MARIANI’S
September 19, 2010
NEWSLETTER
Still
Life
by Francisco Zurbaràn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
➔ QUESTIONS? TO REACH JOHN MARIANI WRITE TO: newsletter@johnmariani.com.
➔ 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
➔ SUBSCRIBE AND
UN-SUBSCRIBE: You may subscribe anyone you wish
to this newsletter--free of charge--by
clicking here.
GOOD
NEWS! Esquire.com now
has
a
new
food
section
called
"Eat
Like
a
Man,"
which
will
be
featuring
restaurant
articles
by
John
Mariani
and
others
from
around
the
USA.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
☛ In
This Issue
WHAT'S NEW
IN BOSTON? by John Mariani
NEW YORK CORNER:
GNOCCO
by John
Mariani
NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR: Vietti the Visionary by Brian Freedman
QUICK BYTES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT'S
NEW
IN
BOSTON?
by John Mariani
MENTON
354 Congress Street
617-737-0099
www.mentonboston.com
Nuance is the word I'd use to describe
everything about Menton, including the style of cooking Lynch does,
along with exec chef Colin Lynch (no relation to his boss). They break
no classic rules here, instead giving personality to dishes that always
have a culinary logic behind them, from a wonderfully simple salad of
asparagus and fresh hearts of palm to a dessert of strawberry shortcake
with basil glace, vanilla,
and lime. In between, she lets all the ingredients speak for
themselves: briney soft-shell crabs that are truly meaty, with green
tomato and Green Goddess dressing; a lovely English pea velouté
with baby vegetables, curry-scented yogurt and woodsy chanterelles;
plumped-up lobster salad is heightened with white sturgeon caviar,
artichokes, and the sweet aromatic herbal hint of tarragon.
Lynch
wraps
langoustines in kataifi lace then adds a touch of
pumpkin seed oil and the sprightly tang of pickled rhubarb, while plump
Vermont quail takes on levels of flavor and texture from pistachios,
figs, and a porcini
marmalade. Beautiful Elysian Field Farm lamb comes rosy pink and
has Mediterranean undertones of black garlic and olives. To a
chocolate crèmeux she
adds peanut ice cream, the crunch of popcorn, and a little bit of
peppermint.
Cat Silirie's winelist is finely selected but
way too many bottles rise posted above the $100 mark, some way above.
More labels under $50 would be a nice gesture.
In the past I have occasionally questioned the
high prices of Lynch's restaurants, but Menton is almost a bargain,
certainly for the kind of haute cuisine. The four-course fixed
price $95 menu is very generous with amuses
and mignardises, and
the seven-course tasting menu, at $145, is certainly more than
justified for a big splurge evening ($105 more with wine pairings).
Lynch, one of many renowned women chefs in Boston,
is doing her best work at Menton, not showing off as much as showing
what real cuisine can be when conceived in good taste rather than by
mere flourish.
Menton is open nightly for
dinner.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
617-391-0902
www.coppaboston.com
I was at Coppa in mid-summer and sat outside
on a warm night (the a/c had been having problems), which was fine for
our party, and I pretty much told the chefs to send out anything they
wished. This resulted in a panoply of good, gutsy small plates and
pastas, a good deal of finger food, all with a lot of
Italian-Mediterranean spiciness and gusto. The small Italian bar
snacks called stuzzichini
($5) are the way to go with a party--creamy chicken liver crostini; hot, cheese-centered,
fried arancini risotto
balls; garlicky, smoky, salty
baccalà puree; oil-brushed bruschetta of white beans flavored
with sage; terrific pig's ear terrine, and much more.
You can
also choose from an array of salumi
($9) and then there are the cold antipasti like rabbit roasted porchetta style with parsnip agrodolce, and wood-roasted octopus
with tangy salsa verde and
preserved lemon. You're going to want to try the pizza too ($15),
especially the one with foraged mushrooms and roasted tomatoes; then,
what the heck, have a few pastas--not least the rich spaghetti alla carbonara with egg and bacon,
and the strozzapretti with
pesto--both sensational. All the pastas are well cooked to the al dente firmness you always find
in Italy but almost never in the USA.
