It seems like just yesterday that the Times was singing the praises of the Sacramento restaurant scene.

But in the editors’ roundup of top destinations, they omitted two Sacramento standbys: Waterboy, the all-time classic and leader, where the capital’s food cognoscenti have dined for decades; and Allora, a relatively new fine-dining concept where the husband-and-wife team have set a new bar for Italian cookery in the city.

During my trip there last week, I ate at both and both were nothing short of spectacular.

Waterboy doesn’t need any help from me in getting the word out. It’s been on gastronomes’ radar for a generation, one of the early interpreters of the California farm-to-fork movement.

Over at my new favorite Californian Italian, Allora, the brilliant co-owner Elizabeth-Rose Mandalou has put together a compact and precise progressive list, like the Colombo Pelaverga above. (It’s important to note that not all of the small- and mid-sized hipster distributors deliver to Sacramento. So, Elizabeth’s work is even more impressive given the challenges of limited deliveries and added costs.)

She also has what may be the deepest selection of Franciacorta in the U.S. Who can say no to a glass of Franciacorta and caviar and freshly shucked oyster service?

I loved how the cheese course masqueraded as dessert.

Everything about this place was warm, welcoming, entertaining, surprising and familiar at the same time. And the service, including the cork presented on a tray (yes!), was impeccable.

Thank you again, Elizabeth and team! I cannot wait to get back.

And for the record, here’s the chicken pot pie I had for lunch at Waterboy, below. Enough said!

From the department of “festina lente”….

The 2024 vintage is shaping up to be a good one over here at Do Bianchi Editorial… poo poo poo!

Here are some upcoming events where we can taste together and trade notes.

February 5: online “What’s Happening with Italian Wines” tasting with Hue Society (wines available exclusively to Hue Society members but Zoom call open to all; stay tuned for link).

February 26: Taste of Italy Houston, the city’s 10th annual Italian food and wine trade fair. I’ll be leading a number of tastings including the “Texas BBQ and Italian Wine” seminar (sells out every year; reserve now to secure your spot).

February 29: I’ll be pouring Amistà at the James Suckling tasting in Miami.

March 13-14: Tracie and I will be hosting a reception for Tahiirah Habibi at our house in Houston (March 13) and then a Hue Society Happy Hour, also in Houston where she is recruiting new members for Hue Society (March 14, venue TBD). Stay tuned for details.

March 18 (week): I’ll be leading Abruzzo seminars at three stops along the Slow Wine Tour in New York, Austin, and Denver. If you attend in Austin, hit me up for info about our annual Slow Wine honky tonk crawl (no joke, just ask Giancarlo!).

April 14-17: I’ll be doing a ton of stuff at Vinitaly this year and will be attending all four days. Hit me up if you want to taste with Amistà or Abruzzo or if you just want to connect. Hopefully I’ll be doing a Hue Society event as well.

Looking forward to connecting with you in 2024! Thanks for the support!

The 2023 vintage will be remembered as a turning point for the mainstreaming of hybrid grape varieties in Italian viticulture.

It will also be evoked when tradesfolk recall the downturn in sales and volumes as prolonged inflation, saturated markets, rising competition, and declining interest in fine wine impacted the Italian wine industry.

But this year’s most interest prediction for Italian wine was published on Christmas Day 2023 by the excellent wine-focused news and media portal WineNews.it.

The post is an interview with and paraphrasis of the great Italian ampelographer and viticultural philosopher Attilio Scienza.

In the piece, Professor Scienza illustrates how the rising alcohol levels and sustainability crises caused by increasing climate change have made us “victims of terroir.” Or to put it more precisely and slavishly, quoting the professor (translation mine): “we are still victims of the ambiguity of terroir.”

He rightly points out that until the contemporary era, wine was not considered a luxury product but rather a human necessity — like food or potable water. For that reason, wine appellations sprung up primarily around transport corridors and hubs and were closely aligned with other products of consumption. Where trade routes existed for other and undoubtedly more important products, wine growers planted their roots where they knew the customers were.

Today, that model is entirely inverted.

Fine wine is grown in places where people wanted to grow it, not where it would grow with the greatest results.

Yes, there are counter examples, places like Burgundy where wine has been grown for centuries. But why did people plant grapes there in the first place? Because there was limestone in the slopes? Or because Dijon and Avignon were nearby?

