Virtual Gourmet
Fin-de-Siècle
Hungarian Food Posters
❖❖❖ ANNOUNCEMENTS: 1. On Thurs. March 8, John Mariani will moderate a panel at The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) with César Award winner, former Chanel model, and expert wine producer Carole Bouquet for a special talk on the occasion of International Women’s Day at 7 PM at FIAF’s Le Skyroom. The iconic actress and personality, recently decorated Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, will speak with noted food writer and historian John Mariani about her prolific career as an actress, her passion for gastronomy and art, and her delicate wine, Sangue d’Oro, produced on the island of Pantelleria, south of Sicily. Le Skyroom, 22 E 60th Street (between Park and Madison Avenue); FIAF Members $20, Non-Members $25; | 800 982 2787. 2. On Sunday, March 11, John Mariani will give a lecture and book signing of his book How Italian Food Conquered the World at Tomasso Trattoria Enoteca in Southborough, Massachusetts from 5 PM-8 PM; Call 508-481-8484. ❖❖❖ THIS WEEK
SHOULD YOU GO TO
MEXICO CITY RIGHT NOW? by John Mariani
NEW YORK CORNER
Wines
of the Rhône Valley Are Difficult to Know
But Easy to Love
SHOULD YOU GO
TO
MEXICO CITY RIGHT NOW? by John Mariani
It's a
reasonable question and one I was asked by friends
before I went to Mexico City: "Is it safe?" "Aren't
you afraid of being kidnapped?"
Assuming all these improvements
actually take hold--after all, this is
Mexico--the modernity of this 700-year-old city should
make what is already so attractive about it much
moreso, so that visiting the historic monuments and
world-class museums here will become easier than in
the past. The Centro Historico, anchored by the
vast Plaza de la Constitucíon (above), known as
the Zócalo ("pedestal"), is the site of the
Aztec Templo Mayor (accidentally discovered by
telephone repairmen) as well as Latin America's
largest Catholic Church, the Metropolitan Cathedral, recently
stabilized after centuries of sinking into the
soil. Its architecture, reflecting the passage
of Spanish colonial rule and the independence
movement, is symbolized by the liberty bell by Padre
Hidalgo in the Palacio Nacional.
It is impossible to do more than list a handful
of Mexico City’s 160 unique museums, from the Museo
Nacional de Arte to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, from
the Museo
Nacional de Antropologia (right) to the
Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo.
This time in town I visited the remarkable
Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño in
Xochimilco, famous for its collection of Diego Rivera
and Frida Kahlo works (Kahlo is more intimately
represented at the Museo
de Frida Kahlo’s “Blue House,” her birthplace in
Coyocán).
Set within extensive gardens, the museum, built
from a 16th
Century structure by one of Rivera’s favorite and
wealthiest models and patrons, Ms.
Patiño, and opened in 1994, the museum
also contains 900 archaeological pieces from ancient
cultures, and offers concerts, recitals, and craft
fairs. When
I was there, the Museum had an exhibition of the
riotously colorful, hilariously eerie Day of the Dead
artwork (below),
which extended in dioramas of entire rooms.
Mexico City is indeed its neighborhoods, each
of which has been evolving over the past decade, many
to become the most fashionable in Latin America. (Pick up a
free copy of Stylemap Mexico City,
published by the city.) There
is a tremendous amount of green space in Condesa,
as well as grand homes and condos, attracting new
cafés and restaurants on a daily basis.
Zona Rosa, also
with its bounty of greenery, though not the center of
the city, was once the most fashionable district,
centered by the beautiful Independence Monument topped
by the beloved El Angel figure and flanked by broad
avenues including the Champs Elysée-like Paseo
de la Reforma.
Polanca is Mexico City’s high-end, very wealthy
sector, with lavish Mission-style homes set behind
high walls. Here
you’ll find the best stores, though these days “best”
means less indigenous than it does global, with all
the international names, from Gucci to Chanel, arrayed
along its chic boulevards, especially the Boulevard
Presidente Masaryk. An even wealthier neighborhood,
Las Lomas, is where ambassadors live, whereas Santa Fe
is the quickly developing, high-rise apartment
building region on the city’s western edge, said to
resemble Houston more than traditional Mexico.
Change and modernism is inevitable in Mexico
City, but the old reasons one came here—glorious
Mexican architecture, great artwork, charming strolls
along the avenues, and interconnection with the
people—are still the main attractions, if you can just
get through the traffic. An article on Mexico City’s
cuisine and restaurants will appear in an upcoming
issue. ❖❖❖
NEW
YORK CORNER TRIOMPHE
West 44th Street between Fifth and Sixth
Avenues has two historic hotels named after Indian
tribes--the more famous Algonquin and the
Iroquois, which opened at the beginning of the
last century. Its Wigwam Bar debuted in 1939, and it's had its share of
celebrity guests, including James Dean (who now
has a suite named after him), who stayed there for
two years in the early 1950s. A decade later its
cabaret was a popular venue at which to see the
best new comedians, like Woody Allen Joan Rivers
and Rodney Dangerfield. Triomphe
is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Dinner starters $11-$18, main courses
$28-$40, with a fixed price 6-course tasting menu
at $95, with wines $145.
❖❖❖
NOTES
FROM THE WINE CELLAR
Wines of the Rhône
Valley Are Difficult to Know But Easy to Love
Côte
Rotie terraced vineyards
The 2007
Les Halos de Jupiter
Vacqueyras par Philippe Cambie ($31), from
the south, was very powerful, still dense in tannins,
with a big bouquet and plenty of grenache fruit (about
85 percent), made more enticing by its blending with
syrah. I’d hang onto this for another two or three
years. Domaine de la Janasse
2009 Côtes du Rhône ($20) had enormous
charm, a joyous nose and plenty of fruit balanced by
easy acids, with just 50 percent grenache, making this
a fine red wine for just about any meat dish I can
think of but not with any seafood that leaps to mind.
Janasse is best known for his
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but this lesser offering,
using just a little new oak, is a real bargain. Domaine La Milliere
Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2009 ($50) has
plenty of spice, from anise to cinnamon, in a dark,
intensity that comes from being made from “vieille vignes”
(old vines). It can certainly age well but it’s a
beauty right now, with the fire of 14 percent alcohol.
It’s worth every penny. John Mariani's wine column appears in Bloomberg Muse News, from which this story was adapted. Bloomberg News covers Culture from art, books, and theater to wine, travel, and food on a daily basis. ❖❖❖ ONE
PICKY EATER, BRUTAL ASIAN TYRANT DIVISION
HOW ABOUT, OH, NEVER? "Pikanha's
scratches a deep carnivorous itch, for the
unapologetic diner who puts quantity before quality,
taste before health. But at the risk of discouraging
repeat customers, even Silva advocates restraint: `You
should not come here too much,' she says. `It is not
so good for you.' "--Jesse Hirsch, "How to Survive a
Brazilian Meat Party," East Bay Express. ❖❖❖ Any of John Mariani's
books below may be ordered from amazon.com.
❖❖❖
FEATURED
LINKS: I am happy to report
that the Virtual
Gourmet is linked to four excellent
travel sites: Everett Potter's Travel Report: 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." THIS WEEK:
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).
ALL YOU NEED BEFORE YOU GO
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.
© copyright John Mariani 2012 |