MARIANI’S

                    Virtual Gourmet

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In This Issue

CHI-TOWN HIGHLIGHTS by John Mariani

NEW YORK CORNER: RÉGATE by John Mariani

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR: "WINE DRINKING, BRIE EATING LIBERALS!" by John Mariani

QUICK BYTES
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CHI-TOWN HIGHLIGHTS
Chicago Is Second City When It Comes to New Restaurants
by John Mariani

     No one seriously doubts that New York is America’s greatest restaurant city, but I expect some flack when I declare that Chicago comes in a close second—ahead of trendier contenders like Los Angeles and San Francisco.
     I say this not because Chicago has more restaurants than New York or better ones than L.A. and San Francisco, but because its variety of restaurants spread out over 77 neighborhoods, and the annual infusion of 3 million hungry, free-spending McCormick Place conventioneers guarantee a continual flux of classic old and exciting new places. And, more often than not, they are better priced than the competition in other major cities.
     Two wonderful new ethnic entries prove the last point, offering terrific food at modest prices. Another restaurant, Sixteen in the Trump International Hotel & Tower, does not, charging top dollar, but with a panorama on the city that almost makes it worth the $20 appetizers and $44 entrees.

Mercat a la Planxa (638 South Michigan Avenue; 312-765-0524) is Chef Jose Garces’ first venture outside of Philadelphia, where he has three fine Latino restaurants, each quite different, and Mercat is different still.
    Here in Chicago, in a wide-open, two-tiered room (above), the emphasis is on bright, modern Catalan-style tapas, including food cooked on the Spanish la plancha griddle (here called la planxa), which gives an intense, quick sear to a prawns, dry-aged NY strip steak, rack of lamb, and chorizo sausage.
     You could easily bring three friends and order just about all the tapas, which includes the lusciously silky jamon Iberico ham with fig salad, baby spinach, spiced almonds, and sherry vinaigrette, and a selection of bocadillas sandwiches like “Las Ramblas,” with grilled chicken a la planxa, crisp bacon, and a classic romesco sauce of ground tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, onion, and almonds. The arroz a la cazuela is a chicken soup with chorizo and rock shrimp, with an artichoke salad and piquillo aîoli--plenty of contrasting, spiky, mild, creamy flavors in one bowl.
     There’s also briny baby squid in its own ink atop saffron-scented angel’s hair pasta; plump braised rabbit î pasta with a truffle-chestnut puree and powerfully brandied cherries; and mahogany brown-skinned suckling pig with rosemary-scented white beans.  For dessert don't miss the nightly sorbets and ice creams--chef's choice of three for just $7. My other favorite dessert was the classic crema catalana, scented with orange and gilded with a cranberry compote and chestnut cake--fabulous way to end the meal r just begin a longer evening.
     The winelist brims with Iberian and South American bottlings you won’t easily find anywhere else in town, and the terrific sangrias go down real easy. The bar crowd has an obviously good time after 5 PM and late into the weekend nights. As I said, the sangria goes down easy, and so do the margaritas.
Appetizers $6-$15, a la planxa grilled dishes $7-$58.

     Takashi (1952 N. Damen Avenue; 773-772-6170) is the new restaurant opened in burgeoning Bucktown by Takashi Yagihashi (below), whose last gigs were at the flashy Vegas casino restaurant Okada and before that at a money’s-no-object extravaganza named Tribute in Detroit. But before those, Takashi cooked at several Chicago restaurants; now he’s got his own, a two-story affair in a former artist’s studio, now done with white brick walls with cherry wood accents and an open kitchen downstairs (left), from which Takashi emerges to ask his guests how everything is going.
      The menu is packed with easy-going, easy-to-love contemporary Asian food. The menu is set up as "cold plates," "hot plates," "main plates," an omakase tasting menu of 7 courses. One of those courses is a trio of house-smoked salmon, carpaccio of Hokkaido scallop, and sashimi of Pacific Northwest geoduck clam--a perfect beginning, more texture than rich flavor. You might also indulge yourself with glistening yellowtail kampachi and monkfish “foie gras,” or rich, crispy pork belly soaked in a light caramel of soy and ginger--one of the best renditions  I've eaten this year, and I've downed a lotta pork belly in 2008.
    Duck-fat-fried chicken is very tasty and fun, with ginger, lemongrass, and a spicy Napa cabbage slaw--all tantalizing tastes. I also liked the fondue of Peekytoe crab with fine asparagus in a warm leek vinaigrette and touch of beet juice for color.  I didn't expect wonderful gnocchi in an Asian restaurant but Takashi's soba gnocchi with sautéed Maine scallops, trumpet royale mushrooms, celery root and a light Parmesan foam had real imagination and a delicious balance.
     Then move on to simply sautéed skatewing with braised turnips and shiso leaves, or a simmering chicken in a clay pot with shimeji mushrooms, eggplant, and okra. Then finish off with excellent panna cotta and a glass of perfumed Meyer-Fonne Katzenthal Alsatian Muscat 2004. And say hello to Takashi; he'll be around to see you.
     Appetizers $11-$19, main courses $24-$39.


