised with an orange. Leftover-spillover goodness in the skillet was finished off with lemon juice to create a goopy sauce to drizzle over everything. Peri-peri sauce to put on the chicken.

Saffron risotto made with almonds, saffron and finished off with parmesan. Probably better with pistachios but we didn't mind one bit.

Raw spinach as a base and parsley all over the entire plate.

It's a Cuban-Spanish fusion that's definitely on the short list on 'last meal' type talk. I don't know what else I can say. It has everything you could ever want from a meal and has to be tasted to understand its perfection. Even gluten and dairy free, if that matters to you.

And it was glorious with the wine.

Wine: 1999 R. Lopez de Heredia Gravonia Blanco ($22 - Binny's) & 2005 Királyudvar Tokaji Sec ($22 - Berkeley Wine Co.)

I THINK...this was the first time we had the '99 Heredia. We've had plenty of the '96 and '98 but I don't remember the '99, specifically.

100% Viura. Pale gold in the glass. Grilled pineapple and honey on the nose that followed through on the palate. Compared to the '96 and even the '98, this one has much more viscosity to it - especially with the food - along with a smoked pear note. Still the unique nuttiness that defines Heredia whites and good, solid, wonderful acid. A glorious wine. More volatile than previous years as it changed constantly throughout the evening and with the food. A smoky olive oil hint was a constant with more lively, meaty fruit than previous years - the sort of fruit that had a smokier overtone but still jumped out of the glass and stayed bright enough. Can't say it's better than the '96 or even the '98, just different. I love you, Heredia. And it was so nice to revisit everything that you are. Available everywhere.

The Királyudvar showed just as well. 80% Furmint, 20% Hárslevelű. A much lighter yellow in the glass than the Heredia with citrus on the nose. It's been three months since we last had it and while it's changed a bit, the lively acidity still carries the day. While the fruit last time showed more orange and exotic fruits, this time it went more into the world of lemon verbena and maybe peach with only splashes of orange notes and a tad more sugar on the palate than I remember. It's in the dry style (the grapes in Tokaj are naturally sweet) but Mrs. Ney found a Fresca note that nailed it, like a hint of slightly sweet carbonation with a grapefruit peel note. This one's five years out now and is still going strong. Tough to find but stupid good.

(A side note here: Királyudvar's vineyards are run by Noel Pinguet, head winemaker at Domaine Hüet, home of the recently drunk and utterly wonderful 2005 Clos du Bourg Demi-Sec. Pinguet was given sole control of Hüet in 2002 when Gaston Hüet died, but in 2003 he sold off majority financial control to the Chinese-American financier Anthony Hwang, creator and owner of Királyudvar, and the famed Tokaji winemaker István Szepsy, who used to own Királvudvar's vineyards until 2006.)

That's two $22 wines. Both were equally great. If you don't like white wine, try these two. If after drinking them and you still don't like white wine, I can't help you.

Pairing: 95 Only a 95 because 95-100 should probably be left for the unknown. I'll know it when I have it.

Perfect is such an arbitrary word. But it's probably our time-tested favorite meal everywhere, anytime, on any temporal plane. It's the one we enjoy the most, especially with two of our favorite wines, which these are.

The Királyudvar was better with the plantain chicken and the Heredia and risotto might be the best pairing of wine and food I've ever had. It's in the least the benchmark I've used to compare. When I first had that pairing, I kinda understood what perfect food and wine pairings were for me.

In the end, the beautifully graceful acidity in both wines cut through any fat/starch in the plantain chicken/risotto just enough to be able to enjoy both the food and wine exactly for what they were with flavors in each matching up perfectly. Even peri-peri sauce, something with an intense chili-herb flavor, worked great with the wines.

Everything was topped off with Portuguese almond liqueur bought in Cleveland. Cheapest label you've ever seen and even had a bit of crap coated on the bottle when we bought it. I'm not going to say it's delicious. I'm going to say it's freakin' delicious! Wonderfully subtle with barely an alcohol hit. Creamy almonds without the cream. Just glides down the throat and was a great finish to a great meal. Crap, that's good. All of it.

#76 - Lavender Lamb & Tomatoes Provençal With '06 Lucia Syrah

We poo-pooed much of California wine until about a year and a half ago.

