Tags
Béarnaise sauce, Colters Creek winery, cottonwood grille, Crème Brûlée, garlic mashed potatoes, London Broil
It was a good meal. And to get the negative out of the way, I thought the peas we had were a little salty for us – we eat very little salt – so the saltiness may not be entirely true for everyone. We would have liked a little more garlic in the potatoes. So will this keep us from going back? Probably not. The Kobe beef that Robin had was so very tender and delicious. My London Broil was good and the Béarnaise sauce on it was wonderful! Robin had an awesome Chocolate Mousse served in a White Chocolate Cup and I had a delicious Crème Brûlée. Here. Look at these photos and enjoy! If you want a more detailed review of the Cottonwood Grille, look at Our Restaurant Guide.
Wonderfully fresh seafood!
How fresh were these? You could taste the ocean and smell the ocean and hear the waves crashing on shore. That’s how fresh they were!
Love how this is presented.
with
garlic mashed potatoes and steamed peas
with
garlic mashed potatoes and steamed peas
And with our dinner, we asked for a Fraser Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon but they were out of it. So we got a good 2011 Colter’s Creek Syrah, both are Idaho wines are very good and went quite well with our dinners.
But beforer we went for dinner here at the Cottonwood Grille, we went to the Arid Club, which is designed “To establish a club of business and professional men and women whose members are uniformly congenial with one another as nearly as may be, to provide them with an attractive and convenient meeting place, and to exclude there from bigots, propagandists, boosters, go-getters, uplifters, reformers, and snobs. [Arid Club Preamble]” for the release of the documentary film on the Idaho Wine Regions called “Idaho Wines: From Bud to Taste Bud”. It is on its way to be presented at the Sun Valley Film Festival.
Koenig Vineyards and Cottonwood Grille
11 Tuesday Jun 2013
On Monday, June 10, we attended a wine dinner at the Cottonwood Grille featuring the wines of Idaho’s Koenig Vineyards. Chef Jesus did a good job with the paring of the food with the wines. My only comment about the food is it tended to be salty. Maybe I am becoming very aware of the salt amounts in cooking. Nonetheless, some of the entrees were salty. The dinner was well attended and it was interesting to talk to the people at our table. The photo to the left is the menu along with a glass of 2011 Koenig VineyardsMerlot. Below are some other photos from the evening. Do enjoy the presentations and please VOTE. Left-Click any photo to see enlarged. Thanks!
Chef Jesus of the Cottonwood Grille, Boise
Winemaker Greg Koenig and his wife Kristen.
Wild Mushrooms in Puff Pastry
2011 Koenig Vineyards Merlot
This dish was very good, but salty. The merlot probably would have been better with the sauce had the entree not been so salty.
Fresh Mixed Greens with Figs and Berries
2012 Koenig Vineyards Rose
A good and refreshing salad. Well paired with the wine.
Fresh Sockeye Salmon with a Lemon Beurre Blanc
2011 Koenig Vineyards Viognier
One of the better wines of the night. Went extremely well with the salmon. One of Idaho’s favorite wines.
Pork Tenderloin with Apple Brandy Cream Sauce
2010 Koenig Vineyards Syrah
The Syrah was a good paring – or would have been. This entree was way to salty and both Robin and I could not finish the dish because of the extreme saltiness. Too bad.
Peach Cobbler 2011 Riesling Ice Wine
Sorry to have to pan this dinner, but we have had much better dinners at the Cottonwood Grille. This just did not measure up to their standards because of the over use of salt in the dishes. A little salt will enhance the dish and should not overpower it. If I did not know better and know the quality of their dinners, I would not return. And that’s too bad, because the wines were overall very good.
Sunday Brunch at Cottonwood Grille
26 Sunday May 2013
Last night Robin said she would like to go to the Cottonwood Grille for brunch. No problem! It’s always a party when we go there. A good treat, since we missed our seafood this week. And I still had my vegetables before 6:00pm. As we were going into the parking, one of “Boise’s Folks” was at the entrance (photo above). I have no clue as to what or who this is. Just interesting. A strange mixture of cultures here in the Mountain West. Interesting. Enjoy these photos of our breakfast, Left-Click any photo to see enlarged and please VOTE above. Cheers!
Bacon Vodka Bloody Mary
Daily allowance of vegetables in a glass.
Scandinavian Gravlox
Poached egg and salmon with Hollandaise Sauce
Robin had this. It really looked good!
Snow Crab Omelet
I had this and it was delicious! Good Hollandaise Sauce.
