Chef Patti Jackson’s lasagne were layered savory perfection today at I Trulli in NYC for lunch.
Macaroni, made with farina arsa (burnt flour) and pea shoots.
Category Archives: de vino
$1 oysters and zero sulfur Garganega? Hell YEAH!
According to its website, La Biancara’s 100% Garganega “Pico” is 100% sulfur free. And I’m here to tell you that it’s 100% friggin’ delicious. Pair that with $1 oysters during happy hour at The Ten Bells on the Lower East Side and you get the following tasting note: HELL YEAH!
I am so unbelievably slammed this morning that I don’t have time to post my thoughts on why The Ten Bells is the hippest wine bar in the U.S. (and definitely in the top 5 for me).
Hey, wait a minute! Is that Muddy Boots horsing around with Dolcetto producer Anna Bracco at The Ten Bells?
In other news…
I also regret not having time to post about the off-the-charts meal I shared with BrooklynGuy and BrooklynLady at Aliseo in Brooklyn (where else?) last night.
But lest Alfonso think he corners the market on great food photography, here’s a taste of what’s to come…
Three days too many…
Sunday she left New York…
Monday I missed her…
Tuesday I could barely take it…
Here in NYC, I’ve been up since 6 a.m. working on my computer and I have an insane day ahead of me… but my mind and my heart are back in Texas with her… It’s already been three days too many… Man, I miss her…
Two awesome (new world) wines we tasted at Alice’s
Tracie P and I had a short but delightful visit chez Alice on Sunday afternoon and what visit with Alice would be complete without a proper wine tasting?
I was entirely geeked to taste the 2002 Vat 1 Semillon by Tyrell’s and I was blown away by how good the La Clarine Farm’s 2008 was — especially considering how long the wine had been open…
But, more than anything else, I was entirely blown away by the fact that we tasted two new world wines at her house! And they were both delicious… (Note her tasting notes on the label of the La Clarine Farms… Okay, so I admit, I was STAR STRUCK!)
Thanks again, Alice!
REALLY slow food at Michele and Charles Scicolone’s table
Above: Good friend Frank (not pictured) brought a 3-liter bottle of 1971 Chianti Classico by Ruffino to our “very slow” and excellent dinner the other night in the home of my long-time friends, the delightful Michele and Charles Scicolone — authors, bloggers, and legendary New York hosts. That’s me wielding the 3-liter with Charles in the background.
Michele and Charles Scicolone have a lot to celebrate these days.
Charles (check out his blog) was recently made a knight in the order of the Imperial Castellania di Suavia: a week ago Sunday, the “dames” of the confraternity presented him with his honorary sword and sash, in a ceremony replete with medieval pageantry and garb, at the historical Soave castle.
And New York Times best-seller author Michele (check out her blog) is basking (rightfully) in the glow of more than 50,000 copies printed of her latest book The Italian Slow Cooker (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010). (You may remember Tracie P’s post inspired by Michele’s book.)
Above: On Saturday, Michele was testing recipes for her forthcoming The French Slow Cooker recipe book. Slow-cooked veal shank was served with slow-cooked risotto (and oven-roasted asparagus).
Tracie P and I had the good fortune to be invited to Michele and Charles’s home for dinner on Saturday night, where we got to sample some of the dishes that Michele is testing for the forthcoming French version of her slow-cooker success, like this chocolate cake:
Above: Yes, made with a slow-cooker!
We also got to taste a champagne-method wine, a DOC from Italy I’d never seen before, a sparkling Lessini (place name) Durello (grape name).
Above: Anyone else have notes on this wine or other wines made from Durello grapes?
I was impressed by its richness, freshness, and unctuous mouthfeel, and it was a great accompaniment to Michele’s turkey, pork, and fig slow-cooker pâte. Charles had brought the wine back from his recent trip to Soave.
O, and the 1971 Chianti Classico? Old and dusty, earthy and grapey, crunchy and delicious… perfect with the veal and the ripened cheeses that followed…
Thanks so much, Michele and Charles, from both of us, Tracie P and me. Such success couldn’t have happened to more lovely people. You’ll always be the “first couple” of Italian food and wine in my book!
Scenes from a Saturday in Brooklyn
Yesterday, I took Tracie P on a tour of “my” Brooklyn…
That’s me with Francesco Buffa owner of Ferdinando’s in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, one of my favorite restaurants in the world.
Tracie P often teases me that when I’m around New Yorkers I start to talk with a New York accent. When I’m Brooklyn? Fuhgeddaboudit (I even found myself saying “you twos”).
That the vasteddu, the Palermitan spleen sandwich served at Ferdinando’s.
