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Happy Holidays, everyone!

One of the many things we've been working feverishly on post- Christmas is the prix fixe wine list for December 31. The special New Year's Eve wine list works this way: you can buy a glass of anything you want on the list separately (prices ranging from $7.75 to $18.75) or you can buy an all-night pass, so to speak, for $65 per person, which allows you to sample anything on the prix fixe wine list in any order. We'll provide tasting notes and suggested pairings for the foods in the New Year's Eve tasting menu.

Alternatively, you can choose from our full wine list, beer list and bar, or you can teetotal and be the designated driver.

This year, we've veered from tradition and will be offering a few wines that are not strictly from France, because we feel they round out our offerings and will match our foods particularly well.

One of the "foreign" - i.e. non-Gallic - wines is the Standing Stone Vineyards Finger Lakes Gewurztraminer 2006. We chose this wine because it is an interesting example of New York State wine making, perhaps because it is surprisingly Alsatian (as opposed to German) in style. It has a spicy palate that conjures up flavors of clove, cardamom and cinnamon with the fresh, sexiness of lychee fruit.

We chose two slightly sweeter wines from other countries because we think they will pair well with foie gras and several of the dessert options.

The Inkerman Muscat de Chersonesus 2001 is from the Crimea. The region from which this wine originates consists of little but vineyards. What sets Inkerman apart is that unlike many Ukrainian wineries, it still ages its wines in large oak barrels stored in abandoned rock quarries.
Inkerman takes its tradition from the nearby ancient Greek settlement of Chersonesus, where wine-making first began in the 4th century B.C.
This rose-colored wine is the only dessert wine in the winery's catalog, and combines the subtle flavor of rose petals with honey.

We've also purchased an Italian sparkling Moscato from Mionetto. This wine has a fresh, floral, spicy, peach nose that is livelier and lighter than you might expect a moscato to be on the palate. It is a well-balanced bubbly with sweet ripe peach and spicy baked apple mineral flavors.

Other wines in the New Year's Eve prix fixe tasting menu include the Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie, Domaine Les Hautes de Noëlle, Serge Batard, 2006; the Macon-Milly-Lamartine, Les Heritiers du Comte Lafon, 2006; the Suzette Lignières white Corbières, "La Baronne" from the Montagne D'Alaric terroir of the Languedoc Rousillon; and the Paul Laurent brut Champagne.

We're nearly sold out for New Year's Eve, but we have a few seats left as of this writing at 5 and 5:30 and 9 and 9:30. As always, we will be keeping a waiting list, because people's plans often change at the last minute, and we can often get in several tables after we are officially "sold out."

We're doing two seatings on New Year's Eve, the first a five-courser for early birds and the second an 9-course extravaganza for those who want to hang out until the wee hours. Our early seating, with tables available at 5, 5:30, 6 and 6:30 p.m., will feature a five-course menu (with a glass of Champagne included) for $80 per person, plus tax and gratuity.
The New Year's Eve late-night party starts at 8 p.m., with seatings available at 8, 8:30, 9 and 9:30 p.m. The 9-course menu will cost $130 per person, plus tax and gratuity.
To see the full menu for each seating, visit http://www.chezsophie.com/events.htm

We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. Our diners seemed very happy on the 25th. The tables came in at a measured pace, the food was beautiful and we managed to serve a fair number of people without any glaring hitches. Things could have been smoother on Christmas Eve. We had several large parties that took a while to assemble and finish their cocktails and get ready to order. It threw the flow of the evening off for a couple of tables that followed and made us fervently wish that we could have made the timing more perfect for all of our guests on such a special occasion.

Cheryl and Paul took turns being with our guests and with our children, which was both rewarding and a little harrowing. We both felt we had a responsibility to be in two places at once. But we got through, and the children had a wonderful time at their Grandma and Grandpa's house in Hadley, especially the moments they spent playing with their cousin Annarose.

Souschef Mark D. Graham devised the Pink Plate Special for this coming week. It will be braised lamb loin served with baby fennel, tomato confit, sulfur beans, and thyme jus.

The Pink Plate is a weekly prix fixe special we will offer this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. (Monday is New Year's Eve and we will have different prix fixe menus for that night) The Pink Plate is a $32 per person three-course special, including your choice of soup or salad, the featured entree, two selections from our cheese board or one of a couple of featured desserts and coffee, tea or espresso.

