LONGITUDE 131 at Uluru (Ayer's Rock), in the Australian outback is out of this world (1-30-24)

 We hauled halfway across Australia to Uluru, the famed Ayer's Rock where Luxury Lodges of Australia has one of it many ultra-luxe lodges. These magnificent, tented lodges are akin to those seen on safari in Africa, all with terraces and magnificent views of THE ROCK!

On arrival we had a spectacular lunch, but dinner was a true revelation. Lorena, who manages the restaurant, discovered we were wine fanatics and kept bringing more and more wines to taste and indeed revel in all evening. We had wine as well with canapes at the foot of Uluru after our later afternoon hike near the base,

Before dinner we enjoyed a Kangaroo Island vodka martini that was smooth and divine and when we sat down our first wine was an Adelaide Hills Gruner Veltliner called "The Pawn: that paired superbly with the amuse of South Australia Spanner Crab and Celeriac on a Crumpet with Finger Lime. The starter (called entree here) was a New South Wales Veal Tartare with Rosted pumpkin, smoked egg yolk and rosella (a dried native hibiscus) that we were in heaven with. The wine was a Rockford 2022 "Frugal Farmer" red blend of Grenache, Mataro & Alicante Bouchet, varietals that are not so common here; we are glad we have an appointment to visit this winery in the Barossa Valley in February.

The main was a Westholme Wagyu with charred onion and potato galette that was so tasty even the fat was amazing. The Bleasdale "Second Innings" Malbec from Langhorne Creek in Southern Australia was a superb pairing with nice acidity.

Dessert was a Simpson Desert (the local desert area to the south) Medjool Date Cake with Salted Territory (the Lake Amadeus salt flats are to the south as well) Honey (honey from Alice Springs) Ice Cream that had a yummy chewy tuille and was a treat served with Dandelion Vineyards Pedro Ximenez Barossa Valley Sherry.

Tonight, we eat outside (yes in the 85 degree--dry--heat) at  1-3-1, the hotel's outdoor dining located exactly on Longitude 131 facing Uluru as the sun sets!!

Sydney's NOMAD - the first dinner in Australia goes from delicious to dreamy to disappointing (1-29-31)

 Our first night in Syndey we chose NOMAD in Surrey Hills just south of downtown (CBD) since we were staying just a tad south at Coogee Beach for the night. The restaurant is large and spacious with brick walls and not overly comfy wooden chairs and leather benches. The tables are blonde wood with a huge open kitchen surrounded by a bar with seats for those who want to be close up to the action. In the back we saw their charcuterie dryer or curing chamber as it is termed with all the meats hanging.

Our server Niley was a gem and we immediately decided on the 150$AUD ($99 US!!) and then ordered a bottle of Frederick Stevenson (the last name!) Grillo 2022 from Adelaide Hills as it was a varietal we love from Sicily and had no clue it was made here. It was perfect with the Merimbula Rock Oysters that come with housemade Worcestershire sauce. The sauce was fab on the creamy but not briny mollusks. Yarra Valley Salmon rose came in a Saltbush Tart with creme fraiche and was another delight. The third item in the "first course" were huge fried Zucchini Flowers with the Zucchini plant still attached topped with Truffle Honey and Pecorino, a truly magnificent, decadent and wonderful treat.

The next set of platters were all just as fabulous: Split pea Hummus with Grilled Scallion, Sugar Snap Peas and a Peppery EVOO was served with a piping hot spiced flatbread.

Beetroot came with Buffalo Curd and Pepita Tarator a tahini-like spread made from pumpkin seeds. The NOMAD Charcuterie selection was magnificent with Salmon Bastirma (a version of Turkish pastrami, but here made with salmon), Duck Mortadella (OMG!!), Beef Pastrami, Beef Bresaola and Pork Lonza that was seasoned perfectly.

