wine pairing dinner

Following the overindulgent evening at Nightwood this past weekend, we took a few nights off, more or less, dining a little bit lighter and more simply. Back to that again after last night. Maybe back to that for a good little while to come.

I am an unabashed fan of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, and the yearly series of late winter/early spring wine pairing dinners are an especially good reason for us to dine there. Last night was the first of this year's (we also have reservations for the April dinner), and as usual, it was really something. Here's a rundown of the evening that was:

• a cooking demo upstairs in the test kitchen. Rick Bayless showing us how to make achiote shrimp.
  I am firmly of the opinion that the man is an excellent teacher, and even though I have some reasonable knowledge of Mexican food, I come away from these demos having learned new things. Also, we all get to sip darn good margaritas while we watch and listen. And then a small serving of the shrimp for each of us before heading down to the Morales Room for the meal.
• wines from Bethel Heights Vineyard in Oregon. The Casteel sisters were in attendance to talk about the wines and meet the guests. Our favourite? The Chardonnay paired with the second course. We asked Jill for more at the end of the night and were thrilled to be given some.
• the first course, ceviche verde. Sashimi-grade Hawaiian bigeye tuna tossed with avocado, jicama, charred fennel, cucumber, lime, cilantro, and roasted garlic. Bayless garden Ruby Streaks radish micron, pinenut crunch. Quite good, with the crunch being most memorable (which is an odd thing to say, but I did like it!).
• the second course, pampano en mole verde. Garlic-marinated pompano served with classic green pumpkinseed mole. Enchilada of hoja santa-flavoured mashed potato, grilled frisee, crispy kale. I want buckets of that sauce, and I'd love some eggs with it. Or a bath. Conrad and I agreed that it was our favourite pairing.
• the third course, puerco en salsa de pasilla y huitlacoche. Adobo-marinated pork with full-flavoured sauce of pasillas and huitlacoche. Iroquois white corn torta, grilled green beans, crispy black trumpet mushrooms. HUITLACOCHE! YES!!! Another sauce I want buckets of, thank you.
• the dessert, pastel de chocolate y naranja rosa. Gooey clourless chocolate cake layered with dark chocolate-lemongrass crema and blood orange "curd". Candied and fresh blood oranges, caramelized cocoa nibs. I used to like-not-love the desserts at Frontera, but for a couple of years now I've been blown away by them, and this was the case last night.

Other things that were great about last night included the company. RAD was next to me, and there were other familiar faces from past dinners at the table. We had a terrific time and good conversation.





And then there's Jill. I don't think I've sung her praises on the blog in a very long time, and that's just wrong. Jill remains one of our favourite people, and a trip to Frontera means we get to talk with her a bit. Plus, frankly, she looked gorgeous in that patterned blouse last night. (that's her, standing behind our table - the only decent photo I had of her)

So cheers, here's to my expanding waistline and my lack of self-discipline. It's a bean, cauliflower, and tomato soup for us tonight for dinner, and I intend to get to a rare (for me) Thursday night swim practice to atone for overdoing it midweek.

But oh man, it really really was worth it...

(more photos from last night are up on Flickr!)