NEW YORK CORNER
Delmonico's Kitchen
by Christopher Mariani
Notes from the
Wine Cellar Italian
Wines Get Real with Prices
by John Mariani
❖❖❖
High on Beaver Creek By Carey Sweet
The name of
the ski slope should have been my first clue.
“Birds of Prey,” the sign said, right above the
pretty black diamond.
I hadn’t
skied for nearly 20 years, yet I’d come on this
“First Tracks” outing at Beaver Creek,
Colorado, where VIP skiers are the first to
swish down the pristinely groomed trails each
morning, before the mountain opens to the
public. Really, I’d come just for a lavish
post-ski special breakfast being prepared at the Spruce
Saddle Lodge that sits mid-mountain, where
guest chef Richard Sandoval was making his
delicious chilaquiles. But somehow I’d missed the
directions to get off at the first lift stop on
Centennial #6, and I had proceeded to the next
lift, the Cinch #8, which runs to the tippy top
summit of the mountain. That’s where, at 11,440
feet, Birds of Prey awaits its victims. Let
me just say that yes, it is possible to hop-slide
sideways down a black diamond slope if you have an
hour-or-so of time and a bit of fear and hunger to
motivate you.
Figuring that skiing wasn’t my
forte at this winter wonderland at Eagle Creek in
the White River National Forest, I came back in
summer. The glittering white blankets of snow had
given away to emerald meadows of green, so I
signed up for the Village to Village Hike,
described at the Beaver Creek Hiking Center as a
4-plus mile moderate, guided stroll. Moderate
wasn’t the word that came to mind as I dragged
myself up steep mountainsides, crawling at points,
and digging my trekking poles into the ground on
the way down to stop from toppling into pretty
forested caverns and babbling creeks. Polite
conversation with my fellow hikers wasn’t an
option; just breathing was a priority as I
struggled through Bachelor Gulch and up Arrowhead
Mountain.
Lesson learned. Beaver Creek is
a year-round Nirvana for outdoor sport lovers,
encompassing the Beaver Creek
Resort, several hotels, Beaver Creek Village
boutique mall (right),
and a collection of upscale residential areas. But
Beaver Creek is not for wimps. There are some
gentle ski bunny slopes here and there, yet the
property is better known for its hosting the World
Ski Championships in 1989, and its annual Audi
Birds of Prey World Cup. During the summer, it’s
the site of the annual XTERRA Mountain Cup
off-road triathlon, and a wacky competition called
Tough Mudder, a 12-mile course traversing more
than two dozen military-style obstacles including
ice cold plunges, 10-foot walls, barbed-wire
crawls, 100 foot long mud pits, and
electroshock.
"Not
exactly roughing it." Amid all the testosterone,
that’s still the slogan for this posh masterplan
community that was inspired by the designs of
Switzerland's St. Moritz, Italy's Cortina, and
Spain's Val d'Aran resorts. Luxury abounds, from
posh resort hotels, to high-end clothing and
jewelry boutiques in the Village mall, to
restaurants likeZach’s
Cabin steakhouse (below) for grilled lobster tail
with lemon truffle butter ($47) eaten in a
château high atop a mountain, or Grouse
Mountain
Grill (left)
for marinated elk loin ($48) enjoyed in a
luxe-country inn ambiance just steps from the
Village.
Beaver Creek is also home to
many culinary events throughout the year,
including the Food & Wine festivals held in
winter (a near sell-out this year) and the Wine
& Spirits festivals in the summer (the next
one is Aug. 8-10). And these weekends are where I found my
lazier niche, eating, drinking and sightseeing – a
guest doesn’t even have to walk, since a
complimentary shuttle runs all through the
property, to the farther flung resorts and
restaurants. Regardless of the weather, Festival
activities are attractive, featuring wine pairing
dinners with top chefs from Beaver Creek and
around the country, wine and spirits tastings and
tastings, and educational discoveries such as a
glassware seminar hosted by Maximilian Riedel,
president of Riedel Crystal of North America (no
sales pitch, the glass really does make a
difference for fine wines). A highlight is the
interactive cooking demonstrations, though they’re
often not for wimps, either. I’ll never forget the
sick thrill of watching Bravo Chef Stephanie Izard
work with her Girl & The Goat butcher Norbert
Moniz to skin an entire pork head--while Moniz was
blindfolded!
