Category Archives: de cibo

Support New York City restaurants (lunch at SD26)

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Above: The signature dish at SD26, a large raviolo stuffed with cheese and a gently poached egg yolk. Prix fixe lunch at SD26 is just $28.

As my friends and I ate our way through Manhattan last week, I heard a lot of people say that the restaurant scene there has begun to “pick up” again in the wake of the financial crisis “reset.”

I left the city on Friday: on Monday, Manhattan saw its worst flooding in a generation, a catastrophe that has already impacted New York’s struggling restaurateurs.

Above: The wine list at SD26 is presented on an iPad. I was thrilled to discover that the restaurant has an open network and that I could get online at the bar as I waited for my good friends Michele and Charles Scicolone who treated me to lunch.

Gastronomic culture in Manhattan and Brooklyn plays such an important role in our country: many of our nation’s best chefs and top sommeliers pay their dues and make their names there. When restaurants in New York thrive, restaurateurship throughout our country prospers as well.

Now, more than ever, the New York restaurant scene needs our support.

the best shrimp and grits I’ve ever had

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Today at Charivari in Houston, lunch with the inimitable Bear Dalton (who told me they’re his favorite shrimp and grits “in town”).

The grits weren’t overly buttered and their mouthfeel was even and substantive without seeming heavy.

Just enough spice on the shrimp and fried okra in the middle took it over the top.

Thanks again, Bear!

Celebrity sighting at Barney Greengrass

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No trip to New York is complete without a visit to the “Sturgeon King” Barney Greengrass (come to think of it, no Woody Allen movie is complete without a visit to Barney Greengrass either).

Yesterday morning’s visit also brought a celebrity sighting. No, I’m not talking about my good friend Edoardo Ballerini (whom you’ve seen in countless movies and shows, like The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, and whom you’ll remember from the 2000 Giraldi film Dinner Rush).

No, I’m talking about his beautiful eight-month old, Lorenzo.

Edo and I go way back and it’s so great that we’ve become fathers at the same time.

Edo is also partly to thank for the name of the blog, which was conceived many years ago (long before there were blogs) as “Edoardo ‘Do’ Bianchi”.

It was so great to see them… and the white fish was great, as always…

Garganega pairs well with Vietnamese (Thank you! @Femme_Foodie & @TonyVallone)

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Above: Writer Mai Pham and restaurateur Tony Vallone, two of my favorite people on the Houston food and wine scene.

When the occasion is BYOB at an Asian restaurant, my friends expect me to bring something Natural and stinky, crunchy and funky — a delight for those who like the adventurous and unexpected and a conversation piece for the more conventional among us.

But unforeseen events last night made it impossible for me to dip into our cellar before joining my friends Mai Pham, her wonderful husband Michael, and my good friend and client Tony Vallone and his top staff for dinner at the amazing Jasmine restaurant in Chinatown, Houston.

There aren’t a lot of retail wine options on Sunday in Texas (where wine is not sold until after 12 p.m. on Sundays). And so I figured my best bet was an upscale supermarket, the Kroger on Buffalo Speedway (Kroger is actually a large commercial chain, but it’s Buffalo Speedway location is a “flagship” outpost).

Above: Real wine for under $15? Pieropan delivers.

Honestly, there’s not a lot of wine at Kroger that I can palate. And the European selections are limited to the usual suspects.

But what a fantastic surprise to find Pieropan — Garganega with a smaller amount of Trebbiano di Soave — for $13.99! And they had it already chilled…

The wine — with its zinging acidity and that unmistakable volcanic minerality of classic Soave — was ideal with the fattiness of fried whole catfish.

Above: Mai and Michael showed us how to roll the catfish with carrots, cucumber stalks, and mint in large rice wafers that had been softened in warm water. Catfish doesn’t have a much nutritional value, noted Michael, but it’s delicious.

Great value and great flavor in this wine… and great versatility (the saltiness and fattiness of the catfish reminded me how well this wine would pair with whole fried goby from the Venetian lagoon).

BTW, if you’re having issues with the pronunciation of Garganega, you’ll find it among the grape varieties in the Italian Grape Name and Appellation Pronunciation Project.

Mai and Michael, thanks again for turning us on to Jasmine.

And Tony, thanks for treating us to a great dinner.

first Alba truffles of the year @TonyVallone

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I snapped this photo today at lunch at Tony’s in Houston, the first Alba truffles I’ve seen this year.

