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MARIANI’S
Virtual Gourmet
March
30, 2008
NEWSLETTER
Esquire Magazine Cover
(May, 1969)
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In
This Issue
DC DINING by John Mariani
NEW
YORK CORNER: One If by Land, Two If by Sea
by John Mariani
NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR:
Wining
and Dining in South Africa by Mort Hochstein
QUICK
BYTES
DC
DINING
By
John Mariani
It’s
been said that dining out for a
large segment of Washingtonians means subsisting on canapés and
white wine at
receptions, and that the city’s restaurants slow way down during those
long, frequent Congressional recesses. Add to
that proscriptions against lobbyists lavishly entertaining pols
at posh
restaurants and it may sound as if the nation’s capital has little of
the
gastro-clout of other American cities.
Yet nothing could
be further from the
truth: DC not only has a slew of fine examples of restaurants featuring
American regional cuisine, but it also has one of the nation’s best Indian
restaurants (Rasika, see below), Spanish restaurants (Taberna del Alabardero), Middle
Eastern restaurants (Zatinya),
and several outstanding Italian and French restaurants. Each year
at least two or three newcomers stir
national media attention, and, even if George and Laura Bush don’t
venture
out of the White House much to eat, the city’s restaurants create a lot
of buzz
with visiting dignitaries, sports figures, and Hollywood movies stars
off on a
crusade.
BLUE
DUCK TAVERN
Park Hyatt
Washington
24 & M Streets, NW
202- 419 6755
www.blueducktavern.com/gallery/blueduck
The Blue Duck
Tavern in
the Park Hyatt Hotel manages to marry a very sleek modern look with a
blazing
open kitchen and enough tavern-like earmarks of golden oak and slatted
chairs,
Windsor benches, limestone, white oak flooring, and open kitchen to
keep it homey and wholly American in style, as is Chef Brian
McBride’s
cooking, based on the best ingredients from around the U.S.--their
provenance printed proudly on the menu. McBride's
background includes everything from working the wood-burning ovens in
Tokyo and open kitchens in Singapore, along with a stint at the Park
Haus in Zurich. These influences show in his proficiency with grilling
and roasting both meats and seafood, as well as vegetable side dishes.
Thus, you
might begin with a creamy bisque made with artichokes from Kentor
Canyon,
California; or an array of oysters from Virginia, Washington, and
Maine. Meltingly
rich roasted Hudson Valley foie gras comes with spiced pumpkin hash,
the juicy
roast Prime bone-in ribeye is from Copper Ridge, California, and the
signature
roast duck is from Crescent Farms, NY, served with heirloom apples. End
off
with Florida Key lime and white chocolate custard with huckleberry
compote, and
you start to get a sense of the regional diversity of American
gastronomy. And that goes for the irresistible breads and rolls here,
the hoppin' john, smoky collard greens, the macaroni and cheese, and
the country ham and Cheddar grits. I only wish more American
restaurants served more American food like this.
Everything is first-class at the Tavern,
including Bernardaud china, Hepp flatware, Frette linens, and Riedel
wineglasses, yet there is not a whit of pretension anywhere in the
place, not least at the very popular bar here where you may eat lightly.
Blue Duck Tavern is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
First courses $8-$18, entrees $18-$26.
RASIKA
633
D Street NW
202-637-1222
www.rasikarestaurant.com
I've
certainly never had better Indian food than
that at Rasika—Sanskrit for
“flavors”--which sets out to prove that the Indian Subcontinent has
amazing regional
cuisines that go far beyond mulligatawny soup and lamb vindaloo. Here,
in a
shimmering dining room with golden lighting, the spice colors of saffron, tamarind, and
cinnamon, gauze curtains, glass
beads, and impeccably set tables, Chef
Vikram
Sunderam shows his mastery of tandoori cooking, pilafs, biryanis, and
vegetarian
dishes, and he may change your mind about Indian desserts.
