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& food sites, click on: home page NEW YORK CORNER: kobe club by John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR: Beaujolais Non-Nouveau Deserves New Respect by John Mariani QUICK BYTES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Sort of Secret Pleasures of Trento by John Mariani T rento. . . T rento. . . now where exactly is T rento?
More than likely that is the response most people have when you say you
are returning from a magically beautiful land of mountains, glaciers,
valleys, medieval towns, and 297 alpine lakes in the northeastern most
part of Italy, right above Lake Garda. For millennia the region
has been famous as a place to be restored by a visit to a spa, for its
waters are rich in sulfur, and the air is among the most
pristine in Europe, thanks to the concerted efforts of the people to
maintain their region's ecological balance.
Trento is the capital center of Trentino
and a good place to stay put while exploring the region. It is a
romanesque city, lovingly restored, with an historic center closed off
to traffic, so you can stroll with the locals to your heart's content beneath
the gaze of the Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza Duomo with its
13th century cathedral
surrounded by ancient homes whose exteriors are frescoed. The city is
probably most famous, or infamous, as the location of a 16th century
Council called by Pope
Paul III to launch the Counter-Reformation. After a brief occupation by
Napoleon, Trento was under Austrian control until
1918, when Italian troops took the town and it reverted to Italian
nationality.
We stayed at the 126-room Grand Hotel Trento (left; 1/3 Via Alfieri; 0461-271-000), which, though opened a century ago, is probably the most modern and best run in the region. Our room was nothing to rave about, but the concierge and staff were efficient and helpful. We arrived in the evening, tossed our bags onto the bed and went strolling the piazza in the moonlight, stopping for dinner at Scrigno del Duomo (29 Piazza del Duomo; 0461-220030), which is set on two levels, with a lively casual wine bar upstairs and a beautiful subterranean restaurant (below), built on an ancient Roman well, and whose Senesi Room is named after the artist whose graffiti (in the best sense) are etched in the walls here. The winelist here is one of the finest I've seen in Italy, specializing in the varietals of the area, including Lagrein, Marzemino, Nosiola, and Traminer, tipping towards northern grapes like Sylvaner and Riesling. Everything is done with refinement, including very beautiful stemware; they also have delicious grissini (breadsticks) to nibble while you admire the exquisite show plates here. We began with complimentary glasses of prosecco with a puree of duck liver with greens and a touch of balsamic vinegar, along with a fillet of triglie (mullet) with a salad of zucchini. Our pastas were wonderfully northern in style, like saffron-flavored matagliati with rabbit and asparagus, and ravioli packed with roe deer meat and glossed with butter. Cannelloni with a leek puree and wonderfully sweet, just barely stewed tomatoes, though a slice of anchovy didn't help the dish at all. Typical of the region were canerderli--fried dumplings with plums and a surprisingly good grapefruit sorbet. With these courses Photo: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery we
enjoyed a 2000 Bastie Alte blend of cabernet and
merlot.
T he main
courses were delicately cooked bass with wild fennel and potatoes, and
fat quails on crispy polenta. We still had room for dessert and
shared a warm apple puff with strawberry coulis and luscious vanilla ice
cream, along with petits fours of butter cookies, chocolate
brownie-like cakes, and little coconut cakes. It was a fine, innovative
meal and to emerge to walk around the piazza and back to our hotel
added to the romance of the evening.A meal here should run about $60 per person, with tax and service. Osteria Due Spade (11 Via Don Rizzi; 0461-234-3430 ) has its own ancient charms, though they date back merely to the 16th century, when this was already considered a fine place to stop for a meal. It is rustic and elegant at the same time, with a lovely outdoor patio under a canvas canopy; the small dining room has fine woodwork and an old Majolica stove. Federico Paterlari is a young chef well on his way to high repute (like Scrigno del Duomo, Due Spade has a Michelin star). He changes his menus seasonally, keeping them to just five antipasti, five pastas, and six main courses, delighting in dishes of autumn and winter with game, truffles, and sweet-sour flavors mingled with tuber vegetables. He lards pheasant with black truffles and does a napoleon of potatoes and artichoke with thin slices of bresaola made from a local specialty, horsemeat. Desserts are more Austrian than Italian, and all the better for it. Dinner will cost about $70 per person, with tax and service included. Somewhat more staid, with white columns, stucco ceiling, red velvet chairs, and soft lighting is Ristorante Chiesa (9 Via Marchetti; 0461-238-766; right), known