Friday night Favorites at Entourage DG
Friday evening we dined at Entourage Restaurant in DG (Downers Grove, IL) and enjoyed some of our favorite selections, taking advantage of their Early Bird Specials available up to Five PM.
As with our most recent Friday night visit, Downers Grove community featured live music on the Metra Railway Station fountain courtyard, immediately across the street from Entourage. Ideally, we might’ve waited for an outside table for dining and to enjoy the music, but Entourage was slammed, completely full, so we opted for the first available table.
Ironically, our second encounter this week with community sponsored live music on the city square, in the western Chicago suburbs, like
Wednesday night’s Music in the Park in Bensenville.
As starters, we ordered our usual favorite starters the Focacio Bread plate and their delicious Deviled Eggs.
We then ordered the Entourage Roasted Beets and Whipped Goat Cheese Salad - Arugula, Baby Gem with Spicy Pecans, Fennel, Hot Honey and Grapefruit Citrus Vinaigrette. As always, this was delicious - a wonderful pairing of flavors.
Linda ordered the Entourage Shrimp and Grits - what has become one of her favorite go-to dishes - Spicy Shrimp & Jalapeno Grits - Blackened Wild Shrimp, Andouille Sausage, Charred Jalapeno, Charred Corn, Baby Peppers and Creole Cream.
I selected the Daily Special, Herb Crusted Alaskan Halibut with Roasted Peppers, Corn and Regianno Parmagiana Risoto and Brocolini in a lemon butter sauce.
Thinking I was going to order one of my usual favorite selections, their Waygu Beef Meatloaf or Waygu Beef Sliders, I took BYOB from our home cellar a Red Blend.
However, in the end, I ordered their Daily Special Fresh Seafood preparation, hence we ordered from their somewhat limited wine list, one of our regular selections, a Sonoma Russian River Valley Chardonnay. Often I take a Red and a White to open based on our entree choices. Tonight I took only a red, hence we ordered a white tins to accompany our entree selections.
As with our earlier visits, we reordered from the limited Chardonnay selections, a bottle of the Kokomo “Peter’s Vineyard” Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast California Chardonnay.
As featured in earlier blogposts, revisited here ….
Family owned and operated Kokomo Winery was started by Owner and Winemaker Erik Miller in 2004, a fellow Hoosier who named it after his hometown of Kokomo, Indiana, which is near Linda’s hometown and family farm in North Central Carroll County, Indiana. (Funny, they showcase their “Boilermaker” collection of wines, honoring the Purdue Boilermakers’, mascot of the Big Ten University not far from Linda’s family homestead, arch rival to our beloved Indiana University “Hoosiers”, but the one she grew up supporting.)
The Winery sits on the East side of Dry Creek Valley, twenty miles north of Santa Rosa, off the main route 101, midway between the towns of Healdsburg and Geyserville. The winery and tasting room is located at Timber Crest Farms, sitting amid 120 acres of vineyards, overlooking the valley.
Kokomo produces over a dozen different varietal wines and several single vineyard designated labels which are farmed by his partner in the winery, grower Randy Peters. Kokomo Wines strive to showcase the terroir of the their vineyard sources in the three distinctive appellations of Sonoma County - Russian River, Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys. They also offer some wines sourced from the Sonoma Valley Moon Mountain District.
This Peter’s Vineyard Designated label is 100% Chardonnay sourced from a site in the Russian River Valley, west Sebastopol, next to Luther Burbank's Farm where the soil is rich with Goldridge sandy loam. There the vines are exposed to consistent coastal fog, which calls for extended hang time and more development for the fruit.
Our visit tasting of this wine, I was a bit hesitant to order this bottle, especially to be paired with such a magnificent dinner, since our awareness of Kokomo is more modest entry level wines, less discriminating than the premium and ultra-premium labels we tend to enjoy.
We see their entry level labels widely distributed but have never had any of their more premium labels. Note they show two dozen different offerings on their website. Never-the-less I gave it a shot and found it to be an over-achiever to my perception of the brand, meeting our hopeful expectations for suitably pairing with our dinner.
Kokomo “Peter’s Vineyard” Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast California Chardonnay 2023
Winemaker notes for this release - “Planted in West Sebastopol, this is a premier location for Chardonnay. The vineyard is next to Luther Burbank’s Farm and the soil composition is rich Goldridge Sandy Loam. With the consistent coastal fog extending hang time well into October, this fruit is fully developed and loaded with complexity. The Chardonnay is comprised of Clones 4 and 76.’
Continuing, Winemaker notes for this release remain the same as with the previous vintage: “Reminiscent of a classic white Burgundy but with a California twist, this Chardonnay displays vibrant minerality accompanied by the mouth-watering natural acidity typically found in Peters Vineyard. Stirring the lees (Sur Lie) was performed to this lot consistently once per week through malolactic fermentation. We feel like this gives the wine body, texture and depth while maintaining its graceful acidity and restraint. This Chardonnay is elegant enough to pair with delicate foods and delicious enough to drink by itself after a long day.”
This is 100% Chardonnay, Sourced from Russian River Valley Appellation, and was aged 11 months in 100% French Oak, 30% New..
While I gave it the same rating, this release had a slightly different profile.
Straw colored, light to medium bodied, tangy crisp acidity highlights a predominant layer of vanilla that overshadowed the subtle pear, spice and peach tones of the earlier release, accented by light sprites of oak on a pleasurable moderate finish.
RM 89 points.
https://entouragerestaurant.com/downers-grove/
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