     If Takashi and Mercat are casual, drop-in kinds of places where bluejeans rule,  Sixteen (401 North Wabash Avenue; 312-588-8030) in the Trump International Hotel & Tower, should make you think a little more about what you’ll wear.  Not that it’s fussily dressy, but “smart casual” should be your guide.
     When you step out of the elevator on the 16th floor you enter a sleek bar done with shimmering restraint, and a spectacular wine cache  then into a broad dining room of three sections, with 30-foot windows that provide a spectacular panorama of many of Chicago’s most iconic downtown buildings, which at twilight take on a golden glow against the deep blue of Lake Michigan. Only the views from Everest, on the 40th floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange, and The Signature Room at the 95th atop the John Hancock Center, compare. The tubular U.F.O.-looking crystal chandelier (right), said to be Ivanka Trump’s idea, adds more than a touch of Vegas to the otherwise sedately handsome room.
      Chef Frank Brunacci’s menu is clearly meant to mimic the surroundings, which means there is sometimes too much visual content but not enough flavor. When so much time is put into designing each dish—on unheated plates—the food can come out tepid, as several dishes did when I visited.
     There is, however, some fine food here, including pork belly with English pea puree, Portobello mushroom salad, and garlic chips, and a juicy loin of lamb, cooked “Sous-Vide” in a bag then roasted, with a savory and complex Moroccan tagine of vegetables and morel mushrooms. A praline croustillant with caramelized banana and lime-tequila ice cream was the best of the desserts.
     But Dover sole came out mushy that evening and crab-stuffed squash blossoms had no flavor. Corn tortilla soup and avocado mousse lacked the fresh summery taste of corn. And beet jelly with prosciutto chips is an idea best kept among the sci-fi chefs of Chicago.
     This is certainly a celebratory place--just look at that view!--for romance and a business meal where you want to impress your clients but don't want your conversation to go beyond the table.

Appetizers $16-$20, Main courses $38-$48.

  

NEW YORK CORNER

RÉGATE
198 Orchard Street (near Houston Street)
212-228-8555
www.regate-bistro.com

