Guilty Pleasures

If you're anything like us, you're still working on your Christmas list, and New Year's Eve is still just a twinkle in your eye. So here's our gift to you: the perfect event for your rapidly filling calendar.

At 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 29, Bistro 185 is hosting their Pre-NYE Guilty Pleasures Champagne Dinner. Five courses with all the premium, pre-resolution ingredients you crave are paired with five distinct champagne pours for $80 (plus tax and gratuity).

Read on for more on this decadent dining experience, plus a recipe from sous chef Kevin Moore.

Course 1: Caviar and roasted marrow board with pickles, jams an dips paired with
Larmandier-Bernier Latitude 1er Cru, Extra Brut

Course 2: Seared scallops with foie gras sauce and butter-poached fungi paired with

Domaine Bott-Geyl Cremant D'Alsace

Course 3: Veal sweetbreads with corn pudding*, red onion and pickled mustard seeds paired with

R.H. Coutier Tradition

* recipe follows

Course 4: Lobster endive shoots, vanilla and pomegranate seeds paired with

R.H. Coutier Rose

Course 5: Dry-aged beef carpaccio, toast, truffle and quail egg paired with

2013 Dashe Late Harvest Zinfandel

Call for reservations.

Bistro 185, 991 E. 185th St., Cleveland, 216-481-9635, bistro185.com

Bistro 185 Corn Pudding

Ingredients:

5 eggs

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup milk

4 Tablespoons cornstarch

1, 15.25-ounce can whole kernel corn

2, 14.75-ounce cans cream-style corn

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add melted butter, sugar and milk. Whisk in cornstarch. Stir in corn and creamed corn. Blend well. Pour mixture into buttered casserole dish. Bake 1 hour.

Add Some Sparkle to Your Soirees

For years, I found the idea of drinking champagne much better than the actual experience. The taste was disappointing and the toasting always left me with a beastly headache. That’s because I was filling my flute with inexpensive bubbles. Turns out, I wasn’t quaffing the real deal- which comes ONLY from a specific district in France and can’t be had for anything close to $20 a bottle. Even the quality equivalent of Two Buck Chuck

or Yellowtail costs $40-$50. I didn’t know that cheap champagne is an oxymoron. Doesn’t exist. Anything that purports otherwise is a bad imitation, a poseur in a bottle.

Photo by Barney Taxel

Then I discovered prosecco. And popping the cork became much more pleasurable. This sparkling wine comes from northern Italy and is made primarily from a white grape native to the Veneto region in the foothills of the Alps. It’s clean, crisp, light bodied, and fizzy with a flavor that marries citrus to honey. Happily it is easy to find and there are many good choices in the $12-17 range.

I turned to local expert Bob Fishman, owner of The Grapevine, an excellent wine store in Cleveland Heights, for some specific recommendations this season. He’s raving about Ca’tuillo, a dry prosecco that retails for $14.99, and a slightly sweeter version from Bortolotti at $15.99. Another option is their less bubbly, lower alcohol cousin frizzante- try the San Simone for $12.99. Someone else is supplying the beverages for the New Year’s eve party I’m attending but in preparation for what I hope will be many celebrations of all sorts in 2010, I plan to keep all three on hand. Other sparklers I'm just beginning to explore are sekt from Germany and Spanish cava. My education will involve much glass clinking.