MARIANI’S
Virtual Gourmet
"The Lady of the House" (c. 1919) by William
Henry Margretsen
❖❖❖ IN THIS ISSUE PARIS DINING, Part Two By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER CATHÉDRALE By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR THE SICILIAN WINES OF FIRRIATO, Part Two By John Mariani ❖❖❖ PARIS DINING, Part Two By John Mariani Paris Ritz Les Jardins. Photo: Matthieu Cellard
It
is now new that Paris, more than most cities,
has some of France’s finest restaurants within
its hotels. As much capital and effort goes into
the dining rooms as into the public and private
rooms, and by drawing on period architectural
designs already in place they are able to create
a new look within an old property. Here are two
of my favorites I visited this past September.
The Ritz Paris 15 Place Vendôme 1-33-1-43-16-3030 Certainly
among
Paris’s most beautiful dining rooms is Les
Jardins de L’Éspadon, adjacent to the more
formal dining salon, L’Éspadon, both
overseen by Chef Nicholas Sale.
The $400 million restoration makes the
totality of The Ritz Paris an extraordinary
achievement, and the staff
is now younger, multi-lingual and obviously proud
to be part of the experience, nowhere better shown
than in Les Jardins, whose sun-suffused and
star-lighted greenhouse is as airy as any in
Paris. The
room’s teal coloring of metal arches put one in
mind of a Parisian train station; the big pots of
greens and flowers, the art deco lawn cushioned
lawn chairs and superb linens that allow for an
elegant drape are all part of the lightness and
gaiety of dining here, made more so by the amiable
ministrations of the staff, not least wine
director Estelle Touzet, who may be the least
pretentious sommelier in Paris. Oh, and Francis
Perret has been declared the Best Hotel Pastry
Chef of Les Grandes
Tables du Monde. (It is he who is responsible for
my favorite croissants in Paris.)
My friend
and I went for a tasting menu that began with a
creamy of foie gras terrine with sweet yellow
plums and lemony verbena, and delicate tortellini
stuffed with mussels and artichokes surrounding a
juicy fillet of pan-fried dorade
with a vibrant saffron sauce. Crabmeat was
sandwiched in crisp pastry with puffs of creamy
coral and accents of fennel and the Eastern flavor
of curry.
Tomato stracciatella
with basil cream and black olive powder was a
lovely twist on Mediterranean tradition (above), while
a plump pigeon was perfectly cooked to achieve a
medium-rare interior and crisp skin, with beets
and a tangy raspberry vinegar sauce.
Sale does not dress seafood to excess, so
his nubbins of lobster are set in an intense reduction
of cherry marmalade, ginger and a verbena stock.
Perret applies the same principle to
desserts so as not to hide the season’s best
fruit, as in his Einset grape compote and sorbet
with whipped cream set on a crisp meringue; and a
lovely yellow plum Tarte Tatin. There was, of
course, a course of perfectly ripe regional
cheeses. A
two-course meal at Les Jardins is €95, three €115,
four €135 five €150, service and tax included. The
menu is also available as à la carte. Les Jardins is open daily for
breakfast, lunch and dinner.
V Hotel
Vernet 25 rue Vernet 44 31 98 00 The
very
posh Hotel Vernet is steps from the
Champs-Élysées but pleasantly away from its
bustle, so its restaurant, named V, is an
excellent respite from the rush of that main
artery both at lunch or dinner.
The building dates to the Haussmann era,
and V’s most extraordinary feature is an exquisite
stained glass art nouveau barrel ceiling designed
by Gustave Eiffel that bathes the 35-seat dining
room in soft Parisian light.
The décor, on the other hand, provides a
decidedly modern contrast by way of a Matisse-like
figured carpet and cushy, crayon-colored
armchairs, all reflected in an arched wall mirror
opposite an open kitchen.
Chef Richard Robe, born in Manchester,
England, and raised in Normandy, offers both
a remarkably well priced seven-course tasting menu
at €95 and à la carte (service and tax included)
that maintain their links to classical French
cuisine while taking advantage of ingredients and
ideas from contemporary cooking. Daintily composed
plate presentations are impressive.
