The key advice from Schwa is always to bring "something food-friendly."

If you want to bring 3 bottles, I've been told the ideal would be...

something sparkling
a pinot blanc or a gruner veitliner
pinot noir or light-medium bodied red

Remember, you don't have to drink them all, or you can share a few glasses with the kitchen!

Susan

Oh, and Puppy, Chef Carlson told me that if I was only planning to bring ONE bottle, to make it a sparkling wine. Or a white, but not a red. I put them in my list above in order or necessity.

Let us know how it goes and we can compare "pairing" notes. We're on deck on March 5th!

I have a reservation for next Friday (first time) for 6 people. What are some good options for wine to bring, and how many bottles for the whole table?

We took 3 1/2 bottles all purchased at Sam's,

1. Robert Sinskey Pinot Blanc (about $20)
2. A nice 2005 Chablis (about $30)
3. An 01 Vosne Romanee (about $45)

If I had to select 1 single bottle I'd say a nice vintage champagne would work nicely through the entire progression.

We have a reservation next week for 6 people. We are all virgins to the experience. What are some good wine options to bring and how many bottles would be good for the 3 hour tour?

CG wrote:We have a reservation next week for 6 people. We are all virgins to the experience. What are some good wine options to bring and how many bottles would be good for the 3 hour tour?

This topic is discussed a lot. Check out existing threads, including this post:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 498#181498

You can also call the restaurant since they know what they will be serving.

maybe I just have bad luck, but I tried again today and again the mailbox was full.
I might give up.
Should I give up? Part of me understands it and part of me is totally annoyed.

I would keep trying. They just got back to me after leaving a message some days ago (I'm going March 13...super excited), but they are trying to wade through all the messages and get to everyone.

If you live in the area, you could stop in and ask for a reservation. The guys are pretty laid back and probably wouldn't mind. If not then , yeah. Just keep calling. The best time is closer to 5 or 6 I have found.

I ate at Schwa on Tuesday. I had a reservation, but there were several tables that were not filled the entire time (8 to 10:30 or so). I got the sense that they would take walk-ins.* If you can't get through by phone, it might be worth just stopping by on a slow night to try your luck.

*The reason I say it looked like they might have been taking walk-ins is that they seated us before asking if we had a reservation. That plus the multilpe empty tables throughout my time there.

I don't think you should walk-in. I thought I read that tables are kept empty intentionally so as not to overwhelm the kitchen.

Just keep calling. You'll get through.

jesteinf wrote:I don't think you should walk-in. I thought I read that tables are kept empty intentionally so as not to overwhelm the kitchen.

Just keep calling. You'll get through.

This is what Michael told us as well. They will be ramping up as they get things streamlined. He did, however, call us at 8pm (for our 8:30 reso) telling us that he had cancellations so we could come in early.

maybe I just have bad luck, but I tried again today and again the mailbox was full.
I might give up.
Should I give up? Part of me understands it and part of me is totally annoyed.

I called this morning and the mailbox has been cleared. They are accepting reservation requests from April 1 through May 15.

mcg wrote:

maybe I just have bad luck, but I tried again today and again the mailbox was full.
I might give up.
Should I give up? Part of me understands it and part of me is totally annoyed.

I called this morning and the mailbox has been cleared. They are accepting reservation requests from April 1 through May 15.

i.e., they're booked for March? Bummer. I was sort of hoping to slide in one night.

CG wrote:If you live in the area, you could stop in and ask for a reservation. The guys are pretty laid back and probably wouldn't mind. If not then , yeah. Just keep calling. The best time is closer to 5 or 6 I have found.

My experience could not be further from this description. I suppose they were moderately laid back when I stopped in, but they made it clear that under no circumstances would they open the reservation book to look for an opening. This happened once right as they were biginning dinner service (5:30ish) and once when I found the door open at 3PM. I got a bit of an apology, but was told in no uncertain terms that the only way to reserve was to try to get through by phone. I will go to Schwa when someone who already has a reservation invites me to tag along. Any volunteers?

