Good and affordable brut
https://www.piper-heidsieck.com/en/cuvee-brut
And same for demi sec
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Absolutely a great offering.
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I tried Gruet in Virginia with a friend from my AOL days who introduced it to me way back in 2001. I was amazed at how good it was.
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My friend was absolutely adamant about how good it was. Iām glad he told me!
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It is fun watching this thread morph. I strongly suspect that most of us just want to put great food on the plate, not a tower of orzo or a broccolini tipi. As regards Champagne, I love, love, love it. Try it with Belgian endive leaves filled with sour cream and topped with lumpfish caviar.
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I love champagne, and if I want to put a sculpture on a plate, well, I have an old set of tinker toys in my office.
Absolutely, and truth be told, thatās what I really look forward to in a restaurant.
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I love Pol Roger Champagne. Iāve tried a number of more expensive ones (bought at duty-free stores), but always return to it. Unfortunately itās a very rare treat ($$$).
On one occasion when a waitress was bringing glasses of Kir Royale to our table, it smelled like she was carrying a bouquet of flowers. It was Pommery with CrĆØme de Mures (blackberry).
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I thought of plating today, working on this.
Iāve got a lot of rosemary and citrus in the garden, a lot of orange jamalade in the cupboard and the recipe said itās not just for looks, but it did look nice!
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Thatās beautiful (and looks delicious!)
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So itās disjunctive? Plating or Champagne? Whatās the punishment for both?
Canāt we agree that even great food can be plated so as to make it unattractive? And, if so, would you enjoy your Fallen Stars as much?
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I donāt really understand ā¦ I like champagne, I like great food, attractive plating is always desirable, but over the top, chichi plating of bad food is - bad food.
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Does plating extend to drink ware? I find the notion of a half filled mug of a great Champagne like Krug NV or Billecart-Salmon rose extremely appealing, maybe with a plate of oysters. I dislike flutes, and even though a few flutes sit on a top shelf gathering dust, I always grab a wider wine glass for Champagne. Good Champagne demands that I get my nose involved.
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I wonder if over the top chichi plating might also be a way of distracting you from very small portions. I see photos of a tower of something with three spears of asparagus artfully arranged over it. Come on, itās asparagus. It may be expensive as vegetables go, but it certainly isnāt expensive as vegetables go. I would appreciate 8-10 spears. If you need to dress it up, serve it on its own plate. If you must drizzle a sauce over it, please make it a good one, but leave the bottom ends so that I can still pick them up with my fingers! To me the best plating is less about how the food is arranged and more about displaying the foods themselves, plus ensuring they are there in the right proportions. Half a ribeye, sliced and fanned, is way more appealing than two or three bite sized slices. If it must be sauced my only requirement is that the sauce not be one that breaks and leaves a puddle of oil or butter oozing out.
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Iām with you. I dislike the extreme tipping back of the head involved with getting that last bit of Champagne, but I canāt see myself using a mug, not even my favorite one (which I use for coffee)!
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I love asparagus, but have too often been served tree trunk-thickness spears that have not been trimmed or peeled, and are swimming in whatever sauce is on the meat.
Perhaps the worst plating Iāve seen in a restaurant was a surf and turf (which I usually avoid), with a few shrimps sitting on top of a beef filet, and the restaurantās āsignature vegetablesā on the same plate, all swimming in a brown sauce.
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Yuck. I am with you on thick, woody, untrimmed asparagus. For meif asparagus has anything on it, I am fine with a squirt of lemon, a pat of butter if you must. Whenever a restaurant kitchen sends anything out swimming in brown sauce it seems as if they are hiding something.
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Try Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve. Almost as good as vintage.
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I often wonder that, too. And Iāve concluded the answer is yes.
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You guys! Advanced (whether real or imagined) plating and appropriate drinkware are intended to increase the visual satisfaction/satiety aspects of eating and drinking. They generally do that, or at last should.
I think the āsmall portionā critique isnāt particularly fair if the meal is multi-course, prix fixe, etc. But when the prix is $$$$, thereās a natural temptation to bellyache over portions that donāt fill the belly.
As for Champagne flutes and coupes, another big reason these are āappropriateā isāsometimesāsitting right there at table: the icebucket. Smaller pours held away from your hands make for a more consistent chill, and sippable appeal.
We wouldnāt enjoy food as much if we ate blindfolded. Nor would we enjoy tepid Champage as much from 24-ounce balloon stems.
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