R2 Wine Luncheon Take 4
February 16, 2019
The fourth LA wine luncheon run was excellent and fun as always. This time the highlight of the day was an absolutely top notch menu put together by Bistro 45. (FWIW, Bistrot 45 already held the top dining position for these wine lunch things and knocked themselves right out of first place into first and second place.)

Your gracious host donnie sporting a svelte new look

All hands on deck

The fun end of the table

The menu features all organic ingredients

Carpaccio

Ravioli

Duck and polenta

Did we mention the polenta?
Of course, there was lots of wine, good conversation, and laughter.

The whites

The reds
Note to self that wine tasting is much better without the last vestiges of a chest cold.
After lunch we headed into greater downtown Pasadena for a cocktail or two. The bar at Smitty’s Grill is remarkably good. Excellent standard cocktails and a bartender who is even experimenting with milk punch.

smitty’s grill bar

milk punch
Wine Luncheon in LA? Wine not.
January 22, 2017

Wine
New friends, great wine, excellent food, great conversation—donnie, you sure know how to do it!

Lets start things off with a Negroni
We convened slightly off the beaten path on a flooded, rainy day at Officine Brera in LA.

Convocation

Tasting two
Everyone brought a bottle to contribute and describe. Probably the most interesting was a 17 year old bottle from China.

A flyer from Trentino-Alto Altige (Grenache, Syrah, Teroldego)
The food was just as good as the wine.

Cinghiale

The menu

Chaos
Delightful. Lets do it again.