The Restaurant Guys

Forget Kobe. Miyazaki Beef Is The Big Dog...er...Cow In Town

There comes a time, when winter has not released his icy grip and spring is yet only on the horizon, not within our grasp. This is a time for decadence my friends. While the bears are still hibernating and bathing-suit and barbeque weather is still a comfortable distance ahead, this is the time for a steak, but not just any steak. This is a time for a truly great and rare steak.

The famous (and oft counterfeited) beef from the Kobe Prefecture of Japan was thought by many to be the finest beef in Japan. Kobe beef is very good but in Japan, the most prized beef is that from the Prefecture of Miyazaki. The Japanese Culinary Olympics is held only every five years in Nagasaki and the Beef Competition is widely recognized and prestigious. Miyazaki has taken top honors the last two times. It is extraordinary.

Look at the marbling on that steak. Novice meat buyers often go for lean steak, mistaking lean for quality. If you want lean, go for filet and don't spend a lot. If you want one of the best steaks in the world, go for something that looks like this. Normally rich steak like this is served in a two or three ounce portion, and we do have that available on our steak tasting dish. But what you see above is a 16-20 oz Miyazaki Strip Steak. Sometimes, you just have to go for it. We're offering these steaks, wood grilled, for $195. It's very rich and it might be a really good idea to share one with a friend. They will be available in Stage Left beginning tonight and while supply lasts. Reserve a table here, or call 732-828-4444.

If you would like to be sure to get one of these, you can ask us to set one aside when you make your reservation.

George Hendry Wine Tasting and Dinner Menu Announced!

On Monday March 9th, George Hendry will be here to host a dinner and tasting with his wines. It's an extraordinary lineup, including library releases from 2005! The kitchen will not disappoint!

Reserve by emailing [email protected] or calling 732-828-4444732-828-4444

Here are the juicy details.

Tasting from 6-7

Rose
Albariño
Pinot Gris
Malbec, 'Block 14'
Merlot, 'Block 13'
Petit Verdot, 'Block 15'
Primitivo, 'Block 24'
Red Wine, Meritage Blend 2010
Red Wine, Meritage Blend 2005

Dinner at 7 PM

Turbot with with Blood Orange, Toasted Pistachios & Ginger Romesco
Chardonnay, 'Un-oaked'
Chardonnay, 'Barrel Fermented'

Bacon Lettuce and and House Preserved Tomatoes on Foie Gras Bread
Pinot Noir, Hendry Vineyards

Potato Gnocchi with Maitake Mushrooms & Roasted Winter Vegetables
Zinfandel, 'Block 28'
Zinfandel, 'Block 7 & 22'

Venison Stuffed with Duck
Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Chocolate Tasting
Espresso Truffles, Chocolate Pot De Crème, Spiced Hot Chocolate

The Spirits Project: Littlemill 25 Year - The Little Distillery That Did...For A While

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

• Suggested retail price: $139
  
• Thursday, February 19 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring a one-ounce pour for $4.50

Poor Littlemill was a distillery in the Scottish Lowlands. At one time, the Lowlands was the workhorse region of Scottish whisky production. It produced a lot of whisky, if not the most distinguished whisky. Littlemill was never famous and most of her output went to blending but some of the best barrels have always been bottled as as single malt. The whisky of Littlemill is delicate and reserved. Some have likened it to a very good Irish whiskey because of how it's structured. It's not bold and powerful, but more reserved. With this extended time in barrel, it has developed a complexity that you would not assume from its younger iterations.

The distillery was closed in the late 80s and destroyed completely by fire in 1994. It's just a ruin now, but one bottle of its ghost whisky, at 25 years old, will be opened at The Cocktail Bar at Catherine Lombardi tonight at 6:30 precisely. We will raise a glass to the Little Distillery that could, and did, for a while. It's greatest expression, not realized until the distillery was long gone.

Next Week In The Spirits Project
Duncan Taylor Dimensions Glen Rothes 21 Yr. Old

George Hendry Returns

George Hendry is one of the smartest men making wine anywhere. I'm not saying that just because he is a nuclear physicist. I'm not saying it because he's lived on and farmed The Hendry Ranch his entire life. I'm not saying it because for that entire time, he has approached the management of his vineyards and wines as both an artist and a scientist. My comment is born of personal experience in his phenomenal wines year after year.

