June 9, 2012 Lunch - Ristra; Dinner- Salmon, cucumber and dill sauce

June 9, 2012 Lunch - Ristra; Dinner- Salmon, cucumber and dill sauce

            We went to Santa Fe for the day and we wanted to try something a little different for lunch. So we decided to go to Ristra Restaurant which is one of our favorite French restaurants.   Suzette ordered fried calamari and I ordered the Duck confit salad with French lentils ($13.75).  My salad was the best duck confit salad I have had in the U.S. for the price.  It was served in a large pasta bowl in three piles: lentils in one, salad in the second and a leg and thigh quarter of duck was the third component in the bowl.  The salad was slightly wilted as if lightly seared in a skillet, the duck was crisp as if roasted and then deep fried to sizzling and the lentils were delicious.  I asked the waiter about the manner of cooking the lentils and he went to the kitchen and returned and said they were simply boiled in a miripoux (finely carrots, onions and celery) with bacon.

Suzette’s dish was equally interesting, a large platter of white, lightly coated pieces of calamari.  The batter was light and flavorful and we asked the waiter how they were prepared. He said they were coated in potato flour.  Suzette drank a glass of Gruet Blanc de Noir champagne with her calamari and I drank a glass of Côte de Rhone with my duck. 

We were invited to Amy and Vhal’s house for dinner and to discuss and share pictures of Willy’s graduation.  They had purchased a filet of fresh Copper River King salmon at Costco that they grilled to rare and served with a lovely cucumber and dill sauce.

We opened a bottle of 2011 Toulouse Rosé of Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley, California.  When we went to the Pinot Noir Festival in Anderson Valley in May, we tried all the roses in the tent and decided that Toulouse’s was the best, so we then went to the winery and ordered a case of it.  It met all expectations.  It was super fruity and had that lovely pinot noir grape flavor. The closest I can come to a description is wine Kool Aid; sweet, pleasantly fruity and with that special pinot noir flavor. After dinner Vhal and I watched the hockey game and the NBA game 7 between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics and sipped an Argentinian red blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

Bon Appétit