Vino e Vittles

Blackberry Margaritas

2011-04-08T19:06:00.003-05:00

After finding frozen seedless blackberry puree at a local Hispanic market, we decided to see what we could create with it. Jeff created Blackberry Margaritas to go with our braised chicken tacos tonight. It turned out to be both a beautiful and delicious drink. Dare I say we are also getting our antioxidants out of this? The leftover puree will likely be mixed with maple syrup tomorrow for waffles.

Blackberry Margaritas

In a cocktail shaker combine with crushed ice:
Juice of 1 lemon or 2-3 limes
3 T of seedless, unsweetened frozen blackberry puree (thawed)
2 T sugar (can add more sugar if you like it sweeter
2 shots Patron Citron
5 shots Jose Quervo Gold Tequila

Serve over crushed ice. Rim glasses with sugar/salt mixture if desired.

2011-01-16T12:19:00.002-06:00

Nouveau Southern Dinner Party

We enjoyed a small gathering last weekend of friends for appetizers and cocktails inspired by the South. We put our own twist on it, doing a duo of duos — two takes with modern twists — on Southern classics.

The menu was as follows:

Homemade Pimento Cheese Spread on Crostini (http://vinoevittles.blogspot.com/2010/07/pimento-cheese-recipe.html)
Southern Pickle Platter: with pickled green tomatoes, okra and sweet petite gherkins
Double Oink Roll-ups: sausage balls wrapped in bacon and baked with a brown sugar and mustard glaze
Chicken Wing Duo: traditional spicy and Memphis Rendezvous barbecue style. Served with homemade buttermilk blue cheese dressing and crudité (http://vinoevittles.blogspot.com/2010/09/bama-baked-wings-recipe-offers-healthy.html)
Duo of Deviled Eggs: avocado and cayenne eggs, as well as traditional made with sweet gherkins and garnished with smoked Spanish paprika
Red Velvet Cupcakes for dessert with Cream Cheese frosting (the beautiful cupcake liners are from Sutton Gourmet Paper www.suttongourmetpaper.com) I like Martha Stewart's recipe for the cupcakes and frosting.
Cocktails: A Drunken Arnold Palmer (made with Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka and homemade lemonade) and an Alabama Sunset (made with brandy, prosecco and muddles blackberries and sugar)

Mini Chevre Cheesecakes with Spiced Cherries

2010-12-13T12:36:00.008-06:00

Ingredients:

1 cup crushed graham crackers or other cookies
1/2 cup plus 1T sugar
4 T melted unsalted butter
1 and 1/2 packages of regular cream cheese (12 oz. total)
1 (4 oz.) package of chevre (goat cheese in log form)
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 large lightly beaten eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
pinch of salt
1/2 jar Spiced Sour Cherry Spread from The Gracious Gourmet
18 cupcake liners

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard cupcake pan with cupcake papers. Mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter and 1 T of sugar. Press 1 T of the graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each of the 18 cupcake liners in the cupcake pan. Bake until firm, about 6 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.
Reduce oven temp to 275. Beat softened cream cheese and goat cheese together with a mixer on med. speed. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and vanilla. Keep blending. Add eggs slowly, scraping sides of bowl into mixture. Add sour cream and pinch of salt. Pour batter into baking cups, filling nearly to the tops.
Bake until sides are set but centers are wobbly, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool on wire racks. Wrap tops of cheesecakes tightly in pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for four hours or overnight. Serve with 1/2 T of Spiced Sour Cherry Spread from The Gracious Gourmet (more or less can be used as desired). Will keep 3 days in the fridge. (www.thegraciousgourmet.com)

This recipe was adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe called "Mini Cheesecakes with Apricot Jam." I changed the cookie crust, kind of cheese, topping and adjusted the ingredients to better proportions. Makes 18 individual cakes. The topping is also fantastic! It has notes of red wine and lemon juice and spice in it. Not overwhelming at all! And the whole cherries in it are just gorgeous for the holidays.

The cupcake liners used are from Sutton Gourmet Paper! They bake up beautifully and hold color and design with just one liner. I am not showing the other striped papers I used from another company not to be mentioned! They turned out greasy and the crust burnt. So, I highly recommend Sutton Gourmet Paper! Order online at www.suttongourmetpaper.com

Bama Baked Wings recipe offers healthy option to football favorite

2010-09-19T10:59:00.002-05:00

Wings and football are a classic combination, but healthful game-day food often doesn't make the cut. Here's a recipe for hot wings that will satisfy hungry fans and take a little bit of the calorie and fat sting out of enjoying deep fried wings. Named "Bama Baked Wings" for the University of Alabama football team, these wings are good enough for SEC fans — who boast being the most passionate college football followers in the nation. That means fans here in Illinois will also be impressed, no matter what college or pro tem they root for.

Instead of using Frank's brand hot sauce for northern-style Buffalo wings, this recipe calls for Louisiana brand hot sauce ... even though The Crimson Tide and LSU don't play nice together on the field! Louisiana brand is easy to find in Aurora-area grocery stores. Also listed is a recipe for blue cheese dressing that won't be as bad for your diet as store-bought stuff in a jar.

Bama Baked Wings Recipe

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

6 pounds of fresh chicken wings, cut into drum and wing parts
1 c flour
1 egg beaten with 2/3 cup of water
2 T. Seasoned Salt or Creole Seasoning
canola cooking spray
2 sticks of butter (can substitute light butter)
3 T. red wine vinegar
3/4 c. Louisiana brand hot sauce (can use less for milder wings)

For the blue cheese dressing, mix together everything but the veggies. Refrigerate until the wings are ready to serve.

1 cup Light Sour Cream
1 cup Olive Oil Mayo
1 tub of blue cheese crumbles (can also use light blue cheese crumbles)
garlic salt and pepper to taste
2 T. milk
dash of red wine vinegar
cut celery and carrot into sticks for snacking

Directions: Cut the wings so they are separated into drum and wing sections. If using frozen wings, make sure they are defrosted overnight before baking. Cover 2 hotel pans or baking sheets with foil — you may need three pans depending on how large they are. Spray the foil with canola cooking spray. Mix the flour and seasoned salt in a bowl. Dip the wings in the egg wash and then bread them in the flour mixture. Spread the wings out evenly on the baking sheets. Lightly spray the top of the wings with canola spray. Bake in a 425-degree oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings after the 20 minutes and set timer for another 10. In a saucepan, melt the two sticks of butter. Add the hot sauce and 3 T. of vinegar. Stir until blended. Take the wings out of the oven and brush them on one side with the hot sauce mixture using a pastry or grilling brush. Return to the oven again for 10-15 minutes or until they seem done.

Brush on extra sauce if desired before serving. Set out blue cheese dressing, carrot and veggie stick alongside the wings.

Tarte de Pommes-tini

2010-09-18T21:58:00.003-05:00

Inspired by one of Chicago's hot new restaurants, Girl & The Goat, this cocktail recipes uses the French apple brandy Calvados and rum to provide smooth fall flavor. Phil Vettel of the Chicago Tribune gave Girl & The Goat a great first review, but you don't have to drive all the way downtown to enjoy this sophisticated sipper.

The cocktail on the menu at the Girl & The Goat is named "The Pirate Norman." Chef Stephanie Izard of Top Chef fame and her staff likely named the drink after its two main ingredients, aged rum (pirate) and the Normandy import of Calvados (Norman). This interpreted recipe of the Girl & The Goat cocktail is called "Tarte de Pommes-tini" or roughly "apple tart-tini" in French. While it may not be the exact Pirate Norman from Girl & The Goat, the taste may be just perfect for those martini lovers who never truly embraced the overly sweet "apple-tini" craze. And the flavor comparision to the original is pretty close. The ingredients are easy to find in the western suburbs of Chicago. Calvados is easy to find and is often used for cooking. Make sure the rum you choose is a dark aged rum.

Tarte de Pommes-tini

(enough for two cocktails with some extra left for refills)

Combine in a martini shaker with crushed ice:

2 shots Calvados
4 shots aged rum
juice of 1 lemon (strained of pulp)
3 tsp. of sugar

Shake and strain the cocktail, serving in martini glasses.

Best place to shop for sausage in Aurora is the century-old Wurst Kitchen

2010-09-14T14:08:00.003-05:00

If you love grilling brats, sausages and just about any other kind of encased or smoked meats, your best bet is to visit the Wurst Kitchen Sausage Co. in Aurora. In business in the Fox Valley for more than 115 years, the Wurst Kitchen started out making handmade and all-natural smoked and processed meats, largely serving the area's German community. Today the shop carries on the tradition of producing handmade sausages and meats, creating more than 80 different varieties throughout the year.
Polish sausage, bratwurst and veal bratwurst are just a few of the great choices for shoppers visiting Wurst Kitchen. More unusual flavors include Pizza, Taco, Tequila & Lime and Cherry Bomb bratwurst. At any given time the shop carries 40 varieties. A package of four large size brats or sausages are priced around $8. A list of offerings can be found here.

Located at the corner of Union and 2nd Street on Aurora's east side, the shop shows that it has strong roots. This location happens to be the original. For those who live further west of Aurora, Wurst Kitchen also operates an outlet and restaurant in downtown Plano (12 W. Main St.). A recent Saturday afternoon the Plano restaurant boasted a pig roast on premises. Catering options are available, and hunters will also find that Wurst Kitchen can process game like venison or foul. Contact the store for more details.

Shopping for South Asian Specialties in Illinois' Fox Valley

2010-09-14T14:06:00.002-05:00

Located near the Fox Valley Mall in Aurora (3577 E New York St.), Namaste Bazar offers a wide variety of fresh, frozen and packaged foods focused on Indian and South Asian specialties. The store, which opened in May, is easy to shop and also offers chaat — savory snacks — with a menu of items like panipuri, bhelpuri, masala puri, sevpuri, and more in addition to masala tea and coffee.

The friendly owners seem to take great pride in the 1,200-plus items they stock, making it a welcoming place for shoppers of all backgrounds. The quaint outdoor seating area is very inviting for sitting and enjoying chaat or coffee during good weather. Free wi-fi is available in the store.

Even shoppers who may not be familiar with the ins and outs of Indian cooking will find a great deal to purchase at the store. There is a plentiful selection of frozen meals and treats available that will greatly expand the variety of convenience meals you keep on hand in your kitchen. There are also many ready-to-eat South Asian snack mixes and convenient spice blends that will help a cook who is intimidated by mastering a new cuisine. The spice selection is extensive and prices are very reasonable. Namaste Bazar even offers a savings club for frequent shoppers that provides discount prices, coupons, rewards gifts and more.

Pasta with White Wine, Sausage & Tomato Sauce

2010-09-14T14:02:00.001-05:00

Skip the jarred pasta sauce and hamburger combo. This recipe for spaghetti rigati with a tomato-sausage and white wine sauce bursts with flavor that's much better than the old grocery store standard.

The key is using good Italian sausage such as the freshly made offerings you find at Aurora's Prisco's Fine Foods. The best type for this recipe is the bulk Italian sausage made without fennel. Many specialty stores like Prisco's offer the option to buy the sausage with or without fennel.

Another essential ingredient to this recipe is using high-quality tomatoes, even though it calls for jarred or canned varieties. San Marzano tomatoes are readily available at the grocery store, even though you may have to look past many domestic offerings to find them. They are imported from Italy and have the most flavor of the canned tomatoes you will find. Spaghetti Rigati is the best for this recipe because the sauce clings to the tiny ridges on each strand. Barilla offers a version that is easy to find at most stores.

Here is the recipe for Spaghetti Rigati with Sausage Red Sauce

Ingredients:

1 pound bulk Italian sausage (preferably without fennel)
1 jar of pureed San Marzano Tomatoes 700 g (or equivalent canned crushed tomatoes)
2 cloves of garlic
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup white wine
salt and pepper to taste
5 leaves of fresh basil (or dried basil to taste)
1 pound box of Barilla Spaghetti Rigati
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Combine white wine with the sausage in a medium size bowl and work the wine into the sausage with your hands. This helps break up the sausage and give it a nice texture for the sauce, as well as add flavor. Add it to a hot pan and cook the sausage until nearly browned. Use a paper towel to dab up any extra grease from the sausage that you may not want in the sauce. Leaving some fat in the pan is good for the flavor. Add the olive oil and chopped garlic and cook just a couple of minutes more until the garlic is golden. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Add the 700g jar of pureed tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.

