BEAUNE, THE BEAUTIFUL CAPITAL OF BURGUNDY
by John Mariani
NEW YORK CORNER
L'APICIO
by John Mariani
NOTES
FROM THE WINE CELLAR Global
Warming
Worries Winemakers Worldwide by John
Mariani
❖❖❖
BEAUNE, THE
BEAUTIFUL CAPITAL OF BURGUNDY WINE
by John Mariani
Walking around inside the
walls of Beaune's old historic center, every
street and byway, will take you about one hour.
But its charms are such that you will probably
retrace those steps time and again to take in the
illustrious sites like the Hospices de Beaune (below), where
the famous annual charity
wine auction is held each November. It's a
beautiful building, dating to the 15th
century, still set with the draped beds of
patients tended here and an exquisite polyptych by
Roger van der Weyden. There is a wine
museum and gift shop within. Outside
those city walls, within minutes' drive, is the
60-mile Route des Grand Crus that take you along the
slopes of 38 communities in the Côte de Beaune
and Côte de Nuits, with dozens of the most
illustrious wineries of the region open to the public
for visiting and tasting. For those who prefer a trek,
there are 14 footpaths that take between one-and-a
half to four hours duration. (See below for guided
tour information.)
Back within the walls, the
main church is the 12th century Collegiale of Notre
Dame, with a good collection on medieval and early
Renaissance art and five tapestries
depicting the life of the Virgin. The main
thoroughfare of the old town, branching off in narrow
diagonals, is the Rue de Faubourg Madeleine, lined
with bistros, food shops, boutiques, and, in good
weather, outdoor vendors selling oysters and
shellfish.
When I was there in November for
the auction, I stayed at the Hôtel de
la Paix, which was serviceable if
little else, the kind of place people in the wine
trade would check into, drop their bags, and go off to
do business in town, either buying wine or a tractor.
The better known and favored is the Hôtel de la
Poste on Boulevard Georges Clemençeau.
In any case, Beaune is not
the sort of small city you would stay in your hotel
for much time anyway, for it is designed for walking,
chatting, and dining well in the Burgundian
manner.
The highest end dining in that
regard is Loiseau
des Vignes, (left)
opened in 2007, on the Rue Mafoux. This is one
of Bernard Loiseau's four restaurants, with two in
Paris, and is said to have been the first restaurant
in Europe to offer an entire list of 70 wines by the
glass. Chef Mourad Haddouche has won a Michelin star
for the restaurant, cooking with personal flair but
well within Burgundian culinary traditions. There are several menu options, at lunch
menus at 20€, 23€, and 28€, at dinner 59€ and
79€.
The commodious room has tables
genially set apart from one another, and, though the
lighting is too bright at night, it is a convivial
place favored by wine industry people. I dined
with Thibaut Marion of Séguin-Manuel (founded
in 1824), who brought some superb Burgundies,
beginning with a Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru "La
Garenne" 2008 that was ideal as an aperitif with an amuse of
cauliflower cappuccino, followed by quenelles of pike
with watercress foam (there's a lot of foam floating
around French cuisine these days!). The wine
also went perfectly with the beignets of langoustines.
Clos des Mouches 2009, a lush, mineral-strong
wine was poured with meaty squab in a classic,
intensely reduced red wine sauce with whipped
potatoes; Charolais beef was shredded, to be eaten
"with a spoon," enjoyed with three red wines--a
Savigny-Les-Beaune 2007 made from 70-year-old vines, a
Beaune 1er Cru Champimonts, and a fabulously rich but
impeccably balanced Pommard "Pézerolles" 2009,
which went especially well with the extensive cheese
service of 30 offerings here (right). For dessert we had a baba soaked not
with rum but with Poire William. L'Ecusson (below) on Rue
Lieutenant Dupuis, is clearly a labor of love of
Virginie and Thomas Compagnan, a darling two-room
restaurant whose well-set tables, good lighting,
comfortable chairs, and personalized cuisine makes
this a place to come back to again and again in
Beaune. The cooking is sensible, never elaborate, the
ingredients' quality stressed. One of the meanings of
the word l'ecusson
is a grafting bud for a vine, and the winelist here is
very reflective of Burgundy's breadth of wines.
