So like I mentioned in the FRIDAY topic, we had our menu tasting last night. The venue had about 15 or so couples at the tasting, and they had a cocktail "hour" to start, and then the full tasting. They spread out the appetizers as well so that some of the apps were passed apps during the cocktail portion, and the rest were plated and served before the entrees.
What we tasted:
Cocktail hour:
Pumpkin martini -- DELICIOUS although we likely will not do this as a signature cocktail. We're doing a limited open bar and were hoping to stick to 2-4 vodka and whiskey based cocktails. We'll see.
Mashed potato bar: I opted not to try this because I didn't want to fill up before dinner, but apparently, it was really yummy. J put a lot of garlic on his, although I love garlic, so garlic breath is fine
Late night hot dog cart: Cute, but not our style. We're thinking of having a late night snack option, but not hot dogs. The hot dogs were good, though (Fenway Franks).
Appetizers:
Chicken tempura "lollipop": basically, chicken tempura on a stick, with some kind of horseradish sauce on it. SUPER yum.
Tomato soup and grilled cheese wedges: The soup was in a miniature mug and had the little wedge of grilled cheese perched (securely) at the top. It was REALLY good. High quality soup, and perfect grilled cheese. We were worried that it would be too gimmicky compared to the quality, but it was definitely delicious.
Buffalo chicken "purse": Basically, buffalo chicken in a wonton so you can eat it without making a mess. We had these at our venue visit and they've been haunting our dreams ever since. They were even better than we remembered.
Filo tart with mushroom ragu: Surprisingly good! I do not like mushrooms and couldn't believe this was vegetarian.
Braised beef short ribs on polenta: We were excited that they were serving this app because they also have a braised beef short rib entree we're interested in serving. It was really good. Not sure what the entree version will be served with, though.
Pan-fried oyster served on endive: First let-down of the evening. The oyster was just a little too mushy, and the "fried" part overpowered the interior. We were also confused about whether or not we were supposed to eat the endive (waitstaff seemed confused and just answered that it was edible).
Bacon-wrapped dates stuff with goat cheese: I didn't try this. My MOH said that the dates overpowered the bacon, and J agreed but thought that was a positive thing. Either way, we're not serving any pork at the wedding, so it was irrelevant.
Entrees:
Filet mignon with truffle demi-glaze: Ladies, I wish we could afford to serve this. These people know how to cook a filet to medium-rare without going to medium, and the demi-glaze was perfect. I'm salivating just remembering this.
Jumbo shrimp stuffed with crab meat: Very good! A little awkward to eat, but really delicious. We are not planning on serving shellfish, though.
Rolled sole filet with artichokes and crab meat: Big let-down, unfortunately. This was the only entree with fin fish, and since the focus of the dish is the crab meat filling, it was hard to tell how good the kitchen is with fin fish. It wasn't bad, just disappointing because there was no other fin fish for us to try.
Chicken stuffed with cornbread and cranberries: This chicken, apparently, tastes like Thanksgiving. Perfect for a fall wedding! Not perfect for me; the only Thanksgiving food I like is pumpkin pie.
Sauted chicken Francaise with lemon parsley sauce: I liked this chicken a lot better, although J didn't like it at all. My MOH loved it, but still preferred the other chicken.
Portobello cap with chive risotto: I thought this was pretty good! J didn't like it, though; he didn't think the mushroom was cooked very well, and he didn't like the sauce on top of the risotto.
Accompaniments:
Mashed sweet potatoes: REALLY good. Not overly sweetened, not watery.
Asparagus and baby carrots: No idea what the sauce was on these, but it was great. I love asparagus.
Gratin dauphinois: Looked great, but the potatoes were a little too ... something. My MOH thinks there was too much onion. I think I'd just rather have roasted whole potatoes unless my gratin is practically buttery-melty.
Dessert:
Fried wonton with ricotta and chocolate chips: This was like a fried, slightly less sweet/creamy cannoli. It came with chocolate or caramel dipping sauce. Really cute, but not our style. Plus, we're having wedding cake for dessert, so this was more of a bonus treat than something we were really interested in trying.
Hot cider: Perfect! Not too hot, not to spicy, not watered down.
Cookies to go: So we've had cookies every time we've been to the venue. They make good cookies.
We're a little confused because several of the appetizers and one of the entrees we tried are actually NOT on the main menu list that came with our wedding contract. We thought maybe the menu had been updated, but we've received the most recent list and it's the same. Some of it's irrelevant; we're not planning on having the sole-wrapped crab meat, for example, so we don't care how much it costs. But those filo tarts aren't on the list, for example. And we want the tomato soup app, but according to the package, it costs $1 extra per person, and according to our tasting menu, it doesn't. So which is it?
We're stressed as well because we're not sure what two entrees we want to select. J is a pescetarian, as are several other guests, and ALL of our guests who eat fish like fin fish (whereas a significant portion of guests who eat fish ONLY eat fin fish and no shellfish). So it was important to us that we serve fin fish and a non-fish option. There's a teriyaki tuna option on the package menu we're interested in, so we're trying to convince ourselves that sole was a weird choice and the dish we had wasn't representative of what we'd be getting with a different fin fish entree.
While the Thanksgiving chicken might be a hit with a lot of our guests, we had been planning on the other option being short ribs. Since we're also trying to keep the entree options gluten-free, that chicken isn't really high on our list anyway.
The accompaniments were good, but we'd kind of already decided on roasted rosemary potatoes. Because mmmm.
We're really just hoping that what happened with the cider was not representative of what happens at weddings that they put on. Basically, there were still 4-5 couples (and people they brought with them) left when the cider ran out. It's not clear if it's because the venue didn't put enough cider out, or if it's because the to-go cups we were given held more than one serving, so people inadvertently took multiple servings of cider. Either way, we alerted the staff, and then 5 ... 10 ... almost 15 minutes went by with no sign that the cider would be refilled. And with most of the guests leaving, the vendors clearing out, and the rest of the staff breaking everything down, it didn't seem like the cider was gonna happen. Not an issue at the tasting (my MOH got some cider right before it ran out and shared it with me), but if I'm paying for cider for 120 people at my wedding, this isn't something that can happen.
Here's what we're thinking of serving, based on the tasting:
- limited open bar (have to select the beers and wines, as well as the signature cocktails--suggestions welcome!)
- welcome beverage service--hot apple cider (complimentary in our package)
- passed appetizers: buffalo chicken purses, tomato soup and grilled cheese, filo mushroom tarts, and something gluten-free
- stationary apps: fruit and veggie table
- garden salad (looks really fancy because they wrap it up with a cucumber slice)
- three entree options -- braised beef short ribs, teriyaki tuna, and unknown veggie option (since J doesn't like the mushroom cap with risotto), accompanied by roasted rosemary potatoes
- wedding cake for dessert, probably with chocolate dipped strawberries
- possibly pomme frites as a late night snack (similar to the hot dog cart, but superior because frites)
I am so full just thinking about all this.