by contributor Donna Shor
Gustavo Iniesta loves having fun with wine―and he’s happy to see others do the same.
Luckily
for Gustavo, who is the sommelier at Taberna del Alabardero, the chef
there, Javier Romero, has exactly the same attitude toward food Gustavo
has toward his bottles.
Taberna diners are luckiest of all because the two, with imagination and teamwork, create some exciting meals.
Their
recent Interactive Tapas and Wine Pairing Dinner was a perfect example
of fun with innovative dishes and interesting wines; the evening was an
interactive game.
Each
of the seven courses brought two different tapas, plus two wines. The
interest was in deciding which wines went best with which food.
There
was no “right” or “wrong,” just a question of which pairing you enjoyed
best and which of the two wines you felt went best with each of the two
tapas.
Photo credit: Grupo Lezama
Gustavo “commented” each pair of wines that arrived with the small plates. As it was an
intimate gathering of about thirty, it was possible for guests to speak
out on their impressions if they wished, leading to interesting
discussions in general, and with one’s table neighbors. (This writer’s
included a realtor, a banker and a molecular biologist.)
Things
started off with a puzzling “Cristal de Gazpacho,” which looked like a
glass of shimmering, crystal-clear soft gelatin. Jelled water?
Hardly―the first tentative spoonful carried with it the very essence of tomato; tomato raised to the tenth power.
Javier
Romero achieved this small miracle through patient, successive
strainings and sievings of ultra-ripe tomatoes, achieving a kind of
“distillation.” The second tapa was a
mixed seafood salad. Then the whole panoply appeared, two by two, with
pairs of wines to be discussed. Dishes included pheasant-stuffed
peppers, baby squids in their ink, a glorified veal loin, wild
mushrooms, scallops and more, all enhanced by bottles from fine
wine-growing districts of Spain.
There
was a sublime dessert, a blend of peaches pureed in a touch of light
coffee syrup, cookie ice cream, topped by smooth Catalan crème.
Strawberries and whipped cream arrived as the companion tapa.