While the sauce is cooking, prepare the pasta and make sure it a nice al dente texture. Rinse all the tomatoes out of the jar with a little bit of the cooking pasta water and add to the sauce. Near the end of the simmering process, add the chopped basil leaves. More or less can be used to taste. When the pasta is cooked, add part of the sauce to the pasta in the pan. Stir over medium heat to coat the pasta and influse flavor. Serve with dollops of extra sauce and grated cheese.

Pleasant Ridge Reserve named America's best cheese by ACS

2010-09-05T10:18:00.002-05:00

Last weekend in Seattle, The American Cheese Society held its annual conference and competition to announce the best artisan cheeses in the land. For cheese lovers, the event was appropriately titled "Cheese-a-topia," with a bounty of fine cheese producers gathering to showcase their best work. The winner of "Best in Show" from Saturday's competition just happened to be nearby cheese producer Uplands Cheese of Dodgeville, WI, just three hours north of Aurora.

The winning cheese is the Extra Aged Pleasant Ridge Reserve, a hard cheese in the style of a Gruyere that is full of flavor that can only be found in the unique milk of the cows on this Wisconsin farm. "We make Pleasant Ridge Reserve only during the summer months, while our cows are grazing on fresh pasture," according to the Uplands Cheese website. "This milk is full of flavor — and nutritional qualities -— not found in the milk of cows kept inside and fed stored feed. We use only fresh milk that is never pasteurized, and age the cheese in ripening rooms on our farm to ensure that our cheese expresses all of the flavor complexity possible in a grass-fed, raw-milk cheese."

Pleasant Ridge reserve is not new to awards. Most notably, it was named Best of Show at both the 2001 and the 2005 American Cheese Society competitions, making it the only cheese in that competition's history to win the top honor twice. It was also named the US Champion Cheese in the 2003 and is the only cheese ever to win both national competitions, according to the producers.

Uplands Cheese Company is owned and operated by two families: Mike and Carol Gingrich and Dan and Jeanne Patenaude. After years of farming separately as neighbors, in 1994 they bought the farm together. The cheese is made only from milk on the farm, which makes it a farmstead cheese.

This prestigious cheese will excite Fox Valley foodies who want to try the very best. You can order it online or find it in Chicago at Pastoral, a specialty food store that carries a wide variety of artisan cheese. Another way to get the cheese is tell the manager of your favorite store that you would like to see it in stock. For fine dining options, Vie in Western Springs currently features the cheese on its menu as part of a dessert cheese plate. Call ahead to make sure it is still available.

Namaste Bazar offers great South Asian Specialties in Aurora

2010-09-05T10:14:00.001-05:00

Pimento Cheese Recipe

2010-07-26T08:20:00.003-05:00

After having had a wonderful appetizer at Magnolia Restaurant in Charleston, Jeff tried his hand at making pimento cheese at home. It was a huge success! If you'd like to try his recipe for Pimento Cheese, here it is:

Pimento Cheese

1 garlic clove
1/2 cup pimentos finely diced
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 cup mayo (can add up to 1/4 cup more to taste/consistency)
6 oz. sharp white cheddar cubed
6 oz. mild orange cheddar (or colby) cubed
salt and black pepper to taste

In food processor, chop garlic, cheese cubes. Add mayo and spices. Combine. Add pimentos at last instant and only slightly pulse to combine but keep pimentos somewhat intact. Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow flavors to combine. Set out about 15 minutes before serving.

Outer Banks Adventure

2010-06-12T16:50:00.004-05:00

Having just returned from a two-week family vacation, there are many food adventures to share. The first half of our trip we rented a house in Avon, North Carolina, a small village on the Outer Banks toward the southern end of Hatteras Island. We rented through Surf or Sound Realty and couldn't have been happier with the house, which was very well equipped for cooking.

We enjoyed cooking every night we were there with amazingly fresh seafood from the cheekily named Risky Business Seafood. In fact, our first day on the island, we had their steamed shrimp and quickly fried up some flounder for lunch over mixed greens. The highlights from our dinners follow:

• Fried tilefish tacos — Batter the fish (cut into planks) in a beer and seafood flour mix; shallow fry. Serve on warmed corn tortillas with a spicy cabbage slaw (Combine mayo, lime juice, smooth red salsa, cilantro to form a thin dressing. Mix with shredded cabbage or cole slaw mix without carrots. Let stand for half hour.) These were inspired by the tremendous fish tacos at Bien Trucha in Geneva, Illinois. They came pretty close to the original — especially with a big margarita!

• Bay scallop and tilefish ceviche — Dice tilefish to be same size as bay scallops. Cover with lime and lemon juice. Mix half cup of finely diced red onion, two finely diced serrano chiles, and handful of chopped cilantro. Let stand, covered in the refrigerator for four to six hours. We severed this as the "surf" component of a surf and turf with grilled New York strips.

• Linguine alle vongole — Saute pound of clams (in shells) with three or four chopped garlic cloves and red pepper flakes to taste in olive oil. Add slightly less than one cup of good white wine at room temperature and cover until the clams open. Discard any that do not open. Reserve some of the pasta cooking liquid for the sauce if needed. Combine with the linguine and enjoy.

• Crabcakes — Mix pound of crab meat, two to four tablespoons mayo, dash of mustard, seasonings (I used Paul Prudhomme's seafood magic) to taste, three tablespoons finely diced red pepper, three tablespoons finely diced onion, and panko bread crumbs sufficient to bind. Shallow fry until golden.

These were the highlights along with grilling mako, panko breading red snapper and a delicious goat cheese salad for lunch our last day.

We did eat out for lunch on a few daytrips and were fortunate to have found some great food.

• Full Moon Cafe and Grille, downtown Manteo on Roanoke Island — After enjoying the quaint village and a trip to the aquarium on Roanoke Island, we enjoyed an excellent lunch here. We both ordered the crab bisque to start and were not disappointed. It was full of crab and so fresh. I had the crab cake sandwich, which rivaled the best of any I've ever had. Natalie had the Roanoke Shrimp Melt. The service was attentive and the atmosphere was refined but still casual and welcoming. They also have a strong microbrew list including a number on tap. We were so impressed with the charm of Manteo and hope to come back some day.

• Flying Melon Cafe, Ocracoke Island — Taking the ferry from Hatteras Village, the salt air made us hungry for lunch early. The Flying Melon is an incredibly cute restaurant as you get into Ocracoke village. The restaurant has tons of charm with folky art on the walls and a great logo for the staff t-shirts. Natalie had her first crab cake of the trip and I ordered the fried flounder sandwich. Both were simple, but perfect, and served with a side of fresh french fries. This is another place we'd like to visit again.

• Island Perks Diner and Coffee Shop, Buxton — The one place we went more than once. This friendly restaurant had standard breakfast items with out-of-this-world cinnamon rolls. The desserts looked awesome too.

• Uncle Eddy's Frozen Custard, Buxton — This was our favorite ice cream, or in this case custard, place. They have a ton of original flavors and a patient staff willing to let you taste a few to get the right one.

We also tried other ice cream shops and had lunch one day at the Dolphin Den in Avon. For non seafood foodstuffs, we mainly shopped at the Food Lion in Avon for convenience. The more enjoyable shopping experience was at Conner's in Buxton, which had great freshness and service.

We only had one fast-food meal the first half of our trip (and one Cracker Barrel dinner on the way to the OBX). Leaving the Outer Banks for the next leg of our trip, we had a really great, down home lunch at Woogie's Family Restaurant just over the river from Washington, NC in Chocowinity, NC (3609 US 17).

New Mexico Business

2010-03-20T08:32:00.003-05:00

I just got back from a business trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I did a lot of research before I left to try and line up some culinary adventures during conference downtime. I have to say, I think my expectations might have been too high and/or not having a car limited my culinary range so to speak.

Getting in on a Sunday morning, the town was pretty dead. I wandered to Old Town and was hoping to try the chile (Christmas style: red and green) at Duran Pharmacy. Unfortunately they don't serve on Sundays. So, I found Monica's El Portal on the edge of Old Town. The ambiance was nothing special, but felt fairly local, so I liked that. I ordered the chiles relleno with red chile. It came with sopapillas, which were quite nice. However, the chiles were not very flavorful and seemed like they had been pre-fried and been sitting out for some time. One was actually fairly tough and seemed underdone. However, I would say that the place delivered an average Mexican meal with good service and a local atmosphere.

For dinner that night, after having some light appetizers at a conference function, I had dinner at Lucia, which is in the Hotel Andaluz. The hotel itself, recently restored, is filled with historic charm but also the feel of an upscale boutique hotel. I really liked the vibe. The restaurant carried through the upscale, relaxed feel. The open kitchen was nice since I was dining alone. I enjoyed watching the kitchen staff banging out the meals. I didn't want to order anything too heavy since I had already had a bite to eat, but I did want to try a few things off the menu. I had a spinach salad that was pretty good with feta, kalamata olives and a bacon dressing. It paired well with the King Estate Pinot Gris I had. Then, the disappointment of the evening. I ordered one of their "flatbreads" off the menu. Well, the bill had it right when it called it a "pizza margherita". I was expecting something totally different. Lighter, more simple. It was basically a nice looking, below average tasting hotel pizza that probably should have been on the kids menu. Oh well. The service was good, prices somewhat reasonable and the atmosphere made up for a lot.

The next day was packed with conference activities and a lunch awards program. However, a colleague and I were able to make an afternoon train to Santa Fe for dinner. Again, I think my expectations were too high. We had dinner at La Fonda's restaurant, La Plazuela. The hotel, again, was awesome. Just off the Plaza in Santa Fe and very charming. The food though was just OK. The vibe in the restaurant was much more family and fairly downscale, but it seemed very booked for the evening. I ordered the tortilla soup, which was inferior to the one we make at home. The broth and chicken were good, but it didn't taste like it had any lime in it at all to cut the richness and give it some balance. For my main, I had the enchiladas, Christmas style. These were average at best. The chile was not very complex or even that spicy.

All-in-all, I don't know if I picked the wrong places (two hotel restaurants were maybe a mistake), ordered the wrong things, or have been spoiled by some of the awesome Mexican cuisine you can find in Chicagoland — including Rick Bayless' restaurants, Bien Trucha in Geneva and even my favorite taqueria in Aurora, Jallisco on Galena. New Mexicans were so nice and the landscape so beautiful that I want to give it another shot. There were some places that looked amazing, but they were out of town and I'd like to check out some of the New Mexico wineries, especially Gruet, that makes one of my favorite affordable sparkling wines.

Mussles à la Jeff and Ruffino Orvieto Classico

2010-02-13T20:19:00.002-06:00

Combining a little bit of French, Spanish and Italian influences this evening worked out quite well for a new recipe. I'd been wanting to cook mussels and when our Valentine's Day plans fell through due to a sick two year old, the opportunity presented itself.

Shopping at Binny's for wine and cheese, I picked up more than a few nice bottles of wine, including the Ruffino Orvieto Classico. It's not anything to write home about (although worthy of a mention in the blog), but it is very food friendly and quite affordable. Some Orvieto wines can veer to the sweet side, but this was not overly sweet and paired well with the spicy and smokey mussels I prepared for dinner. As a side note, Orvieto is a beautiful Umbrian hill town that was a stop on my honeymoon. It rises out of the central Italian landscape, perched majestically on a plateau of tufa. The cathedral is stunning and the food is as good as the wine. It's an easy day-trip from Rome or Florence or a great over-night stop between the two.

Anyway, on to the mussels. I wanted to incorporate some La Quercia pancetta I also bought at Binny's. The recipe follows:

• 1 and a half pounds of cleaned, scrubbed, debearded mussels (in this case from Fresh Market)
• Quarter pound diced La Quercia pancetta
• Small sweet onion finely diced
• Two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Three cloves garlic finely diced
• Two tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 and a half teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Pinch of saffron threads
• Half a cup to three-quarters cup of white wine (Orvieto Classico in this case)
• salt and pepper to taste

Bring olive oil to temp over medium-high heat. Add pancetta and cook for two minutes. Add onion and cook until nearly translucent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about two minutes). Make a clear spot and add tomato paste, saffron, smoked paprika, red pepper, salt and black pepper. Cook for a few minutes more, then stir to mix together. Add wine and bring to a boil. Add mussels and cover. Cook for 4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Stir after four minutes, recover and cook for another 2 to 4 minutes or until all the mussels have opened. Discard any that have not opened.

Served over toasted sourdough planks rubbed with garlic.