Everything comes out just as it is finished back in
the tiny kitchen, but you need not be patient--two or three items
arrive at one time, and by the time you polish them off, there'll be
more coming. Coppa is the antidote to culinary pretension and
hypercreativity. It is all about the grub, and the fast-paced
service is part of the tempo of a delightful dinner. You can go
home without denting the credit card too much, but it's a whole lot
more fun to go with three or more friends and go a little crazy eating
and drinking too much once in a while.
Coppa is open daily for lunch
and dinner. The restaurant does not take reservations.
THE
BASEBALL
SUITE
40 classic baseball films (including Abbott and Costello's
hilarious "Who's on First?" skit) and
there's a 50-inch plasma TV on which to screen them. There's also a
1967 World Series program
(the St.
Louis Cardinals won in seven games--but you knew that), and
a
collection of TOPPS Heritage baseball
cards, Cracker Jacks, Baby Ruth candy bars, retro glass bottles of
Coca-Cola, a signed copy of Bill Chuck’s Walkoffs,
Last Licks, and Final Outs: Baseball's Grand (and Not-So-Grand) Finales, and
other baseball-inspired items. The hotel concierge can also arrange for
guests
to tour Fenway Park and secure game day tickets.
It's a ball (no pun intended) to stay here, especially since you are a
fly ball from Fenway itself. Even the nightly rate is
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BASHO
1338
Boylston Street
617-262-1338
www.bashosushi.com
The
Fenway
Park neighborhood is thronged with sports bars, all jammed at
game time with people chowing down on Sam Adams Ale, Buffalo chicken
wings, and Boston brats. But for a far more interesting meal--and one
that may set more lightly on the stomach during the game--I recommend
Basho, Boston's "first Japanese brasserie," according to the press
clips. It's certainly big enough at 300 seats, with 190 in the dining
room itself (below, left), to
qualify as a brasserie, with communal
tables, sushi bar, outdoor patio with retractable
awnings, and a wraparound liquor bar (left).
The
colors are minimal, black, brown, and celadon, with decorative
bamboo sticks throughout.
Omnipresent owner Jack Huang wants anybody and
everybody just to have a great time and eat what you like from Chef Youji
Iwakura and sushi chef Hai-San's menu, which includes an array of
signature dishes like the flavored
sushi (below) seared toro with yakiniku 
sauce, fresh wasabi, and truffle oil; Kanpachi carpaccio
with shiso yuzu-kosho
dressing and chardonnay gelée; "Foie Gras
New-Style
Sushi" with Fuji apple, sweet potato, coconut and wine teriyaki soy;
and the Basho roll of fried
snow crab, lettuce, shiitake, asparagus, pickles and jalapeño
aïoli, wrapped
with cucumber and soy paper. All of them are novel and delicious,
the portions generous, the complexity fascinating, and the textures
contrasting--crunchy, soft, meaty, even gooey.
Basho also has a glass-enclosed robata grill that uses
charcoal to cook
And if you are going to a game at the stadium,
the sushi bar is ideal for a pre-game meal. Come to think of it,
unless the game goes into late extra innings, Basho is a great
place to go after it ends,
either to celebrate a Sox win or nurse the wounds of a loss. At the
moment, it looks like it may be the former, with less than a month to
go in the season.
Basho
is open daily for lunch and dinner; Starters
run
$4.95-$25,
Entrees $16.50-$35, rolls
$8.75-$23.75, Sushi/Sashimi $9.75-$Market Price.
