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| Food, beverages tied tightly together at Wine Knot By Dennis R. Getto Journal Sentinel dining critic December 17, 2005 Food and wine experts use several different words to describe the process of picking the right wine to accompany a particular food. "Pairing" is one of the most common. I've also heard "link," "combination" and "match." A stronger word is knot. And that's why this warm little bistro and wine bar in downtown Kenosha is called the Wine Knot. The importance of wine at this restaurant is evident even from the outside, where arriving diners can see strings of wine corks dangling like glass beads from a café rod in the window. Inside, wine flights (suggested groupings of related wines) are painted high on one of the restaurant's walls. The others display a selection of sketches and paintings - some depicting wine bottles. Any trace of doubt my dining companion and I might have had about the role of wine at this establishment disappeared when we opened the menu. The first five pages were devoted to wines from what seem to be most of the major producing countries of the world - Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Argentina, Chile and the United States. There were also white wines from Austria, Sardinia and Wisconsin and red from South Africa. The sixth page of the menu featured beers and fortified wines (port and sherry). It wasn't until page 7 that we hit "little plates," the Wine Knot's answers to appetizers. And even then, we weren't finished with wine listings: Seven of the bistro's nine small plates were listed with recommended wines. So were all of its 11 "big plates" (translate those as "entrees"). Terry and Allison McDonald and Jesse Pentecost, opened the Wine Knot 18 months ago. Chef Brian Haberski, dreams up dishes with Italian, Mexican and even American roots and then match wines to them. Of the four "big plates" that we tried, an American rendition of a pork chop ($16.95) proved the best. The 2-inch-thick chop had been seared with brown sugar, cinnamon and brandy, then baked with caramelized pears, raisins and walnuts. And despite the presence of all those seeming sweet ingredients, the meaty flavor of the chop was predominant - all those other ingredients simply provided background notes. In an effort to find out how good the selected wine pairings were, we ordered the Austrian Domane Wachau Gruner Veltliner suggested by the menu. The sweet, fruity white proved an excellent complement to the chop and later, after I'd made both visits, I told them so. "I'm by no means the last word on wine," he said after admitting that he made all the menu's suggestions. The point of the pairings, he added, was to steer diners who like wines in certain directions rather than to make harsh decrees. Another suggestion, to pair an Australian Shiraz from the Barossa River valley with the very Italian osso buco ($21.95) also proved to be sound. The soft red wine danced around the flavors of the veal shank and tomato sauce in which it had been braised, but it didn't stand up well to the stronger flavor of the Gorgonzola risotto that really dominated all the other flavors of the plate. We ignored the suggested pairings with our other two entrees, rainbow trout with basil butter ($16.95) and duck breast in cranberry thyme sauce ($17.95), mostly because we had ordered white wine instead of cocktails at the beginning of the meal. At that time, we hadn't decided on entrees. Of the two, the trout was the better pick, perfectly fresh, boned and grilled so expertly that its succulent, pink meat slipped from the skin with ease. Each mouthful was a delightful mixture of rich fish, butter and a touch of the herb. The duck was no match for the trout; its sauce was as sweet as jelly and obliterated the taste of the poultry. Luckily a gratin of apples and sweet potatoes and a medley of root vegetables were tasty enough to carry the plate. For appetizers, the Wine Knot's version of a chicken quesadilla ($9.95) featured a spinach tortilla filled with a blend of asadero, manchego and pepper jack cheeses - a welcome variation on the usual plain tortilla and Mexican jack cheese. A second appetizer ($10.95) almost would have qualified as a light entrée for dinner: It featured two large tempura-battered shrimp beside two large grilled scallops with tomato and aioli sauces for dipping. The scallops had been grilled perfectly (done on the outside but not rubbery) and the shrimp matched those served at good Japanese restaurants. In the dessert department, the Wine Knot's three-layer chocolate cake ($5.95) with its layers of milk, white and dark chocolate were seductive but couldn't turn our forks completely from tiramisu ($5.95), a light rendition of the classic Italian mascarpone cheesecake that taunted us to taste more after every bite. Service at both meals was casual and friendly. Dennis R. Getto's reviews appear in this section every other Sunday and in Weekend Cue every Friday. Read them online at www.onwisconsin.com/dining. E-mail him at dgetto@journalsentinel.com. Click Here to view this article in its original format on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel webpage |
| Wine Knot Bar & Bistro |