We spoke with the sommelier, Milena, at length about the wines and she suggested another Stevenson wine saying the winemaker was actually named Steve Crawford, not Stevenson! The 14.2% alcohol Montepulciano was from Eden Valley and packed a punch and was a delight.

We had told Niley we wanted to eat leisurely and while we were having the charcuterie, the next course arrived way too early; we sent it back.

It returned about 15 minutes later and was the bottom point of the meal. The Abrolhos Scallop was a diver scallop in the shell topped with "our sujuk" which Niley explained is usually a pork ragu, but here was lamb. It was very spicy and totally overpowered the scallop which did not even have a chance. 

the 400g Jacks Creek Sirloin (almost 1 pound) was on the bone and served for two, but was a huge portion and the meat was indeed superb, while the smoked bone marrow was a delight and the herb salsa nice, but again just a tad overpowering; leeks were on the side. It was served with a Baby Gem salad with Burnt Orange and Tamarind Vinaigrette that was intense and way too acidic and lemony for me.

Dessert was a delicious Dark Chocolate Delice with Smoked Duck Fat Caramel and Creme Fraiche. Very rich, but fun. We rolled home and fell asleep so fast as the waves outside rocked us to sleep. 

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another remarkable repast at Roberto's (Vienna, VA) 1-23-24

 

Before we left the USA this past weekend for 8 weeks Down Under, we returned to Vienna, VA and one of our most favorite places to dine, Roberto's. It's rally more like having a meal with family when Roberto's charming and welcoming wife, Nancy, is at the door and immediately brings over prosecco to the table to make us feel at home.

Our first wine is a standard here which we now have in our cellar at home as well-Manincor "La Manina" from the Dolomites with a blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Blanc. It was super with my Cappellacci di Zucca, magnificent large "ravioli" stuffed with butternut squash in a divine sage, butter, black truffle and parmesan sauce. Insalata di Rucola was not a big hit with our friends, but they loved the Funghi al Forno with local mushrooms, spinach, pesto and polenta in a garlic sauce. The Lobster & Crab salad here is a real winner in a beautiful timbale with avocado, parmesan and cheese dressing. 

The bread is always a treat, and we were lucky enough to get a little take-away bag to enjoy those cheese rolls for breakfast the next day, not to mention the yummy peppery breadsticks.

We moved on to another yummy Dolomite wine from Alto Adige, a Falkenstein 2018 Pinot Nero and after that our wonderful server Sara suggested the fabulous "Il Bacciale" 2018 from Braida, a full bodied Monferrato Rosso that we all adored.

Main courses were Calamarata which is a wonderful seafood stew of Shrimp, Mussels, Squid, Maine lobster all poached in tomato sauce; Cinque Buchi al Ragu Siciliano is a unique 5-hole rigatoni with a Sicilian meat ragu of pork ribs, pork shoulder and sausage that will fill your up for sure. The whole roasted Branzino comes fileted with salsa verde with basil, anchovies and garlic and sauteed spinach and was a huge and my Anatra Con i Fichi was a perfectly cooked Mullard duck breast served with potato pave, spinach, carrots and a divine fig port sauce.

We were all so full we agreed to share one dessert between the four of us, but I failed to write it down. Photos as always on FB. We are in Australia now where the food is amazing!

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Falls Church new NUE Vietnamese fine dining--delicious but not cheap (1-14-24)

 We decided to try to the fine dining Vietnamese space in Falls Church that has been getting raves and no way we will head back to NUE very fast as the prices are really sky high.

It was very difficult to find the place to begin with as the only outside sign is a large "N."

Once inside the setting is spacious and cozy with beautiful wall and ceiling paintings and lots of fake hanging plants. We were escorted to a back room and placed in between two tables despite the fact that the entire other side of the room was empty; very odd, but we were fine.

