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World War I Poster (1917) by Edward Penfield

NEW YORK CORNER
Moti Mahal
by John Mariani

Staying Put in Reno
Part Two

by John Mariani

    That's a nostalgic 1950 postcard above of Reno's Virginia Street, at a time when its principal draw was its casinos, where the restaurants served up an amalgam of American and continental food at prices low enough to keep people fueled up and ready to gamble the night away.  But as in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, Reno is making strides to become a destination for all manner on non-casino activities, and that includes some excellent restaurants, both large and small, attracting locals and visitors alike for their variety and quality, from sushi bars and Thai restaurants to grand Italian places and steakhouses. 

 

CAMPO

50 North Sierra Street

775-737-0555

www.camporeno.com

 
     At Campo, owner-chef Mark Estee and chef de cuisine Arturo Moscoso have given Reno its first, unmistakably modern Italian restaurant, from antipasti to zuppa, and done it with enormous brio, from first-rate pizzas that are impeccably charred and blistered to housemade charcuterie and freshly made pastas. Not only has Campo energized the local dining community but it is starting to get noticed throughout the West for its formula of true hospitality, sumptuous food, and moderate prices, all within a big, open atmosphere of good times.  Plan to eat a lot and share everything.

    Of course, as in so many Italian restaurants, the appetizers and pastas are the show-off dishes, and the charcuterie (below) at Campo is outstanding, as are the peppers al forno with a lemon-lime sea salt, the white polenta with roasted mushrooms and egg, and, most of all, the crispy pork plate lavished with ear-and-jowl skin that crunches when you bite into it like tortilla chips.  The pizzas come from a custom-built oven that makes them textbook perfect in texture, and the quick cooking guarantees they are very hot and the dough just starting to subside under the toppings.

      The housemade pastas are difficult to choose among—tagliatelle with wild boar bolognese ragù and aged pecorino cheese; risotto with roasted pork, zucchini, spring onion, and chicharones; and potato gnocchi with truffled-mascarpone and grana padano cream sauce. And if you have room, by all means order the roasted baby pig, porchetta, with purple mashed potatoes or the stuffed pig's trotter called zampone (Campo goes through several whole Niman Ranch  pigs per week).

     Desserts are good--creamy budino and cheesecake--and the wine list is highly admirable for having so many well-chosen bottlings under $50.

     Campo is a major player in town, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Estee branch it out to Lake Tahoe.  That city could use it.

Dinner starters $4-$11, pizzas $12-$15, pastas (half portions available) $22-$28, main courses $13-$50.        

 

 

ATLANTIS STEAKHOUSE
Atlantis Casino Resort Spa
775-824-4411

www.atlantiscasino.com

    The Atlantis Casino and Resort is among Reno's upscale hotel properties, and two years of work have gone into making their new steakhouse one of the city's new attractions.  The management has put as much effort into its 350-label winelist, overseen by Christian O'Kuinghttons, and wine dinners as into its stunning décor and service.  There are spacious private dining rooms, a very cool and comfortable bar (left) with a great cylindrical fish tank, and the appointments in the main dining (below) are as posh as you'll find in the West, especially the banquettes, which I could sink into and fall asleep after a good meal and bottle of wine here.

    The menu pretty much covers all the bases, and chef de cuisine Dan Bauer is a generous man with his portions, whether or not you feel like a steak, so you might opt for a thick cheese-crusted French onion soup or a superb lobster bisque, or go for the crunchy Iceberg lettuce wedge--a huge chunk with plenty of bacon, shaved red onion, tomato and Roquefort dressing, easily a meal in itself.    The prawn cocktail was generous in proportion--as is everything here--and quite a bargain at $16, while crabcakes get the addition of some lobster meat with a tangy lemon aïoli.  I was very happy to see fresh abalone (frozen is useless) on the menu, not least because I always wonder how a chef can tenderize the animal enough to make it less than a chore to eat.  Here it was perfectly tender and delicious, served with lemon butter than enhanced the subtle natural flavor of the seafood.
    But you come here for steak, and they offer several varieties, from an American Kobe flat iron at 10 ounces to the specialty here, a cowboy bone-in ribeye at a hefty 36 ounces, which may be an exercise in machismo for one trencherman but definitely serves two or even three more sensible eaters.  There is also a New York cut, a t-bone and a K.C. rib-eye. Those I tried were of good  quality, dry aged, if lacking a bit in marbling, but if it's beef you're after, Atlantis may be your best bet in Reno. The double cut lamb chops, at $42 for two and $48 for three are the best deal on the menu, and you can also go for a "duet" of soup or salad with steak and seafood for a very reasonable $45.
    For dessert by all means go for the New York-style cheesecake or the warm chocolate pecan buy with Frangelico.