California Rhône-style wines opened the door. That was where we found wines that offered much of what we like in wine. With those, we got a nice purity of fruit with plenty of earth and herbs, maybe some licorice, a little graphite, some smoke and ash maybe, all wrapped in a full-bodied structure.

With good California wines that we've had, the finesse always came with how well everything has been integrated within that full body. They tend to be bigger and a bit more obvious compared to their French counterparts but sometimes, especially lately, we've come to crave that obviousness, that California-ness.

In many ways, it's taken the place of Australian wines in our house. We've had eight Australian wines since early November. Three years ago, it would have at least 20 over the same time period.

California is winning and we've been okay with that.

Food: Lavender-rosemary lamb lollipops with a blackberry-olive purée, tomatoes Provençal, mâche with basil and baguette and butter

Mrs. Ney just bought a new lavender plant and it's been six weeks since we had lamb at home (twice at restaurants but not at home). That's just too long for us. We've missed it.

Rack of lamb marinated in lavender, rosemary, a dollop of grain mustard, red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil overnight and then seared and roasted. Nice lamb, tasty with a pretty wonderful lavender kick. Four lollipops on each plate made for just the right amount of meat.

A blackberry and Greek black olive purée put under the lamb was freakin' delicious by itself with the only problem being (and it was a big one) that it utterly destroyed the wines. Hollowed them completely out. Who knew? It was only blackberries and olives blended together with a little olive oil for textural consistency and black pepper. Nothing else added.

But the tomatoes Provençal. Oh, the tomatoes Provençal! First, it wasn't really/completely/genuine/traditional tomatoes Provençal but it was close. As Jacques Pépin would say, "I do it this way and you do it how you like, you know."

Grape tomatoes halved. Bread crumbs, basil, parsley, entire head roasted garlic, olive oil, parmesan, anchovy, salt and pepper mixed together, tossed with the tomatoes, put in a brownie pan and baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. What came out was the star of the night. Little crusty bits of the former paste-like mixture were utterly fantastic with each bite brightened up by the tomatoes. The tomatoes had to be used up and the result was spectacular.

Mâche with a little basil this time tossed in oil that remained in the cast-iron skillet from searing the lamb and a little balsamic. A staple because it's good.

It was a "God, we eat well" kind of meal.

Wine: 2006 Lucia Syrah Gary's Vineyard Santa Lucia Higlands ($37 - WDC) & 2007 Trader Joe's Label Syrah ($10 - Trader Joe's)

Almost popped the Sanguis Bossman but went with the Lucia instead.

Opened a half-hour before drinking. Dark purple in the glass, charred meat and blackberry on the nose right out of the bottle. A dark fruit medley on the palate with tons of blackberry mixed with blueberry and a hint of wild gnarly fruit. A little sweetness in the oak with this one and an occasionally hint of smoke and espresso. Pure and bright fruit that peaked on the mid-palate, giving way to smooth, slightly sweet tannins on a medium finish (hardly any alcohol). Good medium weight overall. A nice balance after about an hour being open and a licorice note really started to come through.

Nice, pleasant, good enough and it certainly had its moments. Maybe missed some herbal notes and/or minerality (even some sort of flint or pencil shavings or something) in a more pronounced way but we liked it. Didn't love it. And for almost $40, we wouldn't buy it again. For $25, yes. We had the 2006 Lucia Syrah Susan's Hill Vineyard probably a week before I started this blog and the Gary's Vineyard was better in our world.

Popped the Trader Joe's Label Syrah to contrast and...well...it was Monday. Two bottles were going to be drunk. For $10, not a bad little wine at all. Sure, it's just above ordinary wine in many ways but we've spent 2-3 times as much for worse wine. More red fruits first here with maybe a little too much sweetness that give way to more dark fruits. Nothing special but it's $10. Might be perfect for a quick grilled steak and fries.

Pairing: 84 Needed more chutzpah from the wine

We loved the blackberry-olive purée so much, it was a shame it killed the wine with the lamb.

Some highlights, though. Tomatoes Provençal (especially with the tiniest bit of the purée, oddly) worked with the Lucia and the greens were quite nice with the Trader Joe's wine. Even the bread with a bit of the purée worked with both wines. Something about the bread toning it down helped things along.

