'Sample' is right!

We spent the weekend up skiing in the mountains. We stayed in a condo in Keystone and it felt like the good old days as the lift lines were short to non-existent, the snow was good and the road traffic was utterly absent. Divine.

We decided to cook one night and eat out one night. For our cooked dinner, I must compliment my husband's culinary skills with meat - perfectly cooked bison burgers with a dripping, melted cheddar on top. That accomplished without the grill promised in the condo description.

Saturday, I booked us in to Samplings, a wine bar and tapas restaurant in Frisco. I had wanted to go there for ages as I'm a total sucker for tapas as well as wine bars. We had peeked in once before and the room looked really neat and the menu delicious so we decided to go.

Three of us were seated promptly at a table near the fireplace (welcome on this chilly night) and we were greeted reasonably quickly by our server, Melissa. We browsed the menu and the wine list and my husband, a total savant at choosing fabulous wines, even from unfamiliar vintners, made his selection. The sommelier (perhaps one of the youngest in this kind of job by the looks of him) gave the obligatory 'good choice, sir' (or some variant) and went off to retreive our wine. He came back with apologies that the wine was out of stock (something he should have known, not to mention that should have been updated on the wine list. The only forgiveness here was that it was the end of the ski season, but still).

Mistake number two - rather than offer a comparable bottle or slightly better for the same price (which any good restaurant or wine bar would do), he merely made a few suggestions for a few similar wines (and a few not so similar) at a similar price point. We tried one that was available by the glass and ultimately selected another altogether. The wine service was adequate, though after the opening, tasting and the first pour, my husband did most of the service - again, something that I wouldn't expect from a wine bar.

We dove into the menu. We started with the Samplings Caesar, the Mixed Olives and Marcona Almonds and the Grilled and Smoked Artisan Sausages. The salad came out in a cute little bowl, and by cute, I mean small. I know what tapas are, I know they are designed to be small, to share. I also know that the prices at Samplings were over the top.

The flavors in the $9 Caesar were wonderful, with a few, small slivers of blood orange, toasted pumpkin seeds and the garlic and black pepper dressing (though a little less of the latter would have been welcome). I would say that for three people, we each got 3 or maybe 4 bites of salad. For $9.

The sausages were divine. The plate was segmented into little divots and there were three different, tiny, diagonal slices of sausage. With three little dollops of different mustards. Total. The taste was wonderful, one sweet, one smoky, one rich. The mustards were as diverse as the sausages. But at $8, I'd expect more than a few slices of sausage. Really - picture a silver dollar. They were that big (though a bit thicker).

The olives and almonds were the hit (and they lasted more than four minutes). Another neat serving piece arrived with three compartments, one filled with kalamata olives, one with pepitas and Marcona almonds and one with picholine olives accented with fennel. All delicious and at a more reasonable portion size (for $8).

So far, not great. The food itself was delicious, the presentation lovely, the waitstaff service excellent, but we were not ever going to get full at this rate. We ordered more. Proscuitto and asparagus ($8) and a grilled olive bread bruschetta ($12).

The asparagus dish arrived first. Five perfectly grilled, thin pieces of asparagus on a light bed of folded proscuitto and shaved Manchego cheese, drizzled with an olive tapenade vinegarette. A perfect marriage of flavors. The proscuitto was salty sweet and paired with a bit of the crumbly cheese and the grilled veg, it was a match made in heaven.

The bruschetta was also terrific. French bread slices topped with a dried chorizo, manchego cheese, pesto, olive tapenade and a few dots of syrupy basalmic. The flavors blended perfectly and made for a complex package of deliciousness. Four slices if you're counting. $3 each.

So for $100, we had a large snack and a nice bottle of wine. We enjoyed ourselves, but I have to say that I've been to a myriad of tapas restaurants in Denver as well as in larger cities like Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco. Across the board, they were less expensive, much better value, and had more diversity in their ingredients (we had a lot of dishes with the same cheese, olives, sausages, pumpkin seeds, etc at Samplings).

The food at Samplings was great. Our server Melissa was great. The room was beautifully designed and had great ambience. The wine that we eventually chose was great. The portions were skeletal relative to the prices. The dishes could do with a bit more diversity of ingredients. The sommelier was not as experienced as I would expect. The wine service was underwhelming. I know there is a market for this restaurant in Summit County. Samplings is promising, I just think they can be better.

Tired but full

So, Osteria Marco is a gem. I shouldn't even tell you because it will just become overly popular and will be impossible to get in.

We started the evening at Cru in Larimer Square to have a glass of wine before dinner. Our waiter was very friendly and helpful, but not everyone wase satisfied with his recommendations. Oh, well...it was only one drink. We were in the lounge downstairs, which is a very cool space. Now, I have to point out, I didn't realize this was a chain until today. Worse yet, it's a chain based in Texas. I try not to eat or drink at chains with any frequency (exception sometime being Colorado based eatries). Ah well. Now I know.

We headed across the street to a pleasantly crowded Osteria Marco in the basement. Our server was knowledgable and attentive...and patient as it took us ages to order and get through our food. The prices are very reasonable. We started with a bunch of appetizers. We did the chefs selection of house made cheeses. They were served with grilled bread and each one was excellent. There was a ricotta, a gorgonzola, a triple cream and a mozzarella. The ricotta was mild and creamy; it had a wonderfully light texture and spread on bread like soft butter. The mozzarella was soft and had just the right amount of salt. The triple cream was decadent and wonderfully flavorful. Last and maybe least (but still very good), the gorgonzola was really quite mild for a blue; very tasty.

We also got some marinated olives, proscuitto (parma) and the ciccioli (braised pulled pork...I believe it was braised in duck fat). Okay, I realize this is excessive for three people for starters, but it was really hard to decide. The proscuitto was devine. Salty and creamy and simply presented folded on a plate. I have to mention that 5 pieces or so for $8 seemed a bit steep, but it was very good nonetheless. The olive marinade was a bit strong for my taste, but my sister in law ate them with gusto, so it's just my palate that didn't agree. The pork had been recommended by our waiter and maybe pork isn't our thing, but it was just too rich for me. A bite was enough. If you're a pork fan though, I'd jump on it if I were you.

On to dinner...we had so much to start with we ended up ordering two pizzas and a salad. The salad was a bit diminuitive, but utterly delicious. Arugula perfectly dressed and sprinkled with golden raisins and pine nuts lightly mounded on a small plate. Then (yes, more proscuitto) a proscuitto and fresh mozzarella pizza topped with arugula. Utterly delicious (and a LOT of proscuitto). And finally a wild mushroom and robiola pizza. I am a devout lover of all things mushroom and this pizza did not disappoint (though a few of the mushrooms left something to be desired texturally). My mushroom pizza was so popular, there was only one slice left upon departure.

Somehow we were talked into dessert. I blame my sister in law. So we had a molten chocolate cake with chocolate gelato. Perfect in every way, except that in her gusto to dig in, my sister in law burned the roof of her mouth. Probably why it's 'molten'. Oh, well.

Wine selection is extensive and wonderful. Our server steered us towards a very moderately priced red that was perfect with our food.

All in all it was a wonderful meal. Hell, there's a chance we may go back to Osteria Marco within the week.

Happy eating.