Sweet Endings

For Restaurant Week/Eric and Jon's birthday a few of us went to the Beehive, a trendy-as-hell place in the South End. It's somehow cavernous and still intimate.

The wine list here is great, with bonus points for an amazing collection of sparkling wine/champagne. Mike and I shared some Mumm Napa Prestige with oysters and a proscuitto flatbread (the wine was actually great with it, cut through the rich saltiness of the meat well), then he opted for the duck risotto (fine) and I got the hanger steak with a substitution of sage and sea salt frites (disappointing). Our dinner wines (Pinot for him, a Bodegas Tempranillo for me) were also nice and appropriate.

But the highlight of the meal was the dessert (and dessert wines) we had. Mike had the chocolate pot de creme with the Pfeiffer Muscat (an Australian dessert wine that was luscious and decadent, sweet dried fruit flavors, and a nice match with the chocolate). I had the Irish cream cheesecake with Dr. Loosen Auslese Riseling, a honeysuckle-scented glass of richness (and since the Irish cream flavor was essentially missing from the dessert, actually a great pairing too). Reminds me that I need to experiment more with dessert wines...last night, this was the perfect way to end our meal.

Lush and Full, Light and Fun

Last night Mike and I had a delicious dinner at Temple Bar (we split the lamb shoulder and mussels, he chose scallops for his entree, I had steak frites, which were damn tasty). For the glass with my steak, I selected a red blend I'd never tried, Clayhouse Adobe Red. My impressions:

1) At first whiff, the alcohol is prominent, almost off-putting in its intensity.
2) The mouthfeel is lush, like drinking a glass of burgundy velvet.
3) Nice spice notes, some vanilla, dark cherry/berry. Mike's first thought was to try it with dark chocolate. (He also compared it to anal sex--I'm taking that to mean pleasurable in the most base, direct sense of the word, but not subtle.)

And today is a dear, dear friend's birthday party and the theme is PINK. I'm thinking of bringing one or all of the following:

Sofia Blanc de Blancs cans (it's a four pack of pink cans of sparkling wine, and always cracks me up...you expect 22 year olds to be drinking this on the T)
Domaine de Chandon Rose (perfectly serviceable sparkling rose, nice with strawberries)
Sergio Rose Prosecco (off dry, sexy...you want to kiss this off the lips of someone delicious)
Mionetto Prosecco (tons of bubbles, light and barely apple-y) with a bottle of Chambord for fun

Clearly the theme here is something delicious and festive...totally appropriate for my kickass friend's birthday!