Limoncello Margaritas

2010-01-22T19:50:00.004-06:00

We discovered a new, tasty application for the most recent batch of homemade limoncello this evening … limoncello margaritas. As is often the case, necessity is the mother of invention. Planning on tacos for dinner and not having the requisite limes to make margaritas, tonight we experimented and found an innovative way to combine the best of Mexico and Italy.

For one drink, combine:
• Two shots tequila
• One shot limoncello
• One to one and half teaspoons sugar
• Half a lemon, juiced
• Zest from one half lemon

Add ice to a cocktail shaker and strain into a crushed ice tumbler. Nice!

Asian Cilantro Chicken Bites - Our Version

2010-01-15T12:35:00.005-06:00

After Jeff initially found this recipe on epicurious.com, we both decided that it sounded good but that the reviews weren't so hot. After a few suggestions, I came up with a version that turned out very good. We served it as an entree with jasmine rice and Jeff made a dipping (or drizzling) sauce out of hoison, honey, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce. The bites would also be great on toothpicks as an appetizers or served in bibb lettuce wraps.

Better Asian Cilantro Chicken Bites
* 1/2 T soy sauce
* 1/2 T rice vinegar (not seasoned)
* 1 lb ground chicken
* 1 large egg
* 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
* 2 scallions, finely chopped
* 3 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
* 1/4 teaspoon ginger (use less if fresh)
* 1/2 cup of plain breadcrumbs or panko breadcrumbs
* 3/4 cup cornstarch
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
Stir together chicken, egg, cilantro, scallions, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic powder, breadcrumbs and salt with a fork until just blended. Add more breadcrumbs if mixture is too wet.

Spread cornstarch in a shallow pan. Form chicken mixture into 1-inch balls, transferring them to baking pan as formed. Gently roll balls in cornstarch until coated. The chicken balls will be soft. (I made mine a little bigger and cooked them longer because we were't serving them as appetizers.)

Heat 1/4 cup vegetable oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook half of balls, turning occasionally, until firm and golden (they will flatten slightly), 2 to 3 minutes (3+ if yours are larger). Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Add remaining 1/4 cup oil to skillet and cook remaining balls in same manner. Serve meatballs with dipping sauce.

Limoncello Tiramisu

2010-01-06T21:07:00.004-06:00

One of the best reasons to make limoncello (the recipe of which is by far the most popular post on our blog) is to use it in Lidia Bastianich's wonderful limoncello tiramisu recipe. This can be found in her book, Lidia's Italy or online at epicurious.

It is quickly becoming a holiday tradition to make for New Year's Eve dinner as I did last year. Memories of the lemon-y goodness spurred me to finish the latest batch of limoncello (straining, making the sugar syrup and bottling).

The limoncello was only the capstone to a crazy Italian dinner that included old favorites like the Tuscan bean puree crostini and saltimbocca alla romana, as well as some new experiments like a sformato di carote and pappa al pomodoro. I didn't love the new recipes and will probably turn to the cucchiaio argento next time.

Anyway. Happy New Year. Try the limoncello tiramisu the next time you have an Italian-themed dinner party. It works in the dead of winter just as well as in the summertime. Ciao!

Christmas Duck

2009-12-28T21:08:00.002-06:00

Branching out a bit from the standard turkey or ham Christmas dinner, this year we decided to roast a duck. Natalie made a simple salt, pepper and paprika rub for duck and roasted it at 350 degrees for about 2 and a half hours. Meanwhile, I made my much beloved biscuit and cornbread dressing to go with it and asparagus with hollandaise sauce.

The dressing, which seems to have become a new holiday favorite in our household, is fairly simple:

• Make a skillet-sized cornbread and about nine good sized biscuits and crumble. This can be done the night before.
• Saute two to three medium sized diced sweet onions with one and a half to two cups of chopped celery in five to eight tablespoons of butter.
• When the onion and celery are softened, turn off the heat and let cool.
• Meanwhile, combine the cornbread and biscuit crumbs with five beaten eggs, two to four tablespoons of chopped fresh sage, salt and pepper.
• Add the cooled vegetables and finish with cool chicken stock to moisten.
• Cook in a 350 degree oven for 40 to 55 minutes, or golden brown.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas with their families and loved ones.

Hustling for Mango Guacamole & Grilled Pineapple Tacos

2009-04-06T11:30:00.005-05:00

If Jeff liked this combination you know it has to be good. Known for his dislike of coconut, oranges and most things tropical, I was pleased to find Jeff loved our dinner at Bien Trucha Saturday night in Geneva, IL. He always loves Bien Trucha, but when he say the Guacamole of the Day included Mango, he wasn't so sure. After a successful appetizer, we had our favorite fish tacos and a new item to try -- pork tacos with grilled pineapple. Excellently prepare pork with subtle seasoning and a delectable think strip of fresh grilled pineapple down the middle made for a terrific pairing. We both thought it was fantastic, and worth the stress that trying to eat at Bien Trucha can cause. Those in the know realize that running is an appropriate action if you see other patrons getting close to the door. That is because the restaurant is so popular, and doesn't take reservations, so it is imperative to get your name on the list. We usually walk down the block and have a drink while we wait the 30+ minutes for a table to open up. Bien Trucha takes your cell phone number and will ring you when the table is free. But, spotty coverage can create anxiety for hungry diners like us, as was the case this time. We had been bumped down the list by patrons running for the door ahead of us and we weren't about to lose our spot this time. So, we ran from the bar and headed back to Bien Trucha, where luckily our spot was still held. Despite the drama, we both agreed the meal was more than worth it.

Arby's Mac and Cheezers

2008-10-09T19:31:00.003-05:00

Being the adventurous foodies we are, I didn't turn my nose up at the new Arby's concoction, Mac and Cheezers. This very easily could have been awesome. It combines two of my favorite food groups — mac and cheese and fried. Unfortunately, it kind of tasted like fried nothing. The outer crust is way too thick, a necessity probably with a gooey, non-solid interior. The inside was molten hot and super bland. Overall disappointing. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Graham Eliot and Homaro Cantu don't have to worry about the good folks at Arby's stealing their market share anytime soon.

Gourmet Baby Formula

2008-07-23T14:47:00.005-05:00

Of course a child of mine would want and need only the best. We are proud to have our son Nic home now for almost two months, and one of my top cooking priorities now is mixing up Similac Neosure formula. It not only has more calories than regular formula to help preemies catch up, but it also has a lot more of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals than you find in other formulas. And, you guessed it, it's more expensive. (If you are a mom with any Similac coupons or checks, let me know! I'll send you some coupons to trade from your wishlist.) We also have to add a special thickener, Simply Thick, to the recipe to make it nectar consistency. This is because his swallow reflexes are still immature and uncoordinated. It helps him swallow without aspirating the milk. It is a clear substance that comes out of a pump or individual packets. It doesn't taste like anything, except what you would imagine clear gel to taste like. Jeff has joked that if it weren't so expensive he'd use it to try to thicken sauces and other recipes. (I would love to know if anyone has done this!) But, nothing is too good for our Nic. So, we will give him gourmet formula and special thickener for now and save the exciting, more flavorful, food for when he's ready for solids.

Indian Harvest in Naperville

2008-04-20T11:57:00.002-05:00

We've been to Indian Harvest in Naperville on Odgen twice in the past month or so. We took my mom before she went back to Missouri and I think she liked it. Their sampler appetizer platter is really nice with a variety of veggies, chicken and lamb sausage. I really enjoyed their chicken tikka masala and chicken saag (spinach). The chicken vindaloo tasted good but it was red hot. Not even the multiple grande Kingfisher beers could cool that heat down. We ordered the regular naan and one with fresh cheese in it. Both were really nice and good to sop up the lovely sauces. The pre-meal papadums with chutneys (tamarind and yougurt mint) started everything out wonderfully.

If you like Indian and live in the Chicago suburbs, Indian Harvest is worth the trip there. The food is very authentic and isn't so reliant on the typical buffet aesthetic of more is better. They had a set-up for the buffet but we haven't seen it going for dinner so ordering off of the extensive menu ensures a super fresh, piping hot meal. The atmosphere is comfortable and subdued. Although the restaurant is set in an older strip mall, next to a Lover's Lane, the interior feels like a much nicer setting. The prices might be a little more than some of the Indian places on Devon that we love, but with what you save on gas, it's well worth the extra few bucks.

Life-changing events

2008-04-20T11:38:00.002-05:00

We have not blogged in well-past forever since things have been so hectic for us. Natalie had previously blogged about being a pregnant foodie. Well, our future foodie, Nicolas Bryant, came more than three months prematurely and we've been camped out in the hospital for so long now. If being a pregnant foodie is tough, let me tell you, being a hospitalized foodie is even worse (and the husband of a hospitalized foodie). We subsisted on fast food and hospital fare for weeks and are still in the quicker is better phase now. When priorities change, you eat what you can, when you can. That said, we've managed some nice home-cooked meals in the interim, especially Easter Dinner with family and trying some new restaurants that I will blog on later. Natalie is able to have a little bit of wine or a beer with dinner every so often.

Through all of our chaos and anxiety, we are already planning for our future foodie. Natalie bought some really cute kids pots and pans from IKEA and we already had some other kids cooking tools including a Rachael Ray Furi knife. I know Nic's already been exposed to so many different flavors from Natalie and through her breast milk. We'll just be so happy when we can get him home and begin to let him try some of the food that we love.

Bien Trucha is Truly Wonderful, Unique

2008-01-01T10:24:00.000-06:00

While out shopping during the afternoon of New Year's Eve, we decided to have a late lunch and spring for a culinary adventure. With the snow falling steadily and many shoppers hurrying around to get last-minute party supplies, we walked into the quiet, cozy nook that is Bien Trucha in Geneva, IL. This is a restaurant that's hard to spot, even though it's located on bustling State St. in downtown Geneva. To say it is tiny is an understatement. The restaurant maybe sits 12 people at the most. The bathroom is located in the back of the tiny kltchen, in which patrons are invited to wander if they need to use the facilities. The building's miniscule proportion compared to other businesses along this stretch is striking. It sits next to an empty lot that I think is destined for condos or large retail fronts. It is almost a shack of a building that holds Bien Trucha. But it is tidy and warmly decorated on the inside.

We'd tried to eat at Bien Trucha for dinner on several occasions, only to find people hovering outside in the cold waiting to get into the restaurant, which does not take reservations. So to find it open and empty, save one other diner, was something of a New Year's miracle. Our waitress was knowledgeable and explained the menu to us after asking if we'd dined there before. Her manner and thorough menu descriptions were as impeccable as that at any fine dining restaurant we've experienced.

The traditional chips and salsa brought to our table held the first delight and surprise of the meal. The homemade chips were accompanied by a warm salsa that had a creaminess to it -- and possibly the addition of pureed pinto beans. It had a kick of chipotle to it as well, and was unlike any salsa we'd ever tried. We decided to start out with the Guacamole del Dia, which the waitress informed us was the house guacamole with the chef's addition of red grapes. How intriguing! Jeff likened the concept to that of chicken salad, combining the creaminess of the avocados (like the mayo in chicken salad) with the sweet crunch of the grapes.

Jeff ordered the fish tacos (Tacos Pescado) as his entree, and they are literally the best tacos I have ever tasted. Each corn tortilla contained a hearty piece of battered and fried tilapia, topped with a red cabbage slaw with creamy chipotl-morita aioli and tomatoes. My entree was the one of the Cazuelitas, which is best described as a gooey dish of chihuahua cheese bearing vegetables and/or meat. I had the Championenes, containing wild mustrooms, chile dearbol, garlic , onion and crema fresca. It is presented in a square bowl along with a chipotle salsa that can be layered in corn tortillas to create your own quesadillas. The dinnerware and presentation for all the dishes was clean, modern and unexpected for such a small restaurant.

To drink, Jeff ordered the traditional margarita, while I had the fruit water of the day, pineapple. Because pregnancy has made ordering anything beyond water and soda almost impossible, I was excited to have a nutritious, non-alcoholic drink that also delighted my senses. It was a frothy pineapple water that even Jeff, who does not like most tropical fruit, tried and claimed to be refreshing.

As you can tell we were both thrilled with our lunch. We both needed to use the restrooms and were equally impressed by our journey through the small kitchen. Three people worked in a tiny, but very clean space with fresh produce and ingredients stacked against the walls. After being fans of Gordon Ramsey's TV show "Kitchen Nightmares," you never know what the kitchen of any restaurant holds behind closed doors, but I think even the very demanding Gordon would have approved of this setup.
I only hope Bien Trucha finds enough success to move into a space worthy of its culinary accomplishments.

