Wine Vault and Bistro pairs a menu with wines for dinner on Sat and Sun. All are multi-course and the menu is based on what’s seasonal and fresh, changing weekly. If they are not doing a winemaker dinner, it a Chef’s 5-course tasting menu on Sat. only. All wines served at dinner are available for purchase by the bottle to take home. It opened in 2005 as a wine shop offering tastings of wine and cheese. Our winemaker dinner had a 6-course tasting menu at a bargain price point around $140 per person, including food and wine. There is limited parking and you need to climb several sets of stairs but then you find yourself in the communal dining room where seats have been assigned. The bar opens 45 minutes before dinner, which starts promptly, so don’t be late. At the bar they have limited offerings, like $9 glass of red or white wine or a $15 martini. I saw no one try to come in late, in fact most were there early and lined up for a drink at the bar. There were basically 2 rooms with a variety of seating options. In our room it was long communal cloth-covered tables topped with paper but the other room had more tables for four. The bar was in between the two rooms. The wine was brought out in decanters for each couple so you could divide it how you wished. The chef offered an explanation of the food to come at the beginning. It wasn’t the friendliest crowd but it was fine. Overall the wine was better than the food.
Set-up
Food
Saffron artichokes à la barigoule were with crispy prosciutto and herb pistou (sauce). These are young artichokes braised in white wine and they were quite tender and mild. The prosciutto gave a bit of texture to the mildly flavored dish. I didn’t detect the saffron.
Grilled New Zealand lamb chop with thyme jus was plated with toasted couscous with Merguez lamb sausage. The very mildly flavored lamb was first sous vide before grilling. It was plated with a tart sauce. The sausage was in small pieces mixed with the couscous. This was a pleasant plate.
Wagyu ribeye was plated with garlic potato mille feuille and a smoked salt compound butter. The tender tasty beef was cooked nicely in a flavorful jus. The potato was lots of layers with a good crispy buttery exterior. This was a good plate and lovely with the wine.
Truffle duet was two dishes – porcini and truffle ‘cappuccino’ bisque and a mushroom and truffled white cheddar melt. The bisque was rich and lovely, while the melt was heavy with cheese. I found I liked dipping the melt in the bisque and combining the flavors.
Délice de Bourgogne triple cream cheese (cow’s milk cheese) was with a black pepper and rosemary phyllo “glass”. A balsamic reduction was the line of sauce on the plate, to be the ‘fruit’ like portion. The phyllo pastry was thin and crisp and fine with the soft cheese. This course had more texture than flavor.
Dessert was a dark chocolate mousse bombe topped with pistachio caramel and candied orange. It came with an orange brandy that was horrible. That may have influenced my take on the dessert itself. It was large, dark and a bit over-the-top for me. Okay at best, for this one.
Hello! This review seems to only cite the food, and the drink in some minimalist regard. As someone who dined at this event (and some others in the past year), there is something to be said about the initiative to couple food-and-wine pairings that night. In my opinion, the artichoke dish sung extremely well with the perfectly chilled Felino Chardonnay which is typically not an amicable combination. By far my favorite pairing was the buttery rendered bone-in lamb chop with Cab, followed by the Truffled Grilled Cheese + Soup. The wines were a part of one of Paul Hobbs’ Argentinian catalogues , most of which would be unfamiliar, and hard to find on most menus for the average San Diegan diner. If one does their research on the prices of any of these vintages, they would easily come to the conclusion that this restaurant is a huge value, and asset to the local dining culture. Nice photos, btw.
Thanks for your comment! You are fortunate to live close enough to try this place often. It was my first and probably only visit since I’m based in Dallas. This blog is about restaurants and their food but I try and include photos of the beverages that we eat with it. That’s why there’s little commentary on the wines. I’m usually doing good to make notes of what’s in the dish and my reaction and not lag behind other diners. The wine’s served here were indeed good and a value compared to many other places. It’s a treat when you discover a wine pairing that really sets off the food and I appreciate your comment that that happened for you. These types of events are meant to do that. I’ll try and be more mindful in the future but no promises. Thanks again for your feedback and looking in on my blog.
Funnily enough – you have 0 depictions of the wine in glasses or carafe contrasted against white balance. The cab franc was striking in flavor and tawny, ripe, velvety glasshouse magenta overture ,and- for the money on the table – i can only thank the chef for making sure cheese was the pairing – anything else would have been treason (DELICE SHOULD BE ON ANYONE’S BUCKET LIST). Although the chap isnt a Ron Segal, or a Greg Short… he has to be given credit for his agenda… unless you are blind and tasteless. PROST.
Thanks for your comment. The wines and spirits are not the focus of this blog. It is about restaurants and pictures of their food. I include names or photos of bottles when I have them for information not commentary unless I want to.
Welp. To be raw you called a shot you didn’t have to take ‘horrible’ . You dont think the chef could have placated you with something else? So im going to take your prose with a grain of salt form here on out. {PROST}. Post your BMI.
Thanks. The brandy was a sipper not a shot and after a taste I left it. Didn’t want something else. Shake liberally with the salt. This is a blog of my opinions. I don’t get paid or charge. In fact I pay to host the site because I love trying restaurants in different areas.