Culinary Quest

After our water has been poured, Jake and our servers begin pouring our first glasses of wine.  We are beginning the evening with Taittinger Le Rêve, Domaine Carneros, 1998.  This Blanc de Blancs has a magnificent reputation as a dry champagne.  We watch as the golden liquid fills our fluted glasses, the bubbles playfully rising to the top.  I cannot wait to try it!

The nose of the Taittinger, Le Rêve, displays a serious whiff of oxidation enveloping toasted pear, lemon rind, yeast, and lily.  The champagne exhibits a brilliant golden straw hue with a constant parade of pinpoint bubbles.  There are no perceivable legs.  The taste is bright, with a perfectly balanced acidity that adds a freshness to the graceful flavors of lemon curd, green apple, and freshly baked biscuits.  The dry finish is creamy and very lengthy.  This may be the best American dry champagne on the market.

The first dish that we are served is an Amuse, a term referring to a small appetizer.  Here, the selection is a bruschetta of broccoli rabe, crushed red pepper, and roasted garlic.  The tastes of the bitter greens and garlic are quite powerful, with the red pepper dancing in the background.  The toast points upon which the bruschetta is served are crisp and very fitting for the dish.  They neither add to, nor take away from the overall effect of the predominant flavors while providing nice texture juxtaposition. 

When I taste the Taittinger, I find a magnificent pairing.  The champagne gains in sweetness against the bitter greens, becoming almost creamy, while the flavors of the bruschetta are intensified against the dry background of the wine.  Even those friends who were not impressed with the Taittinger on its own found it enjoyable when matched with the Bruschetta.

After our dishes are cleared, we are served a second Amuse, this time a gazpacho shooter with a skewer of petite Maya pink shrimp and an heirloom baby grape tomato.  The tomato is sweet and flavorful.  The shrimp are sweet, meaty, and taste of a faint hint of basil.  The gazpacho, made from fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, celery, and onions, is rich and flavorful. 

When paired with the champagne, the gazpacho makes the Taittinger become markedly sweeter due to the spice and acidity of the shooter and the structure of the wine.  Where I would have expected a contrast of flavors, I am finding a pleasant combination in its place.  The champagne’s dry finish is diminished and a new layer of complexity has been added.  Jake has started off the evening with a double play.

The table is cleared, and we prepare ourselves for the next wine.  Soon, our servers arrive with the bottles readily in hand:  Houghton, Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc, 2005, Western Australia.  The Houghton (57% Semillon, 43% Sauvignon Blanc) is very intense with a lifted nose.  There are strong, well-developed gooseberry and fresh grassy aromas.  The color is light straw all the way to the rim.  The Houghton is mellow and medium-bodied.  It tastes of fresh citrus, showing both the sweet of grapefruit on the tongue and the bitter of grapefruit on the mid-palate and finish.  I also find melon and herb flavors.  It is tangy with depth and marvelous length.

Having had a moment to discuss our impressions of the wine, our servers are gliding to the table with Chef Fernandez’s First Course creation.

Our first course consists of Hawaiian yellow fin tuna served over frozen, salted watermelon with a shiso-sriracha soy emulsion, topped with a sprig of micro-mint.  The tuna is a deep red, showing its high quality and freshness.  The meat is sweet and melts in my mouth.  When combined with the intensely sweet watermelon, mint, and the slightly spicy emulsion, which is vaguely reminiscent of spicy mustard, the effect is magical.  Other than Chef Fernandez, who would have thought to combine fish, watermelon, mint, and spicy mustard?  The creativity factor alone gains this dish high marks.  The fact that these flavors actually work together earns it a 12 on a 10 point scale.

The Houghton Semillon Sauvignon Blanc pairs with this quite nicely.  The citrus and melon are a natural fit with the dish’s ingredients, so there is no surprise there.  It is that the ingredients are all in the same dish and all happen to work with the same wine that catches me a bit off guard.  The finish lengthens and a bit more acidity can be detected; however nothing unpleasant.

