Food & Wine
May 27, 2008
Farmers Market Product of the Week 05/24/08
I tasted a piece before buying a bunch and can report that agretti is a bit tart (sour), quite crunchy and tends to have a mild salty taste even when watered with POW. Young enough, it can be used raw as a salad green, but more normally it is trimmed from the root, and then blanched for 10 minutes before being incorporated into salads or used as a side vegetable. Also, from personal experience, I can attest to the importance of trimming away all of the light green bottom stalk, as it is woody and tough. The dark green needles are the delectable part.
Here is a nutritional breakdown in Italian, here's a recipe for a Fritatta with Agretti, and here is a link to the Mariquita Farm's Agretti page which is full of links and recipes including this priceless observation:
.... It was really tasty (though the kids thought I made pine needle salad)!
Posted by Paul at 07:17 AM | Comments (0)
May 17, 2008
Eat Molecular Gastronomy and Ruin Your Health
The charge is certainly sensational, and it will probably help sell copies of his book, but it doesn't appear to be entirely responsible. Santamaria is primarily complaining about E461 or methylcellulose. This is an interesting chemical that gels at high temperature and melts at low temperatures. This makes it possible to use in making hot ice cream. (Yummy). It is also used as a laxative when enough of it is ingested, but I'm not sure that makes it a health risk; especially as "like cellulose, it is not digestible, not toxic, and not allergenic." In fact, it appears to be a harmless, widely used food additive, and Sr. Santamaria appears to be blowing smoke.
Posted by Paul at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2008
Kitchen Blogging - New Toy (#2)
A Superbag is essentially a flexible chinois. You use it for straining, and if you get one with very fine 100-micron holes, you can use it for clarifying things such as consommés. Since it is flexible, you can squeeze it to wring out the moisture and flavor from whatever you are straining. They use them at El Bulli (see Chow.com link, below) to make almond milk, and there are reports on the web of using them to collect tomato water and other concentrated (and very clear) fruit juices.
I've used mine to clarify chicken stock, and to wring out all of the moisture from reconstitued porcini mushrooms when making mushroom stock. I think it's really neat, and like all really neat things, it causes me to think about interesting problems it might solve that I didn't even know I had.
There isn't much on the web about the Superbag, but I've collected what I could find in the links below, including a link to Le Sanctuaire in San Franciso, where they will be happy to sell you a Superbag of your own.
Chow.com story on strainers including the Superbag
Blog entry on the Superbag by Chef Shola Olunloyo of Studiokitchen in Philadelphia
eGullet Superbag thread
Buy your own Superbag at Le Sanctuaire
Other Sweet and Sour Spectator Kitchen Blogging Entries: New Toy (#1)
Posted by Paul at 03:51 AM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2008
Ten Trend-setting Bay Area Restaurants
Coi: the next step beyond the Chez Panisse straight jacket, Coi uses and showcases top quality local ingredients, but adds that extra touch - cooking with technique. Coi is the only Bay Area restaurant I know of that offers only a tasting menu. The food incorporates some modern molecular techniques, but never to the detriment of gustatory pleasure. Let's call it 'mainstream' molecular cooking.
Continue reading "Ten Trend-setting Bay Area Restaurants"
Posted by Paul at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2008
Memories
Alas, I almost never visit the new incarnation, having eaten there only three times in the past three years. The food is good, and there's really no logical reason not to eat there, so it must be illogical. It must be emotional. I miss the staff and the environment, I miss the good times, and the food that was Bizou. The picture is of a pork belly dish served the last night Bizou was open for business. (click on the pic for a larger version). I remember it was delicious.
Posted by Paul at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2008
Baby Artichokes and Shrimp
For 3 to 4 servings:
Continue reading "Baby Artichokes and Shrimp"
Posted by Paul at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2008
Orson Kiosk Now Open
The early morning crowd can get a 'citoyen croissant' as well as a fresh fruit scone, pain au chocolat, ham and cheese croissant, and a cinnamon roll. Other offerings include cookies, including a signature chocolate chip version, german chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, chocolate espresso, and ginger molasses. Vanilla and chocolate cupcakes are always available, with additional chef's choice flavors as the muse dictates.
I've tried an espresso and a cappuccino. The espresso had little crema and was too cool, and the cappuccino had too much milk and also wasn't hot enough. I'm hoping that these are teething problems. I think they'll eventually get it, and the pastries are certainly a lot better than what you can get at Starbucks.
Orson Kiosk
508 4th Street (at Bryant)
San Francisco, CA 94107
Postscript: My review of Orson - the restaurant is here. It is from a visit on opening night. I've visited a few times since then and will be posting further thoughts later. Enough later so that it doesn't look like I'm the Orson PR agency!! :-).
Update: A recent cappuccino (in the afternoon) was much better. There was less milk, making it a cappuccino instead of a latte, and the temperature was better. I do believe they are getting the hang of it.
Posted by Paul at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2008
Salt and Pepper
Posted by Paul at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)
March 31, 2008
How to Make Champagne
The opening paragraphs give an accurate flavor of what is to follow:
Continue reading "How to Make Champagne"
Posted by Paul at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2008
Deconstructed Meatloaf
This complaint is certainly something very new and surprising. It is a child of the obsessions of post-modern cuisine. It wasn't so long ago that putting multiple ingredients together was a way to make something delicious: beef stew comes to mind. Then chefs started 'deconstructing' the food. A few years ago, I had a particularly interesting Bloody Mary constructed/deconstructed by Ludovic Lefebvre consisting of frozen vodka crystals, tomato sorbet and celery foam. This trend along with the recent super infatuation with farm-branded terroir-driven ingredients as pure as the driven snow has led to the complaint above where someone is upset when meatloaf is served atop mashed potatoes. Ridiculous, I say. Where's my Hungarian Goulash?
Posted by Paul at 06:57 AM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2008
Best Cookbooks
Continue reading "Best Cookbooks"
Posted by Paul at 08:19 AM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2008
Bet Too Cool, Rat
Don't despair! Some kind soul has posted an absolutely stupendous ENGLISH version of Carmina Burana. (Hit reload when you reach the page to ensure proper synchronization of the music and images. From The Rest is Noise)
P.S. The post title will make more sense after you have clicked through.
