The Skippack Strut on Sunday was fun.
It began at Road House Grille at 1:30 in the afternoon. The temperature was hovering around 90, but there wasn’t too much humidity so it was decent in the shade and generally tolerable in the sun.
First course:
Road House Grille
Assorted hors d’oeuvres paired with McWilliams Riesling
The food served included little potato pancakes, meatballs in a pastry, little cheese and spinach quiche, and hummus on pita – all were good. The Riesling was a nice summer wine that I enjoyed. We sat out on the porch of Road House for this, but we were mostly able to get into the shade.
Second course:
Black Dog Cafe
Honey Walnut Shrimp-Toasted Honeyed Walnuts tossed with Shrimp and Cantaloupe paired with Red Bicyclette Rose
This dish was a bit much. It was battered and fried shrimp put into half a cantaloupe (insides scooped out and some little balls put back in) with the honeyed walnuts and coconut milk. The sweetness of it all caused me not to be able to finish mine. The Black Dog Cafe is an Asian fusion restaurant, not really my thing anyway, I don’t think I’ll be going back. The wine was not bad though, it was pretty mellow compared to many others I’ve had at wine tastings, but it was a red that was surprisingly decent to drink on a hot day. Again we were outside for this course, this time unable to avoid the sun! I was pretty hot when we left.
Third course:
Parc Bistro
Spicy Grilled Smoked Quail on Summer Melon Salad, with Heirloom Tomatoes, Red Onion, Ricotta Salada Cheese, Lime Essence, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and Fig Balsalmic Vinegar paired with Writers Block Grenache
This was the first time I ever had quail, it was a lot like chicken, perhaps a bit more tender. It was nicely prepared and the portions were small. The wine was not my favorite, it had that wood barrel conditioned flavor but not enough other flavor to balance it properly – and it was a pretty heavy red for a summer afternoon. They brought us inside an air conditioned room for this course, which I think was a mistake since it was *so loud* with everyone talking in the small room and the air conditioning made us feel so much worse when we had to go outside again.
This was a nice restaurant though, we’ll be going back.
Fourth course:
Brasserie 73
Baked Salmon Roulade stuffed with Tarragon and Roasted Pepper Compound Butter, served over Lobster Mashed Potatoes with Arugula Salad and Saffron Hollandaise pared with Red Rock Merlot some Zinfandel
The salmon was GREAT, pretty obvious that the same chef works here as at our beloved Road House Grille (the restaurants are separate establishments but owned by the same guy and sort of connected). we’ll certainly be visiting this restaurant again. Apparently they were going to pair it with a Merlot (I like Merlot, but with fish on a hot day?), but ended up bringing out a boring Zinfandel instead (I’m not much of a Zin fan), I wonder if the heat had something to do with the change in choice. The fantasticness of the salmon made up for the less than perfect wine pairing. We sat outside for this too, Michael had a bit of sun for about half the meal, but I was able to hide in the shade.
Fifth course:
Basta Pasta
Sweet Zabaglione with Wild Berries and Vanilla Essence, topped with Biscotti and Fresh Whipped Cream paired with II Moscato
The dessert was fantastic. Light, fruity, refreshing. The wine was less so, I know dessert wines are supposed to be sweet, but this one went overboard, it was like I was drinking juice. The restaurant itself was less formal than a sit down Italian restaurant where you are served but more formal than a generic pizzeria, not really our kind of place.
The company we had throughout the day was amusing. They were a family consisting of a mother (who was absolutely mad) and her three daughters (mid to late 30s, two of them were parents) and a couple of their husbands. They were the “loud group” of the whole production, gaining snears from the snobby people on the tour and laughter from the organizers who could tell they were having a blast. As Michael and I are very quiet it may seem odd that we’d wind up staying with these people, but they really were fun. We even got our first wedding gift, while leaving they handed us a napkin that turned out to contain salt and pepper shakers that they had lifted from one of the restaurants – AHAHAHA! Terrible.
The Strut ended around 5:30. Somehow, after finishing 5 glasses of wine, I felt fine. I think it had something to do with the heat, I drank at least one glass of water at each place we stopped at.
I’m glad we had the experience, but I don’t think we’ll be doing this again next year. July is too hot a month to have such an event, and although some of the food really hit the spot, I really wasn’t impressed with the wine selection. There are always plenty of wine and beer events throughout the summer, so on to checking out more!