Matters of Taste

Ringing in the New Year - With Justin Isosceles Reserve

About a year ago a friend gave us a bottle of Justin 2007 Isosceles Reserve. I’ve been waiting – and salivating – for just the right occasion to open it, and found that occasion last week on New Year’s Eve.

                                         

The wine, a Bordeaux-style blend from Central Coast California, the Paso Robles region, was one of the most delicious I’ve ever tasted. The intense aroma of cassis and black plums (and whiff of vanilla) met me more than halfway, that is, the minute I opened the bottle. The concentrated flavors of blackberries and currants were almost chew-able. Though extremely fruit-forward, the wine was balanced and refined.

Fans of French Bordeaux may scoff at my enthusiasm, preferring more reserved, austere wines as they do. But I’m not ashamed to say I flipped over this bold, extraordinarily rich, self-confident wine and can't wait to taste it again. (Justin Isosceles Reserve 2007 received 94 points from Wine Enthusiast. It sells for about $100. Though I've heard that it is only available to the winery’s Wine Society members, I did find a few bottles for sale on-line.)

Before planning the New Years Eve dinner, I read the tasting notes on the wine and wondered what the heck one eats with a wine that’s called “tremendous,” “impressive,” “powerful,” “brilliant” and “gorgeous?” We decided on our family’s traditional Christmas Day turkey dinner, which we didn’t have on Christmas Day this year, and readied an organic nine-pound bird, for the outdoor Ducane rotisserie. I was looking for pure, hearty flavors but nothing rich or fussy to compete with the wine. The crackly, well-burnished bird, with mashed potatoes and shaved Brussels sprouts sauteed with shallots, bacon and toasted hazelnuts, was a deliciously satisfying choice.

                                          

However, the logistics of the adventure proved a little dicey. Since the thermometer registered below zero that night, my husband had to pile on ski clothes each time he ventured out to baste the bird. As it happens, the Wall Street Journal picked the same day to do a feature on winter barbecuing. "The Life of the Party: Your Grill" offers tips, recipes and anecdotes about dinner parties in Fargo, ND.  

WOW WINES -- CONTINUED

I’m making a New Year’s Resolution to branch out into wines that I don’t know much about and/or have never tasted.  Yes, I will continue to bust out the Meiomi Pinot Noir when I don’t have time to match a wine perfectly with dinner, and on challenging days when I just want a wine that makes me smile. 

The rest of the time I’ll be hot on the trail of wines new and different and delicious. Like the Zaumau Garnatxa-Samso that I tasted recently at Jamonera in Philadelphia.  The menu called it “Bright fresh fruits, well-extracted flavors and soft tannins.” Our served called it “One of my favorites.” I was sold.

Made by Carles Escolar, a rising star winemaker in Spain’s Priorat region, this is a scrumptious, food-friendly wine that held its own throughout a tapas extravaganza that included spicy fried peppers, sweet fig jam, creamy squash croquettes, and crispy fried eggplant.

Garnatxa is better known to us as Grenache, one of the most widely planted varietals in the world, a grape with appealing spice and berry flavors, but lacking serious acid and tannins. (Hence, it is usually used in wine blends.)

Samso is another name for the Cariñena grape, also called Carignan in France where it’s blended with other varietals in the Languedoc region.

When I researched my new friend on-line, I discovered that this 2009 Zaumau blend is “an amazing value from a prestigious wine region.”

I also discovered what makes it so delicious:

Vinified and aged in stainless steel only (no oak), this knockout bottling grown on the region's famous licorella soils (huge chunks of slate that look like broken pieces of sidewalk) is incredibly sassy and light on its feet, showing stunning clarity and purity of fruit. With a very floral, violet-filled nose, and brambly black raspberry fruit, this is pure deliciousness in a glass and is priced in a way that you can indulge in it every day of the week. That's very hard to say about most Priorats.

The Priorat region is not exactly a household word in the U.S. Wine production from the region has always been, and continues to be, very small. Prices are notoriously high, though today some wineries are making wines in the $20-$25 range. I found my Zaumau Garnatxa-Samso on-line for $17.

I'll Drink to "Thymes Like These"

Last month I blogged about the inspired “Thymes Like These” cocktail that’s served at Restaurant Eve in Alexandria, VA. I was lucky enough to taste the herbal, citrus-spiked creation recently at a State Department event introducing the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership.