To my great excitement, our next wine arrives: a white Burgundy, the Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet 2001, Côte d’Or, France.  Before I talk about this specific wine, I would like to discuss white Burgundies in general for a moment. 

Burgundy is known to produce the world's finest—and most expensive—white wines. Few other whites are known to improve with time, and these are made from 100% Chardonnay grapes. Burgundy is France’s second most celebrated wine region (next to Bordeaux) and is equally well known for is whites and its reds—not a common achievement.  Unlike most other French wine regions, Burgundy does not blend its varietals; therefore, if the wine is white and from Burgundy, it is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes.  The Chardonnay grape originated in Burgundy centuries ago, and wines made from the varietals here are the best in the world.  This can be attributed to the Burgundian winemakers’ devotion to encouraging the natural expression of these grapes in their wines.  Only a few whites are known to benefit from aging, with Burgundy developing complexity and richness with time. 

Since Burgundy, France, is divided into myriad smaller districts, it is best to rely on the producer’s reputation when purchasing a wine.

Now to the wine at hand.  The Joseph Drouhin, Puligny-Montrachet, 2001, Cote d’Or, has a very pretty nose with hints of fruit, closely resembling the 2000.  I also sense a nuance of stone fruit.  It is a pale yellow throughout.  This Burgundy has very good balance and concentration.  It is full and pleasing to the palate with charming fruit.  This Puligny-Montrachet is a quaff that should be enjoyed now.

We are soon served Tournado (pronounced Tor nuh DOH) of Maine Lobster with parsnip flan, chorizo, and sweet corn leek thyme bullion.  (The tournado is the prime cut of meat in the lobster.  It is free of veins and is where the main source of protein is found.)  The lobster is rich, sweet, and loaded with flavor.  The flan is creamy and provides texture to the dish.  The chorizo has been diced and bears a slight smoky nuance.  The corn leek thyme bullion is delicious and savory, lacking the detectable saltiness that you might fear.  Vanilla, saffron, and thyme have been shredded into the bullion, contributing to the broth’s rich depth of flavor.  The corn kernels found in the bullion are crisp and sweet.

The Puligny-Montrachet brings out the natural charms of the lobster like only a true Chardonnay can.  It accentuates the gentle flavors of the parsnip to their best showing and augments the chorizo’s tastes with its full fruit flavors.  In combination with the savory bullion, the French wine brings to light the nuanced flavors of the vanilla, saffron, and thyme without allowing them to become overbearing.  At the same time, the wine’s stone fruit qualities come to light and its depth of character and dry nature develop a more defined palate.  This is an excellent wine for a magnificent dish.  Bravo!

The excitement at the table is palpable.  None of us can believe how magnificent the food has been, or how well the wine has paired with it.  Even those of us who were not predisposed to white wines found them most delightful when matched with the accom-panying courses.  Indeed, this is exactly what Michelle and I had hoped to show our friends. 

After a few moments of conversation, Jake and our servers return with the next wine:  the Rutherford Grove, 2003, Merlot.  The Rutherford Grove, 2003, Merlot, has a nose of pervasive crushed dark cherry, marionberry, and blueberry with a nuance of spice.  It is a deep purple fading to bright garnet at the rim.  The taste displays layering of cherry and berry flavors that make this a classic Merlot.  Backed up by a rich and balanced tannin structure, this results in an excitingly intense, complex wine that is rich, silky, and firm.  As the wine begins to open up, there is a concentration of jammy fruit, and dark chocolate, with nuances of smoke, and clove.  The first impression is round and velvety.  The mid-palate shows a marvelous balance of the Rutherford terroir and a dusty fruitiness that gently envelops the palate.  The long, elegant finish is supple, luscious, and full of firm oak tannins. 

