# What did you get at the restaurant?



## JohnT (Aug 3, 2015)

So I though I would start a thread just for showing pictures of great restaurant meals we have eaten or restaurant experiences we have had. 

I would suggest that the name of the restaurant be listed in case other members may want to go there...

Also provide a description of the dish....


----------



## JohnT (Aug 3, 2015)

*Wein Keller Restaurant, Niagara Falls, Ontario*

What an Amazing place!!! They make there own wines that are simply superb! The place is even decorated with 300 liter SSVC tanks! This is MY KINDA PLACE!!!!! 

We asked the waiter (who had a refreshingly technical knowledge of the winemaking process) to pair the wines with the food we ordered. He did a GREAT job! of all of the wines I tasted (all from their 2013 vintages) I liked the Pinot the best. Each was far superior to the upstate NY wines I have tried in the past. 

I started off with a roasted red pepper soup topped with a dollop of smooth goat cheese. Nice spice on this... 

I followed this with their goat cheese appetizer. This was goat cheese breaded and fried so that you get a "creamy - crunchy" taste. This came with a variety of things (roasted garlic, sun dried tomatoes, dried cranberries, and herb infused oil) that (when eaten with a bit of the cheese) gave each bit a different, wonderful flavor. I am definitely going to try and make this!!!! This dish was the star of the evening!

For the entrée, I had a bacon wrapped expresso encrusted filet mignon with truffle infused fries. This as a winner!

All-in-all this place was fantastic! The damage was around $60 (Canadian) or about $48 (us) wine included.


----------



## JohnT (Aug 10, 2015)

*90 Acres!*

My wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I chose to eat at 90 acres. 


I have been to 90 acres and number of times and have befriended the sommelier Bonnie. She has gotten to know my tastes, so I put myself in her hands each time I visit. She never fails to come up with interesting and different wines. The first 3 pictures are the wines she picked out for us. 

Picture 1 - A wonderful "Boz Scaggs" montage! deep, complex, and very well balanced. (Boz makes good music also)

Picture 2 - A fantastic Portuguese blend of touriga and tinta grapes. Rich, Deep, and earthy. Simply wonderful! 

Picture 3 - A wine from Corsica that is a "not too distant" cosine of the San Giovesse grape. This was very interesting in that it was a red that could pair well with fish. After tasting it, I remarked that I smell and taste the ocean. Bonnie just nodded saying, "exactly". 

Picture 4 - a shot of just some of the wine racks they have...


Food: At first, I was good about taking pictures of each dish. As the evening wore on, and I got caught up in the fun of it all, I forgot to take pictures. Here are the appetizers we had..

Picture 5 - Cold cucumber soup. Nice and herbal
Picture 6 - Foie Gras tureen - this was especially yummy!
Picture 7 - 100 day aged Asian beef - Was excellent! 
Picture 8 - Quail in a plumb sauce with smoked sour cream- 


Picture 9 - The place has an open kitchen. Fun to watch how hard the staff works.

Picture 10 - A shot of the bar and just a very small portion of the wine racks they have


----------



## sour_grapes (Aug 10, 2015)

Wow, you must have been a very good boy this year!


----------



## wineinmd (Aug 10, 2015)

I don't get the whole 'take a picture your food' idea, so I won't be able to fully participate, but if anyone is ever in the Outer Banks, we tried a tapas restaurant on our trip that was excellent. It is called Metropolis and is up near Corolla. 

The guy who runs the place was great. He did such an outstanding job describing the cream of asparagus soup that I changed my mind from "Gross!!" to "I'll take it!" in about 20 seconds. The soup had crab and was topped with garlic toast crumbles. We also had a shrimp salad with couscous, artichokes, bacon, and mint. Crab and gouda dip with brioche cubes. Fried quail with goat cheese grits and lemon-thyme jus. Beef tenderloin with blue cheese, crusty polenta cake, arugula, and truffle oil. The only dish we didn't love was the quail. Just a bit overdone, and the breading took away from the flavor of the quail. 

I'm no wine expert, so I asked the waitress to bring something to go with the quail and beef and she brought a Cotes-du-Rhone that I liked.


----------