I've learned more about wine by just drinking Hendry and paying attention for the last 20 years than in any single book I've read. George is not a world-wide consultant. He's been farming The Hendry Ranch since before The Korean War. The man has forgotten more about growing wine in the Napa Valley than most flying wine makers will ever know. It's an honor and a privilige to host him and his wines once more.

On Monday March 9th, George will be here to host a dinner. We're still working out the details on the dinner and tasting, but save the date and stay tuned. We know that we'll be showing some back-vintages.

(The young guy on the right is George on The Ranch, circa 1973. We'll have all the details in next week's email.)

The Spirits Project: An Arran Malt "The Devils Punch Bowl Chapter III: The Fiendish Finale"

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

• Suggested retail price: $139
  
• Thursday, February 19 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring a one-ounce pour for $4.50

If you were to travel to the far Northeast of Ireland, North of Belfast, put your currach (leather skinned boat) into the sea and row North about 15 Miles, you would make land at the famous Campbeltown, Scotland, producer of singular single malts. Row another 15 miles Northeast of Campbeltown and you would wash up on the Isle of Arran. On this beautiful island, where deer outnumber people, there had not been a legal distillery in 150 years. That's not to say it was a dry island; just that there were no legal distilleries. That all changed when Harold Currie, a former director of Chivas opened the Arran Distillery in 1995. The first cask was opened in 1998 to much acclaim. The water (a crucial component to whisky) for the malt is from Loch na Davie. The master distiller is James MacTaggert. Not exactly new to the whisky game, he cut his teeth at Bowmore, where he spent almost 30 years before taking on the Arran project. His skill is redoubtable.

Starting a brown-liquor distillery from scratch is no small feat, and one must be sufficiently capitalized to wait for your stocks to mature, and to wait and wait and wait. For at least a decade after the first precious distillate is placed in its very expensive oak cask, a Scottish distillery is not at anywhere near full production cycle. After three years, the first whisky can be sold, but still more must be produced to add to the 12 year. It seems obvious to point out that you've got to wait 12 years for the first 12 year whisky. You've got to make and barrel a year's production 12 times before you sell one bottle. Just think about that math and the chances these guys took when they plunked down the cash in 1993 and put the Isle of Arran on the map of Scotch whisky. Remember, in 1993, Scotch Whisky was not nearly as popular as it is today. They backed the right horse, of course. Worldwide demand is at an all-time high and The Arran's is known for quality it's singular expression of the distillers' art and it's island home.

Limited Edition Bottling

The Devil's Punchbowl is a project of special bottlings. The warehouse on Arran has yielded some pretty spectacular results. A master distiller's role is to make a consistent line of products that taste very similar year-on-year. The house's straight 12 year expression you buy your uncle for Christmas next year should be very much the same as the one you bought him last year. This has been particularly true for James MacTaggert, for he did not inherit a style going back a hundred years. He did not inherit old stocks of whisky with detailed warehouse notes on how each barrel performs in each part of the warehouse and in Arran's unique climate. He did not have examples in library of old bottlings to compare. He had to create it himself over the last 20 years. It's a pretty remarkable feat.

The limited bottling allows Mr. MacTaggert some room to play. Mr. MacTaggert here casts himself in the role of whisky 'sorcerer,' conjuring unique and quite opinionated blends from some of his finest barrels. Over the top? Yes. But am I curious? Yes. As I said, he's a talented guy working with great stock. I look forward to seeing what he does here unconstrained. Chapter III: The Fiendish Finale was matured in five bourbon barrels, eight oloroso sherry butts, and eight French oak barriques. Unlike it's two predecessors, this whisky is not peated. I look forward to opening a bottle with you at precisely 6:30 on Thursday February 19th. When it's gone, it's gone.

Next Week In The Spirits Project
The Exclusive Malts - Littlemill 25 Year (1988)

We Need You Thursday Eve at The Bar - The Peat Genovese Cocktail

We would love to see you Thursday evening. We're welcoming Pete Genovese, of The Star Ledger, in The Cocktail Bar at Catherine Lombardi. He's stopping by on his tour of the Best NJ Bars. Pete's doing a month-long tour of every one of the 60 best bars in the state, and writing about them. It's a great series. I've been following along at NJ.Com. It will be a great guide to NJ's best drinking establishments in NJ when done.