I expect to be thoroughly excited by the third course.  We are soon brought platters of Sonoma squab breast served on a black summer truffle risotto cake, and brown butter Swiss chard, in juniper Merlot pan jus.  The squab breast has been cooked in the skin to keep the meat moist.  This has created a delicacy of melt-in-your-mouth poultry designed to give you goose bumps.  The rich, succulent morsels of this delicacy resemble red meat more than it does any game fowl, and has no taste of gaminess whatsoever.  The black summer truffle risotto cake upon which the squab breast is presented has a crisp outer shell and a soft inside.  The flavor is rich and savory, with the black summer truffle coming through in every bite.  This is a delight I am not soon to forget.  The brown butter Swiss chard is sweet and buttery, but does not play a main role in this dish.  It is here more as set dressing.  The juniper Merlot pan jus is sweet, thick, and heavy on the palate.  I can make out the characteristic red and black berry of the Merlot.  Chef Fernandez has outdone himself with this dish.

Given that the Sonoma squab breast is prepared with a Merlot pan jus, it only makes sense to serve it with the same full-bodied Merlot.  This wine provides the complex flavor layers of a classic Merlot to complement a succulent piece of meat such as this.  The dusty nuances and cedary oak in the finish emphasize the savory character of the dish’s elements.  At the same time, the black summer truffles help to draw your attention to the wine’s elegant, dry finish with their earthy flavors.

The next wine to grace our glasses is the Ferrari-Carano, Siena, 2005.  This red shows fruit aromas of red and black berries with mocha and spice.  It is deep garnet and fades to light garnet at the rim.  I am excited by the mouth-filling taste.  Here, I find crushed cherry and jammy raspberry flavors showing excellent, ripe fruit on the palate.  It is well balanced with round, soft tannins and good acidity.  There are milk chocolate and butterscotch on the round, viscous, lingering finish.  Where I expected a wine resembling a Chianti Classico due to the high percentage of Sangiovese (80% Sangiovese 16%, Malbec and 4% Zinfandel,) I instead find a more medium-bodied wine.  Perhaps this has to do with the Sonoma County terroir, or the Hungarian Puncheon (20%) and older French Oak (80%) cooperage.  I can only venture a guess.  In any case, this is a magnificent drink and makes a marvelous sipping-wine.  I cannot wait to find out how it will pair with the next course.

The next course is a Chiappetti double cut lamb chop served with an aromatic Syrah reduction and a gratin of local ratatouille summer vegetables.  (Chiappetti Wholesale Meat Corporation was founded by Fiore Chiappetti in the 1920’s in Chicago, and continues today as a lamb and veal slaughterhouse.)   The lamb is lightly seasoned, but the meat speaks for itself.  It is thick, juicy and cooked medium rare.  The reduction is subtle, caressing the lamb’s natural flavors.  The ratatouille is wins best supporting actor tonight.  Created with fresh squash, zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, caramelized onions, feta cheese, and herbed bread crumbs, and served in ramekins, these casseroles are magnificent!  The vegetables each maintain their own flavors while contributing to the whole.  If you can imagine walking through a garden and eating each piece of produce that you pick as you stroll along, you will get the idea of how fresh and delicious this dish tastes.  The feta cheese lacks the characteristic saltiness associated with it.  It has melted like mozzarella.  The bread crumb topping is crisp, but not dry.  This, my friends, is no ordinary mixture of vegetables.  This is a delight to eat.  And coupled with the lamb chop, it makes a perfect dance partner.

When I evaluate the food-wine pairing, I am left in awe of Jake’s deft skill tonight.  The ripe fruit and balanced acidity in the wine work in exciting ways with the lamb.  They support the meat’s rich, savory nature and provide the length in the finish necessary to maintain interest in the match.  The Sangiovese concentration in the Siena makes this a perfect wine for lamb with the grape’s bolder flavors more capable of handling the meat’s forward characteristics.  The ratatouille works remarkably well with this American super-Tuscan due to the round, soft tannins and good acidity in the wine melding with the layers of flavor from the various vegetables.  The tomatoes and onions provide acidity, but the eggplant, squash and zucchini offer sweet counterpoint.  This adds a new balance to things.  Jake is five for five so far.

