After some fairly innocuous back and forth due to complex mistakes made various places, my partner and I arrived at Ravines Wine Cellar for a dinner and concert intriguingly entitled East Meets West. The evening was part of the Smith Opera House Club Series, which involves smaller venues and various kinds of programming.
Let me start with the sound bite: it was a fabulous evening with amazing, over the top, wonderful food and music. For what we experienced, it was also inexpensive at $95 pr person. As my partner said, this was as good as Chicago (I would not go quite so far as she did in comparing our experience to Alinea, but I would go pretty darn far.)
And now to elaborate.
First the food and drink -- where I always start and end, of course. The chef, Scott Riesenberger has been with Ravines for a few years, having been elsewhere. To put it briefly, he produced an amazing multi-course Indian inspired meal drawing extensively on local products and paired exceedingly well with Ravines wines of various sorts. Each course (described below) was well balanced, the right size, and what all good food should be -- tasty and focused on the ingredients. The pairings, which I assume involved both Chef Scott and Lisa Hallgren (co-owner) offered a good overview of Ravines wine and, I have to admit, I was pleased by every pone of the tastes we had. Perhaps most crucially, the wines varied by vintage and included both whites, red and a dessert wine. Also important, both Lisa and Scott were and are knowledgeable and willing to share that knowledge in accessible and kind ways.
Quinoa Croquette was served with a 2007 Sparkling Brut Riesling
This was served as we entered, and was a little round brown ball. It was not exciting to look at but it was the first hint that the food was going to be amazing -- light, served with brown butter aioli, and featuring lime and chili. The sparkling wine was a "naturally fermented one," and nicely dry.
The meal itself began, as well, with a roll and butter. The roll was warm and delightfully crunchy on the exterior. The butter was served in a lovely pile with salts of various sorts on the top. This was so good I swiped another roll!
Lamb Samosa (tamarind, mint, goat cheese) with Cabernet Sample from Barrel
I have to admit this was my least favorite dish in many ways, though it was one of my partner's favorites. This twist on the samosa was made with puff pastry and was the sole meat dish. It was served with a small bit of tamarind sauce which was nicely tart. The best itself was tender though the pieces might (in my view) have been minced into smaller pieces. It was tasty and bit sized. The Cabernet Franc from the barrel was the best wine of the evening in my view. Lisa Hallgren (co-owner) introduced us to the wine -- and explained in some depth the decisions they make regarding the particular barrels used for the wines at Ravines. Among the interesting notes was the issue of the size of the barrels which is linked, of course, to the surface area encountering the barrel sides.
Charred Heirloom Tomatoes (red curry, yogurt, cashew vinaigrette) with 2015 White Springs Riesling
Scott, the chef, introduced this dish and noted two important things. First, he pointed out the type of heirloom tomato he used, which were small and smelled lovely (he passed some around) and, according to him, did not have the tough skin of many heirlooms. I am sad that I cannot recall the name of the particular tomato. Also, he noted that there were 60+ spices in the red curry used in the dish. The dish was involved the charred tomatoes with a powder on them (I assume the red curry), with s schmeer of the yogurt and cashew below -- there must be a fancier name for the form of plating, but let me say it looked lovely and tasted lovelier. As for the riesling: Lisa Hallgren pointed to several important features of the wine, including the various vineyards Ravines owns that contributed grapes to this particular vintage.
Carrot Bisque (smoked milk, papadum, shallots) with 2013 Chardonnay
There is nothing to be said about this beyond "WOW!!!" Of course, that does not stop me. This was a lovely soup. It arrived with a lightly colored papadum on top (which Scott said we could eat on its own or crumble into the soup) and when the papadum was removed one looked into a bowl with white on top and a bit of orange. The white was the smoked milk (Scott said smoked with vine stems). The smoking was light but discernible, the carrots sweet and the overall crunch/caramel of the shallots balanced perfectly. This was my favorite dish -- I think! The Chardonnayr was light and lovely and held up well alongside the soup.