Let him do a tasting menu for you, and he
will bring delicacies like amazingly crispy baby fried spinach served
with
cooling sweet yogurt and a tamarind-date chutney minced lamb galouti,
cooked on the tawa griddle, with spring onions and green
chutney, or
black cod sweetened with honey and spiced with star anise and red wine
vinegar. Sliced okra with dry mango
powder and the creamiest of lentil dals with caramelized onions
and
tomato are vegetable stand-outs. His
carrot halwa with a cinnamon sabayon an extraordinary show of
dessert-making (right).
The menu is broad and deep, with seven dishes
done on the griddle, four barbecue style, five from the tandoor, and a
dozen or more main courses as well. There is also a substantial
winelist--I actually recommend white wines with Indian food or a very
heavy red like a zinfandel--along with some delectable cocktails made
with mango, ginger, and other eastern fruits.
Rasika is not just the best Indian restaurants
in America; it is also one of America's best restaurants, period.
Rasika is
open daily, with starters $7-$12 and main courses $15-$24.
Brasserie Beck
1101 K Street
NW
202-408-1717
www.beckdc.com
A
true brasserie is a big beer house
serving generous portions of Alsatian food, and America has never
really had a
good one until now. When
you walk into the
sprawling 165-seat Brasserie Beck, with its 22-foot ceilings, big
station clocks, and see
the gleaming marble and walnut bar with
its
spigots
of beer and towers of glistening shellfish, you know this is the real
deal. The design echoes the brasseries
of European train stations, with white tile floors and art deco railway
clocks. Sit down to crusty bread with good butter and slabs of
charcuterie,
then wait
for the choucroute, topped
with a pastry dome that releases fragrant
steam when
cut into. Spoon out the sausages and the wine-soaked sauerkraut, and
order a
side of frites with rich, yellow mayonnaise for dipping.
The Chef's Table (above) is inlaid with Delft tiles,
and the marble-and-walnut bar (left),
seats 21 and offers platters of seafood.
Chef-owner Robert Wiedmaier, who also runs the French
restaurant Marcel's, is
Belgian,
so he proudly mixes Alsace, Montparnasse, and Antwerp on his menu,
stocking
more than 40 Belgian beers. Don’t miss the remarkable, Champagne-like
Deus,
served in a tall glass by beer sommelier Bill Catron, who gets all dewy
eyed
just talking about his professional passion. If
you can have a better time anywhere in Washington,
you’re probably in
someone’s little black book.
Brasserie
Beck is open Mon.-Fri. for lunch, every day but Sunday for dinner.
Appetizers range from $9-$16, main courses $17-$23. The Chef's Table
offers a 5-course prix fixe at $85-$95 pp.
1001
Pennsylvania
Ave NW # 106
(202) 626-0015
www.centralmichelrichard.com
As
revered as he is beloved, roly-poly
bearded Chef Michel Richard (below)
of the decade-old Citronelle
in
Georgetown
easily ranks among the half dozen finest French chefs in the U.S.
A master of pastry, he also has the experience to know that French
cuisine is not to be trifled with and requires enormous discipline to
make it right. Which is why, upon debuting Central, his homage to the brasserie
tradition
of a big, loud--and boy is it ever
loud!--eatery with old favorite dishes
you wouldn't find on the menu at Citronelle.
He has turned over chef de cuisine duties to Cedric
Maupillier, but the place lacks the ebullience Richard himself brings
to a room, and he has recently, in any case, been away from both his DC
restaurants while opening Citrus at
Social in L.A., where he made his mark at the
original Citrus a dozen years ago.
Central is a very handsome restaurant, big, perhaps
too big to deliver careful cooking, and the bare tables really need
clothing: I watched while busboys wiped down vacated tables with the
soiled napkins used by the previous guests! As noted, the decibel level
is
beyond ear-aching, and service is overwhelmed and amateurish, and the
night I visited there was a half-hour wait between courses. And, since
I was sitting opposite the open kitchen, I noticed the crucial
difference between a staff that really knows what it's doing and one
that doesn't quite get it: I saw no one tasting any of the food going
out, so how could they know if it was correct?
