#127 - Chicken Breast, Anchovy Pasta & Kumatoes With '06 Guiberteau Saumur Rouge

Was it Sicilian?

Certainly Mediterranean but with an inland French bent.

Maybe Californian? That cuisine seems to co-opt anything that borders on the rustic and fresh.

To me, it tasted like Avec.

Food: Mustard-garlic chicken breasts with anchovy farro pasta and kumatoes with olives

Quick and easy Jacques Pepin mustard-garlic chicken breasts cooked under a brick à la Mark Bittman. Juicy, enough depth and stayed right smack dab in the same flavor range as the rest of the plate.

Winner of the night: Farro pasta mixed with anchovies, capers, aleppo pepper, toasted bread crumbs, lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil and parsley. Stellar stuff. HUGE anchovy hit in the best way, never turning fishy and toned down by the bread crumb filler and lemon zest. Perfect heat with oodles of aleppo pepper added. To use an overused word, just freakin' fantastically balanced, the kind of stuff I could eat again today and tomorrow and be utterly satisfied.

Kumatoes (second time in 10 days and eaten with another from the Guiberteau family of wines) drizzled with white balsamic vinegar and gaeta black olives. New favorite weird hybrid food-style substance. Darker tomato deliciousness with an almost plummy flavor that turns bright and low-grade acidic.

Kind of a shock. Mrs. Ney thought little about this meal and turned out like a plate full of Mediterranean joy.

And the wine did its part.

Wine: 2006 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Rouge ($30 - Red & White)

Grape: 100% cabernet franc

SubRegion: Anjou-Saumur

Vintage (WS): 85 for cabernet franc - very rainy, leading to unripe grapes

Mostly indifferent to cab franc due to the few we've had that were rather ordinary, this one will force me to think about it in the future. Toss the vintage report out the window with this producer (see a two great write-ups over at Wicker Parker).

Dark and brooding raspberry pile here that tasted like a splash of cherry juice was spread over the top. Flowery (dried rose petals) with fine earth (kinda loamy) and herbs intermingling and an enormous amount of beautifully fine, twiggy, woody tannins dominating the entire background in the best possible sense. Made me truly understand the use of cabernet franc in a Bordeaux blend and what it offers w/r/t structure and finesse. Nice transitions that bordered on elegant. Given the little experience I have with cabernet franc, if asked, start here.

And it constantly changed in respectable ways with the food.

Pairing: 89 Enjoyed what it brought immensely

Had no real plan with this meal so we simply took the suggestion from the Jacques Pepin recipe on pairings. Loire red and we had one we didn't really care about.

No complaints in the least.

Stayed pretty much itself without food, which we liked, and kept in line with the chicken and its medium-depth of flavor with a touch of flavor punch (I'm practicing my Sandra Lee non-descriptive descriptiveness). Liked it.

But with the the anchovy-farro pasta, it sung. Intensified the aleppo pepper to a large extent, separating it out right away with everything popping up later. Got to explore the complexity of the tannins with the pasta as they changed and glommed onto different flavors in the wine with slightly different combinations of bites.

Nearly identical acid levels in the kumatoes and the wine made it compatible, if not spectacular (a bit too much one-dimensional earth and twigs) but with a bite of chicken and kumato, the wine tasted surprisingly like a handful of red apple peel.

Changed and surprised, those are the two words that kept coming back.

We'd do it again in a second.

#126 - Quail, Fava, Iberico & Soda Bread With '98 Heredia Rosado

Sometimes, you have to find the bottom of things to understand the spectrum of goodness.

At the very bottom of the wine and food spectrum of goodness for me is Iberico ham and the '98 Heredia Rosado. I truly can't describe how awful those two taste together. Best I can do is if you've ever accidentally mixed bathroom cleaners when cleaning the tub, like bleach and KaBoom!, and a wisp of something like the devil's brew of chemical vapors shoots up your nose.

Or like you washed your dog in a rusty basin and decided to see what the water tasted like.

Maybe people like that. People are into a lot of weird things. Just ask Brett Favre.

I pass.

As an overall meal, it tasted like really fancy picnic food. But pretty much a dud with the wine.

Food: Quail with pistachio sauce, fennel and fava salad, Iberico, coffee-crusted cheese and soda bread

Quail marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and smoked paprika and cooked medium-ish. Slightly gamey, a lil bit sweet, tasty meat. Two medium-sized quail each. I like quail, or I should say I have fond memories of the few quail meals I've had. And that's probably it. My memories might be better than the actual consumption of it. More of a diversion that satisfies just enough than savoring every bite.

Fine on its own but much better with a Moroccan pistachio sauce made with pistachios, parsley, mint, chilies, garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Fresh fava beans, nature's most well-packaged food, and sautéed fennel salad dressed with white balsamic vinegar, cilantro and mint. Sort of a seasonal transition salad between summer and fall bringing lightness and lift while serving as a bridge between the darker flavors on the plate.

Soda bread made with walnuts and dates, Barely Buzzed coffee-crusted cheese from Beehive Cheese Company in Utah and Iberico ham from Binny's.

Take out the Iberico and this meal could have been quite versatile with a huge range of wine. Pinot noir would have fit quite nicely. We were intrigued by the idea of a grüner veltliner just to see what would have happened. 2001 Heredia Bosconia worked well enough with Iberico in the past. Iberico isn't cheap so having it play a big role in the pairing seemed appropriate. With fennel involved as well coupled with the leafy orange peel notes that the Heredia rosado usually shows, the pairing seemed destined for, in the least, acceptableness to marginal goodness.

It wasn't.

Wine: 1998 López de Heredia Tondonia Gran Reserva Rosado ($23 - Binny's)

It's shown better in the past.

60% grenache, 30% tempranillo and 10% viura

Dusty old orange peels on the nose. Fading, old, mashed dried cherries, cashews, moldy wet leaves, some caramel and even a car battery acid component (and maybe some old milk) on the palate. A bit flat with, dare I say, somewhat muddled flavors. Came off boring. We've only had three of this one in the last year but, from memory, it seems like it's taking a very linear, incremental arc to an odd place. I could be totally wrong but it just hasn't excited me lately like it has in the past.

It's in the dust. It hasn't been evocative lately. Where before, it tasted and smelled like the dust of vivid childhood memories, like walking into an old house where something exciting feels like it's about to happen. This dust tastes and smells like you're an adult and you have to clean out a water-damaged attic that hasn't been touched for years. You're left with an immediate sense that you're going to get real sick of the taste and smell real quick. Because it tastes like work you don't want to do.

Nearly all of the same elements as in the past with this wine, they just came off much less interesting and alive. Tasted kinda tired and diluted, like an old man that just wants to sit in a chair and watch TV until he dies instead of an infinitely interesting, energetic old man with stories coming out of his wa-zoo. Missed that underlying freshness that perks up among all its beautifully dusty, musty, crusty, blustery fall wind notes.

Utterly drinkable but still must be compared to how it's shown in the past.

A 2000 is out there. May be time for us to switch vintages.

We'll try it again with tuna niçoise sometime. We know that's spectacular and will be a better gauge as to where it is.

Pairing: 82 as it was, 86 if it were a picnic

All that said about the wine, there were moments. The fennel with the wine was borderline delicious and tasted like the wine was attempting to find its former legs.

A bite of quail and pistachio sauce with the wine wandered into the world of tasty. And with the soda bread, it might have been best with the dates playing right into the wine's wheelhouse.

Unequivocally awful with the Iberico ham. Have I mentioned that?

We didn't love the food but certainly liked it. If we had all of it on a picnic (which we've never done - picnic, that is), we would have thought it fancy pants and having any wine with it would have upped the fancy pants factor even more.

