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Our 2nd WINE DINNER at Ralph Shumaker’s 9th ward private home is scheduled for Wednesday, October 26th.
We take reservations for these Wine Dinners; to secure a place please contact the one and only maitre’ d of the Green Goddess, Miss Bug Brockway. You can also purchase immediately by Paypal at a cost of $144 per person. Include any notes to us in the fields below, then click “Pay Now.”Our next Wine Dinner is scheduled for Wed. Oct 26 at 601 Lesseps St, deep in the Bywater at Ralph Shumaker's comfortable home nestled next to the river, just a block behind Bacchanal. This Wine Dinner is dedicated to the memory of Joe Dressner, the legendary wine importer whose emphasis on “natural winemaking” & his support for smaller artisanal wines paved the way for the ongoing delicious revolution in the World of Wine toward organic wines of the highest quality.
It’s strange, but I had the notion to do this dinner for the Louis/Dressner stash of wines before Joe died, and the animating idea emerged to do a dinner with simultaneous red & white pairings to every course. Now that this has unfortunately turned into a tribute, I've decided to go all out for the dinner: 6 courses, 14 wines! But the gist of this dinner is to sharpen our palates and to taste the ways wines work with food, and to showcase some beautiful wines that subvert our classic ideas about wine pairings.
Dressner Dinner
White/Red Menu
Arrival Snacks
Sparkling vs Coquelet Chiroubles
Three amuse bouche: cheese coins,
Balducci's “Lobster” Salad
Cochon de Lei on Plantain Chips
1. Bodegas Marañones, Albillo vs Nusserhof “Elda”
Oysters Delacroix
2. Causse Marines, “Les Greilles” vs Treinta Mil Garnacha
Beef Seared on a Himalayan Pink Salt Brick
3. Chestnut Tagliatelle w Smoked Duck & Aged Gouda
A. Mann Auxerrois vs Both Tyroldega -- Foradori & Nusserhof
4. Clai Whites, Malvasija & Clai, White Blend vs Clai Refosco
Fish w Andouille Crust & Foie Gras Vin
5. DeBartoli Marsala vs Cappellano Barolo Chinato
Figs in Armagnac
I am ready to bring back a couple signature dishes from Green Goddess recent menus that were definite showstoppers, and it will be fun to cook them all at Ralph's comfy digs on Lesseps St. The Oysters Delacroix have been in existence the longest, with the old-fashioned technique of braising the lettuce in butter giving the plump, barely poached Gulf oysters a luxurious, offbeat setting. Typically, people think clean white wines go best with oysters, and the lovely Bodegas Marañones Albillo offers the textbook pairing, but with that flourish of bacon and the richness of the dish, I am eager to see how many guests fall in love with the Nusserhof “Elda” made of the rare Sciave grape in Bolzano, Alto Adige. Elda is medium-bodied, yet deep, with a rousing scent of cherries & bacon that should summon a great pairing with Oysters Delacroix. This is a crazy good playoff for the first main course.
With the Beef Seared on Pink Himalayan Salt Bricks, I don't have a preference. We feature another wine from the gorgeous all-organic vineyards near Madrid of Bodegas Marañones, this time the supple, smooth old bone Garnacha in the “Treinta Mil Maravidies,” where winemaker Fer Garcia coaxes amazing fruit and deep wines from old vines just north of the Spanish capital. The white wine paired here is a true Weird & Wonderful selection from Gaillac, where the heritage of obscure, nearly forgotten grapes are cherished by Patrice Lescarret and his witty team at Causse Marines. “Les Greilles” is a hefty blend of rich grapes like Mauzac, Loin d'oielle, Ondence, and Muscadelle for a serious big white that has great structure and drive to handle a beef dish with ease and brightens against the interplay of pickled vegetables, spiced beef, and cold-smoked olive oil. It should be a fascinating playoff between the assemblage of forgotten white grapes vs the old vine creaminess of Madrid Garnacha.
The Smoked Duck & Chestnut Tagliatelle is another dish that began life at Delachizzle. It’s a staff favorite, and we can't wait to put it back on the regular menu, too, with some intricacies from Napa cabbage braised in duck fat w caraway seeds, the gorgeous chestnut flour pasta in its delicacy & wintry suggestions, the smoked duck & the pan- crisped duck cracklins, wild mushrooms, just enough cream to cloak everything together, and finally Old Dutch Gouda to put a hurt on the whole thang. People are genuinely shocked that the Albert Mann Auxerrois, golden and curvy, rich and uplifting, works like a hand in a glove with the Duck Pasta. This is the only non-Dressner wine of the night because we now exactly how this Auxerrois rocks the house. I thought that going back to the obscurity of the Alto Adige for the emblematic red grape there, Tyroldega (it gets spelled various ways), would be great because the inspiration for the dish comes from Far North Italian cuisine where there is a smoked goose prosciutto called Oca that led me on the proverbial Wild Goose Chase that led to this dish. The two Tyroldega are very different, with the elegance in stainless steel of Elisabetta Foradori’s version and the richer, spicier Nusserhof wine should make the contemplative tasting of rare pair of Tyroldega wines quite a revelation, too.
The Fish Course at #4 really needs not too much explanation. We are simply gonna showcase the extraordinary wines of Giorgio Clai from the peninsula of Istria, sticking into the Northern reaches of the Adriatic Sea from Croatia. We absolutely adore these wines, and it will be our pleasure to serve them alongside one of our all-time favorite dishes we've ever done. Add in a nip at the end of Cappellano's beautiful, original Barolo Chinato and the majestic hard-won drive of DeBartoli's 20 year old Marsala with a platter of our figs in Arnagnac, stuffed with blue cheese, and wrapped in prosciutto and quickly roasted, only to finished with precious drops of 20 yr Balsamico, well, that's a fine way to end a focused Red/White Menu.
The price for this 6 course, 14 wine extravaganza is $144, which includes taxes & tips all-inclusive. We have a PayPal account at the ready once reservations are made. Space is very limited, so if you can swing this opulent dinner on Wed. Oct 26 at 7pm at Ralph's place on 601 Lesseps St, we will be honored to have your attendance! We hope this dinner is a terrific opening gambit for a great Halloween week, and that folks take the time to celebrate these fantastic wines, made in very specific places by talented artisans who love their land enough to make profound, organic wines. Come join in the fun!
Our Goddess illustration is by Marrus with sign fabrication by Mystic Blue Signs. Photographs by Jedd Haas.
