Two Wine Chics on a Quest

Lake of the Ozarks Work/Quest

So as promised, Laura and I hosted tables at the 19th Annual Wine & Brew Festival held at the Country Club Hotel & Spa in Lake Ozark yesterday.  Of course, work melded into fun as Laura and I decided to relax for dinner afterwards!

Here's Laura standing by her adorable table:

She has her hand on a family heirloom she refers to as her 'genie in a bottle'.  She does a great job of table decoration, doesn't she?

In contrast, here's my table:

I feel like my table is anemic in comparison.  As you can see, I went with the tasting tub instead of the raft.  I just need to figure out an ice-dumping strategy for that raft and I'll be in good shape.

We asked a few of the 'ladies of the lake' for some restaurant recommendations that fit my criteria: lake view and outdoor seating.  The weather was fantastic yesterday, and as much as I like working this particular event every year, we were stuck inside so I was ready to be outdoors for a bit.

Baxter's Lakeside Grille was the restaurant we settled on, and after a very small wrong turn, we pulled into a packed house.  But the hostess was able to find us a superb table on the outdoor patio quite a bit faster than we expected.  Here was our view when we sat down:

Oooooohhhhh......Ahhhhhh.....I think Laura and I said that about three or four times each after we sat down at our table.  We were hungry and ready to put our feet up for a while!

We started by ordering spinach and artichoke dip.  Pretty yummy!

We kept looking over the wine list, but after four hours straight of talking wine, we were feeling like something else....shocking, I know!  We settled on mojitos.  I ordered a mango mojito, while Laura went for a classic:

That's my mango mojito....it kinda looks like lake water, doesn't it?

Laura's mojito looks much more appetizing.  So we were not initially thrilled with our mojitos actually.  They were both much sweeter than we prefer, but that was easily remedied with a few extra squeezes of lime to offset the sugar level.

For dinner, Laura order the scallops served on a bed of roasted potatoes and green beans:

She really loved the green beans, and enjoyed the scallops & potatoes as well.

I ordered the seared ahi tuna salad with pinapple chutney:

Fresh and delicious!

And when the food arrived we decided we were ready for a glass of wine.  Laura ordered a glass of Robert Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc.  I went for a red I've never heard of before - The Dreaming Tree "Crush" Red Wine ... I feel very on-trend drinking it since I've recently read that blended wines are rising in popularity.

Both were nice solid wines.  The red was probably a little too heavy and dry for my salad, but that didn't keep me from enjoying both!

What we really enjoyed the most about dinner last night was the view.  The sunset was so pretty!  We just couldn't leave until the sun was completely down, so we split one more glass of wine - another blend from Peter Lehman called "Layers".

Laura sipped some coffee while I finished this glass and we both soaked in the view...

Oooooohhhhh.....Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh.

Hope you enjoyed this peek at our tasting yesterday and the dinner quest afterwards.

Happy Trills!

Katie

Questing to Lake Geneva - The Restaurants

 

Baker House Table Setting

Lake Geneva is, naturally, full of eateries. We visited several, and I narrowed it down to three, each wonderful in its own unique way, to share with you. I have LOTS of great photos, too, so this post will be full of those, along with a description of the food and what's special about each place.

I'm going to go in order of where we went first - seems as good a way as any since I'm not picking a favorite. They are all too different. So, I'll start with Simple Cafe'. We breakfasted there on our first morning with Tom's parents, Ma & Pa Kalb as they are (still!) affectionately known around town. This place is just awesome. It's a farm to table cafe' a bit away from the downtown area, with great decor for indoor and outdoor seating.

Simple Cafe'

Their menu is remarkable, with unique breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes served until 3pm daily. We actually ate there on two occasions -

Mashed Potato Omelet

I LOVED my mashed potato omelet, served with bacon/garlic brussels sprouts and Creole hollandaise sauce, AND my Carnitas Breakfast Burrito, with all kinds of fresh stuff in it, topped with chipotle cream sauce. Y-U-M. Tom equally loved his traditional eggs benny and his Corned Beef Hash, topped with eggs and melted gruyere. A favorite detail of mine - obviously fresh, homemade jellies. The strawberry was insanely good.

They also support local art, which of course I love and we do at Wenwood, as well. I was captivated by the art of Refined Rustic. Simple Cafe' had several of their repurposed lamps up around the cafe'.

Refined Rustic repurposed lamp

 

Simple Cafe' & Refined Rustic lamps

 

More art, outside Simple Cafe'

The decor alone was enough for me to enjoy this restaurant - the FABULOUS food was enough to make it a favorite, and I can't wait to go back.

 

Now, on to our next place - a perennial favorite in town, Popeye's on Lake Geneva. This story starts with Tom's boyhood friend, Dimitri Anagnos. The Anagnos family has operated Popeye's since 1972 and Dimitri (or, as Tom calls him, "The Greek") is now general manager. He has a passion for cooking, as I learned on our boat outing on Lake Geneva on our first evening in town. For those of you who have been following my Lake Geneva quest - you guessed it, this is the handsome Greek who was serving me wine and brie on the lake at sunset. I'll tell you more about that adventure in my next segment, The Lake.