     The Lower East Side has not nearly the adventurous kinds of restaurants it is sometimes given credit for; in fact, aside from WD-50, there's not much culinary adventure going on down there.  There are the usual ethnic eateries, trattorias, wine bars, and snazz lounges. Régate is not trying to be anything but itself, which is  a charming little slip of a dining room just below Houston Street.  In good weather the French doors are open and you might drop in for a drink at the small marble bar.
    The rest of the place, with just 34 seats, resembles a bistro along the French Riviera, unpretentious, very amiable, with rustic tables and chairs, and Marc Jehan, who is also chef, and partner Jocelyn Jehan give a warm welcome and will point you to what is best on the menu that night--Sundays, it's seafood paella for two ($48); Mondays, "all you can eat" mussels, with a glass of Muscadet ($19); Tuesdays, Moroccan couscous ($19); Thursdays, seafood papillôte ($19); on Wednesdays, all wine and liquor is 25 percent off.
    The specialties here are, to be sure,  Mediterranean seafood dishes, not least those juicy, white wine-soaked mussels, not too large, not too small. There are at least three mussels dishes per night. The best rendering is mouclade, a Normandy dish that involves a broth of saffron and cream, and the lagniappe of a side of nice crisp, golden frites. You might begin with a warm salad of Spanish mackerel with cumin-scented carrots and balsamic dressing, or an unusual tartare of salmon and cod. There is a plate of tender grilled calamari with cucumbers, and a fine spring roll of crab with a corn-tomato salad and an unexpected chipotle sauce.  There are also some quiches and sandwiches for light fare.
     The real specialty here deserves attention--lovely, fragrant bourride (left), made with poached monkfish, shrimp, mussels, and clams in a white wine sauce with steamed leeks and potatoes--good and hearty and true to form.  The seared scallops with string beans, beets, and mushrooms comes in a flavorful, wine-rich beurre blanc, with welcome, buttery mashed potatoes on the side.
     If, however, you're in a meatier mood, you'll enjoy the simple filet of pork with creamed spinach, ratatouille and a delightful orange confit, with mustard sauce to give it more tang.
     The best dessert I tried was a sweet apple tart and an old-fashioned dish--poire belle Hélène, a poached pear with melted chocolate and vanilla ice cream, once a bistro staple, now a rarity and wholly dependent on the ripe sweetness of the pears involved.  The chocolate cake with melted center is fine, if nothing out of the ordinary in a city where it seems the dish  has become  de rigueur.
     Régate's winelist, gently priced,  is full of the kinds of bottlings that go well with this kind of food, and try some of the Provençal wines that prove  that terroir  and regional food go best together.
     With lunch entrees,  $11- $24 and dinner entrees,   $11- $24 (brunch is   $15.95), this lovable little bistro has won lot of local fans; it is very good food at a remarkably modest price, and if you're trolling the boutiques of the LES, it's a good place to put down your bags and have good meal.

Régate is open for lunch, Mon.-Fri.;  Dinner, nightly.

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NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

"WINE DRINKING, BRIE EATING LIBERALS!"
by John Mariani

                                                            There he goes again!
   Bill O'Reilly, Fox News' smugger version of CBS' Andy Rooney, recently revived the old cliché about Leftie liberals being people who go around drinking wine and eating Brie. My God, that hurts!  Nevertheless it is a signal phrase pregnant with underlying meanings.  To deconstruct: When this phrase originated, "white wine" was specified, lending an even more effete connotation to the idea that Real Men Don't Drink Wine!--a phrase which in turn dates back to Bruce Fierstein's satiric, best-selling book Real Men Don't Eat Quiche, in 1982.  Red wine at least has some, oh, I don't know, iron filings in it, and Richard Nixon loved his Château Margaux and stored his wines at NYC's `21' Club (a few are still down there in the cellar). In fact, he loved French wines so much it was said that he'd be forced to serve American wines at official dinners but always had Margaux poured into the bottle his Secret Service guys kept just for him. Tricky.
     Now O'Reilly, who always looks like he's half in the bag and is, geographically, part of the east coast media he decries, takes the word "white" from the wine, indicating that anyone who drinks any kind of wine is a liberal whose mind has been driven to delirium by it.  Wimps!
     Then there's that Brie--not just any old cheese, not Cheez-Wiz, not Vermont cheddar, not Maytag Blue, but Brie! Is there anything more French than Brie? And we know how Right Wing O'Reilly hates those frogs!  Just think about Brie: it smells like an unwashed, well, you know; it is a sickly pale white and yellow; it is all gooey inside, and it has a moldy rind, just like France itself. Disgusting, no, degenerate.
     It might be worth pointing out to O'Reilly (that's an. . . Irish name, isn't?) that wines have been drunk by Anglo-Saxons from the time the settlers first got to the New World, and that there are vineyards in scores of states, making up an industry that makes lots of money and pays lots of taxes. Last year  wines sales from Blue State California to the U.S. continued to increase  to a record high 457 million gallons and $18.9 billion. I bet Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't go around lambasting wine drinkers in his state.
    So why do wealthy American winemakers have to go and give their wineries names like Château Ste. Michelle, St. Exupery, and Beaux Frères?

