Corduroy - Wine Dinner

As an early birthday present for moi, we went to a wine dinner Wednesday night at Corduroy. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Three hours of delectable food and great wine pairings left us very full, very satisfied and looking forward to doing it again. The wines were from the Languedoc and Bordeaux regions of France. The Wineries were mostly small production with some as little as 600 cases per year, and some were only three acres in size. But their passion for wine was as big as any of the large producers. Looking back, I should have taken notes about the wines as I don't recall specifically what we liked about each of them....and we did like all of them. During the course of the evening we were told that we could find these wines at Ace Beverage on New Mexico Ace in DC.

Chef Tom Power put together the menu with just about a week's notice but you never would have known. The hors d'oeures course consisted of three items.

First up was a Red Tide Oyster shooter - This bugger was hard to photograph. Nestled in the bottom of a wide brimmed shot glass, the oyster gently floated in a tomato based liquid. I kindly passed on the oyster as it's one of the few things I just don't like. Jim said they were very tasty. I'll take his word on it.

The second hors d'oeuvres was a Rillette of Sardine. I like this one very much and thought it was the best pairing with the wine for that course.

Somehow we never got to try the last hors d'oeuvres, Scallops with Fresh Japanese Wasabi. I saw the other tables try them and they looked great.

The wine that was served with this course was Chateau de la Negly, La Brisse Marine Blanc, 2004 . A very nice white wine that had just the right amount of acidity to balance the oily texture of the sardine.

Our first course was my favorite. Confit of duck with Frisee and Chantrelle Mushrooms. (Sorry no picture, we we too busy making yummy noises while eating). One word can describe this dish, exquisite. I like duck but admit it's not my favorite of the fowl family. However, this preparation could change my mind. The meat simply fell off the bone and was juicy and so full of flavor. The skin was very crispy as well as tasty and I don't think that anyone at our table left anything but the bone on their plates. The guest speaker even commented that this was perhaps the best duck confit he has ever eaten and confit at this level would be found in 2 or 3 star Michelin restaurants in France. The wine pairing for this dish was Chateau de la Negly, La Cote Rouge, 2003.


Niman Ranch pork belly with Tarbais Beans and Meaux Mustard Sauce was the second course. I had been curious about this dish since the pork belly appeared on the regular menu at Corduroy a couple of months ago. I've had pork belly one time before at a Chinese restaurant and found it be a decadent and tasty meat. I knew if anyplace could do it justice, it would be Corduroy but I had been hesitant to get the entree sized portion on our last two visits. Tonight's portion was just right. Enough to give you a taste and leaving you wanting more. The pork belly just melted in your mouth. Jim commented that this was not your mother's pork and beans. We enjoyed a glass of Chateau de la Negly, La Falaise Rouge, 2003 with this dish and was probably my favorite of the wines we enjoyed that night.


The third course was Jim's favorite. Braised Beef Cheek with Celeriac. Having had these before at Corduroy, he was really looking forward to trying them again. Tender and rich, this is not something you will see at many restaurants but if you do, get it. Think of a well marbled pot roast crossed with the flavor of sirloin. It has the texture of a pot roast in that it pulls apart easily with a fork and the rich beefy flavor you find with sirloins. It was paired with two wines: Chateau Gree Larogue ,Bordeaux Superior, 2001 and Chateau Valmengaux , Bordeaux Superior, 2003. Jim said he liked the Chateau Gree Larogue the best of all the wines that night.

A selection of cheeses was our final course (or so we thought). Again I wished I had taken notes because 5+ glasses of wine and three hours later, I was getting close to a food induced coma. But it was a perfect way to end the meal.

But there was more.... Out came sorbet. I think it was black cherry but not sure. If I find out for sure, I'll update this post. It was so smooth and creamy and made me make a mental note to consider it for dessert next time we eat at Corduroy.

We waddled out at 10:30, 3 1/2 hours after we began eating....full and very happy.