Virtual Gourmet
The Kitchen Brigade in
"Downton Abbey" (2011)
❖❖❖
THIS WEEK
Chicago Highlights by John Mariani NEW
YORK CORNER
TWO COASTS. .
. TWO WINERIES. . . TWO ANNIVERSARIES
by Mort Hochstein ❖❖❖
Chicago
Highlights
by John Mariani The Billy Goat Tavern, Chicago
The
vivacity of the Chicago dining scene continues
unabated, with
new gastropubs and the emergence of yet another
molecular cuisine restaurant serving lab food. There’s still
a commitment to Midwestern hospitality, and here
are some new places and new faces I like right
now.
NoMI Kitchen Park
Hyatt 800 North Michigan Avenue 312-335-1234 NoMi
(North Michigan) has always been a splendidly
situated restaurant, perched above the Avenue on the
Gold Coast are, and its history of fine chefs has
now been extended with the appointment of Ryan
LaRoche, 34, who has had long experience at places
like Tru in Chicago, and Joël Robüchon L’Atelier
de in Las Vegas. At NoMi he’s showing all the
influences of global cuisine in thrilling, light
dishes that begin with the “Ocean Bar”
featuring a large selection of oysters, shellfish, crudi and
ceviches in addition to sushi, which has always been
featured here.
You don’t see nettle soup on many menus
outside of Italy, and I’m glad LaRoche (below) has
brought it to American attention, for it's a
splendid flavor, deep and intense. Just-pulled
mozzarella, glistening and creamy, stacked up with
some of the best I’ve had this side of Naples, and
there’s was nothing to dislike about foie gras—now
happily back on Chicago menus after a freakish
moment of prohibition—with kumquats. A meaty prawn
and avocado salad was good and refreshing.
LaRoche gets his cooking textures just right,
obvious in pan-seared sturgeon and a dish of juicy,
braised pork cheeks. He devotes as much attention to
desserts like a wonderful fromage blanc
parfait and brioche beignets that are difficult to
stop eating ever after a full meal here. And there's
the key to his cooking: nothing is labored, no dish
contorted, nothing overly rich. You go through
course by course with sheer satisfaction and a
smile.
NoMI's extensive wine list features a selection of
more than 500 labels of wines.
There is now a Garden terrace with 30-foot teak and
concrete bar, and the main dining room has gone more
casual, alas, now without tablecloths. But service,
from start to finish, is first rate. NoMI Kitchen is
open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, seven days
a week. Dinner
appetizers runs $11-$26, main courses $26-$39,
with entrees to share higher, for two.
Bar Toma 110
East Pearson Street 312-266-310
For a
generation now, Tony Mantuano has been a guiding
light for chefs in Chicago, doing a refined cucina
italiana at Spiaggia, whose consistency makes
it perhaps the best restaurant in the city. Now,
going way down market, Mantuano's opened a place
where you can get a perfect espresso and brioche on
a quiet morning, dig into the mozzarella bar and
have a consummate pizza—from a list of 18--at
lunch--then come back for a bustling dinner that
might begin with a glass of prosecco, some lovely
cured meats, and a selection of jars containing
Tuscan chicken liver spread, baccalà,
crudi, and treviso and goat’s cheese
with marmalade.
Then you must consider the rosticcini
dishes, maybe marinated chicken scented with
rosemary and lemon or skirt steak with grana padano
cheese, or Modenese guanciale-wrapped
sweetbreads with sage. Still hungry? Probably not,
even though these are small plates, so go back
another night for rock shrimp polpette or a
Tony Beef sandwich with crispy shallots and spicy
tomato sauce.
Have some luscious gelati and
you’re happy.
You should know about the nightly specials
too, Monday through Sunday, like Monday’s porchetta,
Friday’s fritto misto of seafood, and Saturday’s
“not your grandma's’s braciole,” which may or may
not be as good as my grandmother’s, but if it’s
Tony’s, it’s going to be terrific. Open
for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. Antipasti
run $3-$9, pizzas $14-$18, and a lot of small
plates $8-$16.
2656 W. Lawrence
Avenue 773-942-7547
It
is, of course, a cliché to say that a small
family-run restaurant is a labor of love, but it is
certainly a back-breaking way to make a living, even
if love is involved.
This becomes evident at Goosefoot, which is a
ways out from downtown in what I’m told is the
burgeoning Lincoln Square neighborhood.
