MARIANI’S
Virtual Gourmet
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IN THIS ISSUE NEW ENGLAND IN WINTER NANTUCKET By Dotty Griffith NEWBURYPORT By Mort Hochstein NEW YORK CORNER `21' CLUB By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR WHAT I'M DRINKING NOW By John Mariani ❖❖❖ NEW ENGLAND IN WINTER "Such is a winter eve. Now for a merry fire, some old poet's pages, or else serene philosophy, or even a healthy book of travels to last far into the night, eked out perhaps with the walnuts which we gathered in November."--Henry David Thoreau, 1906. NANTUCKET By Dotty Griffith
Island-hopping in the fall that
includes a hop to Nantucket might seem
counterintuitive--especially if you are among
those who flock to the fashionable Atlantic
vacation destination during the summer, wearing
properly faded Nantucket reds. In fact, there’s
not a lot going on during the lull between
Columbus Day and Christmas Stroll weekend in early
December. That’s the beauty of a hop to Nantucket
in the off-season. Arno’s Breakfast and
Seafood Restaurant, where we had yet
another version of the lobster roll, this one with
chopped celery blended with the lobster filling.
Great for adding some crunch. Here we also tried a
stuffed quahog, clam on the half shell baked with a
spicy stuffing on top, a Nantucket specialty also
known as a “stuffie.” The best thing about Nantucket off-season: no lines. Fewer options, granted, but no lines!! True, weather can be a challenge. We spent a night in Hyannis waiting for the winds to calm enough for the ferry trip across. Winds stayed high, so we ended up taking Cape Air. Really not a huge deal. Sure the weather was cool and rainy part of the time; even better for holing up with a good book before and after a “scolloping” adventure. Dotty Griffith is a Dallas-based food writer and cookbook author. Her website is www.truetexascuisine.com
NEWBURYPORT
Newburyport is a seacoast
community north of Boston and resembles in many
ways better-known hamlets on Cape Cod, such as
Hyannis and Provincetown. Its attractive harbor,
flanked by green parks,is dotted with sails, and
the town is well served by a commuter rail line
and express buses to Boston.
Ceia,
meaning dinner or feast in Portuguese, is her
flagship, a three-floor canteen overlooking State
Street in the heart of downtown Newburyport. Chef
Brandon Baltzley, whose resume includes a stint with
Ferran Adria in Spain as well as the kitchens of
Restaurant Nora in Washington and CRUX in
Pittsburgh, makes his own cheeses from locally
produced goat’s milk.
His innovative repertoire includes a lamb
shoulder roulade with black truffle, black kale and
black radish; savory pies with salt cod, snails,
potatoes and cardamon; and octopus with sweet potato
and celery in chili soup. The menu changes
almost every evening and reflects Ms. Caswell’s
Portuguese and Mediterranean upbringing.
Ceia Kitchen, 38 State Street, Newburyport, Ma.
01950. Phone: 978-358-8112. Large plates $16 for a
signature burger to short ribs, $36, lobster at
market price. Open daily.
BRINE Following up
on the success of Ceia in 2011, Ms. Caswell
opened Brine,
just across the street, a place she characterizes as
the only oyster, crudo and
chop bar in the greater Boston area. It’s a smaller
operation, with just sixty seats in a slender,
brick-walled dining room. Brine, 29 State Street, Newburyport, Ma., 978
358 8479. Open daily.
MICHAEL’S
HARBORSIDE
Michael's,
set along the Merrimac River about a half mile from
center city, is a favorite of locals and boaters
docking at nearby marinas, as well as a tourist
destination. A local recommended Michael's as
a great place to dine on the water. The rambling
outdoor deck, often jam-packed on sunny days and
warm nights, is a pleasant place to sip wine or beer
while watching ships and sailboats pass along the
river. The service is fine and the food is standard
seafood, with enough meat and chicken to satisfy
those who do not like fish, the sort of menu you
might find almost anywhere along the New England
coast. One
Tournament Wharf • 978.462.7785; Open daily.
GROG
If I were a resident, this basic pub just
off State Street would be my local. Even in the
heart of tourist country, hometown familiars
predominated during our visits, and that’s always a
good sign. Food and drink prices are reasonable and
the beer flows freely from 32 taps, which has to be
a high mark of some sort. The
Grog Restaurant • 13 Middle Street • 978 465-8008
Full menu from 11:30 a.m. 'till 9 p.m. Open daily.
