A friend of mine who works with a winery out east wanted to host a dinner to showcase their wine selections. We were lucky enough to be invited to M. Wells Steakhouse, a LIC Quebecois restaurant, to try the Long Island-based Deseo de Michael wines.
Deseo de Michael is a small family-owned boutique vineyard located out on the North Fork, producing only 140 cases a year all hand-done. It’s an extremely limited and hard to purchase wine, so we were really in for a treat.
We started out with the John’s Gundy – potato waffle, pickled smelts, creme fraiche, roe, and dill. The brininess of the smelts and roe balanced well with the potato waffle and dill. The flavors are similar to that of a lox and cream cheese bagel popular in both NYC and Montreal (where the owners are from).
Then was this beautiful pork chop with a seared peach and some type of fruit compote. The pork was cooked perfectly and the meat very juicy.
This was one of my favorites of the night – the Truite Au Bleu. It was a whole fresh trout dressed with cabbage, potatoes, and tartar sauce. I can understand why some would find this plating off-putting, but it’s right up this girl’s alley. If I wasn’t in such an upscale restaurant, best believe I would be face deep in those fish brains.
Who goes to a Quebecois restaurant without ordering their poutine? Fries were especially doused in extra gravy, which I appreciated.
I loved this interesting take on the classic Caesar salad. On the menu it even states, “Smoked herring dressing, croutons, cheese… more cheese”. Legit is warning you of the cheese, but I am not dismayed. I could honestly even take more!
Obviously had to take some shots showcasing both the food and the wine.
And I mean that wine… We tried lots of it.
After enough wine you can imagine I started to not pay attention once the desserts were served. I believe this was some type of eclair sandwich topped with fresh fruit.
This chocolate dessert was quite delicious as well, topped with pistachios and what I believe was a white chocolate bark.
So at this point I have no idea. Slightly more firm than a cheesecake but somewhat tart which I liked.
Really just an amazing restaurant that I can’t wait to come back again and try the rest of the menu. As for the wines, I can’t afford the yearly membership to access the vineyard, but if I’m ever feeling boojie I can always find some of the wines in local shops in NYC.
Website for M. Wells: https://www.magasinwells.com/
Address for M. Wells: 43-15 Crescent Street, Long Island City, NY 11101
Website for Deseo de Michael: https://deseodemichaelwine.com/
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