The weekends wrap up with a
grand tasting, where all the chefs and
wine/spirits folks come together for elaborate
samplings – I’ve eaten my way through goat's
cheese apricot jam donuts from chef Christian
Apetz of 8100 Mountainside at the Park Hyatt, a
goat's cheese and beet éclair from chef
Daniel Joly of Mirabelle,
and Berkshire pork belly tacos al pastor with
pineapple and tomatillo salsa from chef Sandoval,
for example.
To miss completely
the
stunning
beauty that can be fully appreciated only when in
the wilderness would be a huge mistake, however.
Aspen trees blaze in brilliant colors though the
seasons, lodge pole pines spike skinny salutes to
the sky, and this is prime bird watching territory
in crystal clear air. Last summer, while riding a
ski lift up to the Spruce Saddle Lodge, I saw an
elk that, even from my seat in the sky, looked
enormous with his antlers spanning like a small
aircraft.
It’s
entirely possible to balance between breathless
activity and mouthwatering fare. One popular
winter Festival activity is the Snowshoe &
Gourmet Lunch, where guests trek to their dining
spot (keep in mind that the average annual
snowfall at this Colorado Rocky Mountains oasis is
325 inches). Another treat is when slope time is
followed by an Après-Ski Burgers &
Beers party, showcasing outrageous creations from
Festival chefs, such as a crazy piled-high
creation I tried to tackle, from chef Tim Love of
Tim Love Restaurants: a lamb, foie gras and
huckleberry jam burger atop two other patties of
prime tenderloin and brisket, then mounded in
curried pickles, wild boar bacon, quail egg,
American cheese and heirloom tomato on a grilled
bun.
This past summer, like a
sumptuous carrot dangled in front of my face, the
hike ended with lunch and a wine tasting at the Beaver
Creek Chophouse hosted by chef Bernd
Spreitzhofer from Austria. I’ve never had such
magical pork, cut thick and roasted to a crispy
edge over sauerkraut and steamed bread, served
after an ethereal soup of silky
parsnip (below)
studded with grilled sweetbread and parsley root.
Perhaps my wimpiness is
exaggerated, I admit. It’s not like we’re thrown
to the wolves. People more limber and less
vertically challenged than I am on skis can start
their trip with a complimentary two-hour guided
Mountain Tour to keep them off killer slopes. And
as I limped back towards my hotel after my summer
hike, several elderly hikers zipped past me,
chatting glowingly of their “refreshing jaunt” on
a beginner trail.
Summer is a fine time for a
horseback ride, as well. Beaver
Creek Stables is adjacent to the Centennial
Station, and a three-hour horseback ride ($120)
crisscrosses all the way up and around Beaver
Creek Mountain, offering spectacular views
punctuated by a picnic lunch break complete with
an apple to feed your trusty mount. There are
gentle horses for beginners, and miniature horses
(below)
for kids, but overall, these well fed,
well-groomed equines keep even expert riders like
me interested with their take-charge spirits. My
young guide rode backwards most of the time,
chirping “there you go, good job” as she watched
horses dragging their heads into the grass for
snacks, and biting their brothers’ butts for fun.
With so much activity, I spent
little time in my room except to sleep. The
chateau-style Park Hyatt
Beaver Creek is a nice choice, having
recently undergone a $20 million renovation, and
though the 190-room hotel still feels a bit
corporate, the Antler Hall is nice with
floor-to-ceiling windows for views of Beaver Creek
Mountain, and the new billiards tables in the
Whiskey Elk lounge. Guests who want to ski-in and
ski-out can do little better, with valets for
extra convenience, and five hot tubs
beckoning for achy muscles. The
Pines Lodge (right) is more my style, though,
set away from the Village, with just
60 guest rooms and the Grouse
Mountain Grill with its European inn ambiance.
Part of the charm of Beaver
Creek is its intimate scale – whether at
Festivals, or just enjoying a meal out, guests
mingle with the ski instructors, hiking guides,
and local chefs. This up-close nicety is how I
learned how chef Jay McCarthy gets the
cider-glazed “pork wings” he sometimes serves as a
signature special at his Blue Moose
eatery in the Village. “We come out on a full moon
and catch the low-flying pigs of Colorado with
nets,” he told me. “The little guys put up a
fight.”