Posted by Paul at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)
Two Internet Tips for the Food Obsessed
A particularly interesting IM (instant message) source for people who like to eat fish, but who wish to do so without depleting what stocks we have left is Fishphone. They have a neat service that will tell you about the sustainability of most any species. This can come in handy when you are standing in front of the fish counter and trying to buy dinner and save the world at the same time. Just send an IM to 30644 with "fish" followed the name of the fish you are wondering about. Wait a few seconds, and back will come the answer. I sent "fish ono" and the Reply was: "(GREEN) few environmental concerns: wahoo are not targeted directly but are caught as a bycatch in other fisheries; HEALTH ADVISORY: high mercury content."
If the cupboard is bare, and you are too famished to drag yourself to the store, there's another new website that will be helpful. GrubHub will help you "Discover who delivers." If you live in Boston, Chicago, or San Francisco, you can use GrubHub.com to find every restaurant that delivers to your abode. Just enter your address and choose from the list. You can sort by distance or cuisine. I was gratified to find that I can get sushi, dim sum and greek food delivered.
By the way, have you ever noticed how few seafood restaurants deliver?
Posted by Paul at 08:45 AM | Comments (0)
March 04, 2008
Kitchen Blogging - New Toy
Sometimes I can still resort to the old formula, as when I bought a truffle, and simply had to have a truffle shaver regardless of the fact that it was likely to be a one use item. (Though I have loaned it out... good circle of friends, eh?) But some times, I find a gadget that is simply a great idea and which I might use constantly. Such is the case with the fine mess skimmer pictured at the right.
If you are making a stock, you will have been told that "a hallmark of good stocks and broths is clarity; never boil and always skim." The normal tool for this is a small ladle. There are even specialized ladles with curved lips that is supposed to make this process easier. Forget it. The ultimate tool for this job is an ultra-fine mesh skimmer.
This thing makes it super easy to skim the gunk off of simmering stock. It so fine-meshed that I suspect there are examples of grease and oil that wouldn't flow through. I found this one in Chinatown for $2, but if you don't have a Chinese 5-and-10 nearby, you can get a much fancier Calphalon version from Amazon.com. You may not think you need one of these, but you are wrong.
Posted by Paul at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)
March 03, 2008
Effects of Exercise
Posted by Paul at 03:51 PM | Comments (0)
February 17, 2008
Lunch: Duck Breast Salad and Omelet
Ingredients
One smoked duck breast
Four eggs
Three tablespoons sour cream
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One tablespoon minced fresh chives
Three tablespoons chopped shallots
Salad greens
Vinaigrette dressing
Method
- Peel the skin and fat from the duck breast. Place the skin and fat into a skillet over medium-low heat and render the duck fat until the skin turns into crispy crackling (about 10 minutes). Cut skin crackling into small pieces and set aside. Retain the duck fat.
- Beat eggs with the sour cream, chives, salt and pepper until well mixed and fluffy
- Heat some of the rendered duck fat in a skillet until hot. Add one-half of the shallots and cook for a minute or two, until softened. Add half of the egg mixture and half of the cracklings to the pan and make an omelet. Repeat for the remainder of the shallots, eggs and cracklings.
- Dress the salad greens with the vinaigrette. Split the salad between two plates; thinly slice the duck breast and split between the two plates, arranging on the top of the salad greens. Place an omelet on each plate next to the salad and serve immediately.
Posted by Paul at 02:02 PM | Comments (0)
November 25, 2007
Brussels Sprout Leaves
Another thing we miss by not wandering around in the Brussels sprout patch, is the knowledge that these plants have enormous leaves, rather like those of a fig tree. Even though the Iacopi Farms stand at the Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market offers Brussels sprouts in season, and although they often display the stalk with the sprouts and leaves, I had never taken note of the leaves until yesterday. I overheard Chris Consentino (chef at Incanto), who was holding a stalk replete with leaves and explaining to a companion how he was hoping to get a supply of the leaves because they would be delicious with some olive oil and anchovies. (!) This had never occurred to me, which probably explains why he is a chef and I'm wasting part of my Sunday afternoon writing about overheard conversations.
Continue reading "Brussels Sprout Leaves"
Posted by Paul at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)
November 04, 2007
Butternut Squash Soup
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced carrot
Nutmeg, salt and freshly ground black pepper
About 4 cups chicken stock
One butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed (1-inch chunks)
Heat olive oil in large pot, add onion, celery and carrot and cook until onion is translucent. Add squash and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until squash is tender. Use a blender and puree the soup in batches until it is completely smooth. Return blended soup to pot. Stir and season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Serve as is, or get fancy and stir in some mascarpone cheese or crème fraîche as a garnish.
The hardest part about this recipe is peeling the raw squash (hmmm, maybe that's why people roast it). The chicken stock, was made from a Thomas Keller recipe and used chicken feet. which I'm sure made a big difference (it sure made a difference in time)!
Of course, as soon as this was done, Indian Summer arrived here in San Francisco, and barbecuing while drinking chilled rosé wine seemed top of mind instead of eating winter squash soup, but things will get back to normal soon enough.
Posted by Paul at 06:50 AM | Comments (0)
August 07, 2007
Things to eat with Sherry - Part 2
My first effort at this was about two years ago when I blogged about Amontillado and Idiazabal which is truly a great match. Today, we take up the next example, a salad of fennel, mushrooms and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese matched with fino sherry.
First, the salad. You will need a medium fennel bulb, 1/2 lb. of mushrooms, salt, pepper, excellent olive oil, a hunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, a mandolin, and a vegetable peeler. (Optional is a knit kevlar glove to keep your fingers and other soft tissue out of the mandolin).
Use the mandolin to slice the fennel and mushrooms into slices about 3/32-inch thick. Build the salad in layers in a roomy bowl, first a layer of fennel, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Next a layer of mushrooms, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Continue until you are out of vegetables. Finish by shaving the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top with the vegetable peeler.
Now the sherry. I matched the salad with a Puerto Fino sherry, which is a pale, delicate, very dry, crisp and tangy wine. Puerto is one of the coolest sherry producing areas, and the resulting wine is higher in acidity than is common for other sherries. Well chilled, the wine goes great with the salad, especially the olive oil, cutting through the fat and highlighting the flavors. This is a lunch that is hard to top. Use a good grade of Spanish olive oil and pretend you are in Spain. If you ignore the Parmigiano-Reggiano, it won't be difficult.
