Unauthorized

This was a fabulous restaurant, a real Swiss bistro, with abundant portions, an absolutely outrageous fine wine list, with terrific California selections and heavy on Rhône wines. The food was sensational, with one of the best Quiche Lorraine's I have ever eaten. In addition, they served possibly the finest Veal Cordon Bleu I have ever had - perfectly cooked veal stuffed with high-quality ham and several Swiss cheeses. It was sumptuous, rib-sticking and incredibly satisfying.

The wines all hit the high points of the night, probably aided by the great ambience, cuisine and just a fun time. The 2011 F.X. Pichler Rielsing Unendlich (we drank down two bottles) was absolutely outrageously rich and honeyed with loads of caramelized citrus, a touch of tropical fruit, but great minerality and precision. This guy's wines are also known for their unreal purity of character, and both bottles had that in spades.

We then moved to two of my favorite Châteauneuf du Papes of all time. An old-vine, 100% Grenache cuvée grown in pure sandy soils near Château Rayas, the 2010 Domaine Giraud Les Grenaches de Pierre was dense purple, still youthful and young, but showed unbelievable levels of black cherry fruit, black raspberry, earth and spice. It is full-bodied, extravagantly rich and a total hedonistic, intellectual turn-on. It should continue to drink well for at least another 10-15 years, if you can somehow manage to keep your hands off of it. That was followed by a magnum of 2007 Domaine de Pégaü Cuvée da Capo, which was out of this world, in a more traditional style, with loads of garrigue, licorice, roasted meats, beef blood and plenty of kirsch liqueur. This was killer Châteauneuf du Pape as well.

All things considered, this was a great night, with some of my best friends, including an old buddy from Lucerne who has a great wine shop there, Carl Studer; my business manager, Joe James; our young turk who checks out wine-tasting and eating venues for us, Oliver Mumenthaler, and we were occasionally joined by the beautiful waitress at this tiny bistro as well as the exuberant proprietor. This is my kind of place, and I highly recommend it if you are ever in Zurich.