But this was lavender-rosemary lamb. This is right in our wheelhouse and the wine didn't really work. At times, with other parts of the meal, the Lucia showed itself with a properly delineated structure and occasional bursts of pretty fruit, sometimes with a nice little finish.

Overall, though, it didn't seem to have the guts to stand up and then play well with the food.

#75 - Hot Spanish Tapas With Three Wines

Last night was our first hot tapas-style meal since starting this here bloggy-type thing.

Odd, that. We love our hot tapas. Hot tapas be tasty and hot tapas always satisfy.

I can't stop saying hot tapas!

Efforts to cram a wine into shrimp, potatoes and oranges were short and quick. We just drank some wines we were interested in and might be in a very large ballpark of an acceptable pairing.

Food: Garlic shrimp and Bulgarian sausage, patatas bravas, roasted ramps and a chard, orange, nuts, olives and onion salad

Shrimp sautéed in garlic, olive oil, salt, bay leaf, parsley and dried chile. Bulgarian sausage added later. I don't know what's going on but we've had shrimp in various forms five times this year. That probably beats the amount of times we had it in the five years previous. Just frozen shrimp but cooked perfectly and we Loved it.

Patatas bravas is a longtime favorite. Spicy tomato sauce made with olive oil, onion, garlic, cumin, chili flakes, paprika, white wine, peri-peri sauce and tons of parsley. Ever so subtle kick of heat made it delicious. Almost tasted like piquillo peppers were the base but no piquillo pepper were added. Light and bright.

Ramps cooked in the style of calçots charred under the broiler. Tis the season and these were quite good. Creamy with a mild onion hit and a nice black char contrast.

A modified salad recipe from this month's Food & Wine. It's a main course salad from Charlie Parker's Cellar Door Café, except without the turnips and subbing chard for spinach. Originally, Mrs. Ney was going to do the turnip roasting but the size of our kitchen and the need to get everything out at the same time made that seem like a ridiculous amount of work. Came out rustic but light on its feet. Substantial but very clean with the oranges keeping it from becoming too heavy. We'll be having this again. Good stuff.

A pretty great meal. Everything we could ever want was there and we could pick here and pick there for what ended up being a couple hours.

Wine: 2009 Raventos i Blanc Perfum de vi Blanc ($20 - Red & White), 2007 Albariño Do Ferreiro ($28 - Cellar Rat) & NV Lini 910 Lambrusco Bianco Sparkling ($19 - Cellar Rat)

All the wines came from Monday's wine shop trip as we tried to kill time before going to The Bristol.

Like The Saldo Zin, The Perfum de vi Blanc has been missing from Chicago wine shops for awhile but there it sat at Red & White. One of Mrs. Ney's favorite whites, I didn't love it until one day I had it and said, "Crap! This is awesome!"

60% Macabeo and 40% Muscat from the Penedès region in Catalonia, it may be the perfect apertif wine. Great pre-dinner, late afternoon drinker and that's what we did with it for this meal. Tons of rose petals with a marshmallow-mandarin orange fruit salad quality. Not dense or sticky, it's low in sugar, on the dry side, great, lighter acidity throughout and finishes with a silky orange blossom note. Everybody - even people who don't like white wine - would love it.

Similar in many ways to the Torres Viña Esmeralda but more refined and pretty and probably worth $8 more. The Perfum de vi Blanc is sort of limited in pairing options but, like the Torres and Crios, would most likely be great with seafood sausage.

The 2007 Albariño Do Ferreiro is a more polished albariño showing pear, lime and some orange fruits all surrounded by a huge minerality and a touch of herbs. Lighter and more stylish than any albariño I've ever had. It's 100% organic and was quite tasty. But it wasn't $28 tasty. Low $20 tasty for sure, but $30 after tax brought a more critical eye and wasn't twice as good as the Orballo Albariño. We like albariño to be a bit more rough and tumble, though.

The sparkling white Lambrusco was too irresistible to pass up. We never had such a thing. While we wouldn't buy it again, it has its moments. Tastes like a sparkling Amontillado sherry with tons of nuts and nice bubbles. Very little fruit here. Never got out of the 'interesting to try' category but we were okay with that.

Pairing: 86 The food by far won the night but the wine helped a bit

Everything kind of went according to Hoyle with the pairings. We didn't have high expectations. It was more of a "let's try these wines we just bought" kind of night.