Here, in a tiny room that only does one
seating of 34 people a night, Chris Nugent, formerly
at Chicago's Les Nomades, and his wife Nina serve an
eight-course, $90 tasting menu, B.Y.O, which is
amazing since restaurants make their real money from
wine and spirits. (They offer the locations of
nearby wine shops.) There is also a 12-course
menu available.
There’s little to brag about in the
décor, which is based on banquettes, bare
tables, and shades of pale gray-green. And
because the room is small, when it's full, it's
loud. Dishes change all the time, so I can only give you a sense of what awaits you at Goosefoot, like a small beginning of lobster, scallop, Hubbard squash, licorice root and curry. There was a sweet sunchoke soup with potato, shrimp and truffle essence, and roasted quail (left) with spiced beluga lentils, ginger and compressed apple, all artfully designed around the main ingredients, so things look a bit twee on many dishes. For dessert there was chocolate with sea beans, orange and mulled wine. There are some passé trendy ideas here, including a liberal use of foam, and there are no alternatives to what’s listed on the single sheet of paper.
Goosefoot is expensive, but the personalized
experience at Goosefoot and obvious adventure of a
set menu can be worth it, especially when you bring
your own wine. Goosefoot is
open Tues.-Sun. for dinner.
Yusho bills itself as
an Asian small
plates yakitori restaurant, and that it is, but you
need to be careful of not over-ordering—which the
waiters urge you to do--or the bill can easily mount
up fast. It’s
a good sort of drop-in place, too, and despite some
excellent local reviews, when I dined midweek, it
was far from jammed. You can sit at the
counter or take a booth, or a table to the
rear. You'll be cordially greeted and seated
whenever you go.
Yusho is own by chef Matthias Merges,
formerly of the soon-to-closeCharlie Trotter's,
where whatever devotion to meticulousness he learned
is exacted here in the tastes, spicings and textures
presented, including three types of fried
skins—chicken, pork and salmon. There is also
twice-fried pork with lime and matcha
(finely ground green tea), and I recommend the
succulent beef tongue with soy, bitter kale and a
sharp bite of horseradish. Tofu with too tiny bits
of pork was rather bland, though seas urchin with nori seaweed,
shiso and
“Buddha's hand” (a multi-fingered citron) had a
delicious chemistry.
As is often the case in Asian restaurants,
desserts don’t come up to the scrumptious levels of
American sweets, so that kalamansi with peanut butter and
coriander and soft serve black sesame, coffee and
“crunchy business" were nothing to rave about.
Better you should order more savory items.
There are some signature cocktails here,
along with a half dozen sakes, plenty of artisanal
beers, and some well-chosen wines that may go with
most of this food. Yusho
is open for dinner Mon.-Sat, for “Sunday noodles”
on Sun. till 5 PM; dishes range from $3-$14.
Four
Seasons Hotel 120
East Delaware Place 312-799-4900
The once staid, but
always very, very good, dining room of the Chicago
Four Seasons has been transformed into a colorful,
more casual modern dining room of mahogany, big
barrel leather chairs, low lighting, and big
splashes of abstract art. The cuisine has changed
too, once French-American, now under a farm
friendly concept developed by Chef Kevin Hickey, a
Chicago guy who’s cooked in California, Dublin and London. “Our menu
gives guests the opportunity to have whatever dining
experience they desire,” he says. “Diners can try
two or three small plates, or splurge on a larger
entrée or a premium, regionally sourced cut
of meat.”
One glance at the
large menu proves his point, from luscious, hand
chopped bison tartare with waffle chips, zippy beer
mustard, and quivering egg (left) to a
well-wrought scallop-and-green garlic risotto.
There’s an emphasis on Midwestern generosity here,
shown in his hefty boudin blanc sausage with morcilla
grits and a welcome shot of chimichurri.
Hungry for a light lunch of just some burrata
with crusty bread? It’s on there. Pasta? Try the
summery mint gnocchi with a rich, lusty lamb
bolognese ragù and sheep’s milk cheese.
Heading to a Sox game? Try the nice, fat Chicago
style hot dog with “homemade everything.” There is
a well-marbled wagyu-style skirt steak with cheese
and herb fries that could double for a deluxe Philly
cheesesteak, and sliders of the shortribs with white
Cheddar and an assertive horseradish aïoli was
one of my favorite dishes here.
It's obvious that Hickey really loves his own
food—too many Chicago chefs still cook for show not
taste—and I can just see him noshing on those
sliders before service, maybe finishing off after
service with a cheesecake sundae of blackberries,
Graham cracker crunchies, cream cheese mousse and
grapefruit.
