Tag Archives: Fine Dining

April 3, 2024 · 11:16 AM

Devour AZ: Can Fine Dining Survive?

I recently attended the event #DevourAZ organized by #LocalFirstAZ and had the opportunity to interview several local executive chefs presenting a local mid to high tier take on the Phoenix restaurant experience. The result was a startling realization regarding new trends in the local fine dining scene.

Local First AZ (link at: https://localfirstaz.com/news) is an organization established to promote the AZ Food & Beverage industry. If you live in AZ, check out their website for other local events throughout the year. Arizona Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, AZ (link at: https://dbg.org/) was closed for this private event. Great garden venue and a perfect choice for eating and drinking in an enjoyable, relaxed setting. DBG was a great place to enjoy the temperate AZ winter weather and discover new favorites on the AZ food & beverage scene. There were lots of prepared local foods with wine, beer and spirits showcasing Arizona restaurants, distributors and beverage producers. This event was sold-out well in advance, so if you are interested in attending next year, make sure to buy tickets early.

Loads of wine, beer and spirits to taste.

THE INTERVIEWS

All four chefs I spoke to, shared the same two-part message: a reasonably priced fine dining experience is now beyond even the upper-income dining community and younger generations are significantly changing their restaurant preferences. As a Boomer generation diner, I am accustomed to a white tablecloth, multi-course, curated food & wine experience. If you are of the same mindset, be prepared… it is all changing.

POST-COVID PRICE CHALLENGES

One of the more well-known curated fine-dining restaurants in my area is Monarch Cafe in Scottsdale. I checked their most recent menu and the per-plate cost has risen to $150-$250 per plate, plus beverage. A friend recently told me he dropped $1,000 on a recent Monarch visit for two with a pre-fixe menu, two bottles of wine and tip for the evening. He doesn’t plan to go back any time soon… There are choices in Phoenix that can get you near the experience for $500-$600, but it is a compromise. There is only one traditional fine-dining restaurant left in Phoenix that allows you to bring your own wine for a corkage fee. These prices will significantly limit the pool of potential clients for this category of restaurant and is pushing those restaurants still trying, to either close their doors, or change their menu, service AND business model.

The issue for restaurants and bars during COVID was just finding help. Now, it is making a new business plan work with huge increases in competitive wages and on-going service inflation. None of the chefs I spoke to were investing in significant server training and all were trying to find a simpler approach to a menu that did not require lengthy explanations of flavors and pairings to sell the experience. They all said servers in this market with the needed experience/knowledge to offer a traditional fine-dining experience are now at $60K-$75K/yr. income level with salary and tips… and are disappearing. Add 25-50% to that for the major centers of fine-dining like San Fran, Chicago and New York.

CHANGES IN BEVERAGE

Wine prices have continued to move higher in the U.S., having been the most expensive dinner beverage option for some time now. This has been my pet-peeve for years. With wineries moving towards the premium category for more than a decade AND the total lack of interest exhibited by volume producers to offer decent quality at lower price points… the entire U.S. industry has been shooting itself in the foot… as percentage wine consumption is dropping by double digits. The industry will lose entire generations of wine drinkers at this rate. In Italy, Germany and France, a $20 USD carafe of red wine at a restaurant competes on quality favorably with the $40-$50 bottles of U.S. wine I have purchased at restaurants.

These factors are causing the chefs I interviewed to cut their wine & craft beer (yes, beer consumption is now dropping too) inventories in half and move towards craft cocktail programs. Cocktails don’t require premium spirits brands, spoilage is a minimum, is a much smaller investment and can offer a very diverse flavor spectrum with little effort… and is much easier for untrained servers to support.

Bites from numerous restaurants serving many different dishes/flavors.

CHANGES IN MENUS/FOOD STYLES

The younger generations seem to be less interested in a 3-4 course traditional meal, than they are in a multi-plate, tapas-style experience. I understand that this approach can offer a more diverse flavor spectrum, but it totally ignores the idea of curating flavor and beverage pairings. For any of you that have had formal training, this is anathema to the old-world European style experience. European cuisines have experienced generations of being honed to find the most complementary flavors and beverages. Millions have been spent on promoting complimentary local food and beverage styles that are identified with a specific location, or region.

There is the service aspect here too. These chefs told me they can compose tapas style menus that describe simpler single flavor profiles that don’t require a trained server to explain. This approach offers a lower payroll cost, corresponding to a lower bill at the end of the meal.