Tony — my friend and client — talked about how the truffles are arriving early this year because of drought conditions over the summer in Italy.

There is no food in the world with a greater aura. (Does anyone get my Latin paronomasia?)

my lasagne alla bolognese for @MyLifeItalian’s birthday

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For her birthday dinner this year, Tracie P requested lasagne alla bolognese, one of my pièces de résistance in the kitchen.

In my experience, lasagne alla bolognese are best prepared over the course of two days: the key is to make the ragù the day before (classic soffritto, equal parts ground pork and lean beef, one sausage link crumbled, tomato purée, white wine, chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste, a bay leaf, and a dash of chili flakes, simmered slowly for a few hours after the meat has browned well and been deglazed with the wine).

I cover the ragù and reserve it over night in the oven (there’s no need to refrigerate it since it will be reheated after you assemble the lasagne).

Making the lasagne isn’t as challenging as it seems: all you need is a food processor and a pasta rolling machine. (There’s a great recipe for making pasta sheets in Cesare Casella’s Italian Cooking Essentials for Dummies.)

Once you’ve rolled out and trimmed the lasagne, you layer them (in a oven-ready casserole dish that’s been greased with butter), alternating between ragù (the first), béchamel (second), and freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano (third, topped with a layer of pasta).

For my béchamel, I always use a tablespoon of white wine and a tablespoon of chicken stock, two subtle ingredients that give the sauce great nuance in my experience. And the Parmigiano Reggiano must be freshly grated, a sine qua non to great lasagne alla bolognese.

The combination of the rich flavors and textures is one of the supreme expression of Italian gastronomy and well worth the time and effort it takes to make this dish. We paired with a bottle of 2010 Langhe Nebbiolo by Produttori del Barbaresco. (The classic pairing would be Lambrusco, of course.)

Georgia P is still not ready for the fattiness of lasagne alla bolognese but she did get to have some pappardelle that I made from the trimmings. We tossed them in a pat of butter and topped them with a dust of Parmigiano Reggiano. She loved them…

We’ve had such a wonderful year, with too many blessings to count.

Thanks for reading and buona domenica, yall!

@ZanottoColFondo at Spicy House, best pairing for Asian imho

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Move over Josmeyer, Prosecco Col Fondo (in this case, Zanotto) is the new Riesling when it comes to pairing with Asian cuisine imho. Its refreshing saltiness and crunchy mouthfeel just take it over the top… Dinner last night at the excellent Spicy House in San Diego…

dan dan noodle

eggplant and green beans

twice cooked pork with leeks

beef rool

thanks again, Mary, for taking such good care of us! :)

allo fräuleins! Oktoberfest @JaynesGastropub is rocking

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Tracie P, Georgia P, and I stopped in for an early dinner on our way back from Los Angeles yesterday at Jaynes Gastropub in San Diego.

We may have been part of the “early-bird” crowd but that didn’t stop us from getting a taste of the Oktoberfest celebration there.

Schnitzel, spätzl, bratwurst… and of course, Schneider-Weisse beer.

But I still couldn’t resist getting my favorite, the Jaynes Burger (Vermont cheddar, house-pickled onions, and aioli).

Oktoberfest continues this evening at Jaynes… definitely worth checking out…

incredible dinner @SottoLA last night with my ladies

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Georgia P has so much fun in restaurants… she LOVED Sotto last night in Los Angeles (where daddy works).

Involtini di melanzane, classic eggplant rolls cooked in tomato. Chefs Zach and Steve are really reaching new and even greater heights with their cooking these days…

Fusilli di grano arso al ragù di coniglio e porcini, toasted wheat fusilli with rabbit and porcini ragù. This dish was tough to photograph but amazing, balanced in its flavors and textures, and the pasta cooked perfectly al dente. This might be my top dish for 2012.

Rapini (cime di rapa) con collatura, broccoli raab with garum (anchovy sauce), so simple and so delicious.

Sardinian pane frattau, classic Sardinian pane carasau (crunchy, thin, savory flatbread) that has been soaked in water, layered (in this case) with pork innards, topped with an egg (look at the color of that yolk!), and baked. This dish will definitely go in my top dishes of 2012 post at the end of the year.

Many erroneously believe that frattau means fretta or hurry in Sardinian. But it’s more likely that it means grated, possibly akin to franto.

Amazing meal… truly amazing… a note on the wine will follow later today… stay tuned!