We offer a fun and elegant à la carte brunch on Saturday and Sunday.
Our artist-in-residence, jazz pianist Cole Broderick, plays the baby grand piano from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday

The brunch menu this Saturday and Sunday will feature bouillabaise ($16); Hoppin' John ($15); sautéed chicken breast with white wine, mushrooms and fresh herbs, served with basmati rice ($15) and cornflake-crusted French toast with cranberry compote and your choice of bacon or sausage($15). Appetizer specials include a crabcake with lemon caper mayonnaise ($16); ; a salad of mixed baby greens tossed in a red wine vinaigrette ($7); Rhode Island Littleneck clams steam in white wine with herbs ($13) and soup of the day ($8).

The brunch specials run from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The complete menu,
offered from 7 to 2 p.m., includes a Continental assortment of
muffins, pastries, fruit, yogurt, frittata etcetera for $9;
omelettes ($10 to $12); pancakes du jour ($10); the All in One, which includes 2 eggs any style, homefries, toast and sausage or bacon ($10); waffles with sweet cream butter and local maple syrup ($10); and Irish steel- cut oatmeal ($8).

Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays the baby grand Tuesday and Friday night, and during Sunday brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (barring special events that preclude live music.) Cole, who won a Billboard Critic's Choice Award for his 4-CD set of jazz compositions: "Seasons in Saratoga," recently released his seventh CD "Chez Sophie Jazz." This is the first time he's recorded with a vocalist. (The singer is Cheryl Clark, co-owner of Chez Sophie, wife of Chef Paul, mother of the adorable Nico and Léo.) Some of the cuts of the CD can be heard at http://www.chezsophie.com/.
Copies are for sale for $16 at Chez Sophie and through Cole's secure PayPal-friendly website at https://s.p2.hostingprod.com/@colebroderick.com/ssl/order-cole-broderick-cds.html. We can also mail-order the CD's for an additional $4 shipping and handling.

Tasting menus
Chef's Choice seven-course tasting menu available each night. The
menus are designed based on the best and most creative dishes Chef Paul K. Parker is serving each evening. We will pair wines for you at an additional charge or you can order from our extensive wine list.
Cost: $80 to $200 per person for seven courses, plus tax and tip.
Everyone at the table must partake in the tasting menu.
If you're feeling less impromptu, you can call ahead to arrange a
special tasting menu with the number of courses and wine pairings
designed to suit your capacity, dietary restrictions and budget.
Tasting menus arranged in advance will be printed on commemorative vellum scrolls personalized with the name of the host or the reason for the event.
Cost: Depends on the number of courses and the wines selected; available for two to 75 guests. Call Cheryl to make arrangements at
518.583.3538

The Pink Plate Special
offered Tuesday, January 1, Wednesday, January 2 and Thursday, January 3

$32 per person
includes your choice of soup or salad, a special entree, selected desserts or a cheese course and coffee, tea or espresso.

This week's special entree:
braised lamb loin served with baby fennel, tomato confit, sulfur beans, and thyme jus

Notes on Nico and Léo:

A picture is worth a million words, so we'll keep the notes short this week and offer a few photos of our angels on Christmas morning.

To answer the inevitable questions, yes, the two children do look remarkably alike, and yes, Léo is a girl, in spite of her pert little blonde haircut. Mommy braved the potential displeasure of old-fashioned relatives by bobbing her daughter's hair, because the way it was growing out was lanky and tangly. The child is so adorable with this haircut that everyone has cooed over her. But both Cheryl and the Nanny have come upon the children while they were napping and have guessed wrong as to which one is which.

The Parker family
at Chez Sophie
518.583.3538

Chez Sophie was founded in 1969 by sculptor Joseph Parker and his French-born wife, the late Sophie. The business moved to a vintage stainless steel diner in Malta Ridge, New York, in 1995. It is owned today by Sophie and Joseph's son, Paul Parker, and his wife, Cheryl Clark. In June of 2006, they moved the restaurant into their current location in The Saratoga Hotel on Broadway..

If at any time you would like to be removed from our weekly email list (or receive less frequent postings about wine dinners or special events) please let us know by return email. We hope you enjoy our news.

P.S. Each month we draw a name at random from our database of customers and send them a $50 gift certificate to Chez Sophie. If you would like to be added to this promotions database, which is owned by Chez Sophie, please send us an email with your name, address, telephone number, birthday and anniversary. People on the list will also receive a gift certificate by mail or email for a free glass of champagne or dessert on their birthdays or anniversaries. (You only need to enter once to be eligible every month.) If you think you are on the list but have not received gift certificates on your special holidays, please contact us with an updated email address. We find that many of the email addresses we have collected over the past few years are no longer valid.

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