Sabor of Spain Dinner

The conversation:
Dad- "hold on, I gotta order lunch. I'll have a goat cheese and pear salad and lentil soup. Margot are you still there?"
Margot- "Yeah i'm here, where did you get that it sounds delicious."
Dad- "oh you know Maiden Ln? Some little lunch place over here."
Margot-"wait the Maiden ln. in San Francisco?"
Dad- "yeah, didn't you get my email?"
Margot- "uh obviously not..."
Dad- "let me check... oh I just got an email from Matt Kenney I guess i've been sending him all of my emails to you."
Margot- "great"
Dad- "well, what are you guys up to tonight?"
Margot- "we have a media dinner in Marin... uh you wanna come?"
Dad- "ok, sure sounds like fun"

So that was the premise for bringing my dad to the dinner at Sabor of Spain, he had a great time we got him nice and tipsy before his redeye cross country flight. Sabor of Spain is a gorgeous restaurant in San Rafael. The chef paired an exquisite menu with fantastic old and new world wines for a spectacular preview of his creations for the film festival.

The first course was a gold beet, fennel and red onion salad with sweet sherry vinaigrette. This was paired with Altas Cumbres Viognier 2007 Argentina. The salad was light and fresh, the beets had a wonderful sweetness that was complimented by the sherry vinaigrette. The Viognier was lovely, light with light notes of citrus. I was thrilled to see Argentine wines on the menu as they are my current obsession.

The second course was lemon infused bosc pear wrapped in jamon serrano and a basalmic reductio. The wine was Pares Balta Blanc de Pacs 2008 Spain. The pear was crisp and lovely with just a hint of sweetness and the jamon serrano had a delicately salty quality that balanced the dish wonderfully. The balsamic reduction added just the right hint of acidity. I found the Blanc de Pacs to not be as successful. It tasted vaguely like flat champagne and lacked flavor. It was a very one note wine for a lovely multilayered dish.

The third course was chicken/chorizo/ginger won tons with sweet sour pimenton dipping sauce. They were paired with a Monte Oton Garnacha 2008 Spain. The won tons were delicious and had a melt in your mouth quality. the chorizo and ginger gave it a nice spice and the dipping sauce was also delicious if slightly reminiscent of a plum or barbecue sauce. The Garnacha was lovely and light with a hint of spice as well that was a lovely compliment to the won tons. I could picture a happy evening of watching a Law & Order marathon in my PJs popping these won tons. In that sense they were delicious and playful but lacked sophistication and refinement. With a bit of work on presentation and execution this could be a very successful dish.

The fourth course was spicy marinated skirt steak with basil oil and cabrales blue cheese. This was paired with an intense and delicious Terrapura Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 Chile Venganza de Diablo. The steak was cooked to perfection and was very nice with the blue cheese which I don't typically like. I didn't detect much spice to the dish but there were lovely subtle flavors that seemed to play around on my palate. The Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon was incredible. The depth and layers of flavors enveloped my senses the way that lovely ballsy reds tend to do. This was a wine that lingered on the palate demanding to be recognized and remembered. What was shocking to me was the 2008 vintage. I have been disappointing in the past with recent vintage Cabs mainly from the Napa Valley. They have a very unnerving tannic quality that makes your tongue feel like its made of velvet. This Chilean Cab was silky smooth with lovely strong qualities that earned it the title "Venganza de Diablo." This dish breathed sophistication and the chef's depth of understanding of flavors and pairing.

The final course was an incredibly rich espresso chocolate mousse with rosemary infused strawberry coulis/marscapone cream. This delight was paired with a Favaios Moscatel de Duoro Portugal. The mousse was pure decadence. Layer upon layer of flavors, unfortunately the one that I was unable to detect however was the rosemary in the strawberry coulis. The moscatel was far to syrupy and sweet for me, I have never had much of a sweet tooth and this pairing took me far beyond my threshold for sweetness. I think that separately the mousse and the moscatel would be lovely but together they were too much for me.

Overall Sabor of Spain was a wonderful experience, the one question that nagged at the back of my mind was why not call it Sabor de Espana? However that is a personal thing that links back to the fact that I am a massive dork of all things Spanish or Latin American. I would recommend Sabor of Spain without hesitation. It is a lovely restaurant with a very intelligent chef. This shines through in his wonderful interpretation of the flavors of Spain.