We have reservations for 3rd April. I left a message on Friday and got a call back on Saturday from Chef Carlson.

Can anyone confirm if you still have to bring your own wineglasses?

Thanks,

They have small water/juice glass like things they'll let you use but heck crack out the Reidel. I did and am happy I did so.

ok, Friday is my reservation. The bringing your own wine glasses is completely new news to me. What other suggestions can you fine people offer? The pics I've seen show no real dress code (within reason of course). I'm really looking forward to Friday but I'm not wanting to be caught off guard with something that we should have prepared for.

Go with an open mind and have fun.

Enjoy!

I may post again later when I have the menu (dribbled with wine, covered with signatures from the guys in the kitchen) in front of me, but I just want to say that we had an AWESOME meal at Schwa last night.

Based on recall alone, I had three favorite courses: "Jonah Crab" with banana, brioche and celery root puree, "beer cheese soup" with cool touches of dill and mustard, and the "pine cone" with sea urchin ice cream and salted caramel, which I had never tried. But I also loved the part of the "Antelope" dish that had been cooked sous vide in some kind of amazing sauce. And the cheese course, made of Humboldt Fog, one of my favorite American goat cheeses! I mean, the food is definitely worth gushing about, perhaps more than ever. It was even better than our meal there on the same night last year.

The room was fully booked last night. When we got there at 7:45 we had the choice of 4 tables, but 45 minutes later every table was full (though some were leaving). They were busy, but rarely frazzled. They're chefs, but really nice ones, and if they have time to make pleasantries, they will. It was fun talking to almost everyone in the kitchen at some point during the meal.

We ended up drinking most of the 3 bottles we brought (or sharing them with the chef/servers), but I would have been happy drinking champagne all the way up to the last 3 courses, when a light-medium bodied red seemed the way to go. We brought our own glassware for the champagne and gruner veltliner, but used Schwa's glasses for the red. Chef Carlson commented that he loved our "Devo" stemless Reidel glasses and he said he is happy when people bring their own because it's less work for them.

Everybody reading this thread already knows it but I'll say it again: call for reservations and be patient. Chef Carlson is on his game, and he will definitely call you back. It's worth the effort it takes to get a table, and your evening will definitely be one to remember!

Susan wrote:Oh, and Puppy, Chef Carlson told me that if I was only planning to bring ONE bottle, to make it a sparkling wine. Or a white, but not a red. I put them in my list above in order or necessity.

Let us know how it goes and we can compare "pairing" notes. We're on deck on March 5th!

We ended up bringing a bottle of Trader Joe's 2007 vintage ale (Dubbel-style brewed by Unibroue, one of my favourite breweries) and a bottle of sake (Sato no Homare, Junmai Ginjo). They both turned out to be great choices and paired really well with the dishes. We had the exact menu as wino66 a few posts up, including the pine cone and quail egg ravioli. I won't rehash what he said, but I'll add some of my thoughts on some of the dishes:

Jonah crab - The banana crisp that came with the crab was excellent. Oven-dried and then dehydrated. It paired really well with the slight oiliness of the brioche it was served on. The only part of the dish that was a bit of a downer was that the crab seemed slightly overcooked (a bit rubbery) and my gf was unlucky and got some shell in hers.

Beer cheese soup - Possibly one of the most sublime combinations I've ever had. The Chimay base was so concentrated and yeasty after what must have been a long reduction. Wish I had more! The mustard "skin" crisp that came with the dish was really excellent too. They apparently mix 3 types of mustard (I didn't catch which ones) and just spread it out on a Silpat and let it slowly dry at low heat in the oven. I'm definitely going to try it out - would be great to serve at a party.