❖❖❖ NEW YORK CORNER
❖❖❖By John Mariani '21' CLUB
Of all the historic restaurants in
New York City--like Delmonico’s, which was the
first fine dining
restaurant to open in America, back in 1831,
Barbetta, still in the same Italian family since
1906, and The Four Seasons, a design masterpiece
from 1959--none has had the storied past of `21’
Club, more familiarly known to regulars as `21’
and referred to by old-timers as “The Numbers.” I find it
ironic that so many new steakhouses in NYC, as
well as the brand new Polo by Ralph Lauren, have
the exact dishes on their menus that `21’ has
posted for fifty years, and I suspect that
restaurateurs pondering a restaurant in the mold
of `21’ have done a lot of secret research at its
tables. For
those who haven’t been back to `21’ in a while,
it’s high time you see how well it has evolved,
even within the past year; for those who have
always wanted to go but shied away, I guarantee a
warm welcome from the doorman and everyone else;
and for those who never dined there, thinking `21’
not worth their time, I can tell you that you are
missing one of the great and historic
restaurant experiences in the city. `21’ Club is located at 21 West 52nd Street (off Fifth Avenue); 212-582-7200; 21club.com. Open for lunch Mon.-Fri., for dinner Mon.-Sat. There is a $41 fixed price lunch (and à la carte), and Pre-Theater dinner at $49. For a dinner reservation there is six hours of validated parking for $10 at Central Parking, 31 West 52nd Street.
NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
WHAT I'M
DRINKING NOW
By John Mariani
The blasts of
winter make the choice of full-bodied wines
a little too easy, and, as always, I pick my
wines to go with my food. Here
are a number I’ve been enjoying recently.
Tenuta
Santa
Maria alla Pieve Amarone della Valpolicella 2007
($75-$85)—If you want a really big red, amarones
are bred to please. With 15% alcohol, they need
equally big flavors as a complement—a beef stew
does the job, great with curries—and this example,
now seven years old, has tamed down its tannins
and reveals an old-fashioned style that is
leathery and raisiny. Owners Gaetano Bertani and
his sons ,Giovanni and Guglielmo, are keeping
tradition alive and well at its estate in Veneto (left).
Caiarossa
2009 ($70)—Here’s a well-priced Tuscan
wine that hikes the paltry-sounding designation indicazione
geografica tipica (IGT) to the heights
non-traditional wines can achieve there. It is a
cuvée, with a good deal of Bordeaux and other
grape additions like merlot and cab franc, along
with local sangiovese. The wines are made
biodynamically. The 2009 is a blend of 25% cab
franc, 21% merlot, 19% sangiovese, 18% cab
sauvignon, 8% petit verdot, 6% syrah and 3%
Alicante, and it takes some time in the glass to
reveal its full beauty. Yangarra
Estate
Vineyard McLaren Vale Shiraz 2010
($20-$26)—Another quarterback of a red wine, this
Aussie shiraz is not to be drunk on its own, but
with spicy dishes like smoked meats with
horseradish and mustard, it more than holds its
own. Winemaker Peter Fraser knows how to get
maximum taste without too much bombast. Sassicaia
2010 ($165)—If I’m feeling in a very good
mood, or want to celebrate just about
anything--like roast baby lamb with roesti
potatoes for New Year’s Day--the great cabernet
sauvignon-based Tuscan wine Sassicaia is a
no-brainer. Its boldness, its complexity, and its
refinement is Italian wine at its grandest. Once a
wine consumed only at the estate by family and
friends, its arrival on the global wine scene in
1968 literally sparked the media term “Super
Tuscan." The 20120 will continue to ascend
in maturity for the next five years.
Nickel
&
Nickel Suscol Ranch Merlot
($38-$45)—Another example of a California merlot
that shows many levels of depth and far-reaching
palate pleasure.
Named for the Suscol Indians in Napa
Valley, it has a lustiness you don’t always get in
merlot, along with a nice toasty oak, at just
14.2% alcohol.
The nine-acre vineyard (left) south
of the city of Napa is cooler than elsewhere in
the valley, and it gets dense fog and wine that
maintain those soft temperatures, with no real
spikes of heat or cold. If it weren’t so hard to
make great wines, Nickel & Nickel would make
it seem easy.
Paul
Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 ($80-$86)—I
won’t take back what I just said about California
cabs, but if Paul Hobbs (below) were to eliminate the
small percentages of petit verdot (3%), malbec
(1%) and cab franc (1%), this would be a candidate
showing just how well the main
varietal can be on its own. But
those small additions, from various estates,
smooth out the cab’s fleshiness and its 14.8%
alcohol level.
