Have you gone Underground?

I am crawling out from under my grapevine and feeling very hip and cool after this past weekend's experience at an "Underground Restaurant." My friend Nanette is a personal chef from New York who moved to the Central Coast about the same time. She has been trying to find the right opportunity to make a living here and may be about to strike gold. She is part of a new trend of chefs who find a space, create a menu, get the word out and see who shows up. Fortunately for us, we did, along with our friends the Tighes who were visiting from Minnesota. Several other winemakers/vintners where there. Some we knew, some we did not but we all had a great evening.

This movement took off as the result of a couple of American chefs who moved to Paris and opened up a speakeasy type of space, avoided the rigors of the French health dept. and were wildly successful. Now you can find underground dining in most of the big cities as well as in San Luis Obispo.

Nanette paired each of the five courses with a local wine. Appetizers were passed as the guests mingled and sipped a lovely Castoro wine called Tango.My favorite were the delicately fried sage leaves in a tempura-like batter. We were called to the elegantly appointed table and had an amazing scallop/grapefruit salad. This was paired with

Chardonnay from Tablas Creek. The main event was a beautiful plate of Moroccan Lamb chops, Potato Bliss and veggies from her garden. I think we had a Tablas Creek Grenache but frankly, by this time, I was a bit tipsy and can't quite remember other than it was perfect. Of course we had a delicious dessert and made our way back home feeling so lucky to have had a fun and unique gastricorgasmic experience.

The only part of the evening that was a bit bizarre is the conversation surrounding proper tooth brushing. One of the guests was a LA dentist. A simple question by Victor and Jenny of Vines on the Marycrest asking the best way to teach their 5 year old to brush his teeth - in circles or back and forth or up and down, led to what seemed like a more than should have been acceptable conversation by Dr. Dave. He is passionate about two things - wine and the best way to brush your teeth. It must have had an impact on Dave and me because we each are paying a lot more attention to oral hygiene. BTW, go real slow, focus on the gum line and barely move your hand.