Celebrate the summer this Friday, August 9, with a gourmet dinner paired with local wines in the gorgeous courtyard at Palo Alto’s Crowne Plaza Hotel.
At 6 p.m. this Friday, the Crowne Plaza will be partnering with Gilroy’s Martin Ranch Winery to host a dinner with the wine maker that pairs the best of seasonal California summer cuisine with a selection of the winery’s vintages. The dishes also highlight ingredients from local purveyors.
The intimate event will host about 40 diners in the hotel’s beautiful courtyard patio, with its lush greenery, burbling fountain and view of the sparkling pool. A sommelier from Martin Ranch Winery will be on hand to talk about their wines, vineyards and history, as well as the wines and pairings. Diners will also enjoy live acoustic guitar music from Bruce Brill.
For the occasion, Chef Francis Ramirez has created an elegant four-course prix-fixe menu that begins with a cream of mushroom soup with lemon creme fraiche. The soup will be followed by a summery grilled peach salad with arugula, candied pecans, crumbled goat cheese, bacon and a shallot vinaigrette. For their entree, diners may choose between the wild mushroom tagliatelle with green onion, California garlic and Cowgirl Creamery’s Wagon Wheel cheese or the butter-aged New York steak with peppercorn demi-glace, pomme puree and roasted summer squash.
The butter aging is a new technique, an alternative to dry aging that still gives the meat a greater depth of flavor, but also keeps a little more fat in there, says Chef Manuel.
“Fat equals flavor and juiciness,” he said.
Following the entree course, dessert will be a decadent chocolate lava cake with vanilla bean cream.
The wine maker’s dinner is offered at $60 a person.
The meal will also provide an opportunity for attendees to support the Gilroy Garlic Festival Victims Relief Fund. All donations collected will go to the shooting victims and their families.
“We want to support them and support our neighbors,” said Crowne Plaza Palo Alto General Manager Alyssa Robin.
Seating for the wine maker’s dinner is limited, so please call (650) 628-0145 to make reservations. The hotel is located at 4290 El Camino Real in Palo Alto.