Laurel and Sage - Montclair

We tried this Châteauneuf Du Pape at a Super wine tasting at the Manor in October. It was so good, and very reasonably priced for a Chateauneuf ($29.99). I had my contact at Wine Library (who sponsored the wine tasting) order me a half a case. There was also a very good Napa Zinfandel that we tried and liked (Titus), and also ordered a half case.

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Have you ever tried shoppers vineyard?

Yes, I used to go there all the time. That’s where I met one of the current wine directors at Wine Library (Steve Fahy). He used to work at Shoppers Vineyard and turned me on to a lot of great wines. He knows what type of wines I like and will tell me not to buy a wine if he doesn’t think it meets my wine profile (big hearty reds like Cabernet, Malbec, Shiraz, Châteauneuf Du Pape, etc.). When he left Shoppers Vineyard I followed him to Wine Library (where he still takes good care of me). I miss the closeness of Shoppers Vineyard, but I usually get free delivery from Wne Library, so that makes up for it.

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We had another excellent dinner at Laurel & Sage Saturday night highlighted by a humongous crispy whole black sea bass and pomegranate molasses braised short rib with sweet potato, homemade kimchi, and horse radish. It went great with a 2015 Titus Napa Valley red zinfandel.



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Looks amazing as always. Beautiful fish esp. have only done the whole fish a few times myself but it always seems to be a better experience. What were the sides with the fish pic? They looks pretty sweet, maybe a charred tomato dish to the left?

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Thanks Mr. Met! Actually, the dish to the left of the fish was the spicy homemade kimchi that went with my shortribs. To the right of the fish was roastd potatoes and spinach sauteed in garlic.

We treated our friends, who recently celebrated their 40th anniversary, to a spectacular dinner ar Laurel and Sage. We are also about to celebrate our 8th anniversary on March 27th. Since we were with friends, I couldn’t get the full description of all of the dishes. Some of the dishes we had were beef cheeks with asparagus risotto, blackened swordfish with sweet potato crabmeat hash in a BBQ beurre blanc, squid ink liguine with lobster, shrimp, and scallops, venison chop with quail and potato salad with beets, beet salad with goat cheese, toasted pecan, and smoked bacon, merguez sausage with lentil salad, salmon 2 ways; cured tataki and tartar with seaweed and plantain chips, and crispy Chilean seabass maki roll. We had some outstanding wines including a 1985 Sterling Vineyards red blend, a 2016 Duckhorn Cabernet Franc, A 2011 Lafond Chateauneuf Du Pape, and a 2015 Titus red zinfandel. We had an excellent espresso chip ice cream for dessert.
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We had another spectacular dinner at Laurel and Sage Saturday night.
We started off with a special of crab stuffed prawns with cucumber noodles in a tangerine dressing. We also shared the always excellent beet salad. For entrees, Mrs. P had the always amazing soft shell crabs with corn pudding. It was very lightly tempura battered to give it a nice crunch. Most restaurants all you taste is breading. I had an excellent grilled wagyu top sirloin with celery root and potato au gratin, in a foie Demi glacé. It was perfectly charred on the outside and pink on the inside. The steak went great with a Cooper and Thief red blend aged in Bourbon barrels for 3 months.






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What’s in the metal bin next to the wine bottle…?

Excellent homemade poblano pepper and Swiss popovers with honey lavender butter on the side.

Nice pics as usual! That tangerine dressing sounds really interesting. Crab season is almost here so tell Mrs P to get ready :slight_smile:

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Thanks Johnny! Mrs. P says she has been ready :smile:

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Happy Passover Eli. I should be eating well tomorrow so I’ll see if I can grab a few pics. I’m going south so I’m going to check on the crab gear and take inventory for the new season.

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Thanks Johnny! Good luck tomorrow.

I’m not actually crabbing, just going to see what kind of new stuff I need to buy for this season. The water is still too cold…another few weeks.

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We had another excellent dinner at Laurel and Sage Sunday night. Details and pictures are in the regular WFD link below.

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We had another awesome dinner at Laurel and Sage. Details and pictures are in the regular WFD thread below.

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We had another excellent dinner at Laurel and Sage. Pictures and details are in the WFD link below.

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Great looking crab dish! My mouth is watering. The presentation is awesome too.

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Thanks Johnny. This is one of our favorite soft shell crab presentations. The Chef uses a light tempura batter to get the crunch, but it is mostly crab and not breading. The corn pudding goes great with it.