Tom and "The Greek" - Dimitri Anagnos, on Geneva Lake

So, after boating, we went with Dimitri to Popeye's and he ordered us some seafood bisque and the Nick's Pulled Rotisserie lamb plate. So. So. Good. Doesn't hurt that the owner/manager is sitting next to you, telling you avidly about the cooking process. Ahhhh. We went back a day or two later, and I once again had the

Popeye's Shrimp/Lobster Bisque

 shrimp and lobster bisque, which was so delicious with big chunks of seafood, and a Greek Salad with Gyro meat. Also great, as was Tom's Rotisserie Sampler (because really, how do you choose??)

To sum up, this is a great tourist attraction that avoids the tourist "trap" feel by serving delicious food with friendly, efficient service. Here are a few more photos to help you find it on your visit - or, just ask anyone!

Popeye's On Lake Geneva

 

The View from Popeye's - The RIviera Dock and Geneva Lake in the background

 

Inside Popeye's On Lake Geneva

 And then, last but certainly not least, was our dinner at The Baker House 1885 Restaurant. This place is a step back in time, in a wonderful way. Many of the beautiful mansions of yesteryear in historic Lake Geneva have been destroyed, but somehow, this gem managed to survive until someone could give her new life, and the Baker House is once again magnificent. It is a boutique hotel and restaurant, and they have started great traditions for the 21st century that harken back to an earlier time. I have about a zillion photos of this place, so I'll take you through our evening in pictures.

First of all, everyone is given their choice of vintage hat to wear (cleaned daily!) to further the yesteryear mood.

This Wine Chic with her vintage hat, and the beautiful veranda in the background. We had a lovely view of the lake out our window as well.

Tom gets a vintage hat, too! Plus a glass of hearty Cabernet.

There are many different rooms for your dining pleasure. We were in the game room, which did have board games available (fun!) and boasted this elegant light fixture.

Even the bathrooms are lovely.

The best part of the evening - the sunset champagne toast. Everyone is called out to the lawn at sunset for complimentary bubbly as the day fades over the sparkling lake.

Anniversaries are congratulated and happy birthday is sung, and everyone mills about the lawn with a smile as big as mine.

The menu leaned to small, sharable plates like their Towers for Two (this is the Cocktail Party Tower, with bacon scallops, kabobs and yummy Signature Fried Green Beans.) They have a good by-the-glass wine list, so I had a different wine with each course we ordered. A Rose' Champagne with fondue; Pinot Noir with this Tower; and Washington State Reisling with spicy crab cakes and creme brulee for dessert. It's a great menu for leisurely dining, and the food was very good. Plus, I loved the vintage, mismatched tableware, shown in the photo at the top of this post.

Next time, I'm staying for at least a night in the hotel, too! A signature offering at the bar - 5 specialty cocktails for 2, one night's stay in the hotel, breakfast and aspirin, $500 - "cheaper than a lawyer and a lot more fun!" Perfect....

The Baker House was our big night out, and we spent a lot of time over dinner. For the quality and atmosphere, I found the prices quite reasonable. I feared they'd be higher, but we were on vacation so we'd have gone anyway, so the prices were a pleasant surprise.

Thanks so much for following along on our culinary quest to Lake Geneva. Next time: The Lake. How can you quest to Lake Geneva without talking about the lake???

Until then,

Happy Trills,

Laura

 

 

A Quest to the Summit - Summit Lake Winery

A recent quest by the Chics took us to Summit Lake Winery, and we had a nice Wednesday evening break. Katie had been at the Missouri Wine & Grape Board Meeting - she's a board member, in the trenches fighting for the good of the Missouri wine industry as a whole on a regular basis. And she does a great job, as does the whole board. The meeting that day centered around re-branding Missouri Wines, and the ideas she shared with me are amazing, so stay tuned for more on that soon, as the campaign is finalized.

In the meantime, I'll tell you a bit about our experience at this beautiful Jefferson City area winery near the junction of Highways 54 and 63. We first enjoyed a spicy appetizer dip with a chilled bottle of Lewis & Clark, a crisp dry white wine blend. We apparently enjoyed this a lot, because it took us FOREVER to order our food. Plus, sitting on the patio with its picturesque view was so pleasant we weren't in a hurry. We finally go around to ordering - Katie had fish tacos with mango salsa and I had Hawaiian chicken. We also ordered another bottle of wine - and this is where our Ah-ha moment of the evening came.

We got the wine while our food was being prepared - a light, semi-dry red called Ideal With Friends made with St. Vincent grapes. OK, I confess, we were taken with the name, and when the wine came we were both a little, like, mmm, it's OK..... So we're drinking along, and our spicy sweet food dishes arrived. Both were good, but the real surprise is that the food pairing made the wine go from OK to really yummy! As Wine Chics, we love that stuff. And it's an important reminder - wine changes based on what you pair it with, so if you have a bottle that seems just OK, try it with a different style of food. You may be, like the Chics, pleased that you did. To help you out, tune in for my Monday blog, and I'll give a quick and easy tutorial on wine and food pairing basics.