Atlantis Steakhouse is open Wed.-Sun. for dinner. Appetizers and salads run $7-$18, main courses; there is a 3-course prix fixe dinner at $48, with wine pairings, $60.

4^TH STREET BISTRO

3065 W. 4th Street


775-323-3200

www.4thstbistro.com

    Out on Highway 40, you'll come upon a darling little house that might as well be in Rouen as in Reno. This is the 4th Street Bistro, run by two affable women, Chef Natalie Sellers and partner/General Manager Carol Wilson, who have owned it for a dozen years now. Ms Sellers once cooked at Chez Panisse and Stars in San Francisco and has applied the same rigor to buying local ingredients that she learned there. Ms Wilson worked for ten years at Bix in San Fran and  is an expert at food-and-wine pairings.

    A welcoming heart of entwined chile peppers hangs on the front door. There's an old water wheel outside on the porch, where you may dine. Inside a rough stone fireplace is set with folk art and everywhere there are flowers. The walls are a mottled salmon colors, hung with French posters, the tables are set with crisp cloths, there's a candle on each, and good wine glasses.  It has a definite feminine touch throughout.

    For such a modestly sized restaurant the menu is quite large, with a dozen appetizers and salads and as many entrees.  The two women proudly proclaim their love and service of foie gras, and the night I was there, the liver came with apricots and wonderful pain d'épice gingerbread. (If you are in foie-starved California, Reno is not so far away if you're craving the stuff.) Nice fatty duck rillettes come with an apricot mostarda, cornichons, and grainy mustard, and there was an enchanting spring garlic soup with a fine red pepper puree.   

   For main courses I enjoyed the roast breast of Sonoma County Poultry "Liberty” duck with a tender wild rice salad, Tuscan kale and tart-sweet raspberries, and a special of juicy short ribs with a drizzle of pungent horseradish was delicious.  The only disappointment that night was a slightly fishy grilled Arctic char with black beans, saffron rice and cilantro.
    I was really impressed by the quality of the pastries, from a Meyer lemon tart with raspberry coulis and crème chantilly to a welcome angel's food coconut cake with mangoes and crème anglaise.  But, excuse the pun, the dessert that took the cake was a terrific bittersweet chocolate ganache torte with a crunchy pecan crust and caramel sauce.  There is a whole page of after dinner drinks, too,including some fine Madeira and a house-made limoncello.

4th Street Bistro is open for dinner Tues.-Sat.; Appetizers run $$4.50-$15 (foie gras $24), and main courses $24-$40.

 

 

OLD GRANITE STREET EATERY

243 S. Sierra Street

(775) 622-3222

oldgranitestreeteatery.com

    The name refers to a 1940s building, for a time a wedding chapel, and, without any pretensions of the kind you'll find among hipster restaurants in New York and Chicago, owner Ryan Gold's hospitable attitude towards the whole idea of eating  personalized, good comfort food drives the crowd in here for brunch, lunch and dinner. The local farmers and suppliers are thanked on the menu. It's a place to drop into, and reservations are only take for large tables, but I prefer to sit at the bar counter, check out Chef Adam Bronson's blackboard specials, and nurse a glass of wine while deciding. I went for lunch, which has many of the same items as at dinner, and plunged in. 
    First of all, I enjoyed a hearty lentil salad, nicely seasoned,  with arugula, sweet avocado, and roasted beets, while also noshing on a terrific hamburger, grilled over a wood fire, with melted white cheddar and shoestring potatoes that I was scrambling to keep all to myself. Fish and chips with lemon tartar sauce was impeccably crisp and meaty, the fish's flesh moist and glistening.  I gobbled up a plate of linguine with a blue cream cheese sauce, grilled radicchio and pine nuts to give it texture, and I loved the big plate of shrimp sauté with creamy grits, smoked bacon and its own natural juices from the pan.
    This is indeed comfort food, but it is all refined by a chef who knows exactly what he's doing with every preparation, as with old-fashioned shepherd's pie of braised lamb with a golden potato crust. So, too, he makes his own corned beef and serves slabs of it on rye with Swiss cheese and more of those addictive shoestrings.
    For dessert you have frustrating choices to make--buttermilk cream and raspberries; peach buckle; chocolate cake; and white chocolate bread pudding.   
    The pricing here is really appealing, as are the wines--Makers Mark is their house whisky and the craft beers are taken seriously here--so it's a place people are going to come back to again and again.  If I'm ever in Reno, chances are I'll be at Granite Street more than once, trying to decide which of my favorite dishes to order. If I lived there, I'd be a regular.