House-made Paneer (arugula saag, eggplant, cauliflower, apple) with 2015 Cabernet Franc
Ok, have I said the soup was my favorite? I am now writing from a position of uncertainty because this was spectacular. The paneer itself was light and salty and former the bottom of the dish. Leaned against it was a lovely bit of roasted cauliflower -- and on top of the paneer was the saag and then julienned apple. The tartness of the apple was part of what made the dish. I LOVED the saag -- it was well prepared and the arugula was very tasty. My partner kept saying how amazing the eggplant was. I did not taste it -- hmmm. The Cab Franc was (I have to admit) not my favorite of the evening -- and I was not into comparing it to the barrel tasting as was my partner. I was too involved savoring the amazing dish.
Tapioca Pudding (orange blossom, plum chutney) with 2013 Late Harvest Vignoles
I do not, truly, like tapioca. This was the best tapioca I have ever had, but that is because I do not like tapioca! My partner, who loves tapioca attested to the wonder of this pudding. The dish was layered tapioca then a small amount of a beautiful plum chutney (light, not over spiced) and then a quenelle of whipped cream with orange blossom in it. The quenelle was so perfect I said so to the chef! I admit, I did not finish this dish, but it was a perfect ending to the meal for everyone else. And, the late harvest vignoles went well with it; the wine was sweet but not syrupy and the mouthfeel was lovely.
A few miscellaneous comments: As I noted above, during the meal (which stretched from 6ish to well after 8), we learned a lot from both Chef Scott and the extraordinarily knowledgeable Lisa Hallgren,co-owner of the winery, who joined us for the meal. Lisa referred to her husband Morten when asked how she got into wine making -- she met him when they sat their SATs in high school and . . . Having now done some background work, he comes from a part of Provence (and a family) with a long lineage in making excellent wines. The ambience was lovely, by the way, and the warmth of welcome matched the food!
If I am forced into a quibble, here it is: the dinner continued well into the start of the music and my co-diners were talking. This annoyed me I have to admit. But this is not Ravines' fault!
One quibble: wish we had ended meal before music started. A few of the visitors spoken during music. and did not get intro to final dishes and wines.
What about the music you ask? The music came from Ustad Shafaat Khan, described as follows on the Smith Opera website as the event was one of the Smith Club series, which are hosted at smaller venues like Ravines:
"Son of Ustad Imrat Khan and nephew of Ustad Vilayat Khan, Maestro Khan has performed at prestigious concert halls throughout the United States, India, Europe, China, Russia and Japan. He has shared the stage with celebrated performers including Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, and has had worked with Deepak Chopra in the production of many of his CDs. Khan has distinguished himself by being the first known artist to have attained simultaneous excellence in performing sitar, surbahar and tabla.
The Washington Post has called Khan “virtuoso… classical purity astonishing… intellectual and poetic… (a) creator as well as (a) performer,” and The Times of London has praised his performance as being “absolutely superb.”
Khan’s Geneva performance will feature himself on sitar, voice and tabla. He will be joined by Tamar Dart on guitar and vocals, Mike Corso on bass guitar and Matthew Megraw on tabla." https://thesmith.org/event-calendar/east-meets-west-ustad-shafaat-khan/
He both played music and educated his audience, speaking between pieces about the musical history and heritage of India and, most prominently, of his family Beginning with some tabla pieces, he then moved to the sitar. During his tabla playing, he was accompanied by a guitar. Others joined him on tabla, guitar, bass and voice at certain moments in the concert. I have to admit, I was not expecting quite what happened -- which was an enjoyable, focused, interesting experience of music I did not know. In addition to his classical work, Khan did sing one "bollywood" piece as requested by someone who works at Ravines -- noting how amazing it was to be asked for that piece in Geneva, NY! Partly in response to a question from the concertgoers, Khan also discussed the ways his music (usually his compositions) connect with the spiritual and also described his musical lineage, including the role of his parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. Initially, he focused on his male lineage but then separately honored his mother and grandmother as teaching him much of his musical heritage.
In sum: I sometimes cannot believe this is upstate NY!
For an interview with Chef Scott Riesenberger when he was elsewhere click here. (As you will learn, he has celiac disease, so all you gluten free folks, don't be afraid to ask for help in that regard!)
