Culinary Chef's Dinner Featuring Zubair Mohajir

Culinary Chef's Dinner Featuring Zubair Mohajir

Colleague, Matt D. hosted a gala dinner at his City residence to introduce Chef Zubair Mohajir and his unique and masterful culinary artwork. We took a selection of wines to accompany the meal.

This was a unique opportunity to meet an up-and-coming emerging big chef on the Chicago culinary scene who is already making a name for himself serving public / private supper club dinners featuring his unique style cuisine and masterful creations.

The evening came together when Matt met Zubair and he proposed hosting a private supper club dinner serving an exclusive extensive course tasting. He has been doing so under the name Wazwan Supper Club.

Zubair Mohajir was born and raised in Chicago and pursued his passion for cooking after an initial career in finance. He started his culinary career as Sous Chef at the legendary Pump Room in Chicago. After 2 years, he went on to learn and refine his craft at some of the most prestigious restaurants: Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in Napa, and then Gaggan in Bangkok, rated the No. 5 restaurant in the world at the time.

To hone and refine his artwork, and to break into the Chicago market, he has been serving private / public super club dinners. He is joined in these events by staffers who are otherwise engaged at Michelin restaurants.

He is developing his cuisine featuring French technique cooking with the flavors he has intimately experienced during his tours in California and southeast Asia.

This was an extraordinary opportunity to meet Zubair up close, to taste his food, and explore his vision for bringing his cuisine to market. In addition to preparing and serving a great meal, Zubair shared his vision of taking his star dish, Tandoori Fried Chicken to a scalable fast casual type restaurant concept. For the event we were joined by several well known restauranteurs from Chicago, and Cleveland and New York, who flew in for the occasion, including Matt's father Mike.

Dinner Menu by Zubair Mohajir:

1st Course :

Salmon | Tom Kha Gai | Sesame | Crisp

Interim Course
Taco | Chick Peas | Feta Cheese | Florals | Radish | Sauce

2nd Course :

Rigatoni | Brown Butter Emulsion | Proscuitto | Quail Yolk

3rd Course:

Scallop | Green Thai Curry | Crimini 

4th Course :

New York Strip | Guajillo | Peruvian Fingerling 

5th Course:

Tandoori Fried Chicken | Som Tam | Scallion Corn Cake 

6th Course :

Dawlat Ki Chaat ( Saffron Dessert )

http://voyagechicago.com/interview/meet-zubair-mohajir-wazwan-supper-club-lincoln-park/

 The wine flight:

Belle Glos Santa Lucia Highliands Las Alturas Vineyard Pinot Noir 2015

This was deep ruby red in color with intriguing aromas of sun-warmed blackberries, ripe plums, with hints of black licorice. A complexity of dark berry fruits unfold on the palate; blackberries and bing cherries along with dark chocolate flavors. Vanilla and cedar oak undertones on the mid-palate further enhance the wine. The overall impression is rich with refined tannins, firm acidity and explosive layers of ripe fruit.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2498033

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2017/11/belle-glos-las-alturas-pinot-noir-2014.html


Chateau Rauzan Segla Margaux Grand Cru Classe 2003


Garnet colored, medium full bodied, complex but smooth and polished nicely integrated black cherry, plum and red berry fruits accented by notes of cigar box, tobacco leaf and leather with polished smooth fine grained tannins on the silky finish.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=31291





Opus One Napa Valley Red Blend 2015

Dark inky purple colored, medium-full bodied, forward rich ripe concentrated sweet black raspberry and blue berry fruits with subtle hints of floral, tea, spice and vanilla with soft fine-grained tannins on the lingering finish.

This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon 81%, Cabernet Franc 7%, Merlot 6%, Petit Verdot 4%, and Malbec 2%.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2636422



Flinders Run Southern Flinders Ranges Shiraz 2005

http://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2014/10/favorite-aussie-shiraz-flinders-2005.html

Dark inky purple colour - full bodied, rich thick concentrated and chewy, complex symphony of flavors of sweet currant, ripe plum, red raspberry and blueberry, a layer of mocha accented by hints of pepper, vanilla, and spice, and a lingering essence of creme brulee' and cedar on the long full smooth tongue coated finish.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=421985



Casa Lapostolle BOROBO Colchagua Valley Red Blend 2008

Tom R brought this from his cellar. He acquired this bottle during his visit to the producer when he and family stayed at the Estate during their trip to Argentina last summer.

