Friday, July 1, 2011

wedding tasting


yesterday, we headed into philadelphia for our wedding tasting at our venue - xix restaurant at the hyatt at the bellevue.  center city was a bustle - no, not because of me and craig...  president obama was making an appearance, not just in philly, not just in center city, but in the hyatt at the same hour of our tasting.  needless to say the crowds were massive.  luckily, we got into the parking garage just minutes before they put it on "lock down" for three hours.


(we tweeted obama and invited him to our tasting, but alas, he did not show...)


for our tasting, we selected 3 appetizers and 3 entrees to sample.  we also were able to try out the available wines and also (re)try our wedding cake. 


the spread was beautiful as well as delicious.  the apps we selected to try were:

appetizer sampler

spinach salad, tossed tableside with granny smith apples, warm rosemary polenta, caramelized endive and goat cheese


asian pear salad, tossed tableside with baby greens, gorgonzola, pecan and cider vinaigrette

jumbo lump crab cake, pickled beets, mustard aioli with red pepper coulis


the entrees we tried were:

entree sampler
mushroom and onion tart with gruyere, arugula and lemon vinaigrette


lemon thyme roasted eberly farms chicken, paired with jumbo grilled shrimp, sweet potato puree, wilted greens with morel demi


roasted beef tenderloin paired with pan seared filet of grouper, potato gnocchi, braised holland leeks with tomato infused demi


the wines we sampled were equally good.  the pinot grigio, chardonnay, merlot and cabernet sauvignon all hailed from a private label exclusively available at the hyatt.  i'm not a huge red wine drinker, but the merlot was particularly good...especially with the chicken with morel demi...


for dessert we enjoyed a wedding cake sampling:

chocolate, chocolate chip, marble, vanilla and lemon pound cakes


with a variety of icing options:

vanilla, chocolate, fudge, mocha and strawberry

we like the chocolate chip and marble pound cakes with the fudge icing and the lemon with the vanilla icing.  delish!

we definitely found some favorites.  the rosemary polenta appetizer was excellent, and my personal fave of everything we tried was the mushroom & onion tart with gruyere.  it. was. amazing.  the chicken was also fabulous, and though i didn't try it, there were not complaints about the beef.  decisions...decisions...


we're torn between doing a duo entree for everyone (chicken with grilled shrimp) or offering a choice (chicken or beef).  your thoughts???

for more wedding updates, click {here}

8 comments:

  1. looks delicious! i'm sad i missed obama in philly!

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  2. Everything looks and sounds wonderful! I can appreciate the artful way they display their food too. Appearances are a big part of any dining experience in my opinion. As for the duo or the choice, I say go with the choice. I think your guests will appreciate having options.

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  3. I wish President Obama had decided to join you for your tasting.

    Everything looks delicious. I think I would likely go with choice.

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  4. oh, what fun! I remember all these awesome planning appointments :) soak it up!

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  5. i love how you guys tweeted obama! ;)

    all that food looks amazing! to answer your question, i think it's good to offer your guests a choice. :)

    p.s. i am a new follower. :)

    <3, Mimi
    http://whatmimiwrites.blogspot.com/

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  6. The asian pear salad looks delish! The chicken sounds amazing and chocolate and lemon will always have my heart....tough choices my dear, can't wait to hear what the winners are! Xoxoxo

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  7. Ooooh, how exciting and yummy! I don't recall that we had a tasting at our wedding venue but then we did have a large spread of appetizers and deserts with lamb on the spit as a main course. I would offer people a choice between chicken and beef as some people try avoid red meat.

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hello there. thank you for your comments - i love reading them.

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