A mild parfait of duck came
with sliced pear and a spiced wine reduction. The soup
was a cream of mushrooms scented with vanilla, a
softboiled egg parfait and little rounds of foie
gras--delicious. Pork, from a black pig, was
done in a confit, with Sardinian fregola, and
calamari rings, which Compagnan calls "Un Mariage
Terre/Mer," or "surf-and turf," and reminded me a
little of Portuguese and New England renderings. Omble
chevalier, a char lake fish, came with a
lovely green watercress mousseline with
cauliflower. For dessert we had apples cooked
"for ten hours," syrupy and succulent within an
Arlette crisp, dashed with cider, and a ganache of
chocolate with Brownies (printed that way in English
on the menu), a tuile of cocoa and caramel
sauce. It was quite a lunch yet fairly light in
every way that good modern French cooking now is.
L'Ecusson offers a three-course 25€
meal with wines by the glass between 6€ and 9€. A la
carte runs 21€ to 26€ for starters and 31€ to 40€ for
main courses.
For very
traditional Burgundian cooking I went to two places,
one, L'essential
on Place Madeleine, with menus at 19€, 24€,
and 32€ or 36€ tasting menus, but what I had was
nothing to rave about, though the place seems
popular locally.
Much more endearing in a way that
all good, traditional bistros are, was Le
Gourmandin, which just about everyone in town
recommended. It's easy to see why: the façade,
with its art nouveau lettering, the tables outside and
potted planters, the long slip of the dining room,
with another above, have all the earmarks of places
that for eons have served French family cooking, from
a superb jambon
persillé whose jelly simply bound a
generous allotment of meat to a hearty boeuf
Bourguignonne with egg noodles in a portion scooped
from a casserole that could feed two.
The owner, Isabelle Billard (her
husband Alain, below,
is the chef) who speaks good English, could not be
more helpful. Having forgotten to bring
something I ordered--I forget what--she apologized
profusely and brought me dessert on the house--two big
profiteroles lavished in dark chocolate. Throughout
the night, staff members cut huge loaves of
crust-heavy bread, and the whole tilt of the place
seems headlong but in complete control. The
restaurant's location, right on the Place Carnot, puts
you in full view of everyone in town and those
visiting, strolling, most arm in arm, shopping,
nodding at each other, sitting for a glass of wine or
crêpe.
There are menus at Le Gourmandin
from 20€ to 40€, with main dishes 8€ to 26€, and a
three-course lunch at a remarkable 14€. The winelist,
with specials posted outside (right), is excellent in all price
categories.
Two places I
highly recommend outside of town are the restaurant La
Buissonniere in Ladoix-Serrigny, and the
gorgeous new restaurant at Chateau de Pommard. The
former, five minutes drive from town, is a modern,
tall-ceilinged space run by Charlotte
Boisseau-Bertelot, who bears a passing resemblance to
both Juliette Binoche and Julia Ormond. There are many
menu options, from 19.50€ to 36€, all beautifully
presented in a room with dark and light accents, sun
pouring through a large front window, illuminating
rough stone walls in the more intimate side room (left).
We were presented with an amuse of
cauliflower puree with a single snail and some bits of
smoked pork. I then ordered langoustines with a soy
foam (more foam!), which was wonderfully simple, and a
filet of pork with grains of artichoke and laced with,
beguilingly, a little maple syrup.
At Château
de Pommard, one of the most illustrious of
Burgundy's wine estates, its courtyard and gallery
filled with modern art from Roy Lichtenstein to Keith
Haring, Christophe Quéant has
opened a very large namesake restaurant, with a
gorgeous view of the vineyards and a fine bar and
lounge. It's become immediately popular for
events and celebrations, and the
dining room (below)
is large, with widely separated tables and colors and
mirrors that reflect the light, done in Empire style
throughout, except for the more modern terrace. Both
have comfortable chairs in red velvet, and service is
impeccable, right down to the carving of dishes at the
table.