for its very old traditional Trentino recipes and its apple menu. We chose an antipasto of Speck ham, a light and delicate cheese strüdel not unlike a quiche, and a crostino (puff pastry) of herring mixed with apples still ripe and firm to the bite. . The pasta was housemade macaroni with sausage and cabbage, followed by veal scaloppini in a Vin Santo sauce with tender potatoes and carrots. The dessert was a crunchy meringue filled with soft chocolate and a warm chocolate sauce. As is obvious from the ingredients in such dishes, the German-Austrian influence on the cuisine has been deep, although everything we tasted still had Italian style to it, as did the wines. Photo: G. Stepanoff-Dargery One caveat about a former favorite in the area. Pizzeria Laste in the nearby village of Cognola seems to have drifted from serving one of the best pizzas in northern Italy to serving only a pretty good one. And for what it takes to find the place, which doesn't look like much, we hesitate to suggest you make the trek. It used to be worth the effort, but not now. From Trento you may head out through the Dolomites and explore the gorgeous lake country, and because of its proximity, trips into Switzerland and Austria are easy enough. And in so doing you can see--and taste--how the cultures have overlapped, and, however much things may change in the world, good food and wine endures. NEW YORK CORNER by John Mariani Photos by Michael Katz
Kobe beef (the name is a misnomer for wagyu beef that was originally raised around the city of Kobe) is, as everyone now knows, cut from highly pampered steers fed a specific diet meant ot build up massive amounts of fat with the muscle tissue. It was difficult to obtain and very expensive. The USDA banned wagyu from importation for years, only allowing it in again as of December 2005. In the meantime American and Australian farmers built herds of steers similar to the original Japanese breeds, which are--or should be labeled--Kobe-style beef. So, how, suddenly, can so many American steakhouses now claim to have wagyu beef? Yet it has entered the market, and if people are willing to pay in excess of $100 a pound, you can get it. Last week I reported on the excellent, buttery Japanese Kobe beef at Megu Midtown, and you can now find the same beef in an increasing number of places in New York, Las Vegas, and L.A. (the best I've tasted was at Cut in L.A.). Now
comes China Grill
Management with a bold statement that the specialty of the house is the
name of
the house--Kobe Club, which takes over the flubbed Alain Ducasse
restaurant Mix
on this site. Decor-wise everything has been radically
transformed:
The premises are now dark and shadowy, the tones black and gray, the
lighting
low, and the ceiling hung with 2000 samurai swords that put you in mind
of a sleek Goth meeting place. The
60-seat dining room has been drawing a
young, casually dressed crowd
that seems as interested in the sexy bar upfront as the dining room to
the rear,
and you can count on loud disco music to add to the decibel level at
Kobe
Club. When I visited it looked like a lot of people were blowing
some of their Christmas bonus money at the restaurant. NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR Beaujolais Non-Nouveau
Deserves New
Respect Most
winelovers don’t give much thought
to
Nothing could be further from the truth. Aged Beaujolais is a deep purple wine made from the Gamay Noir grape on hundreds of small to medium-sized properties over 55,000 acres in southern Burgundy that mostly sell their wine to distributors called negoçiants. The largest negoçiant, and the man who made his fortune promoting Beaujolais Nouveau, is Georges DuBoeuf (below), who controls more than 10 percent of total production and still devotes more than a fifth of that to Beaujolais Nouveau--4 million bottles annually, with about 2.4 million shipped to the U.S. Overall the region produces about 13 million cases of Beaujolais annually. One-third to one-half can be Beaujolais Nouveau, of which Japan takes 11 million bottles. Beaujolais’ reputation has not been helped by its association as the ubiquitous “bistro wine,” cheap, low-alcohol wines drunk in carafes throughout France. And for decades up until the 1990s many of the vineyards were ill-tended, producing bulk wines for that bistro market. But the better Beaujolais have since the 1990s come from vineyards brought to modern standards of viticulture, especially in those appellations granted status as Beaujolais-Villages, whose wines must have a minimum of 10 percent alcohol and now constitute about one-quarter of total production. The best Beaujolais, whose alcohol tilts more towards 13 percent--come from ten regulated crus—Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Côte de Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliènas, Moulin-à-Vent, Morgon, Saint-Amour, and Régnié. By common agreement, Beaujolais Nouveau cannot be made from these crus. Distancing themselves from the Beaujolais Nouveau hysteria has become an important marketing point for these crus. For one thing Beaujolais Nouveau is made by a process called semicarbonic maceration (which Burgundy winemaker Jean-Marie Guffens calls “carbonic masturbation”). This creates chemical compounds that give the wines their characteristic tropical lollipop flavors. Aged Beaujolais is made by traditional method of fermentation and aging, taking on nuances and balancing out flavors, acids, and oak. And while few other countries bother to trifle with Gamay, the grape shows its loveliest qualities in the crus of Beaujolais. The crus most certainly improve with age, but age is relative. While Beaujolais Nouveau should be drunk immediately, the crus develop best at two to three years old. After that they become risky, either losing their fruit or tasting muddled. Some aficionados claim that some ten-year-old Beaujolais show amazing complexity, but very few connoisseurs would bother to cellar Beaujolais for such lengths of time. Over two dinners at my home I sampled several crus that showed the distinctions among aged Beaujolais. One seemed most typical of the medium-body and grapey flavor of Gamay was the 2003 Domaine des Buyats Regnie ($12.99)—a translucent wine of 13 percent alcohol that went particularly well with a pasta dish of farfalle with funghi porcini, shallots, and garlic. It was not particularly impressive with a main course of roast pork loin, which was much better with a heartier, darker, 2003 Georges DuBoeuf Moulin-à-Vent ($14.99), which had great vigor and roundness, with deep purple color. I found a 2003 Fleurie Cuvée Prestige DuBoeuf ($16.99) one-dimensional and flat, too mellow, but it went nicely with a simple plate of fresh mozzarella and thin slices of Prosciutto di Parma. The next night, with a first course of trenette pasta with a vegetable sauce, the best Beaujolais was a 2002 Domaine de la Chaponne ($11.99), which had the signature flavor of Gamay. But after a single glass it lost its appeal. On the other hand a 2002 Domaine de la Seigneurie, another of DuBoeuf's wines, showed very well with a very rare porterhouse steak. Here was a very pretty wine, a straightforward Beaujolais with levels of flavor brought up with the succulence and fat of the beef. As I drank the wine, I was truly reminded of those wonderful nights long ago in Paris when a steak with frites and a carafe of Beaujolais seemed like the best thing in the world. If Beaujolais cannot claim to be a great wine, it can certainly bring back into perspective the real joy of eating simply and drinking very well for very little. REVEALED AT LAST--THE SECRET INGREDIENT IN GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN! Ying Fuming, a factory
manager at the Fanchang Grease Factory in
Taizhou, China, was arrested for recycling and selling grease from
swill, sewage, pesticides, and industrial oil to make lard. Mr. Fuming
swore to the Shanghai Daily his
product met all safety standards.
Notes from recipes in White Trash Gatherings by Kandra Bailey Morris -CLEAN LIVIN' BAPTIST
PUNCH: You gotta break out the punch bowl for this delicious,
alcohol-free punch (made with 2 packages cherry or strawberry Kool Aid)
because it's a real showstopper. Float plastic flowers on top for
added decadence.
-MISS CYNDI'S WHITE TRASH SUSHI: The thought of eating raw fish wrapped up in seaweed would certainly send my granny a prayin', but wrap a dill pickle in white bread and cream cheese and she'll be singing "How Great Thou Art" in no time. -LOU LOU'S FRIED SQUIRREL: After you shoot up a couple of tree rats, make sure to clean 'em real good. -MISS MADDY'S JAPANESE FRUIT PIE: Don't let the name of this recipe fool you. There is absolutely nothing Asian in this pie unless you count the coconut, and according to my Aunt Maddy, that's enough to make it Japanese. QUICK BYTES *
Starting Jan. 1, L'Auberge de Sedona in
* * On Jan. 10 * During January, in *
From Jan. 11-13 The Beaver Creek Resort
Company has teamed with Anthony Dias Blue of Blue Lifestyle and the
Park
Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa for the Wine & Spirits Series,
with complimentary
seminars, an opportunity to sample award winning cocktails, and gourmet
cuisine. The
Wine & Spirits Series occurs once a month through March. Each weekend features a guest chef selected
by Bon Appétit magazine. January's
event will feature Chef Martial Noguier of one sixtyblue in
*
From Jan. 24-27 the 16th Annual
Zinfandel Advocates & Producers
*
From
Jan. 27-March 31 the 14th annual Napa Valley
Mustard Festival will be held, with more than 500
restaurants, caterers, wineries, mustard and gourmet companies,
artists, and
sponsors presenting their finest products throughout the Sensational
Season of
Events. The Festival will raise funding for Clinic Olé. Chef
Ayala Alejandro
Ayala, Executive Banquet Chef at
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher:
John Mariani. Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani, Naomi
Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson, Edward Brivio, Mort
Hochstein, Suzanne Wright. Contributing
Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery, Bobby Pirillo. Technical
Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.
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