Palisades Wine Dinner 4/22

My friends and I made a trip out to the Palisades restaurant for Germany Wines of the World night. A side note, we had tried to do Wines of the World on Italy night (two weeks prior) and waited 2 hours to be seated and they ran out of food. Needless to say, we ended up at Sal's for big bowls of pasta and loads of Chianti. Feeling unmotivated to try again, we made a reservation for Germany night. Luckily we were seated right away, but we still waited an hour and a half for our food. Overall, the experience was less than enjoyable and I will not return. But here is what I thought of the food and wine pairings.

The first dish was a German potato salad. It was potatoes with caramelized onions, paprika, celery seed, and bacon. It was delicious and reminded me of a dish I have tried in Austria when I was abroad. The wine paired with the potato salad was a Riesling Loosen "Dr. L" The wine by itself tasted light and fruit and had a peach finish. It was very sweet by itself. When paired with the salad the fruit flavor was completely cut and it had a more refreshing taste on my palate.

The second dish was called Sauerbraten. It is a tangy beef braised in vinegar and spices with spaetzle (a German pasta). The dish was paired with Dornfelder Red Wine Bretz. This was a semi-sweet red wine with a strong flavor. The wine by itself was extremely sweet and full of acidity. Definitely not what I like in a red wine. It tasted like cranberry apple juice only warm. Not a fan. The meat dish was delicious and very tender. The wine enhanced the flavor of the meat and made a drier piece taste delicious. The spaetzle didn't really have much of a flavor so the wine didn't change anything.

The last dish was Brat Pizza. It was bratwurst, onions, and sauerkraut on a pizza. We were given a very small slice but it was delicious. I usually wouldn't try that combination but I enjoyed it. The wine pairing was a Pinot Noir Rose' Villa Wolf. The color was a very pale pink. It's flavor was light and drier than the previous two wines. It also was bubbly and didn't really taste like too much. Together the pairing was terrible, the wine did nothing for the pizza. It would have tasted better with a pint of stella in my opinion.

Overall, the food was delicious but I was underwhelmed by the wine. Also, I was still hungry after so I split The Palisades pizza, which was beef tenderloin, mozzarella, and Gorgonzola cheese. It was delicious and flavorful. It would have tasted delicious with a Cabernet. As I said before, I won't be returning back to this restaurant but the pizza was delicious.