Vines on the Marycrest Winemaker’s Dinner!

Here it is Tuesday evening, and I’m finally rested enough to write about the absolutely wonderful Vines on the Marycrest Winemaker’s Dinner at my home on Friday night, November 14. Was it a success? You be the judge!

Victor Abascal - winemaker - came to my home accompanied by Elliot “My Eyes Close when I Smile” Pemberton, along with bottles and bottles of Vines on the Marycrest wines. As I told Victor, I had become very intimate with his wines over the course of the last few months, and knew exactly what to prepare to pair with them. According to my guests, the pairings were a success.

2007 Summertime, Victor’s Rosé consisting of 70% Grenache, 17% Syrah, and 13% Mourvedre was the first offering. In spite of what he says about the Rosé on the Vines on the Marycrest website, this is no white wine equivalent. This is, as one of my guests noted, a testicular Rosé, and can be drunk with just about any course that would welcome many lighter red wines. Victor was an entertaining speaker, telling everyone about the wine and why he thought it would be good to offer to wine lovers. He continued through the evening, regaling guests with the now-legendary story of the beginning of Vines on the Marycrest and how he decided upon the blends of his wines.

The tasting menu for the Rosé was International in scope and consisted of “Gazpachotinis,” small martini glasses filled with homemade gazpacho with just a soupçon of vodka; Cucumber Rounds with Creme Fraiche topped with Smoked Salmon; cheese plates galore; my homemade Spring Rolls (thinly sliced poached salmon, Thai basil, Daikon, and rice vermicelli noodles, all wrapped in translucent rice “paper” and served with a spicy Chinese dipping sauce and Hoisin sauce); Herb/Olive Oil dip with crusty Ciabatta bread; Tuna Loin Sashimi; and because my basil is still thriving, classic Caprese made with extra-creamy mozzarella. What can I say? I didn’t know when to stop…!

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Wine Affair and Guilt

As I’ve been preparing for my home wine tasting this evening, something has been continuously bothering me. It’s called a guilty conscience.

I was going to do a big report on the UNLV Wine Affair. It had been promoted for a long time in different media, I had a promotion on my site along with an interview with the Director, and I couldn’t wait to go. So go I did! But there’s lots of guilt involved.

Mark and I had a fabulous time. Don dropped us off and we entered the Affair with everything already in full swing. The Opium Terrace - which I hadn’t seen before - was astonishing. The winery tables were lined up throughout the setting of the pool area. The restaurants had tables set with enticing-looking delectables, and the band was playing on. We started off with Taittinger Champagne and began to look at the wines that were there.

This is where the guilt comes in. Read more

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Milo’s Wine Bar - A Distant Pleasure

I will freely admit that I had a skeptical attitude when I went to Milo’s in Boulder City. Every single person who had visited it loved it. In fact, Zachary, my oldest son of 2BC fame, called me from the restaurant when he was having a meal there. “Mom, you gotta come here. It’s great.”

A mention of Milo’s during a recent tasting brought accolades from perfect strangers. Yes, it’s a little far, they noted, but well worth it. Okay, enough already. I have to check this place out.

After a tiring day of talking, wine tasting, cheese tasting, and socializing (pure hell, huh?), I decided to end my day with a meal at Milo’s. Since I was already at the far end of Henderson, it was a short, 15-minute-ish drive to Boulder City.

Boulder City can easily be described as quaint, a veritable throwback to the earlier days of twentieth century Nevada. Although gambling - excuse me…*gaming* - is illegal in Boulder City, some of the names of the local landmarks give a nod to its flashier brother - The Desert Inn, The Sahara Motel, and the Flamingo Inn are just a few.
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Restaurant Rants & Raves. And more exploration into ethnic food variety.

I have to tell you that you must read this all the way through because there are gems throughout. This week’s entry is (in my not so humble opinion) something special.

Let’s start with the rants.

I had already decided to do a New Year rant regarding my usual beefs about restaurants when my wine club had an interesting experience at Envy, the Steakhouse. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Envy did something that was off of my usual radar, and they did it with panache and pure stupidity.

The great thing about Vegas is that there are many restaurants here that offer world-class food and service. The bad thing is that these restaurants do way too well because of the fact that over 30,000,000 people come through here annually, and they don’t have to worry about taking care of locals. This week’s wine dinner was a perfect example of company policy taking precedence over customer service.

Envy advertised their half-price on wine dinner, and my group took advantage of it on Wednesday evening. Perfect. Day after New Year’s. The food was great, the service exemplary, and wine list and wines were extraordinary. So what happened that made the entire group decide not to patronize Envy ever again?

It came down the check. Read more

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