The Wine Cask - Better Than You Remember

My girlfriend and I had a chance to dine last week at the Wine Cask located in Santa Barbara at 813 Anacapa Street. This restaurant closed for a while in 2009, but has since reopened with a new outlook on the dining scene. The Wine Cask has a vaunted reputation as being one of the nicest eateries in town. That is no small claim in a Foodie haven like SB, so I was ready to see if it lived up to the hype. 

Dinner

The Wine Cask occupies a fair sized space, but it is laid out so the tables are not all that close together (a good thing in my humble opinion). The hostess station is fashioned like a gigantic wine barrel, which looks more tasteful than it sounds. The dining area has a very large fireplace adorned with large format bottles from some amazing wineries. It has an elegant feel, yet is very approachable. We were there on a Monday night and it was not too busy, but even if it were packed, I'm guessing the noise levels would still be pretty subdued. There is also a lounge/bar area and a tasting room at the Wine Cask. We didn't venture into either one, but I'm guessing they are done up in a similarly tasteful fashion.

Living up to its name, the wine list is very nice. While not cheap (2x -3x retail), the choices are solid with offerings from both the Old world and New. The sommelier, Aaron, was very helpful and I was in the mood to have someone else pick some wine for us that night. After several questions from Aaron regarding what wine I was thinking about and what my preferences were he went to work pairing some wine with our meal.

The menu is fairly small, but I felt the options were good for both small plates and entrees. Meat lovers may balk at a lack of anything for them as a starter, but I was happy with the seafood, soup, and salad options. The entrees cover all the main culinary bases: meat, seafood, pasta, & vegetarian. They also include sides with the entrees, a novel concept I wish more places would get back to. Here is the food and wine rundown for our meal:

• Farmer’s market greens with herbs, oil and vinegar - What a pleasant salad. The greens were very fresh and the dressing was perfect. Light olive oil with just enough white balsamic to give it some kick. 
• Local Spiny Lobster & House-made Pappardelle - Large hunks of lobster meat and fresh made pasta bowties had both of us in Foodie heaven. The sauce was light and had a little fresh ricotta in it to give it some legs. This dish was exquisite. Aaron paired this with a Mersault from Louis Latour. This is a White Burgundy and it was a perfect match for the dish. Think of all the things you love about a great chardonnay minus any over oakiness or too much butter and you have this wine.
• Crispy skin Salmon with fingerling potatoes - The manager, David, had mentioned that this dish is one of his favorites and I can see why. The salmon was cooked perfectly; moist, yet flaky, and the crispy skin just made it. It was served with a lemon and thyme infused sauce that was delicious. The potatoes and the greens complimented the salmon well. Our wine pairing for this dish was a Red Burgundy: Vigne de L'Enfant Jesus. This is a big Burgundian wine that needed some air in it to really open it up, but it was very nice with the salmon. It had some of the old world Pinot Noir bite, but it was kept in check by the lovely fruit (and a little smokiness) in the wine. It all added up to a great main course.
• Trio of desserts - We were unable to decide on dessert, so they were nice enough to give us a small sample of three: Butterscotch pudding, Berry oatmeal crisp, and Chocolate caramel tart. The Butterscotch pudding is made with real butter and real scotch and is served with fleur de sel on top. I'm not usually a big pudding fan, but this was good. Although I liked it less once the parts with the fleur de sel were gone. The Berry oatmeal crisp was very tasty. Big, fresh berries were cooked on top and it has fresh oats rolled in with it after it baked. I would have liked it more with a very small scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato. The Chocolate Caramel tart was served with a little chocolate ice cream and caramel sauce drizzled on it. This dessert was a bit rich for me. I love everything in it, but together it was a little much. The pastry crust was also a tad overdone for our liking. The chocolate ice cream was very tasty, though.
  

The service was really top notch. Mira, Aaron, and David all made us feel welcome and you could tell they were committed to delivering an enjoyable dining experience. The food pricing has small plates at $15 and under and most entrees being close to $30, which is in line for a restaurant of this caliber.