Posted by Paul at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)
August 05, 2007
Update: Red Blossom Tea Company
Red Blossom is family owned, and has been in Chinatown for over 25 years. The senior Mr. Luong started the business, and it is now run by his children. Red Blossom is an importer of tea and has direct relationships with growers in China and Taiwan. When you buy some Spring 2007 Longjing Supreme (Ming Qian Dragonwell Panan Supreme $380/lb.) you can be sure of the provenance and quality, as Peter (the son) was likely at the tea farm during the harvest. You might buy some Jade Kuan Yin Reserve Grade and be interested in how it was roasted. Peter can tell you, as they import and roast their oolong teas. The teas are arranged on the wall in families (White, Green, Oolong, Black) and by oxidation and roasting within families. You can learn a lot about tea just by studying how the canisters are arranged. You can learn more by talking with the staff, and they love to talk about tea.
If you insist on buying Earl Grey or such things here, you will be able to do so, as they are in business to sell tea and they have what people want. But this is the place to learn about and procure artisan green and oolong teas.
Let's fact it: I'm a tea fanatic. It's great to have a place where I can talk to another fanatic who is as interested in supplying high quality tea, as I am in getting my hands on it.
Red Blossom Tea Company
831 Grant Avenue
San Francisco, California 94108
Phone: (415) 395-0868
Open 9:30am to 6:00pm, Daily
Posted by Paul at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2007
The Parking Lot at Foodie Ground Zero
Several times during the year, the cars in the parking lot are replaced with tents, benches and chairs, and the Center of the Food Universe becomes the location of (as Paul Bertolli puts it) a "seasonal outdoor Bacchanalia." These events include Oyster Bliss, Provence Day, and a Beajuloais Nouveau celebration. Yesterday the event du Printemps featured the sausages and salumi of Paul Bertolli, celebrating the first year of operation of his new Fra'Mani Handcrafted Salumi company.
Continue reading "The Parking Lot at Foodie Ground Zero"
Posted by Paul at 03:20 PM | Comments (0)
May 27, 2007
Iron Chef Battle Garlic Menu at Incanto
Soon after the show was aired on April 22nd, Incanto announced they would be offering the Iron Chef Menu from May 18 to June 30 on Friday and Saturday evenings. I sent out a call for action to the local Gourmet Corps and made a reservation for four. Last Friday the Corps arrived at Incanto at 7:00 p.m. expecting an interesting experience. One of the highlights of the Food Network show had been watching Consentino persuading Jeffery Steingarten to suck out the squab brains. I was really looking forward to the evening.
Continue reading "Iron Chef Battle Garlic Menu at Incanto"
Posted by Paul at 07:55 PM | Comments (0)
May 26, 2007
Farmers Market Product of the Week 5/19/07
As it turned out, they ended up as breakfast, flavoring for my newest Spanish Food discovery: Revueltos, which are supercharged scrambled eggs, adding olive oil and interesting flavorings. Americans scramble eggs in butter and put some salt and pepper in the dish and think they've got something. The Spanish sautée flavorful things in olive oil and then softly scramble eggs around that ingredient, and they really do have something.
I cut the wild asparagus into 1-inch pieces and sautéed it with some chopped garlic in olive oil. I added some smoked paprika, salt and pepper and broke two eggs into the pan and started scrambling, looking for soft curds. Less than I minute later, I turned the eggs out onto a plate and breakfast was served. It would have been better with some mushrooms and chopped chives. I'll try that next time.
Posted by Paul at 02:20 PM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2007
Before today's food fads were fads
A New Yorker cartoon by Alex Gregory.
It's funny, but it makes you think. How much of the current fad for "natural" food is driven by facts, and how much is driven by ideology? Almost all of the issues in today's culture wars remind one of the old disagreement between Rousseau and Voltaire. Today's version is: "Will science and technology kill us or save us?"
Posted by Paul at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2007
New Cookbook - Spainish Food
I once spent a good deal of time and $$ buying French cookbooks and experimenting. To a lesser degree, I did the same with Italian and Indian. Ho hum, been there, done that. What's new in food? Spain!!
The New Spanish Table is a fantastic cookbook. It has about 300 recipes from all regions of Spain, and has a good balance betwee traditional and modern. There are even a few contributions from Ferrán Adriá of El Bulli.
Last night I tried one of the tapas recipes as an entree: Salmon with Vanilla Oil and Salmon Roe.
Paraphrasing:
Split two fresh vanilla beans and cut into 1-inch pieces. Place in a glass bowl and cover with 1/2 cup grapeseed oil. Cook on high power in a microwave oven for 45 seconds. Cover, and infuse for six hours. Strain.
Take a 1-inch thick center cut salmon fillet, rub with olive oil and place on a dinner plate, and cover with plastic wrap. Cook in a 180-deg F oven for 15 minutes. Let the salmon cool.
Slice salmon into 1/4" slices and arrange on plate. Place some salmon roe on each slice and drizzle with the vanilla oil. Highly recommended!
Posted by Paul at 11:16 PM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2007
Farmers Market Product of the Week 12/30/07
This product of the week is about twelve weeks too late, but since it is so interesting, I've resurrected it from my Zombie post collection. What you see here (click on the picture for a larger version) is a box of Buddha's hand citrons (aka Buddha's fingers citron, or fingered citron). They are an Asian citrus fruit, and I am fascinated by them, first because they are so wild looking, and second because I can't figure out what they might be good for. You can't get "Buddha's hand juice" out of them because they don’t have any juice inside; when cut open, they reveal only pith surrounding empty space.
Continue reading "Farmers Market Product of the Week 12/30/07"
Posted by Paul at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2007
Periodic Table of the Grapes
Cabernet, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah, and even Palomino Fino I know. But could I list 184 different grape varieties and classify them by color, body and acidity? Not a chance, but if I had DeLong's Wine Grape Varietal Table up on the wall, I'd have a somewhat better chance... though it would take me a little time to memorize everything.
I saw this at Benovia winery and made a note to look it up when I got home. I'm glad I did, it's a major cool item for wine geeks! It is a lot cheaper than the Oxford Companion to Wine (3rd Edition), and unlike that massive tome, you can hang it on the wall.