Arctic char roe - I just have to say that the TJ ale was superb with the pumpernickel blinis! This was my first time having arctic char roe, and I loved it. I may never be able to go back to ikura again. The roe was yellow, slightly smaller than ikura, with a markedly saltier note.

Kona kampachi - The part of the dish I didn't like was the lime gelee. It made me feel like I was eating a slightly glue-ish substance that did not leave a good mouth feel. The kampachi itself was excellent. The real kicker of the dish was the semi-invisible bonito layer over the kampachi. It lent a wonderful smoky aroma to the kampachi and combined perfectly with the maple syrup foam that was served on the side.

Cheese - The Humboldt fog cheesecake was outstanding. To simulate the ash layer, they used a layer of black truffle and we could smell it before they even laid the dish on the table. The cheese part was a Humboldt fog/creme fraiche mixture that gave the cheese a really nice and light consistency, almost like a mousse.

Two non-food-related highlights for me: 1) photographers from the NY Times were there last night, so I suppose there'll be a piece on Schwa in the paper sometime soon. Guess we'll have to keep our eyes peeled; 2) a four-top brought in a bottle of Sam Adams Utopias, which I had never seen in real life before. I contemplated asking them for a taste, but figured that they'd have no problems finishing it on their own

So last night was the first outing to Schwa. We poked our head in the door around 5:45 because I wanted to check if our reservation was at 6 or 6:30. They were awesomely accomodating and said just come in and you guys can sit. We brought a really good amount of booze. We had a Gruener, Pinot Noir, 2 Rieslings a Chianti and 2 Fat Tires. We also brought a 40 of Miller for da boyz in the kitchen. We followed Michaels recommendations for the wines as he was tasting what we brought and pouring for us what he thought would be the best for each course. I loved that!

Amuse of grapefruit cells with honey sorbet,chamomile agar and black truffle shaving served on an ice cube. the flavor combination was perfect and a great light start to the night. - Gruener (perfect. one of my favorites)

Jonah Crab
bananas, celery, coriander
*Pickled Jonah crab chunks with what they called liquid banana, a slice of dehydrated banana, batons of celery, celery root and a celery root puree. The liquid banana was a cruton about 3/4 inch square that disolved once I put in in my mouth. Remember Tidal Wave Gum when you were a kid?-Gruener


Beer Cheese Soup
Chimay, Pretzel
*This was a favorite of everone else at the table. An espresso shot of a really nice dark rich and salty beer chees soup. They use a Chimay washed cheese for the soup and it comes with a dehydrated mustard chip. the combinations worked perfectly I only wish the pretzel was a tad larger.-Fat Tire

Pad Thai
*Michael came by and said "and here we have jellyfish with pad thai flavors" a nod then walked off. It got a laugh out of the table. This was great. It was one of the things I was really looking forward to trying and was fantastic. I found myself scooping the remaining sauce off of Dave and Jaime's bowls. - Pinot

Pine Cone (off Menu)
*A marble of Sea Urchin Ice Cream on a cone of pine essence. Not much to say on this one. I thought the flavors were ok but nothing phenominal. Andrea was not a fan of this at all.

Arctic Char Roe
pumpernickel, lemon, rutabaga
*this one I didn't like at all. I thought the pumpernickel was way too strong and dominated everything else on the plate. -Riesling 1

Kona Kampachi
galangal, lime, maple
*Holy shit was this a perfect dish! A few pieces of seared Kampachi, Lime Gelee, a galangal crisp (he told me how they made this but we were well into our liquor at this time and memory is starting to fail me) and Maple something. Salsify batons and spicy Diakon disks garnished. This was my favorite of the night. One of the best things I've ever eaten. -Reisling 2

Liver & Onions
*A half dollar sized disk of Calfs Liver on top of onion Risotto. The liver melted like foie. I really miss foie Painted dill lquid something was on the side with tiny cubes of Bay Leaf Gelee. -Pinot

Antelope
butternut, White Chocolate
*sous vide Loin and braised leg butternut squash white chocolate foam. Another huge winner in my book. The combinations worked perfectly wtih the pinot that he chose for us. -Chianti

Cheese
*A small wedge of Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog Goat Cheese cake with truffled ash layers and a graham cracker crust. I wasn't too kean on this one and I really didn't hear about the others. -Riesling 2

Desert was a blur.

