Sadie’s Take on Delaware Ohio

We had been looking forward to lunch on Friday all week.

My surprise birthday celebration for Gretchen was nice, but it was lunch at Smith & Wollensky on Friday that really had her jazzed. (And of course dinner tonight at Columbus Fish Market.) As I mentioned last week, we were taking part in the 40th National Wine Week.

Friday’s Wine Week festivities in Columbus featured:

• Vivre Sparkling, California NV - A very good flavor and the bubbles make a wonderful beginning to the meal.
• Chalet DeBonne Chardonnay, Grand River Valley 2003 - An Ohio wine, which gives it bonus points in my book, but I’m not a big fan of Chardonnay. The flavor was good, but just lacked a little something for my personal taste.
• Forestville Reisling, Sonoma 2004 - A very sweet Reisling and it really had a strong robust flavor that gave it a nice feel.
• Michael Pozzan Pinot Noir, Napa 2005 - I have avoided Pinot Noir for a long time, a bad experience when I first began my wine tasting had lingered on my tongue. I was pleasently surprised with the flavor and it will be one that I continue to try. Gretchen didn’t enjoy it as much.
• Novelty Hill Merlot, Columbia Valley 2004 - I’m not a big fan of Merlot wines, and not it isn’t because of Sideways, they just are a bit “blah” for my taste. This was a nice wine, just didn’t have that “attitude” that I like to have with my wines. 
• Smith & Wollensky Red, Napa 2003 - The maturing pallet was evident on this wine. Last year, it was a major “no”. This year, it wasn’t so bad. I enjoyed the flavor and they have a good mix in this house-mixed red. The flavor is hard to imagine when the server told us it was “about” 78 percent Chardonnay.
• Heitz Grignolino, Napa 2002 - This was a nice spicy wine and with good flavor and very solid after-taste.
• Estancia Cabernet, Paso Robles 2004 - A wine with a very good flavor and was a very pleasently-blended spice content.
• L’Aventure Syrah, Paso Robles 2001 - I was dissapointed that we didn’t get a chance to try this one. Syrah is one of my favorite wines, but figured that it wouldn’t go well with the Cheesecake.
• Luna Sangiovese, Napa 2003 - The other wine that we omitted from the list in an effort to be able to drive home.
• St. Supery Moscato, California 2003 - A dessert wine with a lot of very-ripe green apples and you could really taste the apples in the wine. The flavor was very smooth and went very-very well with the Cheesecake we were enjoying. However, not so much with the coffee — but that was my fault.

Of course, the wine was great, but really it goes beyond that to the food as well.

• Calamari, $9.75 - We’ve had some good Calamari over the years, and this was one of the best - I’d put it behind Emeril’s Orlando Restaurant. Lightly-breaded the only complaint that Gretchen had was that they included the tenticles, but that just means I get more to enjoy
• Mahi-Mahi, $18.00 - I enjoyed the Mahi-Mahi which according to the server was about 15 ounces. It was cooked to perfection, flaky but not dry in the least. I had the Tuna last time we visited and would suggest either of them to a seafood lover.
• 10-ounce Filet, $22.75 - Grechen is not a steak-lover, except when we visit Smith & Wollensky. The steaks are cooked perfectly and she has a side of Bernaise sauce which makes the steak simply pop.
• Broccoli for Two, $5.75 - All of Smith & Wollensky’s sides are “for two” and we usually end-up ordering too many. We refrained this time and enjoyed a large portion of broccoli with a side of Hollandaise sauce. The Hollandaise was nice, but the broccoli was fresh enough that it seemed like a travesty to cover it with a sauce.
• Cheesecake, $? - This was really cool, as they had read my post from earlier in the month and gave us complimentary cheesecake for Gretchen’s birthday. I’m not a huge-fan of cheesecake, but this was very creamy and I enjoyed it — Gretchen is a much bigger fan of cheesecake and she loved it. The “real” whipped cream really set this off with a sprinkle of fresh berries.
• Coffee, $3.50 - They provide a carafe of coffee after dinner and it has a nice smooth flavor. Not robust or a really-dark flavor, but it is a great coffee to enjoy after a heavy lunch.

The service was amazing and we always enjoy our visits to Smith & Wollensky - usually about twice a year - and it is a treat to have this restaurant in Columbus. It is an expensive trip - Friday’s visit set-us-back $88.78 including tip and them comping us for the wine-week and cheesecake because it was Gretchen’s birthday. It was definately worth the money, just not something we can do every day.

You missed out on the 40th National Wine Week, but you can sign up on their Web site and they’ll send you an e-mail and mail information about the fall Wine Week — which I believe was in September last year.

Smith & Wollensky is located at the Easton Town Center and you can make reservations using OpenTable.com.

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