The long and winding road through Mendoza wine country typically ends with purple teeth and a grumbling stomach. In an effort to offer a more complete experience, many wineries have built-in restaurants, which offer visitors menus designed to perfectly pair with house wines. In the sprawling vineyards of the Luján de Cuyo region, Ruca Malén Restaurant is a popular lunch spot for wine country wanderers.Under the direction of Chef Lucas Bustos, the Ruca Malén Restaurant offers a gourmet wine-paired set menu complete with 4 courses and 5 wines. The menu, along with selected wines, rotates seasonally, allowing chefs to adapt to what local farmers can provide.The meal began with a fall salad, deconstructed. Never before had I eaten a salad that required a road map – with bilingual directions none the less. Each component was plated independently, and a hand written cheat sheet placed beneath the glass tray acted as the guide. The benefit of a salad dressed up as modern art was that it directly played into the wine-pairing theme of the meal. Not only could I dip the tines of my fork into a bit of lemon cream and wash it down with a sip of Chardonnay, I could also mix and match the flavors within the dish itself: a dollop of toasted bread cream, a sprig of fresh dill and a slice of granny smith.Behind the salad came a dish of roasted vegetables. Sweet beets and glazed carrot puree accented with fresh ricotta. The kind of flavors that – when mixed with hunger – make it ok to mop the plate with a fresh bread roll. A rustic move that would normally be embarrassing, if it weren’t for the fact that every diner did the same.Round three brought us a unique translation of mushroom risotto. A corn meal croquet of mushroom risotto punctuated by a sweet chili spice and fresh herbs is not perhaps the most traditional take on risotto, but the creamy richness of the was just the introduction needed for what came next.Meat is always on the menu it seems, this time in the form of a filet mignon accompanied by zucchini quiche and served with eggplant puree and chimichurri. Though I would have enjoyed several more layers of spicy heat in the chimi, my American fire tolerance is at odds with the average argentine palate, which prefers much milder flavors (and thinks a pinch of cracked black pepper is the equivalent to knowing on a habanero pepper).Any room left in our stomachs was quickly filled with dessert: a simple sweet orange biscuit topped with caramelized fruit in a sea of orange cream. Because Ruca Malén does not produce sparkling or dessert wines, this final course was paired with coffee and tea instead.The tasting menu not only describes both the dishes and the wines that accompany them, it also describes the intention behind the pairing. Though food and wine pairings are highly subjective and generally the choices of the back of the house don’t get the opportunity to defend themselves, the paragraph description of why a particular wine was selected helps new wine drinkers understand the plan behind the pair.Though guests leave the Ruca Malén lounge with purple teeth several shades past indigo, the grumbling stomachs have all gone silent.