The Sacrifices of Motherhood Include Really Good Cheese

2007-12-30T21:37:00.000-06:00

Being pregnant and finding the right balance of what to eat is not an easy task. That task is made doubly hard when you're a finicky foodie like me. Now that I am in my second trimester and the all-day morning sickness has passed, I am able to move beyond cereal, bananas and buttered rice for nourishment. My appetite is increasing, but I am restricted from many of my favorite foods. With all the advancements and knowledge available in pre-natal care, eating has now become a highly regulated part of life for pregnant women. I want to know I am doing everything I can to provide the best start for my baby, but all the codes and restrictions at some point seem overwhelming and a little obsessive.

It's funny but I feel women of my mother's generation must think pregnant women my age just need to relax. No one told their generation to limit coffee and chocolate, avoid alcohol, stay away from soft cheese, ban all deli meat and bacon, seek and destroy all preservatives and nitrates and that you're already a bad mother if you drink diet soda. Times may not have been better for pregnant women of their era, but they sure seem a lot simpler from my vantage point. Somehow our mother's managed to get most of us into the world without too many problems.

Although I have been pretty much following all the guidelines given to me by my doctor and the many pregnancy books I own, the sources can be downright confusing. My doctor says it's fine to eat soft cheese as long as it's pasteurized and I'm confident that it's been stored properly (to avoid any chance of getting listeria that might be growing in there), most sources say to avoid it altogether. So that leaves me to devise my own rule system. Currently my rule (as approved by the other half of this project, my thoughtful yet concerned husband) is that I limit what is undoubtedly my favorite food category -- and when I do eat blue cheese, brie and goat cheese, I do so only at highly regarded restaurants and from meticulously inspected packages of cheese purchased from respectable retailers.

Although most cheese in the U.S. is supposed to be pasteurized, some cheese are allowed to be made with raw milk if they are aged for a certain amount of time. Also, I have noticed several restaurants recently offering raw-milk cheeses on cheese platters and in appetizers, so I've found it necessary to ask the waiter more questions if I am not absolutely certain I know how the cheese was made. It makes fine dining less thrilling when you have to cut out a large portion of your ordering options and feel you must beg your spouse for the tiniest sip of wine. (Sorry, I could go on for days.)

Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful to be pregnant and know I have many rewards coming at the end of 9 (what is really 10) months. But, it would be nice if expectant fathers got the same dietary guilt trip or if the Italians would create the perfect non-alcoholic prosecco. But, at the top of my foodie wish list is a lift of moratorium on really good cheese. Even when I eat it now, I still feel wary because of all the warnings I've seen. In my mind, though, I have this comfort -- how could Velveeta possibly be as good for a baby as a runny triple-cream that's been made with small batches of fresh milk, by producers who put their heart and soul in to the cheese and that is aged naturally without all those frightening-sounding preservatives. That's pretty sound logic to me.

A bistro for Thai in Geneva, IL

2007-12-30T21:19:00.000-06:00

Still missing the neighborhood Thai restaurant we loved in our former Lincoln Square apartment, we set out with excitement to check out Bistro Thai (on State St.) in our new stomping grounds in the Western Suburbs. The restaurant opened just before the holidays, right across from one of our other favorites, Stockholm's. You never know when a restaurant has a fusion name like Bistro Thai if its cuisine might take more influence from one culture over another and what the end result will be. We were delighted to find that really the dessert menu, decor and the overall presentation was what was truly Bistro about Bistro Thai -- otherwise the food is familiar Thai dishes done well. Because I am four and a half months pregnant and currently craving lots of spice, I was excited to get some authentic curry, and the green curry with beef didn't disappoint. It contained ample green beans, eggplant and red pepper and was served in a beautiful wave-design bowl. The appetizers we ordered were a little over-the-top for two people, but were a lot of fun to try. Called the Bistro Thai sampler platter, it included rice-paper wrapped and fried tail-on shrimp that contained a chiffonade of Thai basil; Thai vegetable egg rolls; Golden Crab (fresh-tasting Crab Rangoon); tempura vegetables; deep-fried potstickers; chicken satay; little cakes that seemed to have chopped shrimp and coconut in them; and three sauces for dipping: peanut, a sweet soy sauce and a traditional Thai-style sweet-and-sour sauce. There was so much on the plate that I might be forgetting something. Jeff had the Panang Curry, and was pleased with it as well.

The atmosphere was just right and the prices were reasonable as well. Although we still will always wish we still had Chicago's Yes Thai right around the corner in our new home of Aurora, Bistro Thai in Geneva makes it much easier to find great Thai with a city atmosphere in the burbs.

Geneva (Illinois) Restaurants

2007-11-17T14:20:00.001-06:00

Geneva, Illinois is a super cute little burg in the far west suburbs of Chicago. In addition to all sorts of nice shopping opportunities, it also has a number of great restaurants.

Niche probably has the most buzz outside of Geneva. It's a contemporary American menu with a fantastic domestic-only wine list. Niche is the reincarnation of 302 West, which I never had the chance to try before it closed. Amazingly enough they carried this tiny boutique Napa Pinot Noir from Arger-Martucci that we tried on a trip to California a year or two ago. The menu is accessible but very interesting and extremely well executed. It is already high on our list of special occasion restaurants.

Isabella's is a Mediterranean-influenced restaurant that is a great value with an interesting menu as well. Their foie gras parfait was inventive and delicious.

Stockholm's is a brew pub with the best bar food I've ever had — but their beer is kind of not great. We usually order a Stella with their excellent burgers and papas italiano (hand cut potato chips covered in bacon, prosciutto, green onions, tomatoes and an alfredo sauce).

More suburban restaurant reviews as time permits.

California Central Coast Wineries

2007-04-13T18:14:00.000-05:00

Now the term "central coast" as it applies to California wines seems to be a fairly broad designation encompassing most anything south of the Bay Area all the way to Santa Barbara. Some good friends of ours, Ed and Nicole, and my godson, Christian, moved to a community just outside of San Luis Obispo. It is incredibly beautiful there and I wonder how anyone gets anything done living surrounded by such beauty and great weather. One thing they do well there is make fantastic wines.

Going wine tasting with a two-year-old is a different experience, but not altogether bad. One winery, Eagle Castle, even had a sample of their grape juice — for the budding wine enthusiasts. One thing it does limit is the amount of time you can spend visiting the vineyards and wineries.

We started by going to Claiborne & Churchill outside of San Luis Obispo. I was surprised to find out that although there were vines all around us, that they shipped the grapes in from Monterey County. That is somewhat off-putting since visiting the place where the grapes are grown and wines are made are to me part of the winery experience. However, they had some very nice whites (dry Riesling and Gerzurtaminer?) and good Pinot Noir. We bought several for our stay in California and three to bring home. They were all very nice wines, maybe in the 86-89 range. They had a $5 tasting fee, but at least it could go toward a purchase of wine if you buy. I still believe that I buy more when I don't have to pay the fee.

The next day we drove inland and north a bit to the wine country around Paso Robles. This seemed more typical of what I was used to in Napa and Chianti. More vines, more wineries, etc. We stopped first at Donati Family Winery, who also sourced their grapes from around Monterey. They had a beautiful tasting room with very nice staff but their wines were all underwhelming. I bought a Pinot Gris to offset the $5 tasting fee. I'd probably give it a 85. It had some of the tropical fruit that I normally associate with a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

The last stop we made was to Eagle Castle Winery. Their tasting room was in a new Medieval Times-looking castle. I was a little concerned about appearances, but you can't judge a wine by its tasting room. I was immediately pleasantly surprised to find out that they didn't have a tasting fee and had a wider variety of wines to try. Everything we tasted was very good, from their Syrah Rosé, which reminded me of one we had at Arger-Martucci in Napa, to their dessert wines. I especially liked their Syrah, Cab Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Syrah-Cab blend (Royal Red). Their wines were in the 88-92 sweet spot and not too expensive. We ended up buying a half case and having it shipped home. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it finds its way to us safely.

There's a lot more to explore even in the areas we visited, but I also know that Santa Barbara has some great wineries that we will have to visit the next time we're out there.

Long time, no post

2007-02-06T16:28:00.000-06:00

I know that we've been extremely tardy in our Vino & Vittles postings lately. Between home improvement projects, our day jobs and travel, it's been difficult to devote time to the blog. However, we've still be eating great food and drinking great wine, which I hope to run through in the next few weeks. I just took pictures of the past 19 bottles of wine we've drank.

In terms of cooking, I've been very focused on working on sauces. I've never felt like this was a strong suit and my improvisations never turned out very good. However, with a little reading up and studying some techniques, I feel like my sauces are getting markedly better.

The other latest food obsessions have been experimenting with different vegetables and fruits. By and large we've had good success with this (celery root, parsnips, rutabega) but a few notable misses (quince and Palestine limes). The quince we tried raw and was hard without much flavor. The Palestine limes (which are yellow) had an off-lime/orange flavor and a weird sweetness without much balancing acidity. I wasted some of my Cacacha trying to make a Palestine lime caipirinha. Bummer. The root vegetable purées have been nice though. I love the celery root best (cooked in stock with a lesser amount of potato), but the parsnips and rutabega were also a welcome change from the everyday mashed potatoes. The parsnips were particularly interesting finished with a little nutmeg and truffle oil.

Speaking of truffle oil, I made a mushroom risotto using mushrooms from Trader Joe's (oyster, crimini, shitake) and finishing with a healthy pour of truffle oil. Basically, you saute onion until translucent, add a little garlic, the chopped mushrooms thyme and sage and saute until softened. Add the risotto (I did two cups) and stir until it becomes chalky. Add white wine (about a cup), stir until absorbed. Keep stirring and add chicken stock a little at a time until it is al dente (about five cups). I finish with about a cup of grated parm and a little half and half in the pot, and the truffle oil at the plating.

Finally, although I am a huge proponent for eschewing short cuts for natural ingredients and freshness whenever possible, I am addicted to Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasonings. I use their seasoned salt on so many different things from hamburgers to frittatas. My favorite though is the Pork and Veal Magic, which I use as a rub and then in the pan sauce I make (whether it be a pear sauce, cream sauce, sherry sauce or even a marsala sauce I made.

More to come.

Quartino, utterly disappointing

2006-12-20T16:36:00.000-06:00

Sometimes your reputation, even a positive one, can be your worst enemy. Natalie had raved about the atmosphere, prices and food and drink at Quartino, a neighbor and counterpart to Osteria via Stato. Following a similar "small plates" design and wines sold by the quarter (quartino), half and full liter, Quartino matches Osteria via Stato's prices and exceeds their ambiance. Where Stato had blaring techno music paired with faux rustic decor, Quartino had the simple but elegant atmosphere nailed down to their charming retro bathrooms.

However, this is where the praise ends and I haven't made it to the most important element — the food. We ordered a mezzo of Ruffino Orvieto Classico, which was fine. There were other options that looked interesting, but at double to price, we stuck with a solid, if predictable, stand-by. We ordered the bigoli with a "venetian duck ragú" and a quatro formaggio pizza. The bigoli, similar to pici in many ways, was a nice pasta, but the sauce was a real disappointment. In my opinion, they made a mother red sauce and threw in some duck at the end. The duck was not falling apart and the sauce didn't have that braised in flavor. This is a pretty shoddy way to make a sauce and by no means lives up to their "authentic" cred. Even worse was the pizza. The crust was thin but still doughy, nothing like real Italian pizzas. It had none of the nice charring on the bottom and was just blah. To top it off, they added the same bland, overly acidic red sauce to the quatro formaggi. I've had quite a few four cheese pizzas in my time and they never had a red sauce, maybe some garlic infused olive oil, but the cheese is supposed to be the star. Here, you could hardly distinguish between the cheeses. All in all, this was a spot-on interpretation of an "authentic" Chuck-E-Cheese pizza — definitely not what I expected.

Quartino could be great. Natalie has seen them be great. I hope they get there. But I won't be back and I suggest you don't go either if you're looking for anything more than a glass of wine.

Sweets and Savories, Redux

2006-11-29T08:54:00.000-06:00

Nearly a year after our first visit to Sweets and Savories, on Fullerton near Ashland in Chicago, we returned with out-of-town guests. Monday nights are definitely the night to go — they have a seven-course no menu meal for $50 with free BYOB, which can save you a bundle and let you bring a special bottle or two from home to enjoy.

