The Longest Dinner

There is a level of service one expects when dining in a fine restaurant, and the speed of service is more a personal preference than a hard-and-fast rule. However, Bill and I found a new level of slow when we recently dined at Plump Jack Inn located in The Village at Squaw Valley. I won't bore you with the details - you can read my review on Open Table if you like - but suffice it to say, for once I had plenty of time to write notes in my trusty paperblanks notebook.

What we drank:
Dutton Goldfield Dutton Ranch 2008 Russian River Pinot Noir
The nose was full-bodied and spicy, with notes of blackberry, dark cherry, leather and cinnamon. The front of the wine was quite fruity, although it did have a nice balance of fruit and spice. The mid-palate brought in softly rounded tannins and a bit more of the cinnamon. The finish was a bit too soft for my liking, although it had a nice smoothness and lingering notes of juicy berry and cherry with a little white pepper. 8 out of 10 because of the lighter finish.

This wine was perfect with the carrot-cardamom soup, which had a garnish of Thai chili pepper threads and black rice. Lovely! It was good, but not great, with the Korean Spiced Seafood Cones, which contained ahi and salmon with caviar, ginger, and hints of soy and wasabi, in a crispy wonton skin cone. Since it took 90 minutes to get the Cones, I nearly ate them faster than I could taste them!

Provenance Vineyards 2007 Napa Valley Merlot
This had a bizarre nose that smelt predominantly of vitamins. Not minerals, mind you, but actual vitamins you take in pill form. It did open up over time and lose a little of that smell, but it was very off-putting to me. The wine tasted good, however, opening with a nice juicy berry flavor that became more bright cherry in mid-palate. The wine had a soft, smooth finish but did not leave much on the palate afterward. I rated this wine a 4 out of 10. I expect more of any 2007 from Napa - it was a stellar year!

Sadly, our experience at Plump Jack was not just about bad service. The small dining area was astonishingly loud, and there was a family with a very small, very cranky child next to us. The adults in the group did not seem inclined to pay any attention to the children, who tried to control the smallest, and of course that ended with the little one running in between tables, screaming. Lovely. That was our last visit to Plump Jack. With entrees starting at $23, it just costs too much to have a bad experience. Oh, and did I mention that the restaurant had to be at least 85 degrees? Ugh. Sweaty. Not good.