The Forage wine dinners continue every Tuesday. I’m rarely in town on Tuesdays, so miss them all, but they’re very interesting, creative ventures. Here are two recent ones:
The Ancient Roman one interested me because I had spent some time fifteen years ago heavily investigating ancient Roman cookery, which (as it turned out) had many cross-connections with Indian food (there was trade between the two back then). Cumin and cilantro were used in both cuisines. But, that takes us too far afield …
I have friends visiting from California and I’ve taken them to Oleana and Legal, and also to Forage. There were six adults at dinner that night and two kids and everybody had a great time. I can only talk about what I (and my wife) ate. We split mussels in an asparagus broth (at the other end of the table there was another oder of it), the mussels beautifully tender and the broth bursting with flavor. It was such a hit with the two-year-old at the other end of our table that we passed our bowl down so that she could take the last sips. As my main I had bluefish, with cracklingly crisp skin on a bed of very tasty lentils&rice. My wife had their steak – either she or I have had it a few times before, and it has always been terrific. This was perhaps their best. I will have more to say about this in another, more appropriate thread, but it put to shame the Bistecca alla Fiorentina I’d had in Florence five days earlier. Others in the party had other things (risotto, for example) and everybody was happy, or did a good imitation of joy.
We had multiple wines by the glass (one of their great strengths). I had an orange Santa Barbara Riesling with my mussels and a terrific white (details are hazy) with my bluefish, my wife a robust red with her steak.
A couple of diners had ritz-cracker ice cream for dessert. Meanwhile the staff heard us bemoaning the absence of limoncello on the post prandial drinks list. Within minutes they produced two small glasses for each guest – one with the last of their house-made and one with some commercial brand. My wife and I overwhelmingly preferred the tang of the house-made over the sweeter, more syrupy commercial, but others at the table had the opposite view. Whatever that outcome, it was a lovely gesture to end a lovely evening.
Eat there, folk, and drink there.
