weekend review: part one, the city

Wine dinner at Olio. $30 for four courses, each with a perfectly-paired half glass of wine. I had the pleasure of dining with RVAnews.com's own Holly Gordon and we were seated at the largest table, with six others. I believe, there were about four tables in all, most seating six though there was mention of other wine dinners being larger.

Course one, grilled vegetables and flatbread.
Paired with .A. Prum "Essence" Riesling, Germany
Possibly my favorite course because I had just not expected to love this course so much. The vegetables had a great smokey flavor that I don't think I've ever experienced with vegetables.
I loved this wine and bought a bottle for myself, along with the second course's wine. Partially due to the low cost of the dinner, it was nice to have such excellent wines to taste but to have those be ones that I could still afford to bring home.

Course two, Vegetable/Potato Samosa Dumpling and Tamarind Chutney Sauce
Paired with J. Lohr Vineyards "Wildflower" Monterey County, CA
While the puff pastry isn't 'traditional' the samosa was still delicious and the filling was very complex. I don't know much about wine, but the Valdiguie grape that composes most of this wine is apparently less common. I liked the 'softness' of this wine and am looking foward to sharing the bottle with friends tonight.

Course three, Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan
Paired with Edmeades Zinfandel, Mendocino County, CA
A great, flavorful dish with a good amount of spice but it didn't completely overpower the wine.

Course four, Green Tea Cheesecake with Fortune Cookie Crust
Paired with Michele Chiarlo "Nivole" Moscato d'Asti, Italy
Holly and I were relieved that fortunes did come with out fortune cookie crust and I loved my fortune. (Can you read it in the photo?) Moscato is definitely a dessert wine and I wouldn't drink it other times but this choice was the perfect way to finish our meal, particularly with the slightly-savory dessert.

After the dinner, we met up with more friends and did some bar hopping in the fan. This is how the night ended:

"Lime Birdies"

Makes a PBR taste like a Corona.
Whether that is good or bad depends on your feelings about PBR and Corona.

olios blogger meetup

I'm just getting into blogging and also still feeling really new to Richmond, so I was super thrilled and honored to be invited to a Richmond area food bloggers meetup. I had enjoyed checking out some of the blogs ahead of time but wasn't expecting anyone to have read mine. Embarrassing story: I had just gotten a beer (Olio comped our first drink, so nice of them!) and was pouring it into a frosty glass when a woman I introduced myself to said "oh! you're percentblog!" I was so shocked I didn't realize my beer was super foamy and spilling out of the glass. But I had a great time and met amazing people so you'll see the Richmond blogroll over to the right grow quickly.

But on to the food. Obviously the foodie who chose the place did so because of the wonderful food and atmosphere, but you would think that a room full of self-proclaimed foodies would have critiques. The whole evening I didn't hear one. What's not to love about a market that does food excellently and sells beer and wine at retail prices? I had the Sopresatta Suzanna Pizza with tomato vodka sauce, fortina and provolone, and sopresatta salami. A friend and I sat in wonder as we ate the salami. No full review here but go try Olio yourself.