Taste-Off at Press Club Puts Winners on the Menu

by Emma Krasov, photography by Yuri Krasov

An old French belief that wine is a condiment to food gradually takes root in our culinary quarters. Forget wine tastings of yesteryear when all you needed to switch from sav blanc to cab sav was a bland water cracker. Pairing your wine with food, sometimes rather sophisticated, is becoming widespread in wineries and hip restaurants, so the 1st Annual Wine & Food Pairing Taste-Off presented by Taste TV at The Press Club in the heart of San Francisco came as no surprise. The well-planned event attracted a crowd of fans and enticed the chefs to show off their talents. Six distinguished Northern California wineries served various food and wine combinations at their own bar counters in the Press Club’s spacious tasting room. The attendees were invited to help Press Club decide which new pairings to put on their menu. There were six seasonal plates paired with two whites and four reds:

1. Savory zucchini cakes, arugula pesto cream, fried shallot garnish (chef Marina Diniz) with Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, Napa 2008, presented by Ryan Silva.
2. Mild jalapeno citrus glazed prawns served in butter lettuce cups, grilled peach salsa (chef Rachelle Gionet) with Hanna Savignon Blanc, Russian River 2009, presented by Alison Thomas.
3. Organic spinach, mushroom and truffled chevre blintz, chive oil drizzle (chef Bill O’Laughlin) with Mount Eden Domain Eden Pinot Noir, Santa Cruz Mountains 2008, presented by Tyler Tulsky. 4. Summer Baby BLT: creamy 3-cheese crostini, heirloom tomato, pancetta, basil (chef June Blackburn) with Miner Family Sangiovese, Gibson Ranch 2007, presented by Jaime Orozko. 5. Chipotle chicken tostadas, artisan white cheddar, cilantro cream (chef Laurie Ross) with Fritz Reserve Zinfandel, Dry Creek 2007, presented by Alexis Traverso.
6. Spicy Asian pulled pork served on taro root crisp, island slaw garnish (chef Rob Bresee) with Saintsbury Toyon Farm Pinot Noir 2007, presented by Dante Javar.
It obviously presented a challenge for the attendees to decide which of the pairings deserves to be called the best and put on the new Press Club menu. However, this reporter felt that Chef Bill O’Laughlin’s delectable blintz came very close to some sweet childhood memories involving grandma’s blintzes made back there, in the Old Country, in the previous life… It also seemed that mild nuanced tastes and textures of the blintz played out very nicely against the whimsical darkness of the pinot… Oh well, good it took the 3rd place! Other deserving winners were: 2nd place – Saintsbury pairing, and the 1st place – Miner pairing; both most definitely recommended for any upscale (or regular) wine club menu as delicious enhancements of those memorable characteristic wines. More information at: http://www.tastetv.com/, http://www.pressclubsf.com/