L.G. Smith features wine & food pairings

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The recent wine & food pairing at L.G. Smith’s Steak & Chop house was enjoyed by staff members and a handful of invited press members.

The session was designed to further enhance the knowledge of wine & food pairing among restaurant servers, who in turn will pass the helpful and tasty information along to dining patrons. Pepia Est supplied the wine and owner Michael v/d Berg, the interesting commentary.

The pairing presented two basic approaches one traditional and failsafe, the other novel and exciting. V/D Berg paired a number of delicious L.G. Smith’s Steak & Chop House dishes with complementing wines and then proceeded to put contradicting flavors together, measuring the reactions of his guests’ palates as the creamy Aruba Seafood Chowder was experienced with a buttery Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay, and then tried with the sweet and fruity Château Ste Michelle Riesling.

The result says v/d Berg depends on the individual palate, some diners enjoy a harmonious, complementary fusion; some prefer the contrasts which enhance the different food sensations. Either way, there is not right or wrong, just a few common-sense guidelines, he states.

The restaurant’s Fried Calamari and Crab cakes were also tried in combination with the predictable, and later the unpredictable, delivering new taste bud sensations. Squeezing a bit of lemon over the seafood changed the flavors completely, v/d Berg observes, highlighting the fruitiness of the wine.

For main courses, the restaurant’s famed Tuna Sashimi married Château Ste Michelle Syrah very successfully while the juicy, tender, cut-with-a fork New York Sirloin made beautiful music with the Columbia Crest Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon, though the Syrah would have been equally grand!

Washington State, explained v/d Berg, is a premium upcoming wine producing region located in the northwest corner of the United States. Although a relatively young wine industry, it is now America’s second largest wine producer and is ranked among the world’s top wine regions. Matching these wines with Certified Angus Beef’s superior quality meat products leads to a variety of spectacular taste sensations, he concludes.

L.G. Smith’s Steak & Chop House serves its Washington State wines by the glass and by the bottle. Some pairing suggestions include Columbia Crest Two Vines Sauvignon Blanc Glass with Spinach Salad and Sole Meuniere; Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay with Fried Calamari and Lobster Thermidor; Château Ste Michelle Riesling with Crab Cakes and Aruban Seafood Chowder; Château Ste Michelle Sauvignon Blanc Horse Heaven with Caesar Salad and Grilled Chicken Breast; Château Ste Michelle Chardonnay with L.G.’s Grilled Chicken Salad and Veal Chop; Columbia Crest Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon with Beef Carpaccio and Ribeye Steak; Columbia Crest Two Vines Shiraz with L.G.’s Grilled Steak Salad and Rack of Lamb; Columbia Crest Grand Estates Merlot with L.G.’s Grilled Chicken Salad and Filet Mignon; Château Ste Michelle Merlot, with Caesar Salad and Surf & Turf, and Château Ste Michelle Syrah, with Tuna Sashimi and New York Sirloin.

Pictured here v/d Berg, and his Pepia Est staff and the L.G. Smith’s crew of Francois Maduro and Michael Ras.

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March 26, 2009
Rona Coster