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"Fox Grapes and Peaches" by Raphaelle Peale (1815)

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IN THIS ISSUE

MUSIC CITY MEMPHIS
By John Mariani

NEW YORK CORNER
PICHOLINE
By John Mariani

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

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MUSIC CITY MEMPHIS
By John Mariani

"In the quest to identify the roots of rock `n' roll, all roads lead to Memphis."--Smithsonian Institution

All you need to do to get a sense of the extraordinary depth of Memphis’ enduring music culture is to stroll down Beale Street, look down and, step by step, read the names on the brass plaques in the cement: W.C. Handy, B.B. King, Alberta Hunter, Robert Johnson, Albert King, Elvis Presley, the Staple Singers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Justin Timberlake, and 125 more--all of whom were born in, lived in or recorded in Memphis over the past century. Few cities could claim anything like such a group of musicians as influential as these, and no other city can claim to be the crucible of the Delta Blues.

Beale Street was once central to Memphis’s music scene. Bands played on the street as early as the 1860s, and by 1890 Beale had a Grand Opera House (later called the Orpheum). By the 1940s jazz and blues clubs lined the street; B.B. King was called “The Beale Street Blues Boy.” In 1977 an act of Congress declared Beale “Home of the Blues.”

But as early as the 1960s Beale Street was caught in the city’s downward spiral, with most buildings on the street boarded up over the next decade. Misguided redevelopment plans followed and sputtered, so that even though Beale Street (above) is still a prime entertainment attraction for tourists, there’s been little left to suggest this was ever the true Home of the Blues. This is about to change: The re-opening of The New Daisy, previously a 1937 movie theater, brings higher profile acts than in the past, with a balance of rock and roll, country and western, and hip hop, in partnership with Live Nation and Disco Donnie, and the renovation of The Palace Theater as a concert and events hall is now underway. And just this month The Memphis Music Hall of Fame has opened on Beale Street.

Fortunately, there are other thriving venues in Memphis that bespeak the city’s indelible influence on American music. It is never wise in Memphis to speak in less than hushed tones about Elvis, but a visit to his Graceland mansion sheds little light on the breadth and depth of the city’s musical heritage. But there are other places.
Foremost, perhaps, is Sam Phillips’ Sun Studio, which holds tours while still operating as a recording studio that looks pretty much the way it did when Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis and Johnny Cash recorded here. In fact, there’s a photo behind the entrance counter (left) of the only moment when the three of them were in the studio together. Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and others made their first recordings here, and the place is decked out with an astounding array of memorabilia, including rare 45 RPM wax cuttings, album covers, microphones and guitars. (One caveat: Although I was assured by a Sun Studio spokesperson that the premises are "fully up to Fire Code" and has three exits, the building is grandfathered, so there are no water sprinklers in the often-crammed recording studio.)

