Some of the most enjoyable and rather unique tastings happen on the second Tuesday of every month, except December, at Bluewater Grill in South Coast Plaza Village and Newport Beach’s Cannery Village.
The evening tastings have become quite popular,no wonder at only $20 per person (plus tax and tip),and if you’re still out there on a limb and not in the loop, then putting a note in your agenda book for this monthly event would be a good thing.
On Oct. 10, the tasting event is called Baked to Perfection.
That’s because Mendocino fire-roasted oysters are the focal point. They will be baked with butter and garlic and wine, with a tangy barbecue sauce made specifically to match seafood and roasted in the chef’s Pacific Rim style as well.
The baked oysters will be served with a choice of Firestone Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling or tastes of four Firestone barrel-fermented ales and lagers (including the acclaimed Walker’s Reserve), plus a pint and a souvenir Firestone Walker Pint Glass.
I cannot imagine who would want to pass up the Nov. 14 East Coast vs. West Coast Oysters & Wine Tasting. This one even reaches to two other countries on the other side of the Atlantic for wine interest.
The oysters to be tasted: Blue Points from New York’s Long Island Sound, Nova Scotia Malpeques, Fanny Bay oysters from British Columbia, Hammersley Inlet oysters from California, Washington state Kumamotos and Hama Hamas.
The superb Trimbach 2001 Pinot Blanc from France is one of the wine pours. The others are 2002 Torre de Luna Pinot Grigio from Italy and Oregon’s Eyrie Pinot Gris, 2000 vintage.
The events are at 6:30 p.m. Bluewater Grill in South Coast Plaza Village: 1621 W. Sunflower Ave., phone (714) 546-3474. Bluewater Grill in Newport Beach: 630 Lido Park Drive, phone (949) 675-3474. Reservations are a must.
Au Revoir Mirabeau
Orange County lost one of its little gems last month.
Mirabeau, the adorable French outpost with such terrific food huddled in the corner beside Gelson’s market in Monarch Bay Plaza at Pacific Coast Highway and Crown Valley Parkway, is gone.
Word is that an Italian eatery will go in that space.
Mirabeau’s owner, Katy Averill, says that after a short remodel, a friend of hers with 14 years of local restaurant experience will open it as Stella’s.
It was one of those soulful, intimate places founded by two partners who happened to have marvelous restaurant backgrounds, even though they were pretty young.
Mirabeau only had been open about six months when Food and Wine magazine named it as one of the 10 Best New French Bistros in America. Still, it’s always an uphill battle for the little guy struggling against the big, well-funded competitors.
Both Katy and her original partner had opened some of Todd English’s Olives restaurants. He’s the person who has dazzled America with a stable of restaurants named Olives, Fish Club, King Fish Hall, Bonfire, English Italian, Tuscany, Fig’s and Blue Zoo in cities such as Tokyo, Seattle, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, Orlando, Fla., and Aspen, Colo.
The chef in the partnership left last year and she continued with a new chef. Katy gave all that was in her heart to Mirabeau, from the time it opened at the beginning of 2003 until the end.
She had been the pastry chef, coming into the restaurant at 5 a.m. daily to bake all the bread and make the French desserts and even the ice creams.
Then, she’d play host at lunch and dinner, making sure her guests were getting the most charming experience.
Katy’s young son had to spend a lot of time in the restaurant with her. He often was seen doing his homework at one of the back tables.
She’s planning to take off several months, spend time with her son and do some traveling.
We certainly shall miss Katy’s savory and sweet treats and her down to earth French food. She had kept other chefs, food and beverage directors from various hotels and wine connoisseurs, as well as all of us who simply appreciate wonderful food, happily fed.
In the end, a pro is a pro and I think that since Katy’s such a professional presence in a restaurant, she’ll be back. Perhaps with another vision, with another style of food, but if and when she comes back, I will be among the first to seek a reservation.
As soon as more information is available on the restaurant that will be opening, I’ll let you know.
Corkage
I’m giving all the restaurants fair notice: I am going to do an article on wine corkage.
I have far too many people asking me about wine corkage,what some restaurant or another charges and lots of complaints on restaurants being greedy in their wine corkage policies.
I know of one fine restaurant in the center of our Gold Coast dining mecca that charges no corkage fee. Never has. Beat that.
Overall, my personal thought right now is that far too many restaurants hijack the public on corkage. Isn’t it logical that friends and repeat customers are better made by being kind in such charges?
I won’t start gathering my information for two weeks, so you have that long to change your policy before I request what you are still comfortable charging.
Don’t blame me when the public finds out how much of a range there is and some of you have to justify your high corkage policy to those who read my column.
It’s the old me, up on the soapbox again. But I do have some obligation to my readers.