We started off with one of Robe’s signature
dishes—a fat Scottish langoustine just barely
cooked through, with Spanish citrus, passion
fruit-avocado puree
and seaweed leaves. Crisp, rosy quail was
cooked in fennel with a tomato confit and
caramelized yellow tomatoes, dashed with an acidic
orange vinaigrette, with which we enjoyed a
Clarendelle Bordeaux 2017.
Pink-orange rouget was
based on a recipe served at Paris’s famed La
Taillevent restaurant (where Rove once worked),
here done with zucchini flowers, ratatouille of
eggplant, sweet tomato and onion and a
saffron-scented seafood soup and fennel crusted
brûlée. He
smokes rabbit on the bone barbecue-style then, in
the classic manner, serves it with a patty made of
rabbit rillette,
and potato gnocchi with parslied girolles mushrooms
(above).
V’s desserts are as lavish as what precedes
them, and Robe’s work with chocolate is especially
delectable, as in his little cannons filled with
ganache and sided with chocolate gelato, while his
sweet, ripe fruits of the season are topped with
intensely flavorful fruit sorbet (left).
Robe is doing some
dazzling work, and if some dishes are a bit too
complicated for one plate, he is a chef to keep
one’s eye on as a true innovator. V is open for breakfast, lunch
and dinner daily.
❖❖❖ NEW
YORK CORNER
By John Mariani
CATHÉDRALE
112
East 11th Street (near
Broadway) The
transformation of New York’s East
Village—once called the Jewish Rialto for
the number of Yiddish theaters—has turned it
from a derelict if bohemian neighborhood to
one that now has near zero vacancy (and
soaring rents) and a vibrant restaurant and
night club scene as well as an Historic
District status, re-zoned for buildings’
height limits. Open daily for lunch and dinner. ❖❖❖ NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
THE
INNOVATIVE SICILIAN WINES OF FIRRIATO, Part Two By John Mariani Baglio Sorìa, Trapani, Sicily In so many ways, from climate to the fish in the sea, the east and west coasts of Sicily are very different, as further evidenced by the wines made on those coastal regions. Firriato, founded by Salvatore by Di Gaetano in 1984 and now involving his wife, Vinzia Novara, as CEO, their daughter Irene as chairwoman and her husband, COO Federico Lombardo di Monte Iato, pioneered modern viticulture around Trapani in the west and Mount Etna in the east. The family has also been involved with building first-class resorts on their properties: Baglio Sorìa, outside of Trapani, is a reclaimed farmers’ village overlooking the vineyards and the sea, with a restaurant and a “wine experience” tour and tasting; Calamoni, on the small coastal island of Favignana, has a secluded, very private residence in the middle of the vineyard just meters from the sea; Cavanera Etna in Etna is also set within the vineyards. I visited each of Firriato’s wineries with COO Federico Lombardo di Monte, who masterminded the company’s success in becoming certified as 100% organic and carbon neutral. In the Etna-based vineyards Firriato is growing a wide range of traditional grapes, including Nero d’Avola, Perricone, Nerello Mascalese, Zibibbo, Grillo and Catarratto, along with European varietals like Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. At dinner at La Riserva Bistrot (above) at the Cavanera estate, we began with Firriato’s first-rate sparkling wine Gaudensius Blanc de Noir ($30) made from Nerello Mascalese grapes in the méthode champenoise, with an Etna DOC. It is tingling and refreshing, showing off that volcanic soil, weighing in at 12.6% alcohol. Next up was a Le Sabbie dell’Etna Bianco 2018 ($25), under 13% alcohol, spends three months on the lees in stainless steel with “daily shaking” to distribute the flavors and add complexity. The red alternative by this name ($25) is a blend of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, which spends no time in oak and is expressive of a new, lighter style of red wine from Sicily, at 13.85% alcohol. With swordfish or veal, this is a wonderful match. The next wine was Cavanera Ripa di Scorciavacca 2017 ($45) is both literally and figuratively a mouthful, with grapes from a 50-year-old vineyard that spend a year in bottle and emerge as a bold white wine excellent with shellfish or poultry. The simply named Cavanero Rosso 2014 ($25) is a single vineyard wine with 90% Nerello Mascalese and 10% Cappuccio.
