Awesome Visit to Parma Ridge Winery and Bistro

31 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by Bob and Robin in 5-Stars, Beef, Bistro - Parma Ridge Winery, Chef Storm Hodge, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Dinner At Parma Ridge Restaurant, Dinner at Parma Ridge Winery and Bistro, Dinner With Family, Food Photos, Idaho Chefs, Northwest Clam Chowder, Pacific Salmon, Parma Ridge Specials, Parma Ridge Winery, Parma Ridge Winery Bistro, Party Time, Photo By: MJ Shaner, Photos By: Bob Young, Pork, Potatoes, Restaurant Reviews, Restaurants To Try, Seafood, Snake River AVA Sojourn, Sous Chef Magan, Syrah, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Wine Dinner at Parma Ridge, Wines - Idaho

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Cream of Mushroom Soup, Northwest Clam Chowder, Pacific Salmon

It’s been a while since we were here last. But just to let you know, this is still a superb, 5-Star bistro. Superb food. Superb wines. Superb staff. Our many thanks to Chef Storm and Sous Chef Megan and their staff for a great dinner. Stephanie and her servers were awesome and service and friendliness was super. Chef Storm made a post on FaceBook that shows you how dedicated Storm and Stephanie are. “It’s always exciting when you get a surprise visit from the health inspector. It’s even more exciting when you get 100% and they say they’re going to come back and have dinner with their spouse!!!”
And if you are planning to go to the Parma Ridge Winery and Bistro tomorrow for Easter, and you do not have reservations, I was told yesterday that they are sold out! But if you are going to visit them – and I sincerely hope you will – here is some information that you will need: “We are open Friday,12-9 p.m., Saturday 12-5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. with wine tasting and our regular menu all weekend long. You can now text us at 208-946-5187 to make a reservation.” And if you still need information, here is their blog post (it changes weekly) on the Snake River AVA Happenings Blog: AVA Happenings at Parma Ridge.
OK. Here is what we had. Enjoy! We did! (Left-Click any of these photos to see them enlarged.)

Robin’s brother Brian came to visit.

Pork Sliders with Rosemary Fries

Storm’s Salmon

Rib-Eye Steak (To die for!)

An awesome Mushroom Soup

Superb “Northwest Clam Chowder”

A beautiful location. “Storm Clouds”.

Cottonwood Grille Revisited

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by Bob and Robin in Bearnaise Sauce, Beef, Boise Restaurants, Buy Idaho, Chocolate, Chocolate and Food, Classic Sauces, Colter's Creek Winery, Cottonwood Grille, Dinner With Robin, Herbs, Idaho Wine, Idaho's Bounty, Kobe Beef, Locavore, Oysters, Photos By: Bob Young, Potatoes, Restaurant Reviews, Salads, Seafood, Shrimp, Snake River AVA, Special Dinners, Syrah, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food

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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.

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail

Wonderfully fresh seafood!

Oysters On The Half Shell

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!

Caesar Salad

Love how this is presented.

Fresh Green House Salad

Kobe Beef with garlic mashed potatoes steamed peas

Kobe Beef
with
garlic mashed potatoes and steamed peas

London Broil with Bear garlic mashed potatoes and steamed peas

London Broil and Béarnaise sauce
with
garlic mashed potatoes and steamed peas

Chocolate Mousse in a White Chocolate Cup

Crème Brûlée

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.

Goodbye Spring, Hello Summer!

