BACK FROM ITALY!

October 1, 2009

Capriccio Header

Mezzanotte Header

UPCOMING
EVENTS

WINE TASTING AND FOOD PAIRING AT

Tuesday October 13 at 7 PM. $50/person

Reservations required

--------------------------------------

ENTERTAINMENT
THIS WEEK

AT MEZZANOTTE

KAREENA LEE

Friday 10/2

Kareena Lee

Karenna moves easily between jazz, blues, caberet and pop. Her versatile style and extensive repertoire includes romantic ballads to latin favorites and broadway tunes. Her very entertaining and dynamic style are a welcome treat to a relaxing dinner on a Friday night. She is a must see!!

GUILLERMO SERPAS

Saturday 10/3

Serpas

Evoking the influence of legendary guitarist Carlos Santana and popular folk
players, Guillermo produces the electrifying rhythms of salsa, Latin jazz, and bolero, representing his Latin American roots and pumping vigorous life into his virtuoso classical-guitar performances.

_________________

AT CAPRICCIO

GUILLERMO SERPAS

Friday 10/2

Guillermo2

Evoking the influence of legendary guitarist Carlos Santana and popular folk
players, Guillermo produces the electrifying rhythms of salsa, Latin jazz, and bolero, representing his Latin American roots and pumping vigorous life into his virtuoso classical-guitar performances.

LISA WHITLEY

Saturday 10/3

Lisa

Lisa is the 2004 winner of KPRC TV's Houston's Gimme the Mike. Lisa was selected out of 1600 contestants. Scoring a perfect 40 with a soul grabbing delivery of "Over the Rainbow", Lisa won the competition. She has also performed live on the Jerry Lewis Telethon and sang the national anthem for the televised game of the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

CAPRICCIO TAPAS

-----------------------------

MEZZANOTTE RISTORANTE

In This Issue

Upcoming Events

Back from Italy!

Our Villa in Tuscany

Weekly Specials

WE ARE BACK FROM ITALY!

This was a wonderful trip. Our group of 6 had a terrific time. We ate and drunk wine as there was no tomorrow! Here are chapters 1 and 2 of our trip.

We left on September 17 and arrived in Rome early afternoon (local time). We were tired but very excited. Of course nothing is ever perfect so Adriana's luggage got lost. Since we traveled on separate flights (with the believe that it would be extremely bad luck if something happened to both of us!) I arrived earlier and waited for her at the arrivals gate. Our driver showed up late but that was OK because Adriana was trying to find her suit case. But, suddenly, our roman driver became very excited about the time and kept looking at his watch and saying things in Italian. Thankfully we were connected through our Blackberry pin messaging service so I could know what was going on behind the doors. We both traveled Continental but their operations in Rome are managed by Alitalia - of course, they had no clue where the bag was. They said they would deliver to our villa but the villa didn't have a street address (it is on a hill 40 minutes outside Montalcino!).

The story ended happily as we received the bag at our hotel in Rome at midnight.

Once at the hotel we took showers and ventured into the city looking for food and wine. I really love moving around Rome using the subway but we were far from a station so we had to use the bus system. I confirmed that I really don't like the bus system! But we managed to find the food and wine at an outdoor cafe near Piazza Navona:

Adriana in Rome

Piaza Navona

After spending the afternoon in the city we connected with our good friends Phil & Carolyn and Hunter and Becky and we met at an outdoor pizzeria near the hotel. When we arrived they had already consumed a couple of gallons of the red juice so were very happy. We were so happy that we forgot to take pictures!

The next day was more of the same: walk around Rome and look for more wine and food:

Of course we did everything we needed to do, like throwing coins into the Fontana di Trevi, go to Plaza Spagna, walk down Via Veneto, etc. But we didn't have too much extra time because our driver was scheduled to pick us up at 3:00 PM and take us to our villa in Tuscany.

CHAPTER 2 - OUR VILLA IN TUSCANY

We arrived to our villa after a 3 hour drive from Rome. The villa is situated on a hill top about 4 miles outside the small town of Buonconvento (pop 1,500) and about 40 minutes from Montalcino. No phones and no Internet!