`````````````````````````````````````````````
NEW YORK CORNER
GNOCCO
337 East 10th
Street (Near Avenue B)
212-677-1913
General
Manager Stefano Biaggioni is a family guy, so he affably treats
his guests like friends of his own, and regulars pack the place, both
in the rustic front from and the much sought-out patio (above), which just about now, with
cooler weather wafting in, is prime real estate in the East
Village. Chef Raffaele Miele, originally here, then at Osteria
del Circo for a while, presents the gnocco
balls with silky prosciutto, aged two years and sliced so thin as
to be nearly translucent, along with various
other salume. Roman-style fried
baby artichokes are done just to a tender turn, and one of the other
wonderful antipasti here is the carpaccio
di
polpo, a paper-thin rendering of octopus held together with
its own natural gelatin, served with pink peppercorns and a lemon
vinaigrette.
My
guests
and
I were really gorging on the starters, including creamy burrata
cheese and the carpino tiedo
(warm goat's cheese) with honey and golden
raisins along with toasted country breads and glasses of Barbera d'Asti
red wine. It was a warm evening, the openness of the patio was
refreshing inside, and the warmth of the people was palpable.
True, the interior dining room looks a bit worn around the edges and
they dim the lights after eight o'clock; next
time I'll try to sit outside.
We wanted to order every pasta but made
do with three or four, including maccheroni
with prosciutto and arugula, whose individual textures (all the pastas
are housemade and have a fine, pliable texture) added measurably to the
enjoyment. Fusilli gets a
punchy mix of roasted tomatoes, eggplant,
sweet
peppers, and guanciale
bacon, while gnocchi come in
various
guides, napped with tomato, buffalo mozzarella, and basil, or with a
topping
of the evening. Tagliatelle
is treated to a blanket of rich beef-veal ragù and green peas.
And now, dear reader, I must confess to
a roadblock in the way of my enjoying the main courses that night: We
so greedily
and with such relish ate all the gnocci
and cheeses and salumi and
pizza and antipasti and pastas--always with a gulp of good wine--we
found ourselves sated before we could order main courses. This in
itself is not the worst situation in a good Italian restaurant, where a
three-course meal precedes dessert. But we seemed to have made a
five-course meal out of first courses and could eat no more.
I
cannot, therefore, report on the savor of what followed those
irresistible primi and secondi, and the only
way for me to remedy that is to return sometime
to Gnocco, be a little more abstemious--which will be very hard--and go
on to dishes like grilled branzino simply
dressed
with olive oil and
lemon or the small lamb chops called scottaditi--"finger
burners."
We did manage to end our meal with a taste or
two or three of good tiramisù
and a
delightful chocolate torta
and good espresso made by
Stefano himself.
I will
go back, happily, but if you make it there before I do, pace yourself,
have the entrees, and you can
report
back to me.
Gnocco is open for dinner daily, with
brunch and lunch on weekends only. Antipasti at dinner run
$10.95-$14.45, pastas $13.95 to $16.45. Entrees $19.95-$25.45.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MAN ABOUT TOWN
by
Christopher Mariani
Le
Sorelle Cucina Ups the Ante for Fine Food at Mount Airy Casino in the Poconos
A decade ago,
Las
Vegas finally began investing in its restaurants, realizing that a high
demand for
quality food and fine fare would be an attraction every bit as strong
as
gambling and big
time shows, a trend soon
replicated by casinos in the South and Northeast, where the Gulf
casinos and Atlantic City finally came to
grasp the
importance of offering its customers food options beyond the usual
boring buffets
and
sub-par restaurants. A recent visit to the
Mount
Airy Casino in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, a 90-minute
drive from Manhattan, proved to me that even the smaller, not so
well-known
casinos, have made food an important draw for more upscale customers.
Le
Sorelle Cucina is the Casino’s best restaurant, serving
traditional
northern Italian cuisine, cooked by chef Sal Fasano, who was born in
Naples,
Italy.
The
interior of the restaurant is of a fairly typical Italian design, with
bent wood chairs,
red leather banquettes, glass chandeliers, some tile wainscoting, and
white tablecloths.
The service staff is friendly and well versed on the menu's
dishes. The winelist, however, could use bolstering.
No stranger
to
working in casinos, Fasano previously cooked at Atlantic City’s Medici,
among
others. One of Fasano’s
best
qualities is his dedication to making everything himself, every
morning, breads and pastas, a time-consuming but crucial
way to achieve real excellence, and it definitely shows.