The chefs were great. Very helpful, accomodating and very approachable and laid back. We drank alot and at the end, after 5 BOTTLES of wine and 2 fat tires Michael asked us if we wanted some more beer. He brought out a couple bottles of the new 3 floyd's and that was it for this kid. We also were asking about the chimay washed cheese and he brought out a couple chunks for the table to sample.

He said he'll be changing the menu in a few weeks for spring. The beer cheese soup is going. I'll be there again in spring. The experience was awesome and I can't wait to go back. We will not be drinking as much next time I promise.

Great report - looking forward to more, CG.

CG wrote:We also brought a 40 of Miller for da boyz in the kitchen.

That's no way to show your love...

It looks like the New York Times photographers were most likely there for this story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/dinin ... =permalink

I made it to Schwa last night and found it as good as ever, just as everyone else has been saying. The pine cone with sea urchin ice cream was a bit of a miss for me -- the dish tasted too bitter and pine-y, overall. It was interesting, but not much more than a novelty for me. The antelope with white chocolate, though... man, that was good. A combination, along with the chestnut puree, that I would never have thought of, and it was excellent.

The two of us made it through a bottle of Meantime's IPA and most of a bottle gruner, along with a bottle of Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout -- overall, a perfect amount. Michael poured us glasses of a pinot from the back for the antelope course, a nice touch since we didn't have a red.

One difference that my friend and I noticed, though, from the old Schwa, was that portions have gotten smaller. Halfway through the meal, my friend was joking about the credit card ad where the couple raids a convenience store after a small and unsatisfying meal. Fortunately, by the end of the meal, we were completely satiated and there was no need to run to La Pasadita on the way home. Still, I look back at their lamb and cous cous dish and compare it to last night's antelope -- there was a lot more on the plate before.

If anything, (most) everything was so good that I just wanted to eat more of it (I was wishing for spoons so that I could take up every ounce of sauce left on a plate, and was nearly inclined to start licking them clean). It's not like I was expecting Cheesecake Factory-sized portions, but next time I go, and I hope to go as often as my budget allows, I may eat a slightly larger lunch during the day than I did yesterday.

dan

Incredible incredible meal at Schwa tonight. What an absolute joy it is to have Michael and his new team back.

We did the 9 course and it was one highlight after the next. For me, the only real miss was the steelhead roe course (formerly arctic char). The combination of the roe, pumpernickel, and rutabaga just didn't do it for me.

But the rest...oh the rest. The kampachi followed by the liver & onions followed by the antelope was just back to back to back awesomeness.

We had the pine cone, which I thought was interesting. We also had the quail egg ravioli. We literally swooned.

Man I missed this place.

was the ravioli on your menu? if it wasn't when was it sent? unfortunatly we didn't get that course.

CG wrote:was the ravioli on your menu? if it wasn't when was it sent? unfortunatly we didn't get that course.

Not on the menu. The kitchen sent it out right after the pine cone.

CG wrote:was the ravioli on your menu? if it wasn't when was it sent? unfortunatly we didn't get that course.

My friend and I also didn't get the ravioli (a real shame since it was a true highlight from our previous meal there), though we saw a number of other tables receive the plate. I didn't ask what sort of 'password' you needed to get it -- Schwa's service has struck me as a little 'in the know'-driven. Which is completely understandable -- every restaurant will comp a dish here or there, toss in a free cocktail, etc. for any number of reasons, and most of the time I doubt anyone else dining realizes. But when you have a total of 12 tables, it's hard to miss when one table gets a dish that never showed up on the set menu.