Yes, that most famous of "Hallmark Holidays," Valentine's Day, is almost upon us. To celebrate, we will be doing a special tasting on February 10, in conjunction with our friends at The Fudgeboat. Yes, we will once again pair wine and fudge, which went over extremely well the last time, with cars lined up all the way down the block, and at least three fire code violations inside!


Anyway, if you only make it to one wine tasting that week, make it this one!
Sunny weather brought a crowd to the beach this past weekend, and we were actually busy Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And the crowd dissipated on Sunday just in time for us to sit down and watch the Packers tame the Bears. Then it was home for hot wings and the AFC Championship game. Had to switch to beer for that one. Hey, it happens!
We are still seeing a lot of new faces in the restaurant, and one woman made the comment that "this is happy food." That, and the occasional "oh my god!" are awesome praise. Oh, and people tempted to lick their plates also makes us feel good about what we are doing.
Speaking of what we are doing, a new menu is poised to be released to the world, which will include our new tapas menu. We are excited to be adding some more "oh my god" items, including the meatballs, pastry-wrapped olives, chili-lime shrimp (our own version of shrimp cocktail), and spicy mussels, just to name a few. It will also include a little history of tapas...so stop asking!
Unfortunately, we didn't get enough response to our wine dinner to actually do it, which is a shame. Menu was awesome, but the wines, well, I hate to send them back. And, since I don't have a tremendous amount of willpower when it comes to wine, I talked Joel into opening up one of the Maude Pinot Noirs from New Zealand. Smoky and rich, like a big ol' glass of bacon! With strawberries.
And just as I wrote that, we hit the bonanza. First, the vendor from Juice came in with several bottles of deliciousness. Then Andrew, from Tryon (who will be doing tomorrow's tasting, by the way), came in with a couple whites and a couple reds. And now, as I type with one eye closed, we are waiting for Ethan, from Millennium, to come in...and god only knows how many wines he will be bringing with him...which makes me want to race to finish this, so I will still be capable of sending out the emails!
Tomorrow will feature a Pinot Grigio (just because we feel compelled to offer a white), and then a Montepulciano, a Cab and a Syrah. Holy crap! What a line-up!
Anyway, we did some food experimentation today. Teresa made a terrific stock for a soup I will make tomorrow with kale and some of our Spanish meatballs. Then, thanks to our friend at the Veggie Wagon, we have a homemade mustard around which we made a new sandwich. London broil, red onion and Swiss with this amazing, spicy whole grain mustard on Focaccia. "Prime Grind," we are calling it, and it is worth a taste!
OK, I need to sign off. There is wine on the way, and if I don't do this now, it simply won't happen. So, see you soon? Yes!
Shawn