Dark Ruby colored with purple tones, medium-full bodied, black berry and black cherry fruits accented by notes of tobacco leaf, tea and leather, hints of mocha and spice, ending with firm tannins on a moderate finish.

RM 89 points. 

This is a blend of 50% Carmenère from Apalta Vineyard, 18% Pinot Noir from Atalayas Vineyard, 16% Merlot from Apalta Vineyard, in the Casablanca Valley and 13% Syrah from Las Kuras Vineyard and 3% of Petit Verdot from Apalta Vineyard in the Cachapoal Rapel Valley.

http://en.lapostollewines.com/wines/borobo/?year=2008



www.wazwansupperclub.com

Piazza Del Dotto Sangiovese

Piazza Del Dotto Sangiovese for Holiday Birthday Italian Dinner

We took dear friend Marlene U to dinner to celebrate the holidays and her birthday at Angelis Italian, our favorite neighborhood trattoria. For the occasion we took a Del Dotto Sangiovese to pair with the Italian cuisine.

We tasted and acquired this wine during or Piazza Winery Delicacies Wine and Food Tasting Experience during our Napa Valley Wine Experience 2018. We had previously tasted and acquired the 2015 release a year earlier at our Napa Valley Del Dotto Estate Cave Tour and Barrel Tasting in 2017.

This label is from Piazza Del Dotto, Del Dotto's newest project, a new winery south on St Helena Highway featuring an Italian-inspired “barchessa,” or barn, magnificently appointed with tasting rooms and dining areas. It is surrounded by fountain gardens with al fresco tasting cabanas, vegetable gardens, 17^th century fountains and an outdoor barn with turkeys, peacocks, pheasants and doves. There are wine caves as well, all surrounded by 8.5 acres of cabernet sauvignon vineyards.

Piazza Del Dotto Sangiovese 2016 

This is Estate grown fruit, I believe from the Rutherford vineyards that surround the Venetian Estate Winery & Caves, the site for the Del Dotto cave tours and barrel tastings.

This was an ideal complement to the tangy tomato sauces with our pasta dishes.

This was ruby colored medium full bodied, delicious sweet ripe raspberry fruits accented by notes of vanilla and almond with supple smooth silky tannins on the lingering finish.

RM 92 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3038663

http://www.deldottovineyards.com/ 

TOR Kenward Family Wines ROCK Hommage Allan Hudson Vineyard Syrah 2013

TOR Kenward Family Wines ROCK Hommage Allan Hudson Vineyard Syrah 2013

A previously unknown undiscovered label, I picked up the last two remaining bottles at Binny's. We opened this midweek with some fruit, crackers and a selection of artisan wines for a quiet relaxing evening.

This is the style and profile of Syrah that we favor, dark inky purple, full bodied, concentrated forward black and blue berry and cherry fruits with bright acidity accented by tones of anise, graphite, leather and hints of pepper with a long tongue puckering finish with firm but soft approachable tannins.

Not as sweet, polished or balanced as some of favorite, preferred, standard bearer Napa Syrahs, but tasty and pleasant drinking none-the-less. 

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2126714

Chiarello Family Vineyards Petite Sirah Roux Old Vine 2003

Chiarello Family Vineyards Petite Sirah Roux Old Vine 2003

For a quiet relaxing evening watching Christmas movies with Linda over pizza, I pulled this aged Chiarello Vineyards Petit Shirah from the cellar as a literal and classic 'pizza wine' - aka moderately priced 'every day' wine for drinking with pizza. Based on the price I paid nearly a decade and half ago, this exceeded both of our expectations being big, fruit-filled, forward and complex. Researching it further I see I got a good deal on this wine at $20 as the ASP, average selling price today is $60 and $65 for later vintages. What a nice surprise to find this gem in the cellar!

I admit that prior to opening and tasting, and subsequently researching this label further to produce this blogpost, I don't recall having prior knowledge of this producer or winemaker.

