Experience "a day in the country" at Smokehouse Caf

A garden luncheon is always a treat and the Smokehouse Café’s staff ensures that the experience will be both serene and satisfying. Temecula’s Ponte Family invites you to savor “a day in the country” when visiting their winery’s two-year-old restaurant, the Smokehouse Café. Surrounded by acres of grapevines, the café is an alfresco dining experience that taunts the senses. Fragrant white roses perfume the air while a fountain trickles a soothing tune.

Guests dine at tables draped in white linen and are warmed by ceiling heaters. The overhead lattice is layered with a light plastic, which enables the sun to filter through. The view past the vineyards and across the valley gives one a feeling of freedom. There is also something rather comforting about the far view of steep mountains.

The Citrus Spinach Salad is a cool choice for a hot summer’s day. Baby spinach is tossed with orange slices and ruby grapefruit segments along with avocado, diced green apple, sweet walnuts, blonde raisins and shaved red onion with a crumbling of bleu cheese. Vinaigrette dressing made with Ponte Winery’s fruity Isabel wine enhances the citrus flavor. The sensational taste of this eleven-dollar salad is intensified even further by the addition of grilled chicken for an additional four dollars. An excellent wine pairing is the Vioginer 2003, an ‘old Rhône’ varietal, which is a rich floral-perfumed wine that produces a dry citrus essence.

No luncheon is complete without dessert, and when the server circulated with a tray full of luscious items, I couldn’t resist the Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée. The custard is lighter than most Crème Brûlée desserts I have experienced, and the caramelized coating on the top is thick enough to add flavor but thin enough to be unobtrusive. The dessert is topped with three raspberries and a blackberry, which enhance the custard.

The predominant quality at the Smokehouse Café is excellence. Executive Chef Steven J. Stawinski is skilled in creating culinary artwork with great attention to flavor as well as presentation. Much care has been taken to intensify the dining experience, as demonstrated by the polite and attentive servers who round out this rich culinary encounter.

The Smokehouse Café at the Ponte Family Winery is located at 35053 Rancho California Road in Temecula. Please call (951) 694-8855 for hours or visit the Web site at http://www.pontewinery.com.