The DeLongs have also started The Wine Century Club for people who have tasted 100 wine grape varieties. At the moment there are less people in this club, than world-wide Masters of Wine! Download your membership application form here.
Posted by Paul at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2007
Elementary My Dear Simplex
Tweedledum and Tweedledee went to sea to make some tea. Being proper British types they would, of course, boil the water in a whistling Simplex tea kettle. But it wasn't as simple at that.
You do know that there are two basic types of Simplex tea kettles, don't you? One is made for electric stoves (never mind about it being highly unlikely that the Tweedles had an electric stove in that boat) and has a flat bottom, and the other is made for gas stoves and has a skirt around the bottom.
"It's marketing," snuffed Tweedledum, disdainfully, "there's nothing to it." "It gives them an excuse to charge more for the one with the skirt." "Balderdash!" replied Tweedledee, "if you trap the hot gas on the bottom of the kettle instead of letting it fly away up the sides, you'll concentrate the heat, and the water will come to a boil faster."
Continue reading "Elementary My Dear Simplex"
Posted by Paul at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2007
Was Julia Child Correct About Cooking Wine?
T oday's New York Times has an article entitled: It Boils Down to This: Cheap Wines Work Fine. Various experiments were performed, including using Chateau Suduirant for a custard and Two Buck Chuck for Risotto al Barolo.
Given that prior experience has established that cooking with corked wine is fine, I'm not surprised by the results reported in the article.
(If you are link-following impared today, Julia is quoted in the article as having said: "If you do not have a good wine to use, it is far better to omit it, for a poor one can spoil a simple dish and utterly dbase a noble one.")
Posted by Paul at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)
March 03, 2007
Just Say No to Cabernet
A recent entry on Michael Bauer's (SF Chronicle food critic) blog suggests that California Cabernet Sauvignon is not food friendly. Wags who have followed Bauer's reviews over the years might reply that yes, it is true that Cabernet Sauvignon does not work particularly well with a beet salad with goat cheese, but in many places in the United States, and yes even in California, people eat steaks.
In Bauer's defense, however, there is the evidence of my wine collection. Armed with statistics from CellarTracker!, I can report that while CA Cabs and French Bordeaux make up 26 percent of my collection, of the wines I drank last year, only seven percent were Bordeaux and six percent were Cabs. 87 percent weren't Cabernet Sauvignon based. And at my favorite restaurant in San Francisco, Daniel Patterson's Coi, it is possible to go through an entire twelve course tasting menu without encountering a single dish that would pair well with a big, alcoholic, oaky California Cab.
I drank more Pinot Noir last year than Bordeaux plus CA Cabs. To me, it is more interesting, and it certainly pairs better with food. Although the trend in modern CA Pinot's is also towards higher alcohols and more extraction, thankfully there are still many producers offering more traditional wines. And our final defense against food-hostile wine is the grape itself: no matter what you do to a Pinot Noir, you cannot make it taste like Screaming Eagle.
Posted by Paul at 08:44 AM | Comments (0)
January 15, 2007
Short Ribs for Dinner
I am making Daniel Boulud's Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine with Celery Duo for tonights dinner.
With a recipe that starts off with: Pour three bottles of wine into a large saucepan set over medium heat. When the wine is hot, carefully set it aflame, how can you go wrong??? Seems like the perfect use for those new 16%+ alcohol wines.
Posted by Paul at 03:03 PM | Comments (0)
December 16, 2006
Farmers Market Product of the Week 12/16/2006
The folks at Mariquita Farm may not be the best at spelling Italian, but they are super at seeking out and growing really interesting vegetables. This weeks winning entry in the "what was interesting at the Farmers Market today?" contest is the beautiful light-green Radicchio Pan de Zucchero, or Sugerloaf Radicchio.
I thought I was doing well to know that radicchio came in two shapes: round (Palla Rossa) and long (Rossa di Treviso). I somehow assumed that it all was burgandy colored, but that was wrong. Indeed, without even getting into the marvelous color of the Sugerloaf radicchio, The Italian Cooks' Seed Company lists six types.
I tasted a leaf of the Sugarloaf and it is crunchy and bitter just like it's darker colored relatives. The folks at the stand suggested that if the bitterness bothers you, the heads can be grilled or roasted and then become sweeter. I'm sure that I'll be experimenting with olive oil, salt, pepper and roasting, but I'm also tempted to take advantage of the light green color of this variety and to put in a salad. Everyone will assume that it is sweet like romaine. The surprise could be delicious.
Posted by Paul at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2006
Short Ribs for Dinner
It gets cold this time of year even in San Francisco. It is true that "cold" here means 15F above freezing, but it's still relatively cold and it still calls for emergency measures like chili, or even better —because it goes well with wine— braised short ribs
I purchased ~2.5 lbs of Prather Ranch short ribs and searched around for a recipe. I ended up adapting Mario Batali's very classic one as follows:
In a Dutch Oven, brown seasoned shortribs in olive oil. Remove to plate, add diced onion, carrot, and celery and brown. Add diced tomatos, red wine, veal stock, oregano, rosemary, and thyme -- scrape up and dissolve frond from bottom of pot. Add reserved meat, bring to boil, cover and keep in a 375 deg oven for two hours, or until meat falls from bone.
Remove meat from pot & reserve. Strain sauce, pressing on vegetables to extract maximum liquid. Degrease sauce, then reduce to concentrate flavors. Thicken with arrowroot.
Serve shortribs finished with sauce and garnished with a gremolata made from parsely, lemon zest, and freshly grated horseradish.
This should be served with a wine big enough to handle the strong flavors. A meal of short ribs with horseradish gremolata is a perfect excuse to break out a big Aussie Shiraz (I used a Marquis Philips Shiraz 9, and also used it for the braising wine).
'Twas good, and I'll try it again soon!
P.S. Mario's recipe specified Brown Chicken Stock instead of Veal Stock, and didn't specify degreasing, reducing, or thickening the sauce, but my Julia Child training kicked in and I couldn't help myself.
Posted by Paul at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2006
Farmers Market Product of the Week 12/09/06
Since my stop at Golden Gate Meats also included purchasing some prime beef filet (for beef tartare) at $31/lb. this looks quite reasonable. I've had elkburgers (which I also bought here) and they are quite tasty, very lean -- yet flavorful.