We ended the evening on a great note - I can't remember exactly what they were called, but they involved champagne and peaches and were frozen and oh my. Can't imagine why my memory is a bit blurred. . .

Here's a great photo of Katie enjoying hers. OK, and here's one of me, too - it was a fun dessert-after-dinner-drink-smoothie-glass-of-happiness!

Finally, let me just say that Summit Lake was a close to home quest for us, but we really felt like we were getting away from it all. Thanks to the staff and John Ferrier, Summit Lake owner, pictured below with the Chics, for a great welcome.

Happy Trills,

Laura

Sybill's - Eating and Drinking, Drinking and Eating

I worked our salesroom on Friday last week while Clyde stayed back in the apartment. Doing what, I did not know at the time.  But at the end of the day, he came over and sat down to chat with me.

"I cleaned the kitchen," he told me "so I think you should take me out to eat." Here is his expression when he said that:

Isn't he adorable?  I immediately answered, "You cleaned the kitchen?  You deserve to eat at Sybill's for that!"  

For those of you who have never stepped foot in my kitchen, there is a reason for us keeping it private - it's usually a disaster zone!  Dishes?  They can wait until tomorrow.  The floor?  Puh-leeze, it's just gonna get dirty again.  And aren't all refridgerators supposed to be science experiments in progress?

So needless to say, for Clyde to clean our kitchen really was a monumental task and one that truly deserved a visit to our favorite restaurant in the area, Sybill's St. James.  This restaurant is so elegant, the service is impecable and the food is divine.

Plus they have a wine list with more than one page.  Candy!

We called up our neighbors to see if they would join in on the fun, and what do you know but that they were actually climbing into their vehicle to go to Sybill's too! They dropped by to pick us up and off we all went to the house of deliciousness.

Without my camera. Poo.  And without reservations.  Oops.  

But it all turned out - we had drinks at the bar while we waited the 20 or so minutes to be seated.  Crystal kindly snapped a couple of shots with her iphone during dinner. (And I stole a few photos from their website for this post too - photo credit goes to Sarah Cox for the restaurant shots that Crystal didn't take). Plus, we even ran into another neighbor who arrived just after we showed up.  Impromptu Hwy T party! 

That table is in the bar area - Laura and I got together one day for lunch at a table on the other side of the bar area.  We ended up migrating over to this table for dinner...we couldn't leave.  Seriously, when you go to Sybill's, you get to relax and no one rushes you off.

Even though you should probably go to the post office to mail in your state wine taxes.  But that is another story for another day.

So back to the kitchen clean up reward dinner.....I drank a glass of Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc for my cocktail.  Sauv blanc is my favorite wine in the whole world (at least right now it is), and Kimmy does a solid job with that varietal.  Everyone else drank cocktails like bloody marys, gin & tonic, or amaretto sours, but once we sat down almost everyone switched to wine.

Here I am after drinking two bottles of wine:

We had to order a third bottle of the red because I hogged all of those two.  :)  Kidding!  I'm kidding.  However, I did drink my fair share as you might be able to tell from the photo above.

At the table we ordered a bottle of a South African Chardonnay made by Glen Carlou (2009).  It was OK but I wasn't wow-zowied by it.  Not like I was with the Cabernet that we ordered made by Ladera (2008).

Wow-zowied, by the way, is not language used in all the fancy wine reviews.  I hope you don't mind if I don't get too long on the description.  I'm just gonna say that the Ladera was scrump-diddil-li-licious and I'd recommend spending your dollars on that wine over the Glen Carlou if your going for a higher dollar wine.  That being said, one of the neighbors that was with us preferred the Chardonnay, so who am I to say what was best?

By the way, Laura, should we have some kind of wine rating system here?  What do you all think?

Here's a close-up of the wine bottles:

My dinner was the fish special that night - Salmon Putanesca.  Do you know what 'putanesca' means?  I didn't.  I had to look it up the next morning.  It means 'prostitute' in Italian.  Apparently ladies of the night would set out casseroles of spaghetti with this sauce on it to tempt men into their brothels.  The sauce was made up of chunks of Kalamata olives, tomatoes, garlic, capers, and who knows what else.  It was very Meditteranean and had so many rich flavors that the red ended up pairing better with this dish than the white wine.

Clyde ordered the garlic lover's steak for his meal.  So we both had kind of a sexy meal theme going.  I have to say though, we ate so much garlic that our breaths were not so sexy the next morning.

If you are ever in St. James, I highly recommend a meal at Sybill's.  If you are budget minded plan on lunch, but if you want to treat yourself to a sumptuous, relaxing meal then dinner is definitely the way to go.  For dinner I usually go with one of the specials, but my favorite lunch item is Sybill's Salad.  My neighbor Crystal really loves the spinach artichoke dip from their appetizer menu.

There's no dress code at Sybill's, but we generally try to change into our non-wine-stained clothes before heading to dinner.

Well that's it for this quest.  I'm sorry I forgot my camera and I will NOT be so negligent next time!

Happy Trills,

Katie