We are fortunate to live in a city with a restaurant like The Crested Duck. Chef Kevin Costa painstakingly obsesses to make sure that every single bite is satisfying and tasty – AND reflects the flavors he intended. With this in mind, and knowing several people who love duck – we at www.off-the-grid.ws challenged The Crested Duck to create a five course dinner with some element of duck in EVERY COURSE! Chef Costa accepted the challenge and produced a menu that looked great to us, so we sent the invitation hoping to capture the interest of those few who dig duck like us… it sold out in three hours!
Matching the wines to the courses would hopefully be less challenging than creating the food, but we would see… As it turned out the food was fantastic, and my biggest surprise was the ice cream made with duck fat – Wow! The wines performed well: the Sauternes was the appropriate and correct match for the Foie Gras, the Decoy Chardonnay was wonderfully crisp for a Californian chardonnay, but despite my imagining that the main duck courses would match better to the smooth and spicy Rioja (which was still a very nice wine), the overwhelming crowd favorite was the Dierberg Pinot Noir. I will note that one bottle of the Pinot Noir smelled slightly ‘off’ but fortunately this blew off quickly and the wine returned to its normal lushness. Finally the Gruet Brut NV was the ever-reliable-bubbly that we have loved for years, providing a lively counter to the super rich duck ice cream dessert.
Off-the-Grid Sunday Supper –ALL DUCK DINNER at The Crested Duck
1st COURSE – FOIE GRAS MOUSSE – LEEK CONFIT, BAKED APPLE, PANCETTA
LA FLEUR RENAISSANCE SAUTERNES 2011
2nd COURSE – CHARCUTERIE – SMOKED DUCK BREAST, DUCK AND CHERRY PATE, DUCK SPECK
DUCKHORN DECOY CHARDONNAY SONOMA 2013
3rd COURSE – DUCK CONFIT CREPE – ORANGE CRÈME FRAICHE, POMEGRANATE, BITTER CHOCOLATE
DIERBERG PINOT NOIR Santa Maria VALLEY 2010
4th COURSE – CRISPY DUCK BREAST – MUSHROOM RISOTTO
CVNE VINA REAL RIOJA ALAVESA CRIANZA 2009
5th COURSE – CARAMELIZED DUCK FAT & FLEUR DE SEL ICE CREAM – SHORTBREAD COOKIE
GRUET BRUT METHODE CHAMPENOISE NV
Jack Brice Wine 