Bonny Doon 2003 Le Cigare Volant

Bonny Doon 2003 Le Cigare Volant

We opened a 2003 Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volant which is a Chateauneuf Du Pape style blend of Mourvedre, Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault.  I got this bottle signed by the eccentric winemaker Randall Grahm at a wine event a few years ago.  Grahm is a really, really interesting character.  With his grey hair pulled back into a ponytail, and wearing John Lennon style glasses, he kind of reminds me of the Egon character from the movie Ghostbusters.  Educated at UC Santa Cruz (my alma mater) and UC Davis, Grahm peppers his sentences with words like “preternatural” and “quixotic”.   He is a wine making philosopher and something of a prankster to boot.   Case in point, after years of problematic corks, a fed up Grahm staged a mock funeral for cork complete with a eulogy delivered by celebrated wine critic Jancis Robinson.  That is a much longer story for another time, but suffice it to say that Grahm is a uniquely entertaining fellow.  After sharing some of Grahm’s finest, Jason and I headed out to try out a new restaurant called Blush.  Located in beautiful Santa Barbara, Blush has a prominent spot on State Street.  To start we tried the beet carpaccio with blue cheese and endive and arugula salad with Meyer lemon vinaigrette.  We also shared the duck confit tart with carmelized onion, and Purple Haze goat cheese.  Both of these were very good.  Jason ordered the leek crusted pork chop with apple, bacon and blue cheese potato rosti and sautéed rainbow chard and green peppercorn sauce.  This tasted good and was perfectly cooked.  I had the herb-glazed halibut with potatoes and fava beans with a horseradish butter sauce.  The halibut had a wonderful texture and went well with the sauce.  Although the food was good, I felt the prices were a little high for a restaurant with a large, prominently displayed television (I had no idea it was even basketball season until eating at Blush).  My feeling on this is that a restaurant cannot be “upscale” or charge “upscale” prices if there is a television visible from the main dining area.  If I had my way, there would be NO televisions visible from restaurant dining rooms – if you MUST watch television while you eat, go to a sports bar.  Nothing really grabbed me on the wine by the glass list so I ordered a gimlet (done properly with freshly squeezed lime juice).  Jason tried out one of the specialty cocktails which was Hangar 1 Buddha’s Hand vodka with grapefruit juice and a spicy pepper.  This was well balanced – the spice of the pepper did not overpower the grapefruit this cocktail.  Later on I ordered an old fashioned, which tasted good, but was served in a martini glass – not an old fashioned glass.  One real problem with the space is that it is quite loud and echos.  The night we were there it was also quite cold with the doors open.  Overall, the service was fine – but we did wait quite a while before anyone took our appetizer order and they do need to work out some kinks at the bar.  The prices seemed aligned with the quality of the food and drinks – but NOT with the atmosphere which is more bar-like with the television and the echos; appetizers, entrées and three cocktails was $120.  This is a difficult time to start a restaurant – but they have a good location.   Hopefully they’ll make it.