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- mrdutton - 03-29-2001
No long trip report this time...... We just recently returned from our three week vacation in Southwestern Florida.
One highlight was a trip to Tampa for an overnight at the Hyatt-Regency and dinner at Bern's Steakhouse.
Coctails: Compari and soda with a twist for me, Tom Collins for the boss.
First course: French Onion Soup and Vichyssoise.
Second course: Fresh garden salad with choice of dressing.
Main Course: Prime dry-aged beef center-cut tenderloin of beef cooked medium rare. Baked potato with fresh sour cream and real bacon bits. Medley of fresh, in-season veggies cooked al dente.
Wine with the main course: 1992 Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. This was one of the more reasonably priced CS on their list. Wine and beef melted in the mouth as if they were made for each other. Nice balance of fruit and tannin and a nice long finish. I liked it, the boss was undecided.
Additional wines sampled because the waiter took pity on me (?):
1982 Inglenook Cabernet Sauvignon - seemed flat and way down-hill, until I tasted some of the beef along with the wine. It opened right up when it interacted with the meat. Very nice with the beef; over-the-hill without. Kinda proved the point that some wines need to have food and food needs to have some wines. The waiter's point: Inglenook produced some very good wines despite their poor reputation. I had to agree.
1979 Dehlinger Zin - BIG ZIN, this was an in-your-face, dentist will kill you kinda thing. Wow, it knocked a few layers of enamel off of my teeth. But it held its own with the beef. Very nice.
1995 Arzoaga Crianza (Tempranillo) - talk about terrior - this stuff came from the earth and didn't hide that from the palate. Very earthy, barnyard stuff. Also held its own with the meat and complimented the meal.
After all this we then went upstairs to the dessert room......... Don't remember much after that, but I was not in trouble the next day.......
(GRIN)
- winoweenie - 03-30-2001
Well MrD, You frequented one of my favorite haunts in Tampa. Glad you had such a nice experience. Young Bern is doing a super job of maintaining the ambience and friendliness that's been a hallmark of Berns for the last 30 years. WW