Lambs Club – Skalli

I was recently invited by Skalli to the Lambs Club for lunch, to sample their wines while enjoying a meal. 

The first wine that was poured was a lovely unoaked Chardonnay, specifically the Forant Chardonnay, 2009.  I’d invited Sarah to join me at this event, and we both commented how light and drinkable this wine was, very complementary to the various early courses we sampled.  It was almost too drinkable, as many participants around the table quaffed it quite quickly. 

After we’d ordered our meals, we were brought this amuse: chicken liver mousse topped with a pickled onion, accompanied by a wafer thin piece of toasted buttery brioche.  I found this to be a very nice start, with the mineral tang being cut with the wine easily. 

We had another amuse, salmon over a tartar sauce that was also very light and tasty. 

Sarah’s amberjack sashimi; I’ll let her tell you more about that. 

I ordered the tuna tartare to start; admittedly it was because of the description. 

Tuna tartare with sweet corn panna cotta and scallion pesto; I was more interested in the sweet corn panna cotta than the scallion pesto, but when I tasted both together, wow – that was intense.  The panna cotta itself tasted of corn, but was completely smooth, and had this intense corn-sweetness to it, and the scallion pesto was just bright, verdant.  Eaten with the bits of tuna and corn kernels just made this whole dish come alive in my mouth – amazing, simply incredible. 

Our next wine was the Cote du Rhone, which was much earthier and tannic.  I enjoyed it though it definitely isn’t for everyone.  We also had a Chateauneuf du Pape, La Tiare du Pape, 2008 that I liked as well, while some people liked one or the other better, I thought they were equally good. 

Sarah went with one of the specials – a white truffle pasta.  I know she enjoyed this dish a lot, though she was gracious enough to share.  Hmmm.  I’m going to reserve judgement. 

I wasn’t feeling any of the sandwiches, so I opted for the Delmonico steak.  It was served surrounded by dressed arugula, interestingly.  Our server explained to me that the chef picks the meat himself from Pat LaFrieda and refuses shipments if he isn’t there to personally receive it, but then let slip that the shipment the day before had arrived while the chef wasn’t around and he insisted on sending it back.  I think this piece might have gotten through the cracks – well, a few things were wrong with my steak.  It was served lukewarm, first of all, though it was cooked to my specification of medium rare.  There was hardly any salt of which to speak on the piece of meat, and it was strewn throughout with tendons and streaks of fat that made cutting it really difficult.  My knife also either wasn’t very sharp or the meat was just that wrong… because it was very, very hard to cut.  When I was able to get a decent cut, the taste was good – though again, the lukewarm state of my steak was a bit of a turn-off.  I just wish the steak was served properly salted and at the right temperature, and… that the meat wasn’t so tendon-y and weird. 

The lovely man to my right ordered the honey pistachio cake.  By this time in the lunch, after sharing so much wine, we were all old friends and shared bites of everything.  The cake was dense, moist, and the texture reminded me of the orange cornmeal cake I made my mother earlier this year.  Not too sweet, and just lovely. 

However, the dessert I picked wound up being the winner of the day – the turtle sundae.  Caramel, pecans, chocolate and lovely ice cream… we all took our turns digging into this and enjoying the variety of textures and flavors present in this truly lovely dessert.  Is it original or innovative?  No.  But it was damn good, and really, that’s all that matters.  

Yvo says: Aside from my hugely disappointing steak, I really enjoyed the food at Lambs Club.  Our service was attentive and friendly, and the food was mostly very good.  I enjoyed learning about the wines as well – I found a new wine that I will stock in my wine rack (the Forant Chardonnay), as it is affordable and goes well with a variety of dishes.  While Lambs Club is a little out of my normal price range, it would be good for a business meeting lunch.  

Please note that this meal was paid for by Skalli; I was under no obligation to post about this event, positively or negatively nor did I receive monetary compensation.  Thanks again for the lovely meal!