Search for
Articles
  • Wines
  • Articles

Chez Josephine (also known as Chez Dumonet)

This sensational bistro offers a glorious selection of Bordeaux at relatively high prices (even more painful than usual because of the weak American dollar). The cuisine is fabulous, with the best beef Burgundy served with tagliatelli noodles that I have ever tasted. It offered “melt in your mouth” richness. I don’t know how the chef gets the big chunks of beef so caramelized on the outside, yet so tender and moist on the interior.

I splurged on the wines. We had a nondescript house Champagne that I had never before seen, but indulged ourselves with a magnum of 1961 Grand Puy Lacoste. While not the best bottle I have had of this wine, it was in good shape, revealing classic cedar, spice box, sweet cherry, and loamy, dusty soil notes, medium body, and some tannin to still be resolved. It is clearly a wine just past its apogee. We all enjoyed it, but I had hoped for a bit more, especially given the price it fetched. The chef, who was enjoying a 1961 Montrose with friends, sent a glass over to our table. Displaying neither the charm nor sweetness of the Grand Puy Lacoste, it possessed a hard, tough personality, but ... it’s a classic Château Montrose.

I can’t recommend this bistro’s cuisine highly enough. While well-heeled readers with deep pockets will find some amazingly old, well-stored Bordeaux available, I just wish there were more value picks on the wine list.

More articles from this author

Petit Louis Bistro

From Gourmet

A lookalike, authentic French bistro, Petit Louis in Baltimore's Roland Park is the creation of restauranteurs par excellence Cindy Wolf and Tony Foreman. You feel like you’ve walked into a bistro on the Left Bank of Paris when you enter Petit Louis. The food is classic bistro, and they do it well. All of the courses we had were flavorful, sometimes a trifle rustic, but delicious in their intensity. This was good comfort food prepared extremely well. The wines started with one of the major surprises for me over the last year, the 2006 sparking wine from Tony Soter in Oregon. I had this several times while I was out visiting Oregon, and I had always been impressed, but this is a 10-year-old sparking Rosé that is just sensational, and I’m talking world class—it’s that good. Something this good from France would cost at least two to three times as much, so kudos to Tony Soter. The 1995 Billaud-Simon Chablis Mont de Milieu was oxidized and undrinkable. The 1996 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos St. Urbain Rangen de Thann was sweet, and although it went well with the foie gras, it was just a little too unctuous and sweet a wine...

La Toque - Cheval Blanc Dinner

From Gourmet

This was a spectacular night of fabulous food at La Toque in Napa, California. Every course was right on target, and we had the joy of hosting Château Cheval Blanc’s administrator Pierre Lurton for this night with Wine Advocate subscribers.
Back to top
Loading…