Stax Museum, though not a recording studio (the original was torn down), is in every way as important as Sun Studio, for it was here that many of the greatest sounds of soul music were created by artists like Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. Operated by Soulsville USA, which also operates the adjacent Stax Music Academy, this is a splendidly modern, well-lighted museum, and its exhibits recreate an old Southern church where the sounds of soul germinated in gospel music’s fertile spirit. The Wall of Sound is an array of thousands of the seminal soul music 45 RPM records through 1975, and there is a replica of Stax’s original recording studio, dozens of outfits and guitars of the stars, and even the astonishingly glitzy 1972 gold-trimmed Cadillac Eldorado that Isaac Hayes was given for the success of his music in the movie “Shaft.”
    The beginnings of Stax were due to Jim and Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton, founder of Satellite records, who moved and expanded into a Memphis movie theater in 1960 as Stax Records (a combo of their names). The first big hit was “Cause I Love You” by Rufus and Carla Thomas in 1960, and they kept coming fast--Booker T and the MGs's “Green Onions,” Carla Thomas’s “Gee Whiz,” Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’”--all of them available to listen to in the museum, along with video recordings of the artists’ performances.
    If these two venues were not enough, there is also the Memphis Rock n’ Soul Museum (below), on Beale Street, set over seven galleries that document in the most lively way the history of rock n’ roll in all its forms, from the field hollers of 1930s sharecroppers to the rock and soul music out of Sun Studio and Stax, to the global reach of rock n’ roll today. The museum’s digital audio tour guide holds five hours of information, including over 100 songs, and there are more than 30 instruments, 40 costumes and other musical treasures.
    The museum was developed in connection with Washington’s Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of American History, so you know everything has been done with impeccable credentials behind it. Certainly equal to Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and far richer than Portland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Memphis institution eschews mere spectacle in favor of true historicity.
    Not done yet? Memphis is also home to the W.C. Handy Home & Museum, dedicated to the “Father of the Blues” (below) and you can take a tour of the factory of Gibson Guitars, which for a century has turned out the stringed instruments that drove American music, both acoustical and electric.
    Brand new this May is the Blues Hall of Fame, opened by the Blues Foundation, just across the street from the National Civil Rights Museum. The hall is committed to preserving and celebrating America’s indigenous music, ever mindful of how many of the great artists, like B.B. King this year, have been lost. Induction into the Hall of Fame can be in any of five categories: Performers, Individuals, Classic of Blues Literature, Classic of Blues Recording (Song), Classic of Blues Recording (Album). The exhibits are dazzling--that's Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitar and shirt at left; the preservation of the music, some of it dating back to the earliest recordings, means we will always have it, and the sheer musicianship and variations on the blues are staggering, from Delta Blues (which began in Memphis) to the Chicago Sound, the Detroit Sound, Texas Blues, West Coast Blues and British Blues. It’s all here in rousing profusion.
    There are American cities with more art museums and natural history museums than Memphis, but none has the cultural breadth and depth of museums devoted to American musical history. Along with Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame, Tennessee can claim bragging rights no other states dare. Now, if Memphis can only bring back real blues and rock to Beale Street, everything will be cool again.

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NEW YORK CORNER
By John Mariani

picholine
35 West 64th Street (near Broadway)
212-724-8585
picholinenyc.com

Twenty-three years in the rough and ever changing NYC restaurant world is not just an accomplishment, it is an occasion to put things in perspective. When Terrence Brennan opened Picholine on the Upper West Side, the area was not known for upscale dining, but Brennan stirred the pot, to be followed by Per Se, Jean-Georges, Asiate, A Voce, Bar Boulud, Boulud Sud, Ed’s Chowder House, Dovetail, Telepan, Lincoln Ristorante and The Leopard at des Artistes, all playing host to a pre-theater/concert crowd before a more leisurely clientele arrives at eight. Thus, anyone who carps that dining at the highest level beyond Central Park South is improbable has simply not eaten there at all.

But Picholine really started the ball rolling, and Brennan (right) is widely recognized as one of the city's master chefs, whose cuisine has evolved in the most subtle and elegant way, never giving in to trends but always watchful for what is truly innovative, always with a Mediterranean undertone. The wait staff is seamlessly sewn into the fabric of refinement here, without ever crossing into rote, the 600-label wine list, selected by Nikolis Rouet, is as impressive as ever, and the cheese cart, while not quite as large as it once was, is now better focused and more user- friendly.

You enter Picholine (named after a French olive) from the relative quiet of West 64th Street into a bar area--called the Salon--with a cosmopolitan whiff of swank, a great place for a well-made cocktail and shortened menu after work or theater. Then, past dramatic lavender velvet curtains, you enter a room with gray mohair banquettes, wine-colored patterned carpet, a grand chandelier and very comfortable chairs--all defining the best connotations of being soigné. Beyond is another, slightly more intimate dining room. Needless to say, the linens, silver and stemware follow suit.

You are presented with excellent bread and butter, and soon come the amuses, which, on my recent visit, included a carrot “swizzler” made from dehydrated carrot, carrot chips, labna cheese spread and a spice mix called dukkah; a quail egg wrapped in brioche with caviar; and the engaging idea of manchego cheese tempura. The palate is indeed amused.

