For an explanation of this post's (uncharacteristic) brevity, please see the first installment.
9 September 2003 – San Francisco, California
Limon – In the mood for something different from a city with so many culinary options, we decide to give this Peruvian restaurant a try for a casual weeknight dinner with the Adlers and Larry Stein. It's a crowded, exceedingly loud, "happening" place on an otherwise featureless street in the Mission, with that crazy mix of old/young/dressy/casual clientele endemic to San Franciscan restaurants.
The food tends mostly towards meat and fish with piquant (but not necessarily hot) sauces and complicated, full-meal ceviches. It's good, tasty, decently-prepared, but I wouldn't characterize it as groundbreakingly different, though I'm not sure that's the intention. Still, it's a fun place to eat, if not dine. Service is competent, if a little confused (there's a variable, though minor, language barrier).
The wine list is pretty dismal, and BYO is definitely a good idea; there's a stated limit of two bottles, but the restaurant doesn't seem especially agitated about enforcing it. In any case, we order one bottle from the list, and open two that we've brought.
Ostertag 2001 Gewurztraminer "Vignoble d'Epfig" (Alsace) – Slightly bitter almond, cashew, and spiced peach syrup in a low-acid, unfocused brew. If there's one flaw common to so much of what Ostertag makes, it's lack of focus, and this bottle doesn't differ in any regard. Early-drinking, gulpable, but generally uninteresting.
Trimbach 1997 Riesling "Cuvée Frédéric Émile" (Alsace) – Maturing more quickly than I'd have expected, with a light petrol note emerging over powdered minerality and dusted pear rind, and finishing with an ever-so-slightly caramelized mineral texture (not the kind that comes from heat damage, but the kind occasionally found in aged dry riesling). Still substantial, with much development ahead, but its living up to its promise as an earlier drinker than is the norm for CFE. Which means: give it about seven-nine more years, or enjoy it earlier.
Léoville du Marquis de Las Cases 1981 Saint-Julien (Bordeaux) – Softly fading, a gentle blend of cassis, graphite, and cedar chest that lingers lightly into a temperate evening. I suspect that this wine would show better under less noisy conditions, both auditory and culinary. Still, such supreme elegance is rare, these days.