Category Archives: de rebus californicis

Natura morta and Pinot Grigio

Posted on by

In Italian, still life is called natura morta, literally, dead nature, in other words, inanimate nature.

Yesterday, Tracie P and I visited the San Diego home of friends and wine club clients Chrissa and Dan, where we took these photos.

After winning her battle with cancer, the couple decided to devote their lives to homesteading: they grow nearly all the produce that they consume and they slaughter and butcher all the meats that they consume (check out their site and educational program here).

All of the fruits in these photos were grown by them in their garden.

At a time when most of us urbanites place blind faith in the so-called “organic” choices at the specialized super markets, these folks — he a software designer, she an interior designer — have embraced the homesteading approach to self reliance (o that wonderful American ideal!) with a gusto and vibrancy that inspire me.

I brought over a bottle of 2009 Pinot Grigio Jesera by my friend Giampaolo Venica. Look at the wonderful ramato (copper) color of this true Pinot Grigio (a red grape, btw). We raised a glass of this delicious salty wine and remembered the grape growers in Collio (Friuli) whose vineyards were devastated over the weekend by a terrible hailstorm.

I also took a few shots in the garden — natura viva. I loved the red veined sorrel.

Sage.

Thanks for reading!

Mussel porn, best tuna salad, and an old friend’s excellent wine

Posted on by

Just had to share this photo of a mussel from lunch today at one of our all-time favorite seafood joints, Bay Park Fish Co. in San Diego where we’ll be staying for the next days (Tracie P got in last night). I cannot recommend this place highly enough. And what can I say? One man’s mussel is another’s Rorschach test.

The tuna fish salad at Bay Park may not look as sexy as the mussels but you haven’t had a tuna fish salad sandwich until you’ve had one made with U.S. pole-fished tuna. My good high school buddy Marc Muller, co-owner and founder of Bay Park, only serves old-school pole-fished tuna in his restaurant. (In case you’re interested, here’s a video and some info on the history of pole-fished tuna in San Diego.) The Mexican torta bread takes this sandwich over the top. It’s generally served as a tuna melt but they’ll make it anyway you want. I had mine with mashed avocado, lettuce, tomato, and onion. Utterly delicious…

Yesterday afternoon, I got to taste another high school buddy’s wine: when not working as a cellarmaster for Craggy Range, Pieter Koopman makes wine on his family’s estate in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. I hadn’t seen Pieter 15 years and it was great to connect and talk and taste wine together. I dug his Chardonnay (yes, Chardonnay from New Zealand!), blended with a little bit of Viognier. The wine was fresh and clean, bright but with a slightly unctuous mouthfeel that went brilliantly with some fried calamari at Jaynes Gastropub. Good fruit, good acidity, and balanced alcohol. Pieter and his lovely wife Paige (also from La Jolla where I grew up) are planning to bring their wines to the States and I know they’re going to knock it out of the park…

Texas is my new home and I love it. But man, it sure is nice to be somewhere where everyone knows your name.

Gragnano the wine for “all things warm and gooey”

Posted on by

Fish tacos probably weren’t what G-d had in mind when he created Gragnano (on the eight day?) — one of favorite wines of the summer of 2011. But, man, was the wine delicious last night at Bahia Don Bravo, our number-one taco shack when we’re in San Diego (where the owner allows me to bring in my own wines).

I’d had some decent however mediocre Gragnano before I met Tracie P but it was on a fateful day in New York City on our way to Europe a few years ago that I tasted a wine that put everything into focus. The wine we tasted was actually Lettere — Gragnano’s sister appellation — but I saw the world in a different light from that day onward.

I am happy to report that the excellent Gragnano by Cantine Federiciane has finally made its way to Southern California. (You can taste it by the glass starting tonight at Sotto in Los Angeles where I’ll be pouring wine tonight and tomorrow night; and the wine is also available through my wine club in this month’s Summer Six-Pack offering.)

There’s no one in my world who knows more about Gragnano than Tracie P, who lived in Gragnanoland (Naples and the Amalfi Coast) for nearly five years. Here’s what she had to say this morning about Gragnano:

    I dare you not to like Gragnano (and its sister Lettere). Born in the Sorrentine peninsula, this is an irresistibly spritzy wine made to go with pizza, panuozzi, and all things warm and gooey. Like the self-deprecating comedian, the humility and spontaneity of this wine are its most endearing traits. Just say Sciascinoso and try not to smile.

Btw, Sciasinoso, one of the grapes in Gragnano together with Piedirosso and Aglianico, is pronounced SHAH-shee-NOH-zoh. Are you smiling yet? And do you see why I love her madly?

