Saturday, July 24, 2010. W-ine Dinner At Carmelo. Tropical Storm Bonnie is still heading toward New Orleans, but the prognosis now is that it will fall apart before it gets here. So my Saturday radio show got a reprieve.
Before wine dinners were an every-night thing hereabouts, Carmelo Chirico was staging a lot of them in his former French Quarter restaurant. They were better than most, particularly as regards their use of Italian wine. In his new place in Mandeville, he kept the schedule going, with a major feast almost every month.
He has one tonight, and I liked the menu. I should have called sooner. They squeezed us in--and barely, at that. There must have been sixty people in attendance, taking over the back half of the dining room. Regular customers filled the rest of the place, with more people waiting at the bar. Carmelo has a regular clientele after less than a year. In a location that can't be put into directions easily.
We were seated at a table full of new faces. Some (not all) of them knew me. The conversation was strained, not because we were strangers (I find strangers easier to talk with than friends), but because the restaurant was so well packed that one had to shout over the ambient sound. I am at my least articulate when I'm shouting.
The dinner was good but not spectacular. We started with Bonterra Sauvignon Blanc, a nice bottle of wine that we had a few weeks ago at Ristorante Filippo. Then an assortment of poached seafood, antipasto style. Some seafood can make it on its own intrinsic flavor, but all this needed some olive oil, garlic, vinegar, herbs, or something more, or to marinate in it longer.
I decided that what the table needed was a pizza. One of Carmelo's daughters was serving our table, and when I asked if she could smuggle one over, she took care of it without hesitation. That picked up not only the enjoyment of the meal, but also the camaraderie at the table. In other words, we all screamed even louder.
The seafood risotto with lobster, clams and mussels was better. Best dish of the night, I'd say. The wine was certainly the top of tonight's liquid refreshment: Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay "Les Pierres," a wine I haven't had in over twenty years. I remember being impressed by it then. I still am.
Two entrees. Most people--Mary Ann among them--went for the osso buco, of which I got only the marrow. (Marrow presents a texture problem for MA.) But that's my favorite part of that dish. I also got some of the wine matched to that course: Sonoma-Cutrer Pinot Noir 2007, which I thought was terrific.
But my order was for the fish. Carmelo had raved all night about the fish "in cartoccio." That's Italian for "en papillote" or "in a paper bag." The fish steams in its own juices inside a parchment bag. Good, fresh, vivid--but, as was the case with the antipasto, the bag needed more flavoring elements inside than it had.
We ended the dinner with an assortment of berries and cheese. Well, that's simple enough to make. But it worked fine as a last course. Teddy Graziano, the wine distributor representative, opened bottles of Korbel Rose. Not impressive, but good with the berries anyway.
Mary Ann told me on the way home that if I thought any wine dinner had a chance of going on longer than three hours (as this one did) to let her know so she can bow out.
Ristorante Carmelo. Mandeville: 1901 US Hwy 190. 985-624-4844. Northern Italian.