     I bet even Ann Coulter drinks wine, though it doesn't appear she eats anything at all. Ben Franklin and Thomas jeffesron loved wine (the latter owned vineyards).  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sir Winston Churchill, Adam Smith, Ronald Reagan, Ulysses S. Grant, Pope John XXIII all loved wine, and Jesus drank nothing but wine!   Conservative writer William F. Buckley adored wine, observing, "The glass of wine with dinner is a matter of both sensuous pleasure and psychological buoyancy."Of course, George W. Bush admitted that he used to drink pretty much anything put in front of him, but he's a Born Again Christian. But even he serves the stuff at White House dinners.
     
     Good Republicans with names like like George Bush drink things with real American names like Jack Daniels, Old Crow, Budweiser, Turkey Hill, and Blatz.  Anyone who can even pronounce a word like Châteauneuf-du-Pape should have his phone tapped!
           But is there something even more subtle in O'Reilly's cliché brought up to date? Obviously he believes that the ingestion of large quantities of booze and beer are manly, Right Wing rites of passage.  But remember, which presidential candidate is married to a woman who is one of America's biggest Anheuser-Busch distributors?  Just a thought.

       

       

       

    

OKAY, SO HERE'S A PICTURE OF THIS DUMB RESTAURANT BUT
WE JUST COULDN'T RESIST PRINTING THIS OTHER ONE, TOO

 In Beirut, Yousef Ibrahim has opened a restaurant called Buns & Guns, whose motto is “A sandwich can kill you.” It is decorated with weapons and ammo, camouflage netting, and blasts the sound of gunfire. The menu features “rocket-propelled grenade,” and “terrorist bread.” “My goal was to make people laugh before they ask me why weapons,” he told the BBC.

YA JUST GOTTA LOVE FRISCO!

"Chez Papa Resto, SoMa
: Who doesn’t love French food with an insouciant tang? The mostly male, mostly French-speaking staff at this glittery sibling of Potrero Hill’s proto-bistro exude the raffish charm of the outer arrondisements. (Some even sport chunky jewelry and flirt brutishly with the ladies.)--.—John Birdsall, San Francisco (August, 2008).

QUICK BYTES

* On Sept. 12 in Santa Monica, CA, owner Piero Selvaggio and Chef de Cuisine Giacomo Pettinari of Valentino host  winemaker Silvia Imparato of  Montevetrano in Campania.   $200 pp. all 310-829-4313.

* September is California Wine Month in NYC with a series of tasting events incl. the California Wine Rush Grand Tasting on Sept. 10th at Espace, featuring more than 100 wines. $40 pp. Visit www.localwineevents.com/New-York-City-Wine/event-188135.html. For more info visit www.discovercaliforniawine.com.

* From Sept. 19-21 the city of Newport Beach features the 2008 “Taste of Newport,” with tix  on sale at www.TasteofNewport.com. Tix are $22 online and $25 if purchased in-person at the event. VIP tickets and luxury suites available.

* From Sept. 14-16 StarChefs.com will host their 3rd annual International Chefs Congress  at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City.  Heston Blumenthal, Anthony Bourdain, Grant Achatz, Dan Barber, Daniel Boulud, Jose Andres and many others will lead culinary symposiums,  demos, hands-on workshops, and discussions on current culinary trends.  The theme for this year’s Congress will be “The Responsibility of a Chef” with a focus on the sustainability movement, mentoring and sense of community within the industry.  Visit www.starchefs.com/icc or call 212-966-3775.

* In NYC, Savoy's Fall dinner series kicks off on Sept. 15 with guest Tim Stark of Eckerton Hill Farm, author of "Heirloom: Notes from an Accidental Tomato Farmer."  4-course dinner. . . . Oct. 6: Beef with "Raising Steaks" author Betty Fussell, author of Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef and Rancher Bev Eggleston of EcoFriendly Foods

Grain. . . . Oct. 20: Oysters with Grower Chris Quartuccio of Blue Island Shellfish
and Rowan Jacobsen, author of A Geography of Oysters. . . Nov. 3:  Tales From the Campaign Trail
with New York Times Magazine Political Reporter Matt Bai

 author of The Argument: Inside the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics.  All dinners $110. Call 212-219-8570
; visit
 www.savoynyc.com

* Las Vegas celebrates its culinary caché for a good cause this month with Restaurant Week. Diners can enjoy a specially priced meal at one of several participating establishments of chefs incl. Bradley Ogden, Alessandro Stratta, Charlie Palmer and Bobby Flay, with  proceeds to the non-profit, Las Vegas-based organization Three Square, which provides 3,000 meals weekly to the elderly and those in need. Visit www.ThreeSquare.org.

