Family Celebration Dinner at Mesón Sabika, Naperville
We hosted a gala family celebration dinner at iconic Mesón Sabika, the historic mansion restaurant in Naperville, one of the favorites of the kids. The restaurant is housed in a mansion that was built in 1847 and sits on a four-acre estate near downtown Naperville.
The highly acclaimed restaurant was awarded Best of Naperville “Most Romantic, Outdoor Dining” and “Best Banquet Facility” and “Best live music”.
It was named among the “100 most popular restaurants for outdoor dining in America”, one of the “100 Most Popular Brunch Spots in America”, and among “America’s 100 most romantic restaurants” by Opentable.
The special gathering was to embrace d-in-law Vivianna and son Alec who are expecting a daughter next month.
To everyone’s surprise and delight, they used the occasion as a ‘reveal’ event to announce the name of the upcoming newborn.
Playing on the theme and names of brother Ryan, and sister Erin and niece Lucy’s middle name Leigh, and niece Marleigh, they unveiled our new grand-daughter will be named Ryleigh. What fun and how wonderful!
Early release of the name was prompted due to three year old daughter/grand-daughter ‘leaking’ the upcoming disclosure.
Our core family of twenty-one will soon be twenty-two!
Wife Linda organized the gala dinner and the Mesón Sabika team delivered an exceptional dining experience with delicious food courses, outstanding attentive service, in an ideal outdoor garden court setting - akin to having a private room.
The personalized special menu started with cold then hot Tapas, followed by dinner, then desserts …
Pitchers of Mesón Sabika signature red and white Sangria were served before and throughout the dinner.
Four delicious Tapas appetizers, two cold and two hot, were served - potato salad followed by salmon, then lamb, veal and pork meatballs, and mushroom caps.
Patatas con Aioli - Robust garlic potato saladSalmón Curado con Queso - House-cured salmon rolled with dill cream cheese, served on toast points spread with sour cream
Albondigas con Almendreas - Lamb, beef, and pork meatballs served with spicy tomato sauce, toasted almonds and parmesan cheese
Main course featured choice of chicken or filet medallions of beef with red wine peppercorn sauce, mashed potatoes and asparagus spears.
Solomillos a la Plancha - Grilled beef tenderloin medallions, served with mashed potatoes, drizzled with a red wine sauce
Dessert included a delicious broad assortment of Mesón Sabika Specialty Desserts … served with coffee.
Crema Catalana de Meson - Creamy vanilla custard with bittersweet chocolate and caramelized sugar
Profiterol del Pirineo - Light and airy pastry filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce
Plátano con Helado -Sautéed banana topped with caramel sauce and pistachios, served with vanilla ice cream
Flan del Dia -Featured flan of the day
Cazuelita de Chocolate - Soft-centered, warm chocolate cake served with vanilla ice cream
Tarta de Pera - Almond and pear pound cake, drizzled with caramel sauce, served with vanilla ice cream
Tarta de Pacanas - Pecan cheesecake served with chocolate and caramel sauce
Delicia de Chocolate - Chocolate terrine with honey roasted walnuts and fresh raspberry sauce
Tarta de Chocolate y Caramelo - Warm bittersweet chocolate and caramel custard baked in an almond and hazelnut tart crust with vanilla ice cream
For a wine accompaniment with dinner, Ryan selected from the Meson Sabika Spanish centric winelist this highly acclaimed Spanish Big Red Blend.
La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva 2019This is from Spanish producer La Rioja Alta, S.A., ranked by Drinks International among the 50 most prestigious wine producers worldwide, the highest-ranked Spanish winery and the second in Europe. The list of Top 10 of the world’s greatest wineries includes iconic names such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Antinori, Vega Sicilia, Penfolds, Gaja, Catena and Sassicaia.
The La Rioja Alta 2019 vintage of Viña Ardanza, was an extraordinary year on par with the best of the 21st century and this label is considered an international benchmark for great Rioja wines.
Following a short vintage in 2017 and the decision not to produce Viña Ardanza in 2018, the renowned Haro’s Barrio de la Estación winery produced an extraordinary highly acclaimed vintage in 2019.
Julio Sáenz, head winemaker, highlights the greatness of this vintage: "This is one of the best vintages in our history—possibly on the level of 2001, 2010, or 2015.”
Pundit John Gilman said “It is one of the finest recent vintages of Viña Ardanza that I can recall tasting!”
Viña Ardanza 2019 was its typical signature blend of 80% Tempranillo sourced from estate-owned vineyards over 30 years old in Fuenmayor and Cenicero in Rioja Alta, and 20% Garnacha from La Pedriza estate vineyard Tudelilla, Rioja Oriental, located at an altitude of 550 meters, where the vines have reached optimal maturity to produce grapes of extraordinary quality.
The wine was aged in handcrafted American oak barrels, lasting 36 months for the Tempranillo and 30 months for the Garnacha. 500,000 bottles were produced.
This was awarded 96 points by Jeb Dunnuck, 94 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, Decanter and John Gilman, and 93 by Vinous.