Happy enough overall but with some grumbles.

#125 - Lamb, Fregola and Carrot Purée With '03 Hobbs Gregor Shiraz

Or...

Fregola and carrot purée with a side of lamb.

And total up this meal ($185 - that's with wine shipping), add it to the TK chicken total from two days ago and we still haven't spent what we spent dining on a mediocre meal out in the world ten days ago.

I'm just gonna keep floggin' away. Feel free to join in if you like.

Today is a example of a meal nearly soul-satisfying (I'm working on my overuse of superlatives - full-on soul-satisfying probably should be reserved for something close to a religious experience, like the Browns making the playoffs, so we'll go with 'nearly').

And it made it to the realm of nearly soul-satisfying without the help of some beautiful and ridiculous protein. It came down to what the rest of the plate offered up to the wine.

And what a wine it was.

Food: Coffee-crusted lamb on carrot purée with a fregola "risotto"

Trader Joe's lamb rack with a crust consisting of coffee, cocoa powder, olive oil, soy sauce and rosemary, cooked medium-rare to medium. We probably like our lamb more rare to medium-rare ("Look at us!") but this was perfectly fine lamb, tasty and good, that was entirely out-shined by everything else surrounding it.

The Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner award went to:

Fregola "risotto". Fregola is a Sardinian semolina pasta that looks like toasted Israeli couscous and tastes like love (it's been mentioned everywhere in the last two months. I'm sure we won't hear a peep about two more months. That's how the foodie world works). Done in a risotto style using onion, pine nuts, fennel seed and chicken stock, then garnished with Rogue Creamery's "Smokey Blue" cheese and basil.

Freakin' gorgeous stuff right out of the pan and still utterly great an hour and a half later as it sat on the plate and congealed. Rich but never too rich. Substantial without being a gut-buster. Just the right amount of fancy blue cheese so it didn't become a blue cheese-infected glop of silliness. But that blue cheese was key.

Carrots roasted with olive oil and balsamic vinegar drizzle; puréed with water and roasted garlic then garnished with mint. A very good purée made better by the sweetness offered by the balsamic vinegar. And that balsamic was key.

This was delicious food. If we would have eaten it with decent northern Rhône, Californian syrah or anything else, we would have been happy and full.

But we didn't. We ate it with this:

Wine: 2003 Hobbs Gregor Shiraz ($158 - Endless Vine)

An Australian shiraz done in an Amarone-style where the grapes are partially dried to intensify the flavors.

Conflicting reports on the drinking window on the webby-webs with this one. Some who drank it recently talked about the alcohol showing up too much right now. Others found it too port-like.

Not us. We found it to be drinking so utterly beautiful right now, like if the Browns had made the playoffs or something (stop it!).

Popped one hour before the meal. No decant. Blackberries, olives and something like walnut oil on the nose. A round, generous, open and supple texture on the palate with blackberries quickly turning to blueberries, grilled bushy French herbs and some grilled meat. But the surprise was the fruit, texture and perfect acid. Not a hint of raisin that we've gotten from this wine before. More like super concentrated, lively, bursting fruit of blueberries with a baseline of black currants. The blueberries playing a huge role in a texture that tasted like a blueberry latte but without the obvious coffee element (so...like Starbucks and their coffee-flavored milk). Just massive depth, rich but not overextracted, big but balanced as heck, and never came off port-like while entirely hiding the 15.7% alcohol. Never disjointed in the least with such graceful acid and tasted like sunshine, lollipops and puppies rolling in a sun-drenched meadow (Crap! I'll work on the superlatives some other time).

Pretty great stuff on its own and probably one of the top 20 bottles of wine we've ever had but just stupid good with the food.

Pairing: 96 Sex in the bottle and on the plate

We both don't want blue cheese ever again without this wine. Something about the base nature of the blue cheese and the acid in the wine neutralizing each other out, allowing this weirdly beautiful kaleidoscope of flavors to burst forth in the most pure way. Everything was amplified times a thousand. Toss in this rustic semolina background with a starchy brown ooze coming off the pasta and it tasted like (even more) love.

The sweetness from the balsamic vinegar in the carrot purée came in second place in the race for the stupid good. It let the fruit in the wine take a step down from the spotlight and allowed all the secondary flavors shine. The wine became more herbal with a touch of vanilla from the French oak popping up, even a green vegetal note, like if grilled green veggies were sweetened, began to come through. Same texture and the fruit was present but the alternating tastes from the carrot purée and the fregola showed everything this wine had to offer in such glorious ways.

The lamb, while good, was just kinda "there". Nothing special with the wine, even shortening the finish. Bold flavors on the lamb were put there because of the assumption that this wine needed it. It didn't and even kinda killed some of it.

Can't describe how well this wine is showing right now. Bring in a touch of well-crafted, more refined blue cheese, offer up a little sweetness on the plate, maybe do a simple preparation of ostrich instead of lamb and you got yourself somethin' like the Browns making the playoffs.

And this was a happy accident. Mrs. Ney had no idea where things were going with this. Even the wine was chosen about two hours before dinner.

We fell ass-backwards into probably one of the top three best meals this year and another Australian wine that debunks the current trend of poo-pooing such things.

#124 - TK Chicken, Hummus & Kumatoes With '07 Guiberteau Saumur Blanc

Here's a $58 meal that surpassed (by a HUGE margin) a recent $300 meal out in the world.

Chicken = $11

Hummus from Semiramis = $10

Kumatoes = $4

Pea shoots and Pomegrante = $4

Wine = $29

The entire meal last night, beginning to end, wine and all, cost the same as the bottle of the decent little albariño drank last week at a restaurant that I could have bought at Binny's for $22.

Far be it for me to discourage dining out at the new and hip. I work in the industry. But doing the math on occasion and taking the time to research food with wine pairings makes it hardly an argument.

Also, with Joe Bastianich now telling us that the proper restaurant business model demands a wine mark-up of FOUR TIMES, the "fabulous" tax on dining out continues to go up.

Food: Thomas Keller Chicken, Hummus and Pita and a Kumato-Pea Shoot Salad

Thomas Keller chicken. Taken out a little earlier than usual to experiment with resting temps and levels of juiciness. Worked. Only ate the leg and thigh and left the breast for lunch sandwiches due to the ton of food on the (coffee) table. Great skin again and moist meat ("giggity"). There's chicken. There's wine can chicken. And then there's TK chicken.

Two orders of hummus from Semiramis because their hummus and the wine drank with this meal in April was Devin Hester on kick returns. "You are ridiculous!" The rest of the pairing in April at Semiramis was much like the rest of the Bears (ugh - but I'm a Browns fan so...) but the hummus and Saumur pairing shocked us. It's great hummus.

Kumatoes (brown tomato hybrid) dressed with olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper. It's a new tomato creation with a higher sugar content that taste almost meaty, plummy and like a drizzle of balsamic was slapped on them. Still the great tomato acid but darker and magically delicious. Can't recommend them more highly. Great stuff.

Pea shoot and pomegranate seeds with the kumatoes.

The meal had everything for about $15 a person. Hate to beat a dead horse here, but that got us about six bites of food each last week.

Wine: 2007 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Blanc ($29 - Red & White)

Tough one to find on a consistent basis. Red & White usually has it. Cellar Rat as well, IIRC. Flickinger Wines in the South Loop has many of the single-vineyard offerings from Domaine Guiberteau. Flickinger does a spectacular job. Get to know it. Scored a 2005 Sanguis Bossman there last year for $50 (rare then and now and no cheaper than $70 elsewhere).

