Dorm Room Dinner, Redux again

Last night's Dorm Room Dinner at 33 wine bar was good. In fact, it was very, very good. Chef Jim Fiala, of The Crossing, Liluma, Acero, and Terrace View fame took what could have been a campy slant at dorm food, and knocked it over the fence.

The first course was (not Liptons) French Onion Soup- although it is pretty hard to screw this dish up, this particular one was rich, delicious, and I could have eaten a bucket-full of it. He wasn't so heavy handed with the cheese as other restaurants have gotten recently

Next was (Not Mrs. Pauls) Fish and Chips- This course caused some debate in the room. It was sort of a fish puree on a potato chip. Flavor-wise, it was delicious, and tasted just like a fish stick. Texturally it was a bit strange. I loved it, but others in the room were a bit weirded out.

Third was (Not Uncle Bens) Rice n Beans- a bean puree served on a crostini, and a fried risotto ball. The dish was probably the furthest that Chef Fiala strayed from the true "dorm food" format, but each component was delicious. My wife liked the pureed beans a lot- I did too, as I remember eating lots of bean dip in college!

Fourth ws probably our least favorite dish- the "Mac n Cheese". This was pretty straight forward, but the cheese sauce seemed a bit scorched. Chef Fiala even told me that it was, and that he was the least confident about that course.

Fifth was a (not Pillsbury's) Toaster Strudel- Filled with Lamb, and drizzled with Basalmic Vinegar, this was our table-mate's favorite dish. It had a richness to it, and the sweetness from the Basalmic that was really fun to eat together.

The last course sent this thing into overtime. He did a (not Ore Ida) "Loaded Baked Potato"- basically, home made icecream, rolled in Cocoa powder, and topped with bacon and pistachios, to truly look like a baked potato. Many people were saying that this was the single best dessert that has been served at any of the Dorm Dinners. It's hard to disagree.

Wow- What a great night with my wife and friends! I won't even go into the wines we drank (K syrah and Jayson).

If you can get into the next Dorm Dinner, you should.

Dorm Dinner Redux

Last night, the mrs. and I had the opportunity to attend the Dorm Dinner at 33 wine bar. I think I have explained this in the past, but here's the skinny: a local chef is invited to cook a dinner at the wine bar (which has no kitchen) for two seatings of about 30 people each. The rub is that they can only use implements that would be allowed in a dorm room to cook. I'm talking microwaves, hotplates, toaster ovens, etc. This forces the chefs to take things way out of their comfort zones, and get really creative.

To start, since this is "Sippin' Saint Louis", we had a 2006? Alaia from Castilla y Leon, Spain. This is a really cool little inexpensive drinker made from Prieto Picudo, Tempranillo, and Merlot. It has quite a bit of acid to it, and also some earthy funk that I thought would go well with the pork-centric menu. Speaking of, here's what we ate, all prepared by Gerard Craft, and the guys from Niche:

"Chips and Dip"-
They took french onion dip, added tapioca to it, and fried it. The result was these delicious little fluffy chips, with a really strong french onion taste. Wow. I could have put a hurting on these things during football season!

"Pork of the Sea"
This was pork rilletes, served with warm bread and home made pickles, in an open tuna can. One thing I loved that these guys did was to keep "pure" in the whole dorm room thing, including presentation!

"Pork and Noodle Soup"
This course was fantastic- a pulled pork wonton served in a really rich broth. It came out in coffee mugs, which again was a great homage to dorm life. This was needed on such a cold night!

"PB&J"
Okay, follow me here- two peanut butter cookies, with moscato jelly and foie gras in between. In the vernacular of modern texting tweens, "OMG". This was so rich and delicious it blew me away. My table mates where a little overwhelmed, but I thought it was ridiculously good!

"Pot Pie"
This was a small pork pot pie. The crust on this thing was absolutely perfect.

"Candy Bar"
served on a plastic plate, this was a home made version of a "Whatchamacallit" bar, made with ice cream. I thought it was amazing.

Kudos to Gerard, Adam, and the rest of the guys from Niche for pulling off an amazingly fun and delicious dinner!

Cheers,

Fish in a dorm room???

I'm writing this fresh off of what was one of the better nights of dining that my wife and I have had in a while. I was lucky enough to get us seats at the new "Dorm Room Dinner" series at 33 wine bar in Lafayette Square. For the uninformed, this is a series of dinners where guest chefs from around the city prepare a 5-course meal for 2 seatings of about 20 people each. This doesn't sound too off the wall, until you learn that they can only use cooking implements that would be allowed in a dorm room....such as a microwave, hot plates, and a toaster oven. The guest chef last night was Kevin Willmann, from Erato in Edwardsville, IL. Simply put, I was blown away by what this dude could do. Last month, it was Josh Galliano from Monarch, who also knocked it over the fence. Josh's menu was very pork-centric, while Kevin's was more seafood-driven. My favorite dish was sauteed cajun-style prawns with local sweet corn and tasso. They were ridiculous, and I look forward to going across the river to visit his restaurant. I'm sure others will wax in a much more poetic fashion at stlbites.com.

I think what made the night so fun was that all the elements were there- great food, great wine, really interesting company at our table, and seeing a lot of the people that I like, enjoying themselves. My wife even told me that, for the first time in a while, she didn't think about her job, my job, or anything else. We just relaxed and had fun...oh, and saw a huge possum walk across the back fence of the outside patio.

The wines we drank:

2001 Domaine Zind Humbrecht "Rotenberg" Pinot Gris-
If you were to give this wine to a soccer mom from Maplewood, and tell her it was the same grape that is in the pinot grigio she slugs down at Olive Garden, she might spit it out on you. This is rich, extracted, minerally, and flat out delicious. DZH has been around for a long time, and create wines that are almost obnoxious in their body weight and spicyness.

2007 Heaven and Earth Pinot Noir Boheme Vineyard-
Well, James Laube sure liked it (he's a critic from Spectator), as he gave it 97 points! This was a delicious bottle of high-octane (14.5% alcohol) pinot noir. It was really interesting that, upon opening, it had a grilled meat note that gave way to cherry cola notes and fresh berries. We were fortunate to get a bottle, as there were only 292 cases made. Good choice, Jeff!

2003 Mitolo GAM Shiraz-
I like drinking older shiraz, as it shows that the wine really can age. This one was dark, brooding, with velvety tannins and a iron fist of a finish. We probably should have drank (drinken, drunk, I don't know the word to use here...) it with food, but the beautiful night called for it alone. Many appologies to the couple sitting next to us that we offended with our rather candid comments about what was evidently their favorite wine (not the wine we were drinking- our group didn't care for another wine that we were talking about, and the table next to us tried to defend it.) Oh well, can't win them all.

Until tomorrow, Cheers! and don't fry bacon in the nude.