Restaurant Porn: Pearl Morissette California Winemakers Dinner at Alo in Toronto

[Tran_Bronstein]

Foodies,

Last night I attended the Pearl Morissette California project winemaker’s dinner where winemaker Francois Morissette introduced the Pearl Morissette winery’s first California wine release. You can see the thread started by fellow board member Mike Grammer over in Wine Talk which I embellished liberally with my own notes and copious wine porn pics. So let’s talk about the food.

The dinner was held at Alo, a new tasting menu only restaurant created by chef Patrick Kriss which I have posted about before on this board. Each wine was paired with a dish designed specifically to pair with it and Patrick and his entire staff generously hosted the event on what should have been their normal day off.

The evening started off with a short 30 minute reception. The 2012 Blackball Riesling was served as the reception wine and was paired with a fresh oyster appetizer and a quick-seared hamachi sashimi topped with a crisp Panko bread crumb topping.

Our first dish paired with the Heitz Chardonnay was their now famous Pain au Lait, a pillowy bread made with the leftover buttermilk from their house-made cultured butter, served with same butter on the side. I love this bread and wish they made a whole grain version. Interestingly, I thought this would have been a better match with the creamier Dix-Neuvieme Chardonnay from Ontario we were served later in the evening.

Our next dish was paired with the Pinot Noir, medailles of mushroom with yellow plum puree, chicken skin crumble, sherry vinegar, cucumber slices and turnip. The mushrooms were meaty yet delicate and went very nicely with the sturdy but not bombastic Pinot Noir. Interesting taste combination I will have to explore further.

[Tran_Bronstein]

The third dish was paired with the Cabernet Sauvignon and was quite a bit richer, their also famous Carolina Gold rice topped with shredded fresh tuna and frozen grated foie gras. This was a very rich combination that served the rich Cab Sauv well as it was flavorful but well-balanced so that it didn’t entirely coat the palate and block the taste of the wine.

The fourth course was a roast pork and Romano bean purée with pickled mustard seeds that emulated the flavors of a traditional Thanksgiving or Xmas ham. I was sure the pork was at least done partially sous-vide as it was perfectly pink throughout and extremely tender in texture, melting apart in the mouth. Good match with the creamy Ontario Chardonnay but as I said above I think the Pain au Lait would’ve gone a bit better.

The main course was a delicious brisket au jus with parsnip and potato purée and oyster mushrooms. This was full of savory melt in your mouth rich umami flavors. All wines were refilled to go along with this course.

[Tran_Bronstein]

Dessert was a white chocolate ganache paired with cucumber sorbet and graham crumble. The sorbet and ganache were quite refreshing together but the graham crumble was pleasantly sweet. The dish actually would’ve benefitted from a sweeter wine than the Cuveé Bleu Viognier/Riesling combo due to the crumble.

This was a fantastic meal with a very receptive audience and great hosts. One of the comments from our table from people who had never dined at Alo before was how perfectly seasoned everything was. Interestingly, since Jay and I had been here before, he pointed out how the chef was actually being a touch restrained which he later confirmed for us – he held off a bit on the food seasoning so that it matched the food better and didn’t overwhelm the wine.
This was a great meal and our appreciation goes out to all the staff at Alo for doing the dinner on their night off.