Dried honey and chalk on the nose. Half-stewed pears on the palate with a load of beeswax-honey surrounding it on the palate. Medium depth on the finish with something that resembled plum (?) on the way down with a graceful acidity. Little spikes of apple, citrus and nuts here and there that may not have been consistent or focused but lovely in the way Chenin Blanc can surprise.

And I guess that's the rub. Chenin Blanc continues to be the white grape that defines elegant for us. It's just so gorgeous in nearly every form. Get out of the bargain offerings that tend to be inconsistent and unremarkable, spent just a few dollars more (mediocre movie), and you consistently wander into the realm of silk freakin' magic.

Domaine Guiberteau practices natural wine-making in all its glory, letting much of their wine rest of its lees and...heck...just go here because WickerParker was there.

Pairing: 94 Fit like a glove

Medium depth all over the place. In the food and in the wine as both, instead of offering little jumps of goodness in that medium depth range, exploring every nook and cranny of what a medium depth meal can bring. Tasted purposeful.

Best with just a bite of pita, but the hummus and pita followed right behind. The wine turned the hummus into something much more than its previous self, becoming hummus with a (pea)nutty tone and drawing out more of the nuttiness in the wine.

Salty skin on the chicken turned the wine into a minerally-yeasty pear-honey wonder and played beautifully with the darker meat.

Held up admirably with the kumatoes but lost its way with the pea shoots, bringing out too much unwelcome lime and a short finish.

The entire meal hopped and jumped, changed and surprised, all within an entirely beautiful tight box ("giggity"). Everything become more heightened and vivid versions of themselves, seeming made for each other with flavors stacked upon flavors stacked upon flavors.

$58. Beat that at even a low-cost, quality restaurant and you win my undying affection.

#123 - Walnut-Pomegranate Chicken With '06 M. Cosentino Pinot Noir

On a night that was destined for a leftover extravaganza, coffee and a nap brought the energy to make a prepared meal.

It's been some time since we had walnut-pomegranate chicken.

Previously served with Heredia Bosconia of some vintage, we gave another wine that we've become tired of looking at on the shelf a try.

On that, we're drinkin' the damn Rumball oh-so soon.

Food: Chicken with walnut-pomegranate sauce and a mâche salad

Two chicken breasts subbed for thighs in the recipe (linked above). The breasts propped up on the plate with a chunky walnut, Spanish onion, cumin seeds, touch of saffron, a pinch of brown sugar and pomegranate molasses concoction spread on top and all around the plate with pomegranate seeds sprinkled on top. A touch of sweet, a hit of earth and spice, rustic, substantial and delicious.

It's one of those meals that you forget how good it is and lament the fact it fell out of the rotation.

Mâche salad to finish.

Wine: 2006 M. Cosentino The Wines Pinot Noir Solano County ($15-ish - Cork & Beans in Cleveland)

Didn't expect much. More of a "get it out of my sight!" pairing for the night.

But a big surprise here.

Not abundantly complex but... Creamy cherry on the nose and something that resembled a creamy bright cherry custard on the palate, showing typical and solidly put together pinot noir character followed by some baking spices and maybe some vanilla with a smooth, medium-bodied finish bringing a pleasing and proper tartness.

Not a big wine even with the 14.7% alcohol but a solid everyday pinot noir drinker. I know we didn't spend more than $18 at Cork & Beans in Cleveland for this and in that range, it probably one of the better $15-18 basic pinots we've had (they're always such a hit-and-miss game). Held together quite well, showed beautifully and informed us once again that under $20 California pinot noirs tend to outshine Oregon pinots in the same category.

And the entire Cosentino line always seems to play a bit above its price tag.

Pairing: 90 Almost surprisingly great

With no expectations and a "fine, whatever" attitude towards the wine, everything worked quite nicely, thank you very much.

The creamy element in the wine filled in some of the gaps of the earthiness in the chicken and walnut-pomegranate sauce, serving to not only complement the meal but nearly tasting like a integral part of the recipe.

The tiny touch of sweetness on the finish worked with the touch of sweetness in the sauce and the baking spice notes fell right in line with the cumin and earthy elements.

A bit more complexity in the wine would have took it to such great heights but for a meal that almost wasn't a meal and a cheap wine, we ate and drank oodles better than both of us thought just two hours before.

#122 - Cuban Feast With Two Rhône-Styles & A Heredia White + A Girl & The Goat Review

Sleepy day in the Ney house after the bucketful of wine last night.

Had a friend and his dog over for a Cuban feast.

Cuban in our world has one partner. It's Villa Creek Mas De Maha. Nothing else compares.

The friend we had over also hadn't had a good viura. With that, there's Heredia and then there's everything else.

What resulted was a meal chockablock with big flavors, something we got at The Girl & The Goat the night before (see below), but with this meal, we weren't left wanting.

Food: Black bean cake-hash, tostones, ropa vieja and key lime pie

Spicy, bold black bean cake-hash (they fell apart) filled with the Cubany goodness of sweet potatoes, smoked paprika, onions, and shishito peppers left over from The Girl And The Goat. Tostones fried up with garlic and salt. Both served as an appetizer spread with sliced avocados and a cilantro-mint yogurt sauce to drizzle over everything. Eaten with the Heredia white.

Roja vieja as the entrée. It's Cuban pot roast. Slowly simmered freakin' delicous Whole Foods skirt steak with onions, garlic, red and green peppers, beef broth, cinnamon, parsley, oregano, cloves and various other ingredients I'm not privy to at the moment due to the sleepiness of the house. Served over brown rice flavored with cumin seeds and orange zest. Succulent and medium-deep. We've had heavily seasoned ropa vieja a ton of times and, while delicious and has a place, it tends to make me feel sticky, dirty and in need of a nap. This was a somewhat lighter version that allowed us to actually taste each ingredient while still tasting everything as a dish in and of itself elevated to a greater plain. Great balance. Eaten with the Villa Creek Mas De Maha and half of a bottle of the Tablas Creek Côtes De Tablas.

Key lime pie without the "key". Still that bright tartness that comes with key lime pie without the puckery dimension. Eaten with leftover La Playa Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc and a failed experiment of ice cream made with the same wine. I now know the result of eight egg yolks and two cups heavy cream in the ice cream-making process. Brutal Richness.

Flavor and flavor with a side of freakin' flavor!

Wine: 2006 Villa Creek Mas De Maha ($25 - Binny's), 2007 Tablas Creek Côtes De Tablas ($22 - WDC) and 1999 López de Heredia Gravonia Blanco ($25 - Binny's)

Nothing new here.

Villa Creek Mas De Maha (60% tempranillo, 20% each of grenache and mourvèdre) is a favorite. This time showing some graying around the edges. Largely showed as it has in the past with a hint of muddling starting to happen to the fruit. Still deep and delicious but a touch of that sparkling brightness and verve is beginning to fade. Tons of bright cherry notes and the tempranillo still shines in this different take on a Rhône blend, staying light yet with a full mouthfeel and pretty finish.

The 1999 Heredia Gravonia (100% viura) was an odd bird. Food hit the table quick and we didn't get it out of the fridge in time to let it come up in temperature. So I threw it into a decanter. A hint of a watery core showed more than a wine with flavors fully and completely integrated. Pineapple and honeycomb notes dominated with a dried honey finish. The mid-palate came off flat to me. Missed a smoky olive oil note and that edge of nuttiness that comes with Heredia whites. The acid was there and we were all more than happy that it was in our glass but I'm beginning to wonder if the '99 might end up having a shorter life than the '96 or '98. Wanted more.