This is Chef Quéant's
showcase for a modern cuisine very much based on
respect for the local flavors and tastes. (He
had previously been chef at Loiseau
des Vignes), and the size of the menu itself is ideal
for focusing in on every detail, with starters running
24€ to 30€, main courses 42€ to 57€. Our party of
three began with a cream soup of chestnuts and foie
gras spiced with cardamon that showed Queant's
imaginative global streak. Risotto was dotted with
snails and sweetbreads in a reduction of sweet
garlic. Scallops, lustrous and pearly, were
tenderly cooked, served with gnocchi made with squash
and sided with Brussels sprouts and diced
truffles. That day, they offered squab, carved tableside (left), juicy to
the bone, served with a rich reduction of Burgundy
wine. There was also poached bass with a seaweed
butter--very much a classic--with asparagus and
osietra caviar topping it all. Lobster is done here on
the griddle with endives, raisins and saffron.
Desserts are quite simple (all are
10€) like baba au
rhum, and roast bananas that are glazed and
served with a sable
Breton.
Beaune is a
winelover's city, not a city for days of museum-going
or sightseeing. But if you wish to get a sense
of the culture of Burgundy, whose people so largely
work in the industry with enormous pride that they
produce some of the world's greatest wines, then
Beaune should be your center for exploring Dijon, the
Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits, up
through Chablis country, and south to Lyon, where the
dining scene is richer in more ways than one.
Beaune is a little Camelot of a medieval town, well
preserved, with fine cuisine, great wines, and
traditions that are at the heart and soul of French
viniculture.
DRIVING
IN LUXURY THRU BURGUNDY. . .
I would highly recommend the driving
tour around Burgundy for visits to vineyards, and the
best guide in the region is the ebullient,
English-speaking Youri Lebault, whose company Bourgogne
Gold Tour provides everything from transfers
from train stations to wine estate visits, to
reservations for restaurants. You will be
chauffeured in a luxurious sedan, and Youri, who has a
deep baritone and loves American music, is happiest
when he can customize the tour for you. A
half-day fee starts at 240€, with a full day at
395€. Tel: 0033 (0) 6-6-88-5055.
❖❖❖
NEW
YORK CORNER
L'APICIO
13 East 1st Street
212-533-7400 www.lapicio.com
L'Apicio,
the new East Village restaurant named after a 1790,
cookbook by Francesco Leonardi, L'Apicio moderno
(itself commemorating a first century AD cookbook
compiled by the kitchen of Roman nobleman Apicius), is
the latest in a short string of Italian restaurants
opened by Epicurean
Management, which also runs L'Artusi, dell'Anima, and
Anfora. Remarkably, they are not cookie cutter,
formula restaurants, which they might have been if Executive Chef Gabe Thompson (below) wasn't so
passionately devoted to the myriad manifestations of
Italian regional cuisine. Few dishes are repeated
here, though the rustic style of Thompson's cooking is
the same throughout the mini-chain.
So, the design here evokes a rusticity
coupled with urban materials, as in the raw steel and
glass vestibule, the lounge with leather couches, and
the 12-seat walnut bar. The walls are sand-colored, exposed brick, with
reclaimed wood paneling "recovered from New Hampshire
mushroom harvesters" for what it's worth. Wine
glasses sit on lighted shelves. It's a very
comfortable place, made moreso by a staff that is
genuinely welcoming--not always a given at a new hot spot people are clamoring
to get into. Also, at least on the night I was
there, they kept the sound system (not necessary
anyway, since people are talking and having a good
time) to a rational decibel level. Conversation
is easy.
