MARIANI’S

  January 30, 2005                                                         NEWSLETTER

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WALES:   Reinventing Traditional Cuisine by Suzanne Wright

NEW YORK CORNER: Café Gray by John Mariani

WALES: Reinventing Traditional Cuisine

By Suzanne Wright

 

 
                                                        CARDIFF, CAPITAL OF WALES

   Wales doesn’t yet carry the culinary cachet of its United Kingdom cousins, London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, but it is coming into its own via local chefs reinterpreting traditional dishes for a modern palate. I must admit I wasn’t expecting to eat particularly well on a recent trip to Wales, so I was more than pleasantly surprised to enjoy a number of memorable meals during a recent  winter visit.
        In Cardiff, the capital, the most innovative chef is Padrig Jones at Le Gallois y Cymro (Romilly Crescent, Canton; 029-20-34-1264; www.legallois-ycymro.com), an attractive, two-level bistro with hardwood floors, a cozy bar, and  a polished, multi-lingual staff.  The place was abuzz with business types, small groups of women, and nuzzling couples when I lunched there. One family parked a stroller beside a table.
     The three-course prix fixe menu blends indigenous Welsh and Provençal French dishes.  Sipping a glass of Sancerre, I begin with moules mariniere, a classic preparation of knuckle-sized mussels in a wonderful rich  broth.  Buttery roasted cod was dotted with sea salt and served with a fricassée of earthy shiitake mushrooms and spinach, and spongy, deliciously briny cockles.   A sunny lemon pudding managed to be both luscious and light for dessert.
     The restaurant also runs a gourmet to-go shop around the corner well worth visiting. Be sure to buy a bottle of elderflower “presse,” a lovely herbaceous, refreshing sparkling water with hints of pear, which comes in  a concentrated form called a "cordial";  mix it with your own fizzy water when you get home.  
  A 3-course meal runs  £35 ($66),   4 courses   £40 ($75).
 
    The posh St. David’s Hotel & Spa (Havannah Street, 029-20-45-4045; www.roccofortehotels.com) is favored by visiting celebrities and dignitaries. It’s a striking building that helped launch the renovation along the Cardiff Bay waterfront, which is rather like Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, with its shops, bars and restaurants.  The latest cultural addition to the area is the Wales Millennium Center (right), a glorious example of architecture as place, made of Welsh materials such as multi-colored slate, steel and hardwoods, and it is home to the city’s most prestigious performing arts companies,  run by the former director of the Sydney Opera.  City boosters hope it will do for Cardiff what the Guggenheim has done for Bilbao, Spain.
      Inside St. David’s, the minimalist interior reminds me of an Ian Schrager hotel.  Among the more sophisticated dining rooms in town is the intimate Tides Grill (below) with floor to ceiling windows overlooking shimmering Cardiff Bay.  On the night I visited,  the grand opening of the Millennium Center manifested a smart crowd, gathered for the festivities and Chef Stephen Carter’s tempting food.  The menu features potted brown shrimps with crisp Melba toast--pleasantly briny fingernail-sized crustaceans cooked in butter and served chilled; creamy vegetable risotto; citrus-kissed grilled organic salmon with a delicate mélange of turnip, lime and parsley served with a gorgeous side of sautéed leeks; and Welsh cheeses, including Llangofen, a lovely red, garlic-infused Leicester and Y-Fenni, a mustard-infused semi-hard cheese.
    The winelist was remarkably multi-national, with selections from France, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Italy and even a selection from Lebanon.
      A 3-course meal will run between $60 and $75.

