My gig at the World Trade Center, remembering September 11

September 10, 2011

Looking back on September 11, 2001, I know I am not the first to think of it as a catastrophic tragedy comparable to the Sack of Rome in the 16th century. But, today, as I reminisce about the gigs I played at The Greatest Bar on Earth — 1 World Trade Center, NY NY 10048, on the top floor of the north tower — I realize that, like the Sack of Rome, the tragedy of 9/11 marks a cultural watershed: it’s as if our frenetic quest to document our lives through digital images and information began after September 2001 (in the same way that art historians and literary scholars point to the Sack of Rome as a cultural turning point, when there was an overarching shift in our self-awareness).

And so I dug up some old photos and fliers from my pre-9/11 world when my band (above) was still called Les Sans Culottes (today Nous Non Plus).

Back then, we played at The Greatest Bar on Earth nearly once a month.

Remember the World Famous Pontani Sisters? We did a lot of shows there together, with the Pontanis on stage with us. “Wear go-go boots and a miniskirt and get in free!” That pretty much sums up the spirit of those days in New York. We played some wild shows back then.

Those were wild, fun years in my life, when I was still in my early thirties and had moved to NYC just a few years previously. Back then, my day gig was writing about wine for La Cucina Italiana. The band played roughly 50 gigs a year in NYC, where we had a great following. It was a super fun time (look at the other bands that were playing the Bowery Ballroom, above, where we often were the headliners). Seems like a lifetime ago now. It was…

On my September 11, I awoke in Brooklyn and learned that something had happened — although I didn’t know yet what — when I called a colleague in TriBeCa to confirm a 9 a.m. morning meeting. I didn’t have a TV back then. And so I tuned in NPR on WNYC on my Mac over the internet. As soon as what was happening sunk in, I picked up the phone and called my mother who was still sleeping in California, three hours behind NYC time.

“Mom, sorry to wake you.”

“That’s okay, honey.”

“Something’s happened in New York. Something bad. I’m not going to be able to call you later. But I’m calling to let you know that I’m okay.”

“Okay, honey. Thanks for calling.”

She hung up and fell back asleep. The whole world had changed.

By the end of the day, singed shards of paper, business documents, rained gently down on my neighborhood in Park Slope, fluttering as they fell back to earth. I’ll never forget that image.

I was very lucky that I didn’t head into the city that day. I would have been on the 2 or 3 train, passing under the WTC.

G-d bless all the people who suffered and lost and gave their lives that day.

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Remembering September 11…

May 2, 2011

Above: This shot is from Arlene’s Grocery in Lower Manhattan but that’s pretty much what I and the French band looked like in 2001, when we used to perform regularly at The Greatest Bar on Earth (Windows on the World) in the north tower of the World Trade Center.

“There’s no fucking meeting today,” said the French voice on the other end of the line. “Turn on the news.” It was 9:00 a.m. and I was heading out the door from my apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn to a 9:30 a.m. meeting with a client on Desbrosses Street in TriBeCa. Thank goodness I didn’t get on the 2 train. I’m not sure if the second plane had crashed at that point but by the time I was able to tune into WNYC on my Mac (I didn’t own a television then), the south tower had been hit as well.

I picked up the phone and called my mother in California. She was still asleep. “Something’s happened, mom,” I told her. “You won’t be able to reach me today but I’m calling to let you know I’m okay.”

“Thanks for calling, honey,” she said yawning. She went back to sleep and would only learn what had happened when she woke up. By that time, my cellphone (my only phone) no longer worked.

My upstairs neighbor and landlord Janet knocked at my door. She was in tears and hysterical. She asked me to sit with her in her living room until her husband and son could make it home. I did.

Later in the day, singed pieces of paper — from all sorts of documents — gently rained down on our neighborhood. All of the fire fighters from our local fire station — just a few blocks away — perished in the tragedy. In the days that followed, we learned that some of the terrorists had resided just a few blocks from the house where I lived. I passed in front of their mosque nearly every day on my way to the YWCA gym where I had a membership. On my way home from my workout, I would often buy falafel at the deli next door on Atlantic Avenue.

