Today, I’m launching a new feature on this blog that’s aimed at local fans of wine, beer and spirits.
It’s a new “page” where I’ll track local wine and beer tastings, charity events and more. (Look up there! Just to the left of my menu! Where it says “Wine and beer events.” Now click.)
I’ve started with some listings of events coming up over the next several months, and I’d like to add more features in the near future. A reader has already suggested that I have a section that lists bottle discounts at local restaurants. (Bella Luna, for example, offers half price bottles on Mondays and Wednesdays.)
Take a look and let me know what I’m missing.
Wichitans will have three opportunities over the next week to educate themselves on wine and beer and the food that makes them sing.
The first is tonight’s Gusto Social Wine Tasting, a monthly event at Gaslamp Grille and Lounge, 550 N. Rock Road. It starts at 6:30 p.m. and is $25 a person. Participants will be able to sample four different wines and have access to some light appetizers. Credit card reservations are required in advance by calling 316-260-1432.
Then, on Tuesday, Yia Yia’s Eurobistro at 8115 W. 21st will offer a $65-a-person wine dinner featuring the wares of the Paraiso winery. It’s a four-course dinner, and each course is paired with a Paraiso wine. It starts at 6:30 p.m. Call 316-634-1000 for reservations.
Wednesday is the day for Newport Grill’s Tallgrass Beer Dinner. The restaurant at 1900 N. Rock Road will charge $50 a person for the five-course meal, which will pair Tallgrass beers with dishes such as butter-poached halibut and cocoa-glazed beef tenderloin. The dinner starts at 7 p.m. Call 316-636-9555 for reservations.
Georg J. Riedel
If I didn’t get to write about restaurants for a living, I’d be a little jealous of my friend Megahn Snyder’s new job. She left her job as a producer at KWCH recently to take a position as “special events coordinator” at Hereford House, 1400 Terradyne Drive. She gets to plan parties, coordinate weddings and help organize cool events such as the one coming up on Thursday.
Hereford House has lured Georg J. Riedel, the 10th generation head of the Riedel Glass Company, to put on a wine tasting, his first such event in the United States. Riedel glasses cost up to $125 apiece and are designed to best enhance the flavor of wine.
Admission to the event is $125 a person, which includes appetizers, three samples of wine and four Riedel wine glasses that ticketholders can take home.
The event starts at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. For reservations and information, call 316-733-7800,
The Mudbugs
Attention, party people: You have only a week and five days to make plans for how you’ll spend Fat Tuesday, and I have two suggestions — one Cajun, one educational and sophisticated.
The Mudbugs Cajun & Zydeco Band, which stars Eagle photographer Jaime Green on drums, is playing its annual Fat Tuesday gig at Heroes Sports Bar, 117 N. Mosley. The Cajun tunes start at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8, and Heroes usually mixes up some killer hurricanes. Admission is free.
Over at the Airport Hilton, the Orpheum and the American Institute of Wine and Food’s Wichita Chapter are putting on a fundraiser called “A Night of Education, Sophistication & Celebration.” It will feature wine, food and a presentation by internationally known wine expert and author Dr. Elliot Engel.
The dinner will feature the wines of Louis M. Martini, and food will be provided by the Hilton’s executive chef Larry Walker.
Proceeds benefit the Orpheum Theatre. Tickets are $95, and reservations are due by noon March 6 by calling 316-682-5502.
Press, the month-old cocktail lounge and restaurant in the old Sabor space at 1720 N. Webb Road, is getting started on one of its promises — to put on regular wine tastings and wine dinners.
Two are scheduled for this month. On Jan.20, the 12/12 dinner will feature 12 wines to sample and a tapas buffet. Admission is $25 a person.
Then, on Jan. 27, Press will put on the St. Hallett Winemaker wine dinner, featuring a four-course meal from chef Douglas Pitts, including a tuna tartar and a lamb shoulder entree. The dinner is $50 a person.
Credit card reservation are required at 316-558-5855.
It’s my job to keep you updated about approaching wine dinners, and I take that job very seriously.
Two worth checking out are coming up over the next seven days.
The first is Saturday at Oeno Wine Bar, 330 N. Mead. The dinner is called Savor the Summer and will feature a five-course dinner, each course paired with a corresponding wine. (Pork scaloppine over fettucine is among the entrees on the menu.) The cost is $40 a person, and it starts at 7 p.m. Call 316-440-5000 for a reservation.
Then, on Aug. 31 (next Tuesday) Yia Yia’s is putting on a Spanish wine dinner that’s $65 a person and will feature five courses and five wines. It starts at 6:30 p.m. and will include dishes such as wood oven roasted quail. Call 316-634-1000 for reservations.
My work here is done.
Two restaurants are planning two interesting dinners in the next several days, and one is centered around one of nature’s most dangerous substances: Tequila.
On Tuesday, Yia Yia’s Eurobistro at 8115 E. 21st St. N. is putting on its first ever tequila dinner, featuring samplings of Jose Cuervo and Don Julio tequilas paired with a five-course dinner prepared by chef Dave Varner. Among the dishes he’s creating: A trio of shrimp shooters, a black bean encrusted tuna, and anejo-lacqured wild boar ribs. The dinner is $55 a person and starts at 6:30 p.m. For reservations, call 316-634-1000.
And Uptown Bistro at 301 N.Mead still has space for tomorrow’s Opera wine dinner, a four-course meal that will include seared sea scallops, braised short ribs and four unique wines. It’s $50 a person, plus tax and a 20 percent gratuity, and it starts at 6:30 p.m. For reservations, call 316-262-3232 as soon as possible.
One of the questions I always get from readers is “When’s Tanya Tandoc going to open another restaurant?”
And the answer that Tanya — former owner of the popular Tanya’s Soup Kitchen — always gives me is “NEVER! EVER!” (Which she quickly follows with a wink and an under-the-breath muttering that maybe, possibly someday if she could find the right spot.)
Fans of Tanya’s who don’t want to wait for her to be bitten by the restaurant bug again can chat with her in person on Wednesday, Aug. 4., at a wine tasting at Mike’s Wine Dive, 4714 E. Douglas.
Mike’s will serve appetizers and wine samples in porcelain dishes Tanya (also an artist) made herself. The porcelain pieces will be for sale, as will be some of Tanya’s drawings, which are on display in the restaurant. The event is being put on by Trish Higgins Fine Art.
The tasting will be from 4 to 5:30 p.m. and is $25. There are 60 seats available, so call soon for a reservation at 316-613-2772.
Two local restaurants have gotten word this week of some vino victories, and they want local wine enthusiasts to know about them.
One is Chester’s Chophouse, the fine dining restaurant at 1550 N. Webb Road, which has been granted Wine Spectator magazine’s Award of Excellence for the fifth consecutive year. Chester’s is the only restaurant in Wichita and one of only seven in Kansas to earn the distinction, which will be noted in the Aug. 31 issue of the magazine.
The other is Yia Yia’s Eurobistro, 8115 E. 21st St. N., which now has four certified sommeliers on staff. Yannic Dozier, Alicia Elleman and Brian McIntosh, all in their 20s, trained with Yia Yia’s resident sommelier John Michael, took an intensive two-day course then passed a rigorous exam earlier this month.
Bottoms up!
Today, I’m launching a new feature on this blog that’s aimed at local fans of wine, beer and spirits.
