brunosdream

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First course was
roasted tomato and artichoke soup
very flavorful w/ a nice light broth.

Second course was seared duck breast
and three cheese
ravioli w/ prosciuto, arugula, tomatoes
and sage butter sauce – Scrumptious!!

Third course was a choice of oven roasted black bass over
garlic olive oil crostini and roasted red pepper basil sauce, or red wine
marinated and braised quail w/ stewed white beans and rosemary-pancetta
broth – I went for the roasted bass
which was edged w/ pancetta… absolutely fantastic!
Dawn chose the braised
quail. I was considering this initially but didn’t want to fuss w/ all those
little bones! Dawn let me sample her quail and it was beautifully braised – I
love the flavor of poultry that’s been braised in red wine!!

Duane went for the a la carte menu so I’ll let him describe
his meal.

The Duane, of course had to be different.
My starter was the
grilled sea scallops
w/ chive polenta cakes
& vanilla rum sauce

Followed by the   
12oz Char-crust dry rubbed
rib-eye w/gorgonzolla butter
& tillamook cheddar-chive gratin

For wine we started off w/ a bottle that I brought from
home.

Artazu Artazuri Garnacha Narvarra 2003
a 100% tank-fermented old vine Grenache made by Artadi’s brilliant
winemaker, Juan Carlos Lopez de la Calle. An elegant, deep
ruby/purple-tinged Tinto, it boasts sweet, crunchy raspberry and cherry
fruit, medium body, a luscious texture, and a heady finish. This is
knock-out stuff to drink over the next 1-2 years.

Liz, server extraordinaire
tasting the vino

Rick, our friendly bartender, commented, “It’s like our
gigondas, it has a dusty dry finish”. He always comes up w/ great descriptions
of wine!

For dessert I went for crème custard napoleon w/ caramelized
bananas & chocolate shavings. Our server, Liz, described it as “banana
cream pie on steroids” and it definitely was!! I had to ask Liz twice what she
called this dessert so Duane and Dawn diagnosed me w/ CRS (i.e., Can’t Remember
Shit syndrome) and suggested I start taking ginkgo biloba regularly. I’m proud
to say that it only took me an hour after I got home to remember all of this!
Sorry Duane and Dawn, I’ll pass on the ginkgo for now, unless you can come up
w/ a dessert version that goes good w/ calvados!!
warm chocolate bread pudding
w/ marshmallows & pecan streusel
served w caramel ice cream 

Main Text-Bruno        Photographs-Duane