The Restaurant Guys

The Annual Paul Hobbs Dinner

The Annual Paul Hobbs Dinner will be held on Thursday, January 30th. It will be spectacular as always and it most certainly will sell out. It's $279 per person and will include a pre-dinner walk-around tasting. You can buy a gift certificate for this dinner specifically!

Pre-Dinner Wine Tasting

Chardonnay 2012; El Felino, Mendoza
Cabernet Sauvignon 2011; El Felino, Mendoza
Chardonnay “Marchiori Vineyard” 2011; Bramare; Mendoza
Cabernet Sauvignon 2010; Bramare, Lujan de Cuyo; Mendoza
Cabernet Sauvignon “Marchiori“ 2010; Bramare; Mendoza
Malbec ‘Marchiori Vineyard’ 2010; Bramare; Mendoza
Malbec “Rebon” 2010; Bramare; Mendoza
“Volturno” 2010; Cobos; Mendoza
Malbec 2009; Cobos; Mendoza
Chardonnay 2010; Paul Hobbs Hobbs; Russian River
Cabernet Sauvignon 2011; Paul Hobbs, Napa
Cabernet Sauvignon, 'Beckstoffer - Las Piedras Vyd' 2010
Cabernet Sauvignon, 'Stagecoach Vyd' 2010

Dinner

Butter Poached Sitka Bay Alaskan Spot Prawn

Chardonnay 2012; El Felino
Chardonnay 2011; Paul Hobbs; Russian River

Sushi Tuna w/ Beef Salt and Lion’s Mane Mushroom
Pinot Noir 2012 (Pre-release); Paul Hobbs, Russian River

Loin Chop of Iberico Black-Footed Pig
Merlot “Laura Catherine” 1996 6 Liter; Paul Hobbs, Napa

Composed Cheese Course
Malbec 'Cobos-Marchiori Vineyard' 2004 Mendoza Valley, Argentina

Dessert * Coffee

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For an Earlier New Year's Eve

For an Earlier New Year's Eve, The State Theater is hosting A Salute to Vienna at 6 PM

Welcome the New Year with Salute to Vienna, patterned after Vienna’s world famous "Neujahrskonzert," returning with a fresh, new program. A festive New Year’s concert, Salute to Vienna features a brilliant new cast of over 75 musicians, stellar European singers and dancers in beautiful costumes. Enjoy a light-hearted blend of popular Strauss waltzes, polkas, and famous operetta excerpts from Die Fledermaus, The Merry Widow, and more! Click here for tickets.

We will be open extra early and extra late so you can dine at Stage Left or Catherine Lombardi before the show or after!

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Friday Evening Cocktail: The Stinger

I remember my parents used to drink stingers, but by the time I was 21 and first tending bar in 1986, they had fallen hopelessly out of fashion. I concocted one from a Mr. Boston recipe with cheap brandy and cheap creme de menthe. The result was more mouthwash than libation. Recently, I've had occasion to finish up an evening or two with this classic New York Nightcap. Made well and with good ingredients, the stinger can be an uplifting end to a night on the town.

The thing that propels me from acceptance to enthusiasm is the arrival on the market of a truly great Creme de Menthe. It's called Menthepastille, and it's from a producer called Giffard. Combining this with very good Cognac makes for a fine, clean, bright stinger and I finally know what all the fuss was about. We'll be making stingers Friday night with Latourelle Cognac VS and Menthepastille and they'll be just $9.

For a little more background on the Stinger. It appeared in Tom Bullock's Ideal Bartender, 1917.

In High Society (1956) with Bing Crosby & Frank Sinatra, Dexter-Haven's butler, makes stingers as "hair of the dog" at lunch to those who over-indulged in Champagne the night before. James Bond and Tiffany Case each have a stinger in Diamonds are Forever. (1956) Cary Grant and Jayne Mansfield's characters enjoy them in Kiss Them For Me (1957)

The Stinger also gets mentioned in The Apartment (1960). In Gorky Park (1983), detective Arkady Renko refers to the Stinger as a "whore's drink" and later in the film, orders a one and says, "I am a whore." Finally, in the 2009 Mad Men episode Love Among the Ruins (set in 1963), a man buys Peggy Olson a stinger at a bar.

