Bacchus Does Sonapanoma |
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WINES TASTED: 1992
Henschke Shiraz Hill of Grace The wines were great. Dinner sucked. Well, let me elaborate. Equus is the restaurant at the Fountaingrove, an upscale hotel/motel with convention facilities. They tout themselves as a "winecountry restauant", and their prices match their self aggrandizement. The restaurant is very attractive, although they carry the horse theme perhaps a little too far. Nevertheless, it is a pleasant and comfortable place. They have a very impressive display of wine bottles that includes an offering from every producer in the county. The chef is Mark Dierkhising. I’ve never met Mark personally, but I’ve enjoyed his food at his previous venue in Calistoga, the All-Seasons Cafe. Here, he no doubt worked closely with John Wetlaufer, who ran the retail wine shop that was an integral part of the operation, and has since gone on to fame as part of the husband-wife team at Marcassin. I’ve dined at All-Seasons on several occasions when he was there, and the food was inventive, beautifully presented, and delicious. I also have a friend who has worked in his kitchen, and I’ve not heard any negative comments about him. He seems to have earned a good reputation. This evening he behaved like an arrogant twit. Our waitperson asked if we would like to meet the chef, and, of course, we did. Here we were – twenty hungry winegeeks, looking forward to dinner after a long day of tasting – naturally we would like to meet the chef who would be preparing our meal. Mark came to our table, looking rather put out that he had been summoned from the kitchen. When we offered him a taste of any or all of the wines on the table, he scanned the wines with a cursory glance, and told us that he had "tasted them all" (!). WELL !!! ‘scuse me all to hell, but let’s be honest, folks – that’s nonsense. That started us off on a sour note, and, unfortunately, things did not improve. Our waitstaff was well-meaning, but not very well trained or attentive. The appetizers were average. Of the 20 entrees we ordered off of the regular menu, five were returned to the kitchen, and several others were not eaten. It was pathetic. One of our waitresses was literally embarrassed to tears.
I later learned that the chef had left the restaurant before the entrees were fired. Mark – you should be ashamed of yourself. You had the opportunity to showcase your talent for twenty wine and food lovers. Instead, you left the house and your kitchen performed poorly. We won’t be back to Equus.
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