The albariño with its sage/herb elements was awesome with the patatas bravas sauce that had copious amounts of parsley and white wine involved. The nuts in the chard salad worked quite nicely with the Lini Lambrusco sherry quality. Nothing really helped the shrimp along, but oddly, I didn't mind the albariño with the Bulgarian sausage. Don't have a clue as to why.

What was left of the Perfum de vi Blanc was DOA with the food as expected.

Pretty great food with some interesting wine made for a fine meal.

#74 - Beef Brisket & Cornbread With '08 Orin Swift Saldo

The Orin Swift Saldo Zinfandel had been absent from Chicago wine shops for about a year or so.

We had the 2008 before at Bar Cento in Cleveland last month after being a bit shocked to see it on the list. Unfortunately served at the same 80 degree temperature as the restaurant, we nonetheless still enjoyed it.

On a whim, I asked our favorite wine person at WDC if she has seen it and she said they were actually coming in the next week. We bought four and drank the first one last night.

Food: Beef Brisket, cornbread and snap peas with mint

Beef brisket stewed in two bottles of root beer, a boatload of five-spice and a mystery BBQ sauce from the freezer that may have been from January's beef brisket.

Wasn't light, wasn't heavy. It struck a nice balance.

Really, the entire meal was predicated on the idea that we wanted cornbread and Saldo. Beef brisket was a vehicle to get there due to its ease of cooking. After Mother's Day flower week at Mrs. Ney's place of employment, no meal involving copious amounts of work was on the docket.

The cornbread was great but the brisket certainly held its own with everything playing at a pleasant mid-weight level, nothing too sticky, nothing too dense, nothing too delicate.

Felt like good picnic food.

Wine: 2008 Orin Swift Saldo Zinfandel ($26 - WDC)

Grape: 88% Zinfandel, 8% Syrah, 4% Petite Syrah

Vineyard: Culled from multiple vineyards in five counties

Dark purple in the glass, alcohol mixed with wild berry and smoke on the nose. The fruit is a little hidden with this one. Not really that jammy at all. More like a under-sweetened pie filling quality right now. Very herbal with a background of indistinguishable wild berry, some oak, soft tannins and low acid with a good amount of alcohol at the front and back end. Bordering on the more simple right now but with a year or so, the fruit should move to the front of the line and everything should become more complex.

Given all of that, we liked it. Hints of licorice perked up on occasion and the 15.5% alcohol was certainly present but not in an unpleasant way in the least. Nice vanilla from the oak, a tiny smoke and coffee-like element throughout and a finish that was long and smooth with a pleasing alcohol burn right at the end. But what probably saved it was the pairing.

Pairing: 90 Right in the wheelhouse

With the brisket, the Saldo became much thicker, almost port-like and butterscotchy. Just when we thought it was going to become too much, it tailed off into a great herbal finish.

More fruit came out with the cornbread but it was still pretty much buried. The smoke-butterscotch-coffee-vanilla-dark berry character, though, was right in line with the brisket's root beer and five-spice preparation.

The Saldo was maybe too young. The brisket was thrown together for the most part. Both were made more delicious with each other on the table (or coffee table, actually).

So...a success.

A good meal and more enjoyable on many levels than Monday's trip to The Bristol.

#73 - The Bristol With Josmeyer Pinot Blanc

It's "Try New Restaurant" Summer in our house.

When I say 'new', I mean restaurants that opened during the last two years - a period of time when we sort of stopped trying new places.

Mostly, that's due to the fact that we eat very well at home. But it also has to do with the bevy of new openings over the last two years being cut from the casual-chic model that mimic high-end food without ever touching the realm of surprise.

I also blame our third trip to Otom about two years ago, which was just abysmal. It felt like the chef walked out two weeks ago and nobody was steering the ship. And I ask nothing from a server, being one myself. I don't need/want unbridled enthusiasm. I only request that you present yourself as if it's marginally okay that we entered your world and did so to drop hundreds of dollars. That's all.

Mado hasn't helped the situation either. It's delicious food and we can pick the wine instead of someone imposing their current wine jag on us. On that. Yes, I get it. You think Zweigelt, sustainable Malbec and biodynamic Carménère have been criminally underappreciated in today's world. But the entire menu?