* On Sept. 19 NYC’s `21’ Club welcomes guest Chef Marco Alban of Orient-Express Hotels, Trains & Cruises' Peruvian properties, with a cooking class.  $195 pp.  Call 212-582-7200.

* OXO Tower Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie in London is 12 years old this month, and celebrates with a 12-course tasting menu featuring some of the finest and most popular dishes from the past twelve years.  £120 pp, thru Oct. 31. Visit www.harveynichols.com or call 020 7803 3888.

* On Sept. 18 Hart Davis Hart Wine Co. will host a 20 vintage Château Lafite-Rothschild 5-course wine dinner at Chicago’s Charlie Trotter’s.  Call  Marc Smoler at 312-482-.9766 or msmoler@hdhwine.com.. . . On Sept. 19 & 20th Hart Davis Hart . will hold a single-owner sale of the Fox Cellar. Over 1,700 lots mostly purchased as futures or on release and still in their original wooden cases.  The live auction will take place at Chicago’s Tru,. Attendance is open to the public and free of charge. Reservations for lunch at Tru ($75) should be made by calling  312-482-9996 or by emailing Maria Elgass, melgass@hdhwine.com.



*  From Sept. 19-21 Mohonk Mountain House holds its “Hudson Valley Harvest” by  Executive Chef Jim Palmeri and Chef Ric Orlando, focusing on the Slowfood Movement and  comprised of slow food-inspired cooking demos, culinary-inspired spa treatments, pumpkin carving, and more.  Rates start at $480 per night, based on double occupancy (taxes and gratuity additional), with afternoon Tea and Cookies, a 4-course dinner, breakfast, and lunch buffet.  Call 800-772-6646 or visit www.mohonk.com.

* From Sept. 20-26, Arizona Restaurant Week will offer Arizona's finest cuisine at a special price at several Greater Phoenix restaurants. An estimated 100 restaurants and some of Arizona's most celebrated chefs will participate in the event. Each restaurant will offer a 3-course menu at $29 pp.  Visit www.ArizonaRestaurantWeek.com.

* From Sept. 21-28 Va Pensiero in Evanston, ILL, features a Fabulous Fungi Menu, with proceeds to  benefit Share Our Strength, with Chef Eric Hammond preparing a 4-course mushroom-inspired. $39 pp. Call  847-475-7779;  www.va-p.com.

* On Sept 25 Crabtree’s Kittle House in Chappaqua, NY, will hold a 5-course wine dinner by chef Kevin Bertrand with Ben Glaetzer, Australian producer of Amon-Ra Shiraz and Godolphin Shiraz Cabernet, and Corinna Raymen, whose wines are  Revolution and Expatriate. $125 pp. Call 914- 666-8044.

* From Sept. 25-Oct. 2, during "British Food Fortnight," diners at Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor Restaurant in London will have the opportunity to experience the cuisine of Michelin-starred Sharrow Bay hotel in Knightsbridge, coinciding with the Fifth Floor’s 16th anniversary and Sharrow Bay;s  60th .anniversary as the founding British member of Relais & Châteaux and a leading country house hotel. Head Chefs Colin Akrigg and Mark Teasdale will be joining Fifth Floor Chef Jonas Karlsson for a 6-course tasting dinner at £55.  Call  020 7235 5250 or visit www.harveynichols.com.

* In Denver, Co-owner/Chef Jennifer Jasinski and Co-owner/GM Beth Gruitch of restaurants Rioja and Bistro Vendôme have created a series of fall wine dinners to highlight the Mediterranean specialties and French cuisine.  Sept. 22: “San Sebastian to Biarritz” dinner ; Oct. 20:  “Blind & Naked”  will  feature a blind tasting of wines, with concealed bottles, and led by Master Sommelier Doug Krenik. No. 17:  “French Classics”; $75 pp.   Call Rioja at 303-820-2282 or visit www.riojadenver.com; For Bistro Vendôme call 303-825.-232 or visit www.bistrovendome.com.

