Excuse me if I can't find the right words, but tonight was beyond awesome! My very first test kitchen taste testing with Flanagan winery and TIPS roadside executive chef, Tony. So I felt so close to fame with the owner of TIPS roadside, and the...founder and CEO of Flanagan winery, Eric, and rubbed shoulders with the Flanagan estate winery director, Isabella. There was a prefixed menu with each part of the menu and an sample wine paired as seen below in the pictures. My tastebuds like others were doing figure eight circles and then some with sparks of spice. Smelling the nose of each rosette wine. When I say rosette is also in my book, sampling. They do this once a month. Bringing in a local winery and pairing it with an ever rotating sample menu. The highlights of the entire evening was the steelhead patte with copious amounts crostini bread alices. And the Flanagan family white chardonnay. Yummy! The next dish was an baby octopus salad. If you are like me, I ate everything except the baby octopus. Anything that includes the killing of baby animals no matter what, it really bothers me. There was frizzia garnishing nuts with a light vinaigrette. The third dish was lamb with sliced onions and cilantro and garlic bits. This was cooked to perfection! And again I don't like lamb for obvious reasons but, this was a nice pairing with an Flanagan winery red as stated in the menu. Very good. Finally the dessert was the icing on the cake, but it was not cake! wait for it....a mascarpone cheese cooked with a soft special lemon butter cream with to accentuate the flavors of the cheese. Sooooooooo good! Nicely done and perfectly paired with the Flanagan family red zinfandel. So fun! So delicious! Pretty expensive, but a fabulous culinary cuisine experience! Get tickets ahead. No kids are allowed. State allergies ahead when calling for the reservations.More