There had been some disparaging comments on Metromix about the restaurant either about the quality of the food or the service. I have to think that those people either are too uptight, i.e. food like this should be served by stuffy individuals, or are not adventurous eaters, i.e. what's risotto?. We had the same server as our previous visit and he is quirky and funny, but not intrusive. Very knowledgeable about the food and proud to work there. I'd rather have someone like that to interact with than someone completely detached who doesn't care about the food or the person being served.

That said, the food was outstanding. We started with a dish of mussles in tomato fumé with sausage (possible andouille). We all were scraping the plate to get every last bit cleaned. This was a nice starter and we opened with a 2005 Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, which was a very good Sauvignon Blanc — tropical fruit, pears, even a little apricot on the nose and continued through the finish.

The second course was very good and visually interesting. It was a seared scallop on celery root purée with chevril on top with a streak of bright yellow-orange mango coulis. The celery root was perfectly salty and the scallop had a great texture and flavor that came through clean.

The third course was probably everyone's favorite and one that I will mimic at home. It was a striped sea bass on top of saffrom-goat cheese grits with a salad of lamb's lettuce on top — very interesting, but simple too. Really perfect.

Then we had a duck leg confit on blueberry risotto finished with truffle oil. This was very good. The last time we were there they had blueberry risotto that I criticized because there were seeds in the risotto that took away from the texture enjoyment — this time that had been remedied and was perfect.

Moving toward the home stretch, the next course was a baby arugula salad with a lemon/truffle oil vinegarette with grana padano on top. Very nice transition to the sweets portion of the meal.

Next was an apricot-chardonnay sorbet. Nice palate cleanser. Good consistency.

Finally, the finish was the big dessert bang —a warm chocolate budino with chocolate ganache, chocolate sorbet and Scharfen-Berger bigs. A beautiful plate and very good finish.

For the wine, after the Kim Crawford with the sea food dishes, we had a Praxis Pinot Noir that we purchased at the Oakville Grocery in Napa based on a recommendation. It was very good — nice dark cherry notes and a smooth finish. Then we had a bottle of Amphora Dry Creek Syrah, brought by our dinner guests, that was also very good — jammy, but not over-the-top. Finally, we ended with a Quady Elysium dessert wine made from black muscat. This had an almost bubble gum flavor that is a wonderful, lively finish to any meal.

All-in-all, an incredible deal at $50 and a meal that is not soon forgotten.

Thanksgiving traditions & experiments, Part I

2006-11-27T16:33:00.000-06:00

Being a traditionalist who likes to try new recipes and culinary ideas can sometimes be at odds with the holiday feast. This year we had a two part gorge-fest with a pre-Thanksgiving gathering in Minnesota and a more low-key dinner at home on the actual day.

For the pre-fest, we brought a few side dishes that are old favorites for me and one truffled up version of an old stand-by.

There's nothing easier than cream cheese-stuffed celery and it is always one of the things that gets nibbled on early and often. Combine one package of cream cheese, one grated small onion, a few handfuls of chopped pecans, and salt and white pepper to taste. You can add a little cream or milk to soften, but it should not be runny. Smear on deveined celery stalks about four inches long and finish liberally with paprika.

Another favorite for me, not necessarily gourmet but still damn good, is Waldorf Crown Salad. Congealed salads are not necessarily in vogue, but the sweet coldness mixes well with the warm, savory aspects of the meal. Make two six oz. boxes of cherry or strawberry Jell-o according to directions. After about an hour chilling, add one large diced apple; four sliced, deveined celery stalks (no leaves), and a handfull of chopped pecans to the Jell-o and scrape into a crown mold. Serve with "dressing" of one cup sour cream, a half cup of miracle whip and a cup and a half of mini marshmallows.

Finally, I did slow-cooked southern-style green beans but with a Italian/gourmet twist. Sautee onions until soft, add 1/4 lb. of pancetta (or bacon or ham), add green beans and cover with water, simmer for two to three hours. I finished with two tablespoons on truffle butter which really added a nice fragrant kick.

Other dishes included an organic, free range turkey from Thief River Falls, MN; oyster and non-oyster stuffing and dressing; giblet gravy; mashed potatoes; sweet potato casserole; hot rolls; and pumpkin pie.

We had so many great wines including a Le Mistral from Joseph Phelps. The Mistral surprised us when we tasted it on our trip to Napa last January. It was very complex and drinkable right out of the bottle. I highly recommend it. The dark fruit was present on the nose and carried through the finish, which lingered nicely without being overly cloying or too acidic. Natalie's sister's in-laws used to own a wine shop and have great taste in wines (and great palettes). They brought a number of very nice wines to share, none of which I had the foresight to note their names.

More to come on the "real" Thanksgiving.

Quick, easy and good

2006-11-14T16:55:00.000-06:00

First off, thank you to my mom for the shout out on her blog, Alabama Kitchen Sink (alabamakitchensink.blogspot.com), which seems to be gaining a lot of regular readers. She has influenced my cooking more than anyone else (although my grandmother Mattie comes in a close second).

Striving for good, home-cooked meals is an ongoing challenge. We turned to the time-tested crock pot last night to help us make an easy, time-saving dinner. I don't have any research to back this up, but I have a hunch that people in my age group and younger (late twenties, early thirties) don't cook with the crock pot. That's a shame because time is something no one has and time is the one thing, in my opinion, that can make the biggest difference in a good to great meal (see my ragu bolognese).

That said, I found a really nice pork roast on sale at our local Italian grocery Prisco's and Natalie seasoned it with Magic Seasonings in the morning, added a can of diced tomatoes and nearly a full bottle of store bought barbeque sauce (in this case Famous Dave's sweet sauce). Leaving it on low for the day resulted in falling apart pork barbeque that was better than all but the best purveyors of true barbeque.

We paired it with the rest of the greens (turnip, collard and mustard) prepared in the same manner as my previous post and homemade sweet potato chips. Using our deep fryer, which I know not everyone has, and our mandoline (one of Natalie's favorite kitchen tools I think), the chips were quick, different and went perfectly with the meal. I just deep fried them, let them rest on a plate covered in paper towels to drain and seasoned with a pinch of kosher salt. I was going for a sweet potato version of the saratoga chips that are popular in Cincinnati barbeque restaurants like Montgomery Inn, which has the best sauce I've ever had.

Truffle dinner

2006-11-13T22:17:00.000-06:00

Going to New Orleans definitely inspired my culinary creativity. Having a great Italian grocery close to us now has helped fuel that as well. Sunday night I set out to make a southern, Italian, French-influenced dinner.

I made:

• Thick cut double pork chops in a truffled Montepulciano d'Abbruzo-shallot reduction
• Truffled shallot-parmigano-reggiano risotto
• Wilted and sautéed turnip, mustard, and collard greens with garlic, Barilla academia prosciutto crudo and finished with black truffle oil
• Sauvignon Blanc-poached anjou pears filled with bleu cheese and broiled

Everything came together nicely and wasn't actually over the top truffles.

For the pork chops, I coated in Magic salt seasoned-flour, pan fried in truffle butter and a little olive oil and to brown and finished in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. For the sauce, I removed the pork and added one finely diced shallot to the pan, put back on medium-high flame and sauteed. I added about a tablespoon of truffle butter and a cup of the wine and wisked until reduced by about a third.

For the risotto, I made a cup of risotto with one cup of sauvignon blanc and four and half cups of chicken stock. I started with cooking one finely diced shallot in truffle butter and olive oil. I then added in the risotto and stirred constantly until all the liquid in the pan was absorbed and the risotto started to turn a little chalky. I then added a cup of wine and stirred until it was absorbed and then started adding the stock a ladel full at a time until the risotto was appropriately cooked. You should start tasting it after three cups have been absorbed to make sure it isn't overdone. At the end, I added about a half cup of grated parmigiano-reggiano and stirred. When I plated, I drizzled a little truffle oil over the risotto and served with more grated cheese. I used, and like using, a heavier gauge pan like Le Creuset for making risotto so it doesn't burn as easily while you're running around working on other dishes.

For the greens, I triple washed them since they can collect sand, especially the turnip greens. I then blanched them for about three minutes in salted boiling water. I drained them and immediately ran cold water over them to stop the cooking. I then melted a little truffle butter with olive oil in a nonstick pan and sautéed about a teaspoon of minced garlic and two diced slices of prosciutto crudo. I then added the greens back in, tossed and cooked down until the mixture was incorporated and there wasn't any liquid from the greens in the pan. It helps if you squeeze the water out of the greens once they've cooled before sautéeing them. Again, I finished with a little truffle oil on top.

Finally, I peeled the anjou pear and cut in quarters. I took out of core, stem and made a small indentation in each. I then poached them until cooked through in a cup of sauvignon blanc. When they were done, I filled the indentation with the bleu cheese and put under the boiler until golden. This doesn't take too long.

This meal was my adaptation of a meal I had at Peristyle in New Orleans (see previous post). I don't think the plating looked nearly as nice (sorry, no picture), but I think the addition of the truffles helped add another nice flavor component. I highly recommend going to Peristyle when in the Big Easy.

New Orleans, part II

2006-11-13T13:59:00.000-06:00

Saturday, I wanted to show Natalie some of the classics of New Orleans eating, not necessarily the top class stuff. We had breakfast at Café du Monde with beignets and café au lait. I think Natalie was initially unsure about the massive amounts of powdered sugar and questionable cleanliness. I think she enjoyed her mounds of fried dough and sugar though.

After doing a spot check for powdered sugar (we did pretty well), we headed out to explore a little bit. We walked through the French Market, checking out Aunt Sally's pralines. I managed to try a dime-sized sample even though I was experiencing minor sugar coma. They are a great gift for people back home, which I ended up doing for my coworkers.

We wandered into a little Irish pub across from Preservation Hall and having a few drinks (Abita for me, bloody marys for Natalie) before heading the the mecca of muffalettas — Central Grocery. Located on Decatur, not far from Café du Monde, by 12:30, there was already a long line out the door and up the street for their signature sandwiches. The line moved pretty fast and was infinitely more satisfying than any roller coaster or other attraction where you wait more than a half hour in line. After only about ten minutes outside, we made our way through the door and into the old-school Italian market. It was kind of fun to spot gourmet imports we recognized and check out unusual new ones. They have a little counter in the back and you can buy soda or beer, so we snagged a seat to go with our whole muffaletta. A whole sandwich is more than enough for two people and could probably feed four if you add chips. A muffaletta is a salami, ham, mortadella sandwich served on a round, flat Italian loaf with a piquant olive salad slathered on. It's got to be the best sandwich going.

A muffaletta can take it out of you, so we headed back to the hotel to rest/allow me to watch the Tide get destroyed at home. Later on we went to Harrah's Casino before we went to dinner. Harrah's took our money, but it's a fun atmosphere and much bigger than other non-Vegas casinos that I've visited. They actually have a bit of a culinary draw in Todd English's new restaurant, Riche, and a John Besh Steakhouse.

Going to Galatoire's for dinner put us in the same grand dame mode as with Antoine's. The jacket-required dining rooms smell of old money and southern gentility. The food was very good as well. I had a veal chop with marchand de vin sauce and their version of the souflée potatoes (Antoine's was better on that account). Natalie had fish and said that she preferred Galatoire's preparation. We split a banana bread pudding for dessert that was light and incredibly rich at the same time. We drank a nice Morrelino di Scansano from southern Tuscany (it was something like Pezzole I think).

Sunday, Natalie had to head back home and we missed our brunch reservations at Court of Two Sisters. Unfortunately, finding coffee after 11 in the CBD was not easy and we ended up grabbing a bit at a dive around the corner from Canal.

That night I ate at GW Fins with business associates. It was very good with a good Coppola Claret and I had the John Dory meurniere with crab on top and a decent restaurant caesar salad. Forgoing dessert, instead I ordered a nice grappa di moscato.

Monday evening, I ate at one of my favorite lower end NOLA restaurants — Acme Oyster House. I always get the same thing: smoked sausage poor boy (po boy) with hush puppies. Good as ever with a cold Abita seasonal beer (they called it harvest I think).

The remaining standout meal came dining solo Tuesday night at Peristyle on the edge of the quarter. It was quiet to say the least that evening, other than the raucous table of four elderly men telling cheesy off-color jokes, but that contributed to the tableau. I ordered a glass of a nice French syrah and the wild mushroom tarte to start. The tarte had a base of cheese (parmigano I think), carmelized onions and a nice variety of sautéed wild mushrooms. The tarte itself was not overly buttery, but had more of a rich pizza crush consistency (I considered this to be a good thing). The plate had a circle of pesto on the outside rim, which was a nice dipping sauce. For the main course, I had a muscovy duck breast with a red wine reduction sauce and sautéed kale with friséed carrot shreds and a pear hockey puck stuffed with Point Reyes bleu cheese and bruléed to perfection. This meal, more than any other, has inspired me since my trip to NOLA.

