Perfect Pairings: Wine Dinners

by Chris Becicka

A special genre of dining out is what's known as the wine dinner. This is a singular, prix fixe meal built around the wine. In August, I attended two such events, one at Hannah Bistro in Overland Park and one at The American Restaurant. Both reminded me of how much fun it can be to eat out for an occasion made special by itself—especially with strangers and fellow epicureans.

So there were several in September I wanted to attend: Webster House’s “A Taste of Italy” with four appetizers, four courses and dessert; Blue Stem’s “Champagne Dinner”; Tatsu’s “Canadian Wine Dinner”; or 12 Baltimore Cafe’s “Fall Food and Schlafly Beer” dinner. I don’t care if it wasn’t wine, it included a six pack of the beer! Somehow life and work interfered, and I regret my absences still.

A wine dinner is an exercise in the atypical. Often on weeknights, it takes about three hours, and the price is usually around $65 and includes harmonious pairing of wines with the meal. And it’s usually a generous pour—glasses instead of sips like at tastings. And there’s no leftovers or pour-out bucket.

Patrick Quillec, chef and owner at Hannah, likes the concept for several reasons: he gets to cook food he likes (it was a scrumptious trip to Tuscany the night I was there) and match it properly with the right wines, and he gets to educate people.

“I have one customer who came in almost every day for lunch,” he said. “He ate the same thing, time and again. I asked him to pick something else. He wouldn’t. Then he came to a wine dinner, where he didn’t get to choose. Now he eats new things all the time. I know he is happier.”

At the American, we ate upstairs in elegant surroundings. Five large tables of eight to 10 gourmands were introduced to Lorenzo Gatteschi of Small Vineyards Imports. His family, with all of 10 acres of land in Toscana, produces 400 cases of a delicious Chianti Classico Reserva and he told us much about the whys and hows of small vineyards (there are 950,000 producers in Italy, most of them very small and very unknown here), wine tips (don’t let pinot grigios age) and much more. (What do Italians call a meal without wine? Breakfast.)

Four very different wines were served with four courses, each harmonized perfectly, which was no surprise. The scallop tart with arugula hair pasta and lemon emulsion required a Vernaccia, citrusy and lush. The eggplant and mozzarella stack with its smoky sweet pepper sauce was enhanced by a Pinot Grigio della Venezie, which was minerals and flower petals. The Campo Linda Chicken Confit with plum turnover and wilted frisée was accompanied by the Podere Ciona Chianti—reminding us again that poultry does not require a white wine at all. And the baklava crisps were balanced with a wine that normally would cause me to grimace at the sweetness—Tre Donne Moscato d’Asti—but this combo was somehow superb, too.

Chef Celina Tio’s rationale for wine dinners is similar to Quillec’s. She says, “We try to pick out wines that someone might not otherwise order, so they have the opportunity to try something new. At the same time, I try to create a menu along the same lines; having dishes that are a little more daring but something that sounds intriguing.”

The rules for wine dinners are simple: Be on time. Check whether the price includes the gratuity. Be friendly and introduce yourself to the others at your table if it’s a group environment. Be open to new tastes. Enjoy and have fun. That’s it—perfect pairings.

 

A few of the upcoming wine dinners include:

?10/13 The Raphael “Gateway Getaway”: Chef Christopher Lee in St. Louis

10/14 The American Restaurant: Old world wines with a master sommelier
10/18 Blue Bird Bistro: Local food with local wines from Paola, Kansas
10/20 Hannah Bistro: Wines from Spain and Portugal
10/31 Pierpont’s: Dinner with the Lady in Black
11/7 Starker’s Reserve: learn details by calling them
11/17 Cafe des Amis: Celebrating the release of the 2005 Beaujolais nouveau
11/17 Hannah Bistro: Wines from Rhone and Southern France
11/18 40 Sardines: Ridge Watson and Joullian Winery