If you trace the Montalcino DOCG back to its origins, you will find that Biondi Santi set up their cooperative because a new train station had been built nearby (Sant’Angelo Scalo).

In Napa, people planted Cabernet Sauvignon on the valley floor where apples should have been planted, not because it was the best place for the grape variety but because the people who lived there wanted to drink it.

Climate change, says Scienza, should prompt us to rethink where, what, and how winemakers grow grapes. And maybe that’s how we unchain ourselves from the historically false notion of terroir and make better wines and bolster more sustainability.

Above: Tahiirah Habibi, third from right, founder of Hue Society, created in 2015, an “organization committed to creating access and resources for Black, brown, and Indigenous communities while providing enriching cultural wine experiences for consumers and brands alike” (see below).

It is with great pleasure that I share the following press release published yesterday by the Hue Society.

As Tahiirah recently told me, Hue Society is launching its first chapter in Italy. The Verona-based group is the first of its kind in the country (and possibly in Europe). I’m looking forward to partnering with them in the month leading up to Vinitaly and at the fair!

Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) celebrates a new collaboration with The Hue Society for the Ambassador Course in New York.

The Vinitaly International Academy will once again hold the prestigious Italian Wine Ambassador course in The Big Apple from 4-6 March 2024. This year’s event will include a collaboration with The Hue Society, with the inclusion of two fee-waiver candidates for Hue Society members.

Wine professionals from across North America will gather in New York City, hosted by Banville Wine Merchants in Manhattan, to participate in two days of tastings and seminars as they prepare for the rigorous exam on day 3 to become certified Italian Wine Ambassadors. VIA Faculty member Sarah Heller MW will be on hand to lead the tastings and a series of in-depth lectures, focusing on Italy’s most important wine-producing regions. This will be the 27th edition of the VIA course and the first time collaborating with The Hue Society, offering two fee-waiver opportunities for society members. The VIA Community now spans 46 countries around the world, with a membership of over 1300 people who have taken the course and 346 who passed the exam to become certified Italian Wine Ambassadors, of whom 16 are certified Italian Wine Experts.

Click on the link below and complete the application form. Hue Society members, please indicate your membership in the “Motivation” section.

https://www.vinitaly.com/en/training/vinitaly-international-academy/courses/via-new-york-2024/

About the Hue Society:

The Hue Society is a global award community-based organization committed to creating access and resources for Black, brown, and Indigenous communities while providing enriching cultural wine experiences for consumers and brands alike. While The Hue Society’s mission is the inclusion and education of all things related to Black, brown, and Indigenous wine culture, our most coveted benefits are reserved for our active members, who have access to exclusive perks and events meant to further enrich their wine knowledge and gain a direct connection to influential professionals reshaping the industry.

Southeast Texas friends, please join us on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 15 for the MLK Day March in Orange, Texas, followed by our protest of the newly built Neo-Confederate memorial on MLK Dr.

The Orange chapter of the NAACP will be leading the historic MLK March beginning at 10 a.m. at Salem Church on W. John Ave. The parade will be followed by presentations at the Riverfront Boardwalk and Pavilion.

Click here for more information.

And then at 2 p.m., Tracie and I will head over to the Neo-Confederate memorial on MLK Dr. at Interstate 10.

The monument is located across from the Exxon station on MLK Dr. at I-10: Google maps.

Parking is available at the Exxon station or on 41st St. (my blue Ford F150 pickup truck will be parked there).

We will be on the corner with our signs (and water bottles) from 2-4 p.m.

For those who aren’t familiar with the insidious efforts of white supremacists and Neo-Confederates to make hateful iconography unavoidable, please check out this recent reel by musician and activist Dara Tucker.

Heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who donated to our GoFundMe campaign to raise an MLK billboard across from the monument in time for MLK Day. The billboard will continue to appear throughout Black History Month (February).

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns: jparzen@gmail.com or (917) 405-3426.

Thank you for your support and solidarity! We hope to see you at the march or protest or hopefully both!

Thank you to everyone who gave to our GoFundMe campaign to raise an MLK billboard over the Neo-Confederate memorial in Orange, Texas in time for MLK Day (January 15) and Black History Month (February). We have reached our $2k goal! Thank you for your support and solidarity!