I
started
my
dinner
with
a
highlight,
some
wonderful
antipasti. The fritto
di
pesce
misto
rivera was
a generous portion of fried shrimp, calamari and scallops served with a
spicy fra diavolo
tomato sauce. The mozzarella
alla
caprese owes its marvelous flavor and texture to the fact
that the cheese is
made fresh every morning; it is brought to room temperature before
being
plated, an extra detail of control many restaurants idly overlook. For the zuppa I tried the
lobster bisque, as good as I have had at some of NYC’s best
steakhouses,
creamy
and rich, with whole chunks of lobster tail.
Le
Sorelle Cucina also has some great pasta dishes, large enough to order
as an
entrée for those not looking to loosen their belt after also
ordering a meat
course. The risotto
pescatore, mixed with mussels, clams, scallops and shrimp,
was perfectly al dente to my liking but probably a
bit too much for others. Another notable
pasta dish is the fettuccine bolognese, a
very rich Emilia-Romagna-style meat
sauce, served with shaved pecorino cheese, a pleasant substitute for
the traditionally used Parmigiano cheese, which has a bit less bite.
For
my
main
course,
I
ordered
the
veal
chop
special
served
with
broccoli
di
rabe
sautéed
in garlic and olive oil, and for
dessert,
the strawberries zabaglione, a wonderful way of ending
the evening, consisting of sweet
strawberries, a
rich egg custard, and topped with an aged balsamic vinegar that
adds sweetness and
acidity
to the dish.
I give high praises
to a chef who cooks food he truly loves, as opposed to
those who try to create something overly fancy but lacking
in taste and harmony. You will not find
dishes on the menu
at Le Sorelle Cucina you haven’t seen on other Italian American
restaurants' menus before, but
each dish
Chef Fasano serves tastes the way it was intended to taste.
Le
Sorelle
Cucina
is
open
for
dinner
only.
Wed.-Sun.
Antipasti
$7-$20, $13-$24, entrees
$20-$42.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
by Brian Freedman
In
the
world
of
wine, there are certain people whose influence is so great
that
it’s just not possible to overstate their importance. Winemakers and
visionaries like Didier Dagueneau, Henri Jayer, Angelo Gaja, and Robert
Mondavi, for example, have impacted the wine world to such a
significant extent
that their names are now synonymous with the regions in which they
made--or, in
Mr. Gaja’s case, make--their mark.
Vietti’s
Alfredo
Currado
has
been a member of
this elite fraternity for decades, too.
With his passing this past May, however, this seems like the
appropriate time
to take a fresh look at his work and invaluable contributions to the
wines of
his beloved Piedmont.
I
recently
spoke
with
his son Luca Currado (below),
the current proprietor of the
estate
and a winemaker of serious renown himself, and it became apparent, as
it does
so often, that the Piedmont consumers know and love today would be
a very
different place were it not for the contributions of Alfredo Currado.
“He
was
the
first,
in 1961, or I’d say one of the first, to make the first
single
vineyard cru vinification in Barolo,” Currado told me during a recent
phone
interview, “because the tradition of Barolo was not to make single
vineyard
cru, but to blend together all the crus from all the Barolo region. My
father understood that the value of the
land [was
the] taste of terroir, the taste of the soil.”
This
conviction--that
single-vineyard
vinifications
of Barolo could result
in wines
that were even more full of character than the more traditional wines
produced
from blends of several vineyards’ fruit--would ultimately come to
influence the
way the world saw the wines of this already legendary appellation. It
would
also affect the producers’ own understanding of the land with
which they
were working: The bottlings themselves became the vocal chords through
which
these individual great vineyards in Barolo could finally speak clearly
and with
a wholly unique voice, from, as the Vietti web site notes, the
traditionalism
of Rocche to the more polished modernism of Lazzarito and the
astounding
complexity of Brunate.
