We're Opening a Tasting Room, Part 3
Backstory if this is your first time here - we're opening a Tasting Room (I know, duh), and while things are going well, we're going to be down to the wire on an opening date. Until we know for sure, we're using our blog to keep all of our fans (we see you, all 17 of you who are looking at the blogs), abreast of what's happening, when we might be able to say "we're opening!" and other fun stuff.
THIS PAST WEEK:
The most action has happened in this particular area -
That's right folks - we're PUTTING IN A KITCHEN! We won't be a full on restaurant, there's only a few of us, but we wanted to be able to offer some food with your wine (or just food, period). Our menu will be simple, we're embracing the Tapas theme, including offering a selection of tinned fish, or 'conservas' if you want to sound fancy.
I'm sure some of you may be like:
But if you like fish at all - you should be like:
Most of the tinned seafood lining our grocery store shelves is just fine. Nothing wrong with it, I enjoy it myself. However, it's also not super appealing - a lot of the sardines smell like fish variety cat food when opened, the poultry-of-the-ocean tuna is both kind of bland and fishy at the same time. I mean, I love a good tuna melt, but i also get the repulsion if this is how you're feeling. However, we're here to showcase these gourmet products, and if this is new to you, teach you the ways of this part of the culinary world (and for those of you in the know - you're welcome, and please visit us because we'll have some true gems available). Europeans have celebrated these tinned products for the better part of this past century. Not only was it a safe way to preserve some special fish (that if not preserved quickly are more likely to give you a nasty food poisoning experience), but it brought about a new art form. There are tasting bars devoted to these items, people age these products and talk about specific years as being the best. The flavors range in nuances just like cheese or wine. They also happen to be perfect with wine, the rich, flavors, often in premium quality olive oil, compliment both white and red wines. Finally, they're just really good for you, and if you're into sustainability, it's a way to support the smaller fishing operations, aquaculture, and processing facilities that are concerned about over fishing and farming in their areas.
Our focus will be on European conservas, as they're difficult to find in the US (so very excited to able to offer these) as well as some stateside canneries (including ones in WA) that are just as good.
In addition to our extensive tinned menu (you can order your choice of tin and it'll come with a bread plate), we'll always have some meats, cheeses, and a few other snacks on hand. When we have a bigger crew we'll offer some freshly made salads and tapas plates.
There will be more blogs devoted to our tinned fish, so stay tuned if that's your thing.
Back to the tasting room -
Other things that have happened -
- some of our light fixtures have been installed (starting to look kind of 'finished')
- painting in Tasting Room almost complete
- water heater installed
- water filter installed (avoiding that delicious Prosser water as much as possible, where my locals, at eh?)
- floor mop sink installed and janitor/utility closet complete
- walls for kitchen fully installed, plumbing done (waiting for floors to be finished to attached equipment).
We hope to be able to share more pictures of things looking further along next week!
Cheers!
