Eat my puccia (in Austin, Texas) cc @PaoloCantele

January 27, 2012

Above: The art of the puccia lies in the creativity and freedom of ingredients that you use to dress it. At the puccia truck in Austin, they make a pastrami puccia! I love it!

The word puccia first became part of my gastronomic lexicon when my good friend (and client) Paolo Cantele took me to one of his favorite puccia shops in Lecce (Puglia, Italy).

The puccia is a savory flatbread indigenous to Puglia: it is griddle-fired and then stuffed with a wide variety of toppings — often clashing flavors. When I questioned Paolo’s wisdom off requesting a puccia stuffed with prosciutto and tuna, he didn’t miss a beat in responding “that’s the whole point of the puccia!”

You can imagine my delight when I discovered that Austin — the capital of trailer dining and food trucks in the U.S. — has its own puccia pimp, an Apulian dude named “Lucky” Luciano who runs a puccia truck downtown across from the Whole Foods Market on Lamar on 5th St.

But the coolest thing about Lucky’s puccia is that he embraces American foods in the toppings he uses, like the pastrami puccia above. And of course, all things being equal, in Austin you can pair Lucky’s puccia with Texas beer.

Here’s the Yelp and here’s the Facebook.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Buon weekend, yall! :)

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Vita servare: Pediatric CPR Training

December 4, 2011

Vita servare is the motto of the Austin-Travis County EMS department. Vita means life in Latin and servare means to make safe, save, keep unharmed, preserve, guard, keep, protect, deliver, rescue (isn’t Latin awesome?).

Yesterday I completed my Pediatric and Adult CPR training at their main office.

I was the only layperson in the class: all the other participants were professional health care providers who were obtaining or renewing their certification (nurses, paramedics, etc.).

After 3 hours of performing CPR on manikins, man, I was exhausted! G-d bless all the folks who do this for living. We’re lucky to have them…

My heart filled with emotion and my blood with adrenaline when I held the infant manikin in my arms for the first time. I hope I never have to perform CPR on Baby P but I’m glad that I’m ready.

We’re just a few weeks away from our due date at this point. The discomfort is not easy to deal with but we’re hanging in there. I’m doing my best to make Tracie P as comfortable as possible. And, every day, I love her all the more for carrying our little one… My Italian friends call her la piccola Parzen…

And, btw, I passed! :)

I highly recommend the class. Here’s the info.

Buona domenica, yall…

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Pairing wine with Fellini

May 17, 2011

You can imagine how excited I am about tomorrow night’s screening of Fellini’s 1957 Notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria) and wine pairing tomorrow night at the Alamo Drafthouse (Ritz) in Austin — perhaps the only city in the world where someone would be crazy enough to pair wine and film on the big screen! I’ll be speaking before the screening about the wines and why I selected them. (Here are the details for tomorrow night’s event.)

Here are my pairings and what inspired them. Hope to see you there! Buona visione!

Château Moncontour Sparkling Vouvray

The one wine the characters of Cabiria drink in frame is Champagne. In the late 1950s in Rome, Champagne denoted a wide variety of sparkling wines with a wide range of provenance (although true Champagne can only be made in the region of Champagne in France). This dry sparkling wine is made from Chenin Blanc grown in the Loire Valley and is made using the méthode champenoise, where the wine is fermented a second time in bottle.

Domaine des Terres Dorées FRV100

The overarching theme of Fellini’s films is characters who find joy and revel in the beauty of life (la dolce vita) even in the worst imaginable situations. Cabiria is a classic Fellinian creation and she inspired the selection of this sparkling Gamay from the low-rent district of Beaujolais because it is as joyful as she. The winemaker is a fan of Fellini and mentions him as inspiration on the label of this bottle. The wine is named FRV100, rebus (in French) for effervescent.

Regillo Frascati

Frascati is the classic white wine of the Roman castle district, where popes and princes still make their homes and vacation villas to this day. In a time when table wine was nearly always produced locally, bright fresh and food-friendly Frascati often graced the tables of Rome’s colorful trattorie, where the rich and famous dined side-by-side with the proletariat. While we remember our parents’ cheaply produced commercial Frascati, this wine is farmed biodynamically (chemical free) and represents a true expression of this wonderful however humble appellation.

Ca’ del Monte Valpolicella Classico

Long before Barolo or Barbaresco, Brunello or Chianti, or the now ubiquitous and falsely crowned Super Tuscans were adored by the privileged class, Valpolicella was considered one of the great red wines of Italy. In the 1950s, you were apt to be poured Valpolicella in one of the swank restaurants of the Via Veneto, the elite thoroughfare that appears in many Roman films from that era. Indeed, Fellini’s characters are served a Valpolicella in his most famous (however misunderstood) film, La Dolce Vita — set against a swinging Via Veneto cast of players. Look for the minerality and the savory flavors in this excellent expression of Valpolicella.