                                               

Bartender/Craftsman Todd Thrasher was shaking up this quirky quaff at the party. Not only did it taste great –- bright, bracing, aromatic -- but it expanded my drinking horizons. Until then I was only vaguely familiar with one of the ingredients, Cocchi Americano, but learned from Thrasher (and subsequent research) that it’s a fortified white wine aperitif, created in Italy in 1891 but widely introduced in the US only in 2010. The Moscato-style wine is infused with cinchona bark (the original source of quinine), citrus peel, spices and other botanicals.  The aperitif is crisp and citrusy with a pleasing hint of bitterness.

 

                                                      

I wasn’t familiar with Citadelle gin either, since I do most of my summertime G&Ts with Tanqueray or Hendricks. (Citadelle is a French gin, complex yet subtle, that’s aged in Cognac barrels. It’s a blend of about 18 botanicals and doesn’t have the in-your-face juniper flavor of many other gins.)

And, I had never contemplated tossing fresh thyme into a cocktail.  

But Thrasher, whose creations are dubbed “relentlessly innovative” by StarChefs.com, loves to incorporate seasonal ingredients into his creations and prides himself on the 14 varieties of house-made bitters at his bar.

He was kind enough to share his recipe, so there’s no need for us to be thirsty in “Thymes Like These.”

"Thymes Like These"

1oz Citadelle gin

1 oz Coccchi Americano

3 tablespoons Thyme-Lime Mixture

Drops of Kaffir-Lime Bitters, to taste

Place all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

 

Thyme-Lime Mixture (adapted from Thrasher's recipe)

1 cup simple syrup

Large bunch of thyme, washed and patted dry

¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice

Heat simple syrup until it comes to a gentle boil. Add thyme leaves. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Strain through a sieve or chinois. Add lime juice and cool before using.

Note: Kaffir-Lime Bitters can be purchased, on-line, as such emporiums as Cocktail Kingdom.   

Building a Better ..... Latte Spoon????

 

                                              


Really?

Really!

If anyone out there has an explanation for WHY the world needed this addition to the silverware drawer, I’d love to hear it.

This (delicious) latte was served to me at Gasthof Fürberg on Lake Wolfgang in Austria’s Salzkammergut region.

Hey Bartender, Another Round of Hugos!

Europeans have always loved the Holunder plant, using the fragile white blossoms to make tea, syrups and sodas, and to cure the common cold. (Holunder translates, in English, as elderflowers.)

But today the pretty shrub is a regular rock-star on the bar scene. The Hugo cocktail is everywhere -- a splash of elderflower syrup, Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine), a couple of crushed mint leaves, maybe a lime wedge, and a topper of sparkling water. It’s the rage in Italy, Austria, Germany, where it’s dubbed the “Szenegetränk” this summer, meaning the “scene drink.”  

No one could tell me why it’s called the Hugo, but the word on the Web is that it was created last summer in Südtirol, the idyllic northern Italian area that’s home to the Dolomite mountains and where the holunder plant blankets hillsides and meadows for a few weeks each June.

The low-alcohol cocktail is elegant, subtle, with just a hint of natural sweetness, a whisper of fruit. The flavor is tough to describe. I guess I’d say there’s a fleeting pear presence, a hovering of citrus.

                                     


I stumbled upon this delicious drink on the first night of a recent hut-to-hut trek in the Dolomites. Our merry band of hikers had rendezvoused in Teis, Italy (a hamlet of about 500 people) that afternoon. During dinner at a nearby hotel, our server recommended the Hugo to one of our group who asked for "something different.”  In the weeks that followed, we saw it promo’d on bar menus, in pastry shops, on billboards, in magazines and even at mountain-top huts where hikers clicked glasses to celebrate their successful climbs.

The Hugo is different from the elderflower cocktails that are popular in the U.S. today. Most of those use St. Germain, a liqueur made from elderflower blossoms. These trendy quaffs are delicious too, but they’re heavier and boozier than the Südtirol’s Hugo which uses syrup instead of liqueur.

As an aperitif, the Hugo piques the palate. In the middle of a warm afternoon, it’s a refreshing pick-me-up. One German Website I found said the Hugo “tastes like summer, sun, and vacation.”

Bartender, I’ll have another.

 

 

WOW WINES --- Continued

Here's one more for my running tally of wines that:

"…make my eyes open wide and my mouth break into a big smile. It’s usually a fruit-forward wine, a fragrant wine, a wine that goes well with food. It’s also usually a good value, often under $15, rarely over $30."