Along with Chef de Cuisine Justin Urso, Brennan presents a menu that is highly personalized but always within the Picholine tradition of French technique with seasonal American ingredients, never attempting to shock the palate or confuse the senses. Thus, there is a panna cotta of smoked sturgeon and (salty) wild American caviar, with beets and apples. A classic Italian wild mushroom risotto mixed with pecorino acquires American sweetness from summer’s corn and an enrichment of Australian black truffles.

Truffles, lemon and olive oil enhance pristine, raw, translucent Long Island fluke, and the soup that evening was a refreshing turn on white gazpacho, with a red gazpacho sorbet and the spark of pimentón chicarrón. Ricotta agnolotti in an artichoke barigoule was well rendered, and the taste of bottarga roe was mild enough, but the parsley pistou was pushing the dish too far.

Not so the sweet Maine lobster with a radish confit, simple sugar snap peas, and a lobster jus that, like all Brennan’s reductions, shows how indelible was his culinary education at restaurants like Le Cirque in NYC (which he once called “Haute Cuisine boot camp”) and Le Moulin de Mougins on the French Riviera.

Mid-meal fresh napkins are brought and a lovely objet d'art is placed on the table.
The delicacy of halibut “en crôute” with peas à la française (a condiment made of pea and onion confit, lettuce and rhubarb) and mint showed exceptional balance of flavors that could too easily overwhelm the others, just as in a dish of spotted skate wing, the spicy chorizo emulsion and Basquaise marmalade or peppers, onions, fennel and spices buoyed the flavor of the fish, and the paella's crispy socarrat of rice gave it another dimension.

Upon seeing “Four Story Hill suckling pig” on the menu, I feared Brennan might follow the French tradition of packing the pig into a roulade to no advantage, except to dry it out; instead it was a juicy piece of slowly cooked fatted pork with a thin sheet of crackling skin, with the flavors of a tangy, cured torpedo onion, sour-sweet peach mostardo and pickled mustard seeds.

With a meal of these dimensions, it’s difficult to save room for both cheese and dessert, but we were helpless in resisting when the cart with two dozen cheeses, amply described by Steve Lally, rolled to our table. Key to serving cheeses so that the guests’ appetites don’t flag is to cut and plate them quickly, which they do at Picholine with aplomb.

Desserts, by Matthew O'Haver, included a lovely, deeply flavored dark chocolate crèmeux, milk chocolate espuma and white chocolate semifreddo, and a lemon and olive tart with candied fennel, olive oil sorbet and basil, which pretty much sum up the consistent style of Picholine from start to finish. Of course, sorbets, ice creams, petits fours and chocolates ended off this grand feast While my wife and I finished our wine, I glanced to the vacated next table, where a busboy was replacing the tablecloth with a care and attention to detail--folds, creases, equal lengths--that showed how exquisitely well something so seemingly mundane can be, which is the mark of a great restaurant.

A few weeks ago I wrote of dining in Paris at L’Épicure, whose extraordinary food and service--including a cheese cart--I did not expect to find repeated very soon in my travels. But dining at Picholine was of that same level of excellence and professionalism on every count. What Picholine began twenty-two years ago has only been improved upon to serve as an inspiration to other chefs and restaurateurs who dare not dream so high on their own.

Picholine is open for dinner Tues.-Sat. ; fixed price 3- course dinner $105 (a la carte and vegetarian menus also available); pre-theater $88; 10-course tasting menu $195; wine pairing $125.

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NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

WHAT I’M DRINKING NOW

By John Mariani

I am constantly amazed how many well-regarded wineries can turn out such dreadful wines. I don’t mean the Two Buck Chuck category, I mean the $20 and above level whose winemakers quite obviously craft—and that’s the word—wines to taste a certain way for a certain market. From the days of Lancers Rosé and Blue Nun to today’s sweet, cloying Zinfandels and wholly insipid Pinot Grigios, wineries convinced their fans that wine is actually supposed to taste like soda or wood chips or sour water.

Thank heavens I have a lot of wine selections to draw on so that, for every terrible bottle I pour down the drain, there are several more—some surprisingly so—that reward me with a fine experience over lunch or dinner. And they are almost always made by a family.