FUTURE OF FINE-DINING

I have been mourning the loss of fine-dining in Phoenix for a couple years now and wracking my brain to look for alternatives to showcase curated food and beverage at a reasonable price. This is what I have come up with and I would appreciate your feedback.

I first thought that the American Wine Society (link at: https://americanwinesociety.org/) was the answer, but there has been significant push-back on including the idea of curated menus with wine tasting. I am hoping this myopic view of wine will change and the leadership will recognize how important food is to the wine experience. I still have hope this is possible and am continuing my efforts to move local AWS chapters in this direction.

I have begun building PowerPoint templates to assist inexperienced enthusiasts in effectively hosting curated food & wine experiences in their homes. If we are going to save the idea of pairing flavors and beverage in the dining experience, it may be possible to do this 8-10 people at a time, with a private experience in local homes. Would there be enough interest to build networks of small groups with this theme in mind? I am hoping…

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November 10, 2023 · 11:04 AM

Will Wineries/Distributors Listen to Consumer Feedback on Restaurant Wine Service?

Auditorium of Wine2Wine Business Forum

Wine2Wine Symposium Tackling the Difficult Issues

The purpose of this survey was to discover the importance of wine selection and wine lists to the dining experience in North America. The survey results match my understanding of the average consumer at an average white tablecloth dining restaurant here in the U.S. (high-end fine dining is a different category). Why did this feedback take so long? Anyone connected to your local restaurant scene could have shared this information. At least in Italy, the wine industry is attempting to understand what the U.S. wine consumer is asking for. When will the industry in the U.S. follow suit? See if this matches your wishes/wants:

  1. The food menu is the most important factor for a significant majority of respondents (81.13%) when choosing a restaurant.
  2. The wine list is important to a minority of respondents (9.43%) when choosing a restaurant.
  3. Most consumers (95.83%) want to see less than 100 labels on the wine list.
  4. 57% of consumers favor an average price of below $60.
  5. 50% of restaurant workers think chefs create menus without thinking about wine.
  6. Consumers prefer winemakers’ dinners (15.51%) and seated wine and food paring events (18.18%) rather than wine classes (9.63%) and cooking lessons (7.49%)
  7. At wine and food pairing events 40% of respondents thought the pairings weren’t great.

(recent survey on behalf of Quench Magazine discussed at Wine2Wine symposium)

Wine and the Typical U.S. Dining Experience

These answers represent something closer to the typical dining experience in Europe and reflect the disconnect between the U.S. wine industry and the average U.S. consumer. In Europe, the average table wine at under $30 USD/btl is pretty darn good. In the U.S., under $30 USD/btl (roughly $15 USD/btl retail) is typically undrinkable. In my opinion, the lack of focus on quality at this price-point is killing overall demand for wine in the U.S. and causing the current increasing imbalance between production and consumption. The only demand growth in the U.S. marketplace is in the over $60 USD/btl retail off-premises wine category. There is a story in this data that is being completely overlooked, to the detriment of the industry.

Customer Feedback

I wonder how insulted your favorite dining restaurant would be if you shared this press release? This topic is one of my personal great frustrations with dining out and pushes me to BYO restaurants and payment of corkage fees, rather than purchasing from on-premises inventory. The selection of restaurants in AZ that offer this option is controlled by local beverage laws and is very limited. It is quite disappointing.

Future of On-Premise Wine Sales in the U.S.

Now that we are seeing more consumer feedback, perhaps the industry will respond. I wonder if distributors will evaluate the value proposition and push production there. Distribution is much more influential in driving restaurant demand than producers, due to three-tier wine, beer & spirits laws. For those of us that enjoy a bottle of wine with dinner while dining out, one can hope.

Link to Wine Industry Network coverage of the press releases at this link: Wine2Wine Symposium Link

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October 2, 2023 · 11:43 AM

Fine Dining Wine Pairing Review

My wife and I had a beautiful celebratory dinner for her birthday recently at Atlas Bistro in Scottsdale, AZ. The dishes served were all complex with layers and layers of flavor. It is always a culinary journey with a Todd Sawyer run restaurant experience. This location is one of the only fine dining restaurants operating as a BYOB in AZ. We selected the wines from our cellar for the pairings. The wines and the detailed menu are shown below.