22 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by Bob and Robin in Antipasto, Appetizers, Buy Idaho, Chardonnay, Comfort Food, Dinner With Robin, Hat Ranch Winery, Idaho Trout, Idaho Wine, Interesting Information, Local Harvests, Locavore, Main Dish, Marsing, Merlot, Orchard House, Photos By: Bob Young, Restaurants, Snake River AVA, Special Dinners, Special Events, Special Information, Syrah, The Orchard House, Things To Do, Trout, Weston On The Lake Winery, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Wines - Idaho

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chardonnay, Hat Ranch Winery, Idaho wines, merlot, syrah, The Orchard House, Weston Winery

Clear blue skies! Light, cooling breezes! 88 degree temperatures. Only thing missing is a tempting ocean breeze. We spent the day both at Hat Ranch Winery off of Plum Road in Marsing (their postal address is in Caldwell) and the Snake River AVA and then to a wonderful dinner at The Orchard House. Hat Ranch was releasing their Tempranillo, which is very good. The Orchard House has good meatloaf.
Hat Ranch Winery bought Vale Wine Co., as some of you might already know. Some of the Vale wines were there for us to try also. Their Chardonnay is really a good one and will pare well with foods that need a citru match. Not an oaky chardonnay. The appetizers that they had to accompany the wines, see the photo of the menu board below, were a perfect match. Enjoy these photos and if you are in the area, stop in at both Hat Ranch Winery and The Orchard House. You won’t be disappointed. Cheers!

Hat Ranch Winery, Tempranillo release party, menu board.

A very good Redpepper Humus. Not overly spiced.

A very good Redpepper Hummus. Not overly spiced.

Good selections on the Antipasto Platter.

Some of the wines we tried. We also tried a Hat Ranch Merlot and Syrah.

Some of the wines we tried. The Tempranillo will pair with most foods, especially Italian or Spanish.

The Vale Wine Co., Chardonnay.

And then, we went to The Orchard House for dinner. Goodbye diet for today! We always enjoy the meals here. If I were to choose which meal I would constantly get here, it would definitely be the breakfast. It is just so satisfying. But today, we had a good Meatloaf dinner and an Idaho Trout dinner. This is one place that you can get a good meatloaf away from your own kitchen. The Orchard House is located at 14949 Sunnyslope Road, Caldwell (just outside of Marsing) in the Snake River AVA.

We had to check this bottle of wine out. It really is named for the Weiser Old Tyme Fiddlers Festival, which is just over for the year.

This is the back of the bottle. Good information. Left-Click this or any of these photos to see them enlarged.

Robin had this good Idaho Trout dinner.

I had their Meatloaf Dinner. Just a good ol’ down home dinner. We did buy a bottle of Shane Weston’s 2009 Weston On The Lake Pinot Gris. Such a great day today. Super great tour of the area, of sorts, with Robin.

Corn Pie Tonight

16 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Captain's Shack, Comfort Food, Corn Pie, Food Photos, Green Tomatoes, Heirloom Tomatoes, Herbs, Party Time, Photos By: Bob Young, Scallops, Seafood, Syrah, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Zebra Tomatoes

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Comfort Food, corn cakes, corn fritter, dinner, food, sawtooth

It may have been National Corn Fritter Day, but we decided on a family favorite - Corn Pie. Here was our menu: Corn Pie Scallop Cakes Sliced Red, Yellow and Zebra Tomatoes with Basil and Oregano Shreds 2009 Sawtooth Petite Sirah This was a YUM dinner! Comfort food.

It may have been National Corn Fritter Day, it really was, but we decided on a family favorite – Corn Pie. Here was our menu:

Corn Pie

Scallop Cakes

Sliced Red, Yellow and Zebra Tomatoes
with
fresh basil and oregano shreds

2009 Sawtooth Petite Sirah

This was a YUM dinner! Comfort food. Left-Click to see the photo enlarged. The recipe for the Corn Pie is in the recipe file above. Enjoy!

Koenig Vineyards and Cottonwood Grille

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by Bob and Robin in Cottonwood Grille, Koenig Vineyards, Main Dish, Merlot, Mushrooms, Photos By: Bob Young, Pork, Restaurant Reviews, Restaurants, Salads, Salmon, Special Dinners, Syrah, Viognier, What's For Dinner?, Wine and Food, Wine Dinners

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apple brandy, cottonwood grille, puff pastry, wild mushrooms

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 2012 Koenig Vineyards Rose

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.