To me, New Orleans is America's pre-emminent culinary capital. Like Bologna in Italy, New Orleans cooking exemplifies the terroirre while incorporating flawless techniques. There are many great restaurant cities (Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas come to mind) and many great regional cuisines (southern/midwestern barbeque), but no other can combine the variety and high skill of New Orleans. The city needs our help to survive. Our waistlines may suffer (though with the walking you'll do this is negligible), but our palettes and memories will be all the richer.

New Orleans gastronomic adventure

2006-11-13T09:33:00.000-06:00

Natalie and I headed down to New Orleans ahead of a conference I was attending. She had never been and I hadn't been back since Katrina. The city seems to be making great strides toward normalcy in terms of infrastructure, especially in the touristed areas. The St. Charles streetcar isn't running yet and there are some large hotels still closed, but we found the city to be largely operational and the people there hungry for tourists and anxious to share their Katrina-related stories. Without prompting nearly every conversation with residents there inevitably turned to Katrina, which is understandable. The prevailing consensus though was that for the city to truly rebound people need to come back to visit — to enjoy the fine dining, the great music, the hurricanes at Pat O'Brien's, etc. We found a great deal for the hotel on Hotwire — staying a few blocks from the French Quarter at the Intercontinental.

Since Natalie was only there for a few days, we really went all out on the meals. I pretty much had every meal planned long before we visited. Within an hour of stepping off the plane Thursday night, we were dining at Antoine's, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the city. This is old, grand New Orleans at its best. Since they invented the dish there, we split oysters Rockefeller. It wasn't what either of us thought it would be, but it was quite good. More of a spread than oysters by themselves. We both had trout for our entrées — mine fried, Natalie's grilled. You have to order vegetables on the side and we enjoyed very fresh asparagus with butter and their souflée potatoes which they somehow manage to inflate little potato puffs that are light but very satisfying. We had a nice California Sauvignon Blanc (Markham I think) that was typical but appropriate for the meal. Instead of dessert, we just had café au lait before heading to Pat O'Brien's for a couple of hurricanes (tropical rum punch).

Friday was going to be our culinary overload day. We skipped breakfast and started with the most amazing lunch (at Restaurant August) I've had since our honeymoon (da Galetto in Camigliano, Italy). Restaurant August is in the central business district and is fine, fine dining. We had a noon reservation so we had the chance to say hello to the chef, restauranteur John Besh. Everything was perfect — from the setting to the dining room to the service. The food was out of this world. They have a great wine list and we had another Sauvignon Blanc, this one French, I forget the vineyard. They started us with an amuse bouche, not lagniappe as Natalie noted, of a truffle-seafood zabaglione with Louisiana caviar served in an egg shell. Very, very rich, but such wonderful flavors. For starters, I had the organic greens with Point Reyers bleu cheese with a pumpkin oil vinegarette and pumpkin seed brittle. Natalie had the fried oysters with a bleu cheese dressing. For our main courses, Natalie had the redfish with califlower slices forming a tower with a califlower foam at the base surrounding with crab hiding in the foam. I had the trout with brown butter sauce on a celery root purée and celery green salad on top. We finished with a buttermilk panna cotta with berries cooked in red wine and white chocolate cornbread biscotti. Stunning meal.

We continued the over the top theme with dinner at K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen. I have long been a fan of K-Paul's and they didn't disappoint. I had the rabbit appetizer with the creole mustard sauce and the stuffed pork chop. Natalie had the blackened beef tenders in debris sauce. We had a zinfandel, again can't remember which, that went well with the meal. We waddled out of there and hit Preservation Hall for some jazz before calling it a night.

More to come...

Weekend brunch, Italian style

2006-10-30T14:00:00.000-06:00

With friends coming out to Aurora for brunch on Saturday, I used that as an excuse to create a new menu and try some new dishes as well as try some old ones in a brunch setting.

First Course
Prosecco cocktails: Bellinis with Jumex peach nectar and Nino Franco rustico and Il Monetto prosecco; mimosas using prosecco; and Monin raspberry syrup and prosecco
Breakfast bruschetta: french bread sliced medium-thin, toasted on both sides and broiled with butter and a light dusting of granulated sugar on one side, topped with marscapone smear, sliced strawberries that had been marinating in the juice of one lemon and two tablespoons of sugar and finally topped with powdered sugar.

Second Course
Pork Saltimbocca: pork cutlets pounded thin, covered in flour, fried in pancetta fat with fresh sage and prosciutto on one side finished with a Villa del Borgo Pinot Grigio wine reduction pan sauce.
Pancetta risotto cakes: risotto combined with rendered pancetta and two eggs, coated with bread crumbs and pan fried.
Pesto frittata: 8 eggs scrambled, two tablespoons fresh pesto (basil, olive oil, grana padano, pine nuts), 1/4 cup freshly grated parmigano reggiano.

Third Course
St. Joseph Day Rice Fritters: risotto cooked in milk combined with sugar, flour, 4 egg yolks, cinnamon, rum, 4 egg whites whipped; deep fried.

It was a great morning/afternoon and not much effort to create a fun, nontraditional brunch menu.

Sweets and Savories on Fullerton

2006-05-16T15:30:00.000-05:00

This is not a current review of a restaurant we recently visited, but we dined at Sweets and Savories for Natalie's birthday earlier this year. It was an amazing Iron Chef-style restaurant. I ran across the menu I had jotted down and wanted to save it for posterity. We had the chef's tasting menu for $60 with no corkage fee. We brought a bottle of Montes Alpha Syrah.

I asked the server if I could have dishes without shellfish, so I had alternates on several courses, which explains why there are two listed below.

First course:
Foie gras mousse with pomegranate coulis and brioche

Second course:
Five mushroom soup with truffle oil
Mussels in lobster broth

Third course:
Seared butternut squash on ravioli filled with English peas and mint
Seared scallops

Fourth course:
Bluberry risotto with duck confit and pan sauce

Fifth course:
Organic beef tenderloin on yellow fingerling potatoes with maderia wine pan sauce, finished with truffle oil and shaved white truffles

Sixth course:
Baby arugula salad with shaved Grana Padano cheese and lemon-olive oil vinegarette

Seventh course:
White truffle ice cream

Eight course:
Dark chocolate terrine with fresh raspberries and raspberry coulis

Chocolate truffles served with the bill

Bread from Red Hen Bakery: white raisin/fennel and ciabatta

Everything was very good. My only criticism at the time was that the blueberries for the risotto should have been run through a food mill to remove the seeds as this upset the texture of the dish. Otherwise, it was great. I hope we can go back at some point.

Duck Ragu, Castello di Monastero Sangiovese and McManis Merlot

2006-05-14T21:57:00.000-05:00

We had a great dinner of imported Italian Latini farro linguini from Gustiamo.com with a duck ragu made from Maple Leaf Farm's duck.

For the ragu, I browned two duck leg/thigh quarters that were seasoned with a little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. I used about a quarter cup or less of olive oil in the All-Clad Tagine. After browning the duck over medium-high heat, I removed the duck to a plate and added a diced Vidalia onion, two diced large carrots and three diced celery stalks (deveined). After about 10 minutes at medium heat, until softened, I added a few cloves of finely chopped garlic and sauteed until the garlicky smell started to rise. Then, I added the duck back to the tagine and added two cups of 2004 McManis Family Vineyards Merlot, a cup of chicken stock and two cans of diced tomatoes. I also added several healthy pinches of sage, which I rubbed together in my fingers to "wake up" the herbs, and smaller amounts of basil, oregano, thyme, and marjoram. I covered and simmered for about an hour and half (until almost all the liquid has reduced). I then removed the duck and set aside to cool a bit. I blended the remaining sauce with a stick blender, directly in the pan. After the duck cooled, I removed the duck from the bone and chopped with a cleaver until it was completely pulverized. I added the duck back to the sauce and mixed the cooked linguini with the sauce. We served with freshly grated parmigano reggiano (from Caputo's cheese market in Melrose or Stone Park) and a 2002 Sangiovese Toscano from Castello di Monastero. For our accompanying bread, we broiled slices of a baguette with a drizzle of Castello di Brolio estate olive oil, which we got on our honeymoon to Italy. The oil is from Tuscany. It is a very green olive oil with rich, buttery notes that blows out of the water any olive oil found in American grocery stores. This oil is best saved for applications where it can be appreciated on its own.

This Merlot came to Natalie as a gift at the Las Vegas Gourmet Housewares show from Cynmark Designs that make the Bottleneckless, a drip catcher for wine bottles. It retails for less than $10 but has a fairly good complexity for the price. It was smooth, very drinkable. I think it had the bouquet of cherry pie and was not overly tannic or acidic. The finish was slightly berry-like. I'd give it a 84.

This wine was a nice surprise. It's been in our "wine closet" for a long time — so long that I don't remember where we got it. I think it may have been one that we brought back from Italy, or maybe my folks got it for us, because the bottle was all in Italian and did not have the required sulfites for importing. It was another smooth wine that paired well with the sauce. It was slightly tannic, but it rounded out the duck fat of the sauce (which was not overly pronounced). The bottle description of "fruti di bosco" bouquet was accurate. Natalie also thought that it has dark cherry notes and a slight sweetness on the finish. Mmm, mmm good. I'd give it a 91.

2004 Tait The Ball Buster (Barossa Valley)

2006-05-12T20:50:00.000-05:00

If I didn't want to draw an association between this wine and a group of male strippers, I wouldn't call this the "Thunder from Down Under." What the hell. With a name like The Ball Buster, they have to expect some genital-based humor. All jokes aside, this is a serious wine. Seriously fun. It's big right out of the bottle (screwcap and all). It's crazy fruit on the nose that carry over to the palate. Dark cherry, blackberry, even a little blueberry. This is about $15, but it's a great wine to spring on your friends, for the name and the palate-pleasing effect it will have. I'd give it a 92.

Natalie's Note: Stupid name, good wine. I requested we buy a second bottle of this, and will look for it again.

Jeff's Note: Great name, great wine.

2004 Mount Riley (Marlborough) Sauvignon Blanc

2006-05-12T20:45:00.000-05:00

This Sauvignon Blanc purchase from Binny's was an impulse buy to try another Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand other than the excellent Villa Maria. In the same price range of $12-14, this was not in the same league. It was overly acidic with mineral notes that took over. It was fine with a great salmon dish Natalie made in a smoker bag (try it!), but not what I expected. It was decent on the nose with the predictable citrus and tropical notes, but didn't deliver on the palate. A somewhat disappointing 83.

Side note: The Savu Smoker Bag for smoking in a kitchen oven can be purchased at Williams-Sonoma in Chicago under a private label from what I understand. But I think there are better, cheaper places to get it online. The bag is made of foil, is disposable, and smokes the food using wood chips that are in an in-between layer of the foil pouch. It's great for cooking fish and vegetables without using oil, and takes hardly any time in the oven.

2003 Coltibuono Cetamura Chianti

2006-05-12T20:33:00.000-05:00

This wine holds special meaning for us as we brought it back from our Italian honeymoon. Badia a Coltibuono is a beautiful abbey up in the mountains of Chianti that also happens to produce some great Chianti wines. It also has a world-famous restaurant that has never been open when I've been there, but it's a truly spectacular Chianti estate.

This wine can be found in the states for less than $10 and it is generally not very well respected as its more up-market cousins. This is not a Chianti Classico, so that accounts for some of the difference. It is generally a wine that you would want to drink sooner than we did, but the right occasion never seemed to come up. On a recent Friday night, Natalie made steaks and an amazing triple-cream goat cheese pasta sauce (made with Coach Dairy Farm triple cream) with pasta from Italy (thanks Gustiamo!). That seemed special enough for me.

The wine itself was much better than I expected. The little bit of aging helped round off some of sharper corners of young Chianti wines and I don't think that it was nostalgia that made me think of Rosso di Montalcino. The wine had some nice currant and blackberry notes but with a smoky-tobacco-tar undertone that paired really well with the cast-iron seared steak. I'd give this an 88.