What Worked

The salad and seafood dishes were a compilation of flavors that were meant for each other and paired well with the Champagne – over the top fabulous. The Maitake and Lobster mushrooms in the seafood spaghetti dish tasted like rich, earthy butter. The beef steak dish was prepared medium rare and was a great match for a very complex vintage of Ch. Montelena Cab. The Cab leaned towards Old World and was very welcome. The soft cheeses with the aged Sauternes may actually have been the highlight of the evening. The service was excellent as always.

What Did Not Work

The lamb was too heavy with Caribbean spices, particularly nutmeg. There was a spicy-hot mouthfeel coming from the nutmeg that did not work for me. Would have been better to skew toward cayenne/paprika (jerk style) for the heat and use the nutmeg as an accent. I am not sure any wine could have paired well with this. I am all about fusion style cuisine and big flavor, but this dish was less successful. My wife had the extra foie gras course and it was very unusual… it was served with a layer of quince jelly and peanuts, sweet cherry tomatoes and a sweet/savory sauce. My wife loved it. I did not think this was the best combination of flavors. The traditional Sauternes pairing would not have worked here and I would need help to arrive at a proper wine choice.

Overview

Some of these dishes were truly fabulous, others could have been better, but overall it was a culinary exploration and journey through a myriad of layered flavors. The wines selected paired superbly with several of the dishes. I would recommend seeking out Atlas Bistro and giving the experience a try. Without wine, or corkage fee, the five course prix fixe meal is $110/pp and changes seasonally. If you don’t have a wine cellar to pair your own, the owner has a wine shop adjacent where wines can be purchased and served with a corkage fee.

Prix Fixe Menu with Paired Wines

With aged Gosset Grande Reserve NV Champagne

First Course

Salad – Grilled Peach, Ruby Grapefruit, Golden Beets, Poppy Chevre, Crispy Prosciutto, Arugula, Strawberry Ver jus Vin

Second Course

Spaghetti alla Chitarra with Baja Bay Scallops & Manila Clams, Oregon Lobster & Maitake Mushrooms, Toasted Nori, Tarragon Miso Butter, Tomato Dashi

Supplemental Course

Cast Iron Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Foie Gras Canape, Almond Butter, Quince, Gelee, Honey Roasted Peanuts, Noble Toast Points

With 2012 Chateau Montelena Cab

Third Course

New Zealand Lamb Bacon Pastrami, Caribbean Savory Doughnut, Persian Cucumbers, Cilantro, Caraway Seed Dressing

Fourth Course

Black Garlic Basted Linz Prime N.Y. Strip Steak with Grilled Stuffed Zucchini, Brussels Sprouts, Pink Peppercorns, Braised Cabbage, Thyme Beef au Jus

With 2014 Suduirat Sauternes

Fifth Course

Beignets with Poached Black Plum, Orange Blossom Foam, New Zealand Freeze Dried Manuka Honey & Mandarins, Almond Soil

AND

Cheese plate of various cheeses and sweet/savory jellies

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August 7, 2021 · 5:39 AM

Earth, Wine and Fire Wine Dinner Review

Background

If you don’t have a Fleming’s in your town, or have just not had dinner at this restaurant chain before, bear with me. I will try to provide some reference. Fleming’s is a high-end steakhouse, similar in style to Ruth’s Chris, but not quite as expensive. They have been running a four course wine dinner special (branded as the title of this review) paired with Wagner Family wines (Caymus label) and my wife and I decided to give it a try. There were two options: Earth – vegetarian and Fire – meat. We selected Fire. Our overall experience was one step down from true gourmet, but very enjoyable. This is the full detail.

Salad Course

Dish: BURRATA WITH NORTH ATLANTIC LOBSTER

Wine: 2018 SEA SUN, CHARDONNAY 90 pts. (100 pt. system) or 16 pts. (20 pt. system)

Wine Note: Sweet citrus nose with lemon-lime mousse on the palate. High acidity and a fair amount of oak. If you like stainless chardonnay, this is not your wine. My wife and I prefer Old World style oaked chardonnay, so the very fruit forward profile was a little out of character. Nice mouthfeel. I would guess, the winemaker allowed some extended lees contact. Enjoyable chard for our palates and the acidity paired very well with the burrata. Some aging potential, if you like to lay down your wines.