Granite Street is open at 11:00 am Monday-Friday, the kitchen remains open until 10:00 pm Monday-Thursday and stays open until Midnight on Friday and Saturday. Dinner appetizers $3-$12, main courses $10-$24.

Midtown Eats
719 South Virginia Street
775-324-3287
midtowneatsreno.com

    Moreso than Old Granite Street Eatery, Midtown Eats is a modest store-front with very modest food and few ambitions beyond serving you a darn good meal of American fare in a room that no one thought much about decorating. So you drop by when you;'re hungry and order the stuffed zucchini blossoms--hardly what you expect to find at a place like this but make with consummate care. You come here for a good burger--The Atomic burger is as spicy as advertized, with habanero pepper, avocado and a charred tomato salsa, while the lamb burger takes on the flavors of merguez sausage, olive spread and eggplant for a Mediterranean flavor.  It's all fresh, it's all good, it's all honest, and it's all there.


To read Part One of this article, click here. 

 

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EVERYONE HAS A JULIA CHILD MOMENT

                                                                            by John Mariani

 

         Johnny Carson once said he could walk down any street anywhere in the world outside of the U.S. and never be recognized because his show never played anywhere but here.  But it’s hard to imagine any popular culture figure who was ever more beloved than Julia Child, whose 100^th birthday was this week. Indeed, she might well have been better known to more people around the world over nine decades than almost any other celebrity.  Certainly no one’s ever made a movie like “Julie & Julia” about Johnny Carson or even Frank Sinatra, for that matter.

         Yet Julia, all six-foot-two of her, was very much known to chefs all around the world, and her book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking sold millions of copies and was widely translated around the world.  Who hasn’t in a silly moment imitated Julia’s swooping contralto? Who doesn’t still fall down laughing at Dan Ackroyd’s impersonation of her on SNL, slicing off her finger but blithely going on with the cooking lesson?  And, really, who doesn’t have a Julia Child moment to recall?

         Mine was a moment that completely changed my life, but not in a gastronomic way.  When I was about 23, I had a date with a girl at Manhattanville College and, for reasons I cannot imagine, offered to make a chocolate soufflé in her dorm, which was equipped with a kitchenette. 

         I had never made a chocolate soufflé in my life and hadn’t a clue how to do so. But I remembered seeing Julia Child, on black- and-white TV out of Boston’s PBS station, make one and it seemed so ridiculously simple. So I picked up my mother’s copy of Mastering the Art off the shelf, bought some dark chocolate and eggs, packed up some bowls, and headed for the school.

         Well, the damned thing came out perfect—a high, fluffy rise with an intense gooey center, lavished with whipped cream.  My date and her friends dug in, and then, into the dorm came walking the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.  Her name was unpronounceable—Galina Stepanoff-Dargery—Russian and French, grew up in Paris--and I asked her if she’d like to try my chocolate soufflé. She did, and nodded mild approval.

         The next day I called her and, using a line that has ever since made me cringe, asked, “If you liked my chocolate soufflé, perhaps you’d like my company for dinner?” Galina later told me she thought I was a little strange, since not too many guys in those days could cook French toast let alone a French soufflé, but she accepted the date anyway, and, as they say, the rest is history: I courted and married the girl, had two sons, and just celebrated our thirty-something anniversary. By the way, my wife is a painter and has done whole series of paintings about women and food.

      
  Once, at a dinner in Julia’s honor (left), having gotten to know her over the years that I became a food writer, I got up and told this story, saying at the end, “So, had it not been for Julia Child, I never would have met my wife and never would have had my sons.  Thanks, Julia, for changing my life with your chocolate soufflé.”

         Julia stood up, blinked into the lights, and in that inimitable, cartoon-like voice, said, “Well . . . that’s just aw-fully nice, John. A love-ly story. Glad I could be of some help.” 

         Happy Birthday, Julia.

