I’ve never been to Blu Seafood (mostly because Eric is generally not a fan of things that come from the sea) but a rose wine dinner and a willing best friend meant I got to enjoy seafood, wine and a girl’s night out at a new-to-me restaurant last night. Plus, one of my favorite wine shop owners was providing the wine, so I knew we were in for a treat.
The dinner didn’t get started until almost 7:30pm (even though it was stated to start at 7pm), so we ordered a glass of champagne each while we eagerly smelled all the fragrances wafting from the nearby kitchen.
course one — crab cake with mango-jicama slaw and Laurent Miquel Rose, 2011
This was a very light appetizer to go with a very light, refreshing wine. My only criticism is that I could have used a little more spice in the crab cake, it got a little lost with all the slaw on top. The strawberry in the rose went very nicely with this dish. Bought two bottles for patio sipping this summer.
course two — arugula salad with local figs, proscuitto, parmesan and citrus vinaigrette and Cochon Old Vine Rose, 2011
Fresh figs picked that day! Even though I am not a huge fan of arugula (and where’s the seafood in the salad course?!?), this little salad was very good, nicely dressed and went well with the stronger and spicier California rose.
course three — spice-encrusted scottish salmon with marinated mushrooms, chipotle grits and tobacco onion rings and Crios Rose of Malbec, 2011
The salmon (from New Zealand actually) was well prepared and tasty but the mushrooms and grits really tied this whole dish together for me. This rose was nearly a red wine, so it stood up admirably to the rich fish. The little onion rings were delicious, I could have had an extra plate of those!
course four — rose poached peaches with vanilla ice cream and almond caramel and Krimsekt Semi-Dry Sparkling Rose, 2010
The biggest surprise of the night for me, a sparkling rose from Ukraine! It was definitely on the sweet side and the fruit of the pears went well with the wine. Had a get a bottle of this for the great price of $11.
Both Meg and I were in the clean plate club for all four courses and I left feeling full but not stuffed. One strange thing was that the restaurant clearly did not have enough wine glasses. I got my samples in a various array of glass types and as soon as I finished one, the empty glass was whisked away to be washed for the next round. I would have liked to compare some of the roses side by side, so feeling rushed to finish my wine was a small negative. Overall, a B+ for Blu Seafood.