All of these memories flooded into my mind last night when I came home from a food and wine event in downtown Austin and Tracie P had the TV on: “President Obama is going to make an announcement,” she said. Osama bin Laden was dead.

Between 1998 and 2001, the French band (above) performed once a month at The Greatest Bar on Earth (Windows on the World) in the north tower of the World Trade Center. Burlesque was the new fashion in hipster circles and we often played with The Pontani Sisters, who danced on stage as we played. Giuliani was mayor and you could still smoke cigarettes (and pot) in NYC nightclubs.

When I finally made it back into the city to visit my client, Desbrosses Street was closed to the public but the police let me through because I had business to conduct there. The staff in my clients office were literally shell-shocked by what they had seen and heard. I saw David Bouley cooking on Canal Street for the fire fighters and police.

Later that week, I interviewed Drew Nieporent for a trade publication. He told me that the entire morning staff at Windows on the World had perished in the tragedy. I’ll never forget how he choked up during our conversation…

All this memories flooded my mind when Tracie P and I heard the news last night.

It seems like a lifetime ago… and it was… I had just purchased my first digital camera. It used 3½-inch floppy disks as memory cards. Today, I can take larger and more photos with my phone. I didn’t even know what (we)blog was.

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Thoughts, wishes, and prayers for pizzaiolo Mark Iacono

April 17, 2011

Life was very different for me when I first discovered and wrote about pizzaiolo Mark Iacono and his amazing pizzeria Lucali in Brooklyn back in January 2008.

Today, as The New York Times reports, Mark is recovering after being stabbed not far from his restaurant in Carroll Gardens.

He is in our thoughts and our prayers…

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Garganega: Italian grape name pronunciation project

March 7, 2011

In the course of just a week, I’ve received roughly twenty new audio files to post in the Italian Grape Name Pronunciation Project. Rest assured: I’m going to post them all (next week’s post will feature a “family” of grape names). THANK YOU to everyone for supporting this project and for the words of encouragement. :-)

In the meantime, it seemed appropriate to move forward with a grape name that represents a true tongue-twister… not just for non-Italophones, btw… even Italian folks have trouble with this one.

That’s Gambellara producer Angiolino Maule’s youngest son Tommaso in the vineyards. Tracie P, Alfonso, and I tasted with Angiolino and met Tommaso on our recent visit to Gambellara and Valpolicella. I’ll post my notes from the tasting tomorrow. So stay tuned!

Click here for last week’s post: Teroldego.

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The Babbo effect and a visit to the Bastianich winery in Colli Orientali del Friuli

February 18, 2011

Above: My friend Wayne Young, whom I met in 1998 in New York when he had already been working within the then-expanding Bastianich empire for three years. In the photo, Wayne is standing atop the amphitheater growing site where the top wines for the Bastianich winery are grown in the Colli Orientali del Friuli.

Babbo changed everything. It was “a fine-dining Italian à la carte restaurant below 14th St.,” as Joe Bastianich put it when I first met him in 1998 (when I was working as an editor at La Cucina Italiana in the City).

Ruth Reichl’s watershed New York Times review of the place in April 1998, “A Radical Departure with Sure Footing,” marked a point of no return for pseudo-Italian restaurateurship in the U.S.

I remember that Wednesday in August 1998 well: it was the day that Italian gastronomic irony died and the newly minted craze of Italian regional cuisine took firm hold in North America. Whether you liked Babbo or not (and who didn’t want to get a table at Babbo?), from that day forward, if you cooked Italian food in the U.S., you had to do it earnestly: your food was only as good as the authenticity that stood behind it.

Above: Alfonso tasting with the COF2011 blogger team and winemaker Emilio del Medico and winery GM Dennis Lepore.

Wayne Young and I first met back in those heady days of New York’s Italian food scene. We all knew a revolution was taking place even though, from the eye of the storm, we didn’t realize its portent. Today, Wayne — who has worked as a sommelier at Bastianich outposts Becco and Babbo — serves as the Bastianich winery’s “special ops” man on the ground in the Colli Orientali del Friuli (the blogger project there was his idea). He is involved in every aspect of the operation, from winemaking (a wasp in his pants is what gave him the idea to call the winery’s flagship white “Vespa”!) to sales (ask him what it’s like to sell wine in Serbia!) and marketing (he is the only Friulian winemaker to author a winery blog).

