BYOB restaurants

[Mottmott]

I'm curious what the wine literate do when faced with ordering wine for a meal of as yet undesignated foods? How do you pair wine with food when you don't know what the food will be and everyone will order something different? I find this particularly challenging for red wines.

I'm designated wine bringer for Django (Phila) tomorrow and of course have no idea what everyone will eat other than the cheese course I plan to order. When pairing wine for a special dinner at home, I just usually go to Moore Bros and follow their advice. (This time I'll probably get some of the 2000 Domaine Barmès-Buecher Riesling noted on an earlier thread - as Riesling is one of my favorite grapes and I believe Moore carries it.)

[melkor]

We usually just bring an arm-full of stuff, a sparker, a white, a red, and something sweet for after dinner. Usually we drink our way through whatever we brought, otherwise whatever is left goes back in the cellar when we get home.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I bring a Pinot -- it is the ultimate food-friendly wine and goes equally well with everything from vegetarian dishes to full hefty steaks and all that falls inbetween.

[KatieLoeb]

The Barmes riesling is an excellent choice because it will compliment a wide variety of foods. If they have the Barmes Sept Grains pick up a bottle of that as well. Trust me. This wine covers a lot of ground too.

When I BYO I will usually bring a couple of different choices as well and then just decide when I decide on what I'm eating for dinner. I've also been known to pair my food to my wine on occasion, just for the academic exercise of seeing if I've chosen wisely. It's how we sommeliers stay in fighting shape.

Have a wonderful meal at Django and kindly report back on their latest menu.

[CtznCane]

I've gone several directions in bringing my own wine to restaurants. One way has been to choose the wines we've wanted to have and then order our food around the wine. Our second way has been to take the wine we want to drink irrespective of what we decide to order. (This I might say we've found least ideal.)

The best way I've found is to discuss the wine selections beforehand (when making reservations) and asking the restaruant and enlisting their help. At least for a special occasion this last way is ideal, though it can be a little more costly. I'd only do this with a restaurant though that I had confidence in.

[Mottmott]

Katie, alas, no Hengst available tonight, so I got the Herrenweg Riesling. I was in too much hurry to get there before they closed tonight, so I checked Moore's website when I got home and think I should have gotten the Gewurtztraminer instead. Oh well, I did get Jurancon for the cheese. Or, if we don't get to it, I’ll take it home and drink it all myself. :)

Barbara

[KatieLoeb]

Katie, alas, no Hengst available tonight, so I got the Herrenweg Riesling. I was in too much hurry to get there before they closed tonight, so I checked Moore's website when I got home and think I should have gotten the Gewurtztraminer instead. Oh well, I did get Jurancon for the cheese. Or, if we don't get to it, I’ll take it home and drink it all myself. :)

Barbara

Just get the Gewurz next time. It'll give you something to look forward to and an excuse to go back to Moore Bros.

For what it's worth, I used to have the Herrenweg on the wine list at Striped Bass (under the former regime when I purchased the wine). It's also well crafted riesling and I have no doubt you'll enjoy it.

The Jurancon with the cheese sounds interesting. Do tell how that works out.

[Brad Ballinger]

Seems to be two issues here. Wine versatility being one and approach to a BTO being another.

Teh versatility issue has been covered well. Wines that go with many foods are Riesling, Pinot Noir, Cotes-du-Rhone, and Champagne.

When the wine crowd gets together in the Twin Cities, we either pick a wine theme and the pairings end up being whatever they will be; or many of us bring more wine than we will ever open so we have choices. Just because a bottle is carried into the restaurant doesn't mean it has to get opened.

[Mottmott]

The Jurancon with the cheese sounds interesting. Do tell how that works out.

The (aged) Jurancon is a fav of mine: sweet but enough acid to keep it from being cloying. I like it with stong cheeses, blues especially. It's quite versatile for a sweet wine and works both before and after dinner for me. I've been told by someone at Moore's that they've also paired it with spicy Asian.