* Starting Sept. 26 the 26th Anniversary American Wine & Food Festival (AWFF) returns to Los Angeles for a benefit for the L.A. Angeles Chapters of Meals On Wheels. The weekend of festivities features 3 spectacular events, an estimated 40 celebrated chefs, and fine wine and spirit purveyors.  For the second year, AWFF will start the weekend with the Red Hot @ Red Seven party at the Pacific Design Center.  Visit  www.AWFF.org.      

* On Sept 26-28 Chefs David Burke, Tom Colicchio, Guy Fieri, Ingrid Hoffmann, Jacques Pépin and Michael Schlow will join more than 50 celebrated chefs to "Cook up a Storm" at Foxwoods Resort Casino and MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, CT, as part of the Foxwoods Food & Wine Festival, sponsored by Food & Wine magazine. The Grand Tasting will feature over 30 local and regional chefs and more than 500 fine wines and spirits. Tix for the Grand Tasting are $125 pp.

* On Sept. 26 at the Round Pond Estate in Rutherford, CA, the first annual Harvest STOMP is sponsored by the Napa Valley Grapegrowers (NVG), with proceeds to fund education and outreach programs for 500 Napa County Grapegrowers and associated businesses. Raffle and a live auction. $100 pp. Grower Luncheon $300.  Visit www.napagrowers.org  or call 707-944-8311

* On Sept. 27 in Waterville Valley, NH, Waterville Valley Resort's 19th Annual Chowderfest will feature area restaurants at Town Square in hopes of winning the coveted prize of "Best Tasting Chowder."  Admission fee is $5.50, with  free outdoor concert.  Also, 2 nights lodging, tickets to the Chowderfest, and Summer Unlimited activities, for  $55 pp per night. Call 1-800-GO-VALLEY or visit www.visitwatervillevalley.com.

* From Sept. 24-28 the Santa Fe Wine  Chile  Fiesta pairs culinary creations from 60 of the city’s  restaurants with wines by 90 different wineries. Grand  Food and Wine Tasting; Reserve  Wine Tasting; Live  Auction Luncheon.; Guest  Chef Luncheons; Cooking  Demos and Wine Pairings; Daily  Wine Seminars; Nightly  Wine Dinners; Gruet  Golf Classic.  Call 505-438-8060; visit  www.santafewineandchile.org.

* On Sept. 28  Slow Food hosts  fundraising activities in Atlanta to  support local farmers and chefs selected to attend the fall Terra Madre Conference in Turin, Italy. TROIS will host  Slow, Smoky, Sunday Supper, with a 5-course dinner prepared by Chefs Jeremy Lieb and Matt Harris showcasing Allan Benton of Smoky Mountain Country Hams paired with French wines. $105 pp. The following evening, Lieb and Harris will judge the “Amuse Cochon” 5 Chefs and 5 Pigs with a Cause. 5 Season’s Brewing, will host a group of Atlanta chefs as they each prepare a hog from head to toe. The Chefs incl.  Kevin Rathbun of Rathbun’s Todd Mussman of Muss & Turner’s, Jay Swift of 4th and Swift, The Team at 5 Seasons Brewing and Allan Benton of Benton Smoky Mountain Country Hams. Call 404-849-3569. Visit www.tastenetwork.org

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I consider this the best and savviest blog of its kind on the  web. Potter is a columnist for USA Weekend, Diversion, Laptop and Luxury  Spa Finder, a contributing editor for Ski and  a frequent contributor to National  Geographic Traveler, ForbesTraveler.com  and Elle Decor. "I’ve designed this site is for people who take their  travel seriously," says Potter. "For travelers who want to learn about special  places but don’t necessarily want to pay through the nose for the privilege of  staying there. Because at the end of the day, it’s not so much about five-star  places as five-star experiences."  To go to his blog click on the logo below: THIS WEEK: RATING THE RENTAL CAR AGENCIES.

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Eating Las Vegas is the new on-line site for Virtual Gourmet contrinbutor John A. Curtas., who since 1995 has been commenting on the Las Vegas food scene and reviewing restaurants for Nevada Public Radio.  He is also the restaurant critic for KLAS TV, Channel 8 in Las Vegas, and his past reviews can be accessed at KNPR.org. Click on the logo below to go directly to his site.

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