Another take on Legend

Last night I caught up with some friends over dinner at the Legend Concept, the private kitchen which I had just visited a few weeks ago. As happens very often, we had the place to ourselves and it turned out to be a very enjoyable evening.

We started with the 2005 Bernard Morey Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot. This was very ripe, sweet with chewy fat on the palate. Classic toasty oak and minerals on the nose, with a medium long finish. This wine is ready to drink now, given the power of this awesome vintage.

The appetizer was baby abalone, which was marinated with soy sauce. Unfortunately the sauce was a little bland, so the natural "fishy" taste was a little too prominent. The artichoke hearts on the side were interesting but I wasn't sure how it added to the dish.

Next we had mushroom consomme, which was really disappointing. It tasted like the product of simply soaking dry mushrooms in hot water, something I do at home as preparation. Am I being harsh? Perhaps. But by this point I was thinking that dinner would be a very different experience compared to a few weeks ago.

This was followed by pan-seared scallops with risotto. The scallops were fresh, tender and sweet, if again a bit bland. The accompanying risotto was done fairly well, a little al dente.

We started on the 1998 Hacienda Monasterio Reserva Especial. Now this was an interesting wine, made by Peter Sissek of Pingus fame. The nose was classic Right Bank Bordeaux, sweet and ripe, with familiar farmy, gamey notes. It was a full-boded wine and the tannins were still pretty heavy. Very delish for a Bordeaux blend from the Ribera del Duoro.

We were given a nice watermelon sorbet to cleanse our palate. This has become the highlight of the meals here. I'm gonna have to learn how to make these at home.

The main course of spring chicken roll was quite an interesting creation. Take giant prawns, roll a layer of calamari paste around it, wrap a layer of nori seaweed, and stuff it all in a shell of spring chicken. Cut into slices, the flavors actually worked well together.

The second red of the evening was the 1995 Shafer Hillside Select. Ripe fruit in the nose as one would expect from a Californian, but after a while the wine was actually more like a Left Bank Bordeaux. A very full-bodied wine, but a little disappointed.

To accompany dessert (a nice Napoleon) , we had a half bottle of the 2004 Suduiraut, which had lots of ripe apricot, melon, orange and honey. A little young but already delicious, and a perfect way to end the evening.