 

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NEW YORK CORNER

by John Mariani

MOTI MAHAL DELUX
1149 First Avenue (at 63rd Street)
212-371-3535
www.motimahaldelux.us

    There are actually more than a hundred Moti Mahal restaurants in India and scores more around the world, and the world is a better place for that.  The first one I ever ate in was in London, and I thought the food, especially several signature dishes, was outstanding, a far cry from the kebab and curry houses that London had in those days.  In New York, we've long had excellent Indian restaurants, not least those that appeal to those who live in Indian neighborhoods like Astoria and certainly the glossier examples in Manhattan like Dawat, Vermilion, and Dévi.

    It is really quite amazing that a worldwide chain like Moti Mahal can keep consistent--I obviously haven't sampled them all to see--but at least in NYC the new place leaps to the top rank of Indian restaurants, and certainly the best on this stretch of the upper east side.

    Chef Gaurav Anand and his brother Saurabh are the global franchisers of the brand, and they've done a fine job with a long, two-level dining room with polished wood, mirrors, curry-colored walls, bright red banquettes, and windows over First Avenue, good lighting, and cordial service, although on our night there, inattention and long waits for cocktails and food flawed the evening. I suspect they are still breaking the staff in.

    There are so many terrific starters here that going on to main courses takes stamina. Little "golgappa shots" of canapé items come in paper thin shells, and the crispy, stuffed samosa pastries are wonderful.  Roomali  khasta is made with pine nuts, cheese, sun-dried tomato and a garlic dip, while the fritters called pakoda come with a variety of okra, chicken, squid, fish and shrimp. 

    The tandoor oven, which in some places can dry out food by just mere seconds of overcooking, is masterfully commanded at Moti Mahal Delux, evident from the succulence achieved with five-spiced murgh khaas seekh kebabs and the kesari tangri drumsticks. The chutney paneer tikka (left) of Indian cottage cheese and minted chutney is grilled and fabulous.     Grilled mutton cubes tikka are finished on the griddle, and grilled prawns are "tempered" with curry leaves to aromatic effect.

    I'm not close to exhausting the menu here: we moved on to lush malai kofta cheese rounds with raisins, and dum aloo Kashmiri of baby potatoes and a rec curry gravy.  One of the specialties here is the daal Makhani, black lentils and house-churned butter, cooked for 18 hours in copper pots, as is  a dish that everyone copies but few do as well--Murgh Makhani, extraordinary butter chicken in a creamy tomato sauce (right).
   The rice-based biryanis are layered with vegetables, goat or chicken, and their fragrance fills the room, as does the inebriating aroma of the hot, steaming, charred breads that come to the table in a basket--roti, naan, and the stuffed kulcha, and parantha.
   I've always been a fan of Indian desserts, but far too often they come to the table after having been stored too long in the refrigerator.  Moti Mahal Delux's are all as fresh as new milk--the rice pudding called  Phirni, the saffron-flavored ice cream  Kesari Kulfi, the cheese-based ras malai, and the crisp fritters called jalebi.

     The Upper East Side is lucky to have what I hope is just the first Moti Mahal Delux in NYC, but anyone seeking modern Indian cuisine in an unpretentious atmosphere and at good prices should cab it or subway or drive here, bring an appetite,  and be impressed.

 

Moti Mahal Delux is open daily for lunch and dinner. Sun. for brunch. Weekend  thali-style brunch; Appetizers run $5.95-$8.95, main courses

$10.95-$22.95.

NOW JUST SIT BACK IN FRONT OF THE BONFIRE, POUR YOURSELF A GLASS, AND THINK OF THOSE GOOD OLD DAYS. . .

Italian winemaker Vini Lunardelli in Udine, Italy, has put out a series of "historical labels" on his wines to "remind us of the lives of celebrated personages of Italian and world political history such as Che Guevara, Churchill, Francesco Giuseppe, Gramsci, Hitler, Marx, Mussolini, Napoleon and Sissi." 

 

NEXT YEAR'S NOMINEES
INCLUDE KATHY LEE GIFFORD
AND DEAR ABBY

Marilyn Hagerty (right), the food critic of Grand Forks, South Dakota, who recently reviewed Olive Garden there, will be presented  with the  2012 Al Neuharth Excellence in Media Award on October 4. Previous recipients of the award,  named after the USA Today founder who had once been edited by Hagerty at the U. of South Dakota's student paper,  include Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, Garrison Keillor, and Katie Couric.

 

 

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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."

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.

www.Eatinglv.com