If you have never had burrata, it is a soft cheese a little like mozzarella in flavor, but creamy and richer. Love the stuff and the fresher, the better. This burrata was excellent, but it was the other components that were a little disappointing. The lobster did not seem really fresh (we ARE in land-locked AZ, I suppose) and needed to be poached in butter. Lobster flavor was a little off and weak. The parmesan cheese crisp flavor (on top) almost over-powered the more delicate burrata below. Still… pretty enjoyable and an excellent pairing with the acidic Chardonnay.

2nd Course

Dish: COCONUT-CRUSTED PORK BELLY

Wine: NV RED SCHOONER, MALBEC 89 pts. (100 pt. system) or 15.5 pts. (20 pt. system)

Wine Note: Fruity nose with a little burn from the alcohol. Palate is filled with red and black fruit – black plum, blackberry and boysenberry. Medium acidity and medium minus tannins. A touch of residual sugar. Lighter, smooth mouthfeel. Very easy drinking red with a bit of structure. Successful for the style of wine it was meant to be. Drink now, don’t hold.

The pork belly was very tasty and the grits were fabulous! Our restaurant added goat cheese, instead of cheddar (on the website) – fantastic idea. The vegetable medley included (not shown below) was seasoned with spicy chiles. I pushed my veggies aside, in order to really enjoy the grits. The fruity, sweet wine was needed to pair with the leftover spiciness from the veggies. Turned out to be a pretty fair wine pairing with the fat from the pork belly and spice.

3rd Course

Dish: FILET MIGNON & BONE MARROW

Wine: 2019 CAYMUS VINEYARDS, CABERNET SAUVIGNON – NAPA VALLEY 87 pts. (100 pt. system) or 15 pts. (20 pt. system)

Wine Note: OK, you Caymus fans out there, I get it. Easy drinking Cali cab, but I just can’t do it. There is so much oak, as the joke goes, I could set the dang wine on fire. Fruity nose, but lacking freshness due to the over-powering oak. Blackberry and black currant on the palate, with some dark chocolate in the middle. Medium minus tannin and medium acidity. Simple wine flavor profile. I am sorry, neither my wife, or I could finish this wine. Just not a good match for our palates.

The filet was seasoned well and perfectly prepared. I have had better bone marrow. It needed to have more of the fat rendered out. Altho I will say, the filet with a bit of bone marrow on top was a pretty tasty bite.

Dessert Course

Dish: ORANGE OLIVE OIL CAKE

Wine: NV EMMOLO, SPARKLING – CALIFORNIA 89 pts. (100 pt. system) or 15.5 pts. (20 pt. system)

Wine Note: Citrus fruit on the nose. Palate of primarily lemon with a touch of tropical fruit. This is a cuvee style sparkling with a small amount of residual sugar. High acidity. Nice mouthfeel with a medium length finish to round it out. This could be more interesting with some bottle age. Has enough of a backbone to enjoy in 3-5 years.

If you have not had olive oil cake – no, it does not taste like olive oil, but it IS very moist. I have had the orange version before and this was quite good. The tart lemon coulis drizzled on the plate was a nice addition. The citrus flavor in the cake paired very nicely with the sparkling wine.

Dining Experience and Rating

In general, this was a serious white tablecloth experience. Great service from our waiter, she was friendly and engaging. One of the managers stopped by twice to check in on us. I felt like there was a genuine interest in making sure the experience was enjoyable. I felt a bit rushed tho. This is the kind of meal that takes time to work your way through. I understand they want to turn tables, but for this kind of bill, you expect the time to have an experience. I would score the experience at a 92/100, or a 2 of 3 star equivalent. The meal was very good (especially the steak), but could have been better and the service was really excellent.

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June 25, 2021 · 10:14 AM

Scoring and Rating Restaurants

The Need for a Methodology

I have spent the last ten years scoring thousands of wines. I am also a serious Foodie, but as a trained Somm, I have looked at that experience through the lens of wine pairing. My wine training courses and evaluation took place at The Art Institute in conjunction with a chef training program, so I have always viewed the two pieces of food and beverage service as a whole. My perspective has broadened since visiting Italy and being exposed to the Slow Foods culinary movement. Recently, I decided to begin including fine dining in my evaluation, as I realized… it is rare for me to enjoy a bottle of wine apart from food. After starting the journey down this path I realized, if I am going to start evaluating food/food service, I needed to apply a methodology (like the 20 pt. UC Davis wine scoring system) to be fair and score with consistency. I went looking and found Department of Health score cards and forms for evaluating internal restaurant processes, but could not find consumer judging, or scoring sheets. If anyone reading this knows of a restaurant scoring template, please share…

