Audio By Carbonatix
While it was not an official SBWFF event, last night’s Au
Bon Climat wine dinner at Emeril’s Miami Beach sure felt like one. Oenophiles
and foodies alike came together for a six-course dinner and wine pairing.
Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse was in the kitchen expediting the New Orleans’
style cuisine for the 80-plus crowd, while Au Bon Climat’s Jim Clendenen was
seated in the dining room rhapsodizing about his wines from northern Santa
Barbara county. The duo have been working together since 1995 (they met in
Miami at a dinner at Grove Isle, when Mark Militello was the chef there) and
they often put on festive wine dinners at Emeril’s eateries around the country.
The theme of the dinner was “old school,” and Emeril’s first
course was a smoked salmon crepe with apple, fennel, cucumber and Uruguayan
caviar. It was paired with a rich, creamy pinot gris (2008) from Santa Barbara
county. Next up were mussels and frites with a saffron herb wine broth. The
white wine served with this course is called “Hildegard,” and refers to the wife
of King Charlemagne. According to Jim, the king was a sloppy drinker, who often
had red wine stains on his clothes and in his beard. Hildegard wisely suggested
that they plant white wine grapes instead of red, to cover her husband’s
drinking. And this is why Clendenen named his mixture of pinot blanc, pinot
gris and aligote after a woman from the 800’s.
Hazelnut crusted snapper with new potatoes, spinach, jumbo
lump crab and papaya butter sauce was matched with a powerful 2004 Chardonnay
from the Santa Maria Valley. In a nod to Miami, there was a Cuban pork stew
with sweet potatoes, black beans, brussels sprouts and a chorizo crust. The
Isabelle pinot noir (2007) that went with this course was named after Jim’s
15-year-old daughter. We tasted another pinot noir (2006) from the Santa Maria
Valley with the confit duck thigh, which was served over dirty rice. For
dessert, there was Emeril’s signature banana cream pie (it’s one of my favorite
desserts in Miami), which was paired with a 2007 Riesling from the Sana Ynez
Valley.
The night was a huge hit with Emeril making several
appearances in the dining room. Clendenen was likewise mobbed by female wine
groupies who were digging his hippie style and long locks. Jim was unfazed by
the attention; he regularly hosts these wine dinners with celebrity chefs like Wolfgang
Puck, Charlie Trotter and Daniel Boulud. Au Bon Climat will be showing up at
several SBWFF events, although Jim did not feel the need to be an official part
of the Festival last night. “They charge $10,000 to participate in the Festival,” he said. “I
don’t blame them, but why do I need to pay that to be hooked up with a guy I
already know.” I’ll drink to that.
Emeril’s Miami Beach
1601 Collins Ave., Miami Beach
305-695-4550
