September 2, 2009

Simple food and wine

I had a casual dinner with a friend tonight at Gusto in my neighborhood. I come here from time to time for simple meals, and tonight we'd break open a bottle of wine to go with the meal. My friend was generous enough to bring a bottle of 2001 Pavillon Blanc de Château Margaux. We opened this one instead of a Bordeaux red or a red Burg as it's summer. It was pretty nice, with typical lemon citrus and minerals notes while having a nice acidity balance. We ordered 4 dishes to share between us, and I was eager to try a few new things until the manager returned to tell us that 3 out of the 4 dishes we ordered were not available. What?! I know we're having a late dinner, but this is a little ridiculous... So we had to do without crudités, the Gusto burger and the barbequed ribs. Things started off with the green salad, with some Ruby Red grapefruit and avocado mixed in. Then the Cuban sandwich arrived, with shredded roast pork, prosciutto, mustard and gherkins in a panini (uh....). Not too bad I guess, since there's probably nowhere else in this town for me to get the cubanos I used to have for lunch from Victor's Cafe in New York. I do think though that the sandwich is a little on the expensive side... I didn't have any veal scallopini, but I did save room for the yummy mac 'n cheese. This is the comfort food that I order all the time, even though it's not exactly how I used to have it with the truffle oil and au gratin on top. I was pretty full, but of course we needed dessert! We split a single S'mores - with a toasted marshmellow and some Nutella on a gingerbread man. Pretty nice indeed. We also shared a fruit crumble, which was nice and came with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream. I had a good time tonight as I got to unwind over a nice bottle of wine while enjoying some simple food. Now if only the seats were more comfortable...

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