Our server explained the menu which had very limited descriptions, so we had plenty of questions. We ordered a bottle of red as the cocktails looked small and were pricey too(all over $16). The wines started close to $70 and up, so we went basic with a Tesselae Grenache Syrah Mourvèdre($63) blend which was nice from Cotes de Roussillon. Starters arrived and my Seafood Chia Gio was huge and fantastic. our server said they were like spring rolls with shrimp, crab, pork, taro and carrots and these were the fried version and came with a spicy sauce as well as tons of lettuce wraps of different kinds and an assortment of herbs (basil, mint, cilantro, etc) to adorn each wrap/roll. It was fun indeed and I was very full afterwards. At $16 this is the best deal on the menu. Will has the Chili Oil Wontons with shrimp & pork which were nice, but won no prize.

For his main, Will chose the veggie Coconut Curry Risotto and added the Hokkaido diver scallops ($19 for THREE!!) which was a huge and quite rich portion. My dish was even larger and at the $38 the Bo Kho Pappardelle is too rich and too big for one person. It is a large amount of pasta with a rich braised short rib topping and ragu. Somehow it ddid not seem Vietnamese. Needless to say, we took 1/2 of each portion home for the next day!
We really wanted to try a dessert, but we were so full we asked which was the lightest. The Tropical Che is really nothing exciting: a combination of lychee, mango, pineapple and sago with some sorbet. Refreshing yes, but we just felt so full.

Many folks have asked us about Nue and while it is very elegant and very nice, we were shocked at the prices for the who crispy fluke ($67 for two people, $87 for four) and the duck to serve four was somewhere around $160!! This is not Falls Church pricing.

Casa Teresa in downtown DC is truly terrific tapas and more (1-6-24)

 We joined some friends Saturday night and gladly accepted their suggestion to try a new Catalan-cuisine restaurant called CASA TERESA. It is located on 19th Street, between "I" & K Streets, NW and even has complimentary underground parking at night! At first, we had some trouble finding the space as Waze & Google Maps take you to "I" and it is on 19th, and just a tad below street level. On the horrid rainy, wet, cold and truly disgusting night, we were thrilled to find a space across the street (not knowing there was free parking) and be truly welcomed in this very warm space by such a truly warm and wonderful staff.

I settled in with the wine list and the sommelier noted that they featured many wines(all Spanish by the way) made by women. This is part of the heritage of Teresa, the restaurant's namesake, named by her great grandson chef/owner Ruben Garcia Castilla. We ordered a rose of Syrah & Garnaxta from Arrayan called "Peluda" and it was yummy, so much so that when we switched to red we stayed with the same label and adored the full bodied 2017 Arrayan "La Suerte de Arrayan" from Castilla in La Mancha. I recognized the label when the wine came and will now remember how awesome the wines are from this winery.

We were warmly greeted by Chef Ruben himself who came back multiple times to make sure everything was okay. His entire team did the same and kudos go to Andres our excellent server as well as Fadi, the assistant manager. I felt like we had met an entire family in just one evening and we knew that we would be back before the meal even began. 
We decided to share some tapas and as soon as Andres mentioned that there was a special croqueta on the menu made with Jamon Iberico and then wrapped in a piece of that famous acorn-fed jamon, we had to try them; Chef Ruben calls them "Spanish Nigiri!" The filling was rich with bechamel, but the small piece of Iberico made it oh so special and just right and they were cooked to perfection. The Pa'amb Tomaquet or Tomato Bread is an omni present fixture in Catalunya and here it is even more fun as it comes with a small card explaining how to make the bread by shmearing the fresh tomato onto the grilled bread and then drizzling olive oil on it as well as a dash of sea salt. Magnifique and FUN! We ordered the Anchoas de Santona on the side as a treat to put on the bread and these anchovies are the best indeed.

