Working Copy of Wine Dinner Menu

Amuse
Red, white and blue

Day Boat Scallop
Green curry, micro Thai basil
Willamette Valley Vineyards Riesling, Oregon 2007

Ravioli
Chicken of the woods and chanterelles, fresh thyme pasta,
Oregon truffle butter,baby arugula, parsley coulis
R. Stuart “Big Fire” Pinot Gris, Oregon, 2006

Quinault River King Salmon
Penn Cove mussel nage, sea beans, wild steel head roe
Cooper Mountain Pinot Noir Reserve, Oregon, 2007

Pork Two Times
Tenderloin medallion, carnitas of suckling pig,
wild blueberry jus, spaghetti squash
Three Rivers Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington State, 2004

Prime Beef Tenderloin
Dry aged, Wisconsin bleu, wild huckleberries, mashed golden potatoes
Rex Hill Vineyards Pinot Noir Reserve, Oregon 2004

Peaches
Peach crisp, peach crudite au chocolat
Pacific Rim Riesling Vin de Glaciere, Oregon, 2007

Some thoughts on the menu:
The scallops we've been getting in are wonderful and I wanted to show them off. I was looking for a little heat to pair with the Riesling so I'll accent with a green curry sauce (don't worry it won't hurt). The natural sweetness of the scallop should find it's way through the heat and really pair well with the wine.

We inherited a nice dough roller from TYR so you'll be seeing more pastas and dumplings appear at Sebastian's. I've been playing with ravioli and had great results. The peppery flavor of the arugula and the parsley coulis should go great with this Pinot Gris. It's not too "green" so the butter and truffles will go nicely as well.

The King salmon we get from the Northwest is beautiful and is a natural with the light Pinot Noir I'm serving with it. On paper this is the "foodie' course.

Pork is king in the chef world these days and I have a local source for suckling pig. Once I get around the dirty look the dead piglet gives me it should be delicious. The wild Northwest blueberries should bring out the berry notes in the lighter style cab I'm serving with it.

Ah, beef. Prime beef or Kobe style if I don't have to mortgage the house to buy it. I'll top with a mild Wisconsin bleu cheese (thanks Jeff) and some wild huckleberries. The Pinot going with this one is BIG. One of my favorites. This is the course I would be looking forward to.

This dessert wine is best suited for fruit and I thought peaches would be perfect. Dessert wines are a guilty pleasure that I wish we would sell more of. BTW, I've got some nice ones in the cellar that aren't on the list if ever interested. Word of caution, they're not cheap.

The Wine

Sat down with Bob and Richard from L'fet Bank Wine distributors to taste and choose the wine for the upcoming wine dinner. We tasted two pinot gris, two rieslings, an unoaked chardonnay, two pinot noirs, a cabernet and a syrah. The Cab and syrah were from Washington state the rest Oregon. Of the pinot gris I opted for an old favorite that used to be on our wine list. I had forgotten how much I liked it. There were supply issues at the time so we had to remove it from the list. I'm not sure but I might pair it with some truffled ravioli. Of the rieslings I went with the one that would be considered less food friendly. A little sweeter than the other but I know my customers and they would prefer the sweeter one. (After all this is Wisconsin) I'll pair it with a little spice and natural sweetness. Of the pinot noirs I went with the fuller of the two. Still on the lighter side but will match up well with the king salmon I have planned. The cab was also surprisingly light. Right now I'm leaning toward pairing it with pork done two ways. It is light enough to be followed by another pinot noir. I was looking for something big enough to pair up with beef, a milder bleu cheese and huckleberries. The pinot I'm serving with that course we didn't taste. I'm familiar with it and I predict will be the hit of the evening. A big bold pinot. I also didn't have to taste the dessert wine. I'll be experimenting with the pairing in the next couple days.

I ended up having to add a wine for a total of six. I'll also serve an amuse to start dinner making a total of seven courses.

A little on the food:
I'll be getting in super fresh king salmon from the northwest as well as huckleberries and truffles. I hope to find a mild artisan bleu cheese from Wisconsin if not I may go with Maytag. For the pork two-ways I hope to line up some suckling pig. I'm a little concerned about this because of my love for animals and the "baby" pig is going to be hard to look in the eye. I'll be playing with peaches for dessert and will add a touch of chocolate somewhere. Some people just have to have their chocolate.

I should have the menu firmed up by the end of the day. Stay tuned.