     It would be a shame to visit Wales and not make an excursion into the countryside of the Brecon Beacons National Park, a 520-square mile area of rolling hills about an hour-and-a-half west of Cardiff,  home to many a fine country estate converted into comfortable, even deluxe, small inns. There I stayed at Llangoed Hall (Llyswen, Brecon, Powy;  01-874-754-525; www.llangoedhall.com), a member of the exclusive Welsh Rarebits hotel group.  Sir Bernard Ashley, husband of Laura Ashley, owns Llangoed Hall (right), located on 17 acres of lovely gardens and parkland overlooking the River Wye.  Given the Ashely connection, the décor was less fussy than I imagined.  There was  sherry in my room, which had an old-fashioned skeleton key, and the cheery blue-and-white scheme, huge Venetian mirror, four-poster bed, and copious bath (although there’s only a wretched “telephone” shower) was quite stately.  Rates include afternoon tea and full Welsh breakfast.
       Head Chef Sean Ballington uses plenty of fresh, local produce from the surrounding villages (try to hit market days, if you can), and the food is top-notch.  He’s justifiably famous for his tender Welsh lamb, served on a bed of finely diced ratatouille with a rich Madeira jus.  I also recommend the succulent Welsh black beef fillet on “bubble and squeak” rösti with truffle and foie gras ravioli, and, for your sweet tooth,  the dark chocolate fondant served with a scoop of pistachio ice cream, or the roasted apple with dried fruit and caramel on sweet brioche made from  apples grown on the estate.  I also developed a fondness for the very quaffable Château Beauregard Ducasse 2000, which is made for the inn.  Dinner will cost about $50-$60.
       As you tour the surrounding towns, stop into the Felin Fach Griffin Inn (Brecon, Powys;  01-874-62-0111;www.eatdrinksleep.ltd.uk), a relaxed gastro-pub.  After a drink at the bar in front of a blazing fire (all those fires do effectively counteract the chill of the damp climate), you’ll be seated in the simple dining room for a terrific steak with leeks and béarnaise sauce served with homemade soda bread, farmhouse butter, perfectly crisp chips (French fries to us Yanks) and Strongbow cider.  The ever-present leeks?  I learn they are one of the country’s symbols, along with daffodils and dragons.  A meal here will run under $30.
 

    It’s also worth searching out bracing Brecon gin, distilled with local botanicals, including dandelion (although I’m not sure I could discern its presence).  And, if you are offered bara brith with your tea, take it.  It’s a fruit bread (not to be confused with the too-sweet American fruit cake), sometimes toasted and  slathered with creamy butter. If you like sharp Cheddar cheese, get your hands on some Black Bomber, an extra-mature Cheddar with a rich depth and tang; it also comes in a ginger-infused version.
    Of course, Wales has a sumptuous selection of preserves to choose from and bring home. And, by all means, try the many varieties of crisps (potato chips) you’ll find in pubs, including such exotic combinations as Thai chili and coriander, lamb and mint and  turkey with sage dressing, all of which go great with the local brew.

The scale of restaurant concepts at the year-old Time Warner Center is equaled only by those at the casino hotels in Las Vegas, the difference being that the celebrity chefs who opened restaurants in NYC actually cook in them (the exception being Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who merely drops in occasionally to his V Steakhouse (reviewed here 10/3/04).  At Asiate (3/8/04)  Nori Sugie is doing his Asian fusion cuisine nightly; at Masa (8/1/04), the great man himself is always behind the sushi counter slicing and dicing; and, at least two weeks a month, Thomas Keller is cooking at Per Se (11/28/04); the other two weeks he is at The French Laundry in Napa Valley; and Gray Kunz is at the new place on the third floor that bears his name--the long-awaited Café Gray.
     Kunz has been in the background (or on the back burner) of NYC gastronomy for six years, since leaving the now-defunct Lespinasse and having had several deals fall through until Café Gray opened last November after months of delays that cost a pretty penny--reportedly $6 million.  Café Gray does have a marvelous view over Columbus Circle and Central Park; unfortunately the cooks have the best view, but, as you can see from the photo above, they always have their backs  turned away from it.  For some incomprehensible reason the designer has set Café Gray's guests far from the window; indeed, the photo above foreshortens the space, whose tables are at least fifteen feet from that huge window.  This is very strange indeed and joins with other decorous oddities that make this one of the more hapless dining rooms in the city.
    You enter through a long hallway into a bar area (below) that is, in a word, snazzy, then hang a left into a narrow waiting area that opens onto a large dining room done up in mirrored pillars and ceilings with the kind of lights that put me in mind of a disco circa 1977.  One half expects the lights to go down and a spinning mirrored ball to start shooting black lights out of it while they crank up K.C. and the Sunshine Band singing "Shake Yer Booty."
     The place is comfortable enough, however, and the maître d', captains, and wine director,  Alexander Adlgasser, are all affable and very professional,  The rest of the waitstaff is harried and hurried, and there's not much distinction between waiters' and busboys' wardrobes, so it takes a while to figure out who's going to be taking your order. 
       Cafe Gray is, though, a true food-lover's destination, for Kunz has always been one of the brightest talents in the city, and if he is not working at the level of haute cuisine he once displayed back in Lespinasse, that's all to the good: The food here is easier to love and still carries his trademark of Asian and European elements seamlessly melded into wondrous tastes and textures.
     One appetizer was so good I ordered two portions so that everyone at our table could try it--a sweet-sour lemongrass nage with tender bay scallops and lobster--as delicate a rendering of what could be a very spicy item as I can imagine. His shrimp salad with jicama and crosnes (an odd, Japanese gnarled winter tuber named in 1882 after the French village where they were introduced) with a tarragon rémoulade sounds simplistic, but every ingredient adds layers of flavor.  So, too, a sheet of sheer pasta called "pasta fiori" spread like a flower over tomato concasse scented with thyme and rosemary had textures and taste galore.  Surprising, then, that marinated jicama with vegetables à la grecque (tarragon and yogurt) was so ho-hum, and risotto with a mushroom fricassée, while pleasing, might have been found in a lot of other places around town.
    Things get even more interesting with entrees, including fluke wittily crusted with puffed rice (it works!), served with rich creamed spinach and preserved lemons. Steamed branzino with gingered spaghetti squash and verbena bouillon had more flavor than one might expect, and pork came simmered in dark stout, with the addition of maple syrup and a savory bean stew. A sautéed lamb chop came with an eggplant tart and carrot-curry emulsion that had some sweetness to it.  Duck à l'orange with an endive stew also had a sweet component, and at that point, after two dinners here, I began to wonder why there were indeed so many sweet elements, especially in main courses.  Kunz loves high spices, sprinkling them far too liberally on venison medallions, served with Savoy cabbage and a juniper-salmis.
      These are not easy dishes to match with wines, and the winelist, which is expensive (don't expect too many bottles under $50), has plenty of terrific wines that do and many that don't  go with a lot of this food--big Bordeaux and Burgundies, for instance, though an Aloxe-Corton had the pepper and spice to stand up to the spicy food.  Best to go with  riesling or a rather neutral white wine.
      Kunz is unquestionably a great chef, and as you watch his large kitchen crew work (their backs always to the window), you can see he has imbued them with his spirit of focus and commitment.  Café Gray is a true foodie destination, even if the decor makes you wince. Just don't ask for a window table.
        Appetizers run $11-$19, main courses $25-$34, which in this building is pretty modest pricing.