The mixed seafood cocktail was also fantastic last night at Bahia and if I do say so myself, my pairing with the Ciù Ciù Offida Pecorino was brilliant (it’s also available in the six-pack, btw).

But the highlight at dinner last night was meeting Jayne and Jon’s newborn Romy!

Isn’t she a beauty???!!! We are so thrilled for Jayne and Jon.

That’s all I got today. Gotta get my butt up to LA! Thanks for reading!

A bottle of red, a bottle of white… some things never change in La Jolla

Posted on by

Before heading up to Los Angeles this week to work at Sotto where I curate the wine list, I stopped in my hometown of La Jolla, California, to have dinner with father Zane who was in from Indiana visiting my brothers down there. We decided to go to Carino’s Pizza on La Jolla Boulevard, a restaurant where the décor has not changed since 1971, when the current owner bought the joint and when my family moved to Southern California from Chicago (Remember when Annie Hall moves to LA eats in a vegetarian restaurant, smokes pot and uses black soap? That’s essentially what happened.) The place looks like a movie set and is still adorned by murals of Mt. Vesuvius.

The food at Carino’s is nothing to write home about. But then again, I was at home. I hadn’t been there in literally 16 years. The antipasto was exactly as I remembered it. Over breakfast the next morning mama Judy said, “honey, I hate to tell you this, but you smell like garlic. You should do something about that before you start your day,” she added. I guess it’s the kinda food that “sticks with you.”

Carino’s has a moderate corkage fee of $8 and so I brought this excellent bottle of 09 Toni Jost Riesling that my buddy Jesse sold me. I’ve been drinking a lot of Riesling this summer (and posting about it over at the Houston Press blog, Eating Our Words).The wine was bright and delicious, with a wonderful 12% alcohol. Great pairing for the antipasto.

The pizza hasn’t changed either. We had the peperoni with jalapeños.

I popped a bottle of 05 Benanti Nerello Mascalese from Etna, Sicily. This has been one of my favorite red wines this year: earth and black and red and berry fruit, with bright bright acidity, and that wonderful balance of elegance, lightness, and power that you find in the pharmacist’s wine (Benanti made his fortune in pharmaceuticals before becoming a winemaker).

Zane doesn’t drink red wine, so he didn’t have any.

He talked to me about the usual subjects: his expertise in aerophysics and the recordings arts, Israeli politics, and his legacy as a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Some things never change… Es muss sein…

Di mamme ce n’è una sola…

Posted on by

You only have one mother… One of my favorite expressions in Italian…

Grandson Oscar poured milk into mama Judy’s coffee for an early family breakfast.

There were eleven of us for eggs in all kinds of styles and lox and Bloody Marys at Nine Ten, the restaurant in the hotel where Tracie P and I got married in La Jolla, the Grand Colonial, home of the Parzen family’s official Sunday brunch.

Next came some clothes shopping with mama Judy and Tracie P and a visit to our favorite Chinese restaurant in San Diego, Spicy City in Kearny Mesa (and yes, California Chinese is also better than anywhere else in the U.S. imho). The rice noodles were DELICIOUS!

Happy mother’s day, yall! Buona festa della mamma!

Why housemade salsa makes all the difference…

Posted on by

Flew in to San Diego yesterday from Texas to begin shipping and delivering wine for Do Bianchi Wine Selections and just had to stop at JV’s Mexican, just a few blocks from my warehouse, for lunch. Like all great Mexican joints, JV’s — which has been around since I was a kid — makes all of its salsas and condiments in-house.

The salsa bar = AWESOME.

They’re not kidding about the “reasonable” prices. Love this place…

Three rolled tacos — flautas — stuffed with chicken and topped with creamy guacamole and shredded cheese is just $2.25 (only 25 cents more than when I was 18 years old!). Cannot have the flautas without the horchata.

I’ve had some of the best Mexican food of my life since I moved to Texas, but, man, California will also be my number one. Love this place…

Sculpture Saturday: Mattiacci’s Eye of the Sky @UCLA

Posted on by

The entire “north campus” of my alma mater, U.C.L.A., is a wonderful sculpture garden, including works by Rodin and Matisse.

On my recent trip to Los Angeles, I visited with my putative father (as he likes to call himself), close friend, and dissertation advisor, Milanese poet Luigi Ballerini.

That’s Luigi, above, with the newest installation in the Murphy Sculpture Garden, “L’occhio del cielo,” by Eliseo Mattiacci, known for his seemingly impossible and often precarious pieces.

It was great to catch up with Luigi and stroll around the campus. The work by Mattiacci stands behind Royce Hall, just below the building’s chapel (which is used as a classroom by the Italian Department). Royce, the symbol of U.C.L.A., is inspired by Milan’s Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio, a place dear to Petrarch who lived, studied, and composed there.