Side note: The Coach Dairy Triple-Cream Cheese is made in the Hudson River Valley by small artisanal producers who founded and once owned Coach Leathergoods Co. (Yes, the one that makes expensive purses.) The cheese is an extreme experience, and contains 75% butterfat. Also, many Italian imports, including the pasta I prepared, can be found at Gustiamo.com. Gustiamo also sells another sentimental item from our honeymoon, Sant' Eustachio coffee, which is one of the world's finest. It comes from a small roaster and cafe that is located near the Pantheon in Rome. The coffee has a natural caramel flavor to it that is just sublime. For anyone who visits Rome, the cafe is a must. And now, for the first time, the coffee is available for purchase in the U.S. You won't have the charm of the tucked-away Roman cafe, but you can get the robust, luscious flavor of a truly unique coffee in your robe on the couch at home.

2001 Rioja Sierra Cantabria Crianza

2006-05-12T20:24:00.000-05:00

This was a weeknight wine that we got from Binny's for about $10. At that price it's a good substitute for an Italian-style red wine. Spanish wine doesn't have the reputation of Italy, rightfully so, but there are some very good values out there and if you're willing to spend a little more, some bigger wines too. This was fairly peppery with dark fruit (black cherry and currant?). This would probably be about an 85.

2002 Castano Solanera Vinas Viejas Yecla

2006-05-12T20:18:00.001-05:00

This wine was another Binny's purchase. It came recommended and cost in the $12-$15 range. It paired well with the steak dinner we had the night we tried this wine. It was peppery with dark cherry notes and a relatively smooth finish. I'd give it a 87 (which seems to be mainly what I end up drinking. Good, not great). It's a solid middle class wine.

2003 Rondo Pinot Grigio

2006-05-12T20:13:00.000-05:00

There's not a lot to say about this wine. It was a "value" buy at Cabernet and Company on Main St. in Glen Ellyn, Ill. This is super cute shop next to a great restaurant, Cabs, that used to be under the same ownership. This shop has a relatively small selection of wines, but it is well-balanced in terms of price, geographic coverage and types of grape. For $5, it's hard to critique this wine too much, but it tasted like a $5 wine.

The main characteristic was acid. It was very acidic and somewhat mineral-laden, although overall not a very drinkable wine. It worked OK as a weeknight wine. I'd give it a 78.

Natalie's Note: Jeff says he likes this better than a Three Buck Chuck, but I might disagree. I was disappointed because the woman at the wine store made me more hopeful that this was a real find.

2004 Antinori Santa Cristina

2006-05-12T19:42:00.001-05:00

Antinori Santa Cristina is billed as an "everyday" wine, but has both stood the test of time in terms of keeping a consistent high-quality taste and also remained a low-price value, despite the consistently positive reviews that would normally nudge up the cost. I first discovered Santa Cristina in the late '90s while studying in Rome. This was a good time to drink "table wine" from Tuscany as 1997 was an amazing year in Chianti, which is home to Santa Cristina.

The wine shares many qualities with a young Chianti, as it's a Sangiovese. It's a dry wine. But it has some nice subtle complexities of tannins and dark, dark fruit. It doesn't need to open up too much, which is to be expected. At under $10, it's a steal with pastas, pizza or a good party red, although it does better with food. I'd give it a 87-89 depending on the vintage. Drink it now as this wine doesn't need to be cellared.

Think

2006-04-06T19:05:00.000-05:00

We had dinner Saturday night with our friends Brendan and Kristine. After having some trouble deciding where to go, we settled on Think — a great little BYOB place on Western close to Fullerton and Armitage.

Think is one of those restaurants that has fairly inventive cuisine, but is just pricey enough to keep you from going back every week. It also seems like they have issues with execution occasionally. Natalie and I went there for Valentine's Day a few years ago and enjoyed ourselves although EVERYTHING was oversalted. The flaw this time was that the horseradish mashed potatoes were a little runny and didn't pair well with the halibut that Natalie and Kristine had. My pork chops came with mashed sweet potatoes that were also a little runny.

That said, the appetizers were great. Brendan and Kristine had the scallops and we had the crab cakes. Very crab-heavy with a nice aioli and salad accompaniment. Our Caesar Salad was also great. Whole anchovies and good homemade croutons.

We brought two wines to share. We started with a Stefano Farina Gavi di Gavi. It paired really well with the seafood appetizers and our salads. It was crisp, not a hint of sweetness. Pear, some citrus notes. I'd give it a 87.

Then, we had a Coppola Diamond Claret that our friends John and Sally gave us when they were here. I hadn't had their Claret before and it was nice. Not over the top, knock you socks off, but really nice. That might not sound like the world's review, but it was perfect for our dinner. With Nat and Kristine having the halibut and Brendan ordering a heavy tomato-based seafood stew and me having pork chops it was a versatile red wine for dinner. It was on the dry side, not too fruity, but some dark berry notes. Brendan and Kristine brought an Australian Shiraz, Wyndam Estate, that was the perfect wine end to the evening. Fair amount of fruitiness, which on the tail end and with dessert (awesome, awesome, awesome caramel banana dish served in an olive holder) was perfect. Nothing too complex, just straightforward Australian fruit.

Teruzzi & Puthod, Terre di Tufi, 04

2006-03-23T22:03:00.000-06:00

We had this Teruzzi & Puthod, Terre di Tufi, 04 the other night with dinner. It was such a nice complement to the bucatini primavera and chicken stuffed with prosciutto crudo, fresh sage and Mexican white melting cheese.

On its own, this is reminiscent of the Vernaccia we had a few weeks ago, given that they're both from San Gimignano, although this is definitely more refined. The citrus notes were still present, but there was a stronger undertone of minerality. Natalie detected the crispness of apples as well. 88 points.

The label on this bottle is great too. It looks like a dining scene from a medieval tapestry, which is appropriate since San Gimignano is such a medieval hill town.

3/18/06 Dinner Party

2006-03-23T21:30:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I posted because Natalie and I were both under the weather last week and not really in the mood to try any new wines. With our friends, John and Sally, in town, we decided to go ahead and have a little dinner party Saturday night. Sally is super pregnant and drank sparkling Welch's, which I won't be reviewing. Brendan and Kristine and Dan and Danielle joined us for dinner (with Finn and Aidan). I made Tuscan White Bean Dip on toasted Italian bread, a Calamari all'Amatriciana appetizer, risotto with spinach, and veal saltimbocca. Natalie made a really, really good tunnel o' fudge bundt cake with homemade chocolate sauce.

We asked people to bring wine to share. John and Sally brought a Copolla Claret that I stashed for another evening. I opened a Montes Alpha Syrah 2003, Colchagua Valley, Chile and decanted to have with dinner and we went through several other bottles throughout the night.

We had, in order:

• Colonia Las Liebres, Bonarda, 2004, Mendoza, Argentina
This was a good wine to begin with. It was spicy, interesting and woke up the palates. It wasn't light, like an aperitif, but was more like a hearty first course. We got this one from Binny's, big surprise, for less than $12. I'd give it a 87-88. It was dark fruit, some tobacco/tar on the finish. Well-balanced tannins.
• Montes Alpha Syrah 2003, Colchagua Valley, Chile
This is one of my new favorites. It's affordable (less than $14 on sale), fairly easy to find (at Binny's), and goes with a wide variety of dishes. I'd give it 92 points. Has really smooth black cherry/blackberry fruit in the beginning with some coffee bite on the finish, but this wine is definitely smooth. We had this when we went out for Natalie birthday to Sweets & Savories on Fullerton and loved it then and this didn't let me down.
• 2003 Cousino-Macul, Antiguas Reservas, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile
This wine was one of the bottles our guests brought. I liked it. Not knowing anything about the wine, it was a "light" Cab. After having so many big, big, big California Cabs, this one was nice. It reminded me of solid Italian reds. Some black fruit and good tannic balance. I'd give it 84, maybe 85 if I had tried it earlier in the night.
• 2004 Kanga Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, South Eastern Australia
Last wine of the night. It was black fruit forward, not surprising given its terroir, but was acidic on the finish. I would rate this a 81. John liked this more than the Cousino though.

I'm not going to review it, but I cooked with one of my favorite table white wines, Villa del Borgo Pinot Grigio. This is year in and year out such a great value wine. I especially enjoy it in the summertime, hanging out outside enjoying the wine. I'll review it in the future at some point.

Meyer California Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon

2006-03-12T22:19:00.000-06:00

We went to a Meyer Corporation event tonight that featured wines from the CEO's estate in Napa Valley. All I can say is WOW! Their Chardonnay was very complex and buttery without being overly oaked. I think we might have to write more about it later, but I'd say it was easily in the low 90s. The Cabernet was awesome. It was totally open right out of the bottle, but with the promise of more complexity to come with cellaring/aerating. I'd rate it 94 based on what we tasted, not far behind the Phelps Insignia. WOW, wow, double wow. What a great wine. Black fruit, beautiful tannin balance. Wonderful.

Rocca Delle Macie Grappa

2006-03-12T22:18:00.000-06:00

This has to be the best grappa. I found it in Italy. More to follow. It's all gone now. Will have to replenish when we hit the boot again.

Spacca Napoli

2006-03-12T22:13:00.000-06:00

In addition to Tagine, we also tried out another new restaurant Saturday, Spacca Napoli. Located at Sunnyside and Ravenswood, it looks like it's not open if you don't turn down Sunnyside.

Spacca Napoli is a cool little AUTHENTIC Italian pizzeria. We had calamari affogato (in a tomato, olive, caper sauce and quatro formaggi pizza. The place had a really realistic Italian vibe from the San Benedeto Pesche Iced Thé and San Pellegrino Limonata (not to mention Lacryma del Christo and Nino Franco Rustico Proseco by the glass) and pictures of Totó! Food was great. Location is great. We'll be back with friends. Awesome place. I'm sure Natalie will add more later.

Trying Out Tagine

2006-03-11T23:19:00.000-06:00

Tagine
Near Rockwell & Leland in Lincoln Square

Out of a scale of four stars:
Food: 3
Atmosphere: 2
Price: 3
Would we go back: Yes.

With a bottle of wine in hand, we hopped in the car on a balmy March night to check out Tagine, a new Moroccan BYOB restaurant in the Rockwell corridor of the Lincoln Square neighborhood. Tagines, cone-shaped clay pots used for slow cooking meat and vegetables have been a hot item in the housewares industry for a couple of years now, so I thought it was a great concept for creating a restaurant. And, for wine lovers, BYOB is a great chance to enjoy wine you know you'll like at a price that's more in line with your budget. We brought the Rosenblum Syrah we'd just purchased at Binny's.

When we first arrived, one of the owners was at the door to greet patrons into the small space. The paprika-colored walls seemed just right, but unfortunately the lighting scheme was working overtime against any kind of charm. One fluorescent light was turned on in the back to illuminate the whole restaurant. And, of course, we were seated under that one light. Hopefully a successful start to this business will make it possible to replace the lighting as soon as possible.

Most importantly, though, the food was great. We both ordered Tangine-cooked entrees, although soup, salad, kebabs and cous cous dishes were also on the menu. Strangely enough, though, our dinners were not served in tagines. Another table we saw had them, but I think they ran out by the time we got there. But, service on an average white place didn't diminish the taste of the meal. I had the Oasis Tagine, a half-chicken slow roasted with olives, lemon confit and a ginger saffron sauce, accompanied by French fries. Soaking up the ginger saffron sauce, these thin American-style French fries may be the best fries I've ever had in my life (even topping the duck-fat fried fries at Hot Doug's, which is saying a lot.) Jeff had the Sultan's Tagine, but unfortunately the braised shank of lamb and artichokes were served on a large bed of spiced peas -- and Jeff doesn't like peas. But, we were able to share our meals (because I do like peas, and can say these were good) and it was a great way to get to taste two entrees. We also ordered the Vegetarian sampler as an appetizer, which included roasted green peppers, eggplant and cooked garlic spinach that were all wonderfully spiced. We ate the veggies on pita bread, along with our Moroccan salads, which came with the entrees. The salads included a lot of chopped cucumber, tomato and romaine lettuce, in a sweet vinegar-heavy dressing. Nothing too special about the salad, but it was fine. Each table is also served a dish of very spicy olives, and sliced carrots spiced with olive oil.

Overall I think Tagine has exciting food for an incredibly reasonable price. I just hope they are able to fine tune the restaurant into a truly amazing dining experience.