So come by for a little bit of a reinvigorated cocktail on Friday. The most tasteful cocktail enthusiasts of NJ will be in attendance, as is their custom. Feel free to stay for dinner. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres will be passed until 9 PM.

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Last-Minute Shopping at the Old Vines Wine Shop

Although our December weather outside has been somewhat frightful, our fires have been indeed delightful. We've been playing host to some larger Christmas parties and small get-togethers as well. There's been just enough snow to coat the New Brunswick Christmas Tree and keep us all in a festive mood.

Saturday, we will open our wine shop and stock it with great wine and cheese, our house-made Irish cream and Applejack Cream and great olive oil.

We have over 700 wines to choose from and many spirits and our expert staff will be on hand to help you navigate our offerings. We'll have at least a few wines open for sampling any time you come. There's one Chassagne-Montrachet in particular that I want you all to try.

We're also going to have some white truffles available at $195 an ounce (very limited - call ahead and we'll reserve some for you).

We'll be open Saturday December 21 through Christmas Eve. We'll be open 12 to 8 PM, except for Dec 24, when we will be open 12 to 4 PM.

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The Spirits Project: Krug Champagne

Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
Read more about the Spirits project.

• Suggested retail price: $149 per bottle
• We will pour three ounces for $15
  

OK so it's not a spirit, but every once in a while Mark and I like to take a little license with The Spirits Project. So around this festive holiday season, Krug Champagne it is. Joseph Krug founded the House of Krug in 1843. It remained one of the leading family-owned Champagne houses until 1999, when it was purchased by Louis Vutton Moet Hennessy. LVMH has done a great job in maintaining the tradition of excellence at Krug. In 2009, Olivier Krug became the house director, putting day-to-day operations once again under the control of the family.

Krug has always been one of Mark and my favorite Champagnes. It's masculine nutty and rich. The winemaking process at Krug begins with the individual selection of each plot of vines and continues with the initial vinification in wooden casks, which is unusual and lends Krug some of it's unique style.

So this Thursday, at precisely 6:30 we will open the first of three bottles of Krug at The Cocktail Bar at Catherine Lombardi. We will pour a 3 ounce glasses at cost for $15. When those three bottles are gone, they're gone. Come in and share some holiday cheer.

Next Week in The Spirits Project
Duncan Taylor Bruichladdich 19 Year

And in case you're wondering, that is a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, fitted out as a delivery van by Krug. It sits in the Krug Museum.

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Minnie Hackett's Eggnog of Human Kindness

Mark and my most sincere and heartfelt wish for you as we race toward Christmas and The New Year, is that you are all taking some time to just stop. It's actually very hard for many of us, but I really do hope you have the chance to just stop and sit with some people you love during the season. People talk sometimes about a "war on Christmas." I find the "sprint toward Christmas," sometimes rising to the level of the "roller derby toward Christmas" to be more disconcerting. At this time of year, both of the upcoming holidays create an opportunity to connect with what is really important. The most precious and irreplaceable gift any of us has been given is time. I hope you all get to take some of that time and relish it; and I hope you spend some of that time connecting with others. You hear a lot about the "milk of human kindness" these days. Let's remember that it doesn't go bad and sometimes it feels even better to pour it out than it does to receive it. So take a little time with someone or some people you love.

When you're taking that time, you might want to share a little bit of my grandmother's special eggnog. It doesn't come from a carton and it's not easy to make. We serve it at Catherine Lombardi through Christmas Eve but here's how you can make it at home and share it with others. Let's call it Minnie Hackett's Eggnog of Human Kindness.

