Thursday Sips & Nibbles

I am back again with a new edition of Thursday Sips & Nibbles, my regular column where I highlight some interesting, upcoming food & drink events.
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1) On Wednesday, November 7, at 6:30pm, Legal Sea Foods in Park Square will host a wine dinner with Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards. Since 1973, Sonoma-Cutrer has been producing the finest quality wines. Its foundation is built in the hillsides and rocky foothills in the region recognized as the Sonoma Coast Appellation. In the 1970s, the company planted several different grape varieties and virtually overnight, Sonoma-Cutrer’s Chardonnay grapes had gained a reputation for exceptional quality and were in high demand by many premium wineries.

Legal Sea Foods will team up with head winemaker, Mick Schroeter, to host a four-plus-course dinner featuring signature cuisine paired with his selections from the Sonoma-Cutrer vine. The menu will be presented as follows:

HORS D’OEUVRES
Pan-Seared Scallop Tart, Shaved Fennel, Lemon Butter
Oyster Pâté, Puff Pastry, Onion Jam
Shrimp Scampi Skewer
Sonoma-Cutrer “Grande Cuvée,” Russian River Valley, 2014
FIRST COURSE
Colossal Shrimp Scallopini (tomato burrata salad)
Sonoma-Cutrer Rosé of Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, 2017
SECOND COURSE
Halibut Imperial (wild mushroom ragout, cacio e pepe risotto)
Sonoma-Cutrer “Les Pierres Vineyard” Single Barrel Private Select Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, 2016
Sonoma-Cutrer “Les Pierres Vineyard” Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast, 1998
THIRD COURSE
Cedar Plank Salmon (pancetta, baby Brussels sprouts, Peruvian purple potatoes)
Sonoma-Cutrer Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, 2015
DESSERT COURSE
Bananas Foster (vanilla ice cream, rum caramel sauce)
Sonoma-Cutrer “Late Harvest” Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, 2015

COST: $110 per person (excludes tax & gratuity)
Reservation required by calling 617-530-9397

2) On Wednesday, October 24, at 7pm, guests are invited to Meritage Restaurant + Wine Bar to celebrate the beginning of White Truffle season with a one-of-a-kind Truffle Dinner presented by Chef Daniel Bruce. Chef Bruce, acclaimed chef and founder of the Boston Wine Festival, is an experienced forager and truffle expert and presents a special menu featuring the freshest flavors of the season.

The full menu for the Truffle Dinner is as follows:

AMUSE
“Black Tie” Diver Scallop, Truffle White Foam
2012 Negro Lorenzo Roero Arnies Spumante
PASTA OUVO
Shaved White Alba Truffle, Spinach Paint
2015 Domaine Dublère 2015 Diego Conterno Langhe Bianca Nascetta
WHITE TRUFFLE & AGED PARMESAN CHEESE RISOTTO MANTECATO
Shaved Duck Prosciutto
2017 Francesco Brigatti Vespolina
PAN ROASTED VEAL TENDERLOIN MIGNON
Fricassee of Wild Mushrooms, Black and White Truffles, Sugar Pumpkin, Petit Rabe Cipollini Onion Confit
2014 G. D. Vajra Albe Barolo
2011 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo
OLIVE OIL CAKE
Black Truffle Crémeux, Honey Ice Cream, Citrus Marmalade, Puffed Rice
Marchesi de Gresy La Serra Moscato d’Asti

Tickets to the White Truffle Dinner are $250.00 per person (inclusive of tax and Gratuity) and are available for purchase on Eventbrite.
This dinner is 21+

3) You may not get a chance to dine at Noma in Copenhagen (named Best Restaurant 4 times and one of the hardest reservations in the world to get), but you can hear chef David Zilber, Director of Noma’s Fermentation Lab, talk about some of the magic behind the famed restaurant and their new book, The Noma Guide to Fermentation. He will be in Boston on Friday, October 26th, at 12:30pm, doing an event with Porter Square Books at First Parish Church in Cambridge

At Noma—four times named the world’s best restaurant—every dish includes some form of fermentation, whether it’s a bright hit of vinegar, a deeply savory miso, an electrifying drop of garum, or the sweet intensity of black garlic. Fermentation is one of the foundations behind Noma’s extraordinary flavor profiles. David Zilber is the chef who runs the restaurant’s acclaimed fermentation lab, and in this new book he has co-authored with René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of Noma, they share never-before-revealed techniques to creating Noma’s extensive pantry of ferments. And they do so with a book conceived specifically to share their knowledge and techniques with home cooks. With more than 500 step-by-step photographs and illustrations, and with every recipe approachably written and meticulously tested, The Noma Guide to Fermentation takes readers far beyond the typical kimchi and sauerkraut to include koji, kombuchas, shoyus, misos, lacto-ferments, vinegars, garums, and black fruits and vegetables. And—perhaps even more important—it shows how to use these game-changing pantry ingredients in more than 100 original recipes.

You can purchase tickets here, and tickets include a copy of the book.