For a wine to stand out in the large, festive family dinner party I attended over the weekend in Nashville, TN it had to be damn good. Uncomplicated. Delicious.  Food-friendly. In-your-face fruity.

And that’s exactly what I found in the 2008 Tenuta Curezza Salento Rosso PRINE.

This Primitivo/NegroAmaro 50-50 blend (hence, PRINE) is from Puglia in Italy’s heel. Primitivo is the Italian Zinfandel; NegroAmara (“bitter black” ) is a local grape usually used for blending.

Because this wine spends no time in oak barrels, it’s all about the fruit – lush, aromatic, plummy, in-your-face fruit.  It was a fitting partner to our dinner at MafiaoZa's, a parade of elegant, thin-crust pizzas with creative toppings, including the yummy DeMartino with imported salami, sun-dried tomatoes, goat cheese, homemade mozzarella, arugula and basil chiffonade.

The Curezza PRINE is an inexpensive wine, we’re talking about 12 bucks a bottle. Happy to be gulped, not sipped. And delicious with pasta dishes and pizza, burgers, ribs and other backyard grill fare. Check it out.

MafiaoZa's, Nashville's most beloved pizzeria, is located at 2400 12th Avenue South. 

 

One Affogato, Please; Hold the Theatrics

I guess it stands to reason that if someone is going to add flash and dazzle to the very simple, sublime creation called Caffe Affogato (or Gelato Affogato al Caffe), it’s probably going to happen in Las Vegas.

Italians usually play this luscious creation straight: a scoop of vanilla gelato and a shot of espresso straight from the machine. (This tantalizing pic is from EarleRecipes.com.)

But at Fleur, the Vegas offshoot of chef Hubert Keller’s San Francisco prix-fixe paradise, Fleur de Lys, the heavy cream dessert base is spiked with Bailey’s liqueur, for starters.  Then, it’s turned into ice cream in a dramatic, LN2-fueled, table-side show. (That’s liquid nitrogen to those of us who barely squeaked through high school chemistry, and it is capable of turning cream into ice cream in a Las Vegas minute.)

Our server, a young woman who didn’t look real comfortable with the task, poured the Bailey’s cream mixture into a metal bowl, and added the LN2, creating a theatrical vapor cloud. She then worked furiously with a whisk to add some volume to the mixture as it solidified. After piling the resultant "chunks" of ice cream into a dessert dish, she poured on the espresso which was, by then, no longer hot.

Like most things in Vegas, this affogato was more about style than substance. Fun to watch the production, and tasty enough, too (how bad can ice cream swimming in espresso be?) But the presto-change gelato was significantly icier and less creamy than the real thing. And the pricetag – 15 bucks – was totally Vegas.

Fleur, which is in the Mandalay Bay Hotel, has an appealing menu of small and large plates, and plenty of “fun” food, such as onion soup “shooters,” black angus sliders, and Parmesan Paprika Popcorn. I liked the Gallic version of Caesar salad with brioche croutons, gruyere cheese and truffles; and the tarte flambee, Alsace’s answer to the pizza, with onion, bacon, truffle and crème fraiche.

 

I'll Drink to That: Favorite Cocktails of 2011

I was feeling left out of the party when both of my sons called to rave about the Poquito Picante cocktail at New York City’s Yerba Buena restaurant. So, of course, the restaurant was my first stop when I got to the city last February.

The straight-up concoction of gin, Cointreau, cilantro leaves, cucumber, jalapeno, and lemon juice was every bit as good as it was cracked up to be. Maybe even better.

I loved the playful mingling of spice, cool, herb and citrus. I loved the way people were drinking Poquito Picantes for the bold flavors not for the booze.  (Photo by Rebecca McAlpin for The New York Times.) 

I loved the whole East Village Yerba Buena bar scene, with its exuberant host, animated crowd, and engaging bartender muddling the cilantro, cucumber and pepper, and shaking up the icy potion for the appreciative audience. (There’s also a Yerba Buena in the West Village.)

The Website Metromix had this to say about the Poquito Picante:

“A textbook handling of heat in a cocktail; the subtle spice adds body and texture rather than sharpness or pain, and serves as a distinct flavor before giving way to other notes, like the cucumber’s freshness. A fire that warms rather than burns you.”