One of the biggest surprises of my 2023 was how the NYC cityscape has changed since the closures of 2020.

Today, there are whole stretches of Broadway in the 20s where there are now trendy shops, cafés, and restaurants in an area previously reserved for schmatta and toy wholesalers.

And the Upper Westside, once a fine dining wasteland, now bubbles over with hipster concepts with al fresco seating.

It should have come as no surprise when my colleagues proposed a dinner at the amazing Lucciola on Amsterdam and 90th (three blocks from where I used to live back in the day).

I was blown away by Chef Michele Massari’s cooking. His work embodies the seemingly oxymoronic but overarching ethos of the greatest Italian cuisine: for it to be classic, it must be creative.

The tortellini in the photo above were a study in the many gradations of texture in Parmigiano Reggiano when handled by an expert like Chef Michele. But that was one of the more conservative dishes that evening.

Don’t miss the “AAA pinsa,” a savory flatbread topped with blue fin tuna bottarga, red tuna belly, Cetara anchovies, and caviar. It’s one of the restaurant’s signature dishes and it’s incredible.

Also memorable was this tuna, shrimp, and caviar appetizer, below, which I believe was a special.

I’m nonplussed as to why this restaurant isn’t on more people’s radar. I got the impression that Chef Massari and his team are doing such brisk business that they don’t invest much effort in media. In Italy, he’s already a superstar.

It’s not a cheap date but worth every penny. Fantastic Italian-focused wine list as well, with a compact but unforgettable Champagne offering.

My recommendation: run don’t walk!

Please consider giving to our yearly GoFundMe campaign to raise an MLK billboard over the Neo-Confederate memorial in Orange, Texas in time for MLK Day (January 15) and Black History Month (February). We are only $240 short of our $2k goal! If you can’t donate, please share. Thank you for your support and solidarity! Click here to donate.

As my buddy Doug and I enjoyed one of the best meals of my 2023 at Chambers in lower Manhattan back in May 2023, I couldn’t help but be reminded of what Susan Sontag once wrote of the 20th-century critical theorist and activist Simone Weil.

In an essay that Sontag devoted to the philosopher, she wrote that Weil was “excruciatingly identical with her ideas.”

As at least one critic has written, Sontag “yearned to be identical to her ideas, to display the punishing consistency of Weil, but her ideas jostled and sparked, exploding her sense of what she was, or wanted to be.”

So much of what we do in life is compromised by the jostling, sparking, and exploding of our ideas. Personally, being identical to my ideas is something that I have always aspired to, even though, inevitably and invariably, that train is often derailed and rerouted by the vicissitudes of life.

If there were one person in the wine trade who has made a career of being identical to her ideas, it must be Pascaline Lepeltier.

In my view of the world, the art of hospitality has evolved and transcended to a new zenith through her work.

Over the course of a career where she has created an entirely new and profoundly impactful role in the world of wine, she is at once a sommelier and activist, a restaurateur and a philosopher. But she hasn’t achieved this through high-browed essays, articles, books, or speeches. No, she has accomplished this feat through her sheer indomitable will to be identical to her ideas.

As strange as it may sound, I could sense this ethos in the menu and wine list of her excellent restaurant on Chambers St. (a stone’s throw from city hall).

I could feel it in the way that the servers interacted with our party.

I could feel it in the way that my dining partner and our fellow diners reacted to the dishes and wines.

The whole experience was infused with an acute aspiration for human dignity. I know that sounds extreme or excessive. But I genuinely believe and I honestly sensed that the entire operation ultimately revolves around the ideas and ideals that Pascaline holds dear.

I could even taste it in the food and wine…

Don’t miss Chambers on your next trip to the city. It was one of the most rewarding meals of my year so far.

Please consider giving to our yearly GoFundMe campaign to raise an MLK billboard over the Neo-Confederate memorial in Orange, Texas in time for MLK Day (January 15) and Black History Month (February). If you can’t donate, please share. Thank you for your support and solidarity! Click here to donate.

One of the things that a lot of folk don’t know about the Dispensa Pani e Vini in the heart of Franciacorta wine country is that the restaurant is arguably the number-one spot in Italy to drink classic method sparkling wine.

Franciacorta, of course. In my experience, there are more labels from Franciacorta on the list at the Dispensa than at any other restaurant in Italy. The selection of French sparkling wines is also robust there.

