As a belated Valentine's Day gift to Bets, I took her to Red Hat, a
new bistro in Irvington (actually a new incarnation of a place from a
different location). Gorgeous building, set by river in an old
greenhouse factory. Lovely space, but a bit noisy. I don't often order
crabcakes, but got their peekytoe crabcake - nicely crisp, good crab
flavors, I think this used corn meal as filler, best I've had in a
while. Nice remoulade sauce, a slaw, plus some watercress leaves mixed
with seaweed. Betsy really liked the mushroom salad - wild mushrooms
topped with a perfectly fried egg, excellent. We were very happy with
food at this point, but distracted by noise. I had a glass of the 2005
Ch. Haut Laulion Bordeaux blanc. A generic SB nose, soft tropical
fruit with a little citrus, a very mild flinty note. This is too soft,
and even seems to carry just a little residual sugar. Doesn't seem to
have any noticable Semillon character, just too warm Sauvignon Blanc.
B-/C+

Main courses were good, but not as successful as the appetizers. I had
some heirloom pork confit - quite tasty, though a tad dried on edges.
The garlic polenta was also good, but the sautéed greens were a little
dull, as were carrots, and there was a little too much sauce. Extra
sauce was also an issue with Betsy's duck breast- again the meat was
cooked well, but the sides were a little too sweet (braised cabbage
and spinach). We shared a half bottle of the 2005 Nicolas Potel
"Cuvee Gerard Potel" Bourgogne. Decent PN, good acidity keeps it food
friendly, red and black cherries,a little earth. Seems to have a
little cocoa powder note at end. Not the depth of some other low-end
'05 Burgs, but nice enough. B

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.