Dinner at Schwa

Schwa
Tasted Saturday, February 7, 2009 by winefool with 441 views

Introduction

Rich somehow managed to score a reservation for 6 on a Saturday and was nice enough to invite Janet and I along with his friends Andy and Erika. Rich and I split wine duties and stems, and aside from the untimely absence of Rich's wife due to illness, it was a great night of food and wine.

I especially enjoyed the unusual juxtaposiiton of Schwa's high concept adventurous food with such a casual atmosphere and the ability to plan and bring all our own wines (at a whopping $2.50 per head corkage which they actually waived because we opened our own bottles!). Good stuff!

Flight 1 - Risotto - beet, horseradish, taleggio (1 Note)

I'm not usually a fan of beets, but this was a really tasty risotto

Flight 2 - Sunchoke Soup - orange, sunflower sprouts (2 Notes)

Soup was delicious, perfect with the Rieslings

Flight 3 - Pad Thai

Noodles made from squid instead of pasta - interesting.

Flight 4 - Arctic Char Roe - white asparagus, avocado, guava

'Stolen' from the Grant Achactz's cooler at Alinea who hoards it all we were told, tongue in cheek. This was very high concept with a lot going on but very little roe. Interesting, but not a hit.

Flight 5 - Qual Egg Ravioli - brown butter and housemade ricotta (1 Note)

A signature dish, it did not even appear on our menu. Spactacular, probably the best thing I ate all night.

Flight 6 - Lobster - chestnut persimmon, prosciutto

Poached in butter with a dehydrated prosciutto 'chip'. A runner up for the best of the night. Perfectly cooked and flavorful.

Flight 7 - Chicken liver - rutabaga, tumeric, beer (2 Notes)

The beer foam didn't have the strongest taste, but the liver was wonderful - very foie gras in preparation. We should have opened the dessert wine for this course, but we just didn't think of it until too late.

Flight 8 - Duck - pumpkin, chocolate (1 Note)

The chocolate sounds contrived here but it fact it really worked adding just a subtle hint of earthy complexity. Duck breast slices over duck leg confit. Delicious.

  • 1991 Bodegas Vega-Sicilia Ribera del Duero Único

    Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

    I got a slight corky note at first on the nose that was cause for concern, but if there was TCA here, it surely didn't seem to have much impact on the palate. Big full earthy focused black fruit with clear breed. If this was muted at all, I'd love to taste a perfect example.

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Closing

We finished a crazy tallegio cheese and egg 'brulee' that was delicious as long as you kept the tallegio proportions from overpowering. An unremarkable dessert (clearly not their focus) but we were full anyway. I really can't understand people who bitch that they eat here and leave hungry - it was more than enough food, especially if you at everything. Finished with a Baumard Quart du Chaume but I missed the specifics on that one.

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