The richer the food, the creamier the
sauce, the more char the surface of red meat will
only enhance the pleasure of this wine. Les
Portes de Bordeaux Haut Médoc 2012
($10-$15)—Remember the James Thurber New Yorker
cartoon about a wine being “a naive
domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I
think you'll be amused by its presumption”? Well,
though not a domestic Burgundy, this Haut Médoc
Bordeaux at 13% shows exactly the consistent
flavor and flair that a fresh French wine does at
a good price.
Aside from seafood and dessert, it’s hard
to think of any food this would not go well with
tonight. It is indeed a wine that induces
happiness. Arnaldo-Caprai
Montefalco Rosso 2010 ($15-$17)—Four
years of age has given this blend of 70%
sangiovese, 15% sagrantino, and 15% merlot both
density and finesse, though the alcohol is a
little high for an Umbrian wine. Arnaldo-Caprai is
one of the most dependable estates in the region,
and a very good buy. A very good wine with a
ribeye or bistecca alla fiorentina. La Pointe Pomerol
2011
($28-$30)—The wines of Pomerol are among
those that I kick myself for not drinking more of. When I
do I’m almost always enchanted with wines made
from vines planted in clay-rich soils. This second
wine from La Pointe (they also make a Grand Vin),
whose vines average 35 years of age, is made from
merlot with 15% cabernet franc, and can be kept in
the wine cellar for a decade, but it’s hard not to
love the 2011 that is blossoming so beautifully
right now.
Capezzana Barco Reale
di Carmignano 2011 ($11-$15)—Carmignano,
usually a blend of sangiovese, cab
sauvignon, cab franc, and canaiolo, has not
yet achieved the familiarity of other northern
Italian varietals, but well-priced examples like
Capezzana, grown on an estate that dates back to the
Medicis, should
go a long way to change that. Its equilibrium of
fruit, acid and tannins, with 13.5% alcohol, make
for a textbook example of what wine is supposed to
taste like.
If you can’t obtain partridge or pheasant,
a plump chicken will do. ❖❖❖ THE STUPID
CHRONICLES, PART 287
Ryan Roche (left) of Utah engaged in an eggnog drinking contest at which he downed a quart carton in 12 seconds, 10 faster than the previous record. Later that evening, Roche went to the hospital, nauseous and unable to breathe. Eggnog had entered his lungs, causing an infection, forcing him onto IV antibiotics for three days.
"Fusion
cuisine is the food world’s hair metal."--Josh
Sens, “Down the Rabbit Hole,” San Francisco
Magazine (Dec 12, 2014).
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Any of John Mariani's books below may be ordered from amazon.com. I'm proud and happy to announce that my new book, The Hound in Heaven (21st Century Lion Books), has just been published through Amazon and Kindle. It is a novella, and for anyone who loves dogs, Christmas, romance, inspiration, even the supernatural, I hope you'll find this to be a treasured favorite. The story concerns how, after a New England teacher, his wife and their two daughters adopt a stray puppy found in their barn in northern Maine, their lives seem full of promise. But when tragedy strikes, their wonderful dog Lazarus and the spirit of Christmas are the only things that may bring back his master back from the edge of despair. WATCH THE VIDEO! “What a huge surprise turn this story took! I was completely stunned! I truly enjoyed this book and its message.” – Actress Ali MacGraw “He had me at Page One. The amount of heart, human insight, soul searching, and deft literary strength that John Mariani pours into this airtight novella is vertigo-inducing. Perhaps ‘wow’ would be the best comment.” – James Dalessandro, author of Bohemian Heart and 1906. “John Mariani’s Hound in Heaven starts with a well-painted portrayal of an American family, along with the requisite dog. A surprise event flips the action of the novel and captures us for a voyage leading to a hopeful and heart-warming message. A page turning, one sitting read, it’s the perfect antidote for the winter and promotion of holiday celebration.” – Ann Pearlman, author of The Christmas Cookie Club and A Gift for my Sister. “John Mariani’s concise, achingly beautiful novella pulls a literary rabbit out of a hat – a mash-up of the cosmic and the intimate, the tragic and the heart-warming – a Christmas tale for all ages, and all faiths. Read it to your children, read it to yourself… but read it. Early and often. Highly recommended.” – Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling author of Pinkerton’s War, The Sinking of The Eastland, and The Walking Dead: The Road To Woodbury. “Amazing things happen when you open your heart to an animal. The Hound in Heaven delivers a powerful story of healing that is forged in the spiritual relationship between a man and his best friend. The book brings a message of hope that can enrich our images of family, love, and loss.” – Dr. Barbara Royal, author of The Royal Treatment.
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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.
Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani,
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Mariani,
John A. Curtas, Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein,
Andrew Chalk, Dotty Griffith and Brian Freedman. Contributing
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