Note from Jeff: Before we publish this, I have to say that my entree could have been better. It was all peas (which I hate) and lamb with a little artichoke. I thought that I would come with some sort of starch (rice, cous cous), but alas did not. Menu descriptions and lighting (which Natalie mentioned) could be much better. I think it's worth another try, but there's work to be done.

California Wine Extravaganza

2006-03-09T20:39:00.000-06:00

Tonight Natalie and I went to our first wine tasting event at Binny's. It was a little overwhelming (i.e. crowded), but there were a lot of great wines that we got to taste (and buy). We had to hustle to get there, getting soaked in the rain in the process.

We rated the wines with a minus for those we didn't like, one star for good, two for very good and three for excellent. I'll run down the list in order with comments.

Three Stars
2003 Mumm Cuvee "M" — $15.99 — Wonderful strawberry fruitiness on the finish, not overly dry or sweet. Perfect balance. Can't wait to sip on a warm summer night. We bought two bottles.
2004 Rosenblum San Francisco Bay Zinfandel — $15.99 — Puts the jam in jammy. Shockingly fruity on the palette, but softens to a peppery complexity. We bought two. Great value. High alcohol content, but it didn't come through at all.
2003 Rosenblum Abba Vineyard Syrah — $18.99 — Also jammy. I preferred, though Natalie liked the Zin better. Nice.
N/V Merryvale Antigua 500ml — $34.99 — Great dessert wine. Hard to avoid splurging on this one, but we held strong. Moscato that competes with some of the better Italian Vin Santo's I've had.

Two Stars
2003 Chimney Rock Cabernet Sauvignon — $49.99 — Interesting berry/tannin relationship. A little too pricey.
2001 Katherine Kennedy Small Lot Cabernet Sauvignon — $65.99 — Nice, big Cab. Opened up pretty well. A little pricey. Better buys out there.
2004 Quady Elysium 375 ml — Great dessert moscato. Reminds me of Bonny Door Vin de Glacier. Color of whiskey. Dewberry.
2003 Dashe Zinfandel — $21.99 — Jammy, peppery.
2003 Chiarello Petite Sirah — $39.99 — Exciting wine. Dark, dark purple color. Well-balanced fruit.
2003 Stolpman Hilltop Syrah— $34.99 — Good syrah, black fruit forward. Would buy under $20, but a little steep.
2003 Andretti Sangiovese — $17.99 — Bought one. Great sangiovese that is fruitier than Italian sangioveses without being cloying. Would go well with Bucatina al'Amatriciana.
2002 Bennet Lane Maximus — $27.99 — Good value wine. Meritage-style. Almost bought a bottle, but were getting too many bottles. Insignia Jr.
2005 Groth Sauvignon Blanc — $14.99 — Pineapple, citrus. As good as the best I've tasted from New Zealand. Light, but not wimpy. Bought two bottles.
2003 Duckhorn Merlot — $46.99 — Natalie liked this one a lot.
2002 Anderson Conn Valley Cab. Sauv. — $49.99 — One of the better Cabs I tasted. Priced fairly. Black fruit, pepper, tannins...nice.
2002 Stag's Leap Winery Petite Sirah — $29.99 — Almost a three-star. Dark, garnet color. Good fruit.
2003 B.R. Cohn Silver Label Cab. Sauv. — $16.99 — Great price for a pretty good, complex Cab. Hmmm.
2002 Merryvale Starmont Cab. Sauv. — $22.99 — See Cohn. Similar wines.

One Star
N/V Mumm Cuvee Napa Brut — $15.99 on sale — Solid domestic champagne. Dry.
N/V Mumm Blanc De Noir — $15.99 on sale — Solid blanc de noir. Not too memorable.
2002 Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon — $19.99 — Decent Cab.
2004 Foxglove Chardonnay — $11.99 — Not overly oaked.
2003 Chariot Sangiovese — $11.99 — Good sangiovese. But not enough to unseat better, cheaper Italians like Antinori Santa Cristina.
2004 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir — $20.99 —Is it just me, or did Sideways way overhype Pinot Noir? This is fine, but it seems like there's so much of this quality out there, at prices that could buy much better bottles of other varietals.
2001 Andretti Merlot — $20.99 — one of the best merlots I tasted.
2003 Fritz Russian River Pinot Noir — $26.99 — Good, not great, pinot.
2002 Robert Craig Mt. Veeder Cab. Sauv. — $46.99 — Wasn't very opened up yet. Could be good with more aerating.
2003 Davis Family Zinfandel — $26.99 — Good, not great.
2001 Rombauer Cab. Sauv. — $32.99 — Good, not great.
2004 Wild Hog Pinot Noir — $25.99 — OK.
2001 Baldacci Cabernet Sauv. — $39.99 — Pretty good. Almost the next level. Could be priced better. Good fruit and tannin relationship.
2003 Paraduxx — $44.99 — Strong wine. Zin and Cab blend.
N/V Scharfenberger Brut — $16.99 — Pretty good, champagne style. Not overly dry.
2004 Simi Sauvignon Blanc — $9.99 — good value, but not overly exciting.
2001 Teanna Red — $34.99 — Was so crowded at this table that I couldn't find out what grapes were in this one. Pretty good.

Negatory!
2003 Wild Horse Cabernet Sauvignon — $15.99 — Not very complex. We've had their Pinot Noir and enjoyed it, but this was kind of boring and tasted like its price.
2003 Terlato Syrah — $32.99 — BLAH!
2004 Terlato Pinot Grigio — $21.99 — Color of water. Double blah says Natalie.
2003 Sebastiani Cabernet Sauvignon — $13.99 — Not memorable.
2003 Calera Pinot Noir — $19.99 — Bad.
2004 Foxen Pinot Noir — $22.99 — Bordering on decent, but pretty boring.
2002 Seavey Cab. Sauv. — $69.99 — Does this have to aerate for a week to be decent? At this price, this wine should buy me dinner. Tannic, tight, could hardly finish. No fruit or complexity. Disappointing.
2002 Egelhoff Cab. Sauv. — $69.99 — Is there a trend at this year/price. Same critique as above.
2004 Saintsbury Chardonnay — $19.99 — Something not right here. Not corked, but close. Newspapery.
2003 Mer Soleil Chardonnay — $34.99 — Heard others raving about this. Was not impressed.
2001 Silver Oak Napa Cab. Sauv. Limited — $95.99 — Again, was tight, not open. Didn't play nice with palette. Needed to aerate. Call me in a week and we'll talk.
2004 Franciscan Chardonnay — $14.99 — Boring, oaky, blah!
2003 Robert Mondavi Napa Cab Sauv. — $20.99 — Boring.

Limoncello recipe

2006-03-08T13:43:00.000-06:00

Our favorite after-dinner drink, or digestivo, is easily the Italian Limoncello. This is easier to find in the States than it once was, but it is still generally found in specialty shops or larger liquor stores. Even then, most of what they have is not very good. Limoncello is relatively simple to make, but requires a little patience.

Recipe:

One bottle (750 ml) Everclear
One bottle (750 ml) vodka (I would recommend a decent bottle, like Smirnoff, but nothing too extravagant)
20 organic lemons

Four cups sugar
Four cups water

Wash the lemons in hot water and clean with vegetable wash (organic and nontoxic) and scrub vigorously.
Rinse. Lemon peels are how you create the drink's flavor and color, so it is important that the lemons are clean. I found the vegetable wash at Whole Foods for pretty cheap (less than $3). I've found that nearly every lemon sold in a store is coated in food wax. You need to remove this wax as much as possible before you peel the lemons. I looked everywhere for lemons without wax (Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, local markets) without success.

Peel the lemons (retaining the peels for later) being sure not to peel any of the white part under the peel, otherwise known as pith.
Peeling is another key step. It is very easy to get the pith when peeling. You'll inevitably get some while you're peeling, but if you keep it at a minimum, you should be OK. The pith creates a bitter finish to the limoncello that you want to avoid. We used a super sharp, large-size vegetable peeler to get the peels off. Keep the peel in long strips to make it easier when you strain later. You can use a sharp knife if you're not afraid of losing a thumb. I've heard of others using a zester for this step, but I've found that to be prohibitively tedious, especially if you're doing a double batch, like I did with the last batch.

Put the lemon peels in a large glass container with the vodka and everclear.
I found a great, huge container at CostPlus World Market. Pier 1 has good containers, too. A suntea container could work, but the spigot leaked on the one I got from Jewel. Note: Some people will use only Everclear and some only vodka. I've found that a mixture is the best recipe. You're not so over the top alcoholic by using the Everclear, and vodka alone can be too low in the alcohol content, resulting in a limoncello that freezes in the freezer Â which is where it is ideally kept. The higher alcohol content of Everclear prevents it from being diluted to the point where it freezes.

Swirl the lemon peel and alcohol mixture together daily in the jar.

This step can last for as little as two weeks or up to four months.
The longer you leave the peels in contact with the alcohol, the more yellow and lemony your limoncello will be. After two weeks, you'll likely get a limoncello as good as anything you can buy in a store for $20 or so. A little longer will get you the type of limoncello that you can find only in Italy in small shops on the Amalfi Coast (and on Capri) or in the freezers of Italian grandmothers throughout the country.

After you get to the point where you're ready to finish the limoncello, remove the bigger peels with a slotted spoon.
If you want to be especially frugal with your mixture, like I am, remove the peels to another container so that the "drippings" can be poured back into the larger container.

Once you've removed the bigger peels, you need to strain the entire mixture through coffee filters to remove as many of the impurities as possible. You can do this by putting the filters into funnels and straining that way. Note: If you pre-wet the filters with water, they won't absorb as much of the liquor mixture, reducing waste.

Meanwhile, you can be working on the sugar syrup. Mix the sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Let boil for at least seven minutes.

Let syrup cool to room temperature, then combine with lemon-alcohol mixture.

At this point you can bottle using funnels. You should ideally let the limoncello "marry" together for a week in the bottle before consuming, but no one's going to fault you if you sneak a taste or two.

If you think that you're going to be making limoncello, start holding onto bottles, especially interesting, decorative ones. Limoncello makes a great gift that's homemade. If you want to stretch your limoncello stash and still spread the love, get miniature decorative bottles with swivel tops from Cost Plus World Market and fill those as the gift. You generally get two good shots from the bottle. My friend, Ed, and his wife gave these as wedding favors, which is the best idea ever. My pockets were full when I left the reception.

Fontaleoni Vernaccia di San Gimignano

2006-03-07T19:09:00.000-06:00

We had this 2003 Fontaleoni Vernaccia di San Gimignano this evening with dinner (maple/madras mustard glazed pork chops, risotto-style orzo and spinach with lemon). We bought it at the Lakeview/Ivanhoe Binny's for less than $10. In fact, I think it might have been on sale for less than $6.

We love Vernaccia in the summer, and I like to have wines like this on hand as an "everyday" wine. We stayed just outside of San Gimignano on our honeymoon, so this style of wine will always be a sentimental favorite. San Gimignano is an unbelievably cute Tuscan hill town close to Chianti (and Sienna/Florence). It's known for their towers that jut out of the Tuscan landscape unlike any other town. It can be incredibly crowded with the tourist hoards during the day, but the tour buses leave by evening to leave a peaceful, quaint respite. There are several good restaurants in town and they all serve Vernaccia. It's hard to find a shop that doesn't sell their famous export. Vernaccia has become easier to find in recent years, thankfully, so you can always find a little slice of Tuscan summer bottled up for you. Although Italy is not necessarily known for their whites, this, along with Orvieto Classico and a few others, proves that is not always the case.

Taste Alone
The wine is surprisingly complex for such a cheap bottle. It had clean scents of lemon, crisp pear along with some minerality. The tartness of the citrus was still present on the finish, almost to the point of being overly tart.

Paired with Food
Very drinkable with the meal. The citrus softened, but paired well with the lemon in the spinach and sweetness of the maple. Spice notes came through, accentuated by the curry.

Overall
Indicative of classic Vernaccia, this wine is a great bargain under $10 and a great everyday wine. It offers interesting complexity but is food-friendly. 84 points

Wine Event at Binny's

2006-03-07T12:46:00.000-06:00

I decided to start this blog because we have loved wine and food for some time and friends of ours recently started tastebudchicago, a cool blog that gives their ratings on things like wine and cheese. We recently went to Napa Valley and had a great time tasting wine from the bigger producers (Phelps and Coppola/Niebaum/Rubicon) and smaller vineyards (Arger-Martucci, Jessup and Kelham). This Thursday, we're going to be tasting 90 wines from the different viticultural areas of California at a special event at Binny's. More to come later.