Posted by Paul at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2006
The New Cooking
I believe in progress, and I believe that cooking and eating are benefiting greatly from new ideas and that today is the best time in the history of the world to eat.
In the developed world, we are affluent enough that cooking can be an art, and todayy we are benefiting both from the availablity of foods from throughout the world and from a great leap forward in technology and creativity.
Recently, four of the most important figures in this 'new cooking' published a manifesto in the British Guardian newspaper. Here is a summary.
Continue reading "The New Cooking"
Posted by Paul at 01:03 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2006
Farmers Market Product of the Week 10/28/2006
Ferry Plaza Food Market, Far West Fungi. All seasonal produce is good, but some seasonal produce is more equal than others!
Posted by Paul at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2006
Is Parkerized the New Homogenized?
I'm a bit late to this controversy, but since the argument seems to be unending, it doesn't matter when I notice it out of the corner of my eye and pick it up. It will still be there guttering along on some wine-focused BBS next week, next month, and next year. This particular controversy is just like Washington, D.C., about which George Schultz said "Nothing ever gets settled in this town."
The sparkle this time was provided by an interview Jancis Robinson did with the St. Helena Star while she was visiting the Northern California wine country for a series of MW seminars. (Jancis Robinson on words, works, and wine gluts). Her insight (or heresy, depending on how you feel about it) was commenting on how critics influence wine. She observed that: "Probably America's two big wine commentators, Parker (Robert M. Parker, Jr.) and the Wine Spectator are doing the dictating." Robinson added, "I happen to think it's a shame that these two have such similar tastes as I honestly don't believe they are shared with the overwhelming majority of wine drinkers, and especially not by most good winemakers. One of the saddest things I hear, and not just in California, is a wine producer admitting that they make wines they don't actually like themselves, but they make them - much bigger than their own taste - because they think they'll get high points."
Continue reading "Is Parkerized the New Homogenized?"
Posted by Paul at 07:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 14, 2006
Diatom Chardonnay - Mad Scientist at Work
Wine is infused with tradition. Some wine drinkers would feel set adrift without a cork screw, and some winemakers would feel as naked as a cockroach in the light without French oak barrels. But what tradition can we use to pigeonhole a fellow who talks about his wine using terms like simplicity, samurai, small, solitude, serenity, tranquility, and refinement, and then makes a 16.2% alcohol chardonnay and boasts of it's laser intensity? This is someone forging his own tradition.
Greg Brewer, a partner in Brewer-Clifton, and the wine-maker at Melville has launced a new project he is calling Diatom. Simplifying things perhaps a bit too much, this is a project to make Chardonnays that will go well with seafood... laser-focused seafood like raw oysters or sashimi. But Greg is a great writer and we don't have to simplify, we can let him speak for himself:
Vineyards selected for the diatom project are sought out for their ability to serve as voices for place. Through the small and specific sites chosen, there will be a journey through solitude, tranquility and the transitory nature of life. The challenge is to subtract all extraneous elements to arrive at the utmost level of simplicity, serenity and refinement. In order to maintain this desired purity, fermentation is carried out at a very cold temperature in neutral vessels to retain the most primary attributes of the fruit.Furthermore, malo-lactic is inhibited to avoid the distraction of that secondary level of evolution. The resultant wine is then aged on its non-disturbed lees for health and protection, and removed just before there is any risk of autolysis which could impart nondesirable yeast-like characteristics into the wine.
Continue reading "Diatom Chardonnay - Mad Scientist at Work"
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July 23, 2006
Some Like it Hot - NOT ME / Why Prosecco is Cool
So, is it hot where you are? It sure is hot here. No one in San Franciso has air conditioning and when it gets close to 90 we all sorta drag our feet and wonder around like Zombies wishing we were at Stinson Beach. What to do? Well, you know what they say, "when in Rome, do as the Roman's do." I mean, "when in Venice, do as the Venicians do." That's not quite right, either. When it's HOT, do as the Venicians do. There. That's got it
When it's hot in Venice, they drink chilled Prosecco, a delicious, slightly bitter, sparkling white wine from the Veneto. Yesterday, while draging myself home from the scorching 95-degree (35 deg C) streets of Sausalito (from a trip to “Fish." ... perhaps I'll get enough energy to blog on that, too), I stopped in at K&L Wines and bought a bottle. Yummy. Here's a tasting note:
Continue reading "Some Like it Hot - NOT ME / Why Prosecco is Cool"
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July 14, 2006
Are You a Supertaster?
Some people have more tastebuds than others, making them "super tasters." However, from a food appreciation standpoint this isn't necessarily a good thing. Having more tastebuds doesn't allow allow super tasters to acheive quicker food orgasms than the rest of us, it intensifies taste. The sensation most often reported as an indication of supertasting is a low bitter threshold: something that seems bitter to a normal taster can seem overwhelmingly bitter and repulsive to a supertaster. Being "Super" is not always a blessing (see, for instance: Man of Steel Woman of Kleenex).
For more on tastebud counting see Test your tastebuds. For some ruminations on what this might mean to food and wine critics, see Are Supertasters Good Candidates for Being Humean Ideal Critics?
P.S. Since my favorite snack when I was in highschool was Hydrox Cookies washed down with Schwepps Bitter Lemon, I strongly suspect I am not a supertaster.
Posted by Paul at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2006
How to Kill a Lobster
I recently reported that Whole Foods had decided to discontinue the sale of live lobsters on "humane" grounds. It seems the general public isn't to be trusted to "humanely" kill a lobster. Proving the theory that you can find everything on the Internet (Al Gore didn't invent the Internet, it was really Jorge Luis Borges, in "The Library of Babel"), I have recently discovered Trevor Corson's Lobster Blog. A recent post: How to Kill a Lobster, Redux reveals how Whole Foods intends to kill the crustaceans it will sell for its processed lobster meat. Not surprisingly, it appears to be potentially more profitable. It also involves some food processing technology from the military which provides a nice data point for my belief that best ideas are infinitely transmutable. In the Information Age, ideas are the alchemist's treasure.
