MARIANI’S
Virtual
Gourmet
Jo
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IN THIS ISSUE TRAPANI, SICILY By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER YUCO By John Mariani CAPONE'S GOLD CHAPTER EIGHTEEN By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR SO YOU WANT TO RUN A WINE TASTING By John Mariani ❖❖❖ On this week's episode of my WVOX
Radio Show "Almost Golden," on Wed. August
4 at 11AM EDT,I will be
interviewing David Mikics, author
of Slow Reading in a Hurried Age.
Go to: WVOX.com.
The episode will also be archived at: almostgolden.
❖❖❖ TRAPANI, SICILY By John Mariani Palazzo Cavaretta
By
virtue of bright, often harsh sunlight, the
cities of Sicily, like Trapani, enjoy a
natural bleaching that gives them a soft,
light-reflecting freshness no matter how old
they are. When the moon is full the buildings
glow. Before World War II, much was in
decrepit shape, and the city was heavily
bombed. So say what you want about the
onslaught of tourism, but without it much of
Europe would lack the resources to restore
their cities to a luster they had not had for
centuries.
NEW YORK
CORNER
YUCO 33 West Eighth Street 646-707--409 By John Mariani
While
the name of Yuco refers to the Yucatán, the
highly creative cuisine of chef Christian Ortiz
(himself from the Dominican Republic) might be
better termed Meso-America, since so many
influences are incorporated into the food. You
don’t find much Berkshire pork belly or wagyu
beef in Mexico, and lobster is of the California
spiny species not that of the North Atlantic. So
you can cast away any sense that Yuco is a
traditional Mexican restaurant and just enjoy
all the wonderful ideas Ortiz has come up with
at this handsome, two-room restaurant with a bar
up front for 32 guests and a dining room for 30. Open for dinner
Tues.-Sun. ❖❖❖
CAPONE’S
GOLD
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Katie and David arrived back in New
York late that night, and the next day was
Sunday.
*
*
*
The rumrunning connection
made sense, for Bimini and the Bahamas were
among the first islands from which Caribbean rum
was illegally and secretly transported by boat,
even before Prohibition began. When it did
begin, estimates of contraband onboard the
rumrunner boats went as high as $200,000 per
shipment, often to Miami but later up and down
the East Coast. © John Mariani, 2015 ❖❖❖ NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
SO YOU WANT TO RUN
A WINE TASTING By John Mariani
•
Never serve more than six wines. Less
is hardly worth the effort and more
becomes a bore.
•
Will it be a blind tasting? If so,
cover the bottles with a paper bag to hide the
labels, making sure the shape of the bottle is
not evident. (Pinot noirs, Chardonnays and
rieslings always come in distinctively shaped
bottles.) Number them and keep the list out of
sight.
•
If it’s not a blind tasting, rather than
have a random selection of wines, choose one
region, say Tuscany, or a single estate, say,
Jordan cabernet. If the former, a horizontal
tasting of a single vintage will give
interesting insight into the differences of
wines from the same region; if the latter, have
a vertical tasting, that is, from different
vintages of the same wine.
•
Use standard wineglasses for all the
wines and pour only about an ounce or so to
begin with. Later your guests can enjoy whatever
they like most.
•
Have plain water available to help clear
the palate between wines.
•
Crackers or bread is traditionally made
available, also to clear the palate, chosen
because they are bland and do not interfere with
the wine flavors. But I believe it is much
better to serve crackers like Saltines or bread
like focaccia (left) whose salt works as
salt always does—to perk up flavors. I’ve also
found that a little fat, along with the salt,
brings out much more depth in wines you taste,
so put a sheer amount of salted butter, or olive
oil, on the bread. It works wonders.
•
If you are serving the wines with
dinner—and I heartily recommend you do so—keep
the food very, very simple, like mild cheese,
chicken broth, a steak, or, if you’re tasting
white wines, fillet of fish.
•
You might have guests taste all the wines
prior to dinner—remember, you’re only sampling
six—then match them with dinner. For the real
point of tasting wines is that they go best with
food, and with few exceptions, aren’t worth much
without food, not even a glass of Champagne
without at least a canape.
•
During the discussion, try to keep the
conversation lively (remember, you didn't invite
the wine snobs to lecture anyone), and it’s a
capital idea to have a few choice observations
from great writers handy for toasts like these: -“No nation is drunken where wine
is cheap.”—Thomas Jefferson. --“Let us have wine and women,
mirth and laughter,/ Sermons and soda-water the
day after.”—Lord Byron. --“Wine,
madam, is God’s next best gift to man.”—Ambrose
Bierce. --“It’s a naïve domestic Burgundy
without any breeding, but I believe you’ll be
amused by its presumption.”—James Thurber. --“It was a very Corsican wine and
you could dilute it by half with water and still
receive its message.”—Ernest Hemingway.
•
Print out the names of all the
wines for guests to take home.
• Finish
every drop of every wine you open.
❖❖❖
WON BY DEFAULT “Why Cincinnati Is the World Capital of Mock
Turtle Soup.”—Keith Pandolfi, Cincinnati.com
7/21 ❖❖❖ Sponsored by ❖❖❖
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. ❖❖❖
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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
NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Publisher: John Mariani. Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani,
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