I had this to say about it: “Another round, please.”

(Check out my original post about the Poquito Picante for the recipe.)

 

                 ************************************************************************************

While visiting Charleston for the Association of Food Journalists’ annual conference, I went to FIG restaurant for award-winning chef Mike Lata’s food. I went back again, and again, for his drinks. I mean, c’mon, clearly I wasn’t’ going to leave town without making a serious dent in FIG’s clever, perfectly executed Make-Your-Own Manhattan menu.

Joined by a dozen other food writer friends from around the country, I tackled the list of 15 bourbons  (and a few ryes), eight types of sweet vermouth, and 13 types of bitters, mostly homemade, over the course of three nights. Like a kid in a candy store, I made the acquaintance of Old Overholt Rye (Lata' s favorite), Dolin Rouge Vermouth (and I thought Cinzano was the only game in town?), and Angostura orange bitters. Served straight up in old-fashioned “champagne” glasses, each creation was a delicious swirl of sweet, smoke, herb and tang.

FIG’s cocktail menu also featured riffs on the Negroni, a classic Italian aperitif of Campari, sweet vermouth and  gin that was invented in Florence, Italy in the early 1900s. Calling it the “short and perfect aperitivo,” the menu lists nine versions including the Rhubarb Negroni with Farmer’s Gin, Zucca Rabarbaro (syrup) and Dolin Rouge vermouth;  the Negroni Sbagliato with Campari, sweet vermouth and Prosecco; and the Hummingbird (Beefeater, Campari, elderflower, Nouilly Pratt and crushed ice). You can check out my original post on FIG to read more about cocktails and Lata's terrific food.

 

Celebrating the Food and Drink of 2011

OK, so it’s the beginning of March already. Who says a “Best of the Year” list has to hit the blogosphere in January?

I figure it’s never to late to share the yummiest discoveries of a year, a day or a decade. So, starting with this post, for the next week or so, I’ll dish up all that was sweet, savory and sensational in 2011. Maybe you’ll discover a restaurant, a chef, a cocktail, a dessert that will make your Best of 2012 list.

                      **********************************************************************************

                                   APPETIZING APPETIZERS of 2011

Call them what you will --- appetizers, tapas, nibbles, bar snacks, or small plates --- the best of the genre was at Coppa in Boston’s South End. This hip, and wildly popular, café by two of Boston’s most celebrated chefs, Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette, packs ‘em into a long, spare room with no “décor” to speak of, no pretense, just plenty of personality and pizzazz.  There’s usually a wait at the crowded bar before you’re shoehorned into a tiny table, but the procession of stellar share-ables that comes next makes it all worthwhile.

I loved the white bean bruschetta with sage and EVOO from Olio de Melli; and the fried risotto balls stuffed with fontina. I was crazy about the springy meatballs made of short-ribs, pork belly and the trimmings from house-cured lardo; and the homemade orecchiette pasta with lamb, fava beans, mint and pecorino. (The menu changes often. This photo, by Keller & Keller for Boston magazine, shows rigatoni with goat ragu, mushrooms and green olives.)

I flipped over the wood-fired Pepe Bianco, a white clam pizza with bacon and Vidalia onion. Heck, even the “Sides” were irresistible. Marinated cauliflower was doused with shallots, thyme, Ricotta Salata and coarse salt; and roasted sweet peppers were pepped up with Turkish spices, feta and aged balsamic vinegar.

Oh yeah, did I mention that there’s also an impressive selection of “salumi,” including rabbit “porchetta" and duck prosciutto? Or a half-dozen cheeses from Formaggio that’ll knock your socks off? Or a couple of “Family Style” dishes such as roasted and confit chicken with sunchokes and kale.

Coppa’s wine list partners the food with panache. It’s a fascinating line-up of lesser-known Italian treats, with many by the glass and a few by the carafe. A good friend and I spent three blissful hours at Coppa, doing our very best to eat everything on the menu. I guess I’m glad we failed…..that leaves plenty for me to enjoy next time.

 

             *********************************************************************************************

 

I also loved the “small plate” approach at Zahav, a "moderan Israeli restaurant" in Philadelphia’s Society Hill neighborhood. Chef Michael Solomonov updates classic Middle Eastern/Israeli dishes and serves them in a stylish, high-energy bistro where people make a sport out of sharing as many menu items as possible.