Thompson sets an admirably small
menu (though who needs six salads in a trattoria?),
with six small plates to start with, including
delicious charred octopus, some of the best in a city
gone mad for the mollusk, and fine hamachi crudo with
apples and jalapeño. Best of all I tasted
were arancini
rice balls with sausage and fontina and a bit of sage.
There are a generous dozen pastas
and four polenta dishes. Of the former, I
enjoyed an excellent
tagliarine with plenty of porcini mushrooms,
and agnolotti
packed with sweetbreads, creamy mascarpone and condimento, precisely
the kind of dishes you won't find all over town, thank
heavens. The polenta selections can be enjoyed as a
main course, since they are pumped up with ingredients
like braised short rib, pork meatballs, and shrimp
with bacon and breadcrumbs (below).
My favorite among entrees was an
excellent, very juicy roast chicken with fennel,
lemon, olives and potatoes, while two fish
dishes--bass with black lentils, soffritto crudo,
and frisée lettuce, and a cod saltimbocca with
chorizo and clams showed how Thompson works contrast and texture
into familiar species or old ideas.
Desserts by
Katherine Thompson are very good if more overwrought
than Italian dolci
usually are: thus, a vanilla semifreddo is lavished with an apple
compote, spice cake, apple cider sorbet, and oatmeal
streusel, which gets pretty far away from the semifreddo
flavors. A hazelnut ice cream cake was
scrumptious, with salted caramel gelato (a little
too much salt in there), and praline crunch. Good for
winter is the pumpkin cranberry budino with
apple vinegar caramel, crème fraîche
mousse, and candied pecans.
Beverage director Joe Campanale
deserves high praise for his global white wine
selections, with so many under $40 well worth drinking
and labeled New and Old Country. But I only counted a
half-dozen red wines under $50 (and not by much) on a
list packed with scores of wines $100 or more. Most
mark-ups are reasonable, but why is a Syrah Bien
Nacido Qupé 2001 listed at $192 when it can be
found in stores at $30 to $40 and a Giacosa San
Stefano 1999 at $395 can be found at $105.
Well located, handsome, and very
amiable, L'Apicio proves yet again that good Italian
restaurants rule in NYC. L'Apicio veers from the
pack by trying harder to much more with its menu than
others even dream of attempting.
L’Apicio is open
nightly. Starters $8-$18, pastas $14-$19, main courses
$22-$34.
❖❖❖
Global Warming Worries Winemakers Worldwide
by John Mariani
In
the vineyards of the world, something worrisome
this way comes.
Over the last decade, the effects
of global warming have begun to be felt in those
narrow zones that allow for growing wine grapes. Ironically,
global
warming is a mixed blessing for different
winemakers. In colder climates like Bordeaux and
Burgundy, more heat can increase sugars in the
grapes. According to Dr. Richard Snyder, a
biometeorology specialist from the University of
California, Davis, speaking at last year’s Unified
Wine & Grape Symposium, a temperature rise of
just 3°C
would put more carbon dioxide in the air to help
plants photosynthesize better, with a longer, frost
free growing season. The bad news, said Snyder, is that more
droughts would occur in climates in the
Mediterranean and California.
Unlike
so-called ‘broad acre’ crops like soybeans and
wheat, “wine grapes are really a ‘niche crop’ that
can only been grown in certain areas,” says Dr.
Gregory V. Jones, professor and research
climatologist in the Department of Environmental
Studies at Southern Oregon University, whose
grandfather was a Kentucky farmer. “The
issue today is, when we talk of global warming, we
talk about humans’ contribution, which is occurring
at a much faster rate than in recorded history. What
we used to consider a one in 50 year drought is now
more commonplace.The extreme heat of 2012 in U.S. was one in
1,600 year event.”
“It was the long-lasting heat
wave of 2003 all over Europe that made us realize
something was going on,” says Axel
Heinz, director of production for Ornellaia in
Tuscany. “The
weather is now getting more and more extreme and
unpredictable with sudden heat spikes, long lasting
drought periods and violent and unpredictable
rainfalls.”