Here are some of those.

Susana Balbo Crios Rosé of Malbec 2014 ($15)—Argentina’s first lady of wine, Susana Balbo (left) was an enviable reputation for her range of wines, although some of her big reds are too massive for my taste. It was a happy surprise, then, that this rosé made from Argentina’s best red grape had such refinement to it, with enough alcohol to bolster its fruit flavors. An ideal August aperitif than can go with any seafood that comes afterwards.

Noceto Sangiovese 2012 ($18)—Until now I’ve never had a California Sangiovese of any distinction—at least one winery even dared call theirs Brunello while others ripped the grapes out--and when I picked this from my cellar I thought, by the name, it was Italian, for it had a very Tuscan-style Sangiovese flavor and sensible alcohol level at 14.1%. Jim and Suzy Gullett in Shenandoah Valley have been working with the grape since 1987 and breeding shows, based on vines from imported Brunello scions. (Don’t tell anyone buy you can even buy it in a 3-liter bag for $60.)

La Fiorita Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2006 ($95)—Moving quite up the vine in Tuscany, this muscular but limber Brunello shows all the cachet a much-abused varietal can possess. With 14% alcohol it skirts the overripe, heady style that has crept into the region’s winemaking. Owners Natalie Oliveros and Roberto Cipresso look for finesse from fairly young vineyards called Poggio al Sole and Pian Bosselino, with an even newer one named Podere Giardinello. An excellent choice for duck, goose, and squab.

Santa Cristina 2011 ($11)—For a true Tuscan Sangiovese, at a 13% alcohol level that makes it always easy to drink with so many foods, Santa Cristina is as consistent as any commercial wine in Italy. As an I.G.T. wine it need not follow any particular formula, as with Chianti, but the Antinori family (right) guarantees the clean, versatility of a wine that is said to use some of the same fruit as in their D.O.C.G. Chiantis when there is an abundant vintage. If you like Mouton-Cadet as a French everyday wine, you’ll like this much better as an Italian that never disappoints.

Fortress Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 ($25)—The name may be brash and its symbol of an iron gate off-putting, but this Sonoma County wine from an excellent vintage is very accessible, very pleasing at 13.9% alcohol, and its complex Bordeaux blend of 82% Cab, 7% Syrah, 3% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec, 3% Cab Franc, and 3% “miscellaneous” shows that winemaker Charly dePottere is serious about getting just the right balance with focus on terroir. It’s an elegant wine, fairly feminine for a cab, and goes splendidly with steak on the grill.

Inman Family Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2013 ($35)—Kathleen Inman has always stayed true to her reverence for refinement of Meursault and Chablis, and you smell it immediately in the lovely bouquet, then taste its depth on the palate, with only a warm note of toasted nuts that hints at a sensible aging in new French oak. The vintage allowed big flavors to emerge from just 12.2% alcohol, which proves conclusively that those California winemakers who create bigger, oakier styles back at the winery are all out of whack with what Chardonnay should be.

Franciscan Estates Equilibrium White Blend 2014 ($19)—My goodness, what a well-named blended wine! Janet Myers (left) wanted a floral style with some nuanced tropical fruit and nailed it with this ensemble of 72% Sauvignon Blanc, 17% Chardonnay, and 11% Muscat, this last really giving it an unusually aromatic quality. Pretty is a good word for, and its ability to match up well with seafood and poultry makes you want to buy a case of it.

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WELL, IT'S BETTER THAN "BUCKWHEAT"

BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse announced that the first family to name their child “Quinoa” between Labor Day and October 21 of this year will be awarded $10,000 in gift cards to BJ’s. BJ’s is also offering rewards if you change your name to “Quinoa” on Twitter, the restaurant will give you a $10 off $35 coupon.

MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John Mariani. Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani, Robert Mariani, Misha Mariani, John A. Curtas, Edward Brivio, Mort Hochstein, Andrew Chalk, Dotty Griffith and Brian Freedman. Contributing Photographers: Galina Dargery, Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.