A visit to the Cavanera resort reveals an ancient
wine press room that shows how far modern Sicilian
wine making has come (right). Among Sicilian wines of this century, Nero d’Avola has made enormous strides at very reasonable prices per bottle. Favinia Le Sciabeche 2015 (no current price available) is a blend of Nero d’Avola with Perricone, with 13.5% alcohol and a bold, bright, lush burst of flavor on first sip. They also make a 100% Perricone called Sorìa 2016 ($22), a slightly bigger red that spends nine months in barriques and three in bottles, as well as a 100% Frappato that only sees stainless steel plus three months in bottle. Firriato is trying all sorts of blends in all sorts of ways, so its Santagostino Bagli Sorìa Rosso 2014 ($27) is an amazing price for this marriage of Nero d’Avola and the Syrah that gives it its bold fruit and velvety texture. It spends eight months in American barriques and, at 14.35% alcohol, is one of Firriato’s brawniest wines. L’Écru 2017 ($40) is made entirely of Zibibbo as a sweet passito dessert wine with a lemony nose that keeps the sweetness in check. It is excellent with dessert or Gorgonzola. I noted in my earlier article on Firriato that prior to the 1990s most Sicilian wines were made by farmers’ co-operatives and the wines they made were invariably oxidized through outdated viniculture methods. There are still co-operatves but they have largely modernized so that there are very few oxidized bottles any more. By the 1990s Firriato had become a template for just how well and how varied modern Sicilian winemaking and sustainable agriculture can be.
❖❖❖
DEPT.
OF WRETCHED FOOD WRITING 101: TRY NOT TO MAKE CHEESE SOUND LIKE DARLING LITTLE ANIMALS
“Orbs
of burrata ($14) were impossibly tender, hiding coyly
under a shaggy, idiosyncratic coat of shredded chard,
warm walnut vinaigrette, and fried and pickled
shallots.”—Julia Clancy, “Dining
Out: Karen Akunowicz’s Fox & the Knife,” Boston Magazine
(5/19) ❖❖❖
Any of John Mariani's books below may be ordered from amazon.com. The Hound in Heaven (21st Century Lion Books) is a novella, and for anyone who loves dogs, Christmas, romance, inspiration, even the supernatural, I hope you'll find this to be a treasured favorite. The story concerns how, after a New England teacher, his wife and their two daughters adopt a stray puppy found in their barn in northern Maine, their lives seem full of promise. But when tragedy strikes, their wonderful dog Lazarus and the spirit of Christmas are the only things that may bring his master back from the edge of despair. WATCH THE VIDEO! “What a huge surprise turn this story took! I was completely stunned! I truly enjoyed this book and its message.” – Actress Ali MacGraw “He had me at Page One. The amount of heart, human insight, soul searching, and deft literary strength that John Mariani pours into this airtight novella is vertigo-inducing. Perhaps ‘wow’ would be the best comment.” – James Dalessandro, author of Bohemian Heart and 1906. “John Mariani’s Hound in Heaven starts with a well-painted portrayal of an American family, along with the requisite dog. A surprise event flips the action of the novel and captures us for a voyage leading to a hopeful and heart-warming message. A page turning, one sitting read, it’s the perfect antidote for the winter and promotion of holiday celebration.” – Ann Pearlman, author of The Christmas Cookie Club and A Gift for my Sister. “John Mariani’s concise, achingly beautiful novella pulls a literary rabbit out of a hat – a mash-up of the cosmic and the intimate, the tragic and the heart-warming – a Christmas tale for all ages, and all faiths. Read it to your children, read it to yourself… but read it. Early and often. Highly recommended.” – Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling author of Pinkerton’s War, The Sinking of The Eastland, and The Walking Dead: The Road To Woodbury. “Amazing things happen when you open your heart to an animal. The Hound in Heaven delivers a powerful story of healing that is forged in the spiritual relationship between a man and his best friend. The book brings a message of hope that can enrich our images of family, love, and loss.” – Dr. Barbara Royal, author of The Royal Treatment. ❖❖❖
❖❖❖
FEATURED
LINKS: I am happy to report
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"I’ve designed this site is for people who take
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places as five-star experiences." THIS WEEK:
Eating Las Vegas
JOHN CURTAS has been covering the Las Vegas
food and restaurant scene since 1995. He is
the co-author of EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50
Essential Restaurants (as well as
the author of the Eating Las Vegas web site: www.eatinglasvegas.
He can also be seen every Friday morning as
the “resident foodie” for Wake Up With the
Wagners on KSNV TV (NBC) Channel 3 in
Las Vegas.
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET
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