Chef Focuses on Perfect Dish for Winemaker Dinners

Whenever he gets a chance, Ventura restaurant owner and chef Sandy Smith likes to stretch his creative muscles. A winemaker dinner, like the one scheduled for Wednesday at his Rosarito Beach Cafe, gives him that kind of opportunity.

“Wine dinners allow me to do foods I wouldn’t ordinarily plan on doing for the menu,” Smith said. “It’s always exciting: I get to focus on one dish, pair the wine with it. . . . When you nail one, if you get a wine where you’ve got some pleasantly plum almondy flavors and you get that out in the food--it’s really fun to pull that off.”

Smith’s dinner at Rosarito will pair his cuisine with wines by Mike Brown of Buttonwood Farms-Kalyra Vineyards.

The meal will open with a lobster cheesecake with a dried apricot coulis. Next will be scallops in a chipotle-orange glaze on greens served with a roasted corn vinaigrette, followed by chicken simmered in a sauce of dried fruits and chiles.

For the main course, Smith will prepare a grilled New York strip beef roast with red wine sauce and white bean salsa. The menu will conclude with a double upside-down chocolate cake with white chocolate sauce.

The dinner is one of a series of winemaker evenings Smith is presenting monthly (usually on the third Wednesday). The featured winemaker will be present for each dinner.

“First of all, I’m looking for a winemaker that I think is producing good wines,” Smith said. “I think Mike Brown is a really exciting young winemaker, probably the hottest in Santa Ynez right now. His port, if you compared it to some of the best ports in the world, would hold up nicely. His wines would blow you away with their quality.”

Coming up on the Rosarito winemaker calendar is a March dinner featuring Sanford Winery and an April meal with the Ojai Vineyard.

Wednesday’s dinner will begin at 7 p.m. Cost is $60 per person. Rosarito Beach is at 692 E. Main St. For reservations call (805) 653-7343.

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Didier Poirer and wife Nancy Kuhn will celebrate their first Valentine’s Day as restaurant owners with a special four-course prix-fixe menu Saturday at their 71 Palm Restaurant.

The meal will open with smoked salmon terrine with cream cheese and caviar or an asparagus in puff pastry with chive butter sauce. Next will be a choice of four-onion soup or a baby spinach salad with Gorgonzola and bacon.

For the main course, Poirer and Kuhn will offer a choice of either beef tournedos, veal chop with mushroom sauce, risotto with fava beans and herbs, or grilled ahi tuna with soy ginger sauce. And for dessert, it will be fresh berries for two on a coupe de chocolat served with white and dark Godiva chocolate liqueurs.

Dinner is $38 per person. The restaurant is at 71 N. Palm St. For reservations, call (805) 653-7222.

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Husbands and wives who have been together for 50 years have been through plenty. They probably are entitled, at the least, to a free meal. Especially during Valentine’s Day week.

Folks at the HomeTowne Buffet chain, which recently opened a spot in Oxnard, are offering just that--a free meal, through Saturday, for any husband and wife who can prove their longevity with a marriage certificate.

The restaurant is at 1901 Lockwood St. Call (805) 983-8873 for more information.