March Bocado Wine Dinner (food porn)

Where: Bocado, Worcester MA

When: Last Monday of the month

Price: $45

I'm just going to get right to it, because frankly I have a headache from the 5 drinks I consumed with this delightful dinner and I'm cranky. Hopefully a recap of the good parts will bring me back to a less hostile place.

"Greeting" (served with sangria):

Assorted meats, cheeses and risotto balls (ohhhhh the balls).
 

My take: No picture because it's tough to take a picture of any object flying into your mouth at such a high speed. My favorite part of the whole dinner. I will say that the sangria is superb...not too sweet, not too winey.

1st Course (served with an amazingly crisp white Viura): Roasted beet carpaccio with smoked duck, Maytag bleu cheese, spicy Marona almonds, basil, and malt vinegar cream.

My take: This was the kind of white wine you could sit out in the yard with and be quite content finishing the bottle by yourself, alone. (Not that I've ever done that...yes, I have) The beets were beets (I've never seen orange beets before...they were milder than the red ones), the bleu was appropriately footy, and the almonds had a nice kick to them. My favorite part was the duck...it didn't taste smoky at all, but rather like a perfectly cooked pork tenderloin.

2nd Course (served with a Garnacha/Syrah/Carinena/Tempranillo/Merlot mix) : Dry herb seared salmon, topped with black olive pistachio pesto and served over asparagus stew.


My take: I am normally not a fan of salmon, but this was delicious. Not too fishy with a perfectly seared herb crust. The pesto...well, let's just say I wanted to do inappropriate things with that pesto. The asparagus stew it was served over? Meh. It was heavy on the red/green pepper flavor, which I don't like. Everyone else seemed to love it. The wine had a lot going on seeing as it was a mix of 5 different kinds, but it worked well with the salmon.

3rd Course (served with a Garnacha/Cabernet Sauvignon) : Boneless, skinless chicken thigh with a burnt orange-vanilla glaze, served over chick peas with a blistered tomato rosemary sauce.

My take: No. Burnt orange flavor is not for me...too burnt, too orange. And while I normally love chick peas, you couldn't even enjoy them through the orange flavor. That is all I'll say about that. The wine, however, was incredible. Favorite red by far.
4th Course (served with a Tempranillo): Beef tenderloin with saffron mustard sauce, served next to a black-barley and bacon risotto cake which was topped with toasted pinenut lemon aioli and a fried lobster ravioli.

My take: I would have been content with someone removing the risotto cake, lobster ravioli, all of the other food from the dinner and 3 of my toes in order to have 100 times more of that beef tenderloin. YES. Like I need a minute just to remember it....(eyes closed, trancelike rocking in effect)...ok. I'm back. Blahblahblah beef tenderloin.

 Dessert: Mango flan with mixed fruit and berries.

My take: Girls just wanna have flan.

Bocado Wine Dinner (Food Porn Warning)

Last night I was invited to join a group of 10 fun ladies at Bocado, a tapas restaurant in Worcester. On the last Monday of every month, they pair several courses of food with different wines from Spain. With 6 gourmet courses, 4 glasses of amazing wine and a bonus glass of sangria, it was an amazing deal for only $45. Plus, the host and chef come out prior to each course to tell you all about what you will be eating and drinking. I totally felt like a judge on a cooking show.

Walk with me through the forest of food, would you please?

When we entered the room, we were handed a glass of red sangria, which was light and refreshing and not too sweet. It complimented the first course, which was an assortment of "artisan cheeses and charcuterie, Chef's selection of assorted pinchos and tapas". I would have been satisfied leaving after this plate alone. Those balls? Deep fried risotto stuffed with shrimpy goodness (the white ones) and ham and cheese (the yellow one). Oh, those balls...

The 1st course was served with a glass of white, a 2010 albarino from Rias Biaxas. It was a golden crab cake over red cabbage, topped with mango salsa and drizzled with grapefruit honey. As tasty as it was pretty.

For the 2nd course we switched to red, a 2008 garnacha (grenache) from Calatayud. It was served with baby romaine lettuce and three slices of juicy roasted Kumato tomatoes that were topped with parmesan and an amazing smoky salt. The romaine was topped with a green olive and caper dressing that had toasted anise in it (which worried me because I HATE anise), but the flavor was extremely light and surprisingly delicious.

The 3rd course continued on with the reds, switching to a 2009 tempranillo from Ribera Del Jucar. It was served with veal meatballs (another thing I don't eat but took a risk and WOW so good), mushroom ragout (get in mah belly), and grilled flat bread with a blue cheese/parsley spread drizzled with chili oil. Amazing.

The 4th and final course before dessert was served with a 2006 alaia (preito pecudo/tempranillo/merlot mix) from Castilly y Leon. My favorite wine of the evening. The course was Barcelona prime rib with stewed white beans and crumbled goat cheese. At this point I was so full I'm not sure I was even tasting anything.

Finally, I was thrilled to find out that dessert would not be off limits for me. I gave up sweets for lent, but dessert was dried fig and date compote with golden raisins and fresh berries served over plain Greek yogurt. Seeing as that's something I would have for breakfast, I felt fine about eating it. It was the perfect finish.