The 2007 Tablas Creek Côtes De Tablas, the bargain wine by Tablas Creek, is 50% grenache and 25% each of syrah and counoise. Gamey notes with pepper and licorice lead the charge with this one but, unfortunately, the promising entry got overwhelmed by the sticky, sappy, syrupy fruit that just isn't our bag. More toned down than some we've had but still coated the mouth with something that wasn't welcome. For the style, better than most in the price range, but...meh.

Pairing: 89 Just missed getting into the realm of talking about the finer points of greatness

We probably could have stuck with two bottles of Mas De Maha for everything and would have loved the meal even more.

And that's because the Mas De Maha really shined with the black bean cake-hash and the tostones. Big, raw, Cuban flavors and Mas De Maha again. Solid with the ropa vieja but exploded with the fried plantain-garlic-pepper black bean cake-hash tastiness.

The Heredia showed its true nature for the most part with the appetizer spread but hollowed out a bit with a big bite of garlic or pepper (something previous vintages never did with big punches of flavor).

The Côtes De Tablas didn't offer much outside of "wine at the table".

No complaints, though. We had the flavors we were chasing the previous two days.

A quick review of The Girl & The Goat

Anniversary dinner, number six, 8:30 reservation, packed restaurant even up until when we left at 11pm, informed and accommodating staff, pretty space - large, a touch loud, dark-ish, somewhat odd lighting but festive and warm.

Food: Peter Piper bread, shishito peppers, chickpea fritters, hiramisa crudo, scallops, pig face and short ribs

Wine: Two glasses of Gran Sarao Cava Rosado to start, bottle of Pazo Senorans Albariño with the first four plates and two glasses of Girl & The Goat GSM with the pig face and short ribs.

Great use of acid overall. A temperature issue with the chickpea fritters as they came out lukewarm but were still tasty. The hiramasa crudo and scallops, while solid, lacked some punch and weren't worth the $14 and $16 respectively. The pig face, served with tamarind sauce, cilantro and a fried egg, while also tasty, lacked a bold personality that I expected to come with the dish. The short ribs with edamame bordered on bad. Mostly flavorless short ribs with a enormous pile of edamame on top that weren't de-spined, making them awkward to chew. A mess of a plate for the most part. But the bread was delicious, the shishito peppers with parmesan were an humongous mound of awesomeness, I liked the chickpea fritters even with the temperature issue but the scallops and the crudo with crisp pork belly served more as filler than adding a different delicious dimension to the meal.

Solid wine list, mostly the usual suspects with a few interesting choices off the beaten path. Markup at about 2 3/4 retail, something that's mildly annoying given most of the list is readily available in stores all over town.

The restaurant is part of the Boka Group and you can feel it. Feels...a touch overly planned but with some semblance of an individual personality coming through. Good flavors overall but I don't think I can call them memorable flavors. Tons of variation in styles of cooking but I can't help but recall the old-fashioned mantra. When you put on everything you're going to wear for the night, look in the mirror and take one thing off. With Girl & The Goat, it felt like they accidentally took two things off, leaving a hole in the cohesiveness of it all. We missed the oscillation of flavors, that back and forth. Everything seemed to stay in an "safely inventive" place offering little in surprise. Didn't taste...risky. Or ballsy.

Mostly, I kept thinking it's in the same stratosphere of Graham Eliot but then we kept thinking about all the things Graham Eliot does better (right down to the $10 "4 cup" french press that was utterly forgettable).

And as always, it comes down to what you get for the price. In the world of $300 meals, it sits squarely in the bottom tier for us over the last three years. Good time, interesting enough food but if we would have spent $200 or even $250, higher points might have been given.

Just didn't touch even the mediocre experiences we've had at Avec just down the street for $100 less. We enjoyed ourselves but a few days after, the impression left was one of a "Restaurant Group" experience and that's rarely a great time. Good maybe, but never great.

But kudos on the Girl & The Goat GSM, blended by Stephanie Izard herself. That's one tasty food wine. All liquid figs.

#121 - Dry-Aged Filet & Mushroom Tart With Two Clos Fourtets

Right Bank Bordeaux can be fairly limiting with food.

Staying away from spicy heat is prudent.

And experimenting with the joys of contrasting elements on the plate that work together aren't in Right Bank Bordeaux's wheelhouse.

It's right and proper to keep the food in a similar, more mild, earthy vein with protein simply prepared in order to let the sometimes finicky, moody nature of merlot shine.

So...stripped-down, Old School, simple French food.

That can suck sometimes, coming off dull and boring, a meal that feels and tastes like the very essence of mundane.

It has to be done right in order to transcend its limitations.

It's not like good Thai or Mexican or even contemporary American, cuisines that seem to be able to make up for its sometimes sloppy preparation with its broader range of flavors, textures and surprises. More room for error.

With Old School French, the joy comes in the quality of the preparation and ingredients. Get it wrong and it's utterly forgettable. Get it right and it reminds you why the French have known what they're doing for centuries.

And you can't beat using dry-aged beef filet with a Michael Chiarello mushroom tart recipe for getting a head-start on getting it right.

Turned into a pleasant night with a neighbor over for dinner.

Food: 21-day, dry-aged beef filet with mushroom tart, mâche and cheese plate

Say you want beef filet. To buy good filet, you're already in for about $35 or so for two people. It's of course good, tasty and dripping with beefy goodness. You're going to like it. It's beef filet. Spend $15 more for the same amount of meat and you get something that you'll remember for weeks. Very similar to '64 Heredia Tondonia pairing in February.

Cut into two 3 oz.-ish medallions and rubbed with salt, pepper and oil - roasted then seared, they turned into something extraordinary. Better than the NY strip. Better than the ribeye. While the strip sprinted directly for the beefy butter realm and the ribeye comes off as a little too rich, the filet brought a perfect balance of meaty butter and beefy structural integrity.

It's the pinnacle of beef.

A red wine and mushroom reduction on the side. We were worried that it might overwhelm the beef but it didn't. Complimented beautifully when kept to the side and dragged through.

Served with a mushroom tart. Creamy yet distinguished flavors. Lightly herbal with a good parsley hit. Great crust that never went mushy or dominant, as tarts can sometimes do. Great recipe and great preparation.

Topped off with a lightly dressed mâche salad with baguette and Irish butter.

A cheese course to top things off. After some research to find cheeses that went well with Right Bank Bordeaux, three names came up. Camembert (didn't want it), Cantal (couldn't find it) and Pont L'eveque (found and bought it). We're ambivalent to stinky cheese and lean towards not liking much of it but we're open to trying. Smelled like a corpse rotting in a dumpster and the smell enveloped the entire apartment. Nice to try, much milder on the tongue, full-bodied and intensely creamy, but we don't need it again.

Aged cheddar, leftover Delice de Bourgogne and Roquefort rounded out the platter. Aside from the Roquefort having a dirty sock behind the dryer taste, good stuff all around, varied and interesting enough. Cheese is good. We're just not "I can eat entire block of cheese!" people.

We've steered away from French-style food lately for a ton of reasons. Freakin' great to return precisely because it stays balanced and almost...light.

Wine: 2003 Clos Fourtet ($60 - WDC), 2002 Clos Fourtet ($35 - Brown Derby) & 2005 Royal Tokaji Wine Co. Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos ($35 - WDC)

The 2003 Clos Fourtet was the wine that got us into Bordeaux with a half-bottle four years ago at Schwa.

This was the first time we've had it since. Plum, truffle and grilled meat on the nose, the fruit was a tad closed at first on the palate but opened up quickly to show round, bright-ish plum and raspberry notes with a touch of spice and mid-palate core of fine earth and mushroom. Somewhat creamy in texture but not thick. Tons of tannin still but integrated nicely and quite drinkable now. Showing some age. Rich and straight-forward from a great vintage. Maybe missing some of that spicy edge-earth blend I remember from the half-bottle but big and balanced nonetheless. Long life for this one, I assume. Lovely.