In other words, life at Beaver
Creek calls for athletes in the kitchens, too. No
wimps need apply.
Walk through the front door at
Delmonico’s Kitchen but don’t expect the same
experience found at Beaver Street’s Delmonico’s
Restaurant. The Kitchen certainly looks and feels
different, not to mention the distinctiveness in
diners who fill the chic dining room and bar. The
Kitchen, on 36th Street attracts a younger,
dressed down, more energetic crowd than that found
at the downtown hangout that Wall Street’s money
pushers attend frequently. But take one whiff of
the Kitchen’s gorgeous steaks as they passes you
by, and you will realize that the two restaurants,
although greatly distinguishable, have more in
common than meets the eye.
At entry, there’s a
bustling bar directly to the left, fitted with
dimly lit hanging bulbs. To the right, burgundy
red banquettes divide the barroom and a modern yet
cozy dining room. The walls are coated with a
black and white diamond pattern, adding texture to
the otherwise simple and crisp décor. After
a hospitable greeting from the restaurant’s
hostess, I was led to my table and acknowledged by
just about every staff member along the way; an
absolutely charming quality, similar to Martin
Scorsese’s famous scene in "Goodfellas" when main
character Henry Hill is chaperoned to his prime
table at the Cocacabana with his very impressed
date.
The
ambiance is similar to that of NYC’s staple
steakhouses: a dining room filled with machismo
and servers who are a tad rough around the edges,
yet Delmonico’s still screams sophistication and
refinement. The sommelier didn’t walk over and
recommend a massive cabernet to accompany my steak
but instead favored a well-balanced Bordeaux.
The meal began in
mediocre fashion, starting with an unimpressive
plate of charcuterie and cheese but quickly gained
praise as a dozen east and west coast oysters hit
the table, along with a generous lobster cocktail,
served in the shell. Our waiter immediately
softened his demeanor as he showcased his tender
side, personally plating our lobster after
meticulously removing it from its shell.
Professionalism and experience overcame his
previous delivery.
For the main event,
Delmonico’s Kitchen’s steaks parallel some of the
best NYC has to offer. Order Delmonico’s double
bone-in ribeye for two and wait with great
anticipation for three pounds of well-fatted,
delicious meat to arrive. Sides include thick,
hand-cut fries and a terrific, garlicky order of
creamed spinach. After informing my server of the
spinach’s excellence, he responded, “A great
steakhouse is defined
by its cream spinach.” I must agree. That is, of
course, if the steak it accompanies is equally
praiseworthy. Desserts were unorthodox compared to
those of most NYC steakhouses, where mediocrity is
generally accepted and even sometimes celebrated.
A beautifully presented chocolate-hazelnut mouse
was filled with crushed hazelnuts and topped with
sea salt. Cheesecake sat on top of a buttery crust
and was drizzled with a berry compote.
There are few if any
qualities unattractive about Delmonico’s Kitchen.
The idea of a contemporary steakhouse is not a new
one, but rarely is it done with such panache. If
you are a loyal patron of Delmonico’s Restaurant,
jump in a cab and head up to midtown for an
equally memorable meal at Delmonico’s Kitchen.
Open Mon.-Fri. for
lunch and dinner; Sun. for dinner. Dinner appetizers
run $11-$25, main courses $19-$48.
❖❖❖
NOTES
FROM THE WINE CELLAR
Italian Wines Get
Real with Prices
by
John
Mariani
The
news two years ago that Italy had for the first
time surpassed France in wine production was not
greeted as welcome achievement. Aside from
bragging rights, Italian vintners were faced with
having to sell more wine than ever at a time when
consumption was dropping.And it
meant more Italian wine would be dumped into the
so-called “Wine Lake,” a surplus of wine produced
within the EU, which buys the stuff and turns it
into industrial alcohol. In a European market of increasing
supply-and-less-demand, that is not a winning
scenario.Fortunately,
however, Italian wineries are having their “Duh!”
moment: by offering more well-made regional wines
at reasonable prices, they can sell more wine. For two many years, too many Italian
vintners suffered from a hubris built on the
international success of very high-end wines like
barolos and barbarescos and Super Tuscans. Buoyed
by industry bureaucrats eager to award the
prestigious D.O.C.G. appellation (a denomination
of guaranteed high quality wine) to wines of
little regional distinction, wineries tried to
attach high price tags on wines of no real
excellence.