That’s not a tough task when you’re talking about yummy ground duck kebabs with foie gras and pistachios; sizzling chicken shashlik with figs, almonds and carrot pilaf; out-of-this-world fried cauliflower with chives, dill, mint and garlic; and several types of lip-smacking hummus, served with laffa, a soft, hot-from-the-wood-burning-oven flatbread that was, in and of itself, a reason for me to go back to Zahav, soon.

(The fried cauliflower photo is from FussingWithForks.com, a classy Website by “part-time foodie, full-time photographer” Jason Varney.)

Desserts are also out of this world. But more about that in my post about 2011's Best Desserts.

Zahav’s prices are remarkably reasonable --- many plates cost about $6. The cocktail list is impressive; the wine list includes treats from boutique Israeli wineries.

 

 

What Do Caviar and Banana Peels Have in Common?

Chef Rafa Mora Sanchez takes the adage “Waste Not, Want Not” seriously. And diners at Café Milagro, on the road from Quepos to Manual Antonio National Park in Costa Rica, are glad that he does.  

On a recent night at the Café,  the chef served his own colorful version of picadillo, the Latin-American hash that usually consists of seasoned ground meat, diced vegetables, olives or raisins. His starts with the peels from unripe green bananas called plantains.

“We grew up very, very poor, near San Isidro de El General,” Rafa explained in Spanish, with my sister-in-law, Ceci, translating . “My grandmother was cooking for a very large family and to make enough picadillo for everyone she had to use the peels of platanos.”

At Café Milagro, Rafa neatly dices the plaintain peels and adds finely diced squash, red onion, sweet peppers, a bit of soft crumbled chorizo, cumin and garlic. Grated coconut adds a hint of sweetness, cilantro lends an herbal note. It’s well seasoned, but not spicy.

When we were there, he served the unusual picadillo with a terrific piece of seared yellowfin tuna (local and fresh at this time of year) and paper-thin corn tortillas for scooping. But I loved the way the firm, perfectly diced pieces of fruits and  veggies felt on my tongue and opted to eat the stuff straight from a spoon ---- just like one would an expensive caviar.

Café Milagro has been a fixture in Quepos for almost 20 years. Created by a couple of young, adventuresome gringos, Adrienne Pellizzari and Lance Byron, it was at first a coffee-roasting operation in the heart of Quepos. Later, with the addition of tables and chairs, it became a funky little café  beloved for its café con leche and pastries made by a local bakery.  Later, an “outpost” Café opened a couple miles away on the road to Manuel Antonio. (The Website’s history of the company reads like an appealing “coming of age” novel.)

It’s the Manuel Antonio Café Milagro that now serves dinner, in an enchanting little garden lighted with Christmas tree lights.  The menu is typical “Tico”  with an emphasis on super-fresh fish, rice dishes and other Latin-American specialties, such as pork tenderloin with Mojo Criollo (olive oil, lemon, garlic and cilantro.) Rafa's patacones, the smooshed, twice-fried plantains (also known as platanos and tostones) are fabulous. And I'm told he does a terrific puree of ripe plantains with bacon, onions and cilantro

Though the delicious banana peel hash is an attention-grabber, it’s Café Milagros’ coffee that has put it on the map over the years. Adrienne takes full advantage of the different types of beans coming from Costa Rica’s many microclimates. All of her beans are hand-picked on (mostly) family-owned farms, micro-processed and often sun-dried. She, Lance, and now employee Randall Rojas, a Tico, still roast the beans in the same clumsy contraption (the Website calls it "an archaic, locally made one-of-a-kind coffee roaster") that Adrienne was using 20 years ago.

I admit…I’m a coffee snob, pretty much convinced that only the Italians know how to make a great cup of coffee. (And, indeed, the best cappuccino I ever had was at a little café outside the Tuscan town of Colle di Val d’Elsa; the best espresso, at the Hotel Greif in Bolzano, Italy.) 

But I was astonished by the rich, sweet  fragrance of  Milagro’s ground espresso,  and thrilled with the caramel and citrus notes of the brewed Tarrazu Reserva Especial.  (Tarrazu, at 6,000 feet, is considered the premier coffee-growing region in Costa Rica.) Café MIlagro coffees, ground or whole bean, cost about $12.95 for a 12-ounce bag and can be ordered on-line. There’s a flat shipping rate of $9.95 for any number of bags, to anywhere in the U.S.