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TN: 4 Years of Bliss, One Good Meal at Montrachet OK, so maybe every moment of the 4 years hasn't been bliss. But the last 4 years have probably been the best of my life, and for our anniversary I took Betsy to Montrachet in Tribeca. A lunch there had figured in our courtship (though neither of us were conscious of it at the time), so this had sentimental value. I met her in the city after her rehearsal, we drove down to Tribeca and then walked around in the mist for a while. Eventually we made it back to the restaurant, and settled in for quite a nice meal. A lunch visit a couple years ago had been slightly disappointing, but Thursday almost everything was quite good. Of course, a slow night (combination of Yom Kippur and rain) might have helped- restaurant had many empty tables, so we had very attentive service (and some bonuses from kitchen). We had an amuse of risotto balls with parmesan. I started with saut=E9ed langoustines with gingery pickled peaches, while Betsy ordered the seared foie gras. She actually got Foie Gras 4 ways - the seared foie gras with Muscat grapes, cold terrine of FG, poached FG with daikon and a fruit sauce, and a molten FG ball-truffle. For the main course I got duck choucroute- duck wrapped in cabbage with a daikon sauerkraut. Betsy's veal ended up being Veal 4 Ways- there was roast loin with a parmesan crust, sweetbreads, and a luscious hunk of cheek. There was another risotto ball (balls and daikon seemed to the evening's theme) - Betsy said it reminded her of a Burger King Tater Tot, in a good way. When I looked at her she insisted she likes BK tater tots. Go figure. Actually, the kitchen was very on, and everything was delicious, except for maybe the duck was a bit bland ( I guess it was maybe steamed in the cabbage? Both the cabbage and the daikon kraut were superb, it was just the duck that needed a bit more flavor). I ordered a rather inexpensive wine, the 1998 Prager "Weissenkirchner Steinriegl" Riesling Federspiel (Wachau). I'm more concerned with wine matching than Betsy, and thought this would be versatile enough for the langoustines, the veal, and dry Riesling is my usual choice for choucroute. I consulted the sommelier and he agreed. I offered to get Betsy a glbutt of demi-sec something for the foie gras, but she declined (and said the Riesling went fine). I was worried re the age of this, as a Federspiel, but it had youthful bright fruit, though there were mature petrol notes also. The petrol, spices, and maybe some mineral notes dominated on the nose, but on the palate the lemony fruit took control. There seemed to be some peach notes too (at least with the peach accents on the langoustines). Nice acidity made it quite food friendly; there was a good clean lingering finish. All in all, quite a nice wine for $40 on a restaurant list. B+ I had cheese and Betsy an "avocado-lime vacherin" dessert. The cheese course included one soft sheepmilks cheese whose name I didn't get, a Camembert, a Pont L'Eveque, and a very good Mimolette (there can be such a thing). I thought the Mimolette would benefit from a red, and ordered a glbutt of the 2000 Ch. Clarke (Listrac). Ripe cbuttis and red plum fruit, not the most compelling 2000 Bdx Ive had recently. Some light earth and cedar notes, but mostly a fairly soft anonymous red. B- Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency. =20
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