|
MARIANI’S
Virtual Gourmet
October 2, 2005
NEWSLETTER
Colt 45 Malt Liquor Ad (circa 1977)
UPDATE:
To
go to my web site, in which I will update food
&
travel information and help link readers to other first-rate travel
& food sites, click on: home page
ACCESS TO
ARCHIVE: Readers may now access
an
Archive of all past newsletters--each annotated--dating back to July,
2003, by simply clicking on www.johnmariani.com/archive
.
NEW
FEATURE! You may now subscribe anyone you wish
to this newsletter by
clicking here.
In
This Issue
Noshing
on Nantucket by John A. Curtas
NEW YORK CORNER:
Bottega del Vino by John Mariani
QUICK BYTES
Noshing
on Nantucket
by John
A. Curtas
Photo: Linda Holch
New
Englanders are always telling you Nantucket isn’t as nice as it used to
be. But I have a feeling people have been
saying
that for about a hundred years. Still, strolling
the streets on a balmy 80-degree day in late
July, it
is hard to find anything to complain about. The
cobblestone streets, culled from recycled rocks used
as ballast
on Nantucket whaling ships, are as rocky as ever, and there’s still
Congdon’s Pharmacy right next door to the Nantucket Pharmacy, replete
with wooden
screen doors and old-fashioned lunch counters. The only
franchises on the island are the two supermarkets and one Ralph Lauren
store.
As
an off-and-on visitor since 1985, I can claim some perspective on how
things
have (or haven’t) changed since the boom-boom eighties, but I tend to
look
past such things and concentrate on eating seafood.
My usual haunts are all still there--Sayles
Seafood for great chowder,
lobsters from the tank, and clambakes to order; the Straight
Wharf Fish Store for off-the-boat swordfish, blues and
striped bass; and Mac’s Diner
at
Children’s Beach for the best sugar doughnuts on earth.
Small, light, ethereally cakey and always
warm, they have supplanted The
Downyflake for island fried dough supremacy. But I digress.
With
only a few days to spend among these old haunts, my two dinners were
spent
checking out an old favorite and then a relative newcomer.
Years ago I would stare into The Club Car (1 Main Street; 508-228-1101; click here), and wonder who had
the cash to appreciate “The Cuisine of
Michael Shannon.” With its raging
bar scene in the railroad car that gives this place its
name,
the dining room (right) is
slightly dowdy, with old money décor and classic
French cooking, The
Club Car is a
throwback, but these days the tariffs
don’t seem as intimidating (especially if you live and dine in Las Vegas, as I do), and the dining
room and the
food
served there seem to fit like a comfortable old shoe .
Five years ago Shannon
turned over the stoves to Tom Proch, his sous-chef since 1984, who'll
tell you he had never heard of Nantucket when he came to the island
after
graduating from Johnson & Wales in Providence in 1983.
But
he took to it like a fish to water
and now lives there full time with his wife and two children. In the off season (the restaurant opens
before Memorial Day, and closes after the last weekend in October, then
reopens
for the month of December), he makes his way as a jack-of-all-trades,
pounding
nails and doing whatever odd jobs come his way. But
when he hangs up his tool belt and mans the stoves, a
classically
trained French chef comes out.
There
is also a bit of fusion to his menu, especially in the appetizers: "Octopus
in the Style of Bangkok" is not something that would have been a big
mover
in 1988, but these days these charred half-circular strips are visible
on more
than a few tables. Complemented by
lime, mint, cilantro, and sweetish Tiparos fish sauce, they disappeared
quickly at our table. Likewise, the
broiled sesame eel--sushi-quality unagi,
albeit in a larger guise,
spent little time on anyone’s plate.
For
those seeking more traditional fare, the cold
Nantucket lobster salad, and Sauternes-poached duck foie gras, provided
satisfaction at both ends of the appetizer
spectrum: one, a citrus-spiked exercise in seafood freshness, the other
a
testament to old-school richness. Of all
the superb starters, the sautéed calf’s brains with brown
butter,
lemon, capers and aged balsamic, was the
most
un-Nantucket-like but also the one that showed Mr. Proch’s chops. These elements coalesced in a sweet, savory,
and sour way to accent but not overwhelm the creamy, delicate texture
of the
main ingredient.
Main
courses tread between old standards demanded be on the menu by the Old
Money--chicken breast (given a nice twist with morels and tasso ham),
rack of
lamb and
dry-aged sirloin, and the incredible seasonal seafood Nantucket is known for.