This is all too bad because the food can be very good,
from a charcuterie tower, at $15 per person, to hot, puffy cheesy
gougères and
excellent soft shell crab of the season.
Churlish really, Richard has put an iceberg lettuce and blue cheese
salad on the menu, and it's terrific--the crisp lettuce is a great
foil to the cheese.
Among
the main courses I liked a loup de
mer with baby arugula and fried
chicken with mustard sauce--admirably as southern as it is
Provençal.
Good old bistro-style steak au poivre
was very welcome indeed at our
table, but curiously enough the French fries were as flaccid as
asparagus and the macaroni and cheese was insipid.
Desserts are pretty darn wonderful, from
Central Cappuccino to a Kit Kat bar à la Richard. The banana
split was nothing special. The winelist here is a closely printed
two-sided sheet rich in regional French wines, many under $40
a bottle.
There is really a lot to
love on the menu here, the prices are right, and the mix of French and
American prole food is jolly indeed. But I think that Central needs
Richard's closer attention. Some years ago he tried to branch out
his original Citrus restaurant in Los Angeles to several cities too
quickly and they suffered and flopped through inattention. Now,
with his flagship Citronelle and another in L.A., I wonder how much
time Richard can spend at Central to get it right.
Central Michel Richard is
open daily for dinner and Mon.-Fri. for lunch. Dinner starters are
$6-$18, main courses $16-$28.
OYAMEL
401 Seventh Street NW,
Washington DC
202-628-1005
www.oyamel.com
You
can count on the strings of a
guitar the number of Mexican restaurants that are truly distinguished
in the USA, mainly because so many are so predictable and standardized
for a
Gringo
palate—a thought that would never occur to the restlessly creative mind
of José
Andrés, whose highly eclectic, six-seat DC restaurant minibar
pays homage to the master, Catalan chef Ferran
Adrià. Now in Penn Corner, at a
reincarnation of
what had been a much larger Oyamel in Crystal City, Andrès has
taken the small
plate idea to a level that may at first remind you of the tantalizing
street
fare of Guadalahara; then,
on first bite, you realize you are
eating some of the best Mexican food of your life.
Chef de cuisine Joe Raffa, previously at Majestic Cafe in
Alexandria and Andrès' Cafe
Atlantico in Penn Corner,
sends out hot tacos filled with chapulines (Oaxacan
grasshoppers) sautéed
crisp with plenty of garlic and tequila. There is an array of
glistening, colorful ceviches, like the lovely sweet sea scallops shown
in the photo
at right. He does carnitas of
suckling
pig with tomatillo sauce, pork rinds, onions, and cilantro. Guacamole, prepared tableside, is silky and
vibrantly
green, and plantain fritters come stuffed with black beans and covered
with
coconut sauce, while pumpkin seed sauce naps seared scallops.
For dessert the warm chocolate cake with a
cream of mole poblano, a cup of hot chocolate sprinkled with crushed
peanuts
and cocoa beans, and served with vanilla ice cream is my pick for
Dessert of
the Year.
Oyamel is
open daily for lunch and dinner. Antojitos priced from $4.75-$8.50.
Entrees $19-$25.
NEW
YORK CORNER
by John Mariani
One
If by Land, Two If by Sea
17 Barrow Street (near Bleecker Street)
212-255-8649
www.oneifbyland.com
Consistently
mentioned as one of NYC's most romantic restaurants, One If by Land,
Two If by Sea (hereafter "1-2") has been the scene of more trysts,
courtships, proposals, and, probably, break-ups than any place
you can imagine. It opened in 1970 on the premises of a 1754 Greenwich Village
carriage house, where
both Aaron Burr and John Jacob Astor once lived. With its
brick interior, two working fireplaces, red cushioned chairs,
wrought
iron chandeliers, a delightful outdoor courtyard, and period artwork
throughout that includes a reproduction of Grant Wood's "Midnight
Ride
of Paul Revere" from which the restaurant takes its name, 1-2 has
always had a congenial coziness.