With Mado, Urban Belly, Indie Café and Semiramis as BYO options, the impulse to check out the place between high-end and BYO/good low-end just hasn't been there.

Which brings us to The Bristol, a place I've been infinitely curious about since before it even opened.

Food: A collection of small plates

Monkey Bread

Tarentaise - Aged cheddar

Scotch Olives

Pastrami

Vitello Tonnato

Bone Marrow

Duck Fat Fries

Chocolate Sabayon with homemade Nutter Butters with Lavazza Espresso

The good: Everything was tasty to one extent or another. This is good food. We were full and pretty happy (or happy enough) when we left.

But nothing...really...resonated. There wasn't much in the way of surprise - like a spectacular sauce or a wonderful side of jam or a ridiculous little crumble or something accompanying an item that made us rethink things. It's all very straight-forward. And a little safe.

I guess, in the final analysis, it seems like there were a few missed opportunities. Everything was salted properly (very well, actually) and nice attention was given to acid levels. But...

To be specific, the tonnato, while quite tasty with a little arugula, pecorino and a mayo with a hint of herb, but the tuna taste itself really didn't come through. The scotch olives tasted like great family get-together, deep-fried treats but never jumped out of that realm. The aioli with the duck fat fries, which were fine with a pleasant hit of lemon zest, was throat-stickingly thick.

I was somewhat excited about the bone marrow while being suspicious of the $12 price tag. Good bone marrow isn't so low in my brief dalliance with the gelatinous goodness. I'll say it again, after Lola's, no other bone marrow has a chance. This was bone-in and the marrow itself was borderline great. But the accompaniments just...weren't good. The shallot jam was flavorless and the parsley had an antiseptic quality to it. No sea salt or lemon, which seemed odd.

The chocolate sabayon suffered from the heavy hand of egg yolks, not allowing any sort of original chocolate flavor to come to the fore, making us miss the chocolate bark and shortbread from Mado a bit.

A lot of criticisms, sure. This was good food, just not anything that jumped above the world of "Yeah...good...fine" at any turn. It was the Luol Deng, Mark Teahen or Ryan Theriot of restaurant experiences.

Wine: 2008 Josmeyer Pinot Blanc Mise du Printemps ($47) & Alcyone Tannat Dessert Wine ($12)

But the wine list is something to be lauded. Almost everything is under $60, if I recall correctly, and the variation is commendable. It had a good amount of wines we've had before but nothing is really easy to get around town and the mark-up sits at just under 2 1/2 times retail. At the price points, that's right and proper helped by the "just under" part. A nice nod to sustainable and biodynamic small producers without screaming "Look at how obscure we are!"

The 2008 Josmeyer Pinot Blanc is mostly citrus fruits backed by a nicely fat texture. Deft touch of acid and a finish that might have turned almost banana-like. Vacillated between being sleek and perky and offering a touch of oil and smoke with herbs. Light on its feet. A very nice wine that plays above most $47 wines at most restaurants. We were quite happy with it.

Tannat as a table wine is typically a very soft, black fruited and herbal adventure that's become the national grape of Uruguay. The dessert version here was simply delicious. Huge caramel on the nose that followed through on the palate with some vanilla bean and toast and a nicely honeyed texture that tailed off gracefully. Great stuff and clearly outplayed the sabayon it was supposed to play well with.

We had two cocktails to start: the Smoke Sicilian Manhattan and the Rustic Rose. Both, along with the rest of the cocktail list, made us convinced that the mixologist used to work at Otom, a place we had two great experiences before that ill-fated third trip. The cocktail menu was eerily similar and pretty wonderful.

Pairing: 85 The Pinot Blanc did its best given the wide variation

We didn't really give the wine a chance to pair well with the "spraying to all fields" food we ordered but it performed admirably enough. Oddly delicious with the pastrami, which we never would have guessed in a thousand years - something about the pepper bringing out a little oil and smoke in the wine. Terrible with the scotch olives, which was expected.

But overall, there wasn't much wincing going on at all. It adapted quite well. More Alsatian wine must be bought. They're just damn good.

I reserve judgment on a return trip to The Bristol. If I had to guess, with Mado a few blocks over, I'd rather go there any day. We originally were going to Avec and figured to give The Bristol a try. Some regrets there as well, I guess. So...probably not.

