Yes, yes, I went to Ceiba for lunch on Friday for Restaurant Week. And it was excellent. But I am here to write about wine, and I didn’t drink any wine at Ceiba, due to the fact that it was the middle of the early afternoon, and I was broke from dining out twice already last week. I graciously defer to MJF’s awesome review. I did go to two other restaurants, though, and since it was normal dinner time, and since I was not-so-broke, I tried some excellent wines.
Tuesday night at Galileo, not only were the Restaurant Week food prices discounted, their wine list was equally—if not more—economical. The restaurant’s actual list is, according to their website, “too long to post on [their] website”. I assume it is rather extensive, probably changing quite often as management and the sommelier see fit, and probably very pricey. For Restaurant Week, Galileo featured two wines, a red and a white, priced at $5/glass, or $18/bottle. My friends and I opted for a bottle of the red. I usually get to choose the wine; I was having beef for dinner, and $18 for a bottle of wine at a nice restaurant really can’t be beat. The waiter brought a bottle of Il Turchino Chianti to the table. This Chianti, like many, was made from the Sangiovese grape. The wine was dry but light; it paired really nicely with my chilled tomato soup (with almonds! But this isn’t a food review), and was quite tasty with my beef dish, although a more robust Chianti Classico would have made a better match. This wine might have gone better with pasta or roast chicken, but I enjoyed it a lot. Il Turchino retails for $5.99/bottle, and will be much better with food than as a sipping wine. If you can find this wine, buy and drink it, especially at this low price.
Thursday night took me and my girls to Butterfield 9. The atmosphere was decidedly less stuffy than at Galileo, but they featured a full wine list (at full prices). Since I was having fish, (Tasmanian steelhead trout), I wanted a white wine, and I chose the Barnard Griffin Fumé Blanc, priced at $8/glass. I liked this wine a lot, and Fumé Blanc goes very well with fish. Technically, “fumé blanc” is just an American synonym for “sauvignon blanc,” and the grapes share a lot of the same characteristics. The Barnard Griffin was very uncomplicated: crisp and fruity, pairing equally well with my appetizer of seared Day Boat scallops. This wine retails for $10/bottle.
Restaurant Week is worth the effort not only for the low-priced meals (and my meals were GOOD!), but also for the wines you can now afford to pair with your food. I find myself more willing to go out on a limb with my wine, and maybe splurge a bit, if I’m not paying an arm and a leg for my food. Both restaurants were absolutely wonderful—the food was inspiring, and the company was fantastic. Can’t wait for six months from now, and our next Restaurant Week!