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed many unforgettable lunches and dinners there. And the to-go gourmet deli counter is extraordinary.

Ever since its beloved founder and chef Vittorio Fusari passed a few years ago, the restaurant has gone through multiple chef and ownership changes. There have been ups and downs but the restaurant has remained the see-and-be-seen dining destination for the appellation.

And every once in a while, during my two or three yearly visits, the kitchen there delivers something truly compelling.

The last time I was there in March 2023, one of the specials was the beet tagliolini in the first image above. Man, what a dish! The earthly flavors of the beets and the creamy texture of the pasta and sauce… It was one of the best things I ate all year. The octopus, also above, wasn’t half bad either.

Of course, no lunch at the Dispensa is complete without a post-meal visit to nearby Mt. Orfano and my friends’ winery Arcari + Danesi.

That’s a view of their southern-facing Chardonnay vineyard above. And just breathe in the wild flowers that grow between the rows, in the image below. I can’t recommend the restaurant and the winery highly enough

Please consider giving to our yearly GoFundMe campaign to raise an MLK billboard over the Neo-Confederate memorial in Orange, Texas in time for MLK Day (January 15) and Black History Month (February). If you can’t donate, please share. Thank you for your support and solidarity! Click here to donate.

Fritos, chili con carne, Velveeta, freshly chopped white onions, and pickled jalapeños… It’s a recipe for a big bowl of wrong. And I loved every bite.

As much as I loved it through my childhood and adolescence, I’m not eating much junk food these days. Gotta keep that heart healthy.

So when the opportunity to eat something really special comes up, I jump at the chance. The once-a-year Houston Rodeo is a no-holds-barred triglyceride feast for me.

The only thing not perfect about the Frito pie in the image above was that it was served in a checkered deli basket and not a Fritos bag.

It’s a quintessential Texan dish. After all, Fritos were invented in San Antonio. And the chili is that uniquely Texan version of ragù, made with just chiles, spices, and ground beef — absolutely no beans! One writer for Texas Monthly put it this way: “don’t look for a united Texan front when it comes to defining ‘authentic’ (except for a near universal, almost hysterical aversion to the inclusion of beans).” See the link for a classic recipe.

We had a blast at this year’s Rodeo, our first time back since the closures. The Frito pie was immensely delicious. And Dr. Green was none the wiser.

Please consider giving to our yearly GoFundMe campaign to raise an MLK billboard over the Neo-Confederate memorial in Orange, Texas in time for MLK Day (January 15) and Black History Month (February). If you can’t donate, please share. Thank you for your support and solidarity! Click here to donate.

There are restaurants where you go for good food, drink, and ambiance.

And then there are restaurants where you go not just for the culinary experience but to be transported to another place and time.

That’s not to say that I love the Cerbone family’s Manducatis in Long Island City, Queens, New York, just for the nostalgia. Over the years, I have found the food there to be consistently and reliably excellent, homemade, wholesome, and wonderfully balanced.

And the wine list continues to stand apart and above as one of New York City’s most compelling wine destinations.

But there’s a lot of nostalgia there to enjoy as well, evoking a time when family-owned, literally mom-and-pop Italian restaurants could be found throughout the city.

In February of this year, I had the great fortune of visiting my longtime friend Anthony Cerbone (in the first image) with a group of top wine professionals.

Anthony’s father Vincenzo was a pioneer of Italian wine in the U.S. And the program he created is now guided in equally brilliant measure by the son.

While the list would be exceptional by any measure because of its breadth, it’s also and primarily the vertical depth that makes it so unique in the panorama of today’s wine world. Case in point: look what we drank that day (I wasn’t buying!).

At the same meal, we also opened a 1969 Taurasi by Mastroberardino. It was a bit oxidized so we drank it as an aperitif.

I can’t think of anywhere else in the world where you could go from 69 Taurasi to 86 Bordeaux with just the flip of a page. Incredible!

When you go visit Manducatis, please tell Anthony — a wonderful guitarist as well — that I sent you. Don’t even ask to look at the menu. Just let his mother cook for you. And when you’re sated, ask for dessert.

I really, really love this place. Not just for the many unforgettable nights I’ve spent there but for the warmth and humanity of the people who run this national culinary treasure. I can’t recommend it enough. You’ll never forget it.