Posts

Showing posts from July, 2010

Refuge pastrami dances with Bourgueil

Image
The Refuge. Pastrami. Their other food is excellent too, and not being a huge fan of pickled meat, I used to order Philly cheesesteak. Last week, my friends and I made the pilgrimage (for all of 20 min from Palo Alto to San Carlos), and I decided to finally give that famous pastrami a shot. Dude! If you still haven't heard of or been to the Refuge in San Carlos and haven't had their Pastrami sandwich (in a few different variations, like Swiss & mustard or Russian dressing, or sauerkraut, on a few different bread options) - you are majorly missing out! Apologies to vegetarians - that place ain't for you. But for the rest of us - the Refuge is it . They specialize in Belgian beers too, but for a bona-fide wino, you owe it to yourself to bring a bottle of a Loire red - such as Bourgueil (pronounced "boor-geye") - a light-to-mid weight "tobasco-ey", spicy, veggie-laden, metallic tasting, acidic wine made from Cabernet Franc. (I know I know - that sound

Living off the land in Palo Alto

Image
I moved to Palo Alto three years ago. In the city famous for its proximity to Stanford University and world's greatest technology companies, and for its swanky downtown full of restaurants that don't seem to last very long in the ultra-competitive food scene, hardly anyone would notice a movement much more subtle than the tech revolution - a movement back to the roots, folks seeking local organic produce, growing their own food in their backyards and community gardens, and generally balancing the break-neck pace of their professional lives with quieter, gentler way of living at home. It may sound ironic, considering Palo Alto is home to some of the most expensive real estate in California. Indeed, when one's neighbors are Steve Jobs (of Apple & Pixar) and Steve Young (of the 49-ers), and Facebook and Google are just around the corner, the words "quieter, gentler way of living" may seem funny. But on the second thought, us crazy professional folks do occasional

Sicily's Mount Etna reds make seafood sing

Image
I started hearing about Mount Etna over the last couple of years as it grew in popularity in the "in" circles. The region has been going through a renaissance in the last 10 years, finally starting to show up on the radar of boutique wine shops and serious Italian restaurants. The fascinating and impressive aspect of red wines from Etna is their textural, structural, and color likeness to red Burgundy (Pinot Noir grape) and particularly to Barolo (Nebbiolo grape) - the two greatest wines in the world. One expects rustic, thick wines to come out of Sicily, the widely known consumer-marketed examples made from Nero D'Avola and Syrah. Yet, grown on elevations thousands of feet above sea level on centuries-old lava soils around the Mount Etna volcano (the largest active volcano in Europe), the native grape called Nerello Mascalese achieves dizzying heights. Last week, I sat with Enrico N. - director of Italian wines at one of the largest wine distributors in California - Wi

Pork belly ravioli with 2000 Oddero Barolo "Vigna Rionda" - heaven or hell?!

Image
Well, I guess when you put ground pork belly inside a thick-skinned ravioli, and then drop a generous helping of crispy guanciale (pork cheek bacon), deep-fried sage, and cheese on top, and serve the whole thing in a bath of brown-sugar and butter sauce, the health freaks will have a heart attack just hearing about it. So I suppose the only way to survive the overdose is by washing it all down with Oddero 2000 Barolo "Vigna Rionda" from the sexy 2000 vintage - a wine so intense, so layered, so "gamey jerky meets iodiney seaweed" but in a good way with so much character amid the most voluptuous Barolo texture, that it's hard to really tell ahead what will disappear first - the bottle of the Barolo or the bowl of the ravioli. One of the most perfect food and wine matches to ever cross my palate - if that's not worth dying for... Hell yeah! - this is the ultimate "gourmet comfort" sin food. Live well die happy, my friends!

Flying under-the-radar at Ridge Monte Bello

Image
They've been making these wines since the 70's, staying true to the principles of purity and balance, respecting the history of the grapes, being a reference point of American wine making. Recently I had a chance to re-visit Ridge. Another great experience, once again re-affirming that this local Santa Cruz Mountains winery not only has the world-class chops but also the soul. For the 2nd installment of Ridge blogger tasting , Chris Watkins, the tasting room manager at Ridge Monte Bello, lined up an array of under-the-radar low-production (under 1000 cases) "Advanced Tasting Program" wines from Ridge that sell out to devout members without ever hitting retail - all Rhone varietals, for which Ridge obviously has a soft spot, but not a soft palate. This time we focused on multiple vintages of 100% Carignane, 50/50 Syrah/Grenache blends (Southern Rhone style), Syrah/Viognier (Northern Rhone style) blends, and 100 Petite Sirah. Continue reading this article on corkd.com .

Happy 4th of July with American wines!

Image
I stopped by the 4th of July backyard bbq party at Julie's. The Palo Alto local winos gathered en masse to give tribute to our founding fathers and to enjoy another gorgeous summer afternoon. A sort of a free for all, everyone brought wine, some brought food. Tom grilled a large whole rosemary-infused salmon, served with Dan's world's creamiest mashed potatoes , and a few fixins from various culinary wiz's. In this quintessential of all American holidays, what wine was I to bring but the quintessential American wine - a Zinfandel. And not just any Zin, a quintessential American Zin at a whopping 16.5% alcohol (yeeeehaaaaa) from Turley! There is a time and a place, ladies and gents. Dehlinger Pinot and a Mendocino County Syrah went super-nice with the 4th of July fare. Zins were excellent with carrot cake and blueberries fresh from Julie's 6ft-tall blueberry bushes. A really good 2002 Chambolle-Musigny red Burgundy was like a tuxedo-dressed English aristocrat at a a

Spanish wine from California with canned Riga Sprats fish

Image
No tennis for me this morning. I tore my Achilles tendon playing soccer. My neighbor Enoch, an urgent care doctor, stopped by last night to check on me. Rona had just picked up her sis from the airport - everyone converged on Domaine du Chevsky around 11pm. Limping around, I improvised, and pulled out a bottle of 2005 Tejada - a local California wine (from Lake County , north of Calistoga and Healdsburg) given to me by Allen, a tennis compadre whose friend makes this wine . Cool bottle. I was thinking I needed something full bodied, warm and ripe, since it gets pretty cold in Palo Alto at night, even in the 80-degree-by-day summer. We were going to sip, rather than eat, so an interesting new world red felt right. The owners are from Spain, the wine is made from Garnacha and Temperanillo. Often with California's warm climate and parkerization tendencies, domestic wines tend to be over-ripe, alcoholic, and lacking character. Frankly, I was sort of counting on that. Remarkably not thi

Burrata salad with Beaujolais

Image
What happens when you get creative with the freshest bestest ingredients for a salad aimed to serve a merry group of gourmet winos on a balmy summer day in Palo Alto? Roasted peppers, peeled Toasted rustic bread Ripe juicy heirloom tomatoes Basil Garlic Green olives Spicy red peppers Toasted pine nuts Generous amount of burrata Extra virgin olive oil and a touch of vinegar All sliced, soaked together and served with a bottle of 2006 Beaujolais. Oh, even me, normally lukewarm about Beaujolais (either "nouveau" or the more serious "cru") screamed in happy joy, going for yet another helping. 2006 was not a very good vintage for Beaujolais, following the very highly acclaimed 2005 (spectacular vintage throughout France). Nonetheless, I found the less fruity, cooler 2006 to be more to my liking over the more aggressive and concentrated 2005's. The non-tannic, dusty cherry spice tasted like a more rustic version of Burgundian Pinot Noir and went effortlessly with the