Maybe he'll take some home. It would be a sin to
waste food this good.
Unless you order beef tenderloin ($65) or ribeye
($52), the prices here are very reasonable, with
smaller plates $10-$17, main courses $14-$32. The wine
list could use a lot more labels under $50.
151
West Erie Street 312-274-1111
Ryan Poli has always
been well regarded in town and I have shared that
regard ever since he was as a place called Butter. Tavernita
is his newest place, and it is huge, vast, going
from bar areas to dining rooms, all as loud as a
jack hammer, and it’s very tough to carry on a
conversation here, which is why most of the young
clientele seem perpetually on their iPhones. If
that’s your style, then you’ll find it a place to
drink, dig in with friends on small plates, and
people watch. The menu here is
rife with Mediterranean dishes, particularly a large
array of tapas-style items, from the oysters and crudi to cured
charcuterie, from an “en pan” selection of flat breads;
then there are “platos”
of everything from grilled baby octopus, soups,
pastas, and parilla-style
grilled meats.
Here are some of the dishes I really enjoyed:
hamachi with avocado, lime, jalapeño, and
cucumber; blistered pimientos shot through with with
sherry vinegar that you just pop into your mouth and
let work their incendiary charms; escalivada, a
mélange of eggplant, red peppers, hazelnuts,
romesco and goat’s cheese on crostini—tastes
that will never go out of favor; crunchy-soft croquetas with
fine Serrano ham and saffron aïoli; and a
sensationally delicious corn pudding with shrimp,
chile poblano and herb salad. If you’re not yet
tired of pork belly, you’ll like the bocadillos with
sweet-tangy apple jam, pickled red onions on a
buttery brioche bun. I don’t quite
understand the “kegged cocktails” (isn’t a cocktail
supposed to be made to order?), but there are many
small estate wines served on tap, and
tap
house-made vermouth, in Spain called “vermut de
grifo.” Tavernita
serves lunch
Mon.-Fri.; dinner Mon.-Sat.; brunch Sat. &
Sun. Dishes range from $8-$21.
❖❖❖ NEW YORK
CORNER 346 West
52nd Street (near 8th Avenue)
Danji is simply
decorated, with just 32 seats, a bar and counter up
front, and tables that have slender drawers that open
to reveal the menu. The service staff, even when the
place is full, which is every night, sometimes doing
five turnovers, couldn't be more cordial, none
brandishing an armful of tats, always ready to
recommend the right way to order, suggesting this or
that wine or beer, and urging you to be open to
flavors. The music is not too loud, thank God,
and the prices are modest. Kim prefers to send out the
small plates one or two at a time for a table, when
they are ready, because he likes to build towards a
crescendo of flavors and richness.
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NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR TWO COASTS. . . TWO WINERIES. . . TWO ANNIVERSARIES by Mort Hochstein On the day I learned that Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars in New York's Finger Lakes would observe its fiftieth anniversary this summer, I also learned that Jordan Winery in Sonoma would mark its 40th at roughly the same time. What an interesting opportunity for a story about contrasts, I thought: a small hard scrabble New York winery and a well funded, top drawer California house modeled on the great estates of Bordeaux. The contrasts were amplified as I developed my research. Doc Frank (left), as his neighbors knew him, was a penniless émigré from the Ukraine who came to the United States in 1951, worked as an unskilled laborer at the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, and made little progress until Dr. Charles Fournier of Gold Seal recognized his credentials and experience and hired him to cultivate European grapes, chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon, at a time when the region’s growers felt only the hardy native labrusca and hybrids could survive the frigid winters of the Finger Lakes. In 1962, Dr. Frank established his own winery overlooking Keuka Lake (below), scoffing at his neighbors’ reluctance to change. “I grew vinifera in Russia,” he declaimed, “where spit would freeze before it hit the ground.” Fiercely advocating the uprooting existing vineyards, he planted vinifera, showing that mounding up the soil around the vines in winter and improving grafting techniques would allow the more desirable grapes to thrive in the Finger Lakes. Irascible, opinionated, stubborn, and not always tactful, he often antagonized his colleagues, but also built a following of “cooperators” throughout the Northeast who adopted his techniques to propel the revolution which transformed the vineyards of the region. He once showed me jars holding dead, almost skeletal baby chicks. “I fed them hybrid grapes and juices, and see what happens,” he gloated. Doc Frank detested the hybrids that had been created in France after the American root louse phylloxera devastated the vinifera vineyards of Europe, and he saw little future for the area’s native varieties. On another visit, he directed his outrage toward a neighboring winery, Bully Hill, where Hermann Weimer had been imported to prove wines made from hybrids and indigenous American grapes. “That