The intention for the night was to do a mini-vertical with Clos Fourtets from 2002-2004. Didn't happen. The 2004 wasn't touched. That's a lot of wine. So we had the 2003 with the main course and drank the 2002 with everything else.

I was dubious about the 2002. Not much info on it and a mediocre vintage. But it turned out to be something to recommend. Tons of dirt, dirt and more dirt with juicy dark red fruits and a slightly thin texture that nonetheless held on to something resembling Right Bank Bordeaux...ish. Even somewhat leafy at times. Not much personality or commanding presence and the backbone isn't long for this world but for $35, it's a fine little Right Bank drinker.

The Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttanyos served us well in place of dessert. Drank with Swedish ginger cookie-crackers, it's all orange peel, honey and marmalade, light but substantial, beautifully consistent texture from the lips to the stomach and great balance of dry and sweet. Delicious. I can't say I liked it enough to pick up another. Borderline but good price.

Pairing: 92 Frenchy Goodness

It's tough to talk about the details as there was much talking going on at the table not involving the wine. The details slipped through the cracks as other things were being discussed.

But the 2003 with the beef and mushroom tart, especially as it opened up, served us entirely well, staying true to itself, serving as a bridge between the beef and tart and offering a richness that couldn't be matched by the 2002.

The 2002 was good with the milder cheese (Delice de Bourgogne), mâche, baguette and butter and got swallowed up by the funkier ones.

The Hungarian dessert wine played better than any actual dessert could have offered. That just would have taken the meal from nicely balanced to stupid rich and heavy in many ways, I think.

Just a nice night.

Really nice.

#120 - Thomas Keller Chicken With An '07 Hubert Lamy "Les Frionnes"

Serious discussions are currently taking place at Food With Wine headquarters over the possible renaming of this here website to The Church Of Thomas Keller Chicken.

It's getting that ridiculous.

This pairing experiment has been settled. It's white Burgundy and its various incarnations.

Other have worked just fine but nothing touches white Burgundy.

This one fell in the upper tier of all wines with TKC and the middle of TKC and WB.

Food: Thomas Keller chicken with Delice de Bourgogne, baguette and asparagus

Mrs. Ney thought it overdone. Maybe a little but the breasts stayed moist while, oddly, the thighs came off a touch dry. We cut to eat at the table (coffee) and it made a difference, mitigating some of that.

Skin again. Skin. Again. Blend of white and black pepper this time with salt turned into skin that tasted like so much more spice than was present. Crunchy as all get-out. Great stuff. And the juice on the plate at the table was drinkable, it was that good.

Delice de bourgogne with baguette because with white Burgundy, it's...stupid good (and was again).

Asparagus drizzled with walnut oil to finish things off.

Again. Again. Ridiculous. Surprising Again. Great Again. Just what we want every time.

Wine: 2007 Hubert Lamy Saint-Aubin 1er Cru "Les Frionnes" ($35 - Howard's on Belmont)

Grape: Chardonnay

Region/Sub-Region/Appellation/Vineyard: Burgundy-Côte de Beaune-Saint-Aubin-Les Frionnes

Vintage (WS): 92 Drink or hold Precise, pure and elegant, with lively structures if harvested late; at worst unripe if picked early

Huge edge of lime acid and a green apple core right out of the bottle. A bit harsh. After an hour decant, it transformed into something nearly graceful, full of minerals and a touch of white flowers. Fruit was less distinct and a bit all over the place but in a good way, offering a blend of citrus, peach, papaya, apricots and apple that gave way to its mineral core that came off more rough but welcome instead of finer and elegant. Huge mid-palate core of nutmeg with a little smoke gave it a darker overall tone. The creamy chardonnay character mitigated its rougher edges on the finish, bringing on a lovely and medium-long finish of stones mixed with white peach creamsicle (especially with the cheese).

Jumped around nicely, complex enough and fell in the middle of our growing white Burgundy world.

We're learning.

Pairing: 90 Settled. It's white Burgundy with Thomas Keller chicken. Testify!

Drinking anything else would seem blasphemous. And the Church Of Thomas Keller Chicken cannot stand for blasphemers.

Best with the cheese with a beautiful, infinitely interesting and longer finish. Better with the thigh for me and somewhat short with the breast. Became smokier with the chicken skin.

As I said, the wine jumped around nicely, offering alternating goodness throughout the meal.

And that's best thing we liked about it. The wine never fell short of "pretty." It may have never wandered into "wow" territory but always acted like it wanted to be accepted into the Church.

The Elders met and welcomed the wine in with open arms.

#119 - Chicken Thighs And Skordalia With Two American Albariños

Two American albariños with Greek-style chicken and Turkish-inspired salad (on Polish plates with Austrian wine glasses all served on a $5 coffee table from Iowa. I can keep going...).

We accidentally went global because the soft flavors from the night before warranted it.

We wanted Flavors and we got it.

Food: Chicken thighs with skordalia and tomato salad

Chicken thighs simply roasted in the cast iron skillet and put over a big, mushy pile of skordalia.

A change-up from the previous preparation, this time using up the bread in the kitchen in place of potatoes. Almonds, bread, garlic, lemon, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice blended into a purée that on first taste, I thought it was a modified hummus. Great garlic punch here with a smoothness and non-dairy creaminess that coated every inch of my mouth.

Chicken thighs that served more as an vehicle for the skordalia. Together, the skordalia dominated but that's exactly what we wanted.

The entire meal came down to the beautiful garlic hit and smoothness of the purée and the contrasting acid bath from the tomato salad.

I heart this tomato salad with every fiber of my being. Tastes like mowing the lawn on a 90 degree day and then drinking a tall glass of ice-cold water. Insanely fresh, this time done without the pomegranate seeds usually incorporated to pair up with red wine (usually Mas de Maha). Cherry tomatoes, oregano, parsley, mint, red onion, thyme, lemon juice, peppers, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper. Mixed and left to sit for a bit to marry. Wakes up every possible taste bud in your mouth and we need to have it more often.

It felt like getting back on the horse in many ways. After having some largely uninspired food in Portugal and slogging through post-vacation ennui, it was an entirely welcome food night.

And the wine helped.

Wine: 2008 Bonny Doon Ca' Del Solo Albariño ($18 - Randolph Wine Cellars) & 2008 Abacela Albariño ($18 - Binny's)

Ca' Del Solo from Monterey County in California. Abacela from the Umpqua Valley in southern Oregon.

Bonny Doon's an interesting story. Their vines were destroyed by Pierce's disease in 1994 and they took that as an opportunity to get out of the big production world and into small production, terroir-driven wines. Now, they grow a ton of Rhône varieties along with a flurry of boutiquey-style grapes.

This one is 75% albariño, 21% loureiro and 4% treixadura, all grapes primarily grown both in Galicia in Spain and Vinho Verde in Portugal. It's also biodynamically-grown.

Minerals dominate with a precursor to a banana creaminess. Refined and understated citrus notes with some grapefruit, touch of melon, flowers and maybe even grass that made it wander into a sauvignon blanc realm for a time. Crisp but not over-the-top with a nice underlying acid in balance with everything else. Jumped around, vacillating between the different fruit notes yet still retaining its base of cream/slight butter/hint of oil base. Got better as it came up in temperature.

Not bursting with personality but in a good way. Light. Would be a good afternoon drinker on its own. The price makes it difficult for that, though.