Developing a Restaurant Scoring Method

I had to build a list of the factors that had the biggest impact on my dining experience and arrived at the following categories: location, ambiance, cleanliness, server disposition, timeliness of service, menu selection, flavors, balanced/complimentary composition, fresh/light/heavy food character, properly seasoned food and overall quality. I would hope this list is similar for you Foodies out there? Then, I had to select a scale and weight the individual categories. I used the wine scoring systems as a guideline and realized the UC Davis 20 pt. system was too compressed and I needed a 100 pt. system to properly judge the restaurant experience. This is my view of how to weight these categories: Location – 4/100, Ambiance – 8/100, Cleanliness – 8/100, Servers – 16/100, Service – 8/100, Menu – 12/100, Flavors – 16/100, Balance – 8/100, Fresh/Greasy – 4/100, Seasoning – 8/100, Overall Quality – 8/100. Cleanliness should probably be weighted more like 50/100, but that approach would favor mediocre establishments, so I made a compromise. I built common descriptors into each category and loaded this all into a spreadsheet template.

Dining Expense Categories

Then… I realized, not everyone wants to spend $50/pp on a meal, so I went about building a price scale. Scoring info was all over the web on this issue, but I did make a few personal decisions, to base the price categories on: a TWO course meal, include the cost of tax (5%), tip (15%) and exclude beverage and dessert. I concluded, not everyone is eating dessert today and it made sense to throw in an average tax/tip amount to provide a full price picture.

Scoring vs. Rating

It then occurred to me, it was important in fine dining evaluation to have both a scoring system AND a rating system. So, I developed a separate rating system incorporating the scoring system described above (see below). Here is my effort to complete comprehensive rating charts:

Wine

97 – 100Exceptional
92 – 96Excellent
89 – 91Enjoyable
85 – 88Passable
80 – 84Barely Acceptable
74 – 79Choke it Down
50 – 73Flawed

Restaurant / Food

97 – 100Exceptional3 Star Equivalent
92 – 96Excellent2 Star Equivalent
88 – 91Enjoyable1 Star Equivalent
82 – 87PassableDiner Quality
77 – 81Barely AcceptablePoor Diner Quality
72 – 76DumpDive
50 – 71Should CloseNuf Said
Does not include fast food, or take-out restaurants. Sit down only.
$$20 and under
$$$20 to $30
$$$$30 – $50
$$$$$50 and over
The dollar signs represent cost of a two-course dinner/pp, taxes and a 15% tip (no drinks or dessert).

I hope you found my process of some interest. I enjoyed putting this system together and will be using it religiously moving forward. Let me know if you have a different viewpoint on this topic, think I should be tweaking a few areas, or believe I am totally out of my mind (entirely possible).

BON APPETIT!

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January 12, 2018 · 2:56 PM

Restaurant Review: Veritas Gateway to Food and Wine, St. Louis Metro, MO

RESTAURANT REVIEW:

Veritas Gateway to Food and Wine

St. Louis Metro, Missouri

A comfortable venue. The layout offers an interactive experience with the chef preparing food directly in front at the bar. The menu changes weekly per the executive chef and availability of best sources.

Service was a bit weak for a fine dining experience, but acceptable. Was a little put-off when I ordered a Vouvray (Chenin Blanc) white wine from their list and received a very grassy Sauv Blanc. The server made it right and offered a taste of two other whites of which I chose the:

Fattori Soave –  http://www.fattoriwines.com/en/our-wines/white-wines/danieli/  Bright, tart lemon curd softness… paired beautifully with the champagne vinegar, butter and hatch chile pan sauce from the chicken dish I ordered.

Finished with a glass of:

Moulin Tricot Margaux – https://madrose.com/bordeaux/medoc/chateau-moulin-de-tricot/  A reasonably priced, typically soft enjoyable Margaux origin red wine.

The cook staff was friendly, talkative and interactive. An aspect of the dining experience I particularly enjoyed. This was a quality foodie experience, but if you visit, you will want to know your mind to match that same quality to the wine. Overall, I enjoyed the evening in a warm spot when the outdoors was running about 18 deg F 

 

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