We just weren't jolted out of the process of "consuming nice enough food" by anything surprising.

#72 - Indie Cafe with Dr. Loosen Riesling and Orin Swift SB

I've blathered on about Indie Café in Rogers Park enough here. It's great food, fresh and clean, BYO, great staff and always a spectacular time.

Wine pairings at Indie, though, have been a bit dicey.

Nothing ever hit all the right notes. Japanese and Thai, especially dishes with a little heat, need a bit of sugar and acid to cut through the spice while still revealing the wine's flavors and simultaneously allowing the food to shine. We've done that in the past but nothing ever wowed us.

Last night, Dr. Loosen Riesling was the answer.

Food: Indie Café

Nam Sod - Spicy ground chicken salad special

Salmon Special Appetizer

Spicy Tuna Maki

Crab Rangoon

Spicy Blu Crab

Mexico City - tuna and whitefish maki

Green Tea Ice Cream

I've run out of adjectives to describe the wonderful combination of goodness and cheapness for Indie. Great stuff for the 40th time will have to do. With two cups of coffee and a special Ginger Dragon Drink, the bill was $65. C'mon!

Wine: 2009 Orin Swift Veladora ($22 - Binny's) and the 2008 Dr. Loosen Riesling ($12 - Trader Joe's!)

The Orin Swift is mostly sauvignon blanc with a bit of muscat and semillon. There was a hope that the muscat would help. It didn't.

Typical California sauvignon blanc, a little big with a cornucopia of tropical fruits (a bit too much, actually) and some grapefruit with a lot of grass. Not too bad by itself. Pleasant enough. Brought half the bottle home and drank it later. All pineapple juice.

The Loosen Bros. QbA Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Dr. Loosen Riesling (freakin' German wine labels!) was #62 on the WS Top 100 and is available at Trader Joe's (Lakeview one at least). We cracked it pretty quick after realizing the ordinary nature of the Orin Swift.

Shimmering and sprite-like in the mouth, a touch of lime and background apricot-mango-something flavors. Deft touch of sugar, letting it alternate between off-dry-like and a straight-up bargain riesling with its standard sugar. Light on its feet but the strength to let its personality come through.

Great little wine. Simply great wine for $12.

Pairing: 91 We found a wine for Indie!

We opened the Orin Swift first and started with the salmon special appetizer. It worked. Good stuff together. The crab rangoon followed by the spicy tuna app put the Orin Swift to bed, though. Terrible finish.

After cracking the Dr. Loosen and trying it without food immediately on our palate, we knew it was going to work. Just had that nice lift to it, jumping all over the place while keeping its core goodness and retaining its center. We were shocked how well it did, though.

With the food, it was just right. Held up to the spice, played with the tuna and crab in great ways and, most importantly, worked great with the soy sauce, something that has been impossible to make happen at Indie for us.

It enhanced the food by cleansing the palate but left the good essences of the food around to linger while bringing the right touch of fruit and sugar to make everything wash down in great ways and not be too heavy.

We found a good wine for Indie. It's $12. You can eat like a king for $60. So...under $100 for a great night out (if you take out the Orin Swift).

That's something that's becoming increasingly rare in the city.

#71 - Beef Filet & Pan-Roasted Potatoes With '89 Clos Fourtet

It's important to keeping learning as you age in life.

Last night, we learned to never play a drinking game involving a new mother looking for a house on House Hunters. We had a drink every time she mentioned her son's name "Jackson". Seemed innocent enough, except we ended up plowing through a 20 year-old Bordeaux in the process.

"Jackson would love to play on this carpet. He's used to hardwoods." "Jackson would love to play in this backyard." "This would be a good place for Jackson's toys." "I love this open kitchen. I could cook and keep my eye on Jackson."

Jackson was two.

Coupled with a lunch drinking game involving Sandra Lee on Semi-Homemade saying "great fla-vor," we've come to the conclusion that drinking games result in wasting wine.