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Intro to the wines of Friuli: taste with me Thurs. in Austin

May 9, 2011

Above: I photographed this wasp sucking on some freshly picked Ribolla at my friend Giampaolo Venica’s winery in Collio (Friuli) last September.

Last fall, Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey asked me to accompany him on a fantastic food and wine trip to Friuli and then in February of this year, I led a group of wine bloggers to the Colli Orientali del Friuli (Eastern Hills of Friuli) for a week of tasting, eating, and winery visits.

On Thursday of this week, I’ll be leading a seminar on the wines of Friuli at The Red Room in downtown Austin.

Here’s the details. Hope to see you there!

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Taste with me next week in Austin

April 21, 2011

Above: Tracie P snapped the above photo in Paris on our first trip to Europe together. It’s one of my all-time favs…

Taste some Tuscan wines with me next Thursday at a wonderful new wine space, “the Red Room,” recently opened by my friend Alex Andrawes in downtown Austin. Should be fun… Here’s the details…

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Avocado fundido

April 16, 2011

Finally made it in for lunch at the much-talked-about Second (and Congress) Bar and Kitchen here in the River City (that’s Austin for all yall who’ve never been here).

That’s the “Avocado Fundido,” above, layered and baked cheese, mashed avocado, and crumbled chorizo (on the bottom) served with fried dough. Fan-friggin-delicious, folks.

Hoping that it might entice BrooklynGuy to come out and visit, I thought I’d post this snap of smoked sausage at one of my fav BBQ joints on highway 290 to Houston, Southside Market in Elgin. The sausage is always juicy and tender there and the sides fresh… Love that place…

Happy Saturday yall!

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Posted by Do Bianchi

No trip to Austin, Texas is complete without…

March 21, 2011

A visit to Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon to see Dale Watson…

Dale is such a sweet guy and when he heard that Céline Dijon was in town from Paris, he kindly posed for photo op with her.

The joint was packed but some how, some way, we still managed to find a seat at the bar (we always do).

Here’s a little taste of the groovy stuff…

They’re with the band! ;-)

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Ribolla and guacamole, Nebbiolo and chili dogs with the Uomo Armadillo

November 2, 2010

chili dogs

Above: Italians and I are fascinated by hotdogs. Last night Tracie P and I shared a meal at Man Bites Dog and Torchy’s (south Austin) Trailer Park and Eatery with the “Uomo Armadillo” (Armadillo man, above left) and his daughter Marta.

Supreme Italian wine blogger Mr. Franco Ziliani will probably defriend me on Facebook for this: last night I paired 2006 Barbaresco by Produttori del Barbaresco with a lipsmackingly delicious chili dog by Man Bites Dog at the South Austin Trailer Park and Eatery.

bastianich

And that’s not all: we also paired a gorgeous Ribolla from the new “Adriatico” label by Bastianich with chips, guacamole, and salsa. (The fruit for this transnational project by the Bastianich empire comes from Simčič vineyards.)

adriatico

I know that it’s a sin but what were we to do when the Uomo Armadillo showed up with the 06 Barbaresco and the 07 Morgon by Lapierre in tow?

chili dogs

The 07 Lapierre Morgon was brilliant with the dogs, btw. The 06 Barbaresco was tight but opened up nicely… (Uomo Armadillo and his buddy Massimo, who was also there last night, have visited Lapierre for his annual blowout party and we all raised a glass to remember the iconic winemaker who left this world for another last month.)

This was certainly an extreme and decadent pairing but I also believe wholeheartedly that the folks who make these wines intend them to be served at the dinner table and with people you care about. In the U.S. we tend to fetishize our wines and are overly selective IMHO in how we “apply” them. Rest assured, they were applied very well last night!

And on the subject of chili dogs, here’s a less pretentious dog that I bit into a week ago Sunday at Ginny’s Little Longhorn when Alice Feiring was in town and we took her to play Chicken Shit Bingo at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon.

adriatico

And in case you’re wondering about the Uomo Armadillo: we actually met thanks to Mr. Ziliani, whose blog we both follow. Uomo Armadillo (Alessandro) comes to Austin from Milan every year in the fall to get his honkytonk on. His happy obsession with the Groover’s Paradise even earned him a song…

Thanks for reading! More on Friuli tomorrow… And in the meantime, check out Tracie P on Fiano d’Avellino.

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Alice Feiring and Alfonso Cevola, two very special events

October 13, 2010

Tomorrow, I’ll pick up where I left off in my Tuscany-Veneto-Friuli trip but in the meantime I wanted to share some information about two very special events next week and the following here in Texas.