We've invented a new cocktail just for the evening. It's called a Peat Genovese. Of course it's made up of a peaty Scotch Whisky and Genever Gin, not too far around the corner from a penicillin, but a righteous cocktail in it's own right.

Let us know if you're on the mailing list and the first one's on the house. Are we sucking up a little bit? Yes.

To you or to Pete? Yes.

Will it be a fun night at your favorite watering hole? Oh yes.

At The Cocktail Bar with The Star Ledger - February 19

I hope you're all keeping well with the less than pleasant weather. We've had a busy little beginning of the year here with a Paul Hobbs dinner and a Jazz concert. We're finalizing details to bring George Hendry into town for a wine dinner in March (looking like March 9). We'll formally announce it as soon as we get the details worked out.

Thanks to your emails and suggestions, Pete Genovese of The Star Ledger and NJ.com has included The Cocktail Bar at Catherine Lombardi in the semi-finals of his round of NJ's Best Bars. Check it out here. It's a really fun series. He is on a mission to visit all 60 bars over the next few weeks. He'll be at Catherine Lombardi on Thursday on February 19th. We would love to have as many of you, our loyal bar patrons, as possible in attendance. We'll have some drink and food specials that we'll announce next week. We want Pete to come and meet the people of the bar and restaurant. The number one thing that our bar has going for it is the people in it...and that's YOU. Save the date - February 19. More details next week.

The Spirits Project: Duncan Taylor Dimensions Glen Moray 25 Yr.

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

• Suggested retail price: $199
  
• Thursday, February 12 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring a one-ounce pour for $7  

Duncan Taylor & Company has ownership of one of the largest privately-held collections of rare scotch whisky casks. The company has been “laying down” casks from premium Scottish distilleries for decades and has, in recent years, made its stores available to whisky connoisseurs throughout the World. Duncan Taylor has its origins in Glasgow where the company was initially a merchant and broker of Scotch Whisky casks within the Industry. Duncan Taylor provides top quality casks to be filled at Scotland’s leading distilleries. This is how this independent merchant builds up its stock of whisky. When the company moved its headquarters close to Speyside, it also decided to release whisky direct to consumers under its own name.

This bottling is from Glen Moray, built on the site of the West Brewery on the banks of the River Lossie. Glen Moray Distillery was founded in 1897, but closed in 1910. It reopened briefly a couple of years later, but then closed once more. In 1920, Macdonald and Muir acquired the distillery and once more spirit flowed from the stills. The two original stills were replaced in the 1970s and two more stills were added, giving the distillery its current yearly capacity of two million liters. In 1996 Macdonald and Muir Ltd renamed itself Glenmorangie Plc and in 2004 the group was acquired by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, for the princely sum of £300 million. The Glenmorangie distillery pioneered exotic wood finishes and Glen Moray championed white wine finishes. The distillery was again put up for sale in 2008.

Glen Moray now belongs to La Martiniquaise which uses part of its production in their blended Whisky Label 5. The distillery was expanded in 2012 and now produces 3,300,000 litres annually from 3 wash stills and 3 spirit stills. We're happy to have this older bottle from Duncan Taylor.

Next Week In The Spirits Project
The Exclusive Malts - Littlemill 25 Year (1988)

Catherine Lombardi's Secret Room

We have a secret...a secret room that is. Okay well, I'm writing about it now, so it's no longer secret, but we've been stealthily constructing a small private dining room behind a sliding pocket door, just off the main dining room of Catherine Lombardi. This cozy little room seats up to 10 people comfortably. We're accepting bookings now. It's great for some extra privacy or for a private wine dinner. It has hideaway audio-visual capability and a great little sound system of it's own. It's just really sweet!

Click here for a short video.

Valentine's Day at Stage Left and Catherine Lombardi

We would love to see you on Valentine's Day. Both restaurants are opening at 4 PM. Stage Left will deliver the most elegant and delicious romantic dinners in each of our cozy little dining rooms. Catherine Lombardi's fireplaces will be ablaze and it's even painted red for heaven's sake. If you're dining out on Valentine's Day, we offer two of the most civilized options in NJ.