Country Cat and Indie Wine Wow NYC
James Beard was a Portlander who descended upon the Big Apple to become one of the most famous foodies of all time, and his legacy was alive Wednesday night at the historic James Beard House in Greenwich Village.That’s where Portland Chef Adam Sappington and his wife Jackie of The Country Cat teamed up with Oregon Indie winemakers John Grochau of Grochau Cellars and Patrick Reuter of Dominio IV to show a nearly sold-out Beard House crowd what exactly makes Oregon so delicious.
Each course was stunning, commencing with a rich salt-baked Arctic char with dollop of verjus hollandaise and Dungeness crab flawlessly paired with Grochau’s 2006 “Z” White, to an early spring salad of pea vines, grapefruit, carrot and green onions with Cottonwood’s Sauvignon Blanc, to the gorgeous hickory smoked duck leg with orange-blossom honey glaze and a wild mushroom fricassee whose earthy flavor was transcended by Domonio IV’s 2005 Old Man Looking East Syrah. There were more courses, they were all excellent, and you can read about them here. The dessert course was a big hit: a house-made butterscotch pudding with warm baked chocolate chip cookies and a late harvest Gewurztraminer by Andrew Rich. To cook at the Beard House is a huge honor, and Chef Sappington and our Indie Ambassador winemakers did their home state of Oregon proud.
Portland Indie Wine Festival 
lisa donoughe said,
April 3, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Mike – I also thought it was cool that the writer/ from Oprah Magazine went up to Adam as soon as dinner ended and immediately quizzed him about how he made that outrageously delicilous duck confit. Let’s ask Adam for the recipe. I will share a quick story about our after party at the Spotted Pig when I have a minute tomorrow