Thursday evening I hauled myself up to Capitol Hill and in the end, the traffic was so light, I arrived nearly 30 minutes early for this set dinner that Chef Rob Weland of Garrison(who I have known for over 2 decades since he opened the now departed Poste at the Monaco Hotel downtown!) had organized at his lovely, small and fine restaurant.
I sat at the bar, met a nice couple and downed a delicious glass of Galen Glen Gruner Veltliner 2017 "Stone Cellar" from (YES!) Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. A couple of weeks ago we had an awesome Texas rose and this was all new to me, as were the amazing wines of Early Mountain Vineyard in Madison, Virginia.
We sat down at three tables and the most addictive Poppyseed Gougeres arrived as the Early Mountain Young White 2017 was poured. I was completely mystified by the varietal and guessed everything until Pat from the winery explained it was a 95% Vidal Blanc and 5% Petit Manseng; I was blown away as Vidal is so often loaded with residual sugar, but he explained it is picked early and hence bone dry and delicious. It was paired with the most magnificent Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho with Dijon Mustard Ice Cream. The gazpacho(foto on FB) was thick and rich and had nice chunks of tomato and the ice cream was more or less a foil and really had only a hint of mustard, but paired brilliantly. The wine indeed was an ingenious pairing as tomato can be very hard to pair wine with!
Next came and Heirloom Tomato Salad with Pickled Red Onions, Vanilla, Mint & Cucumber with Cucumber Sorbet and basil, again, not so easy to pair with wine, but the Early Mountain Rose 2017 which is made from a blend of 65% Merlot and the rest Syrah/Cab Franc & Malbec was another big winner. It is easily one of the top 3 roses I have ever had from Virginia and one of the best for my buck's bang.
Crispy Local Squash Blossoms were cooked to perfection and indeed crispy when served (not easy to do with 20-something people) and came with Smoked Provolone, Ricotta stuffing and Romesco Sauce. The wine was Quaker Run Chardonnay 2015 and Early Mountain ferments and ages it in oak(both new and old French) for 9 months, nice but a bit pricier than the others.
The main course was a perfectly cooked just past rare(I asked for it that way) Cast Iron Seared Virginia Bison Hanger Steak with Red Onion & Tomato Salad and Blue Cheese.(Gray Hill from Mass.) The meat was perfect and the dish delicious, but I had a much whiter cheese that I could have sworn was Feta and the person next to me clearly had a very crumbly bluer cheese. Look at my FB photo; I welcome your thoughts. The paired wine was another Virginia wonder, Cabernet Franc 2015 from Early Mountain's Shenandoah Vineyard (they have several locations they get grapes from).
The dessert was Warm Local Fruit Spoon Cake with Blackberry Buttermilk Ice Cream and was perfect on a warm night with the ice cream and the warm fruit cake....gooey and fun. The wine was a Petillant nautrel 2017 sparkling wine made of 100% unfiltered and unrefined Syrah which shocked me as there was a slight hint of beeriness to the wine and not really my cup of tea...oh, wine!
We all had loads of fun and stayed to chat with Chef as well as Capitol Hill is a far stretch for us....everyone else seemed to live around the corner. It was great food, great company and the perfect meal for the end of summer.