Wayne is a remarkable man, with great generosity of heart and a warm gentleness. I’ve never heard him say a nasty word about anyone and I admire him for the way he lives his life perfectly integrated into Friulian society where he is welcomed and beloved by all we met. Despite his nordic locks, everyone calls him “a local” up there in northeasternmost Italy.

Above: In our tasting last week at the winery, my favorite wine was the 2009 Sauvignon Bianco. Fresh and clean, with balanced aromatic character and that bright acidity that I want (and need), it should retail for under $20 in the U.S. The Bastianich Sauvignon has a screw cap, a feature that allows the winemaker to add a smaller amount of sulfite to the wine, because the screw cap allows less oxidation (where a cork, an organic substance, would allow more).

Like Wayne, the Bastianich family has been welcomed in the Colli Orientali del Friuli as winemakers. President of the COF consortium Pierluigi Comelli told us the story of how Joe and mother Lidia came to him asking for advice on where to buy property and set up their facility. Ultimately, on his advice, they revived a winery that had abandoned after the owner’s untimely passing. And they bought uncultivated growing sites where they cleared the woods themselves to make way for vineyards. After a week in the COF, I had a clear sense that winemakers there appreciate the expanded exposure and bandwidth that the Bastianich brand brings with it. “Everyone rises with the tide” seemed to be the consensus.

Above: On Friday evening, the last of our trip in the COF, we took time out to celebrate with a beer in Cividale del Friuli. You can’t really help but smile when you’re around Wayne — it’s contagious. That’s Nicolas, David, and Alfonso to the right.

Spending the week tasting and comparing notes with Wayne (who, as a local winemaker, shared a lot of interesting insights with the group), I couldn’t help but think back to 1998, when we first met and none of us really understood what was about to happen. As Eric the Red recently pointed out to me, it was a time of Italian gastronomic “innocence” (it is Eric whom Mario Batali’s father Armandino credits for having “discovered” his son’s talent in 1993).

I’m glad to know that the fame and the celebrity hasn’t changed my old friend Wayne.

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71 Gattinara Monsecco (Conte Ravizza), Lenny Bruce, and BrooklynGuy

January 27, 2011

One last “wines and the city,” killer wines I tasted last week in NYC…

Beyond the “farmed content” found on aggregate sties (which tries to get you to land on their pages in order to show you advertising), there’s not much info out there in the interwebs about the 1971 Gattinara Monsecco Conte Ravizza by Le Colline, Vercelli, which I got to taste last week thanks to the generosity of BrooklynGuy’s childhood friend Dan (who reminded me, in all the best ways, of my favorite Litvishe Jew, Lenny Bruce, and as it turns out, whose father represented Lenny Bruce is his legal battle against censorship! Incredible!).

The bottle we shared (thanks to Dan, paired with BrooklynGuy’s stunning bread-crumb- and marjoram-encrusted rack of lamb, above) had a strip label on the front that reported: “selected and shipped by Neil Empson, Milan.” On the back, there was a round label that reported: “Acquired from a private cellar [by] Acker, Merrall, & Condit,” the famed rare wine broker of the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

In 1985, Sheldon Wasserman didn’t offer a tasting note for this wine in Italy’s Noble Red Wines, but he did write that “Luigi & Italo Nervi places 1971 among the worst vintages [for this appellation] and Travaglini puts it with the best! Antonio Rossi gave it three stars, Niederbacher, one. Obviously a controversial vintage. We never agreed with the three-star rating. Nevertheless, we find that all are too old now. At Le Colline they consider their ’71 Monsecco on a par with the ’64, so it should still be good.”