Stu Smith, Smith-Madrone Winery, Visits Boise
07 Wednesday Nov 2012
Tags
On November 6, Stu Smith from Smith-Madrone Winery and Vineyards, visited Boise and we were honored to go to dinner with him at the Cottonwood Grille. From the Smith-Madrone website, there is a link Here, we read that “Brothers Stuart and Charles Smith are the vineyard managers and winemakers of Smith-Madrone Winery. Their family lineage includes the Fetherolf family, German farmers from the Palatinate region, who came to America on the Good Ship Thistle in 1730 … He is an active member of the G.O.N.A.D.S. (the Gastronomical Order for Nonsensical and Dissipatory Society), founded in the early 1980s by a group of Napa vintners who meet for lively monthly lunches, chronicled in James Conaway’s books Napa: An American Eden and Napa: The Far Side of Eden … He enjoys barbecuing for guests at the winery; favorites are the (Smith-Madrone) Cabernet-marinated butterflied barbecued lamb and (Smith-Madrone) Cabernet Risotto (made on a camp stove as people gather around).” Here are some photos from the evening. Enjoy! We did. Be sure to Left-Click the photos to see enlarged. The photo here is the hearth at the Cottonwood Grille. Cheers!
Stu Smith and Robin
Cristi Takeda from The Buzz in Boise, joined us for dinner and a lively discussion. Thank-You, Cristi for being there.
Also joining us for the special event, were Peggy and Eric Behrens. Peggy helps out at The Buzz at their Monthly Wine Dinners. Glad you and Eric could make it, Peggy.
Stu was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the 2006 Fraser Vineyards (ID) Cabernet Sauvignon. We pulled these three from our cellar to have a comparison tasting with the Smith-Madrone 2010 Cab. All of these wines were awesome.
Stu brought with him the 2011 Smith-Madrone Riesling and the 2012 Smith-Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon. These were two excellent wines. Thank-You for sharing, Stu.
For appetizers, we each selected an appetizer we wanted and then shared it with the wines. Here is a cheese plate, CG Cheese Plate. An assortment of cheeses served with crostini, fruit, candied walnuts and crackers
And Crab Cakes, Fresh Pacific crab mixed with shallots and Pernod, cooked
crisp and served with lemon beurre blanc. We also had Croquetas, Traditional Basque fritters made with creamed béchamel and served with rumescu sauce
One of us had this Tomahawk Chop. Yum!
We also had North American Elk, Premium elk loin, sautéed, sliced and served with a green peppercorn sauce; Northwest Premium Buffalo, Fresh buffalo sirloin sautéed, sliced, and served with a rich Cabernet Sauce. It was over cooked. Lemon Roasted Chicken, All natural chicken roasted with rosemary and lemon pepper, served with a lemon scallion cream sauce. Different soups were also on out table. Overall, a good dinner, with few exceptions, and some terrific wines. Oh, almost forgot to mention. We opened the evening with a 2010 Pend d’Oreille Chardonnay from the Vickers Vineyard at Sunny Slope.
Idaho Wine Dinner, Cottonwood Grille, Boise
04 Saturday Jun 2011
It never fails, we always have a wine dinner to go to here in Boise. And tonight, was no exception. A great location and super talent was displayed out of the kitchen of the Cottonwood Grille. And I must thank Dav Fairchild, Cottonwood Grille Manager, for taking some of these photos. The photo on the left is the entrance to the restaurant. The three, very talented Idaho wineries showcased tonight, were Vale Wine Co., Fraser Vineyards and Syringa Winery. Enjoy the photos. Left-Click any photo for a Full Screen view.
Sitting: Vicki Danielson and John Danielson – Winemaker Vale Wine Co.
Standing: Dav Fairchild – Manager Cottonwood Grille
Bev Fraser
Bill Fraser, Winemaker Fraser Vineyards
Bill Fraser, Fraser Vineyards
Mike Crowley, Winemaker/Owner Syringa Winery
Bev Fraser and daughter Shelley
Some of the crowd that were there.
We, the people, Salute the Chefs for the following Menu. Salute!
The Menu
The Chefs. Great job!!!
Smoked Fish Platter
Trout, Scallops and Escolar
delicately smoked and served with a creamy dill sauce, onion confit and watercress oil
2009 Syringa Sauvignon Blanc
great paring
Warm Goat Cheese Salad
grilled goat cheese on mixed baby greens with strawberry balsamic vinaigrette
2010 Vale Viognier
superb paring
Monkfish Donostiarra
filet of monkfish roasted till tender, topped with garlic and olive oil
Fresh Asparagus
2008 Vale Merlot
big chocolate on the nose; super with the garlic and fish
Petite Fillet Mignon
grilled perfectly and serve with fresh morel sauce
Potatoes Rissolette
2009 Fraser Petite Verdot
superb match but needs much time. lay this one down for 5+ years. 3% Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Syringa Cabernet Sauvignon
young, still needs time, tannins, needs food
French Silk Chocolate
2009 Fraser Petite Sirah
huge, big, great paring
And as the sun sets in the West, and the delicious dinner settles, we stop and reflect on the awesome treats we have just devoured. The meal was superb and we salute the Chefs from the Cottonwood Grille on a job well done. The wine parings were also superb. All of these Idaho wineries have done an excellent job in producing superb wines. Cheers!
