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Argentine Wine Dinner at Jake & Telly's

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This is how my evening began. My first experience at Jake and Telly's Wine Dinner.

Jake and Telly's is a Greek Restaurant in the Old Colorado City area. It was already one of my favorite places in town before this experience.They always have an amazing wine selection and amazing food. So, it should come as no surprise, that when I heard they were having an Argentine Wine Dinner, my first thought was that my life would never be complete if I did not attend.

I invited one of my good friends to come with me and we RSVPed, not knowing what on earth to expect. Other than this fabulous menu.

As a self proclaimed "flavor whore", I knew that the red wines would be amazing, the white wines wouldn't cut it, and I hoped the food would suffice.

So how do I explain tonight? Other than HOLY GOD, IT WAS AMAZING!!

Let's start at the beginning.

We made reservations for 2. Upon arriving, we realized that they had closed down the entire restaurant for this night. 90 guests attended. Six other people sat with us at the table. Two of the couples seemed fairly new, but one couple claims to come to almost every single Wine Dinner Jake and Telly's have. I found out that they have one monthly, and that each month they focus on a different country. They also had a country map on the table so that we could see where each glass originated.

Here are the bazillion wine glasses they lined up across the bar. They would fill them all, pass them out, and then line the bar with more. It was every wino's dream come true.

We were first served a Sparkling Rosé of Malbec and some pita and oil/vinegar mix. The warm pita and oil/vinegar mix was wonderful. I am not a fan of champagne, so I wasn't a fan of our our first beverage, but the people across from me loved it. I'll take their word that it was good.

Next came our Gnocchi in a creamy Aji Amarillo Pepper sauce, as they called it. Accompanied by a glass of Torrontes, a white wine from Saltas Argentina. In Chile, when my family says something is with aji, it means that it will have a little heat to it. Very accurate description of this sauce. It was a creamy sauce with a slight pepper flavor and the tiniest bit of heat. The gnocchi was superb and not over- or under-cooked. Props to the Greek restaurant with the amazing Gnocchi. Props to the culinary staff!

Next. Enter a glass of Catena Malbec from the Mendoza region. I am biased to Malbec, but it truly was a wonderful glass of wine.

Just when we thought it couldn't get better, they brought out beef and vegetable empanadas, with a Mendoza Cabernet. Yes, they went there. The empanadas were quite authentic in flavor, but they were much bigger than any empanada I've ever had. That's America for you And the wine, once again, wonderful. I think this was my favorite of the night, but it's hard to tell.

(Note, if you attend one in the future, take note of how much food they feed you. You WILL explode.... In a good way....)

I know you're thinking this is the last course, but it's not.

Steaks with a Chimichuri sauce, and a Bonarda/Malbec/Cab Franc blend.

The steak was cooked Medium-Rare and the chimichuri was full of flavor. They served it with a salad, but to be honest, I didn't have tummy room to finish the steak, let alone touch the salad. Oh well! The wine rocked!

Dessert was a chocolate cake with a gooey, rich, chocolate center. They served it with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, and a drizzle of dulce de leche. I don't need to tell you how good this was, because I know you can tell from the description. And now you want some. I'm reading your mind, aren't I?

Finishing it off was a shot of Ouzo. Yep, you heard me. All 90 people raised their shot of ouzo in the air, said some salutation that I can't remember because I drank too much, slammed the shot glass down on the table, and screamed "OPA"!

You may have already guessed this, but I 100% intend to be at the next wine dinner. I hear they're doing an Italian wine dinner in February : ) Stay tuned!

Check out Jake & Telly's Here
Argentine Wine Dinner at Jake & Telly's, 5.0 out of 5 based on 4 ratings

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