September Wine Dinners

Motto Restaurant
Rosé Wine Dinner

** Original Date Postponed! **
We've rescheduled for:

Thursday, October 20th
Reception at 6:30
Dinner Promptly at 7:00​

We are very excited to pair up for the first time with one of Durham's hottest new restaurants - Motto.  Located at 605 West Main Street (former location of Pop's and Lucia), Motto serves New American cuisine with a focus of farm fresh products and seasonal flavors.  Chef/Partner James Huff cut his teeth working for legendary Washington D.C. restauranteur Bob Kinkead, and tenures at New Orlean's Stella! and Emeril's, before being named Chef de Cuisine at Pearl Dive Oyster Palace in D.C..  But now Chef Huff has made the move to Durham, and is excited to show everyone his take on casual fine dining.  Chef is joined by our long time friend, and Managing Partner of Motto, Brandon Carr, who was the manager of Four Square Restaurant for its entire 17 year history.  We have worked on a number of dinners with Brandon at Four Square over the years, and can't wait to pair up to help him celebrate his new endeavor.  One of the things we did annually at Four Square for the last three years was a Rosé Wine Dinner, so we thought it would be a perfect way to start this new path!  As the Rosé season starts to wrap up, this is a great time to have some of the last of our favorites, and show off Chef Huff's food at the same time. (Although I do love Rosé year round myself, and when you see how it pairs to the food hopefully we can convince you of that as well!)  Brandon selected three of his favorites, HVWB selected three of ours, and chef has crafted a beautiful menu to pair up. Please join us for this inaugural dinner with Motto, and we hope it is just the first of many!

Reception
Assorted cured and house made charcuterie
Loaf bakery breads, anchovy butter
~ Fantinel Rosé Brut
Veneto, Italy, NV

Second
Charred beans, cherry tomatoes, smoked cheese
~ Domaine Laurent Gauthier Beaujolais Villages
Burgundy, France, 2015
 
Third
End of summer bouillabaisse, saffron rouille
~ Triennes Rosé
Méditerranée IGP, France, 2015 
 
Fourth
Heritage Farms pork belly, grilled peach panzanella
~ Sokol Blosser Rosé of Pinot Noir
Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2015 
 
Fifth
Goat lady dairy cheesecake, berries, pistachio
~ Sant'Evasio Brachetto d'Acqui
Piedmont, Italy, 2015 
 
$65.00 per person plus tax and gratuity

Please call Motto for reservations at 984-219-1965

---

Primal Food & Spirits
"Trading Places" Wine Dinner
Wednesday, September 28th 
7:00 PM ​

Last night we had the first part of this two dinner series, and Chef Tim Lyons delivered the goods with an excellent dinner of meat oriented dishes at Blu Seafood and Bar.  Next Wednesday is sister restaurant Primal Food & Spirit's turn, as they do a wine dinner of a menu based all on Seafood dishes.  Primal's paleo-centric menu always inculdes some fish dishes, but for this dinner the bounty of the sea is the main focus, as they take a whirl at Blu Seafood's usual wheelhouse.  We've got great wines paired up, and Lisa Norris of Broadbent Selections will be with us to give further insight into the wines.  This dinner is close to sold out, but there are still a few seats remaining!

Primal Food & Spirits
Seafood Wine Dinner

Salmon crudo / radish salad / avocado toast
~ Badenhorst 'Secateurs' Chenin Blanc, Swartland, South Africa, 2015

Wood-grilled octopus / fennel purée / Mediterranean salsa verde
~ Casa Ferreirnha 'Vinha Grande' Rosé, Douro D.O.C., Portugal, 2015

Herb marinated grilled NC Amberjack / arborio-mozzarella rice /
red wine-mushroom vinaigrette
~ Qiunta do Crasto 'Crasto Superior', Douro D.O.C., Portugal, 2013

Blueberry-ginger crisp / coconut milk ice cream
~ Broadbent 5 Year Reserve, Madeira, Portugal, NV
 

$55 per person plus tax and tip

For Reservations please call Primal at 919-248-3000

---

Coming in October!

Nana's Restaurant
Israeli Cuisine Wine Dinner
Tuesday, October 18th 
7:00 PM ​

After a nice summer break we are excited to get back to business doing wine dinners with our dear friends at Nana's.  In October, they've put together a dinner that will delve into some of the traditional flavors of Israeli cuisine.  Scott Howell, chef/owner of Nana's, will be joined in planning this menu by Oren Wais.  Chef Wais worked in the kitchen for Scott back in 2012, and also worked in the kitchens at Zely & Ritz and Piedmont.  He was born in Tel-Aviv, Isreal, where he left a high tech career to devote his time to his true passion - food!  Since 2005, Oren worked in and managed some of Tel-Aviv's top kitchens, such as Lilit, Sheila, and Abraxes North, as well as conducting cooking workshops and private dining.  In 2014 he started his own food truck here in the Triangle, called Soomsoon Pita Pockets, bringing a delectable blend of traditional Middle Easter and American flavors to Durham and beyond.  It will be really exciting to see what Oren, pulling on his youth and restaurant experience in Isreal, and mastermind Scott come up with for this menu!  Nana's General Manager Aubrey Zinaich-Howell and I will be pairing the wines.  While Isreali wines are getting some well deserved attention recently, we are not seeing very many of them here in our market, so we will just rely on our Sommelier skills to pair up the perfect flavors using wines from several areas.  More details will follow as we have them, but mark you calendar and save your seat now!

$60.00 Per Person, Plus Tax and Gratuity

Please call Nana's at 919-493-8545 for Reservations  

---