Sixteen Years Ago In NOMenu.
Thursday, May 8, 1997.
Emeril's. Cuvaison Tasting.
The main force at home urges us toward Mary Leigh’s birthday wedding on Saturday. I cut grass for three hours to get the place looking decent, stopping only because I had a lunch at Emeril’s to get to. Manfred Esser, the boss at Cuvaison Winery in the Napa Valley, was showing off his 1994 Merlot and 1995 Chardonnay and Reserve Chardonnay. All of this came from the Carneros region, and it had the tight, formal structure that I have come to associate with Cuvaison.
I sometimes doubt my ability as a taster, but once in awhile I am able to confirm it. The two Chardonnays, made from the same vintage and vineyard by the same winemaker, had an immediately noticeable difference to me. The reserve tasted as if it had malolactic fermentation, the regular not really. As it turned out, this was exactly right. I congratulated myself for picking up such a subtlety, and before my head swelled too much, told myself I must be having a good day.
The menu was odd in that Emeril’s good barbecue shrimp were followed by a shrimp cake. Then we had a filet mignon in a straightforward sauce, and a big platter of the dessert shop’s best work. Good eating.
Friday, May 9, 1997.
Birthday Girl At Brennan's.
Mary Leigh turns five today. We continued preparations for her wedding tomorrow; my part of this was cutting grass for about an hour and a half, and picking up a load of groceries on the way home. All the while, I looked ahead to tonight’s planned dinner at Brennan’s, also a part of the birthday festival. Bonnie Warren, my old writer friend and the public relations person at Brennan’s, always insists on celebrating all our family’s birthday with a meal over there. Given the lustful anticipation I experience prior to eating over there, maybe I’m underrating the place.
We had a great dinner, starting with the turtle soup and oysters casino, two dishes I hate to pass up on any trip to Brennan’s. After the Jackson salad I was finally able to try the unusual redfish Jaime. This is a dish that I’ve looked at for years but never ordered because a principal ingredient—crabmeat—was always unavailable when I felt like eating it. The recipe uses a red wine sauce over the fish and the crabmeat, therefore making it a perfect candidate for one of the trendiest of combinations: red wine with fish. I got a Pinot Noir from Van Duzer, William Hill’s Oregon property, and both Mary Ann and I liked it quite a bit.
Brennan’s was almost completely full, with even the upstairs dining rooms occupied. This cut down on the kids’ running around a lot, although they did make the courtyard their playground, as usual. The problem with taking them out to dinner, however, is that Jude crashes at nine or so, and then we have a sack of bones to carry around or (worse) have to listen to an embarrassing amount of whining. I wonder if they’ll appreciate the number and quality of the restaurants they enjoyed with us as they get older. (Probably not.)
Saturday, May 10, 1997.
A Five-Year-Old Bride. Cooking For Her Wedding.
In past years, Mary Leigh’s birthday parties weren’t the productions that Jude’s have always been. That mostly has to do with the calendar, since she was born on Mother’s Day and her birthday is never far from that essential celebration. But this year was different. Mary Ann grabbed hard at Mary Leigh’s idea of having a wedding, and we really got into it. The best part was watching the birthday girl look angelic in the beautiful wedding dress Mary Ann made for her. She glowed. As did all her friends, each of whom had her own homemade dress to wear for the occasion.
Meanwhile, Daddy was cooking. The menu was to resemble wedding reception food, and did—sort of. The most ambitious dish was the fried chicken drummies. Deep frying anything is always a pain and a mess, but the results were good. I marinated the wings in buttermilk, after first cutting them in three and omitting the tips. Also on the table were some failed phyllo-wrapped dishes. I learned something about cooking with phyllo: you have to butter it constantly, or it tastes and looks like nothing.
To browse through all of the Dining Diaries since 2008, go here.
