Tuesday, March 29, 2016.
Eat Club @ Flaming Torch.
[caption id="attachment_51131" align="alignright" width="320"]
Zohreh Khaleghi, owner of the Flaming Torch. [/caption]Eggplant soup is listed as the first course in our Eat Club dinner tonight at the Flaming Torch. In my heart, I hope that the chef will make that using both eggplants and tomatoes. That's only because about twenty-five years ago a chef in one of the uptown bistros made a soup from that combination, and it is still in my flavor memory. I've lost track of the chef who made it. Don't remember his full name, though his first name is Daniel. He demonstrated the making of his eggplant-and-tomato soup on my old television show, so I came away with a proven recipe. I make it at home now and then, but I've never seen it in a restaurant again.
I didn't let on to Zohreh Khaleghi my hopes for the soup. She is the proprietor of the Flaming Torch, having taken over after the untimely death of her husband Hassan almost three years ago. The rigors of the restaurant business don't seem to be grinding her down. She looks beautiful tonight, and she has a new painting (that's her real occupation) on display in the dining room.
I was concerned that we would have an anemic response to this dinner, mostly for the reason that the omnipresent digging of the new drainage system uptown has made the Flaming Torch at least seem to be inaccessible. But we had only three open seats in the dining room, and a happy buzz all night long.
The empty seats allow me to move freely from one table to the next. The first landing is at a table occupied by two sisters and the husband of one of them, plus a woman who said she was the mother of the sisters, even though she could easily pass for a third sister.
It was at this table that the soup arrived. The color alone--a medium orange--told the story of its origins. Also in there was some red pepper, so no Tabasco was called for. A great start.
I moved to the next table, showing off my Ferrari-Carano Winery tie, which I came to own a long time ago. It still gets compliments, but never more than tonight. The graphics on the tie are imagines of Ferrari-Carano's wine labels and winery. It will never have a more perfectly timed wearing.
After a salad of little bitty baby greens, strawberries, and blue cheese, out came the best dish of the night. A single grilled sea scallop (some gripes were heard that there was stomach space for another scallop) show up with a cool sauce of mangoes, citrus, vinegar, and herbs. Just marvelous. The Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay was a little overwhelmed by the crunch and acidic herbs, but I heard no major gripes.
[caption id="attachment_51129" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Rack of lamb.[/caption]
Last time we had a dinner at the Flaming Torch, the rack of lamb was clearly the best dish of the evening. So here it is again, served juicy and with a savory brown sauce with a bit of garlic and red wine.
Speaking of red wine, the pairing was with Ferrari-Carano Merlot. David Colomb--the representative of the wine's brokers--told us about this and the other wines. He noted that Merlot vineyards continue to be ripped out for the planting of more Pinot Noir, the hip red wine of these times. Twenty years earlier in the wine country, I asked why so many wonderful Riesling vines were being yanked so more Merlot could be painted. Answer: it was Merlo's turn. I wonder what life would be like if we weren't at the mercy of vogues, trends, and styles, and instead enjoyed the best that has ever been found in every field.
[caption id="attachment_51128" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Baked Alaska[/caption]
The dessert is a high point. It's baked alaska, prepared differently from the one at Antoine's, which all but owns the dessert. We also had a sweet red wine made with black Muscat grapes. This is something I've never heard of, let alone tried. Nor do I think I'll taste it again. It's a rarity--the kind of wine that winemakers produce just to show that they can do it.
But it's wines like this that make Eat Club feasts special.
Flaming Torch. Uptown: 737 Octavia. 504-895-0900.
Zohreh Khaleghi, owner of the Flaming Torch. [/caption]Eggplant soup is listed as the first course in our Eat Club dinner tonight at the Flaming Torch. In my heart, I hope that the chef will make that using both eggplants and tomatoes. That's only because about twenty-five years ago a chef in one of the uptown bistros made a soup from that combination, and it is still in my flavor memory. I've lost track of the chef who made it. Don't remember his full name, though his first name is Daniel. He demonstrated the making of his eggplant-and-tomato soup on my old television show, so I came away with a proven recipe. I make it at home now and then, but I've never seen it in a restaurant again.
I didn't let on to Zohreh Khaleghi my hopes for the soup. She is the proprietor of the Flaming Torch, having taken over after the untimely death of her husband Hassan almost three years ago. The rigors of the restaurant business don't seem to be grinding her down. She looks beautiful tonight, and she has a new painting (that's her real occupation) on display in the dining room.
I was concerned that we would have an anemic response to this dinner, mostly for the reason that the omnipresent digging of the new drainage system uptown has made the Flaming Torch at least seem to be inaccessible. But we had only three open seats in the dining room, and a happy buzz all night long.
The empty seats allow me to move freely from one table to the next. The first landing is at a table occupied by two sisters and the husband of one of them, plus a woman who said she was the mother of the sisters, even though she could easily pass for a third sister.
It was at this table that the soup arrived. The color alone--a medium orange--told the story of its origins. Also in there was some red pepper, so no Tabasco was called for. A great start.
I moved to the next table, showing off my Ferrari-Carano Winery tie, which I came to own a long time ago. It still gets compliments, but never more than tonight. The graphics on the tie are imagines of Ferrari-Carano's wine labels and winery. It will never have a more perfectly timed wearing.
After a salad of little bitty baby greens, strawberries, and blue cheese, out came the best dish of the night. A single grilled sea scallop (some gripes were heard that there was stomach space for another scallop) show up with a cool sauce of mangoes, citrus, vinegar, and herbs. Just marvelous. The Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay was a little overwhelmed by the crunch and acidic herbs, but I heard no major gripes.
[caption id="attachment_51129" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Rack of lamb.[/caption]
Last time we had a dinner at the Flaming Torch, the rack of lamb was clearly the best dish of the evening. So here it is again, served juicy and with a savory brown sauce with a bit of garlic and red wine.
Speaking of red wine, the pairing was with Ferrari-Carano Merlot. David Colomb--the representative of the wine's brokers--told us about this and the other wines. He noted that Merlot vineyards continue to be ripped out for the planting of more Pinot Noir, the hip red wine of these times. Twenty years earlier in the wine country, I asked why so many wonderful Riesling vines were being yanked so more Merlot could be painted. Answer: it was Merlo's turn. I wonder what life would be like if we weren't at the mercy of vogues, trends, and styles, and instead enjoyed the best that has ever been found in every field.
[caption id="attachment_51128" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Baked Alaska[/caption]
The dessert is a high point. It's baked alaska, prepared differently from the one at Antoine's, which all but owns the dessert. We also had a sweet red wine made with black Muscat grapes. This is something I've never heard of, let alone tried. Nor do I think I'll taste it again. It's a rarity--the kind of wine that winemakers produce just to show that they can do it.
But it's wines like this that make Eat Club feasts special.
