WCWG with Curtis Nordeen of Fleming'sI recently was invited to a wine dinner at Fleming's Steakhouse & Wine Bar in River North and was quite impressed with their wine selections and food quality. It's at a great location, just west of Michigan Avenue on East Ohio Street, with two levels of options. On the first floor is the wine bar featuring the "5 for 6 'til 7" menu, which is 5 cocktails, 5 wines by the glass and 5 appetizers priced at $6 each until 7pm. Upstairs is the kitchen, dining room and rooms for private events. And the most impressive thing I found was the Fleming's 100: 100 wines available by the glass, with 30 of them being priced $10 or less!
Our wine dinner featured some new and exciting menu items including RoastedPeppercorn Steak Mushroom Ravioli, Lump Crab Louis Wraps, Tillamook Bay Petrale Sole, Two-Peppercorn Steak with F-17 Sauce Lobster Bake(17 ingredient house steak sauce), Beef Wellington, Lobster/Seafood Bake and Molten Lava Cake. These were also paired with two excellent wines which, while they weren't an ultimate pairing, did an great job of being versatile: 2007 Sanford Santa Barbara County Chardonnay and 2006 Frog's Leap Rutherford Merlot.
Here's a bit of footage I took of one of their private dining rooms along with an interview from Chef/Partner Jerl Griffin:
There's lots of great things happening at Fleming's this month and next including a $39.95 three course prix fixe menu, a Caymus interactive dinner, wine Tuesdays with 25% off Fleming's 100 bottles & free corkage, and "Opening Nights" every Thursday in September where they'll bring you into the Fleming's 100 by opening 20 bottles for you to taste for $25- and you'll also receive a $25 dining credit if you stay for dinner! A lot of value at a steakhouse.
Chicago 3 MediaFor extra coverage be sure to check out my interview with Chicago 3 Media and Jennifer Fernicola-Ronay. It was a good time with good food and good people. Special thanks to Chef, the Fleming's staff, Operating Partner Curtis Nordeen and Kurman Communications.
Windy City Wine Guy | Michael Bottigliero
Michael Bottigliero, a Chicago sommelier here to fit your wine needs including corporate events, training, in home wine tastings, bachelorette parties, beverage menu creation and wine cellar management.
