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.
