out and about: beeside balcony wine pairing dinner

Y’all know how much we love our local hot spots. And beeside is no different. Located above the fray on prospect; it’s less than five minutes from our house, and has been host to some of our favorite meals. So can I tell you, how thrilled we were to learn that beeside now has a pre fix three course dinner menu? With wine pairings if you so choose?

And it’s mix and match - so you and your dinning partner can pick and choose, and share all of the different things. Which, let me tell you, is exactly what we did, so we could try the most things.

cioppino soup: seafood stew, tomato white wine broth, toast

dau sauvignon blanc, paso robles, ca ‘23

If you’ve ever been to a seafood restaurant with jamie, you can put your money on the fact that he is going to get the fish soup, the stew, the cioppino… basically anything with mixed seafood in broth. It’s just his jam.

And this cioppino was definitely his jam. The shelfish was fresh and not fishy. The broth was tomatoey and lovely. The fresh thyme was a great addition.

The wine was also excellent. A little heartier than a typical sav blanc, so it held up well against the richness of the stew.

salmon croquette: panko crusted, roasted bell pepper cream sauce, pico tapenade, arugula, chili oil

domaine laurier sparkling rose: ca

This croquette was completely unexpected. I don’t even know what I was expecting to be honest, but something other than what it was…

… which was more italian meatball than a crabcake. Which now that I write it out, is what I guess I was expecting.

Regardless, we enjoyed it. And be surprised while doing so.

The sparkling was a great touch as well. Light and airy, and a great compliment.

denver steak: 8oz, chimichurri sauce, rosemary fries

baca cabernet: napa, ca, ‘23

We had a little snaffu with the cook on the steak; but the staff was wonderfully gracious and quickly rectified the issue.

Jamie especially loved the chimichurri, and the kick it imparted.

The fries were perfectly cooked and seasoned, and pro tip… if you get the osso bucco, they are even better dipped in the sauce.

The cab was a home run for this dish. Hearty, but not too acidic.

pork osso bucco: briased pork shank, tomato mirepoix, white wine

querciabella mongrana super tuscan: tuscany, italy, ‘21

This dish was the start of the night. We loved everything about it. Everything.

The pork was falling off the bone tender… no knife necissary.

The broth was perfect in its simplicity. You could seriously tell the amount of tiime and love that went into this dish. I can pretty much guarentee that jamie won’t be ordering much else on our nect visit he waxed poetic about it so long… even pulling the chef aside to ask questions.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the wine, having never had a super tuscan… but i like brunello and merlot.. both of which come from the tuscany region, and it was similar to those in profile. I liked that it wasn’t overly heavy so it offset the richness of the broth quite well.

churros: cinnamon-sugar, cream filling, caramel, whipped cream

disznoku tokaji late harvest: hungary, ‘20

While I didn’t find any cream filling in my churros, hands down, these are the best churros I have ever had. Anywhere. And I am a self-describle churro obsessionary. I love me a churro.

These were crispy, flakey, and soft, all where they needed to be. You didn’t need the dippers, a nice option to have, but the churros simply spoke for themselves. I can guarantee that I will be ordering these for every visit.

I was excited that they were pairred with a tokaji dessert wine. One of my favorties, and it worked thusly here.

s’more cake: graham cracker cake, chocolate ganache center, brulee marshmallow

Unfortunatly they were out of the wine that was set to pair with this dessert, so we got an additional tasting of the tokaji. Which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, seeing as I have already shared that it’s one of my fav’s.

We enjoyed this dessert a lot. The cake was gingery, moist and light. The marshmallow creme in the middle nicely toasted, and the chocolate ganache added just a needed touch of chocolate without being over powered. Seriously a deconstructed s’more cake.

Overall, the wine pairing dinner is a great addition to the beeside line up, and to our neighborhood dinner options. And, I’m curious to see if it changes and/or evolves over time.