The 2008 Abacela seems to be falling apart but drank well enough to enjoy moments. Clunky limeade, some nice melon tones and flat club soda notes with a wacky acidic edge that blew right past quenching and settled into tart and unwieldy for sips. Hasn't seemingly aged well in a very short time but some elements present in the initial bottle that we loved of this one showed up to the party with a bowl of fresh citrus showing best very cold in the glass. When very young, the Abacela exhibits a quirky citrus-pear-apple-creamy nut-crispy goodness that demands we follow it and we do (and will).

Pairing: 87 Mixed, largely welcome bag with the food

As the Bonny Doon came up in temperature, it enhanced all the separate flavors in the skordalia and chicken quite nicely. Tasted more of everything. The Abacela also had its base hits with its lime-lemon notes blending right into the Greeky purée just fine at times.

The tomato salad was predictably a land mine, though. Served best with the Bonny Doon more as a basic food-wine accompaniment but it had the guts to hang with the acid in the tomatoes and keep the basic elements of itself, though it was kind of spectacular with a big oregano bite. The Acabela hollowed out, finishing with something that resembled inhaling a cleanser vapor.

The 2008 Abacela seems to be hanging on for dear life but still occasionally told some funny stories. The 2008 Ca' Del Solo reminded me of the Do Ferreiro in some ways. Nice, light, refined, tasty but not exactly what we want from albariño. All that said, though, we liked what happened last night.

It had Flavors with enough complexity and nuance in the wine to enjoy everything that was happening.

#118 - Cassoulet With '07 Pallières Terrasse De Diable Plus A Couple Notes

We just don't have these flavors in our house.

Extremely subtle, balanced, delicate flavors.

Balanced but subtle. Subtle but delicate. Balanced but delicate.

Subtle and balanced and delicate...with a lot of 'buts' instead of 'ands,' though.

Elements teetered on the verge of evaporating into other flavors but never quite did.

It was the kind of meal that left us...not necessarily wanting...but left us feeling like we just eat a meal at a very solid restaurant, dropped a decent amount of money, left feeling good and full but also left feeling...on the precipice of...bored.

And that's even with a pairing that wandered frequently into great.

Food: Pork Shoulder and Weisswurst Cassoulet with a mâche salad

Cook's Illustrated cassoulet, numero tres, since the inception of this here blog. First time was a meat-fest with Argyle sparkling rosé. Second time, the meat extravaganza was cut in half with the herbs amped up and served with a Loire rosé for the Super Bowl.

Both of those versions came out much lighter than we expected. It's a good freakin' recipe. This one came off light as well. But possibly too light...or too subtle. With less meat again, it may have needed more herbal punch. Or maybe the mustard drench used on asparagus and Brussels sprouts in the previous preparations. Utterly enjoyable, though. It was a pretty bowl o' cassoulet that got better as the elements congealed together over the hour or so we ate it.

More meat, less meat, more herbs, mustard? Who knows.

We liked this one. Just didn't love it.

Great northern beans, pork shoulder, "weisswurst with parsley" from Gene's in Lincoln Square, onion, shallot, carrots, san marzano tomatoes, roasted garlic, duck stock, muscadet, herbes de provence and bread crumbs with parsley.

Could have been the pairing. Again...even though the pairing was pretty great at times.

Wine: 2007 Domaine Les Pallières Terrasse De Diable Gigondas ($30 - WDC)

Grape: 90% Grenache and 5% each of Mouvèdre and Clairette

Region: Gigondas

Vintage (WS): 95 - Drink or hold - Ripe, rich, powerful reds thanks to long Indian summer at harvesttime. Grenache is heady and rich, so Mourvèdre and Cinsault key for balance. Best wines are classic hedonistic delights, though some are over-the-top

The other wine from Domaine Les Pallières. I've blathered on about the first one, Les Racines, on more than a few occasions. That wine with the corn and pepper salad at Ad Hoc in July wins the 2010 Best Food and Wine Pairing Award for me. It's a benchmark of ridiculous foody-winey goodness.

This is the brother of that one and the first time Domaine Les Pallières, now owned by Kermit Lynch and the guys behind Vieux Télégraphe, split the vintage into two bottles. With the success of these two, it looks like that's going to be a permanent thing going forward.

Neither is considered to be better than the other and each sells for roughly the same price, but the Terrasse De Diable is generally considered to be taken from better vines.

Macerated dark raspberry on the nose right now. Tart and juicy raspberry and cherry with some tar on the palate before decanting for one hour.

After an hour at the start of the meal, we hit what was probably a window of the wine closing down. Came off soft. Very grenache-like but lacking a more delineated flavor structure. Small hits of earth (we wanted more), tiny hits of licorice (more, please) but a nice punch of pepper mixed with the raspberry notes that gradually (and gracefully) turned to a solid black cherry.

Then it started to come out of its shell after about two hours with the fruit becoming more expressive and the body and mouthfeel starting to distinguish itself, but seemed to need the food to get there. The acid woke up and the tannins started to do its job.

Turned into something at times delicious. 2+ hour decant seems to be the way to go. Gotta like grenache and want to deal with its occasional finicky nature. I do for the most part.

I like the "Les Racines" better for its huge bright licorice core but this one is technically more balanced once it gets going.

Pairing: 91 Tasted like love as a pairing

Two elements that separately weren't completely our bag, but together, they were helpful, nice and full of nuance.

Both were delicate and touchy, like two sensitive friends that, when together, have the nuts to actually say what they feel. They need each other to make up for the lack of aggressiveness and personality they project to the rest of the world separately.

But overall, with the pairing positively pleasing from a potent potable point of view, everything was too understated. More than usual at a time when we wanted the opposite.

Previously, we stuck to the rosé world with cassoulet. This time, we went for red.

But that's not to say that rosé didn't make an appearance.

Two quick notes: At times, I can be a bit snobby when it comes to the crap wine that people blow their money on. Yellow Tail certainly fits the bill when it comes to that. Don't get the love and never will.

BUT!!! Yellow Tail Sparkling Rosé ($6 - Trader Joe's), drank last night before dinner, made me eat every arrogant word I've ever said about the Yellow Tail line (the chardonnay can still eat me, though - that's terrible). Tasted like raspberry/strawberry Crush soda and a touch of cream soda were mixed together with nearly all the sugar drained out. Not dry, not sweet, it's as if they accidentally fell into something that tastes almost graceful and intentional.

Not saying it's anything great, there's just nothing wrong with it. If served at a party or event, I'd be completely fine with drinking it all night. Most likely nothing to recommend with food but as a sipper...yes, please. I'll take it.

And at some point, I'd like to do a "Wine Under $10 With Food To Match" feature here on this blog. One pairing in that feature will be Gino's Frozen Sausage Pizza with 2008 Chariot Gypsy ($5 - Trader Joe's). Served for Frozen Food Sunday this week, the Chariot Gypsy by itself isn't anything noteworthy. Kinda fruit-bomby and borderline dull. Introduce some fennel sausage and tomato into the equation and the herbal notes explode in the wine. Tons of creamy sage came forth and mix beautifully with the food. The fruit in the wine settles down into something much less sweet/brawny, becoming more balanced with the herbal elements and begins to alternate nicely between a brighter and darker berry blend of fruit goodness. I couldn't stop reaching for the glass after every bite. With a 2-for-1 deal on the pizzas, the entire meal for the both of us combined came to about $17. And we loved it.

Even better than the 2004 Chariot Sangiovese pairing with pizza from March. We'll be following Chariot wines until they stop making such things. They're tasty.