“We
try
to
let
the terroir of the single vineyards, the terroir of the
crus, to
come up 
in
the
best
way possible,” Currado said. “So we have many
different
styles of vinification, many different styles of aging. It’s like for a
chef to
have different types of meat: the cow, the veal, the pork, the filet,
and
cooking each the same way. You know, it’s impossible, you cannot cook
all these
types of meat at the same temperature, in the same way. You’re going to
destroy
[them]. So it’s much more important to be as close as possible to the
soil. So
this is our style: The terroir.” And the winemaking for each
bottling--no
matter what its particular pedigree--is geared toward allowing that
terroir to
shine through clearly.
Vietti’s
impact,
of
course,
has
not been limited to Barolo. In 1967, for example,
Alfredo Currado made the first dry vinification of Arneis, and Vietti’s
Roero
Arneis is consistently among the most expressive, flat-out delicious
bottlings
in the region. The 2009 showed a nutty, slightly waxy nose that
reminded me a
bit of candy corn without the sugar. There was a hint of orange blossom
fluttering around in there, too, as well as a gentle spice component in
the
background. The palate was bright and structured, with lemon, mineral,
and
subtly implied herb flavors, the entirety speaking of top-notch fruit
and careful
winemaking.
Barbera,
too,
is
a
calling
card for Vietti, from its consistently excellent “Tre
Vigne”
bottlings to the single-vineyard offerings that show this grape variety
a
respect and attention to detail it too often failed to receive before
the
Currados.
The
2007
Barbera
d’Asti
“Tre Vigne” is typically the more feminine, and
this
vintage is no different, with dark cranberries, cherries, and a touch
of spice
on the nose that, with some air, also developed expressive vanilla and
floral
aromas. The wine was perfectly balanced on the palate, its moderately
high acid
lifting the bright red berry fruit, all of it kept in check by an edge
of
creaminess to the texture.
As
expected,
the
2007
Barbera d’Alba “Tre Vigne” was more brooding, and
defined
more by its darker, more muscular macerated blackberry and blueberry
flavors,
as well as an undercurrent of forest floor, wild mushroom, tobacco, and
the
minerality of fresh soil.
At
the
top
of
the chain of Vietti Barberas I tasted was the
single-vineyard 2006
Barbera d’Alba “Scarrone.” What set this wine apart was simply the
level of
detail, an almost Burgundian high-toned spice, cherry, blackberry, and
truffle
notes. It possessed all the muscle you’d expect from Alba, but the
finesse and
pedigree of this bottling were astounding. This 
is a Barbera that, as
good as
it is right now, will only continue to improve over the next 7+ years:
It’s
practically dripping with character.
These
wines,
typical
of
Vietti,
are made to the most exacting standards. This is the
case with all of their bottlings, from the complex, floral and
cranberry-bright
2009 Dolcetto d’Alba to their excellent Barbaresco to the most
sought-after
single-cru Barolos.
And
despite
all
the
accolades for those vineyard-designated bottlings, even
the
Barolo Castiglione--produced from fruit sourced from vineyards in
Barolo,
Monforte, Novello, and Castiglione Falletto--is a standout from the
appellation
with its heady, ethereal nose of truffles, flowers, lavender, and brown
spice
that leads to a palate that finds the perfect middle ground between
power and
delicacy, muscle and detail. This is a haunting wine, its truffles and
earth
and dark cherry fruit an almost Proustian evocation of this most
exceptional
part of the wine world--one that, without the vision, work, and
dedication of
the Currado family, and especially its late patriarch Alfredo, would be
a very
different, and far less interesting, place.
“His
life,”
Luca
said,
“was for the wine.”
As
a
result
of
all that he accomplished, his personal place in the
pantheon of
wine greats is both assured and thoroughly justified, and the
trailblazing work
he did throughout his career is present even in the bottles with which
he had
no direct hand in creating.
That,
it
seems,
is
the
truest test of a legacy.
Brian Freedman is a food, wine,
and travel writer, wine consultant, and speaker. He writes the blog
UncorkLife.com for Wine Chateau, is restaurant critic for
Philadelphia Weekly, South Jersey Magazine, and Suburban Life Magazine,
wine columnist for Affluent Magazine, and contributes to a number of
other publications, including Philadelphia Style Magazine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DO THEY REALLY SAY THAT IN CLEVELAND?