But for some years now, it has also
had a certain dated, hushed stodginess, a lacy atmosphere and
continental menu that may have worked its charms back in the 1970s and
1980s when guys thought it seductive to have an engagement ring baked
into an apple tart and a tinkling piano play music from "Cats." Beef
Wellington was all the rage.
Owner Oscar Proust, therefore, seeing that times have changed, has not
so much re-cast 1-2 as he has brought its menu into the 21st century by
bringing in a first-class young chef, an Aussie named Craig Hopson (below)
whose long résumé includes
stints at the Hôtel d'Angleterre in Geneva,
Switzerland, Troigros,
Guy Savoy,
and Lucas Carton in France, Circa in Brisbane, and, most
recently as chef de cuisine at Picholine in NYC. Designers Christopher Hersheimer
and Melissa Hamilton are also slowly, cautiously modifying the
interior with more modern furniture. Meanwhile wine director Bob Salem has been bringing an already solid
winelist into focus with Hopson's culinary style.
You can
eat
quite extensively and inexpensively at the cozy bar here, with dishes
like lamb
filet with eggplant, garam masala
and goat's cheese; duck
liver tortellini with black trumpet mushrooms; quail à
la plancha with jicama kimchee;
and veal
“fingers” lime with a chili aïoli, each $12.
There is also a selection of artisanal cheeses.
One of the new signature dishes here is
"Gruyère Gnocchi with wild Burgundy snails, yellowfoots, and
bottarga," (left) which,
frankly, sounded awful to me: gnocchi are very delicate in flavor,
snails need help to be other than bland and chewy, and bottarga usually
has a very strong flavor of roe. Yet the dish was a success, because
none
of the ingredients was allowed to overpower another; it worked. Seared foie gras with bacon, barley and
butternut squash was a fine rendering of good duck liver and lightly
sweet notes, and that lightly smoked quail á la plancha was nice and
plump and juicy.
Among
the entrees I most liked the halibut poached in coconut milk with crab
meat, sweet mango, and tender sea beans--wonderful textures,
creaminess, sweet seafood and fruit combined. Black truffles ennobled
fat creamy sea scallops with celery hearts and an apple-hazelnut
tea. The beef Wellington is still on the menu, and while I barely
remember how it was cooked in the past, Hopson's seems an
improvement, if only marginal. The addition of foie gras sabayon was a
fine twist on the old sauce
périgueux, but the idea of
wrapping good beef in puff pastry just doesn't make all that much
culinary sense.
Desserts range form a charming apple
buttermilk cake with cheesecake ice cream and caramel to a rich dark
chocolate soufflé and a kumquat baba and tangelo, blood orange
and pomelo.
It is always encouraging to see a
restaurant so beloved for what it did for so long so well adapt to
contemporary tastes without losing--indeed, enhancing--its
soul. One If by Land, Two If by Sea is no longer a rare and
historical curiosity; it has the courage to change and stay
enough
the same that it will draw the faithful and the newcomers with equal
panache.
One If by Land, Two If by Sea is
open for Dinner nightly; Sunday brunch. Prix
Fixe dinner $75; Bar Menu small plates $12 and $15.
NOTES
FROM THE WINE CELLAR
THE
OTHER DOWN UNDER:
THE WINERY RESTAURANTS OF SOUTH AFRICA, Part One
The
Durbanville Mountain Vineyards
by Mort
Hochstein
When
asked to name the prettiest
vineyard view in the world, I stick
close to home, responding, “The
Finger Lakes of New York.” I
have also enjoyed great views in Napa and Sonoma, along the Rhine in Germany, along the perilously steep vineyards of Austria, amid the
swooping hills of Tuscany and the Piedmont in Italy. But none
gives me that same tingle that I get when looking out across Keuka Lake when the autumn
palette is at its
most colorful.
My mind turned to that
patch of gorgeous nature
while
traveling across the lowlands and highlands and sea-bounded vineyards
of South
Africa. The Cape Winelands of South Africa range over ever-changing terrain, extending
approximately 100 miles north and east from Cape Town. Grapes have
been cultivated in this lush region
since the first Dutch settlers put down roots in the mid
1600’s. Their ancient manor houses still
stand amid
great flowered gardens and vast vineyards.