We all ordered our own mains from cheese and jamon plates to the fish of the day to the gorgeous Pulpo a la Parilla a los Mojos which is a huge piece of octopus coiled and set in two mojo sauces: verde & rojo (green & red). Corte de Cerdo Iberico is a 7 ounce pork loin from that same famous acorn-fed pig with garlic and pa'amb tomaquet on the side, just in case you did not have enough before. It was tender and superb, but the Carne a la Brasa was even tastier with a Roseda Farm(Maryland) flat iron steak grilled and sliced with mojo verde. We decided to share the sides and that was a great idea as the Grilled Veggie platter is huge and  has everything from mushrooms to sunchokes and more. Patatas al Caliu are roasted with beef fat and then there are the regular Patatas Frittas.

Alcachofa con Romesco was a huge artichoke heart served with the spicy sauce.

A review appeared the next day(yesterday) in the Washington Post by Tom Sietsma and I must agree that Tarta del Queso here might be one of the best cheesecakes anywhere!! It is a fluffy cheese made Basque-style with goat cheese and burnt on top then laded with a "walnut" sauce that counters the sweetness of the dish and is simply perfection. Others enjoyed the Flan and while the cheese was nice, I always yearn for those stinky runny cheeses (especially the famous blue Cabarales).

As if we had not had enough, Chef Ruben returned to say his farewells but only after proffering a gorgeous freshly made Chocho for each of us. They were warm and sweet and filled with gooey custard and the "croissant" style roll was sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. The best way to describe this is a custard -filled croissant churro--hence CHUCHOS. 

I have to note that Casa Teresa does offer a tasting menu with paired wines and you can be sure we will head back here in the Spring when we return from Down Under!

Thanks to this amazing team who made our evening so special! All the phots are on FB!

Chloe in SE DC is still superb (1-2-24)

First dinner out in the New Year was at Chloe with friends who lean vegetarian and there were no disappointments at all. I figured Chef Haidar Karoum would be recovering from New Year's Eve, but his team is so amazing there was not the slightest glitch with any of the superb dishes we ordered (except that I forgot to photograph two of them for FB!)

Our server Nikina was excellent and gave us some great ideas, even on the wines that were also top notch. With the chill in the air, we started with the Torii Mor 2021 Oregon Pinot Noir and then moved on to an earthy and full-bodied Dido "La Universal" Garnaxta/Syrah blend from Monsant in Priorat, Spain, one of my favorite wine regions.

Dishes here are meant to be shared and we did exactly that with the Garbanzo Felafel with roasted Garlic Yogurt, Mint (I could not taste it at all) and Pickled Veggies. The dish is a treat on a plate and has a nice spice kick to boot. It would have been perfection with a small piece of pita! If you like salads but don't feel like Burrata, just ask for the vegan version and you will get the Winter Avocado salad with quinoa, fennel, roasted butternut, pepitas and a pomegranate vinaigrette! For us, the logical progression after felafel was the Spiced Veal Hummus which is served with Beiruti hot sauce, pickled radish, buttered almonds and comes with a snowshoe naan to wrap it all up. The hummus has ground veal on top and is so flavorful you might be tempted to ask for seconds--don't as the portions here are quite large and we all decided to share a main which was the Norwegian Salmon with marinated cucumbers, piquillo peppers, castelvetrano olives and dill yogurt for one couple, while we loved the Spice Roasted Chicken with Vietnamese style greens, sticky rice and a toasted chili-lime dipping sauce. The huge 1/2 chicken was juicy and cooked to perfection while the sides and sauces made the dish simply wonderful. We also ordered a side of Crispy Fingerling Potatoes with boardwalk malt mayo, old bay and sea salt which are surely one of the best potato dishes around that I can ever recall. Crispy, crunchy and tasty...they could make a meal! The Pan Roasted Shitake & Cremini Mushrooms with ginger, garlic, chilies, soy and toasted sesame were also a hit!

We were way over full and could not even consider dessert, but had a super time and will make sure to keep Chloe in our minds (except during baseball season as it can be havoc to park there when the Nats play!); we even found a free space 1/2 a block away!