The Food & Beverage Department recently launched a new dining concept: The Gourmand Dinner. The brainchild of Front of House Manager  Carmen Picard and Chef Nick Lisotto, the dinner is the perfect opportunity for both to get creative and have a little fun while providing a delicious experience for our members. The concept is simple: every dinner will be four courses with four wine pairings. The added bonus: the menu is a complete secret! Members who RSVP notify us of any items to avoid, and we create a menu around those requests. The event is designed to be a culinary adventure.

The first dinner was on Tuesday, June 2nd in the Duck Blind. Guests started the dinner with an Amuse of Suzuki, which is Japanese Stone Bass Crudo.  After that, the dinner began in earnest with a first course of ricotta gnudi with English peas and pea tendrils. The dish paired perfectly with the Falanghina (A Casa Napoli DOC 2012) and the acidity of the wine played nicely with the bright spring flavor of the peas in the dish.

Moving into the second course, the kitchen prepared a vibrant asparagus flan with a suspended quail egg, a raw asparagus salad and a truffle fonduta on the side.  The wine selection was a Sauvignon-Blanc/Semillon blend (Lynch-Bages, Pauillac 2011), which opens with grapefruit, melon and spice, and finishes with a long, fresh, and bright wave of citrus and lychee.

The Entrée featured lamb medallions from Elysian Fields, featured with cous cous and topped with a yogurt sphere. The wine chosen for this course was a Syrah Blend (Condoulet de Beaucastel, Cotes-du-Rhone, 2011), which was lush and juicy, well-balanced and had a nice long finish.

As delightful as the rest of the meal was, all parties agreed that the dessert was the star of the show. House-made mascarpone gelato with a strawberry anglais, infused strawberries, and a hazelnut crisp was paired perfectly with a Hungarian Tokaj  (Puklus Pinceszet, Tokaj-Hegyalja 2008). Our members left full of good wine, good food, and pleasant company that evening. As one member put it, “We can’t decide if we should book the whole event and invite friends, or go as a couple and meet new people again. We will probably do both!”

The Gourmand Dinner will be held on the first Tuesday each month and is reservation only. Seating is limited to 8 and cost is $95 per person plus tax and gratuity. Please contact events@rcop.com to secure your space and participate in a dining experience you won’t soon forget!