Ms. Lynch @ The Catch

The lamb was not humble, it was rich. The crab was ever so soft. The Spring Hill hen egg was unlike any egg I have ever tasted, not only did it have just the right amount of salt and a heavenly glazing of pepper, and sit perfectly on its asparagus pedestal, but it was lightly clothed with Island flowers! The fruits of the forests came in two tender kinds: chanterelle and porcini. The sea was present beyond crab to lobster and someone’s grandmother’s Italian kitchen had shipped over thin firm handmade strozzapreti pasta - oh… sorry, no it was not shipped directly from Italy, it was made by Chef Lynch — and was it ever perfect.

Every single bite was something to savor with delicate movements of the mouth - it was not a meal to rush through or even to eat, it was a meal to deliberate with in close intimacy. And that is just the approach we took.

The dinner in question was at The Catch. It was a fusion of Chef Barbara Lynch (of No. 9 Park in Boston) and her staff with Chef Chris Parsons and his staff.

Our wonderful waitress Jesse was plenty of fun and very helpful. She delighted us with answers to our many questions and concerns as did our runner. Rodica, a passionate young Moldovan lady told us, in detail, about each of the six wines that we sampled, paired marvelously by Cat Sirilie with the 6 courses.

Those wines will be the subject of the rest of the post.

The wine I was dieing to try was: Les Pins - you simply must look up their site. It will help you get a feel for the richness of the deeply sweet buttery taste. (click the left link). And I am not a wine critic by any means, but each glass was enough to make all conversation stop — at least for me — I needed to think my way through each sip.

My second favorite was a red (I am extremely partial to red) from Maremma, Italy. Bottled in 2004. It is from the Tenuta di Trinoro winery. The location is the Tuscan Region, the province Siena, the municipality of Sarteano but in the geographical area in southern western Tuscany called Maremma (which actually touches several other provinces). It not a heavy traffic area. It was made up of coastal flats and salt marshes. These have been drained over time and repopulated. Now it is a grain, olive and grape producing area.

The wine is called, Le Cupole It is mostly created using merlot - which is the reason I loved it so much. I am a merlot lover since the beginning of my wine drinking years.

My first favorite of all favs last night was: Gessami Blanco from Spain. The winery is south west of Barcelona in the Penedès region, so the land is coastal and dry out of the mountains. The family who produce this wine have been making wine since 1881, and it is obvious that they know what they are doing. This white, and I am generally not a fan of white, was so, so refreshing and light. It was the perfect way to start the meal. It was paired with crab in a melon soup, with pickled radish and fennel. Not bad!

I can only image what The Catch and No. 9 Park are like on a regular night. I think I will have to find out.

Off to gallery openings - tonight is both Shaw Cramer, Louisa Gould and Pisano Belushi! Enjoy!