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Happy New Year, everyone!

We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas (and thank you to those of you who shared yours with us.)

It took some flexibility and organization to blend our family festivities into serving brunch and dinner on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but it was well worth it. We thank our family again for moving the celebration to Chez Sophie and The Saratoga so we wouldn't miss the festivities while we're still micromanaging this first year of being open. Many of the groups who dined with us had extraordinary meals (one large table enjoyed four - count them FOUR - bottles of 1995 Salon Champagne which we have been holding for at least five years hoping that someone would find the right moment for this extraordinary wine.)

Nancy and Joseph brought in a beautiful live Christmas tree on the 23rd and managed to get it into the tree stand without getting a divorce. (It blew off the top of the car on Route 9N on the way from Corinth, but wasn't damaged because it was still fresh cut and limber. Thankfully, neither were are children's grandparents [damaged] as they got it back onto the car in the rainy, dark, cold
night.) We got the lights on it before a group of 15 of our customers arrived at 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve to have a family meal, and they really enjoyed the smell of fresh-cut pine while they exchanged presents.

Until it tipped over. Cheryl was near the bar when she heard something like a glass of ice cubes hitting the floor, but the sound
- like falling rocks - just continued and continued. She realized with dread that the noise was coming from the 300 glass marbles she'd poured into the base of the tree to weight it down after Nancy and Joseph got it erect.

She ran into the private dining room just as the dinner guests were jumping up from the table to save the tree, in time to warn them not to dance on the marbles. With the help of several boulders and a "guy" ribbon, Cheryl got the thing upright again and cleaned the mess off the floor while the family continued their meal with good cheer.
Later that night, the Parker-Lipkin-Griffis-Clark family turned the private dining room into a living room/dining room and decorated the tree with homemade ornaments.

Santa came down the big chimney in the middle of Chez Sophie's dining room and filled the stockings of Annarose, Léo and Nico, whom we had a devil of a time getting out of bed as early as the adults so they could ooh and ah over our - err- Santa's labors.

Since clearing the dining room of the excesses of Christmas yesterday, we have turned our attention to New Year's Eve. Cheryl has been ordering all the extra equipment and decorations we'll need to throw a mee-are-velous pee-arty (with Noo-noo and Nada and Nell) and Paul has been laboring to perfect the menus, both for the five-course early seating and the nine course "ring in midnight" spectacular. We got the piano tuned right after Christmas so Cole Broderick will sound as perfect as he is, we're trying to decide which color helium balloons will look the most festive and we've chosen the wines we will be pairing with the tasting menus.

Cheryl chose two grower Champagnes, from Joël Falmet and Pierre and Phillipe Aubry, as well as the excellent rosé Champagne from Paul Laurent and the sparkling Loire rosé from Charles de Fère.

"Grower" Champagnes are wines that are made from grapes grown for the most part on a single family estate. A tiny "RM" on the label designates that 5 percent or less of the Champagne grapes were grown off the estate of the vintner. This is a contrast to the biggest sellers, such and Veuve Cliquot, Krug and Mumm, which make the bulk of their wines from grapes purchased all over Champagne and blended to make a consistent non-vintage product in great quantity each year.
We'd never turn our nose up at a glass of Veuve Cliquot, but unless you're drinking the flagship prestige cuvées from these huge houses, you can probably get more interesting wines at a reasonable price from some of the lesser-known, artisanal producers. Some of the big name wines are like carnations and alstroemeria: pretty flowers in their own right, but so common that the sensation of luxury or artistic challenge has definitely worn thin.

Not every grower Champagne is great (but we taste extensively and choose carefully). These revolutionaries have family plots that used to sell their grapes to the large Champagne houses or to growers'
cooperatives, having neither the equipment nor the expertise to produce their own wine. In severing ties with the large houses, these farmer/winemakers are staking their businesses and their reputations on the public's ability to appreciate a more distinctive wine.

We have appreciated the value, quality and distinctiveness of grower Champagnes long before they began appearing on wine lists at the nation's most respected eateries. We have featured Pierre Peters, Henri Billot, Gimmonet, Larmandier-Bernier and dozens of others.
People walk in the door asking for Moët and DP, which would be an easy sell, but we figure our customers are smart enough to appreciate the fact that we've done the research to find them very special sparklers they're not likely to taste in many places in the United States.

Thierry Thiese, an importer and wine writer, rather eloquently describes why grower Champagnes can be far more interesting than excellent "name-brand" wines like Moët, Cristal and Dom Perignon (by the way, we heard through the restaurant grapevine that a strip club on the outskirts of town ordered several cases of Cristal for this week, because they sell at least that much every year. That's not exactly a fact from which you'll learn great truths about the world, but we thought it was interesting.)

"There's more than one way to make great wine, remember," Thiese says. "One man likes high-strung, nervy wines, likes them tense and dashing. His neighbor, equally conscientious and quality-driven, likes wines more creamy and elegant. Each can tell you why Champagne 'should' taste the way he makes it. Some are tolerant, even embracing of different styles. This is how your humble author defines FUN. Fun is the finding of creative diversity by which we celebrate the human foible. Fun is not the search for THE BEST or the ONLY way or the RIGHT way. Fun is discovering that you're ticklish in more than one place.'