Food: Beef filet with shallot-parsley butter, pan-roasted potatoes and arugula and parsley salad

Beautiful beef filet from Paulina Meat Market cooked perfectly. Just pretty-looking stuff. Simple salt and pepper rub roasted in the oven and seared off in the cast-iron skillet. A shallot-parsley compound butter to French it up for the wine. Potatoes pan-roasted in salt, pepper and rosemary with mayo for dipping. I don't know why arugula and parsley together is so tasty but it is. Get a bit of meat juice bleeding into the salad on the plate and it's a taste explosion - clean yet almost a meal in itself.

The entire meal was created for the wine. It was wine first, second and third in the preparation thought process. Simple French was the goal with a tilt toward smooth, mushroomy, earthy, vanilla Right Bank Bordeaux.

And it was delicious.

But the pairing fell a bit short.

Wine: 1989 Clos Fourtet ($80 - Knightsbridge)

Grape: 90% Merlot 10% Cabernet Sauvignon (15 months in oak)

Region: Saint-Émilion

Vintage (WS): 98 Drink or hold - Bold, dramatic fruit character, tannic and long-aging

1988 through 1990 was a great vintage string in Bordeaux. Clos Fourtet, up until that point, was mired in a prolonged period of producing somewhat mediocre wines. Two things coincided, though. The favorable vintage string hit and Clos Fourtet had just started a modernization of the winery. Not too much info on the web as to the drinkability of the '89 but at $80 (at least $20 below most other places) and within driving distance to buy, why not?

(On Knightsbridge, they're currently carrying the 2005 Gourt des Mautens Rasteau for $60. Very difficult wine to find. Best high-end wine shop in the area and it's not even close.)

Drinkable Clos Fourtet? Not...really. Some life but it was a few years past its window.

Opened for about a half-hour total before drinking. An old look in the glass with brown edges and a tired red. Mushroom, vanilla, dust and faint berry on the nose. Dusty and weedy initially on the palate. The dust blew off but the weedy element hung around a bit. Plenty of mushroom and vanilla but the fruit was limp. The former essence of the wine could be grasped, though. Very smooth. Very Clos Fourtet. We've had enough Clos Fourtet to pretty much know it blind and this had it - that Clos Fourtet-ness, that Clos Fouret-vapor. This '89 was not unpleasant, it was just hanging on for dear life...and losing the battle.

Pairing: 80 Had its moments but not enough to change our opinion of the wine

The good: paired best with the potatoes and mayo and perked up with a pepper-intense bite. At times, the red fruit showed up, bringing it into the realm of acceptable and almost good.

The bad: felt worn out overall. Too much vanilla clouded everything. Needed more lively fruit and more tannin to separate the flavors out of its muddled mess.

The wine started to get a bit thicker as the meal went on but the fruit didn't improve and the meal needed it to do just that, along with a longer finish. On the finish, it was one that got progressively shorter. Right out of the bottle, some nice lingering earth and a wee hint of heat. That disappeared rather quick.

A French meal bordering on the rich with a Merlot-based wine probably wasn't the best choice for a nearly 80 degree day, either. That's on me. I wanted to try it.

A few notes (playing catch-up):

Mahi Mahi tacos with jalapeño sour cream, Mexican slaw and guacamole with purple corn sangria on Monday nearly reached the perfection that was #27 in January. My Golly, this is good. Easily one of our favorite meals. The purple corn sangria wasn't as deep in flavor but that was fine with us.

And it was a god-send after lunch. We had a quick smoked duck with mahon, aged cheddar, blackberry jam, roasted garlic onion jam and baguette. Cheap wine seemed appropriate and we started with the 2006 Eric Ross Carignane. Nothin'. Dumped it. Thought it was the wine and opened the 2005 Pirramimma Shiraz. Nothin'. The 2003 Pirramimma Shiraz. Nothin'!!!! The 2007 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe "La Crau"!!!!!! NOTHIN"!!!!!

Most bizarre thing we've ever experienced. Something in something destroyed something! We settled on the smoked duck. Some sort of chemical reaction killed our palates. Screw you, smoked duck. You ruined four bottles of wine. Your fault, not ours for freakin' opening them. The "La Crau" had its usual fantasticness the next day.

One last note. Trader Joe's Spinach Pie with 2008 Trenza Blanco. A Californian blend of Albariño and Grenache Blanc, the Trenza is an interesting blend for where it comes from that isn't anything spectacular for the price. At $16 (WDC), better wines in that "let's try an odd blend for California" category are out there.