In his chop-thick swordfish steak and lightly
breaded and sautéed striped bass, Proch respects the
superb main
ingredients while dressing them up with things like lobster
butter
sauces and
Italian couscous, giving them a heaviness the appetizers avoid. He is deservedly proud of his Wisconsin veal,
but eating meat in Nantucket in high season is like going
to Rome for fried rice.
Proch
was the man I consulted when I needed a
recommendation for my
only other
dinner on the island. Without missing a
beat he said Oran Mor (2 South Beach Street; 508-228-8655; click here ; open
April
1-January 1) and American
Seasons (80 Centre Street)
were the best of the rest. A ten-minute
stroll let me check out both
menus, (note: everything in downtown Nantucket is, at most, a
ten-minute stroll
from everything else), and we opted for the elegant simplicity of Oran
Mor’s
bill of fare over the elaborate, ingredient-heavy and Olives-like
descriptions
of American Seasons. That being said,
everyone on Nantucket raves about the latter it as
well.
Oran Mor means
“the good song” in Gaelic, and for
nine years that is what chef-owner Peter Wallace has been singing in
his
kitchen. Seasonal local produce is
featured, and the menu has but fourteen items divided among three
categories. Eliminate the carnivore
choices
and you will quickly settle on either right-off-the-boat tuna
with corn water, polenta, and hot oil; striped bass with island
produce;
or fluke with Polpis harbor seabeans and urfa pepper butter. Starter courses are scarcely more numerous,
featuring an off-beat Caesar salad with savory parmesan pudding, White
beans with red bean vinaigarette (why do so many chefs have a
thing
for beets?), Ecuadorian seviche with
popcorn and mango salsa, and foie gras
with almond milk, golden raisins and capers. We took the seviche
because the
server recommended it, and the quail because it had no
description whatever: all
the menu stated was: "Quail-return
from Argentina." Since
I assumed the bite-sized birds hadn't just gotten
back, Wallace must have picked up a
technique for
perfectly grilling tiny birds, and I was right. And
since we were committed to going all over the map with
him for our
appetizer courses, we went whole-hog and had the Thai hot pot with
littlenecks and somen noodles as well.
That hot
pot was a textbook example of what a classically trained chef can do
with an
exotic cuisine. Polished and
intensified, the elements of this simple stew were all there, just made
better
by a skillful hand. Wallace builds on a
classic seafood broth with Thai seasonings that
highlighted this superior shellfish without overwhelming it. Likewise, pristine chunks of fluke in the
seviche were given a quick tasty bath in lime juice and fresh
peppers. With
small bites of popcorn surrounding the small peppery
pile of fish
and vegetables, it looked like deconstructed seviche, with the
scattered bits
of fresh popcorn being a playful homage to the wacky Spanish.
Service was outstanding, as it is at most of
the high-end
restaurants on
Nantucket.
The
eclectic wine list, featuring everything from steely Rieslings from the
Rheingau to spicy Shiraz fruit bombs from McLaren
Vale, is by far the most varied on the island. No
by-the-glass offerings top $12 a glass, and markups are in the 100-150%
range,
making most bottles a relative bargain.
I’d
like to expound on the delicious desserts at both these deserving
places but
can’t. There were oh’s and ah’s aplenty
as one sweet or fruity concoction after another passed our table at
both
restaurants, but my mind was elsewhere. For the past twelve years, no
evening
on Nantucket has been complete without a trip to The Juice Bar (12 Broad
Street), where an almost-warm waffle cone piled high with
fresh, vanilla chocolate chip ice cream beckons. I
can’t say if it’s the best ice cream on
earth or not, but strolling the cobblestone streets on a foggy
Nantucket
evening, with the baked scent of those cones in the air, and the
silkiness of
fresh cream on your tongue, is about as good as it gets.
And it’s still the only place I’ve ever been
where grown men aren’t embarrassed by wearing pink pants with little
whales all
over them.
NEW YORK CORNER
by John
Mariani
Bottega del
Vino
7
East 59th
Street
212-223-3028
www.bottegadelvinonyc.com
There are, for the moment, two Bottega del
Vinos in the world:
The original in Verona, Italy, and a new one in New York, and if you
can’t find
your favorite Italian wine at either, you probably won’t find it
anywhere else.
The original BDV (3 Via Scudio di Francia; 045-800-4535; click) opened 116
years-old
ago in the Veneto's most beautiful small city, and it has long been a
mecca for wine lovers, with 3,000
different wines and 130,000 bottles. It's a
charming, very neighborly place, quite rustic, with good, hearty Veneto
cooking.