INSERT FILE INTO CAKE BATTER AND BAKE AT 350° UNTIL FILE COMES OUT CLEAN


Inmates at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla have compiled The Convict Cookbook, with some recipes that can be made in a cell without a stove.   Dave Rivers' Perfect Omelet is made by squishing the ingredients in a plastic bag, then boiling it.  Ron Valentine's Blue Mountain Crabbies are also made in a plastic bag, then hung outside the cell window to chill.











LEONARD COHEN ALWAYS PUTS US TO SLEEP TOO
"This was a first: The waitress who poured our wine was carrying a baby swaddled in a blue cotton shawl around her waist. As she uncorked the bottle, the sleeping child dangled over the table. A loud pop, and our glasses were briskly filled with lightly chilled Sancerre.  The baby didn't stir. Leonard Cohen played low in the background; logs burned in the red brick fireplace beneath a whimsical oil painting of turkeys pecking in a barnyard."--Moira Hodgson in a review of Applewood in The New York Observer (Dec. 13, 2004).

LET ME TAKE YOU ON A SEA CRUISE

Dear Subscriber,

  I will be hosting a very special and, I think, unique, Mediterranean cruise event this summer, from June 4-16, on the S. S. Crystal Serenity.  I have chosen some of my favorite places in the whole world to visit and dine at, including Alain Ducasse’s illustrious three-star Louis XV restaurant in Monaco, and the enchanting Don Alfonso on the Amalfi Coast.  You will be treated to the finest these and other dedicated restaurateurs have to offer in their unique way.     I will be telling you everything worth knowing about the food and wines of the regions we visit—Dubrovnik, Barcelona, Monaco, Florence, St. Tropez, Sorrento, and Rome—including the best places to find haute cuisine to the most charming trattoria or the liveliest bistros and cafes.    
     My wife Galina, co-author with me of The Italian American Cookbook (which we’ll sign copies of), will also be giving an exclusive cooking lesson onboard I know you will enjoy.     Between relaxing and enjoying yourselves onboard and coming with us to the loveliest sites and restaurants in the Mediterranean, you will have a unique and memorable trip and, I hope, become as familiar with these glorious places, cultures, and people as I am.     Galina and I look forward to seeing you onboard in June!    For details, go to http://www.festivalsafloat.com/html/mariani/letter.html   -- John Mariani
  

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly.  Editor/Publisher: John Mariani. Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani,  Naomi  Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson,  Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein, Lucy Gordan, Suzanne Wright. Contributing Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery,  Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.

 John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife Galina, the award-winning new Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common Press).

copyright John Mariani 2005