While the region is primarily
lowland, the changes in level, sudden ascents and
descents, the switch
from brown wheat fields to emerald-hued meadows and
endless ranks of vines at every turn can be
breathtaking. I visited in late November when the
fields blanketed with yellows
and browns and greens were
a delight for eyes dulled by the
cold gray canyons of New York City.
The South Africans discovered
the virtues of onsite dining to a
greater degree and long before winemakers in other regions. A
restaurant is
almost required at the larger wineries, in stark contrast to the
great châteaux of France where producers only recently began
cultivating visitors as well as
wine. In South Africa restaurants are
often the destination,
rather than an adjunct to the winery.
Our
first visit took us to
Vergelegen (left), a 300-year-old property
where diners eat outside at lunch and enjoy
tea time until 4 p.m. each afternoon. Under
shady, centuries' old camphor trees we enjoyed a huge sea
food platter
and Karoo lamb, a local specialty, both dishes showing well with wine, the fish accompanied by an
intense, concentrated Sauvignon Blanc ‘06 reserve and the
lamb by a deep, brawny single vineyard ’05
Cabernet Sauvignon. While young, it was
still a neat match, but I would like to try that beauty in another five
years.
Vergelegen produces a full line of European grapes and has wide
distribution in
the United States.
At Boschendal, one
of the oldest south African wineries, we had our choice of
a picnic on the grounds which have remained
much the same for nearly three centuries, a light lunch served under a
squadron
of spreading oaks (right), or
a huge indoor buffet which offered local specialties as
well as continental fare. We opted for the buffet, and it was sinfully
good, with freshly made seafood and veggies and meats flowing
from the kitchen in a non-stop relay.
Almost too extravagant, too much
to chose from, particularly at dessert time.
Boschendal,
nestled in a mountain bordered
valley, is not the place for anyone trying to visit three wineries in
one
day. There are just too many sights to
absorb in this enclave of stately gabled homes,
thatched cottages, gardens and towering old oaks. Taking in the
grandeur of the grounds, graceful tree lined
gardens and charming historical buildings could require an entire day of a relaxed,
unhurried wine tasting adventure.
The property was once owned by Cecil John
Rhodes, diamond mining millionaire, imperialist, statesman and father of the Rhodes Scholars program; he acquired it in 1896 from Huguenots who had
raised grapes there for nearly two
centuries. Boschendahl’s
vines were devastated by phylloxera soon after, so
Rhodes
switched crops, adding ten nearby farms as the site for
Rhodes Fruit Farms and his own canning
factory. Not until the 1990s,
two
owners later, was the property once more
dedicated to wine grapes.
At the humbly named Goatshed at Fairview Winery,
food service starts at
breakfast time and proceeds to deli and
fine dining possibilities at noon with
pastrami, Italian salami and
Parma Ham on the sandwich menu, and more
sophisticated dishes such as lamb
shoulder curry, panfried red snapper with green curry dressed with
coconut
coriander sauce, duck, beef fillet and
other more elegant items also available.
The Goatshed, of course, takes
its name
from a goat raising venture conducted by
the winery’s colorful owner Charles
Back (right) and
also is an allusion to Goats
Do Roam, his none-too-subtle,
French-hackle-raising
take-off on Côte du Rhone. It seems
as if sales
of Goats Do Roam tee-shirts and sweaters
occurred just as frequently
as traffic
in the bottles of the same name. Fairview’s many levels of wine include excellent Shiraz, a Dom Pagel Semillon that is one of the
best on the Cape
and a laudable Viognier.