Such spikes make it difficult for
winemakers to adapt quickly. “Perhaps the most
constant phenomenon we observed is a quicker
increase of the grape’s sugar content,” says Heinz (right),
“leading to higher alcohol levels, a trend clearly
accelerated in the last five years. All conventional
vineyard techniques had been designed to optimize
the ripening of the grapes and were often developed
in northern growing areas where it had always been a
struggle to ripen grapes. Today, even in those
regions, ripeness is now achieved much easier and
faster. As a result, we are returning to a
more conservative approach, diminishing canopy
sizes, picking slightly earlier and reducing vine
vigor to allow the vines to better manage the
resources in the soil.”
In Burgundy, where sun and heat
can be a boon, there is some cautionary optimism
about global warming. “The vines flower very early
now,” says said
Marie-Andrée Mugneret, co-owner of Domaine
Georges Mugneret-Gibourg in Vosne-Romanée. “If
I told my grandfather we were picking grapes in
early September, he would say it’s impossible. For
now, it seems a good thing; the concentration of
flavors is there.But we just don't know what the future will
hold.”
Burgundians worry that alcohol
levels may rise high above 14 percent in pinot noir,
the dominant grape there, and about soil damage. Enologist
Gautier Romani of Château de Pommard told me,
“I fear that global warming will affect the soil
underneath the top layer. It will become compacted
and microorganisms in the soil will be affected. The
vineyards will change but we don’t know how.” In
California, where high heat allows grapes to develop
a higher alcohol to make a fleshier style of wine,
hot and cold weather and long droughts have made
adapting to climate change difficult. “Over 30 years
here, I can’t see an overall trend in climate change
in the Napa Valley,” says Elias Fernandez, winemaker
at Shafer Vineyards. “That
said, we have tried our best to be good stewards of
our land and environment. In 2004 we were the first
winery in Napa and Sonoma to flip the switch to 100
percent solar power for our cellar and winery (left), which
produces `clean kilowatts’ after learning that half
of the toxic pollution in our atmosphere is the
result of power generation. Over the 30-year life of
our solar array, the carbon not
produced on our behalf will equal the air-purifying
effects of 17,000 mature trees.” In Portugal’s Douro Valley where Port is
made, wineries feel sure that hundreds of years of
experience will allow them to adapt. “We have been tracking
weather data, and there is none that definitively
shows there is global warming in the Douro valley,”
says Robert Bower, sales and export manager for the
Fladgate Partnership Vinhos S.A., which owns Taylor
Fladgate, Croft, and Fonseca. “If global warming
comes to the Douro, the Port producers can adapt
with the variety of elevations and various aspects
to the sun available in a Port vineyard (right). If the
year is warmer than they would like, winemakers can
use more grapes from higher elevations or use more
grapes from a northerly aspect to the sun.” Dr. Jones
says that agribusiness can adapt more easily to
climate change than vineyard owners, who must look
closely at every aspect of their microclimate. “We
have to be good stewards of the land, looking at
microfungi in the vine roots, what kind of
fertilizer should be used, how the elimination of
pests affects everything. With niche crops like
chocolate, coffee, and wine grapes, small changes
can have a large impact. The most magical things
happen when grape ripens at the margin of the
climate.”
❖❖❖
BLOCK THOSE SIMILES!
"I don't
think anyone saw the astounding popularity of Moscato
coming. Echoing the White Zinfandel craze of the late
'70's and '80's, Moscato, in all its various guises,
began flying off retailers' shelves like pedestrians off
Lindsay Lohan's bumper. Never underestimate America's
sweet tooth."-- Ron Washam, "The
Hosemaster of Wine"
BREAD AND WATER AIN'T GOOD
ENOUGH?
Canadian
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews tried to put an end to
years of sanctioned fast-food parties in prisons held
for inmates, which doubled as a food drive for
groups like Doctors Without Borders, by which inmates
used their own money to order outside food, while food
drives took place on the outside. "Canadians were
concerned that dangerous and violent prisoners had
across the board access to pizza parties and BBQ
socials," a spokesperson for the government said.