#117 - Duck Risotto With '07 Jiménez-Landi Sotorrondero

Take two on getting rid of bottles we're sick of looking at in the rack.

And last night was another case of the food vastly outshining the wine.

In the end, we were okay with that. Enough came through (just), nothing was necessarily bad, we weren't left wanting for the most part and things were pretty much in line.

But that's a ton of qualifiers.

After reading the recipe, something a tad larger/darker/rustic seemed to be the way to go. After tasting the food, something with more finesse (a good pinot noir, most likely) would have served us better.

Nothing bad, but nothing particularly inspiring.

Food: Duck risotto with pancetta and chorizo

Taken from The New Portuguese Table, a cookbook that so far seems to have more bold flavors than what we experienced recently in Portugal, what resulted was a dish dripping with suave, silky, subtle depth.

Main ingredients of duck legs, Spanish chorizo and La Quercia pancetta, modifying the duck breast and prosciutto recipe a bit. A sort of stew made with the various meats, white wine, orange juice and zest, onion, butter, parsley, olive oil, chicken stock and duck fat stewed together and then folded into the risotto as it was coming to a finish.

The risotto itself came out beautiful. Just the right amount of creamy starch oozing off of it with nothing turning gloppy. Seemed folded in at the right time, with the stew-like concoction tasting integrated into the risotto but keeping enough separation to taste like a complete dish instead of a risotto-flavored meal.

Both of us were shocked how light it came off. Substantial enough to be filling but light enough to feel clean and good. Loved it. Every bite.

An arugula salad to top it off and cerignola green olives on the side.

Wine: 2007 Jiménez-Landi Sotorrondero Méntrida ($31 - Red & White)

Grape: 85% Syrah and 15% Garnacha

Region: Castilla - La Mancha

Appellation: Méntrida

To plagiarize myself again, from #79 in May when we had the Jiménez-Landi estate bottling from two years previous with Spanish-style skirt steak with onion-potato gratin:

"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."

The estate bottling was a merlot/tempranillo/syrah blend and we probably missed its window. Some stewy notes on that one. Tasty enough though, as I recall.

This one, a more idiosyncratic blend for Spain in some ways with this much syrah, came out only slightly better.

1 1/2 hour decant. Before the decant, intense gamy notes on the nose. The house smelled like duck and that could have played a role but it smelled like some slow-roasted game was well on its way to be charred beyond recognition with a buttered and burnt toast note. Intense stuff.

On the palate, big smoky-sweet plummy notes with some coffee and toast, hibiscus tea and a hint of maybe old blueberry. A touch rough but it kept its structure throughout the meal. Minerally mid-palate with the initial fruit receding to the background and a blackberry note kicking up. Small tannic bite at the end that wasn't unpleasant.

Overall, just enjoyable enough. "Adequate" comes to mind when thinking about it but that's not necessarily damning it with faint praise. But we don't need more of it.

Pairing: 85 Mostly made me think of other options to pair with this type of food goodness

We weren't opening another bottle. This wine was just good enough.

But I wondered how so many different wine options would have played with this bowl o' goodness (pinot noir, Heredia red, grenache-heavy Rhône?).

Small enhancements though. The wine brought out the meaty, darker notes of the chorizo a touch more and if we had an olive, then ate the risotto and had a sip, the orange in the food jumped out a ton more.

But the pairing was more of a companion than an enhancement in the end. Nothing buried, nothing hurt, nothing overwhelmed.

No complaints, just not much of note really happened.

#116 - Tri-Tip And Saffron/Almond Potatoes With First Drop Two Percent

Shiraz in two forms made the table last night.

The first one was a bit of an old friend revisited, one that made us remember fondly our Australian shiraz love that had been put to bed a few years ago.

The second one was Jam Jar.

Given to me by a friend, we were entirely sick of looking at the cutesy label and cracked the thing just to get it out of our face. Yes...each to his own, I guess but umm...no thanks. Tasted like sticky sweet balsamic vinegar in a glass. A Costco legend and supposedly made to satisfy the market for sweet red wine, I don't get it. Just. Don't. Get. It.

So a cup of it went into the marinade.

Food: Five spice-marinated tri-tip with saffron-almond potatoes and Brussels sprouts

Beautiful rare-to-medium rare tri-tip marinated in five spice, hot smoked paprika, a cup of wine, olive oil, thyme and honey. Great meat that seemed to glow on the plate.

Saffron-almond potatoes (or Juanita's potatoes) that, along with the wine, revisited an old friend. It had been awhile since we had them. A usual accompaniment with plantain chicken made in a roulade style with ham and served with a Heredia white, it's a meal that's a top-fiver in the Ney house and tastes like the essence of 2008/2009. These potatoes tasted...nostalgic.

Brussels sprouts quickly sautéed without a browning in lemon juice and mint.

Everything tied together nicely. The saffron in the potatoes and the paprika in the marinade created a small Spanish bent and the Asian five spice notes didn't overwhelm the plate, only nicely playing in the background. The thyme and honey lifted the tri-tip and kept it from being heavy and the lemon juice in the Brussels sprouts kept the endnote light.

Big flavors that nonetheless kept a great balance, leaving us feeling satisfied without bursting at the seams.

Wine: 2005 First Drop Two Percent Barossa ($32 - LCBO - Toronto)

The 2% refers to the albariño in the blend. 98% shiraz and 2% albariño. Not an ordinary blend. A few winemakers mess around with a drop of viognier in red blends to great effect but albariño is a rare thing indeed. Much of albariño in Australia was, through DNA tasting, later found out to actually be French savagnin grape and it had been for years incorrectly labeled but all indications that I could find on this one is that this was true albariño (unless they were simply allowed to call what was already in the bottle albariño).

No decant. Weren't sure on the drinking window. Conflicting reports on the interwebs. Nose of blackberry toast, alcohol, some herbs and black licorice. Big dark fruits on the palate that are just starting to stew/meld together but are seemingly kept vibrant and separate by the albariño in the blend. Not seamless and smooth, a bit rough around the edges but in a good way. Stayed bright throughout the meal with a mid-palate core of char and creamy spice notes with an occasional mouthful of aging tannin but not unwelcome in the least. Still some life here. I worried.

It's been a year/year and a half since we last had this one and tasted virtually the same. All the tasty goodness still largely present.

Pairing: 90 Big food and big wine = something quite harmonious

Large food flavors that, in the end, didn't come off heavy. Large wine that, in the end, stayed bright and kinda light. It worked!

Five spice and shiraz seem to always work just fine but, as I said, this, overall, tasted nostalgic.

Certainly in the realm of big and brawny but everything stayed at the very bottom realm of such things. Nothing ever bullied.

Probably (and oddly) best with the potatoes. The fruit in the wine became more pure and jumpy. But it held its own with the meat, bringing out a herby char in the wine and even something tobacco-like (or old coffee).

The first time we had the 2005 First Drop, it glistened.

Much of that is still here. And that wee touch of albariño still makes it a beautifully food-friendly wine. Shiraz can be limited with food. This one opens that door a little bit.

Pretty great stuff.

#115 - Thomas Keller-ish Chicken And Burgundian Cheese With An '06 Jurançon Sec

Last night's quick meal was another attempt to find the limits of Thomas Keller chicken with white wine.

We gave it a go with red two weeks ago and it only reaffirmed our love for white with the bird.

To plagiarize myself:

"TK chicken got us on the white Burgundy train with a delicious Viré Clessé.

And we loved it with an Auxey Duresses white Burgundy last month. While not particularly good with two Pinot Blancs, it was fine Fourth of July stuff with a Grüner Veltliner and a Hungarian white while being not too shabby with a bargain Sancerre."

