Where the elite meet to eat: A Hungry Guy review
By BOB FENSTER Sentinel features editor	The grounds of the Shadowbrook in Capitola foreshadow the indoor elegance that awaits diners at the Winemakers Harvest Dinner. Sentinel Photo by Dan Coyro

The Hungry Guy has found nirvana, and to his amazement there is food there. In a flash, the world of rich hungry guys opened up for me: Not just good food and plenty of it — but great food, exquisite food, better food than he deserves and plenty of it.

When the elite meet to eat, this is the way they do it — every night. So do French hungry guys. And hungry restaurant critics (although the last restaurant critic I knew was a skinny little thing who didn’t like food).

But back to my incredible journey into the dinner styles of the rich:

I went to the Winemakers Harvest Dinner at Bittersweet Bistro in Aptos back in October, an event sponsored by the county’s great winegrowers, to which they bring their great wines, and the chef fixes food, going off-menu, to match.

Even now, memories of that dinner give me more satisfaction than the total of the meals I’ve had since.

I’ve waited till now to tell you about it because the next winemakers dinner is coming up in a few weeks. And if you get the chance to go, take it.

It’s expensive, but if you’ve been good and you need a treat (or if you are a rich hungry guy), you don’t want to miss this feast. And if you want to take me along as a kind of finder’s fee, I’m ready for seconds.

They only hold these events twice a year because you need a little groaning room to get ready for the next one.

The evening begins with a wine tasting and appetizers (Bittersweet had great Oysters Rockefeller, which were actually hot on the tray even though the server was walking the courtyard with them — how’d they manage that?).

Then you move to a table with other guests and a local winemaker, who shares wine and stories about wine over the next several courses.

The event attracts wine lovers, who tend to be great conversationalists — strangers before the event, good dinner companions during.

We sat at the Roudon-Smith table, and Bob Roudon brought two kinds of Chardonnay (one oak-enhanced, one oak-free, to give people an idea of what pure Chardonnay flavors are like without the oak) as well as a Merlot and a Syrah (which he pointed out was great with a chocolate dessert — and it was).

At our table: a piano player, a high-tech designer who had grown up in a farm family of 13 kids, a former race car driver who was also an actor, and an architect who was also a long-distance runner.

In other words, your average Santa Cruzans.

The two vintners (Bob Roudon and June Smith) could not only talk about wine but make sense of it.

The food was spectacular, but I divert to talk strategy with other hungry guys: You were smart enough to marry a woman who never finishes her meal, weren’t you?

I had that foresight. Not only that, but Anne’s allergic to shellfish — so I got her lobster martini too. This is key strategy because you’ll want to clean your plate (and hers) at these winegrowers dinners.

To begin, we had a wild mushroom strudel in a trio of potato, fava bean and truffle paints, followed by the lobster martini, then a thyme-crusted chateaubriand served in a foie gras-cabernet demi glace with potato rissole cake and braised fall greens.

Just writing about it brings tears to hungry eyes.

This was a combination of plates I never would have put together myself, but am glad there are food people smarter than me.

For dessert, they served a fallen chocolate cake with homemade French vanilla ice cream — incredible.

You should take along a designated driver to bring you back home, also pants with three or four extra skooshes.

Not sure what the Shadowbrook has on the menu that could top the Bittersweet, but I’m sure they’ll rise to the occasion.

The winegrowers dinner is a Hungry Guy dream, and I didn’t have to move to France to experience it. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get rich so I can eat like this all the time.

The "Ultimate Winemakers Dinner" is on Tuesday, Feb. 26, at the Shadowbrook Restaurant, 1750 Wharf Road in Capitola.

Wine tasting begins at 6 p.m., followed by a five-course gourmet dinner, with local wine makers pouring from their cellars at each table.

The evening costs $95 per person, and it usually sells out, so make your reservations soon by calling the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association at 479-9463, or the Shadowbrook at 475-1511.

© Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers' Association
info@scmwa.com   |  (831) 479-9463