If you read the blog entry, be sure to read comment #1 where my anonymous hero of the day comments
.... In any case, I lose patience very quickly with all this "humane killing" [malarky]. All you need to do is watch animals eat each other in the wild to see how it's supposed to be done!
P.S. This Lobster Blog post about how Anthony Bourdain feels about killing lobsters is also a must read!
Posted by Paul at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2006
Winterland Closing
Sad news on the restaurant scene: Winterland is closing next Saturday (July 15th). This is a tremendous and creative place and it is a damn shame that more San Franciscans weren't interested in putting a little spice in their life. Here is my recent review.
Posted by Paul at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2006
HFCS: Bogeyman du Jour
Today's New York Times has a very interesting article in the Business Section entitled: A Sweetener With a Bad Rap. It is well worth reading. Here are some highlights:
Continue reading "HFCS: Bogeyman du Jour"
Posted by Paul at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)
June 30, 2006
Michael Bauer's Blog
Michael Bauer takes a lot of hits from the San Francisco Foodie crowd, but I think it is because they all enviously wish they had his job. I just stumbled on to his blog: Michael Bauer: Between Meals and found it to be both engaging and informative. Though I already visit enough blogs every day, I'm going to read it. Give it a look. Recommended
Posted by Paul at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2006
Food in Literature - I
The greatest marriage of food and literature I know of is Babette's Feast, the short story by Isak Dinesen, but there are other intersections of good food and literature. I've been reading "My Antonia" by Willa Cather. It is a story about pioneer life on the prairie and the relationship of young Jim, the protagonist, with Antonia one of the daughters of an immigrant family, the Shimerdas. In the section below it is the first winter for the Shimerdas and they have sunk into a deep poverty and are in danger of starving. Jim's family visits and leaves them with a good supply of food. In gratitude, they receive something in kind...
Continue reading "Food in Literature - I"
Posted by Paul at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2006
A History of the Ice Cube
Why are there no ice cubes in Europe? This article from Practically Edible: The Web's Biggest Food Encyclopaedia tells the tale.
Posted by Paul at 07:26 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2006
Fine Wines of California circa 1969
Recently, I have been reading about the history of wine in America. While I have collected a couple of good overviews (American Vintage: The Rise of American Wine, and A History of Wine in America from Prohibition to the Present) the book that has been the most fun is one providing some original research: The Fine Wines of California: A discriminating buyer's guide for the consumer and connoisseur, by Robert S. Blumberg and Hurst Hannum; Doubleday & Company, Inc. Garden City, New York 1971.
This book shows just how much better off we are today than just 35 years ago. A large section of Fine Wines of California consists of many tasting notes made in 1969, and it is interesting to speculate on the utility of tasting notes (going back into the early 1960’s) not being published until three to five years after the wines have been released. The implication is that California wines stayed in distribution a lot longer then than they do now.
Thirty-five years ago, we didn’t have the 100-point scale, Robert Parker, or the commonly accepted tasting note vocabulary, and Fine Wines in California meant something quite different than it does today.
Continue reading "Fine Wines of California circa 1969"
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June 15, 2006
Your Food is not Politically Correct
Whole Foods has banned the sale of live lobsters in their stores. Somehow keeping the lobsters alive a bit longer seems more humane than having them killed en masse in a factory, but my moral compass is obviously defective because this whole business doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Is a lobster more sentient than a chicken? Is selling live lobsters less humane than selling dead ones????
And, how about potatos? They dig THEM up out of the ground. Perhaps light to a potato is extremely painful. Take a look at this: Don't Slay That Potato, though you really should listen to it.
Also, D. Keith Mano's black satire The Bridge is seeming less and less absurd.
Posted by Paul at 08:49 PM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2006
Wine Wiki
I am certainly not the first to point this out, but EncycloWine, a wiki devoted to wine, has the potential to be really cool.
The success of wikis is really interesting. Without the internet, the wiki couldn't exist. Plus, wikis, it seems to me, are incontrovertable proof of the deep seated cooperative social nature of human beings.
P.S. If anyone reading this is new to the Planet Earth, the best example of a wiki is Wikipedia.
Posted by Paul at 08:43 AM
June 10, 2006
What I Didn't Buy at the Farmers Market Today
Asparagus. It wasn't too expensive. It wasn't bruised. It wasn't the wrong color. It just was offered. Not one of the vendors had any asparagus for sale. The season for fresh asparagus in Northern California has come to an end.
Tomatoes. Although I had a discussion with the fellow at the Dirty Girl Produce stand about their wonderful dry farmed tomatoes, I didn't buy any. It wasn't that they were pricey, or green, or overripe, or too ugly, it isn't tomatoe season yet and there aren't any locally grown tomatoes to be had.
King Salmon. I didn't buy any of this, either. It has been very windy in the Bay Area this week and Larry at Shogun Fish said that none of the boats had gone out. Salmon has gone up in price because of the short season, but this week, fresh locally caught King Salmon is not available at any price.
The fact that I couldn't buy these items today didn't annoy me, it left me feeling content. I've see more than a half-century of springs and I am familiar with their rhythms. I am used to the progression of the seasons and of the years. Like all things alive, fresh food has a season. The fact that I didn't buy some things at the market this week is good, and is how it should be.
There is no season such delight can bring,
As summer, autumn, winter, and the spring
-William Browne
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May 21, 2006
Clever, Those Chinese: Tea Leaf Technology
Some expensive oolong teas come with the whole tea leaves rolled into little dried balls. Since I'm not one willing to take things at face value, I've been thinking about this.
In our cynical age, one might be forgiven for thinking this is some kind of marketing trick to provide "product differentiation," but the Chinese have been doing this for hundreds of years—long before schools had Departments of Marketing. I've always suspected that the little rolled-up tea leaves had to do with the processing of tea where the leaves must be crushed to release enzymes for fermentation. It turns out this is true, but why roll the leaves into a ball... why not just roll them longitudinally between your fingers to break the plant cells?
Yesterday, while enjoying some Ti Qwan Yin at Samovar Tea Lounge in Yerba Buena Gardens, the answer appeared. The rolled-up dried tea leaves, when prepared using the traditional Gon Fu tea service of multiple short infusions, unroll a bit each time they are infused. As they expand they expose more surface area to the water, thus making up for the flavor leached out in the prior infusions. So, rolling the tea leaves into little balls allows constant flavor over multiple infusions, a sort of early application of organic nano-technology! The picture below shows some oolong tea after the first infusion, and after the fourth.