This one fell in the middle with an '06 Clos Uroulat Jurançon Sec. Sort of a half-ass selection in many ways. It's been sitting in the fridge for weeks and had to be drunk.

Food: TK chicken with Delice de Bourgogne, baguette and mâche

Quick roasted bird with a tasty salt level and a switch-up with white pepper added. We're craaaazy. Juicy enough with the good skin. It's Thomas Keller chicken. There are times it feels just a wee bit rote. Then we eat it and love every minute of it.

Delice de Bourgogne cheese eaten the day it came in, which is different than in the past. Wasn't as magically delicious but still quality cheese. This one needs some..."house aging," we'll call it. More firm and simple instead of that slowly activated funkiness that we love so much.

Baguette with the cheese and mustard and torrontés jelly on the side, which weren't really touched. The cheese was good enough.

Mâche salad to round out the plate.

Quickly thrown together but didn't taste like it. The kind of meal that made me, at the mid-point, relish in the delicious familiarity of it all.

Wine: 2006 Charles Hours Clos Uroulat Cuvée Marie Jurançon Sec ($23 - WDC)

It's been sherry-ized! Two things. We didn't decant, which was recommended with this wine (a 2 1/2 hour decant last time) and the bottle sat in the kitchen fridge for weeks.

I don't see a decant helping the sherry quality now present but the sherry-ness may have come from the deep freeze it got since it was put in the fridge.

Who knows? One more bottle to treat better and find out.

Given all that, still not bad and kinda welcome. The sherry notes served only as a faint framework to be acknowledged more than ruining the enjoyment of anything. Subtle pineapple and orange blossom notes were still present with some dried flowers. This one already had that vicious mouthfeel and smoky notes to transition naturally to a sherry-like wine so...

Didn't hate it. Even kinda liked it for all its age and flaws most likely imposed upon it to a degree.

Pairing: 86 Not too shabby

Best with the chicken. The salt on the chicken killed the front end of the wine but as it transitioned from the front to the mid to the finish, a great progression happened with an oil and smoke middle and a surprising, yet subtle orange blossom and honeyed lemon finish. The chicken skin seemed to allow the wine to find a bit of its former self.

Disjointed and odd with the cheese. Tasted like someone took liquid smoke to a pile of crushed rocks. Nothing to recommend.

Fine enough with the greens.

Overall, it was the surprise that the wine did anything with the food after tasting the sherry-like quality right away that made it entirely acceptable and even welcome.

#114 - Beef Filet & English Cheddar With '05 Dominio De Atauta

Ah...it was good to have big flavors again.

Freakin' glorious.

A week in Portugal, while relaxing and quite beautiful at times, left us wanting when it came to food flavors.

The best single item I had, a quail tapa with apricots eaten with an insanely cheap '05 Quinta do Vale Meão at the stellar Chafariz do Vinho Enoteca in Lisbon, even left me wondering what would have happened if a pinch more salt were used.

We had good food in Portugal. Solid food, interesting food to a point. We just missed bigger flavors...and maybe some risks.

And the first full meal back brought it.

Food: Paulina beef filet with English cheddar, Whole Foods Seeduction bread and an arugula and parsley salad

Beef filet seasoned with a Penzeys Spice blend of sweet basil, Turkish oregano, red bell pepper, garlic, thyme fennel, black pepper and anise seed with a little salt and olive oil (and a touch of balsamic?) added. When the meat first hit the pan, the house smelled like fancy pancake syrup.

Cooked a great rare to medium-rare, the filet melted in my mouth with each spice alternately taking the stage as it dripped down my throat. Each bite was glorious, partly because we missed such flavors and partly because it was cooked so beautifully. A little over-the-top description but golly, we missed such things.

Served with aged cheddar from Montgomery Farms in Somerset, England. I'm no cheese maven but this one has the cheddar goods. Mostly indifferent to cheddar - and cheese to a certain point - the Montgomery cow's milk brings a subtle and long cheddar taste with a tiny grassy hit and a wee touch of must that made everything taste intentional, natural and balanced. Ponderous in many ways. Dry, firm and pretty delicious. With cheese, I continue to learn why it's good...and this is Good.

Served with Whole Food's Seeduction bread. Hearty bread with sunflower seeds, poppyseed, millet and what seems like a thousand other grains. It's the only bread at Whole Foods that ever really delivers the bready goodness when you're stuck in a pinch and have to buy bread there.

Simple, undressed arugula and parsley salad that was oddly more delicious than the sum of its parts. Again, probably missed home flavors.

Home flavors are what we want and this was exactly it. Loved it. Initially, we were leaning toward cracking a 2003 Clos Fourtet, serving it with vanilla mashed potatoes and getting all Bordeaux-y with it. In the end, with the heaviness that may have brought and just enduring 13 hours in the air, we're glad we didn't.

Wine: 2005 Dominio De Atauta Ribera Del Duero ($35 - Binny's)

Grape: Tempranillo

Region: Ribera Del Duero

Vintage (WS): 95 - Hold - Assertive wines with chewy tannins; the best have great depth

Toughy. Chatter on the interwebs talked about the wall of oak showing right now with this one. And with the vintage recommendation of 'hold', what we got was seemingly a wine right at the beginnings of shedding that and entering its tannin maturation phase.

Dominio De Atauta is a Mrs. Ney favorite. I've always been left trying to figure it out and end up pretty much loving it. Our first bottle ('02 or '03, most likely) of this was brought to the now-closed Rick's Cafe, a perfectly good if unspectacular Mediterranean BYO in Wrigleyville and, mostly because of the wine, I can remember most everything of that meal and the bottle. I remember the purity of the fruit and the beautifully dry, violet-tinged finish.

The winery is a rarity. Pre-Phylloxera vines with many over 100 years old (some over 150 years - the "La Mala" bottling), they're wines to experience and ponder and simply figure out. The process of rehabilitating the neglected vines has only been going on for a little over 10 years and the results have been, in our limited experience, a benchmark of what is great about Ribera wines (the '02 single vineyard "Llanos de Almendro" is in the hopper).

This particular one would benefit from some more time but nonetheless showed much of what it's going to be. A slight nose of herbs, tar and blackberry with an early palate that showed blackberry with some black cherry fruits. With some air (a quick decant that should have been longer), the fruit turned into a blackberry liqueur/blackberry pie note. Persistent but still light on its feet, it brought a medium-full mid-palate with a pleasing hit of smoked meat mixed with a touch of vanilla. The finish was the ponderous part. Oak was fading and more small jumps of vanilla showing but the tannins were drying things up. Not unpleasant but shortened it up a bit. Distinctive and borderline good-to-great but a couple more years in the bottle would be prudent.

The Domino de Atauta regular estate offering has seen an incremental increase in price since the first bottling in 2000, up to $50 now from its initial $30 tag (we got it on sale). Worth it?...Yeah. Maybe should have left it alone for a couple of years and/or given it a long decant but in the end, it became for us much of what we wanted. It's a distinctive Ribera style that you have to love and want to follow for that price but if you do, the rewards are great.

Pairing: 90 Stayed consistently solid with even a few surprises throughout the meal

Fell right in the great meat and wine wheelhouse with the filet, offering much of everything anyone would want. Maybe not transcendent but a solid core of meaty-winey goodness.

The purity of the fruit in the wine showed more with the English cheddar with more delineated flavors and really attacking the must in the cheese with a vengeance, turning the wine into something that just kept changing. More herbal and a more tar note. Gave it a bigger backbone.

Even entirely acceptable with the arugula/parsley salad, turning the blackberry fruit into a dried blackberry that was completely welcome.

A meal that was a welcome return to big home flavors.