Birch Partners With The Sorting Table For Pairing Dinner
Wine-and-dine at March event.
Site of Birch, 459 E. Pleasant St. Photo by Aliza Baran.
Birch, with its carefully-curated menu, warm service and polished dining room in view of the open kitchen’s roaring fire, has a knack for making every meal feel like a celebration.
But the farm-to-table restaurant, 459 E. Pleasant St., is taking things up a notch for an upcoming wine dinner, set to take place on Wednesday, March 13 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In addition to five thoughtful courses from chefs Kyle Knall, Zach Castillo, Aaron Blazek, Ariel Welch and the rest of the Birch team, the dinner will feature pairings from Steve Morgan of The Sorting Table.
Morgan, a sommelier, has worked for a number of restaurants throughout New York and Chicago including Del Posto, Dressler, Tribeca Grill and Alinea. He now serves as a regional sales manager for The Sorting Table, which connects with winemakers with the goal of importing hand-crafted products for distribution throughout the country.
While preparing for the upcoming dinner, Morgan worked closely with the team at Birch to select a lineup of wines to pair with the five-course meal.
The dinner will open with tuna toro, which will be served with black garlic and Japanese egg crepe, also known as kinshi tamago. The dish will be accompanied by Borgoluce Prosecco Brut Treviso “Lampo” NV, which is described as having notes of peach skins and gingery spice.
The following course, lightly cured steelhead trout with chilled celery broth and nasturtium, will pair with Jean-Baptiste Adam Riesling Les Natures 2020, whose crisp, citrusy profile will play off the salty, peppery notes of the dish.
Another fish-focused course will feature smoked brook trout, pickled mushrooms and sweet onions, with Ebner-Ebenauer Gruner Veltliner Poysdorf Weinvertal 2021 to pair.
That will be followed by a leg of lamb from Stone Bank Farm with herby chermoula, cranberry beans and garlic confit. Castello di Ama Chianti Classico Gran Selezione San Lorenzo 2018, a complex and flavorful red, will be served alongside the main course.
For dessert, Birch will present whipped chocolate mousse with honeycomb, hazelnut and basil, washed down with a sip of Toro Albala Poley Cream Sherry 10-year.
The dinner costs $160. Reservations for the event can be booked online.
In addition to planning the upcoming wine dinner, Birch has been busy with a number of endeavors throughout — and even beyond — the Midwest.
On March 10, Knall will appear in Chicago, collaborating with John’s Food & Wine and Ladder 4 to prepare a multi-course meal. All proceeds from the one-night event will be donated to The Arc, a community-based organization that advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
In May, Knall plans to make the trek down to Austin, Texas, where he will participate in Hot Luck, a food and music festival created by James Beard Award-winner Aaron Franklin.
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