Importers tried to convince
wine drinkers that a bottle of unfamiliar
verdicchio was worth $50 or a Santa Margherita
pinot grigio $60 in a restaurant. As a result,
wine lovers began moaning, “The Italian wines are
pricing themselves out of the market.” Now, with sales sputtering and the Wine
Lake brimming over, some very fine Italian
vintners are getting into the market with
delicious wines at prices right on the money.And
it’s happening at the retail level more than in
restaurants, which continue to hike up margins
three and four
times above retail. So, happy about what I was seeing, I
visited one of the best Italian wine stores in the
U.S. for bottlings you won’t easily find in larger
emporiums. San
Pietro Wine & Spirits (below) in
Tuckahoe, NY, a suburb of Manhattan, is run by
Gerardo and Lucia Bruno, who search out a broad
range of the best old and new wineries in Italy,
from legendary makers like Bruno Ceretto of
Piedmont to small estates like Flaminio in
Brindisi. They proudly carry seven wines from the
region of Campania, where the Brunos come from. “Nowadays the economy is what it is,” Lucia
told me at the store, “and the Italians realize
that people who want to enjoy wine more often are
looking for affordable value. People will still
pay a lot for a great wine, but they don't want to
feel cheated with a lesser one at a high price.” I rounded up a slew of
bottles Lucia (right,
with Gerardo and their sons)recommended and drank
them over the next few weeks with a wide range of
dishes, from pastas to chicken burgers. What
delighted me most, beyond the very reasonable
prices, with none above $29, was that they all had
a typical Italian balance of fruit and acid, with
alcohol levels below 14 percent, and, whether
robust or mellow, not one was an overripe fruit
bomb or overpowering, tannic blockbuster.
Here
are
some I thoroughly enjoyed, all available from the
store.
Dorigo
Cabernet Franc 2009 ($22)—Cabernet franc
is not widely propagated outside of Colli
Orientali del Friuli in northern Italy, but this
fine example can stand with the best examples from
France, where it is more usually a blending grape.With
12.5 percent alcohol, it is as easy to drink with
poultry, as it would be with a strong fish like
salmon.
Agricola
Querciabella Mongrana 2009 ($20)—Such a
terrific price for a wonderful small estate wine
in Tuscany’s Maremma region. It has the same blend
as some of the Super Tuscans at three times the
price—50 percent sangiovese, 25 percent cabernet
sauvignon, and 25 percent merlot, making for a
well-structured complex red wine perfect with
bistecca all fiorentina.
Agricola
Vallone Vigna Flaminio Brindisi Riserva 2007
($15)—Five years of age have brought maturity to
this Apulian blend of malvasia nera,
montepulciano, and negroamaro, grapes only now
being recognized for their regional excellence,
with the power of the last varietal melding with
the silkiness of the first and softness of the
second.
Vinicola del Sannio
Barbera Vitigno 2011 ($14)—An unusual
barbera, the principal grape of Piedmont, in this
case a clone planted south of Naples in
Castelvenere in the region of Campania, where the
varietal has had this name since the mid-1800s. It
has vegetal notes in the background of sturdy
tannins, and is a young red wine that is both very
versatile, and extremely well priced.
John Mariani's wine
column appear bi-weekly in Bloomberg.com
❖❖❖
BUZZZZZZZ......
A Seattle woman named Beautiful
Existence who "designs year-long challenges for herself"
has decided this year
to eat only food from Starbucks and their acquisitions
Tazo Tea and Evolution Fresh. Her reason: "We're
really lucky and I would say actually spoiled as
Americans because we have all these different eating
options...You go to all these other countries and they
don't have these luxuries. Really? Is it really going
to be that hard for one year of my life to limit my
menu? We'll find out."
.
. . AND THEN YOU CAN GET INTO
THE MOVIE THEATERS FREE!!
Steven
Soderbergh says he is giving up directing films and is
now importing a Bolivian liquor named Singani. "Technically
it’s a brandy," he said. "I was turned onto it while I
was doing Che
and everybody on the crew got hooked. You don’t get that
burn in your throat like you do with most hard liquor,
so it’s dangerous. You can drink it like water and then
you’re invisible."
❖❖❖
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:
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.