French Fries of the Sea
But then the person behind the counter, who recognizes us, piped up, "If you haven't made up your mind yet, can I put in a plug for our mahi mahi burgers?" I'm always happy to hear someone who is enthusiastic about food (even while a cynical part of me figures it's a sales tactic), so I asked him more about it. He told us that a co-worker had been working on them, and got them just right. We said we'd keep it in mind, and to help us along he went into the back to fetch a piece of one that had just been cooked. He was right; they were delicious. We bought two.
The evening's menu changed even more when we saw the fresh anchovies, tantalizingly labeled with the sign, "French Fries of the Sea!". Melissa was dubious about my decision to incorporate these small, silvery fish, but she was amused by this marketing tactic.
With the menu going every which way at this point, I saw the fresh(!) porcini in the produce market and thought, "why not?". Some asparagus, a lemon, and some pasta, and we had the fixings for dinner.
At last, I have found a way to make anchovies that even Melissa likes. Take fresh anchovies, tear off their heads and gut them, spread out, dredge in flour, and fry. Melissa pointed out that at this point they're really just fried fish, and who can argue with that?
My original plan for a wine had been a Beaujolais Blanc we got from our wine club. This unusual Chardonnay (if you know French wines, you're probably thinking the same thing I did: "Beaujolais Blanc?!" Evidently a small amount is allowed to be made.) probably would've done just fine against our halibut en papillote. I shifted gears since we weren't making that any more, and I looked for a wine with a bit more body and structure. In retrospect, it probably would've been fine with our final dish, but I didn't know what to expect at the time. I opted for the 2003 Imagery Pinot Noir Rosé. When we had this on a recent trip to Sonoma, I wasn't terribly impressed. Trying it a few months later, I revised my opinion. While not a great wine, it exhibited a lot more character than before. My original tasting notes were sparse, but this time I got aromas of violets, baking spices, and strawberry syrup, with occasional notes of vanilla and cheese. That changed to cherries in the mouth, which lingered for a long time so that you could enjoy the nice acidity.The food overwhelmed it a bit, but it wasn't a complete disaster.
What happened with the wine between then and now? I don't know, but I suspect the tasting room staff had over-chilled it. Also, it had just been released, so maybe it was recently bottled, and was suffering from "bottle sickness" or the "dumb period" wines sometimes get.
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