As we ready ourselves for dessert, our indispensable servers and the irreplaceable Jake begin filling our dessert wine glasses with the sweet nectar of Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos, Royal Tokaji 2000.  This Hungarian ice wine has a very interesting story behind it. 

Furmint, Hárslevelű, and Sárgamuskotály grapes are carefully selected and blended at the winery in Mád, one of the three most important market towns in the Tokaj-Hegyalja region of Hungary to create this magnificent Hungarian ice wine.  Aszú literally translates as “dried berries.” Using the white Furmint grape and the ideal climate for botrytis, the winery is able to make a sweet, concentrated wine.  (The sweeter and more concentrated the wine, the higher the puttonyos number.).  The 5 puttonyos signifies a level of sweetness and flavor found only in this region of Hungary.   One taste of the Royal Tokaji 2000 will make you an enthusiastic fan.   The Royal Tokaji 2000 was bottled in 2005, having spent 5 years in small casks in dark underground tunnels.   

I taste the ice wine.  The Royal Tokaji 2000 has a nose of dried apricot, spice, honeysuckle, lemon rind, and sweet flowers.  The color is deep golden with a slight pink hue.  This is a marvelously sweet, rich Hungarian ice wine.  It has a creamy texture with a wonderful balance of intense orange marmalade, honey, chrysanthemum tea, apricot, ginger, and botrytis flavors.  I detect nice acidity and a fine concentration.  This dessert wine is impressive on its own and, I suspect, with any of a variety of desserts.  This wine should be enjoyed now.

With the Royal Tokaji 2000 fresh on our lips, we anxiously await dessert.  Our servers do not keep us on pins and needles.  We are soon greeted with Chef Ernie Rich’s Grand Dessert Tasting Symphony of Pastry.  This consists bite sized portions of a fruit tart with frangipane, a tuxedo strawberry, a mascarpone citrus cheesecake, a crème brulée, and Black Magic Cake.  I believe I may have died and gone to heaven.

First, the fruit tart with frangipane is an almond crème filled pastry cup topped with an assortment of fresh berries—raspberry, blackberry, and a sliced strawberry.  This pastry is elegant, luscious, and delectable.  The berries are sweet and juicy.  The ice wine intensifies the flavors of the berries.  The honey flavor of the wine mixes magnificently with the frangipane.  These two are a great fit for each other.

Second, the tuxedo strawberry is a ripe strawberry (red the whole way through) coated in dark chocolate and white chocolate.  The effect of this combination is all but erotic.  Chef Rich is using real chocolate when he makes his white chocolate desserts, not the plastic concoction you find at Easter time.  The flavors coat the tongue and caress the palate.  The Royal Tokaji’s sweetness is a fabulous complement for this dessert.  The honey, dried apricot, and orange marmalade flavors work hand in glove with the chocolate and, of course, with the strawberry. 

Our third dessert, the mascarpone citrus cheesecake, is very light.  The creaminess of the mascarpone and the nuance of the citrus fit seamlessly with one another.  The characteristic heaviness of the mascarpone has been toned down tremendously, allowing the gracefulness of the dessert to shine through.  The citrus in the cheesecake is a great match for the orange marmalade and apricot of the Royal Tokaji 2000.  The lemon rind that I pick up on the nose contributes to this welcome match, preparing me for an enjoyable ride. 

The miniature crème brulée is a classic.  The sugar crust has the signature toasted flavor, and the awaiting custard is creamy and vanilla.  This is, in my opinion, the dessert that Royal Tokaji 2000 was created to accompany.  The sweet, rich wine makes use of its multiple levels of flavor complexity to best advantage here with the delicious, yet simple crème brulée.  With other desserts, it must work with and/or against pronounced flavors; however, here, it can shine forth in its own right alongside a dessert that amplifies the wine’s best qualities.  I am able to make out the chrysanthemum tea and ginger flavors more distinctly against the crème brulée than I could previously.