The NYC offshoot, which opened late last year,
has been
designed to evoke the
same rustic charm of the original. Yellow walls are lined with shelves
crammed
with wine bottles. Folkloric
motifs are
painted on dark wooden pillars, and there are Italian gastronomic
sayings stenciled about, including "Dio
mi guardi da chi non beve vino"--God protect me from those who
don't drink wine. There’s
a long tasting bar up front, even a gelati
stand.
The owner of both
restaurants is Severino
Barzan, whose clientele includes the kind of faithful regular who
recently flew
to New York to celebrate the restaurant’s opening and spent $20,000 on
wine
that night. The next day he flew back to
Italy. The
NYC operation also has several very
silent partners, and they clearly look for BDV to become a serious
competitor to Harry
Cipriani around the corner. For the moment BDV lacks that
latter's cachet, but the food is much better and the wine list superb,
thus far drawing the city's avid enophiles, fans of the Verona
original, and a slew of high-style corporate diners, including Bulgari,
Ferrari, Gucci, Tiffany, Sony, and Disney from offices nearby. Some
take the
gorgeous downstairs private dining room (below), which is also the
restaurant’s
wine
cellar, with thousands of rare bottles arrayed around the walls.
Chef Fabio de Guidi,
from Verona, has
kept the food pretty close to the original’s, although they dropped
horsemeat from the NYC menu. Early on the restaurant had problems both
in and out of the kitchen, with a service staff that needed management
and food that sometimes arrived tepid and lackluster. The
service has
been improved, although the restaurant still needs a single, warm and
welcoming personality who has not yet developed. The
food, however, has improved measurably in every category.
You might begin with
something as simple as fresh buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes and
basil, or a selection of
cured meats like bresaola,
salumi, and prosciutto.
Since this is one of the few Italian
restaurants in
NYC that takes its regional pedigree seriously, it is in your best
interest to order the Veronese specialties here, beginning with a lusty
paste e fasoi, their
version of pasta and bean soup. Among the other pastas, I highly
recommend the ravioli (which changes daily), and the risotto cooked in
Amarone wine, impeccably tender and suffused with flavor.
Beef also gets the Amarone treatment, slowly
braised to a velvety texture, traditionally served with polenta. Baccalà alla vicentina
is always on the menu, and I was absolutely mad
about the trippa alla parmigiana,
a hefty dish of very tender tripe stewed in tomato and enriched with
plenty of Parmigiano cheese. It's a dish you used to see in NYC Italian
restaurants in the past, but now BDV is one of the few that do it at
all, and they do it splendidly. Also recommended is the fegato alla veneziana--calf's liver
sautéed with the sweetest, soft onions imaginable. If you want
seafood,
by all means order the branzino
roasted and then drizzled with balsamico. For dessert the best
item is the caramel torta.
The
wine list has been growing and growing, with an ample selection of bottlings
from the Veneto, especially a collection of rare Amarones. Many wines
are only available at auctions
or at BDV, including trophy bottles like 1988 Quintarelli
Amarone, 1978
Angelo Gaia Sori San Lorenzo Barbaresco, and 1985 Sassicaia,
along with an impressive number of Bordeaux like 1961 Château
Latour.
One of the most strikingly beautiful wine rooms for private dining in
NYC is here (left).
BDV opens daily at 8 AM for Italian
breakfasts of pastries and coffee, and
they serve panini throughout
the day. Pasta prices
run from $19-$22 as main courses, with other main courses $24-$40.
FIRST,
WRESTLE REPTILE TO THE
GROUND, CUT OPEN AND REMOVE TAIL MEAT, THEN PROCEED TO COOK AS USUAL
Crocodile. If You Don't Have It, Substitute 1 lb
(500 g)
crocodile tail meat with 1 lb. (500 g) alligator tail meat.
Alligator: If
You Don't Have It, Substitute 1
lb (500 g) alligator tail meat with 1 lb. (500 g) crocodile tail meat.
--From The Food Substitutions Bible by
David Joachim
(Robert Rose, 2005).
MAYBE
THERE WAS TOO LONG
A
LINE AT THE DRIVE-THRU
A 63-year-old man
accidentally drove his car through the
glass wall of a Greek restaurant in Wilster, Germany, then proceeded to
sit down and eat his dinner, while being questioned about the
occurrence
by the local police.