❖❖❖
Any of John Mariani's
books below may be ordered from amazon.com.
My
latest book, which just won the prize for best
book from International Gourmand, written with
Jim Heimann and Steven Heller,Menu Design in America,1850-1985 (Taschen
Books), has just appeared, with nearly 1,000
beautiful, historic, hilarious, sometimes
shocking menus dating back to before the Civil
War and going through the Gilded Age, the Jazz
Age, the Depression, the nightclub era of the
1930s and 1940s, the Space Age era, and the age
when menus were a form of advertising in
innovative explosions of color and modern
design.The book is
a chronicle of changing tastes and mores and
says as much about America as about its food and
drink.
“Luxuriating
vicariously
in the pleasures of this book. . . you can’t
help but become hungry. . .for the food of
course, but also for something more: the bygone
days of our country’s splendidly rich and
complex past.Epicureans
of both good food and artful design will do well
to make it their coffee table’s main
course.”—Chip Kidd, Wall Street
Journal.
“[The
menus] reflect the amazing craftsmanship that
many restaurants applied to their bills of fare,
and suggest that today’s restaurateurs could
learn a lot from their predecessors.”—Rebecca
Marx, The Village Voice.
My new book--Now in Paperback,
too--How Italian Food Conquered the
World (Palgrave Macmillan) has just won top prize 2011 from
the Gourmand
World Cookbook Awards. It is
a rollicking history of the food culture of
Italy and its ravenous embrace in the 21st
century by the entire world. From ancient Rome
to la dolce
vita of post-war Italy, from Italian
immigrant cooks to celebrity chefs, from
pizzerias to high-class ristoranti,
this chronicle of a culinary diaspora is as
much about the world's changing tastes,
prejudices, and dietary fads as about
our obsessions with culinary fashion and
style.--John Mariani
"Eating Italian will
never be the same after reading
John Mariani's entertaining and
savory gastronomical history of
the cuisine of Italy and how it
won over appetites worldwide. . .
. This book is such a tasteful
narrative that it will literally
make you hungry for Italian food
and arouse your appetite for
gastronomical history."--Don
Oldenburg, USA Today.
"Italian
restaurants--some good, some glitzy--far
outnumber their French rivals. Many of
these establishments are zestfully described
in How Italian Food Conquered the World, an
entertaining and fact-filled chronicle by
food-and-wine correspondent John F.
Mariani."--Aram Bakshian Jr., Wall Street
Journal.
"Mariani
admirably dishes out the story of
Italy’s remarkable global ascent
to virtual culinary
hegemony....Like a chef gladly
divulging a cherished family
recipe, Mariani’s book reveals the
secret sauce about how Italy’s
cuisine put gusto in gusto!"--David
Lincoln Ross,
thedailybeast.com
"Equal parts
history, sociology, gastronomy, and just
plain fun, How Italian Food Conquered the
World tells the captivating and delicious
story of the (let's face it) everybody's
favorite cuisine with clarity, verve and
more than one surprise."--Colman Andrews,
editorial director of The Daily
Meal.com.
"A fantastic and fascinating
read, covering everything from the influence
of Venice's spice trade to the impact of
Italian immigrants in America and the
evolution of alta cucina. This book will
serve as a terrific resource to anyone
interested in the real story of Italian
food."--Mary Ann Esposito, host of PBS-TV's
Ciao
Italia.
"John Mariani has written the
definitive history of how Italians won their
way into our hearts, minds, and
stomachs. It's a story of pleasure over
pomp and taste over technique."--Danny Meyer,
owner of NYC restaurants Union Square Cafe,
Gotham Bar & Grill, The Modern, and
Maialino.
❖❖❖
FEATURED
LINKS: I am happy to report
that the Virtual
Gourmet is linked to four excellent
travel sites:
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: Vienna.
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).
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.