Good news for you wine lovers out there

On Sunday, July 12th, The Cave at Ventura Wine Company is hosting a special wine focused dinner featuring wines from Stolpman Vineyards. Chef Gary Daniel will be serving a four course dinner, each paired with a different wine from this Central Coast winery. Think ragout of rabbit with pine nuts and olives paired with a 2005 Sangiovese, venison tenderloin with wild boar sausage paired with two different 2006 Syrahs, and their volcano chocolate with berries and a Syrah reduction sauce paired with a Syrah/Sangiovese blend- and that is just the beginning. This decadent event costs $75 and begins promptly at 5pm. Call 642-9404 to make a reservation.


And if you're still wanting more wine, Wine Lovers Bar on Thompson Avenue in Ventura is now under new management. Jill Shalhoob, owner of Jill's Place in Santa Barbara, has recently taken over this lovely little downtown wine bar. While their website hasn't been updated yet, plenty of menu changes have already taken place. They will still be serving pizzas, but I was told that now they will come from a new indoor pizza oven (under the former owners, the pizzas were cooked in an outdoor fireplace). The woman I spoke with on the phone mentioned something about a thin cracker crust topped with prosciutto, brie and roasted onions- and I was pretty much ready to drop everything to drive down there just to have a taste. In addition to the pizzas, they offer such delicacies as meat and cheese trays, an asparagus prosciutto wrap, and a caprese salad. They have also added beer on tap: Fat Tire, Hefeweizen, Sam Adams, and Stella Artois. Leave a comment if you've checked it out.