Finally, Chef Rich’s fabulous Black Magic Cake.  This decadent, moist, rich chocolate cake has been prepared in two layers tonight with a single semi-sweet chocolate ganache.  This does not, of course, detract at all from its magnificence.  A small roll of artisan dark chocolate has been placed atop the cake as a garnish.  I have saved this morsel for last since it is sure to be my favorite.  The fruit flavors of the ice wine complement the chocolate fabulously.  Matching the Hungarian ice wine with chocolate cake is analogous to matching port with chocolate, it would seem.  Both pair seamlessly.

As the evening draws to a close, Michelle, our friends, and I chat about the meal with great satisfaction.  We have been regaled by the creative skills of a remarkable kitchen staff and the wine knowledge of an indubitable Beverage Director.  Our servers have seen to our every want, need, and desire, making the festivities much more than just a wine dinner.  We have all learned about the joys of proper food-wine pairing and the marvelous effects that this can have on your dining experience. 

Michelle and I will be arranging more Wine Dinners in the near future, and we hope that you will accept our invitation to join us.  Please watch the Culinary Quest Navigation Bar for the link.  Bon Appetite!

I am not going to rate the Wine Dinner experience since scores would all be off the chart.  I will, however, provide  brief synopses of why this is the case.

Atmosphere:  Dining aboard the largest luxury four-masted ship still afloat is, in and of itself, an experience beyond compare.  The dining room's appointment, the staff's professionalism, and the beautiful view only accentuate this.  If  you have the opportunity to visit Philadelphia, you must dine aboard the Moshulu.

Service:  What else can be said here?  We had the pleasure of having my favorite server in the world, her equally qualified colleague, and Jake Ward as our guides through tonight's Wine Dinner.  They anticipated our ever need, saw to our every want, and took care of our every need.  The Moshulu benefits greatly from their presence.

Presentation:  Chef Ralph Fernandez and his kitchen staff are artisans.  They obviously are of the school that believes the food must look at least as beautiful as it tastes since the clientele eats first with their eyes.  Every morsel was arranged meticulously on the platter.  Each color was used to its best effect.  Every texture was employed to keep the dishes interesting for the mouth.  Even the food's placement on the plate was carefully taken care of. 

Taste:  There are not enough effusive adjectives to describe the flavors with which we were presented tonight.  Chef Fernandez surprised us with such things as the bruschetta of broccoli rabe and the magical Sonoma squab breast over summer black truffle risotto.  His combination of Hawaiian yellow fin tuna with lightly salted frozen watermelon, micro-mint, and shiso-sriracha soy emulsion was sheer genius!  Everything that came from his creative culinary mind impressed to the point of ecstatic delerium.  And the wines!  Mr. Jake Wade obviously knows a thing or two about wines.  Not only did he choose wines that can hold up on their own, they were perfectly matched with their corresponding dishes.  Jake, take a bow.

Value:  I cannot evaluate the value of the dinner based on a dollar amount because the value of the Wine Dinners is based upon the overall experience and enjoyment derived thereof.  That said, this Wine Dinner was priceless.  The Moshulu designed an event for the eight of us that goes well beyond our wildest dreams.  Thank you, Moshulu staff.

Bongo Dining Hours:
Saturday - 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Sunday - 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Bongo Bar Hours:
Monday through Saturday – 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.
Sunday – 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Hours:
Lunch & Dinner Served Daily
Main Dining Room: Lunch - 11:30am to 3:00pm; Dinner - 5:30pm to 10:30pm
Sunday Brunch: 11:00am - 3:00pm
Bongo Bar & Deck: - Lunch - 11:30am to 3:00pm Saturdays;
Sunday Brunch - 11:00am to 3:00pm; Dinner - 5:00pm - 10:30pm M - Sat, 4:00pm - 9:00pm Sundays

Parking:
Parking is available adjacent to the Moshulu. Valet Parking available for dinner.

Entertainment:
Check with restaurant representative for schedule.

Attire:
Cafe Lounge and decks - tasteful casual attire
Main dining room - business, stylish attire, jackets optional

Handicap Accessibility:
The Moshulu is entirely accessible for individuals with disabilities.

www.moshulu.com

28 August 2007