Here is a picture of the villa as we approached it (you can barely see it behind the tress at the top):

The villa was built in the 1400 and renovated a few times. I am happy to report that we didn't have any ghosts (although it would have been exciting!). The villa was huge for the 6 of us and we virtually could have slept in our own room if we wanted to. The views from the top of the hill were simply breathtaking. This pictures were taken from our windows:

And, as I said many times while there, it is extremelly difficult (if not impossible) to capture the magnificense of the scenery with a camera - but we tried our best.

And here we are arriving at the villa:

Of course our first order of business was to find wine. So I took on the task and went to town with our villa keeper. This is what I found for our first night at the villa:

I also bought some bread, cheese and salami to accompany the wine while we waited for our welcome dinner prepared by our personal chef Alessandra. Here is the gang getting ready for the feast:

I will continue with follow up chapters of our wonderful trip of 2009.

WEEKLY SPECIALS AND NEW TAPAS

We are very excited of continuing with our weekly specials at both restaurants. They include special Prix-Fixe menus, new menu items, new wines and featured wines, etc. Please take a look at the summary of our weekly specials by clicking in the links below:

CAPRICCIO SPECIALS MENU

MEZZANOTTE SPECIALS MENU

At Capriccio we are very happy that our new tapas have been well received. Please try them out:

SARDINAS FRITAS - 5
Staple tapa of Spain . Two whole small sardines are coated in a white wine batter and deep fried until golden and crunchy.

PINCHOS MORUNOS (PORK) - 6
Pork cubes marinated in cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, oregano, garlic and lemon juice. Skewered and grilled. Served with an apple-black sugar sauce.

PINCHOS MORUNOS (POLLO) - 6
Chicken cubes marinated in cumin, coriander, garlic, lemon and orange zest. Skewered and grilled. Served with an orange saffron sauce.

FABADA ASTURIANA - 7
A dish adored throughout Spain . Faba beans cooked with chorizo, morcilla and bacon. Delicious accents of saffron and smoked paprika.

MORCILLA ANDALUZA - 8
Perfectly grilled morcilla sausage accompanied with a pine nut, mango, apple and peach chutney. The perfect savory and sweet combination.

SCALLOPS PARMESAN - 7
Absolutely delicious. Fresh scallops topped with parmesan cheese and butter are broiled to a delicate crust. A squeeze of lime tops this wonderful tapa.

FEATURED WINES OF THE WEEK

Wine Bar

FEATURE WINE AT MEZZANOTTE

Cabernet Sauvignon - Blue Rock 2005 - Bottle 48 - Glass 12.50

Certainly noteworthy is the fact that the Blue Rock Vineyard lies directly next door to Silver Oak - perhaps the nation's most venerable producer of collector Cabernet.
The 2005 Blue Rock Cabernet, blended with 6% Estate Malbec, is among the most beautiful wines produced from the Estate and certainly one of the best since 2001. It is very fragrant with complex blueberry, black fruit, and mint aromas that are a signature of Blue Rock Cabernets. The tannins are sweet and silky and complemented with a dense core of black cherry fruit. The 2005 vintage is approachable at the time of release - yet it has excellent structure, balance, and a very long finish.

FEATURE WINES AT CAPRICCIO

Our feature this week is three flights of 3 wines each:

The Argentinean Whites Flight - 10

- Sauvignon Blanc Black River Estates (Mendoza)

- Torrontes Uma (Mendoza)

- Chardonnay Henry Lagarde (Mendoza)

The Argentinean Reds Flight - 10

- Malbec Intimo (Mendoza)

- Cabernet/Merlot/Malbec Intimo (Mendoza)

- Shiraz Uma Telteca (Mendoza)

The Spanish Reds Flight - 12

- Tempranillo Castillo de Montblanc (Conca de Barbera)

- Tempranillo Tinto Vivir, Vivir (Ribera del Duero)

- Rioja Gran Reserva Campo Viejo (Rioja)

Email Marketing by