Meerendal Manor House, the
gracious old Dutch Homestead that is the headquarters for Meerendal Wine
Farm sits on the slopes of the
Tygerberg Hills near Durbanville. Its restaurant, Wheatfields,
is a target for Cape Town families who come frequently on
Sundays to
enjoy a buffet table groaning with goodies
from nearby farms and waters just a
half hour away. The winery releases a
half dozen varietals and a blended red. Its fields hold some of the
oldest
Pinotage and Shiraz Vineyards on the Cape. Meerendal’s Prestige line includes
the overpowering Bin 159 Shiraz, a powerful big black monster with
earthy, minty
notes. At that same level, look for the Heritage Block Pinotage made
from
60-year-old, low-yielding bush vines, a wine that can only improve over
the
next decade. Meerendal is also one of a
small number of top Chenin Blanc producers. The
’06 is a highly
concentrated
wine with scents of orange blossom and tropical fruit.
Amidst
all the old colonial wineries on the
South African wine map, it is almost a shock to come upon the starkly
modern
Durbanville Hills (left), its sharply angled walls
looking out toward Table Bay and Robben Island
where Nelson Mandela, hero-father of post-apartheid South Africa, spent
most of
his 27 years in jail, and toward Table
Mountain and Cape Town, a 20 minute drive to the East. The gleaming, pristine facility is almost
totally mechanized and it seems as if
Durbanville’s gregarious wine master Michael Moore runs the place
himself from
a bank of computers. Not really so, but Moore is all over the place, greeting visitors, conducting a food and wine pairing demo in the restaurant (right),
checking his tanks, and joining
guests for a drink on the balustrades as they watch the setting sun in
the late
afternoon. Moore is a talented chef and his newsletter
frequently
includes a recipe for exotic local dishes, such as monkey gland sauce,
and a
whole range of native dishes such as sosaties,
sousbourtjies and potbroad, that
last being a venison dish.
Tongue-twisting names aside, a visit to the Restaurant
is often the main point of a
country-ride for
Cape
Town
residents.
His
wines, the top-rated reserves and the
second level Rhinofields line, have propelled Durbanville Hills into
the
upper ranks of South African
producers
since the winery was formed in 2001.
Our favorites after a late
afternoon tasting were a blackberry-scented ’03
Luipardsberg single
vineyard Merlot reserve, a rich chocolate flavored Cabernet
Sauivignon-Merlot
blend from the same vintage and a fresh
young Rhinofields ‘06 Chardonnay , laden
with peach and apricot flavors tangy by a tinge of acidity.
Part Two of
this article will follow within a few weeks.
Mort
Hochstein, former editor and producer for NBC News and the Today Show,
and former managing editor of Nation's
Restaurant News, has written on wine,
food and travel for Wine Spectator,
Wine Business Monthly, Saveur and other food and wine
publications.
WE
USUALLY JUST GIVE THEM THE DEEP FRYER AND LET 'EM MAKE THEIR OWN FRENCH FRIES
"Parents will do almost anything to get their
kids to eat healthier, but unfortunately, they’ve found that begging,
pleading,
threatening, and bribing don’t work. With their patience wearing thin,
parents
will `give in' for the sake of family peace, and reach for 'kiddie'
favorites-often
nutritionally inferior choices such as fried fish sticks, mac n’
cheese,
Pop-sicles, and cookies. Missy Chase Lapine, former publisher of Eating
Well
magazine, faced the same challenges with her two young daughters, and
she
sought a solution. Now in The Sneaky Chef, Lapine presents over
75
recipes that ingeniously disguise the most important superfoods inside
kids’
favorite meals. With the addition of a few simple make-ahead purees or
clever
replacements, (some may surprise you!) parents can pack more fiber,
vitamins,
and antioxidants in their kids’ foods. Examples of 'Sneaky' recipes
include:
· No Harm Chicken
Parm
· Power Pizza
· Incognito
Burritos
· Guerilla
Grilled Cheese
· Brainy Brownies
· Health-by-Chocolate
Cookies
· Quick fixes for
Jell-O(R) "--Press
Release for
The
Sneaky Chef
: Simple Strategies for
Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals by Missy
Chase Lapine (Running Press).
THAT
WOULD JUST BE A WARM-UP FOR HOMER
SIMPSON!