The first is an evening with our dear friend Alice Feiring, one of the top wine writers in the U.S. today.

On Monday, October 25, Alice is going to be joining us here in Austin, Texas for a dinner in her honor to be held at Vino Vino, the best little wine bar in Texas.

Tracie P and I will be there, of course, as will some other like-minded folks who believe that there is no great wine without love.

Anyone who knows me and/or follows my blog knows well that I consider Alice a mentor and an inspiration and one of the coolest people I know (and one of the super most funnest I know, too). We are simply thrilled that Alice is coming and you know that there is no way we are not taking her to Chicken Shit Bingo at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon!

The other wine event not to miss this month in Texas is a dinner and tasting to be led by another familiar face and dearest friend here at Do Bianchi, Alfonso Cevola.

On Wednesday, October 20, Alfonso will be speaking at one of my favorite Italian wine destinations in the world, Jimmy’s Food Store in Dallas. Jimmy’s has one of the best selections of Italian specialty products in the U.S. (I’m not kidding, folks) and the breadth of the Italian wine selection is truly one of the best in the country (and I would know a little something about Italian wine available in the U.S., wouldn’t I?).

Alfonso (or Ace, as Tracie P and I affectionately call him) does a lot of events at Jimmy’s but this particular evening is close to my heart: he’ll be speaking about the origins of Italian grape and wine names (ampelonyms and enonyms), using information gathered in part from my blog. I won’t be able to be there for the dinner but be sure to check out Alfonso’s post previewing this special evening.

With more than three decades working in the world of Italian wine, Alfonso is another mentor to me but he’s so much more. He’s my true inspiration for taking wine blogging seriously (and wow, what rewards that has brought for me!), he’s the reason why I met Tracie P, and he was the best man at our wedding.

Alfonso and I have traveled together in Italy and it’s next-to impossible to describe how much fun we have together and how hard we laugh when we’re just hanging out and shooting the shit and drinking a good bottle of wine. Of all the memorable evenings and meals we’ve shared together, my favorite has got to be a sandwich we ate in San Martino Buon Albergo after we got his blackberry fixed at the one electronics store open on Mondays in the province of Verona.

At both events and either or, you’ll meet two of the most special people in our lives. I can’t imagine a world without them…

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Posted by Do Bianchi

Ginny appreciation week at the Little Longhorn Saloon: No Cussin’, No Fussin’, No Hasslin’, No Wrasslin’!

July 18, 2010

Above, from right: three generations of Ginny, Ginny Kalmbach, her granddaughter, and her daughter. All three manage this national treasure.

On Friday night, Austin music icon Dale Watson emceed “Ginny Appreciation Night” at the Little Long Horn Saloon in Austin, Texas (on Burnet Road, on the north side of town, not far from where Tracie P and me live).

ginny's little longhorn saloon

Above: I’ve been to many great honky-tonks across our fine nation but Ginny’s — let me tell you, people — is something special (and I say this in a town famous for its honky tonks).

We were at Canyon Lake (in the Texas Hill Country) with family on Friday night but we took friends Brenna and Jason, who were in town from Orange, Texas there last night: no night on the town in Austin would be complete without a stop at Ginny’s.

Above: Ginny showed us her new Lone Star hat, which she had made especially for her.

Ginnny’s real fond of Tracie P (can you blame her?) and every time we visit, she and her daughters ask to see her wedding ring. There’s a sign up at Ginny’s that reads: “No Cussin’, No Fussin’, No Hasslin’, No Wrasslin’!”

jww and the prospectors

Above: Last night, JWW and the Prospectors were playing. You really can’t go wrong at Ginny’s. I’ve been blown away by the caliber of musicianship we’ve seen there.

Folks like Ginny rarely win Kennedy Center Honors or Congressional Medals but, man, she and her saloon are true national treasures, if only for the traditions and music that she fosters and if not for the immense joy that she brings into so many folks’s lives with her bright spirit and motherly affections.

Above: You’d expect Jason to get your back in a bar fight but you wouldn’t expect him to turn to his lovely wife Brenna and say, “damn, it honey! I forgot to cook that beautiful asparagus we have in the fridge.” Jason is an amazing cook and writes a food blog via Facebook. He and I also share an obsession and fascination with Doug Sahm. But more on that later.

Ginny’s was one of the first places Tracie P took me when I started coming out to Austin to visit her. Whether it’s with friends visiting from out-of-town on a Saturday night or just getting our honky tonk on on a Tuesday, we try to get there as often as we can.

Above: If you ever meet a woman who loves country music and knows how to play Chicken Shit Bingo and speaks Italian and cooks a mean ragù, thank your LUCKY STARS!

Ginny, we can’t imagine a world without you.

5 Comments | de austinopoli, de musica | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Do Bianchi

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