Sunday, March 31
Easter dinner was a five-hour meal for Lenny Russo at Evergreen restaurant, nestled in the foothills of the Julian Alps, in Slovenia. There was traditional fare: ham, horseradish and potica, along with Easter eggs.
- There was a minipot of lamb goulash with tortellini-like potato-stuffed pasta.
That was followed by duck confit served atop roasted vegetables. There was also a dandelion salad with bacon, grated egg and a dressing comprised of rendered pork fat with apple cider vinegar.
Dessert was a pistachio cake with raspberry filling. And of course there was plenty of wine.
"Easter brunch was at Evergreen Restaurant which is part of the Kaval Restaurant Group and is located in a huge timber lodge situated on a golf course at the foothills of the Julian Alps. All of the appointments are top notch, and you would have to see it to fully appreciate it. They even have a fully climate controlled glass enclosed curing room for their salumi and prosciutti.
We also enjoyed two Slovenian wines, one a sauvignon blanc and the other a blend of merlot, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. Needless to say, we needed a long nap afterward.
My Slovenian is coming around rather slowly, but I do have "please", "good day" and "thank you" pretty well down. I am working mostly on pronunciation right now. It's a good thing almost everyone speaks English, and they speak it very well.
We are heading to Movia winery today [Monday] in the Brda wine growing region to taste the wines of Aleš Kastančič for the dinner and meet with his American importers. We are currently pouring two of his wines at Heartland. We will be relying on the superior palate of Mega [Hoehn - wife and co-owner] to help guide us.
Then Igor Jagodic and I will finalize the menu and order the food for the dinner Wednesday at his restaurant Strelec.
We will have dinner at Movia and then head back to Ljubljana. Igor will begin prepping on Tuesday while I meet with the U.S. Ambassador to Slovenia, Joseph A. Mussomeli, and give interviews to Story and Playboy magazines. There's a lunch planned somewhere in there as well as a dance performance related to Slovenian "Make a Difference Day." That pretty much rounds out Monday and Tuesday. " -- Lenny Russo
Lenny with Evergreen head chef Anze Gombac (below left).