Final Take

The Wine Cask lived up to the hype and delivered a great meal experience in spades. The food was really amazing as was the service. The desserts were good, but they didn't quite match the high bar set by the first three courses, so they get a little ding for that, but that is a very minor blemish on an otherwise wonderful meal. We'll be back here again soon.

Overall Grade = A- (Excellent)

The EV Foodie

Oysters and Wine, Anyone?

I recently returned from a trip to Foodie Mecca Northwest (aka: San Francisco). Whenever I'm there I always try to get my fill of the excellent and abundant seafood that is available at the local eateries, especially the oysters. While dining with friends, I was asked what wine goes with these tasty bivalves. That seems like a simple question, but it is not something this Foodie can easily answer. So I decided to blog about it instead!

I'm sure many people would answer with Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris (or some other light, white wine). Those are a safe choice and they probably do taste good with oysters because there is not much in those wines to take away from the inherent nuances of the oysters themselves. But I can't say that there is one wine varietal that goes with everything oyster because they vary so much in taste and type.

Just as there are wine snobs, there are oyster snobs, too. I can be called the former at times and the latter will possibly deride this blog post as being too general. I am by no means an expert on oysters, but my palate knows what tastes good to me and what doesn't. Some oysters I like raw, others I want cooked in something. Oysters come in many varieties and from various coastal regions. I feel the region plays a larger factor in how an oyster tastes more so than the actual type it is. I have noticed roughly three general regions from where oysters are sourced: Pacific Northwest, Gulf, and Northeastern. I will give my thoughts on each along with some wine suggestions.

Pacific Northwest Oysters

I love pretty much every oyster I've ever had that has come from the Pacific Northwest when served on the halfshell. Some varieties can get quite large. I'm good with medium large (Hama Hama) on down to smaller (Kumamoto). They all have a very creamy texture that is almost fruity in nature and are also very fleshy. All I know is that they taste divine by themselves when raw. My first choice would be to drink sparkling wine with these oysters. I do love champagne (Veuve Clicquot goes with everything), but if the bubbly budget is tighter a quality sparkling wine from California works just fine, too (Domaine Carneros or Roederer Estate are two of my favorites and either can be had for $30 or less).

Gulf Oysters

Gulf oysters taste much brinier (even marshy) to me when served raw, so I tend to not order them on the halfshell. However, they take on a completely different nature when cooked and that briny taste now adds amazing character to the larger dish. Two of my favorite entrees with these are fried oyster po' boys and oyster gumbo. Truth be told, a po' boy begs for a pint (or two) of your favorite beer to wash it down (I'd opt for a pilsner). But oyster gumbo deserves a bold wine that can withstand (and even compliment) the Mardi Gras of flavor in your mouth. I'd go for an old vine Zinfandel with big fruit and nice structure (Klinker Brick "Old Ghost" and Cloud 9 "Seity" are two very good zins in the $30 range). I know some people will want sweeter and lighter (body and color) wine in this pairing, but I find that lighter wines can sometimes get completely lost when matched up with dish as bold as gumbo.

Northeastern Oysters

I spent a good chunk of my life in the Northeast and I like the oysters from this region both raw and cooked. When served on the halfshell, I find that they are leaner than their plump Pacific Northwest cousins, and they taste more minerally (but not in a bad way). I like Bluepoints and Wellfleets served this way. Northeastern oysters also cook up nicely, but I find they often need another seafood along with them in the dish, as they don't quite have enough character to carry a hot entree on their own. When served chilled on the halfshell, I envision myself with a glass of lovely French white like Pouilly-Fuissé ($30 and under) or Mersault ($30 and up).

You should take this pairing advice for what it's worth knowing it's based purely upon my heavily jaded palate and the fact I love both oysters and vino. The problem now is that I want to try all of the above pairings and see which combination I like the best. It's really tough being a Foodie sometimes ;) Bon Appétit!

The EV Foodie