This wine is produced by Michael Chiarello, noted Napa Valley chef, Emmy-winning TV personality, author, founder of NapaStyle, who applied his culinary skills and personal flair for layering flavors to a new challenge—making small productions of handcrafted estate wines. His small winery, Chiarello Family Vineyards, makes five estate grown wines from 20-acres  around his home in the central Napa Valley. This wine is from his 4-acre parcel of 96 year-old vines that yield a mere 100 cases of wine.

Chiarello is collaborating with Thomas Brown, one of the top "old vine" winemakers in Napa Valley, known for crafting rich, dynamic wines from the ultra-ripe fruit of from the 94-year-old Petite Sirah and Zinfandel vines on the Estate.  Thomas Brown was "2010 Winemaker of the Year," by Food & Wine Magazine.

Chiarello Family Vineyards and their wines have consistently been recognized with 90+ ratings and accolades - named Editors Pick, Top Scoring California Sirah (Wine Spectator) with a 92 Rating; Editors Pick, Top Scoring California Zinfandel (Wine Spectator) with a 90 Rating; Top Ten Bottle From Napa (Food & Wine Magazine) and In Napa, Zinfandels Show Off Their Grace, (New York Times, Frank Prial, 11/13/02).

Thomas Rivers Brown hails originally from South Carolina. After graduation from the University of Virginia he traveled the wine regions of France, and eventually made his way to Napa Valley in the mid-1990's. He worked with and earned the craft as cellar hand and lab enologist for notable winemakers Ehren Jordan and Larry Turley of Turley Wine Cellars. In 2000, Thomas got his chance to produce his own wines when he was appointed winemaker for the new winery project Chiarello Vineyards. 

Since then, in addition to Chiarello, Thomas has overseen winemaking operations or consulted for many well known Napa Valley wineries including Schrader, Outpost, Maybach, Revana, TOR, C. Mondavi, Jones Family, Harris Estate, Hestan, Seaver, Black Sears, and Casa Piena. He also has his own wine label, Rivers-Marie, where Thomas Brown focuses his efforts on Pinot Noir.
 
Thomas Brown has been called "the nation's hottest winemaker." by David White of The Terroirist Wine Journal., He is one of but a few winemakers globally to have received multiple 100-point wine scores from the penultimate wine critic Robert Parker Jr. of The Wine Advocate, as well as from wine noted critic, James Laube of The Wine Spectator. It was in 2010 that Thomas was honored as Food & Wine Magazine "Winemaker of the Year."

Chiarello Family Vineyards Petite Sirah Roux Old Vine 2003  

This was dark inky black/purple colored, big full bodied, rich, concentrated but nicely balanced and polished blackberry and black cherry fruits with layers of mineral, licorice, Asian spices, hints of smokey creosote with nicely integrated oak on the lingering clinging tannin finish.

At fourteen years of age, this 2003 was drinking well and seemingly still at the apex of its drinking window, although certainly not likely to improve any with further aging.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=146614

http://www.chiarellovineyards.com/

Whitehall Lane Napa Valley Syrah 2016

Whitehall Lane Napa Valley Syrah 2016

We discovered, tasted and acquired this wine during our Whitehall Lane Napa Valle Vineyards and Winery Estate visit and tasting during our Napa Valley Wine Experience 2018 back in August. We opened this for casual midweek sipping with bar-be-que and some artisan cheeses and fruit.

As written in our recent tasting notes when we opened this on release and receipt, "This showed dark inky purple colored and full body with layers of blueberry and currant fruits accented by notes of subdued pepper and hints of cinnamon. I defer to the eloquent and artfully drafted tasting notes from the winemaker below."

"The 2016 Luchtel Vineyard Syrah offers fragrant notes of mixed berry compote, violets, blueberry fritter, white pepper, and baking spices. On the palate, the tannins are soft and supple, while the flavors are showing sweet red currants, stewed black plums, beetroot, rhubarb, and a touch of cinnamon."

RM 90 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2990406


Whitehall Lane Napa Valley Estate Vineyards and Winery - https://whitehalllane.com/