"We attacked the meaty bones with our
chopsticks to the point where, as they say, a kitty would ignore it."--
WHATEVER,
IT
GAVE HER AN
EXCUSE
TO BUY
A NEW PAIR OF
MANOLO BLAHNIKS.
In East Hampton
Village, NY, police went searching for Amy Paul of Rye, NY, after
she showed up for a 9:30 p.m. Saturday at The Palm restaurant at 9:55
p.m. with four extra people. When told by the
maitre d' there would be a wait, Paul (said police)
"became irate and ripped pages out of the reservation book and then
removed her shoes (heels) and went outside and began breaking the
landscape
lighting with her shoes until family/party members stopped her and
removed her
from the property." Staffers took down
the license plate of her 2008 Mercedes. Paul called police and said
she planned to make restitution.
``````````````
QUICK BYTES
✉ Guidelines for submissions: QUICK BYTES publishes only events, special dinners, etc, open to the public, not restaurant openings or personnel changes. When submitting please send the most pertinent info, incl. tel # and site, in one short paragraph as simple e-mail text, WITH DATE LISTED FIRST, as below. Thanks. John Mariani
* On Sept. 24 at The Peninsula Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, CA, Spectrum Wine Auctions will host its first auction of the fall 2010 season. Open to the public and free of charge. Small bites and various wines will be served. Catalogs available through the website at www.spectrumwine.com or call 949-748-4845.
* On
Sept.
24,
Larkspur Restaurant in Vail, CO will host a
Harvest Dinner with chef/owner Thomas Salamunovich. 4
courses for $55pp. Optional wine pairings $22 pp. Salamunovich is one
of 8 featured chefs in Colorado Organic
cookbook which will be available at the dinner for $29.95, signed
by chef and author Jennifer Olson. Call 970-754-8050.
* On Sept. 24-26, Bon Appétit Presents Chicago Gourmet will take place in Chicago’s Millennium Park, with more than 100 chefs, 300 wineries and 65 beer and spirits brands. Programming incl. interactive seminars on wine and food, celebrity chef demos from Cat Cora, Art Smith, Rick Bayless, Stephanie Izard, and tastings from the city’s top restaurants. $150pp for 1-day ticket; $250pp for weekend ticket. A burger competition on Sept. 24 kicks off the weekend. $75pp. Visit www.chicagogourmet.org.
* On Sept. 26 in NYC Henry's will kick off Eat/Drink Local Week with Chef Mark and owner Henry Rinehart welcoming local farmers, cheesemongers, jam makers and winemakers for a three-course tasting dinner featuring ingredients from the local Greenmarket and wine pairings from Red Tail Ridge Vineyards., to benefitThe Greenmarket's Youth Education Program. $65 pp. Call 212-866-0600 or www.henrysnyc.com.
* On
Sept. 27, in NYC, the 17th Annual
Autumn
Harvest
Dinner
returns to Gramercy Tavern.
Each of the five courses of the dinner will be
prepared by a different chef, with wines chosen by renowned sommeliers.
Tix start at $500, with proceeds benefitting Share Our Strength. Visit
strength.org/autumnharvest.
* On Sept. 28, The Lanesborough, London, UK is partnering with Laurent-Perrier, famed champagne house, to host a unique Master Class. David Hesketh, Managing Director of Laurent-Perrier UK will lead attendees through an 8-course menu designed by Michelin-starred chef Heinz Beck of The Lanesborough’s, Apsleys – A Heinz Beck Restaurant. £250 pp. Call +44 (0) 20 7259 5599 or visit www.lanesborough.com .
*
On
Sept.