Dan mentioned that he had experienced some serious bottle variation in the lot he acquired but, man, this wine was off-the-charts good. Fresher than I would have expected on the nose (topped off? perhaps; the bottle was definitely reconditioned), with gentle berry fruit on the nose and on the palate, and wonderfully integrated tannin. I agreed with BrooklynGuy’s approach of not decanting this wine and opening it right before service (for the record, Dan had brought it over a few nights before and BrooklynGuy left it standing up right for more than 24 hours). Great wine…

Before we got to the Gattinara, BrooklynGuy reached into his cellar for a 2000 Moccagatta by Produttori del Barbaresco, which paired superbly with a savory mushroom flan that he prepared for our Brooklyn repast. Frankly, I was surprised by how tannic this wine was, especially considering the fact that Moccagatta tends to come around earlier than some of the more powerful crus (like Montestefano or Rabajà). At 10 years out, it seems to be closing down but with a little aeration we coaxed out some bramble and red berry fruit balanced by the mushroom and earth that are Produttori del Barbaresco’s signature. Killer wine…

This last trip to NYC was an intense one: after heading back through the sludge to the city, Verena and I wrote one more song before calling it a night… Someday, if that nowhere song for nobody ever gets recorded, I’ll play it for BrooklynGuy.

I didn’t get to do a lot of socializing or fancy eating this time around. But I was really glad to connect with BrooklynGuy, who’s become a super good friend.

I remember a time, not so many years ago, when he and I first met in person, in San Diego. Life then for me was good but didn’t have the direction and purpose it has today. At a taco shop in La Jolla (where Tracie P and I would later hold the rehearsal dinner for our wedding some two years later), BrooklynGuy — with the wisdom of a rabbinic Lenny Bruce — reminded me gently of the goodness in me and pointed out confidently that I would find my path again. He probably didn’t realize then how much those words meant to me. I hope some day I can return the favor…

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Posted by Do Bianchi

02 Joly at Alice’s Restaurant

January 27, 2011

More “wines and the city”…

While in NYC last week, I was so busy between writing sessions and meetings that there were no memorable restaurant experiences on the island of Manhattan (beyond white fish salad). But I did get to enjoy one of those wonderful late-night repasts at Alice’s Restaurant (ya’ll know whom I’m talking about), just like in the old days when I lived in the City and we’d often regroup chez Alice in Soho, bantering and listening to music until all hours of the night (who’s guitar pick was that on the WC floor?).

As Alice noted, there is so much bottle variation in Joly, you never quite know what to expect. But the stars aligned on a slushy, freezing night, and the bottle was fantastic (see Alice’s tasting note above).

Stinky cheese, crusty bread, some brined olives and roast kale and 02 Joly… You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant…

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The importance of being white fish

January 22, 2011

Back in my graduate school days, I once delivered a paper where I mocked one of the inane catchphrases so popular in the sophomoric critical theory of that era: “Exile Egg Salad and the Exile Egg Salad of Self in Italian Literature.”

Don’t get me wrong: I love egg salad. But while I could probably live the rest of my life without eating another egg salad of self sandwich, I could not live without white fish salad.

Early yesterday morning, as the city that never sleeps continued to slumber and a snow storm covered the cityscape in white, I visited the legendary 2nd Ave. Deli.

The 2nd Ave. Deli may not be what it used to be. It’s not even on 2nd Ave. anymore. But, man, that white fish salad was awesome.

The crummy weather on the east coast yesterday left me stranded last night at the Baltimore airport on my way back to Tracie P. But, hey, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade, right?

As the saying goes, when life gives you crabs, make crab cakes.

According to the owners, Timbuktu is so-called because at one time, it lay so far from the center of town that it might as well have been as far away as the Sahara desert.

Since I moved to Texas, I’ve had a lot of great crab cakes in the Houston area. But I’m here to testify: the crab cakes at Timbuktu take the cake. The best I ever had. The creamed crab soup was also excellent on a packed Friday evening in one of the restaurant’s two immense dining rooms (there was no room in the bar, the hostess told me).

I’m not sure I would make the trip to the outskirts of Baltimore for the sake of a crab cake: thankfully, Timbuktu’s crab cakes can also be ordered frozen online.

