Meet Frank the Tank

On Friday night I had the serendipitous experience of eating at Addison for the second time. As the French-nouveau restaurant at the heart of The Grand Del Mar, Addison is one of the few places I have been where I truly understood how food preparation could be considered an art form, and the only place I've been where butternut squash, mustard, carmelized apples and crispy shallots really do taste good together.

The best thing about this restaurant, though, is not the five-star dining but the way that the staff actually make the wine experience fun...

Case in point: the first time I went to Addison with my boyfriend and two of our friends, we brought a magnum of Caymus, and the staff brought out the biggest decanter we had ever seen (an 8-liter) to aerate the wine. It was love at first sight; you can't help but be impressed by a decanter of such magnitude. Apparently we weren't the only ones. When our sommelier realized how enamored we were, he patted the decanter lightly and said "Oh, this one? Yes, we love him too. The kitchen staff call him Frank the Tank."

By the time we had finished two magnums, we were even more infatuated...bordering on unhealthy. It was so bad that my boyfriend offered to pay to take Frank home. The sommelier laughed. My boyfriend didn't. The sommelier tried again. J took out his wallet. The sommelier said, "Umm, well, I'll see what I can do."

That, my friends, is a man with a sense of humor. And humor us he did; as we left, he gathered with the rest of the staff to bid Frank farewell, and we loaded him gently in the back of our friend's car.

Frank made a cameo appearance at the table last night, and the staff seemed thrilled to have him back. Even better, they did not remove the CU necklace that Frank has proudly been wearing since arriving at the home of our Colorado-loving friends, even when it clanked loudly throughout the restaurant as they carried him to the wine pouring station.

The moral of the story is, wine isn't about the nose, the mouth feel, or how the flavor pairs with dinner, and Addison isn't great because it is a five-star restaurant. Great wine is made from great experiences, and Addison embodies that philosophy.

Also, the plating is amazing, as seen above in my butternut squash course.