A British man named Adam Deeley, 34, choked to death during a
cupcake-eating contest at a
pub in Wales,
competing with his friends to see who could eat more
of the "fairy cakes" that were left over from a party at the Monkey
Cafe and Bar in Swansea.
"It is thought Mr Deeley had around five of the cakes lodged in his
throat," according to the South
Wales Evening Post says. "It was a tragic accident and very
sad and should serve as a
cautionary tale," the nightclub's owners told BBC News.
QUICK
BYTES
*
On March 31, in Washington, DC, Taberna
del Alabardero has partnered
with Gonzalez Byass to present a Sherry
Tasting Dinner paired with Chef Dani Arana's Spanish cuisine. $90 pp. Call 202-429-2200.
*
Valley restaurant in Garrison, NY, debuts its
new “Eat Local” menu concept every Thursday, with co-chefs Brandon
Collins and
Vinny Mocarski, and pastry chef Laura Digiorno creating 3- three-course
menus
built around one seasonal ingredient sourced from one or more local
farms. $40
pp.Valley's Eat Local menu will be posted on website each week www.thegarrison.com. Call 845-
424-3604.
*
From
April 1-15
NYC Executive chef/owner Turgut Balikci of Bodrum
is launching a special Kebab Festival with a wide variety of specialty
kebabs
(Adana Kebab, Urfa Kebab, Antep Kebab, Hashash Kebab, and others),
priced
$19-$22.
Call
212-799-2806; visit www.bodrumnyc.com
*
On
April 3 in New
Orleans, Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse will
host a “Select
Abita Beer Dinner” paired with cuisineby Chef Jack Martinez and
Executive
Sous-Chef Alfred Singleton. Call 504-521-8310. $75 pp.
*On April 4-6
The 2008 Greater New York Wine &
Food Festival at the
Doubletree Hotel in Tarrytown, presents a
special Casino Night featuring
a vertical tasting of the full line of Dewar’s and Aberfeldy Scotch,
along with
classic cocktails to enjoy with the creative menu offered by Chef Peter
X.
Kelly. The festival will also showcase more than 35 internationally and
locally
acclaimed chefs and 40 restaurants at
the Grand Tasting Hall. Tix from $75 pp
for the Grand Tasting to $350 for a full weekend pass. Lodging packages
available
by visiting www.greaternywine.com/lodging
*
On April 6 at Acme Chophouse Taste of the Nation
SF will be hosted by Traci des Jardins
along
with former competitors from "The Next Iron
Chef" for a meal, with wines from top
sommeliers. Chefs incl. Michael Symon, Chris Cosentino, Gavin Kaysen and Elizabeth Faulkner. $250-$300 pp. www.sftaste.org or
call 1-877-26-TASTE.
*
On April 15 in Highwood, IL, Chef Gabriel Viti and Sommelier Robert
Bansberg of
Gabriel’s welcome Dennis Cakebread of
Cakebread Cellars in NapaValley for a 4-course wine dinner. $125 pp. Call 847-433-0031; www.egabriels.com.
*
From
April 16-19 the
Craft Brewers Conference will be
held at: Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA, with more than 1,600 of the world’s leading
brewers,
brewery owners, and brewing supply professionals and over 130 vendors.
Also,
the World Beer Cup International Competition. Not open to the public.
* On April 19 & 20 Chef
Mauro Colagreco of Mirazur will cook with David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos, for an
8-course dinner at $195 pp, with sommelier-selected wine
pairings available. Call 408-354-4330. Visit ww.manresarestaurant.com
* On April 21 Chianti
Classico & The Tuscan Nose: The Chianti Classico Wine Consortium
will present
a tasting of over 200 Black Rooster wines produced in the Chianti
region,
kicked off by a sensory experience of Tuscany: 27 different aromas
(“The Essence of Chianti Classico”)
created by Italian perfumer, Lorenzo Villoresi. The tasting will take
place 583 Park Avenue in NYC. $40 entrance fee will be donated in its
entirety to Slow
Food USA. Call 212-929-7700.
