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 "Without the freedom to criticize, there is no worthy praise." Beaumarchais | ||
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Davie, FL Vienna Café and Wine Bar, a restaurant and wine bar in Davie, reflects chef-owner Per Jacobsen’s love for food and wine. The menu melds Chef Jacobsen’s Danish heritage, with Alsatian and Austrian accents spiked with Asian touches. . Once a European tradition, wine bars are springing up all over South Florida. Many of them are strictly that – bars that serve wine and appetizer-style fare. As its name implies, however, the Vienna Café and Wine Bar in Davie is first a restaurant, and then a wine bar. It’s a combination that makes for a perfect marriage of chef-owner Per Jacobsen’s love for both food and wine. The wine bar itself is a cozy nook where guests can sample from an extensive list of international and domestic pours ranging from quite moderate costs to very pricey. It has a friendly, casual ambiance that invites experimenting with varied vintages. A half wall with decorative pillars separates it from the dining room, where burgundy-colored linen liners and crisp white toppers cover well-spaced tables, each holding a fresh rose. The menu reflects Jacobsen’s Danish heritage, with Alsatian and Austrian accents, along with a nod to the now ubiquitous Asian cuisine. On a recent weekend evening, nearly every table in the dining room was filled with a mix of ages. Jacobsen stops at every table to make each guest feel welcome. Twice a month, Jacobsen hosts unusual wine dinners. Instead of the typical more formal – and sometimes stuffy -- format where chefs pair their dishes with carefully chosen vintages, guests at Vienna dinners each bring a bottle of their own wine. The only rules are that it must match the particular category being explored that evening, and fall into the selected price range. The wines are kept secret while Jacobsen compiles a list of them. Each guest receives a copy of the list, and while Jacobsen pours the wines one by one during a multi-course dinner, guests try to guess which is which. Even aficionados are often stumped, but no one minds – it’s all part of Jacobsen’s effort to make wine – and food -- more fun. Appetizers A meal at Vienna Café begins with a basket of warm and delicious sourdough bread served with plenty of sweet butter. The starter menu is interesting and varied – this is a good place to go with friends and order several appetizers to share. A wild mushroom fricassee ($7.75) is a flavorful combination of portabello, oyster, and white mushrooms sautéed with sweet onions in butter, and then finished with cream and a rich, dark port wine reduction. A flaky pastry crust adds texture to the earthy mix, and soaks up the delicious sauce. Crab cakes ($9.50) are thick with chunks of lump crab meat. There’s just enough breading to hold them together, and a crispy exterior and tender interior creates a pleasing combination textures. A pesto and tomato concasse sauce nicely accents the mildly spicy cakes. Escargots en croute ($8.75) was our favorite starter. Tender-firm, wonderfully garlicky escargots and white mushrooms baked in flaky puff pastry are delicious, and an unexpected accent of gorgonzola cheese adds a pleasing bite. Carrots, squash, bok choy and mint leaves are simmered together to make the slightly spicy stock for lobster bisque, which is then finished with chunks of sweet lobster meat, cream, tomato, and sherry. Other appetizers include duck and peppercorn pate with lingonberry sauce and pickled cucumber salad; sesame crusted Ahi tuna ($8.75) duck foi gras with apple and onion compote ($15.95); smoked Norwegian salmon with caviar ($9); and Danish meatballs ($6.75). Entrees Sea bass ($28.75), a special for the evening, was a thick chunk of moist, flaky fish. A buttery sherry sauce nicely accented the mild flavor of the fish without overpowering it. The dish was accompanied by a mix of white and nutty-flavored, appropriately firm, wild rice. Roast duck ($22.95) was the best of the dishes we tried. The moist, dusky-flavored meat was tender and delicious, its rich taste accented with a sweet-tart Bing cherry sauce. The shredded red cabbage accompanying the dish was cooked just right. Shrimp and sea scallops ($21.95) served over linguini was the only disappointment of the evening. There were a generous number of shellfish, but although the menu said they were prepared with garlic and white wine, there was not enough to moisten the bed of pasta, and the dish was too bland. Other entrees include wiener and jaeger schnitzel ($16.95 and $17.95); rack of lamb ($24.95); grilled veal T-bone chop ($27.95) potato-crusted filet of salmon with pinot noir sauce ($18.95); pistachio-dusted mahi-mahi ($19.75); and sesame-crusted tuna ($21.95) Desserts Chocolate mousse cake ($5) was airily delicious dark and light chocolate mousses separated by vanilla cream, set on a base of dark chocolate cake. Amaretto crème brule $6) had a properly seared top, and was creamy and flavorful inside, with just a hint of the liqueur. But the apple cheesecake ($5.50) was the clear winner of the desserts. A combination of rich, creamy cheesecake topped with baked apples fragrant with cinnamon, baked together in a graham cracker crust, it was truly a delight. The Vienna Café and Wine Bar is a casually elegant place that serves sophisticated fare without pretension, and that, after a first visit, is likely to draw you back. |
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