Summer’s Passing and Fall is on the Way

We have had an incredible Summer at Zely & Ritz and thank each
of you for joining us and helping us grow what is becoming one of
the best and best known organic restaurants in the area. Chef Sarig
is still working with an absolute bounty of vegetables and meats from
Coon Rock Farm and other local producers. We are still offering some
of the summer’s favorites like Chef Sarig’s gazpacho, heirloom tomato
salad, pan-seared grouper with red pepper sauce, and one of our best
sellers of all-time, a grilled all natural pork chop with brandied cherry
sauce. But even better, Chef Sarig has just added the first of some
great Fall items like goat cheese wrapped in Swiss chard and basil
pesto, pasture raised chicken with portobello, and best of all the emu
is back (this time with an incredible plum sauce). As always, you will
find several of Nancy’s new wine selections to go with these fantastic
new dishes. You can take a look at all the new menu and wine choices
on our web site at http://www.zelyandritz.com/menu.html.

Congratulations Nancy from Wine Spectator Magazine

You know how much we love wine and how proud we are of Nancy’s
incredible gift for putting together an amazing list. But did you know
that we just won a prestigious Wine Spectator “Award of Excellence”
for the Zely & Ritz wine list? It is an incredible honor to win this award
but it is even more amazing for a restaurant that has only been open a
few months to win such an award. Please join me in congratulating
Nancy for such an incredible achievement by joining us for one of our
monthly wine dinners or just taking an extra good look at the wine list
that Wine Spectator not only said was excellent but also inexpensive.
Anyone can build a great list by filling it with expensive, well known
brands, but at Zely & Ritz we like to find special, small vintage, boutique
wines to pair with Chef Sarig’s special dishes at reasonable prices.
We are honored that Wine Spectator recognized this vision.

Upcoming Wine Dinners

We have scheduled the next 3 wine dinners for the rest of this year.
We don’t have all the details of each dinner yet, but wanted to get the
dates out there so you could pencil it in on your schedules.

September 28 – Torbreck Vintners

September 28th will feature wines from Torbreck Vintners of Australia.
Wine maker David Powell is one of Australia’s up-and-coming young
winemakers who is leading the “Shiraz Revolution” in Australia’s
Barossa Valley region. To read more about this award winning winery
and the wines to be served at the dinner visit http://www.torbreck.com.
This is a 5 course meal including

1st course - Fig salad with local cheese paired with Woodcutter
Semillon
2nd course - Emu sausage paired with Woodcutter Shiraz
3rd course - Lamb paired with 2 wines for comparison, The
Steading and Cuvee Juveniles
4th course - Wild Boar (if we can get it) paired with The Struie
5th course – Coon Rock Farm Melon Panna Cotta paired with
Muscat Blanc

A final menu will be posted soon for this spectacular dinner on
the web site soon, but seating is limited so get your reservation
in early by calling 828-0018. The cost will be $75 per person
plus tax and gratuities. You’ll also have the chance to purchase
any of the wines served during the evening to take home at very
special pricing reserved only for wine dinner attendees.

October 19 – Coon Rock Farm “Pops the Top”

October 19th will be a special dinner that will feature the produce and
meats that we are raising out at Coon Rock Farm in Hillsborough and
also feature the new higher alcohol and Belgian beers that just became l
egal to serve in North Carolina. The NC legislature raised the maximum
alcohol level for beer sold in NC this past session and now we can
serve those wonderfully rich and tasty brews from Europe as well as a
few local producers who are working on there own. We don’t have the
menu completely together for this yet, but you could expect Coon Rock
Farm dishes including natural pasture raised chicken, lamb and maybe
even goat, sweet potatoes, fall squash, melons, tomatoes, greens, beets,
eggs and who knows what else may be coming in by then. One of the
best things about the collaboration of Zely & Ritz and Coon Rock Farm
is that every couple of days the menu changes based on what’s new and
available from the farm. That way you are always getting the freshest
and best tasting ingredients possible in each of Chef Sarig’s incredible
creations. The price and menu for this dinner will be posted soon, so go
ahead and save the date by making a reservation now and we’ll get the
menu and list of beers out to you as soon as we have it.

November 9th – Last Wine Dinner of the Year

We plan to go all out on November 9th for what will be out last wine
dinner of the year before all the festivities and craziness of the holidays.
Call us now to reserve a space and we’ll let you know more about the
dinner as we taste the wines and prepare the menu.

Another Plug for Lunch

Our lunch business has been steadily increasing over the summer,
but we’ve still got room for more. Our lunch menu is full of original
and unbelievably tasty sandwiches, wraps, and salads as well as all
of the same desserts and wines by the glass that are available on the
dinner menu. Best of all, the communal table is the perfect setting for
an office lunch party. With a little advance notice, Chef Sarig can even
whip up a special cake or other desert to celebrate your special
occasion. And don’t forget, you can always call in your lunch order
to-go as well. Just check out the menu online at http://www.zelyandritz.com/menu_lunch.html and give us a call at
828-0018 to place your order.

Special Events and Special Hours for the Holidays

As hard as it is to imagine, the time for holiday and special event
planning is upon us. Now is the time to make your reservations for
holiday parties or special meals at Zely & Ritz. To make things easier,
we’ve decided to also be open on Monday nights in December. We’ve
discussed the idea of being open 6 nights, including Monday, since we
opened. Most downtown restaurants are closed on Monday, but we’ve
had a lot of requests to be open so this is our way of giving it a try. If
Monday turns out to be as good a night as for us as we think it can be,
then maybe we’ll make a permanent change, but right now we’ll be open
every Monday in December so you can have extra time to get your
special events and holiday parties planned with us.

Join us for Drinks

We’ve made one other schedule

change due to popular demand.
Instead of opening at 6:00 each day for dinner, we are now open at
5:30 for drinks before your meal. So come on down early, have a glass
of wine or a cocktail and relax for a few minutes and then we’ll start
serving food at 6:00.

Let us know what else we can do?

With your help and support, Zely & Ritz is now one of the hottest and
the most successful restaurants in Glenwood South. We love serving
you and want your dining and drinking experience with us to be as good
as if can possibly be. We’d love to hear your feedback, good and bad,
on how we can serve you better. The earlier opening hours and new
Monday openings are just two of the suggestions we received from
you that we’ve implemented. If you’ve got other ideas or requests,
just let us know. You can email any of us by using our first name
(Sarig, Nancy, Richard) @zelyandritz.com or call 828-0018. BTW,
word of mouth along with our web presence is still our main source
of new guests, so please tell you friends and co-workers about us
and if you have not done so already, please join the several other
customers who have posted great reviews about us on Citysearch.

We look forward to serving you soon,

Sarig, Nancy, and Richard