* On April 22, 2008, Chicago’s Cafe Matou will celebrate Earth Day
with an eco-friendly
menu. Chef Charlie Socher will prepare dishes featuring organic Berkshire
pork, free-range eggs and chicken, plus local and seasonal ingredients,
and an
organic cocktail by Wine Director James Rahn. Call 773-384-8911. Call
773-384-8911;
visit www.cafematou.com.
* On
April 23 in Chicago and Schaumburg, IL, Shaw's
Crab House celebrates
Administrative Assistant Day. Lunch at Shaw's and your administrative
assistant
will receive a $25 gift certificate. Call 312-527-2722 (Chicago) or 847-517-2722 (Schaumburg); www.shawscrabhouse.com.
* On April 26 the
Stags
Leap District Winegrowers Association holds its “8th
Annual Vineyard to Vintner: On the Trail
of World Class Cabernet,” with a fun and informative sensory seminar by
author
and educator Karen MacNeil, followed by 14 private winery open houses
and
culminating in a vintner-hosted fun and entertaining dinner at the
Stags' Leap Winery. $40-$290 pp. Call 707-255-1720; www.stagsleapdistrict.com
NEW
FEATURE: I am happy to report that the Virtual Gourmet is linking up
with two excellent travel sites:
Everett
Potter's
Travel Report:
I
consider this the best
and savviest blog of its kind on the web. Potter is a columnist
for USA Weekend, Diversion, Laptop and
Luxury Spa Finder,
a contributing editor for Ski
and a frequent contributor to National
Geographic Traveler, ForbesTraveler.com and Elle Decor. "I’ve designed this
site is for people who take their travel seriously," says Potter.
"For travelers who want to learn about special places but don’t
necessarily want to pay through the nose for the privilege of
staying there. Because at the end of the day, it’s not so much about
five-star places as five-star experiences." To go to his
blog click on the logo below:
Tennis Resorts Online:
A Critical Guide to the World's
Best Tennis Resorts and Tennis Camps,
published by ROGER COX, who has spent more than two decades writing
about tennis travel, including a 17-year stretch for Tennis magazine. He has also
written for Arthur Frommer's Budget
Travel, New York Magazine,
Travel & Leisure, Esquire, Money, USTA Magazine, Men's Journal, and The Robb Report. He has
authored two books-The World's
Best Tennis Vacations (Stephen Greene Press/Viking Penguin,
1990) and The Best Places to Stay in the Rockies (Houghton
Mifflin, 1992 & 1994), and the Melbourne (Australia) chapter to the
Wall Street Journal Business
Guide to Cities of the
Pacific Rim (Fodor's Travel Guides, 1991). Click on the logo
below to go to the site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John Mariani.
Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani,
Naomi
Kooker, Suzanne Wright, John A. Curtas, Edward Brivio, Mort
Hochstein, Brian Freedman. Contributing
Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery, Bobby Pirillo. Technical
Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin
.
John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Bloomberg News and
Radio, Diversion., Forbestraveler.com, and Cowboys and Indians.
He is author of The Encyclopedia
of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The Dictionary
of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife Galina, the
award-winning Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common
Press).
Any of John Mariani's books below
may be ordered from amazon.com by clicking on the cover image.
My
newest book, written with my brother Robert Mariani, is a memoir of our
years growing up in the North
Bronx. It's called Almost
Golden because it re-visits an idyllic place and time in our
lives when
so many wonderful things seemed possible.
For those of you who don't think
of
the Bronx as “idyllic,” this
book will be a revelation. It’s
about a place called the Country Club area, on the shores of Pelham Bay. It was a beautiful
neighborhood filled with great friends
and wonderful adventures that helped shape our lives.
It's about a culture, still vibrant, and a place that is still almost
the same as when we grew up there.
Robert and I think you'll enjoy this
very personal look at our Bronx childhood. It is not
yet available in bookstores, so to purchase
a copy, go to amazon.com
or click on Almost Golden.
--John
Mariani
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© copyright John Mariani 2008
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