I’ve got a special post planned for next week on Francesco and the culinary legacy that his excellent restaurant represents.
Can anyone guess where we took this photo of this superb bottle of Champagne by Lassaigne? I’ve got one hint for you: the owner of that table likes Champagne (and he’s got one of the palates, to borrow Cory’s phrase, I admire most in this here enoblogospher).
More on our lovely visit and the wines we tasted together coming up…
Tracie P and I visited Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope (where I used to live way back when), and, de riguer, the Brooklyn Bridge.
It was such a beautiful Saturday afternoon in May and I just felt like I fell in love with her all over again…
Thanks, Tracie P, for let me share “my Brooklyn” with you… I love you.
Dreams do come true: 1971 Produttori del Barbaresco
Anyone who knows Tracie P and me can imagine the flutter in our hearts when we were surprised last night at dinner with this bottle of wine.
In the next few days, I’ll post on this and the other truly amazing wines that were opened for us (you’re not going to believe the flight of wines we enjoyed…). But right now a stroll in the park with my lovely lady on a beautiful New York spring day and whitefish salad are calling my name…
Stay tuned…
Awesome vertical of Santorini by Boutari
Tracie P and I tasted a vertical (09 classic Kallisti, 09 classic Santorini, 05 Kallisti reserve, 93 Kallisti reserve, 89 Kallisti reserve) of Boutari Santorini this morning with winemaker Yannis Voyatzis (who made all of the wines himself). The 2005 and 1993 in particular blew me away with their freshness and bright acidity and salty minerality. Managing the Boutari social media project does have its perks! Killer wines. I’m beginning to think that I may have finally found the perfect sushi wine.
Lunch at Bar Boulud wasn’t bad (photo by Tracie P).
Especially when paired with…
The 1993 Naoussa was friggin’ amazing…
Tracie P and I are getting ready for our Friday night out on the town. Stay tuned!
Pair this! Dinner with the best sommelier (2008) in the world Aldo Sohm
You may remember him from my post some years back now: Austrian-born Aldo Sohm, one of the nicest guys in the biz, one of its brightest stars, and the apotheosis of hospitality and wine and food knowledge. Last night, I was treated to dinner by my friend, photographer Lyn Hughes, who recently “shot” the new website for Le Beranardin, one of New York’s top 5 dining destinations (IMHO), where Aldo holds court. Here are a few images from dinner… Enjoy!
Sea urchin… paired with…
Gaia Santorini Thalassitis. The “sea water” flavors of the Assyrtico were superb with the raw urchin.
Zucchine flowers stuffed with crab… paired with…
Trimbach Pinot Gris. The richness of this wine also went well with the bacalao.
Snapper (shot by Lyn!)… paired with two wines…
Neumeister Sauvignon Blanc. This wine was the quintessence, Aldo explained, of the Austrian interpretation of the grape variety, somewhere between the intensity of New Zealand’s take and the angularity of Sancerre. A simply stunning wine.
Château Simone 1986. One word tasting note: wow. (Check out Wine Doctor’s profile of this incredible estate.)
Here’s one to keep you guessing!
Thanks again, Aldo and Lyn! (Can you believe that? One of NYC’s top celebrity photographers shooting with my camera!)
Stay tuned… Tracie P arrived JFK last night after dinner and our first tasting today is scheduled for 11 a.m. Man, it’s tough job but someone’s got to do it!
“Xinomavro is a punch in the face to globalisation. We don’t need Cabernet in Greece!”
No, it’s not a crown of grape vines. It’s a sample of basket-trained vines from Santorini that was passed around at the New Wines of Greece seminar I attended this morning in New York.
The highlight of the tasting came for me at the end of the morning seminar when Master of Wine Kostantinos Lazarkis (below, left) told the crowd of wine professionals, referring to the “diva” indigenous red grape of Greece, as he called it, “”Xinomavro is a punch in the face to globalisation. We don’t need Cabernet in Greece!”
Now, THAT’S MY KINDA LANGUAGE! If only MONTALCINO WERE LISTENING!!!
Getting to chat and taste with Kostantinos was a wonderful treat and it’s always great to taste with two of my favorite people in the wine writing world — who make ANY room feel glamorous — Master of Wine Mary Ewing-Mulligan and the inimitable Ed McCarthy (with Kostantinos, above). In the Xinomavro flight, Ed picked the two ringers blind: Nebbiolo from Piedmont and Sangiovese from Montalcino. There’s no two ways about it: the dude is a stud.
I’ve only been in New York for a morning and I’ve already tasted some amazing wines and met some amazingly interesting people. And the day is young!
Stay tuned…