Herman the German,” he ranted, “he’s poisoning America.” Weimer eventually left Bully Hill to create prize winning Riesling and Chardonnay at his eponymously named winery on nearby Seneca Lake, and never again made wines from hybrids. In the years that followed, he and Dr. Frank became friends. In 1972, ten years to the day that Doctor Frank, underfunded, singlehandedly began building a humble, small winery, Tom and Sally Jordan purchased 275 acres of orchards in Sonoma’s Alexander Valley. Jordan had successfully developed oilfields in Indonesia, and, it is said, dreamt of purchasing one of the great French estates. He never believed the United States could produce equally fine wines until a sommelier in San Francisco introduced him to an early bottling of Beaulieu Georges de Latour, produced by renowned winemaker André Tschelitscheff, and that tasting redirected him to California. Intent on producing wines to rival those of Bordeaux, he found promising property in Sonoma where he hired architects to build a stunning French château-styled winery (below), enlisting Tschelistcheff as consultant; in 1976 he released the first of an unparalleled series of highly ranked Cabernet and Chardonnay wines. For a long time, Jordan focused on restaurants and hotel dining rooms but is now in more general distribution. Both wineries are today very successful, but on different planes. Jordan produces about 66,000 cases of Cabernet Sauvignon and 33,000 Chardonnay annually while Dr. Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars releases about 45,000 cases, primarily Riesling and Chardonnay, and smaller amounts of Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, and its uniquely Russian specialty, Rkatsitelli. Dr. Frank’s rise to public recognition, however, came after three decades of struggle and two changes at the top. Doc Frank was skilled in the vineyard and in the winery, but was not a great organizer or businessman. His son, Willy, working full time as a traveling salesman in the camera business and traveling weekends from Long Island to help at the winery, altered its direction after his father’s death in 1984. One year earlier, Doc Frank, struggling and ill, had reluctantly turned the business over to Willy, who became even more of a road warrior, traveling night after night to sales events and wine dinners to promote the winery and the sparkling wine facility he had founded nearby while working for his father. I never met Tom Jordan, though I had visited the estate and interviewed his daughter Judy, who went on to launch her own label, “J,” a sparkling wine. I overnighted at the stylish house, where I was treated like royalty, as were distributors, retailers and restaurateurs who had obtained a treasured invitation to the Sonoma showplace. You had to know the way. There was no sign at the long, unmarked road to the winery. Those and other changes came under John Jordan, an attorney, after his father asked him to take over in 2005. While Jordan has prided itself on fielding an estate wine, he and winemaker Tom Davis, who had been there from the first years, were redeveloping the vineyards, and for the first time, purchased grapes to fill gaps. Since that period, the wines, while still structured for the long haul, have changed to become less austere and more accessible at an earlier stage. I knew Willy Frank well, attended several of his wine events in New York, and went sailing with him on Keuka Lake. He was a born salesman and a facile orator. In 1933, in a much smoother transition than Dr. Frank’s reluctant retirement, Willy Frank appointed his son Fred president and majority stockholder. Fred, who’d trained at the Geisenheim Institute in Germany, had run vineyards for 10 years as a managing director for Banfi Vintners on Long Island, thus bringing to the job a rare combination of winemaking and business background. He expanded the line to make a high volume Chardonnay line, added plantings, and enlisted skilled American, French and Australian winemakers to improve and diversify his production. In July, I was in Hammondsport when Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Celllars celebrated its first half-century. Fred Frank staged a modest celebration for approximately 300 people , including 39 family members, at the winery, provided great tastings, a light lunch, tours of the grounds, a film about the winery and a few, thankfully , brief speeches by local notables. And that brings up the final comparison. A few weeks earlier, Jordan also celebrated, staging elaborate, well attended, tastings and lushly catered celebrations for tradespeople and journalists in Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami and New York. The triumphal continental observances also included a competition in which Jordan awarded approximately $35,000 to artists who had created works honoring their cities and the winery’s four decades. As Mel Brooks famously declared, “It’s good to be the king.”
❖❖❖
❖❖❖TAKE
THAT, YOU FRENCH SWINE!!
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: Migis Lodge in Maine' Feynan Ecolodge
in Jordan.
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).
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 |
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