Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar’s new wine dinner experience, dubbed “Taste of the Future,” is a sensory journey up the California coast.
This five-course wine pairing menu at the restaurant’s Fashion Island location is also a 360-degree culinary experience.
Held in the restaurant’s underground private dining room, the venue transforms with virtual panoramic projections and sounds of the ocean, farms and vineyards that inspired the California-themed menu selections.
Senses stimulated … tastes experienced when I went to the inaugural event last month.
The menu included a first course of Alaskan octopus with grilled artichokes and squid ink reduction, paired with Freemark Abbey Howell Mountain Chardonnay.
Before the course was served, videos of an octopus in the ocean and scenic vistas of the California coast were on the walls, while a voiceover prepared diners for their first course.
Smokin’ Hot
Second course was a brilliant smoked tomato soup with Humboldt Fog foam and brown butter brioche toast point paired with Goldeneye Pinot Noir Ten Degrees Anderson Valley. The accompanying video projections highlighted preparing the tomatoes, and vineyard views.
Additional courses followed: sensory exaltation, entrees, wine.
Pairings perfect; cuisine divine.
Unique, unusual, creative.
Taste of the Future events are first Saturdays in September through November, $200 per person; limited to about three dozen patrons.
Fleming’s, 455 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach 92660, (949) 720-9633, flemings steakhouse.com