30
in
NYC, Starch
'N' Brew presents "NYC Brewer's Choice," with over fifteen of
the country’s top brewers
presenting rare, select small-batch beers alongside their
own favorite food pairings. Greg
Hall of Goose Island will be the Keynote Speake, with Garrett Oliver of
Brooklyn Brewery, Kelly Taylor of
Kelso of Brooklyn, Phil Markowski of Southampton, Shane Welch of
Sixpoint Craft Ales, and many more. $90 pp. Call 917-368-8357.
*
On Oct. 1, in Washington DC,
The Willard InterContinental and Café du Parc celebrate DC's
"Third Annual
Vendanges," the autumnal wine harvest festival as enjoyed throughout
France, incl. regional wines, beers, authentic French festival dishes,
live music, dancing
and grape-stomping. Call 202-942-7000. $20 pp.
* On Oct. 1
in Palm Beach, FL, The
Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach presents
Pumpkin Palooza, a 31-day Pumpkin Picnic. Eau Spa by
Cornelia introduces a seasonal indulgence, Pumpkin Perfecting Facial -
$220 pp.
Kids can enjoy a Cupcake Tea and Costume Party on Oct. 23. Adults
$45 pp/Children $30pp. Call 561-540-4810.
*
On Oct. 2
& 3 in NYC,
The French Culinary Institute CEO
and Founder, Dorothy Cann Hamilton, and Gillian
Duffy, New York Magazine culinary editor, co-host the 3rd annual New York Culinary Experience,
an
opp.
to
cook
hands-on
with
chefs
incl.
Johnny
Iuzzini,
Alain
Ducasse,
Morimoto, David Bouley, Laurent Tourondel, Jacques Torres, and
Anita
Lo. $1,595 pp, $1,495 +2 or more. http://nymag.com/nyce/ or
call
646-314-4413.
* On Oct. 2 in Paso Robles, CA six top
chefs, a
local gourmet cheese proprietor and more than 25 vintners will
showcase at the city’s first-ever “Paso
Glow”
dinner,
held as part of Sunset
Magazine’s “SAVOR the Central Coast”; Tix at www.savorcentralcoast.com
for $125 pp.
* On Oct. 3 in Houston, TX, My Table magazine and Sysco present the 2010 Houston Culinary Awards, 3-course wine dinner and awards ceremony. $150 pp. Call 713-529-5500; www.HoustonCulinaryAwards.com.
* On Oct. 3
in Trussville, AL, Garden
&
Gun presents “Harvest
Feast”, a Southern supper that
pays homage to the rich culinary tradition of Alabama. Notable
chefs
include Chris and Idie Hastings of Hot and Hot Fish Club. $75 pp.
Call
201-445-6677 or visit www.gardenandgun.com/harvestfeast.
*
From Oct. 3-8
and Oct. 10-15, in Los Angeles,
American
Express
&
LA
INC.
present
dineLA
Restaurant Week. 250 + restaurants will offer 3-course
prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus. Lunch ranges from $16-$28 and dinner
from
$26-$44 pp. Visit www.dinela.com/restaurantweek.
* On Oct. 6 in Winnetka, IL, chef/owner Michael
Lachowicz celebrates the 5th anniversary of Restaurant
Michael with a six-course dinner prepared with
the help of local chefs Roland Liccioni of Le Francais,
Patrick Chabert, longtime sous chef of Jean Banchet, and more.
Proceeds to nonprofit PAWS Chicago. $175 pp plus tax and
gratuity.
847-441-3100 or visit www.restaurantmichael.com.
* On Oct. 6, in
Provence, Wine Lovers Tours will
start one of 2 tours to Southern France featuring VIP cultural and wine
visits
as well as a truffle farm in the height of harvest time. Each tour
$3,399,
with a $100 discount for taking both. Call 800-256-0141; www.wineloverstours.com.
*On Oct. 6
in NYC, The Mario
Batali Foundation presents Magic,
Martinis and Mario hosted by Mario Batali and Mixologist Tony Abou
Ganim and Comedian/Magician Billy Harris.
$700 pp. Tix at www.mariobatalifoundation.org.
*
* From Oct.