Tickle on, dude.

Back to the New Year's Eve wine list, Cheryl also chose a Léon Beyer Tokay Pinot Gris; Muscadet Sèvre et Maine from Domaine de la Borne; a Macon LaRoche Vineuse Chardonnay from Chateau de la Greffiere and a Coteaux du Languedoc white from Domaines hautes terres de Comberousse. For reds, she chose the excellent Languedoc Domaines des Soulanes, the Château Lalande Borie St. Julien, the Bourgogne Rouge from Bitouzet-Prieur and the Anjou from Domaine de Montgilet. There's also a dessert wine, the Muscat de Rivesaltes from Domaine de la Coume du Roy, because Paul especially wanted something to pair with his foie gras terrine and gateaux citré.

The wine list works this way: you can buy a glass of anything you want on the list separately (prices ranging from $7 to $13.75) or you can buy an all-night pass, so to speak, for $65 per person, which allows you to sample anything you want from the prix fixe wine list in any order. We've provided tasting notes and suggested pairings in the special New Year's Eve menu.

You will also have our full wine list, beer list and bar available if you don't care to sample our selection, or you can teetotal and be the designated driver.

Paul ordered some great cheeses for the eighth course in the second seating menu. We're expecting Pantaleo, an aged goat cheese from the Italian island of Sardinia. It is hard, nutty, slightly sweet and grassy. Pantaleo is ivory in color with a pale rind, aged a minimum of 100 days, full flavored and sweet with a clean finish. Salty and tangy, sort of a lemony flavor and not too goaty.

Selun is a semi-soft cow's milk cheese made by the Stadelmann family of Switzerland. It is a creamy, semi-soft cheese which comes from the French tradition of St. Nectaire. It is a small wheel of about 12 inches in diameter and about 1.5 inches high. It is a washed rind cheese with a strong farmy aroma, a big almost savory flavor and a rich and creamy texture and complex flavors.

Early diners (seated at 5, 5:30, 6 and 6:30 p.m.) will have their choice to start of oysters on the halfshell with shallot mignonette or terrine de foie gras. The second course will be a black and white soup of imperial black rice with shallot cream. The third course will be a choice of Chateaubriand, seared breast of goose or fish, probably John Dory with a pomegranate vinaigrette. The fourth course will be a winter salad of blood oranges, grana, frisée, and almonds.
The final course will be a choice of chocolate soup with mascarpone swirl and fried dessert pasta (the black and white soup number 2) or gateau citré, an orange layer cake made with kumquats and a lemon buttercream.
This prix fixe five-course menu includes a glass of Champagne and is priced at $75 per person, plus tax and gratuity.

The late-night New Year's Eve party features a nine-course menu, with seatings at 8, 8:30, 9 and 9:30 p.m.
.
Diners will start with and amuse guele of escargots with Pernod butter and cream in puff pastry, followed by their choice of oysters on the halfshell with shallot mignonette or terrine de foie gras.
Next will be the black and white soup of imperial black rice with shallot cream. The fourth course will be a terrine of legumes or seared venison. Next comes passion fruit sorbet, then a choice of Chateaubriand, seared breast of goose or fish, probably John Dory with a pomegranate vinaigrette. The winter salad of blood oranges, grana, frisée, and almonds follows, with a selection of cheese close behind. The meal will end with a choice of chocolate soup with mascarpone swirl and fried dessert pasta (the black and white soup number 2) or gateau citré, an orange layer cake made with kumquats and a lemon buttercream. The cost, which includes a midnight Champagne toast, is $125 per person, plus tax and gratuity.

We're nearly sold out for New Year's Eve, but there are still a couple of tables left that we could seat at 5, 5:30, 6, 8, 9 or 9:30.
When we say sold out, we don't mean hectic and rushed. We're allowing a minimum of three hours for early diners with the five-course menu (more for larger tables) and as long as anyone wants in the second seating. We'll pace your meal according to how quickly or slowly you want to dine.

Cole Broderick will start playing jazz piano at 8 p.m. and we plan to pull the chairs from in front of the fireplace for a little midnight dancing. The hotel was offering a special rate for Chez Sophie customers, but they are sold out (we know because we waited a little too late to book rooms for ourselves.)

Call 583-3538 for a reservation, but if Cheryl is out running errands and the host isn't sure if a table is possible, ask him to call her on her cell phone. (It's a little tricky when you're booking the last few tables in the house.)