Happily headed back to Austin and warmer weather this morning. More New York stories to come…

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Nutella: first contact in 24 years

January 21, 2011

Above: Nutella-mascarpone served on a savory crostino at Dozzino in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Ever wonder what makes the Piedmontese so nutty? No, it’s not the Nebbiolo, folks. It’s the NUTS!

Sissignore, it’s the hazelnut, nocciola in Italian, Piedmont’s most significant agricultural product and the fundamental ingredient in Nutella, a chocolate paste that would make Pietro Ferrero a very, very rich man after he introduced the creamy, purportedly aphrodisiacal stuff back in 1964 (according to the Wiki).

Above: Dozzino also does a Nutella-ricotta spread, made with locally produced cheese.

Like many young Americans who traveled to Italy for their U.C.L.A. junior year abroad, I experienced Nutella for the first time at the tender age of 19 years.

Sadly, its moreish properties led to a Nutella binge that ended badly. Very badly…

After consuming that first jar of Nutella in its entirety, I haven’t touched this form of Turkish delight since (remember Turkish delight in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?).

My Nutella abstinence ended yesterday at pizzeria Dozzino in Hoboken, New Jersey, where owner Marc Magliozzi (below) served it folded into locally produced mascarpone on a crostino. It was delicious. And this morning, I am happy to report no major international disturbances (if you get my drift…).

What was I doing in Hoboken, New Jersey, you ask? I’ve been in New York this week for some intense and productive meetings (more on that later) and I spent yesterday on the other bank of the Hudson river with an important client whose office is located there.

Does Hoboken need another pizzeria? Just about as much as Tracie P thinks I need another guitar!

Above: The Margherita at Dozzino was great, slightly undercooked and mushy in the middle, a litmus test for good pizza in my book.

I thoroughly enjoyed my working lunch at Dozzino where the owner and staff were super friendly, the food fresh, clean and wholesome, and the feel and design of the space inviting and fun.

About to head into another meeting in the City right now but I’ll begin posting shortly on the amazing wines I tasted this time around (1971 Gattinara Monsecco, anyone?). Stay tuned…

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Posted by Do Bianchi

New York Stories 7: Beaujolais with Eric the Red

November 24, 2010

The final installment from my “dates with the City”…

Another highlight of my New York sojourn was my obligatory pilgrimage to The Ten Bells, my favorite wine bar in the U.S., where even the grouchiest among the grouchy wine bloggers would approve of owner Fifi’s selection of Natural Wines by the glass.

The weather had turned cold(er) and as Eric the Red noted on the Twitter, “at The Ten Bells. No place better on a chilly night, or any other.”

(You may remember how Eric got his name “the red” back in August 2008.)

Partly mocking the Beaujolais Nouveau marketing scam here in the U.S. and mostly celebrating how fantastic Beaujolais can be, for the last two years, Fifi has run a cru Beaujolais by-the-glass program concurrently with the advent of the consumerist collusion concocted by Georges Duboeuf in the 1970s. (Tracie P and I actually made the tail end of the festival last year.)

This year he offered 19 cru Beaujolais.

Eric and I tasted the Fleurie 09 Dubost Sans Souffre and the Morgon Descombes 07. Brilliantly savory and delicious…

Topics of conversations were wide and varied but I was thrilled to get a preview of Eric’s new book, “a manifesto and memoir,” in which he will dispel the notion that intellectualism is required to understand and enjoy wine. I’ll drink to that!

Talking about Eataly and the arc of the Italian food and wine renaissance, we remembered his 1993 review of Mario Batali’s Po on Cornelia St.

It took a little digging but I found it in the paper of record’s archive here.

“It turns out that the name Po refers neither to the Italian river nor to the Italian word for ‘little bit,’ but derives from a Polaroid photo taken of the site by a friend of the co-owners, Mario Batali and Steve Crane. The name, with its happy Italian resonances, stuck. The restaurant will, too.”

Mario’s father, said Eric, credits him with discovering the clogged one.

I had visited Eataly earlier in the day: how amazing to reflect on Batali’s legacy (like it or not) since 1993!

And I’d have to say that Eric the Red has done pretty well himself since then… Check out his article in today’s paper on tasting 2005 Barbaresco with Levi…

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