Minnie Hackett's Eggnog of Human Kindness

Yolk Ingredients

• ½ cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• ¼ tsp salt
• 4 cups scalded whole milk
• 1 Vanilla bean (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)

Whites Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 1/8 tsp salt
• ¼ cup sugar

Directions

1. Separate Yolks and Whites
2. Put whites in refrigerator
3. Yolks
1. Add Vanilla Bean to Milk (if using extract, add after milk is scalded)
2. Scald Milk (cook it over a medium heat till it bubbles up when bubbles go away, remove from heat)
3. Beat ½ cup sugar into egg yolks
4. Add ¼ tsp salt and stir in milk slowly
5. Cook in double boiler, stirring constantly, until mixture coats spoon.
6. Cool completely (as long as overnight in the refrigerator with vanilla bean)
7. Remove Vanilla Bean
4. Whites
1. Add 1/8 tsp salt to egg whites and beat stiff
2. Slowly Add ¼ cup sugar and beat well
3. Add whites to yolks slowly, mixing by hand thoroughly
4. Chill

Serve with grated nutmeg on top & a cinnamon stick. (Add spiced rum or white rum or bourbon or applejack.) It keeps for about three days.

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Friday Evening Cocktail: The Tom and Jerry

Legend has it that The Tom and Jerry was invented in the 1860s at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco by the famous bartender, Jerry Thomas. It’s a brilliant, heady, warming drink made from rum, hot water, sweet spices and brandy. Before Prohibition, it was offered at just about every watering hole in the colder months. Now, it's a little harder to come by. FOURTEEN years ago, we served what were probably the first Tom and Jerrys to be served at a bar in NJ for fifty years. It's a resurrected tradition. Join in!

Friday Night, we'll be mixing up Tom and Jerrys for just $9. The most tasteful cocktail enthusiasts of NJ will be in attendance, as is their custom. Feel free to stay for dinner. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres will be passed until 9 PM. We should have Tom and Jerry available through the weekend.

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The Spirits Project: Castarede Armagnac 1964

Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
Read more about the Spirits project.

• Suggested retail price: $299 per bottle
• We will pour an ounce for $9
  

The family of Castarede began making brandy in Armagnac more than 175 years ago. Their deep roots in the region result in the ability to select the best possible Bas Armagnac products then distill to perfection and mature the resulting brandy. Armagnac is still a region where small estates grow grapes and various others distill these grapes into the signature brandy of the region. It's a place where history and family ties often matter as much as the hard work in the vineyard and at the still. Castarede possesses two cellars, each more than one hundred years old.

One is located on the banks of the Baïse river at Pont de Bordes, the historical center of wine trading since a time when the primary transit route was by waterway. It is exceptional for aging Armagnac, as the proximity of river creates unique isothermic conditions. This is the cellar of choice for the oldest vintages. The other cellar, in Mauléon d'Armagnac, is situated in the Grand Bas Armagnac region. We've drunk many vintages from Castarede and have been uniformly impressed. The 1964 is just one year older than Mark and I, and rumor has it, it's aged better than we have. Let's find out tonight.

We will open one bottle Tonight, Thursday at 6:30. When it's gone, it's gone!

Next Week in The Spirits Project:
Krug Champagne!!!!
(Yes, I know it's not a spirit)

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Sponsor Profile: Double Cross Vodka

So have you checked out the fireworks video yet? Because you should! We're welcoming a new sponsor this year: Double Cross Vodka.

It's distilled in The Slovak Republic but it's owners are based in Princeton, NJ. I was privileged to be an adviser and consultant to these guys years before the initial launch. I have written about it before and it is one of the most exciting vodka on the market; this from a man who is not often excited about vodka.

So many just use vodka to alcoholize fruit juice. The trick to a great a vodka cocktail is to keep the character of the vodka. It takes a subtle hand to make a great vodka cocktail. Fortunately, we have subtle hands...whew.

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Fireworks on New Year's Eve SPECTACULAR

Please check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTjezGDKNkU

Now it's a little early, but I would very much like for you to consider spending New Year's Eve with us. If you're going to be in New Jersey on December 31st, I promise you there is no place better to be than in this town on that night!

We offer our regular menu so we're not locking you into any tasting menus. We'll have lots of great Champagne by the glass and by the bottle.

We will be completely booked so please reserve early via StageLeft.com or CatherineLombardi.com.

The Heldrich will also book up completely so please book a room early if you would like to make a night of it.