Posted by Paul at 03:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 07, 2006
Garlic - the new convienence food
I will bet you don't think you need three pounds of peeled garlic? Am I right? Yes, I thought so. But I wouldn't be asking the question if there wasn't a catch. You need three pounds of peeled garlic, because that is the smallest size, and at Costco, the three pound jar of Christopher Ranch garlic is only about five bucks anyway, and when garlic is a convenience food (and when you have three pounds of it, it is VERY convenient) there are neat things you can and will do with it.
I know, I know, you don't have to roll your eyes at me and look away as though I were crazy. I'm serious. For instance, if you have three pounds of peeled garlic, you can make garlic confit. Actually, you can make a reasonable amount of garlic confit about twenty-five times.
Garlic confit is raw garlic that has been slowly cooked submerged in oil. It loses its harshness and becomes soft, mild and nutty. Take 30 to 40 peeled garlic cloves (see why a jar of peeled garlic is useful?) and put them in a small sauce pan. Cover the cloves with neutral oil like canola, and heat until you see small streams of bubbles rising through the oil. You will need very low heat to keep the oil from boiling -- a diffuser is handy. Cook the garlic until it turns golden and rises to the top of the oil. This will take about 40 minutes. Strain the oil into a container and save in the refrigerator for when you need some "garlic oil" for a salad dressing or a condiment. Save the garlic cloves in a covered container in the refrigerator.
Now what? Well, you can make Thomas Keller's "Spinach Sautéed with Garlic Confit." For four servings, start with about a pound of washed baby spinach (Costco is a great place to get this, too). Get your biggest skillet and melt three TBS of butter in it. Add one-quarter cup of minced shallots and cook for a minute or two to soften. Add eight cloves of the garlic confit and smash them up. Add as much spinach as will easily fit in the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Use tongs to turn the spinach while it sautés. When the spinach wilts enough to make room, add more spinach, tasting and seasoning as necessary. Don't overcook. Serve immediately. You'll love it.
(Spinach recipe adapted from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Cookbook).
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April 11, 2006
Tea Tasting
Sometimes when I am in a particularly impish mood, I quote Oscar Wilde's praise of simplicity: I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best. The problem with this simple creed is that the search for the best can consume all of your time, so you have little time left to be satisfied! Thus it is with my exploration of tea.
My father always drank tea and avoided coffee. He didn't have the same pathological aversion to coffee as Oscar Progresso (not his real name), but when Dad said to his young son, "Coffee is nasty and bitter, how can folks drink that stuff?" it was obvious to the young man that coffee was indeed nasty and bitter, so he did as Dad did and drank tea. Unfortunately, the tea that Dad consummed (Lipton tea bags) was also nasty and bitter, a fact that he hid by liberally adding sugar and milk to the overbrewed and massively tannic black tea. It took me a while to realize this unpalatable fact, but eventually I did and I started searching out teas that were elegant and sublime. This search started down a blind alley where I found Bigelow teas but it evenutally led to the fine oolong and green teas of the Orient.
Oolongs I liked almost immediately, green teas took longer to appreciate, but now I have a larger tea collection than most supermarkets and could make a pretty strong showing against the tea selection at Peets. Oolongs are constantly refreshing and there seem to be an unending number of them to try. Here is the most recent....
Taiwan Ming Xiang Oolong Tea. Tea leaves are very dark green/brown and rolled tightly but irregularly with stems protruding. Dry leaves have a reticent nose smelling oh so faintly of day old grass cuttings and green twigs. First infusion made at 200 dF for 150 seconds, producing a reddish-gold-brown liquor. Nose is similar to dry tea but more pronounced. Palate shows good bright acidity and mouth-coating tannins leaving a pleasant slightly metallic finish which lingers on eventually (60 seconds +) producting a slightly sweet aftertaste. Very Good+
UPDATE: Here is an earlier post about tea in Chinatown.
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April 10, 2006
Threeline Grunt
I was gliding along thinking I knew quite a bit about sushi, and then last night, at Sanraku Four Seasons on Sutter, I see they have "isaki" as a special. Isaki?
What is that? Well, the English translation is "threeline grunt." You know, I think I prefer the Japanese, "isaki," don't you? (BTW, the flesh is silvery and very firm, almost crunchy).
And, except for the length, I also prefer the latin: "Parapristipoma trilineatum." And then there is the French, "le Pristipome," and the German "das Isaki" (how German, right?).
Perhaps you are puzzled? So, I've never heard of isaki. Is that so bad? How many sushi places are going to have that? So the truth is, even though I had never heard of isaki before, I was still feeling pretty knowledgible until I saw this:
Now, be honest... have you heard of "kibinago" (Banded blue-sprat)? Or, how about "bu-dai" (Whitespotted parrotfish)? See what I mean?
P.S. I have blogged about the amazing sushi glossary before.... see Sushi Reference but it keeps getting better!
Posted by Paul at 02:57 PM
November 29, 2005
Chez Panisse and the Deprived Childhood
To continue the theme started in this previous post....
The "I don't get [Zuni | Incanto | Chez Panisse | Delfina]" meme seems be a recurring one. (See, for instance, here on the eBob BBS). It makes me wonder if all of the folks who love these "simple but delicious" places grew up in cooking-challanged homes where the nightly fare alternated between, Velveeta Mac & Cheese, Chef Boyardee canned ravioli, and pressure cooker corned beef and cabbage? Of coures, no one really grew up like that...... did they?
Also, here is a more philosophical take on the argument.
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November 09, 2005
Hot Stuff, Cold Stuff, Neat Stuff
One complaint sometimes lodged against the modern American male is that every project is an excuse to buy a new tool. I'm worse than that—I don't actually need a project: I'll buy a neat tool and then find a project for it. When I saw the hand-held infrared themometer on the shelf at Costco (only $50! It's CHRISTMAS!!!), I knew with a certainty far beyond faith, experience, or divine revelation that I needed it. The fact that I didn't know what I needed it for was completely immaterial.
The thing itself is kind of like a hand-held barcode reader, but it displays the temperature of whatever you point it at. It has a 10-to-1 cone ratio, so if you have it 10 inches from an object, it measures a 1-inch diameter circle. You just pick it up, pull the trigger, and one second later, it displays a temperature.
