A night at Rubicon

I was invited by a friend for dinner at Rubicon on Monday night. What a treat! And to top it off, Larry Stone, world renowned Master Sommelier, joined our little party. Several things made it a special night for me.

First, the incredibly delectable food. My favorite was the cauliflower mushroom dish. Intense yet delicate flavors with such interesting texture .. smooth, velvety and a bit chewy. Other dishes included hirame over endive with a little bit of citrus, a beautifully done crispy breaded quail with a faint lemon flavoring, black truffles over a perfectly cooked turbot, a juicy duck breast... It felt never-ending, which was a good thing until I started to get full. There wasn't a single dish that was disappointing, boring or even mediocre. I find that a lot of highly spoken for restaurants sometimes over-sauce, over-flavor and over-emphasize. It doesn't always have to be complicated. Rubicon has definitely surfaced as my new favorite, many thanks to Mr. Stuart and Ms. Nicole. I will have to go back again just to eat dessert.

Second, the amazing wine. Sara, of course, brought a selection of Jorge Ordonez's wine which are always good. Naia des, Nora de Neve, San Vicente, Allende and Cenit. I believe this is the first time I've had Nora de Neve as the others were definitely part of our tasting with Jorge at Aqua and then again at Michael Mina. Affordable, good drinking, great wines. I really have to start pushing my family in this direction for daily drinking.

Third, several interesting conversation topics. Larry mentioned his recent blog entry on WineSpectator.com. For most of us passionate about wine, there is a certain bottle of wine that acts as the tipping point from wine consumer to enophile. What bottle defined my tipping point? One bottle immediately came to mind but I had to call my step-mother this morning to confirm the vintage. More on that later.

Fourth, a reflection of myself. It is true, I am fairly young for being where I am in the industry. Luck and timing had a lot to do with it as well as experiences during my upbringing. In the last two years, I've gotten a lot of feedback on my performance. I feel I still have leaps and bounds to learn but others have outwardly spoken of being impressed of my palate and ability to dissect the business. Sara likes to call me "dyna-mo". What does that mean? =) I'm proud of what I've accomplished in the few years I've spent outside of school but there's just so much more I want to do. Maybe I am a little impatient and overzealous. That probably is my father's fault for always pushing me so hard. I don't know. I feel like I'm stuck in a giant roundabout with multiple streets, unable to make a decision on where I want to go and thus driving in circles. I should just choose a street and see where it takes me.

Back to the tipping point of wine....

When I was 15 years old, my entire family went to the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach at Fashion Island (now the Island Hotel) to celebrate my step-brother's 18th birthday. The chef had prepared a special menu for us and wine was paired with each course. For dessert, my step-mother reached into her wine bag and pulled out a little half bottle. There was a simple label with script font. Having a fairly large family, everyone received a tiny little pour. We lifted our glass and toasted happy birthday to Henry. That instant when the golden colored liquid touched my lips, I was converted. It was hardly a tipping point. It was as if I had walked off a steep cliff. How could something so sweet also be so delicate? It had the perfect consistency and a beautiful utterly indescribable aroma. This was the first time I remember pondering a wine, begging to ask it questions yet knowing I wouldn't understand the answers. I held the bottle in my hands and spelled out its name, with each letter, committing it to memory.

From that moment on, I asked a lot of questions. I waited patiently for a little pour of anything I could get my hands on at family dinners. My step-mother is a wine lover. Though she can't tell you what makes a wine great or why she likes certain wines over others, she can tell you immediately if she likes a wine or not. In the early to mid 90s, she bought a lot of wine. And through my early adulthood, we drank a lot wine. From Margaux, Lafite, Mouton and Lynch-Bages to Caymus, Whitehall Lane, Silver Oak and Opus. She was a big name follower though that has changed in recent years.

My father, on the other hand, has no interest in wine but is a huge food lover. I remember going to a dirty little restaurant in a tiny alley in Taipei to eat beef noodle soup because the chef there hand-stretched the noodles. They were perfectly chewy and bouncy but still fairly thin. The Chinese describe it as "Q" and there is no direct English translation of that consistency. The soup was all natural beef soup, stewed for hours or possibly days. I remember going to some of the best restaurants in Hong Kong but also sitting on a stool at the side of a street to grab an incredible bowl of sausage rice. I remember having shark fin soup with abalone at this restaurant downstairs in the shopping center of the Regent Hotel in Kowloon. Dad asked me if I knew what I was eating. I said, "Of course. It's yummy rice noodles." (He almost threw a fit.) I was probably eight years old. I remember the best seafood at Snake Alley in Taipei at Hua Xi Jie, dining on Wedgewood china and Christofle silverware. I remember eating only oh toro with my dad until we couldn't stuff another bite.

Having one parent who subjected me to some of the best wine in the world and the other who to some of the best food in the world, it should be no surprise that I am a full blown epicurean, hedonist, bon vivant, whatever you want to call it. Sustainability, however, is a totally separate issue.

As for the tipping point wine? Well, it was a 1989 Chateau D'Yquem. Of course.