The province of Mendoza is the founder of our wine industry and has always concentrated by far the greatest volume of wine production — as well as posting the standard of quality — and the greatest collection of wineries. A visit to these wineries was part of a visit to the province and was a guarantee of enjoying a definitely alcoholic experience. What was lacking, unlike most other world wine centres, was the complementary meal to round out the experience. Winery restaurants were just not part of our wine world.
I remember when, some time in the late 80s, I mentioned during a visit to Chandon, that all that was missing to provide a perfect visitors tour, was a restaurant. I was told that this would never work out. Nobody would take the trouble to drive out into the vineyards to lunch or dine. Today, the number of wineries which offer restaurant service is quite notable, and increases almost daily. In addition, a goodly number of them offer a standard that can compete with some of the most sophisticated of city establishments.
One of the first, and certainly one of the best, is.. Click to read the full article
Casa del Visitante, which can be enjoyed by visiting the Familia Zucardi winery in Maipú (producers of Santa Julia, Zuccardi Q and Malamado, among other wines).
This restaurant is a splendid example of a typical and genuine regional restaurant. What does this mean?
It is no secret that restaurants (or their menus, at least) can be classified and divided up into different styles or influences. The most basic and obvious is the national tag, where a style or content of a cuisine is identified as, for example, French, Spanish or Italian. A little more specific we can talk of vegetarian, seafood or exotic. The alternatives are many, but in Argentina rarely bordering on the unusual. For example Argentina, like most nations, is a rich source of different types of foods, but unlike many countries — such as France, for example — avoids using them as iconic centres of fine eating. For example, we can freely speak of provençale, normand or haute and identify instantly what sort of menu we are likely to face. This sort of classification is barely understood locally — OK we talk of “comida salteña” without really knowing what we mean (basically hot, spicy fare) — to the point that a great deal of important and attractive food goes almost ignored.
Perhaps matters are about to change. As from October 26 and to October 30 inclusive, the Caesar Park Hotel will offer an evening festival based on typical food from Mendoza. The menu will be prepared by Chef Matías Aldasoro, who runs the Casa del Visitante, and will be composed exclusively of what Mendoza has to offer to set off its excellent wines.
The five-step menu cannot be objected to, save on one point. Alert readers who know Mendoza will pick out a rather remarkable error. I will not reveal what it is until the end. (There is no prize for a correct answer.)
The meal, which will be served with Zuccardi Q wines, Alma 4 sparkling wine and Malamado to round off the festivities, for an inclusive cost of 240 pesos, begins with (what else?) the province’s celebrated empanadas. The next step is a sort of canapé based on olives, to lead up to lamb chops with crisp potatoes, Malbec sauce and a strong presence of garlic, presented as a sort of foam. Before the chocolaty dessert, a combination of olives and goat cheese appears, a curious and very interesting preparation indeed. The chocolate creamy sauce includes olive oil, oak icecream (sic), white chocolate and rhum and cannot be passed over under any circumstances. So where is my objection?
The main course — which should be the flag identifying all the rest of the meal — is lamb chops. Mendoza does have some sheep wandering around, but its true icon is kid, especially the kid from Malargüe, brought up on a diet of mixed herbs infesting the Andean valleys above Las Leñas. To ignore this treasure — banish pasta from an Italian menu or rice from Spain would correspond here — is hard to accept. The official reason given by the hotel is that kid is difficult to obtain and the risk of not obtaining enough cannot be run. That is the official version. In actual fact the truth is that kid can only be obtained in the form of a whole carcass, and Aldasoro only requires chops. So what? Use the chops for the festival and the rest of the carcass, included in other menus apart from this special one. Kid is very popular and no problem to sell as more than one restaurant in BA can testify. But as a first attempt to do something logical and genuine, the effort invested by the Casa del Visitante, Chef Aldasoro and Bodega Familia Zuccardi – not to mention the Caesar Park, is something to be celebrated.
No need to beat about the bush to get the kids to eat their carrots. You will love them too.
Put into a blender two cups carrot puree; two tablespoons grated onion; a quarter cup sugar; a teaspoon salt; a cup milk; two teaspoon lemon juice; a half cup soft butter; a tablespoon flour; a half teaspoon cinnamon; three eggs.
Blend well.
Pour into a buttered souffle dish and bake 50-60 minutes in medium oven. Should be firm and just dry in the centre.
Source: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/48417