We will also be serving brunch on Sunday, December 31, and Monday, January 1, from 8 until 2 p.m. The menu will feature bouillabaise ($17); Hoppin John, also known as the traditional New Year's luck charm - beans and ham ($14); smoked country ham with praline mashed sweet potatoes and braised greens ($16); petit filet mignon with a bleu cheese glacé served with herbed oven-roasted potatoes ($18); a Continental assortment of muffins, pastries, fruit, yogurt, quiche etcetera for $11; omelettes ($10 to $12); mixed berry pancakes with a choice of bacon or sausage ($12); the All in One, which includes 2 eggs any style, homefries, toast and sausage or bacon ($12); banana waffles with sweet cream butter and local maple syrup and sauasage or bacon ($12); and corned beef has and eggs ($11).
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Pink Plate Special this week will be boeuf bourguignon, a warming, lovely classic French dish that should be delicious as the weather gets a little nippy. This is a stew made in the style of Burgundy with pieces of beef braised until melt-in-your mouth tender in red wine with a little brandy.

The Pink Plate is a weekly prix fixe special we offer on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. For $30 per person, you get 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.

Sometime next week Paul has been promised a shipment of fresh smelts, which he says he has some fabulous ideas for. He doesn't want to be too specific in case the promised little fish don't arrive.

We've set a date for or Warm Lake Wine Dinner, which was postponed in November because of a confluence of scheduling conflicts. The dinner will now be held on January 31 and will feature the wines of Warm Lake, a New York State winery on the Niagara Escarpment near Lake Ontario. The winemaking, done on a small scale, employs Old World techniques; the pinot noir fruit is triaged, punched down manually and vinified in French oak barrels. The grapes from four different sections of the vineyard are vinified separately, than blended by vintner Michael Von Heckler to make two dinner wines, Warm Lake Estate and Mountain Road.

Our wine dinners will feature a tasting of each of the four component wines and the Estate wine. Then we'll sit down to a warming soup as a palate cleanser and enjoy the Mountain Road with coq au vin. We'll finish with Warm Lake's dessert pinot noir with cheeses and desserts.
http://www.warmlakeestate.com
These dinner is limited to 20 people around a single table in our private dining room.
Cost: $80 per person, plus tax and gratuity

Paul's sister Ellen added a bit of information to the "scallopine"/ "scaloppine" spelling debate.
"After having seen the word written so very many times on the blackboard all those many years ago I thought for the hell of it, you might be interested in what I remember - it was always called "Escalope(s) de veau à la crème."
My only question would be on what grammatical occasions would one make escalope plural. I think Sophie pluralized it, but I'm not quite positive. I seem to see that flourish of the "s" after the word on the board. Of course, her French was impeccable. It was Never, catch the capital, Never scallopine. I can even see the face she would make when anyone would use the Italian to describe the dish."

The gotcha crew got Cheryl this week. No fewer than four customers and two employees came in to tell her she'd spelled pomegranate wrong in last week's newsletter (after noting with relief that it was spelled correctly in the Christmas menu.)

Live Piano Jazz
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays the baby grand Tuesday through Friday night, and during Sunday brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
(barring special events that preclude live music.)
Cost: No cover charge

Tango Class
January 10th
Tango instructors Diane Lachtrupp and Johnny Martinez will offer a free tango class to Chez Sophie customers at 8:30, with open dancing afterwards. We plan to repeat this feature on the second Wednesday of each month. For those who would like to dine first before dancing, our regular menu is offered until 9 p.m. The bar menu is available until 10 p.m. and the bar will be open for at least a couple of hours after that. For more information about local classes by Diane and Johnny, see the Saratoga Savoy website at http://www.saratogasavoy.com/files/instructors.html
Cost: No cover charge

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 or you can order from our extensive wine list.
Cost: $75 per person, 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: $50 to $200, depending on the number of courses and the wines selected; available for two to 75 guests Call Cheryl to make arrangements 518.583.3538

The Pink Plate Special
offered Monday, January 1 through Thursday, January 4

$30 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:
boeuf bourguignon

Notes on Nico and Léo:

Léo got her first taste of chocolate on the day after Christmas, about four months ahead of the time when her Mom would have willingly let her sample the addictive stuff. Her Aunt Ellen had added Lindt chocolate icicles to the tree. Léo was sleeping on a pallet in the private dining room while Mommy was packing up all the Christmas presents and the baby quietly woke up, sniffed the tree and helped herself to a chocolate icicle. She tore into it with her nascent teeth, foil wrapper and all. The damage already being done, Mommy grabbed the camera rather than the candy.

"What was your favorite part of Christmas, Nico?"
"I liked the part where we gave all the toys to each other."

Nico has become particularly interested in helping entertain his little sister. We were at Saratoga Restaurant Equipment stocking up on dishes and glassware we would need for New Year's Eve weekend, and Léo was getting a little restless in her carseat on the floor of the showroom. Nico discovered if he rolled on the floor back and forth in front of his sister, her grunts of unhappiness would turn to paroxysms of giggles. He now believes this is his exclusive role. As Mommy was trying to write the newsletter, Léo began to wriggle and lurch from her arms. Mommy set her down on the carpet and she began to shriek.
"Nico," Mommy said. "Can you make your sister smile?"
Meanwhile, Craig the bartender, who had been watching Léo try to leap from her Mother's arms, noted: "Damned if you do, damned if you don't," and went over to pick Léo and try to make her stop crying.
Nico ran to Mommy wailing: "That was MY job."

We hope to see you soon,

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.)

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