Michael Perlis: On the way to Cornell Winery and Tasting Room

In a recent post, I wrote that we had visited Cornell Winery and Tasting Room in Agoura, but I had yet had an opportunity to complete my report on our visit. I started to write about that now, but instead decided to write about what happened on the way there.



Since our appointment with Tim Skogstrom at Cornell was not until 2 PM, I thought it might be nice to plan a lunch in the area. So I searched on Open Table (www.opentable.com) and one of the places it came up with was Zin Bistro Americana (www.zinbistroamericana.com) in Westlake Village. Now anyone who knows me knows that the name of the place would cause me to want to visit, so off we went.

Per the restaurant’s website:

“Just as the Zinfandel grape is uniquely American, Zin Bistro Americana features a menu that reflects the nostalgic cuisine and synergistic blending of cultures that makes America unique. We invite you to savor our offerings with us here on the lake.”

Zin Bistro Americana is in The Landing shopping center on Lindero Canyon Road, right on the lake of Westlake Village. We were given the option of sitting inside the restaurant or outside on the patio. It was a gorgeous Southern California day, so we opted to sit out on the patio by the lake.

As we perused the menu and enjoyed the sunshine and view, my wife Karen and I both felt that the setting really called for a bottle of wine to go with our meal.  So we looked over the wine list and settled on…not Zin. Instead we chose a 2006 Santa Barbara County Syrah from The Ojai Vineyard. It was excellent, and served at the right temperature with appropriate glassware. We sipped our wine and went back to exploring the menu.

We finally settled on a cheese plate appetizer and two salads – Seafood Salad for Karen and Chicken Chimichurri salad for me.

All were excellent, as was the service, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.  We would definitely like to go back. Their dinner menu looks outstanding as well, and clearly warrants a return visit.

I asked Rouz, the restaurant’s managing partner for his comments, and this was his response:

“Hi Michael, This is Rouz. We met when you were here for lunch. Thank you so much for doing this write up. It looks great. The only thing I would add is our great happy hour Monday through Friday from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. We do complimentary appetizers for the bar patrons during that time. Have a great week-end and thanks again. Rouz”

Okay, now I really need to work on that Cornell Winery article.

Zin Bistro Americana
32131 Lindero Canyon Road
Westlake Village, CA 91361
818-865-0095
www.zinbistroamericana.com

Michael Perlis provides outsourced controller services to businesses that do not need a full-time controller. He balances this with his interest in wine: reading and writing about it and, of course, drinking it. He is still trying to figure out how to combine these two pursuits. Feel free to contact him about either at mcpfinancial@aol.com or michaelthezinfan@aol.com.