We arrived and sat in the lounge and we were served the Lasorda Pinot Grigio with 3 appetizers.
One was a lettuce wrap (well more like a lettuce cup) with delicious chicken filling. There was a piece of salmon that had been cooked on a cedar plank with a cracker. Now I don't usually like salmon, but man this changed my mind. The infused cedar flavor in the salmon was unbelievable. The third appetizer was a tapioca rice paper roll with sushi rice, avocado, BBQ pork, & a garlic chili mayo sauce. It is called the Jackass Roll and it is served at his restaurant Texwasabi's. This place is definitely on my list of places to visit... and soon!
Ok so then we go into the dining room and we have a great table close to the center of the room and close to the kitchen so we could see everything that was going on!
First course:
Bacon wrapped shrimp with a chipotle BBQ sauce.
I think that speaks for itself. You will see that I took pictures of the rest of the dishes, but well this looked too delicious and I ate it up before I could take a picture, so you will just have to imagine. The wine that it was paired with could not have been better, it was Riesling from Germany. The smoky-spiciness of the BBQ sauce and the sweetness of the wine--BEAUTIFUL!!! Like I said, I ate it up!
Second Course:
Lemon Grass Chicken with Green Papaya Salad
This was great, and while it was my least favorite course that's just because the others were FANTASTIC and this was just REALLY REALLY GOOD. It had a lot of flavor and half way through I forgot that I was eating papaya, so that was cool. Guy said that he got this idea from going to a chinese restaurant and ordered a green papaya salad and was pleasantly surprised by it so he used the idea and added the chicken. Well done, Guy! Very good. It was paired with a Sauvignon Blanc from Sonoma Valley, very good as well.
Third Course:
Crispy Fried Red Fish with Mojo Sauce and Sofrito Potatoes.
Ok so this first picture is of the fish itself:
Here is how it was served to us:
Now this fish was UNBELIEVABLE. The pairing with the Albarino (a white wine) was so great. I couldn't get enough of both. Now I haven't told you this yet, but well... let's just say we were sitting at a VIP table so they gave us, in addition to the plate above, an actual whole fish to eat as well, and a refill of this wine. As you can see below, we ate that UP! SO SO SO SO GOOD! I want some right now! The fish was great and crispy on the outside and flakey and juicy on the inside. The flavor was fantastic.
Fourth Course:
"Gaucho" Steak wiht a 4 Herb Chimichurri and Green Beans
I don't think that I've had a more delicious steak EVER! I know that sounds exaggerated but the 4 herb chimichurri was so delectable and just added so much flavor and layers to the steak that... well... I just can't describe it. This course was paired with a Negroamro red wine, which had some chocolate undertones... I know that sounds weird but it really complimented this dish. Of course let's not move on before saying how much I love green beans and clearly Guy wanted to impress me and let's just say that it worked :) I like beans.
Fifth Course:
Guido's Flaming Banana's with Tahitian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and White Chocolate & Pecan Cookies
I love banana's foster and so this was so good. The Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Riesling Eiswein from Colombia Valley really went well with this dessert. It brought out the carmel flavors in the bananas and complimented the ice cream too.
Well I could go on and on about the night, about how he got people to sing and act silly the whole night; how MJ got the room chanting "Napa" "Rose"; how Guy got 5 people cooking in the kitchen with him; and how Gwen patted Guy on the butt when we left, but well.. I won't. I will tell you that Guy is just like he is on TV and is a real and very personable. He definitely loves what he does. This was a fantastic evening and the food was so money! Thank you, Guy, for a wonderful meal! I can't wait till next year! I will leave you with this picture:
Me, Guy and the fish (Michael Jordan is holding it up in the background :)
