Bonny Doon Wine Dinner Set; Lobster Week at Golden Truffle
There’s a new facet to Amici Trattoria, the warm Italian restaurant on Anton Boulevard near the Performing Arts Center. Chef and owner Massimo Navarretta plans to make a gourmet meal at home quick and accessible with the debut of Amici Caff & #233;. Every morning, the food cases are filled with fresh sandwiches and salads and some entrees of the day. The smell of freshly baked bread and focaccia fills the air. Cheeses (mascarpone, mozzarella, Gorgonzola dolce, boc-concini and the best Parmesans are a few) beg to be taken home. No less appealing is the display case of cured meats, including the famous prosciutto de Parma. Several types of sauces are made fresh each day and ready to dress your favorite pasta at home. Of course, no food emporium such as this would be complete without all the olives, olive oils, balsamic vinegars, and arborio rice to make risotto and pastas galore. There’s always a ready-made dinner for two to go available for only $12.95, should you not want to put anything together yourself.
Massimo probably enjoys teaching his Italian cooking classes as much as he enjoys cooking for his restaurant customers. Thus, I’d suggest you feel free to ask him for suggestions on how to use some of the products in your home cooking. He’ll probably add plenty of entertaining conversation to the free cooking advice, making the place even more endearing. While you’re taking in the sights and filling your shopping basket, be sure to pick up a schedule of the monthly wine tastings (they cover mostly regional California and Italian wines).
Amici Caff & #233; is a pretty place dressed in light and emerald green marble. The chic environment invites us to sit at bistro-style tables for a bit of food, an espresso, a glass of wine or a pastry.
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I’m allowing you to read this first, then put down the paper, make your reservation, and then go back to reading. That’s because this wine dinner is tonight, March 6 at 6:30 p.m., and for anyone remotely interested in finding out what makes a winery famous, this evening with winemaker Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Winery is an absolute must. Until you’ve met and sipped wine with Randall Grahm, Ph.D. in philosophy and owner of Bonny Doon, you haven’t got a clue why wines like his are coveted and spirited upon release into the wine cellars of famed wine critics like Robert Parker and Frank Prial.
The Bonny Doon Vineyard is in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the tiny hamlet of Bonny Doon. The Grahm family founded the winery in 1983. Winemaker Randall Grahm is considered one of the nation’s foremost wine experts and was named Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year by the James Beard Foundation for 1994.
Having said all that, I hope that if you call right now you can still get in, since those of us who know Randall well grab our seats early on. It’s just not worth it to miss his entertaining and educational presentations, nor the tasting of these famous wines.
So, join the others and me tonight at Roy’s of Newport Beach. We’ll certainly dine regally, as the menu includes: steamed ravioli of lobster and Dungeness crab, with crispy ogo in marigold, konbu and tiger prawn broth, paired with Critique of Pure Riesling. House-marinated fresh sardines and beefsteak tomato salad with wilted mesclun and crispy lardon croutons in warm balsamic vinaigrette, paired with Ca’ del Solo, Barbera. Hawaiian-grilled “Mixed Plate” of tri-peppercorn seared ahi, garlic-rubbed Huli Huli Quail and Korean-style Kal-bi, with wakame and warm truffled potato salad, paired with Le Cigare Volant (it means flying saucer in French). Dessert will be Caramelo flan with confetti of oven-dried fruit, paired with the Vin de Glaci & #269;re, Muscat.
This menu, specially designed by chef Chris Garnier, will give you a fine overview of the Pacific Rim cuisine that is the trademark of the restaurant. Cost of this Bonny Doon Pacific Rim dinner is $85 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Call (949) 640-7697 now,I’ll wait till you get back.
It’s the great Lobster Everything Week,Tuesday, March 7 through Saturday, March 14,at the Golden Truffle, celebrating the last of the California lobster season. My New Year’s present to myself as 2000 rolled in was a commitment to have more lunches and dinners at Golden Truffle. Just last week, I was there twice. The menu that chef and owner Alan Greeley, our equivalent to a European three-star chef, will be offering will require that I make more than one reservation again. Don’t miss this unique shellfish dining opportunity.
In the salad-style category, there’s lobster Louie, warm lobster salad with Champagne vinaigrette and lobster Caesar. With a Latin tinge are the lobster Puerto Nuevo, lob- ster tacos, lobster Chilaquiles and the Golden Truffle’s very famous red-hot lobster taquitos with “cool sauce.” Reminiscent of a French Riviera recipe is the Ni & #231;oise lobster pizza. Other unique lobster dishes on the weeklong menu: lobster Shiitake risotto, lobster Thermidor, spicy Golden Truffle Caribbean-style lobster, and steak and lobster. Should I add that there are even more lobster dishes to try?
To go with all these shellfish temptations are dozens of wines you won’t find everywhere. The list is so well-balanced and has such breadth that it is, in fact, one of two that I carry everywhere with me in my briefcase. It’s my benchmark for almost all other wine lists in the county. It even has more than a dozen sparkling wines on it. Of importance to singles or couples are the many half-bottles available. This makes it possible to enjoy more than one fine wine with dinner.
AT A GLANCE
ROY’S OF NEWPORT BEACH
Address: 453 Newport Center Drive
Phone: (949) 640-7697
GOLDEN TRUFFLE
Address: 1767 Newport Blvd., Costa Mesa
Phone: (949) 645-9970
AMICI CAFF & #201;
Address: 655 Anton Blvd., Costa Mesa
Phone: (714) 546-3073