Continue reading "Hot Stuff, Cold Stuff, Neat Stuff"
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November 08, 2005
The Chez Panisse Straitjacket
Daniel Patterson had a piece in Sunday's New York Times: To the Moon Alice? where he shines a light on the dark secret of the Bay Area food scene, namely the stultifying conformity imposed by the 30-year old culinary revolution led by Alice Waters.
Continue reading "The Chez Panisse Straitjacket"
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October 02, 2005
Matsutake Dobin Mushi
Now I know what a matsutake mushroom is. Like most things these days, I first came across the word matsutake somewhere on the Internet. Someone was extolling the grandeur of this noble fungi and commenting on the impressive amount of treasure that must be parted with to acquire same. The sum of $300+ per pound in Japan stuck in my mind, as I am certain it would stick it yours!
Besides their rarity, they had a tradition associated with their consumption. Just as every autumn white truffles are shaved onto plates of pappardelle slathered in butter and Parmesan cheese, chunks of matsutake mushroom are simmered in rich dashi broth with ginko nuts and seafood, then garnished with a piece of sudachi (a Japanese citrus) and served from a dobin mushi pot.
So when I saw some matsutake mushrooms at Far West Fungi in the San Francisco's Ferry Building, the $32/lb. price (ten times the cost of "ordinary" mushrooms) wasn't much of a hindrance, because compared to $300/lb. it seemed like the bargain of the century. I bought 6 ounces, and when I got home, I sat down to research various approaches to Matsutake Dobin Mushi.
Continue reading "Matsutake Dobin Mushi"
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September 18, 2005
Exploring the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
This is my favorite time of the year at the farmers market. Finally things are ripening, and the farmers bring in a wide range of items to drool over. The end of the summer is pepper time, and the peppers were out in force on Saturday.
For a few years Happy Quail Farms has been selling Pimientos de Padrón, a small pepper from Spain that make a popular tapas when fried in olive oil and sprinkled with coarse salt. I love them, but at $6 for a small bag (4 oz.?) they have been expensive. This weekend, Mariquita Farms was selling 8 oz. baskets of these delicious little peppers for $5. Hooray for competition, I say! Mariquita was also selling some "Heart Pimento Peppers" which are an interesting heart-shaped pepper quite close to a red bell pepper in taste (perhaps a bit sweeter).
Happy Quail Farms remains the Pepper King, though. They had a gorgeous display of colored sweet bell peppers including chocolate and purple, in addition to red, orange and yellow. This is the place to get supplies for a dinner party salad that might end up being too pretty to eat.
Continue reading "Exploring the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market"
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September 17, 2005
San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market - Photo blogging
My Saturday morning ritual finds me walking to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and buying things until 1) my backback fills up, or 2) I run out of money. Normally when I go to buy something, I know what I want and there is no "shopping." But the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is an amazing place, full of mysterious and wonderful things. I always tour the entire market, because I never know what I will find. And I often find things that I have never seen before, much less tasted.
Today I took some pictures as I explored the market. I sometimes describe visiting the Ferry Plaza market as a descent into Food Porn. You can decide if I am right by viewing my photos here.
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August 27, 2005
All the Tea In China(town)
One would think that San Francisco is a pretty good place for an afcianado of tea to live. Such a person wants excellent quality and a wide selection of tea, and it wouldn't hurt if there were tea experts to talk to, and places where tea could be tasted. San Francisco has enough tea shops that it meets these requirements admirably, and in Chinatown, you can check out several places in the space of an hour or two.
Here are my favorite places and a few comments about each (they are ordered from south to north as you might visit them when entering Chinatown through the Grant Street Gate):
Continue reading "All the Tea In China(town)"
Posted by Paul at 07:24 PM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2005
How to Eat Sushi
Noriko Takiguchi has a five-part series Sushi Lesson: How to eat sushi properly. Noriko's blog is devoted to the San Francisco Bay area and this series covers things like the correct order of sushi eating, what to do with soy sauce, and the role of history and discipline in the sushi experience.
Part 1: Read the Signs
Part 2: Some History
Part 3: The Encounter
Part 4: The order of sushi eating
Part 5: Something about soy sauce
Part 6: Wasabi
Part 7: Rice and Sushi
After you become an expert sushi eater, you'll need an expert sushi restaurant. Ino Sushi fits this bill perfectly, down to details like serving sushi directly on the counter.
UPDATE: Also see this earlier post on a sushi reference site ("Sushi Encyclopedism").
UPDATE 2: Parts #6 & #7 added, above. 08/20/2005
Posted by Paul at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2005
On-line Wine Map Library
Kobrand, a big multi-national wine producing and distributing conglomerate, has a really nice set of Flash-based maps of the major wine-growing areas on their website. They are really top-notch and are detailed enough (at least in Burgundy) to note that Corton-Charlemagne is produced both in Aloxe-Corton and Pernand-Vergelesses. Right-clicking on the Kobrand maps will produce a pop-up tool-menu that will allow zooming in for more detail.
Don't waste too much time on these. They are guaranteed to provide hours of distraction for the dedicated wine geek!
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May 08, 2005
Master of Wine Study Group Corvina Overview - Ristorante Bacco, San Francisco, CA USA (3/28/2005)
Seven students of wine got together at 7:30 p.m. to help a friend study for her Master of Wine test. Tonight's theme was wines made from Corvina.
Posted by Paul at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
Bon Voyage Jeff Cassetta (Some Palmers & Etc..) - Fringale Restaurant, San Francisco, CA USA (5/4/2005)
In San Francisco for business, Jeff Cassetta had organized a superb Bordeaux tasting at Masa's the night before. Jeff isn't the sort of fellow to let opportunity pass by, so he had offered to bring a 1983 Palmer to a follow-up dinner the next night, but as he had to catch a red-eye flight back to Michigan, he didn't want the proceedings to last quite as long as the previous night's adventure (2am). So Jeff, Christine, Gene and I (all fugitives from the seven-hour Bordeaux Blowout the night before) gathered at 7:00 p.m. at Fringale for dinner, conversation and some wine. We started with some Champagne which I unfortunately did not take any notes on. But then it was on to the..