Eighty-six this dish

Casual lunch today.  I met up with a friend since I'm in danger of bailing out on him for our dinner this coming Tuesday.  We bounced around ideas for the venue, and he suggested that we check out Madam Sixty Ate.  The place opened up with a lot of hype last year, and not surprisingly I never found the time to pay them a visit... until now.

We were able to pick from both the lunch and the weekend brunch menu.  The very first item on the lunch menu caught my attention, and from then on my eyes were no longer able to focus on the other dishes...  Love at first sight, you might say...  Ever since my first encounter with this classic dish, it has become an instant favorite of mine.  I think I prefer the classic version, and not the more creative version that I actually had a few days prior to that first encounter.

Egg 'murette': poached in red wine, pork cracklings, sourdough crisps with fresh cheese, leaves, pickled vegetables and smoked bacon dressing - my heart sank a little when this arrived.  Yes, the eggs looked a little pinkish on the outside, showing that they've been poached in red wine, but where was the red wine reduction that was supposed to go with the lardon and veggies?!  Yes, I understand that this was meant to be a newer twist and not the classic version, but still...

I cut the eggs open, and the liquid yolk oozes out onto the plate.  Where were the pieces of toast that were supposed to catch the yolk when it drips and soak it up?  Instead I have these loopy crisps, which are hopeless when it comes to absorbing anything.  I had to resort to the bread that we got on the side to soak up the yolk.  The sour cream in rolls on the side was OK.  I will always like the lardons but, together with the shrooms, these were obviously just sautéed on the side instead of being  done with the red wine reduction... I couldn't detect any traces of wine in them.  Oh, and as much as I normally love pork rinds/crackling, what I had was just a little soggy.

I gotta say I was pretty disappointed.  This didn't taste like the œufs en murette that I love.  As I got to thinking I realized that, despite the fact that everyone knows that I'm not a very good cook and have been known to burn my food... dare I say that my own œufs en murette was actually better?!  There was certainly a lot more flavor in mine!

The dessert section of the menu also tried to pique diners' interests by naming a dish 'the edible pornstar': passion fruit panna cotta with vanilla poached lychee, coconut sorbet, 'pornstar' granita and passion meringues.  Since I drink mostly wine and not a lot of cocktails these days, I never knew about the  popularity of the pornstar martini, but the name certainly got my attention!  This was OK... the panna cotta really wasn't all that interesting, other than the fact that one of the strips bore some resemblance to a limp schlong... The lychees were yummy and I could taste the vanilla.  The sorbet was alright, although I would have preferred the "granita" to have more texture.  The meringues were probably the best part, and interestingly resembled - at least in our minds - a certain female body part...

But... truth be told, we weren't here for the food.  It was just a place we picked so we could sit for hours and enjoy the wines we brought...

1990 Roulot Meursault Les Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir - color now beautifully orange from oxidation.  Ripe orange marmalade, slight hint of acetone, a little salty plum and mineral.  After 40 minutes or so, nose started to show sweet, caramelized sugar notes.  Pretty dry on the palate, with a dry finish and with some sips, the alcohol was pretty obvious as it went down.  A lovely wine.

2001 BOND Matriarch - no surprises here as it's all in-your-face Cali.  Very ripe, sweet, jammy with tangerine, coconut, smoke and pine.  A little sharp at times.  Have started to soften a little but still kinda rough around the edges.  Unfortunately this was the only thing I had in the office...