Could the Weather Have Been Any Better on July 2?

OMG! Yes, I kept remarking about how effing fantastic the weather was! I really hate hot weather. And a number of other things coincided to make Friday a truly awesome day. It was the beginning of a long weekend. My hubby was off. Work let out way early. I was able to eat lunch with hubby. We were able to eat lunch outside at CanCan - No Waiting for a table! We window shopped. We picked up State Fair sausage at Belmont Butchery and flat iron steak for weekend grilling. I took pictures. We stopped by J. Emerson to shop for wine (if you subscribe to their on-line newsletter, they have a kick-ass of a special for July).  I took a nap. We strolled over to Once Upon a Vine for the free tasting and picked up beer in preparation for making beer-butt chicken. For dinner we grilled State Fair sausages and enjoyed black-eye peas. What a great day. OMG!

Iron Horse and Wine - A Friday Night Roundup

Friday night provided some nice wine experiences and dinner in Ashland.

Free tasting at Once Upon a Vine on MacArthur - The ever pleasant and very knowledgable Charlie Knight poured selections from White Hall Vineyards. Our favorite was the 2006 Petit Verdot. Virginia is producing some very good Petit Verdot. It may be worth a few road trips to try some more.

Next we drove to Ashland. Before dinner we visited The Caboose for a free wine tasting. The knock-our-socks-off choice here was 2006 Avieso Reserve Malbec Mendoza from Vinos de los Andes. The most hearty malbec I have ever tried.

On to dinner at Iron Horse Restaurant. The was the first time we had been.

Pros - Very good wine list with reds in all price categories from the high elegance of Chateau Gloria ($72) to the very drinkable Montebuena Rioja ($20). Great Fried Oyster appetizer -very sweet with just the right amount of breading. Large portion entrees (House-Brined Pork Chop and Brazilian Rubbed Rib Eye) ensured that no one left hungry and both meats were delicious. Reservations were made on Open Table. One other plus - watching the trains roll by.

Cons - Half of the establishment was a bar/pub with a live band later in the eveing, the other half was fine dining. We were not able to join the live band because that area allowed smoking. The noise from the bar echoed around the dining room, thus our table for two was not very intimate. The side dishes were less than par. My roasted red potatoes were raw and crunchy (inedible for me). Also, while the highest priced dish on the menu was $27 for a NY Strip, my Rib Eye special turned out to be a whopping $35 (discovered when the bill was presented). For this price, my potatoes should have been perfect. For dessert we shared a poached pear and pound cake, but we were not told that it would be accompanied by a raspberry sauce. I can't stand raspberry and had to send it back.

Best perk of the evening - Our wine. We selected a 2004 Provenance Vineyards Merlot, Napa Valley for $40. A tasty bottle at a very good price.

If we lived in Ashland, we might frequent Iron Horse occasionally (sticking to the menu offerings where the prices are known), but given the uneveness of our experience, we would be hard-pressed to drive the extra miles from Richmond.

Jade Mountain Syrah

Last night we enjoyed a 2004 Jade Mountain Syrah Snows Lake Vineyard Red Hills Lake County California. What chewy, plummy, purplely goodness. The heady nectar paired well with a grilled flank steak that was marinated in olive oil, red wine vinegar, minced garlic, and fresh thyme. For a side dish the same marinade ingredients were used to roast shallots and red-skinned potatoes. Once the roasting finished, soft goat cheese was added just before serving.

The wine was obtained from Once Upon a Vine and the potatoes were purchased at the Byrd House Market last week.

Baby, it may be hot outside, but give me a good Syrah and I'm not quite so cranky.

A Fine Dinner on a Saturday Night

My best laid plans came to fruition, but in a slightly different format. We invited friends from Williamsburg over for dinner. Because they spent the night with us we explored several wine and food options over an extended period of time amidst great conversation.


We began on the deck with a cheese and meat assortment. We had goat cheese wrapped in tarragon.


As well as Zamorano (upper left) and Fiore Sardo (lower left). All of the cheeses came from River City Cellars. We also enjoyed Serrano and a house made Garlic Sausage from the Belmont Butchery.

An assortment of crackers and baguette slices from Sammy’s Bakery rounded out the first course.

To drink we indulged in some Lindauer sparkling from New Zealand purchased from Once Upon a Vine. This bubbly was produced using Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes.

As the mosquitoes began to dive bomb us, we moved into the dining room. The second course was a salad with green leaf lettuce, strawberries, and cashews with a balsamic vinaigrette (equal parts extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, chopped fresh basil, a smashed garlic clove, salt, and pepper – whisk and let sit for at least thirty minutes).

Choosing a wine with salad can be difficult. We went with the Sophia Rose. This dry rose paired very well with the strawberries, but not as well with the other items. Although it did draw out a lavender candy memory of grandmothers and England from one of our guests. My hubby found the rose in Williamsburg at Farm Fresh.


The main course was baked pasta with sweet Italian sausage (from Belmont Butchery). I started peeling and deseeding the tomatoes early in the morning. Once I had squeezed all of the pulp from these red babies, I added chopped green olives, minced garlic, and capers.


I then sautéed some chopped onion and added it to the mix.

Finally, I added some Merlot (the 2002 J. Garcia was on sale at The Fresh Market).

The mixture cooked on low for most of the day and reduced by about two-thirds. Right at the end I added fresh oregano. In the meantime I boiled rigatoni and seared links of the Italian sausage in olive oil. For the baked pasta I placed the rigatoni in an oven-proof dish, poured the sauce over it and mixed. I then topped it with slices of fresh mozzarella. I put it in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes until the cheese browned slightly. I took the sausages that had been seared and placed the frying pan with the sausages in the oven below the pasta and roasted the sausage for about 30 minutes.

We decided to enjoy this course with two different wines. One was a 2004 Rosso di Montalcino from Total Wine.

The other was a 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape (we purchased this a while ago and have no idea where it came from).

Both were very different, but both were very good. The Italian red had a brighter flavor and paired well with the baked pasta. The French was more complex and was fantastic with the sausage. Neither wine out-rivaled the other for attention. I could easily go back and forth between the two.

For dessert we had apple pie, courtesy of our Williamsburg friends. What a lovely pie – both in beauty and taste. I loved the grape motif crust. And we were in for an experimental treat. The pie crust was made with butter, not shortening and tasted like shortbread. Very yummy! We rounded out the pie with freshly made whipped cream and a few diced strawberries macerated in Cointreau and fresh mint.

We sampled several dessert beverages with the pie. The first was Campbell’s Rutherglen Muscat. The muscat was darker than a lot of muscats and paired well with the shortbread crust, but clashed with the apples. As we discussed the tastes we pulled out a Chateau Reynella Tawny Port for comparison. Interesting, but not quite there. Finally, we brought out Belle de Brillet (pear cognac). This little nectar was perfect with the apples.

What a great evening. I had lots of fun coming up with the menu and the wines. Of course, I enjoyed cooking the dishes. And the food and wine conversation that carried on into the night was heaven on earth for me.