KATRINA
RELIEF EVENTS
* On Oct. 11 NYC and
New Orleans
Chefs unite to host “New” Chefs for a
“New” New Orleans Economic
Development Fundraiser at the Cornell Club, with host
and New Orleans native Frederick of the
Tony Award-winning plays Glen Garry Glenn
Ross and Take Me Out. Participating Chefs: Rene
Bajeux, René Bistrot, Bob
Iacovone, Cuvée ; Chuck Subra, La Côte Brasserie; Tom Wolfe, Wolfe’s and Peristyle; Daniel
Esses, The Bank Café, all from New Orleans; Kim Kringlie,
Dakota, in Covington,
LA, and from NYC Galen Zamarra , Mas; Michael Rizzo, The Cornell Club; Stephen Rice, Bubby’s. Entertainment and silent
auction. $175 pp, with checks payable
to: New Orleans Tourism Rebirth Fund. (Write the
phrase “New Chefs Event”), Venue PR, 359
Avenue of the Americas #2 NY,
NY 10014. Please include guest names and an
e-mail address, so that we can send you a confirmation #. TAX ID
NUMBER #20-3462666. Info at www.newchefs4neworleans.org or contact
Katie Callahan, 212.758.5322 or Katie@venuepr.com
QUICK
BYTES
* On Oct. 4 Chef Carmen
Gonzalez of Restaurant Carmen
in Coral Gables, FL, welcomes Michaela
Rodeno, CEO of St. Supery Winery, for a 5-course dinner. $75 pp. Call
305-913-1944.
*
On Oct. 10, NYC's `21' Club
will hold a Bouchard Père et Fils and William Fèvre
5-course wine dinner prepared by chef Stephen Trojahn. $150 pp. Call
212-582-7200.
* On Oct. 10 Owner Christian
Wölffer and Winemaker Roman Roth of Wölffer Estate
Vineyard in
Sagaponack, NY, will hold a “Harvest
Party,” with guests going grape
picking and stomping, hay rides and pony rides, a barrel rolling
competition,
dancing to live music, an abundant feast of country fare, and
Wölffer’s wines.
$75 pp, $15 for children. Call Sue Calden, 631-537-5106, ext. 20.
*
On Oct. 14-16 the Fifth Annual Wellfleet OysterFest in Wellfleet, MA, will take place with live
bands, educational exhibits, an oyster
grant tour, cooking demos, children’s activities, a pet parade and over
70
artisans, and the
Oyster Shuck-Off, and
kick-off golf tournament, followed by Disco Night at The Lighthouse.
Visit
www.wellfleetoysterfest.org.
*
On Oct. 14 Saddle Peak
Lodge in Calabasas, CA, will hold its Third Annual Malibu
Wineries Dinner w/Barrel Tasting. $130 pp. Call
818-222-3888 or go to www.saddlepeaklodge.com.
* Classics Restaurant
in Cleveland, OH, announces its fall wine dinners:
Oct. 12: Domaine
Romanée-Conti, $650
pp; Nov. 30: Gaja, $275; Dec. 14: Domaine Dujac, $200;
Call 216-707-4157or visit www.classicsrestaurant.com.
* On Oct.16-19 and Oct. 20-23, Il Pellicano
in Porto
Ercole is offering 4-day gourmet
cooking course packages, incl. classes with Chef Antonio Guida, wine
and
olive oil tastings, the opportunity to meet with local vintners and
ocean- view
accommodations. In addition, guests will meet with local
vintners
from Maremma, participate in olive oil tastings and enjoy a Bulgari spa
treatment at the Beauty Center. $2,145
per couple; $1770 for singles. Visit
www.pellicanohotel.com.
* On Oct.
19, Restaurant Jean-Louis in Greenwich, CT, will
welcome Mireille
Guiliano, CEO of
Cliquot, for a dinner at which she will sign copies of
her book, French
Woman Don’t Get Fat, and read
excerpts. $139 pp. Call 203- 622-8450.
* From Oct.
22-29 Niche, the Nevis International Culinary Heritage
Exposition, will
feature cooking demos and lunches
and dinners prepared by Caribbean and international chefs, incl. Wayne
Nish of NYC’s March Restaurant; Learn about cheese and wine from Marc
Refabert of Fromages.com; Choose
from 8 places to stay, from plantation inns to the Four Seasons, Nevis with all properties
offering special rates. Check Where to Stay
page. $1,500 pp,
excl. of accommodations, and 800 for companions attending only the
cocktail parties and dinners. Go to www.nevis-niche.com.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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, Bloomberg News and
Radio, and Diversion.
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).
Any of John Mariani's books below
may be ordered from amazon.com by clicking on the cover image.
copyright John Mariani 2005
|
|