7-10 in New Orleans, LA, Café Adelaide features an
“Eating, Drinking,
and Carrying On” Culinary Weekend Package, with Chef Chris Lusk, Bar
Chef Lu Brow and guest chef John Currence. $1,450 per couple based on
double occupancy at the Loews New Orleans
Hotel. Call 504-595-5310 or visit www.cafeadelaide.com
.
* On Oct. 7
at 55 locations nationwide, Morton's the Steakhouse
and three generations of the Mondavi Family -- will host an
interactive four-course wine dinner with wines from Charles
Krug
Winery,
Folio
Fine
Wine Partners and Continuum Estate
and charity auction to benefit Make-A-Wish
Foundation. The main dinner at the Carriage House at Charles Krug
winery
will broadcast simultaneously to 54 other Morton's private dining
rooms. 175 pp.
Visit www.mortons.com/celebratingthelegendaryblend
.
On Oct. 7 at
55 locations nationwide, Morton's the Steakhouse and three generations of the Mondavi Family -- coming together for the first time ever -- will host
an
interactive four-course wine dinner with wines from Charles
Krug
Winery,
Folio
Fine
Wine Partners and Continuum Estate
and charity auction to benefit Make-A-Wish
Foundation. The main dinner at the Carriage House at Charles Krug
winery
will broadcast simultaneously to 54 other Morton's private dining
rooms, making
it possible for 2,400 guests to dine alongside Mondavi family members.
$175pp.
Visit www.mortons.com/celebratingthelegendaryblend.
* On Oct. 9, Serpas True Food in Atlanta, GA, will host the second annual Fashion Plates featuring a four-course brunch with endless Champagne cocktails. The event will showcase the must-have fall and winter fashions from local boutiques to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. $45 pp. Call 404-888-9348.
``````````````````````````````````````
Everett Potter's Travel Report:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eating Las Vegas is the new on-line site for Virtual Gourmet contributor 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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tennis Resorts Online: A Critical Guide to the World's Best Tennis Resorts and Tennis Camps, published by ROGER COX, who has spent more than two decades writing about tennis travel, including a 17-year stretch for Tennis magazine. He has also written for Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, New York Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Esquire, Money, USTA Magazine, Men's Journal, and The Robb Report. He has authored two books-The World's Best Tennis Vacations (Stephen Greene Press/Viking Penguin, 1990) and The Best Places to Stay in the Rockies (Houghton Mifflin, 1992 & 1994), and the Melbourne (Australia) chapter to the Wall Street Journal Business Guide to Cities of the Pacific Rim (Fodor's Travel Guides, 1991). THIS WEEK:
Family Travel
Forum: The
Family
Travel
Forum
(FTF),
whose
motto
is
"Have
Kids,
Still
Travel!",
is
dedicated
to
the
ideals,
promotion
and
support
of
travel
with
children.
Founded
by
business
professionals
John Manton and Kyle
McCarthy with first class travel industry credentials and global family
travel experience, the independent, family-supported FTF will provide
its members with honest, unbiased information, informed advice and
practical tips; all designed to make traveling a rewarding, healthy,
safe, better value and hassle-free experience for adults and children
who journey together. Membership in FTF will lead you to new worlds of
adventure, fun and learning. Join the movement.
All You Need to Know Before You Go
nickonwine: An engaging, interactive wine column by Nick Passmore, Artisanal Editor, Four Seasons Magazine; Wine Columnist, BusinessWeek.com; nick@nickonwine.com; www.nickonwine.com.
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John Mariani.
Contributing Writers: Christopher
Mariani, Robert Mariani,
John A. Curtas, Edward Brivio, Mort
Hochstein, Suzanne Wright, and Brian Freedman. Contributing
Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery, Bobby Pirillo. Technical
Advisor:
Gerry McLoughlin.
Any of John Mariani's books below
may be ordered from amazon.com by clicking on the cover image.
 My
newest book, written with my brother Robert Mariani, is a memoir of our
years growing up in the For those of you who don't think of the Robert and I think you'll enjoy this very personal look at our --John Mariani |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
© copyright John Mariani 2010