A GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT
The Hound in Heaven (21st Century Lion Books) 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 his master back from the edge of despair. 


WATCH THE VIDEO!

    Like every building in Paris up until a decade ago, The Ritz was once a gritty dark gray, as it was when Gary Cooper seduced Audrey Hepburn there in the 1957 movie Love in the Afternoon (right). Now, carefully scrubbed clean, the façade of the great hotel glows with a Chanel-like beige, behind which is a new glittering interior whose own lighting makes the venerable old hallways and dated suites now among the most vibrant in the city.

    New York-based designer Thierry W Despont enlisted an army of a thousand workmen and artisans to restore, re-assemble, refine and redeem every square inch of the five huge connected buildings, one a former ducal residence dating to1705, the garden to 1898, a 1911  hotel addition on the Rue Cambon, and four two-story townhouses with roof terraces.  The trick was to do it all without destroying its character, retaining as many fixtures, paintings and decorative flourishes as possible.  The new Ritz was not to be a museum, however. Seventy-eight new paint colors were trademarked; all needed to be approved by various landmark committees.

  Now with 142 suites and rooms (reduced from 159),  The Ritz would still be immediately recognizable to its celebrated clientele over the past century—right down to the gold swan bathroom fixtures—from Marcel Proust to Maria Callas.  Ernest Hemingway, who wrote, “"When I dream of an afterlife in heaven, the action always takes place at the Ritz Paris," is once again commemorated at the evocative Hemingway Bar (below), now a fresher version of all that regulars have loved about the room and still manned by the redoubtable bartender Colin Field, who actually served as The Ritz’s ambassador to the world during the four-year closure.

    Now, walking through the lobby, checking in at the airy front desk, strolling by the sumptuous, book-filled Salon Proust and through the Gallery lined with five posh boutiques and 95 showcases, you no longer have the hushed sense of moving down a church nave; instead, you experience what might be called a new Belle Époque in Paris, for all the grand châteaux hotels—the Plaza-Athenée, Le Meurice, Le Bristol, the Crillon and the George V—have been given similar treatments.

     Bought in 1979 by Mohammed Al-Fayed and given a  make-over in the mid-1980s that included a two-story wellness spa, a private members' club and the Ritz Escoffier Cooking School, the hotel never lacked for an affluent clientele, but the pall cast on its being the last residence of Princess Diana and her lover, Dodi Fayed, before their death in a high-speed car chase never wholly lifted.  Now, though, where once entry to The Ritz might cause doleful remembrance, that tragedy has melted into a bittersweet memory among many in the hotel’s long history.

    Clearly, while restoring the best of the old Ritz, what was once considered comfortable luxury even twenty years ago would now be considered passé and out-of-date, so that air-conditioning, wi-fi, hidden wiring for all business requirements, a spectacular new Spa and Pool (the largest in Paris) with trompe l’oeil ceiling, and, perhaps most significant, modern bathrooms that are more spacious and bathed in natural light.

    I had occasion last June to dine at and report on the new Les Jardins de L’Éspadon, the more casual dining room next to the formal L’Éspadon Restaurant (where I have yet to dine), where I have not dined, both overseen by Chef Nicholas Sale, who also runs a cooking school for up to 40 people.  Within five months of opening last year, the former garnered one Michelin star, the latter raised to two. As my report indicated, Les Jardins is suffused with light in an orangerie-style room, with excellent modern French cuisine and, as I learned at breakfast, some of the best croissants in Paris and a pain perdue—French toast to us—that’s already becoming a signature item. Lunch prices at Le Jardin are 95€ to 145€.

    The dining room at L’Éspadon (left) is far brighter than it used to be, though largely in the ornate style of its predecessor; the menu is very lavish and jaw-droppingly expensive: dinner is both á la carte, with main courses up to 120€, and prix fixe of five courses 195€, for seven courses, 340€, without wine; tax and service are included.

    Of course, everything at The Ritz is expensive—rooms in December start at 1,000€.  How could it be otherwise? Obviously, you are paying not just for the posh and the history but also for brigades of people behind the scenes—the florists and gardeners, the pool maintenance crew, the wedding and banquet planners, the engineers, upholsterers, chambermaids, a staff whose members speak a dozen languages, scores of cooks, patîssiérs, breadmakers, maître d’s, captains, waiters, sommeliers, security—those who move quietly, often unnoticed but always at the ready.  photo George

    The Ritz Paris is open again, and Hemingway’s dreams are all intact.

CHIMICHURRI GRILL EAST
133 East 61st Street (near Lexington Avenue)
646-707-0801

 

     The Brazilian steakhouse, including a couple of chains in the U.S., has pretty much had a lock on South American restaurants outside of the Bronx and Queens, largely, I think, because it’s a lot of fun to help yourself to gargantuan meals of skewered meats along with apps and salads.

    Nevertheless, Argentinians are South America’s great beef eaters, who couldn’t care less if they get their orange juice in the morning as long as they get a steak at night.  In every neighborhood of Buenos Aires there seems to be a restaurant with a wood-fired grill heaped with sausages, sweetbreads, kidneys, langoustines, and various cuts of beef.  And, given Argentina’s large Italian population, there are good pastas to be found in abundance.

    All of this is what makes Chimichurri Grill East (the original, smaller Chimichurri is on Ninth Avenue, with almost an identical menu) a very welcome introduction to Argentina’s cuisine, and, despite a menu loaded with cuts of grilled beef, you could have a sumptuous meal of appetizers like firm polenta sticks topped with Argentine blue cheese ($12), littleneck clams in white wine and chorizo ($18), and much, much more.

    The restaurant is in two parts: Up front is the well laid-out bar, where you can sit at a glossy marble counter or tables and feast on small plates (there’s a happy hour menu). Then there is a small rose-colored lounge followed by a wholly unexpected large dining room with a huge crystal chandelier, marble fireplace and molded wainscoting. The experience of going from one room to the other is like the astronaut in 2001: Space Odyssey going through a time warp and finding himself in some neoclassical room, complete with tables set with thick, double cloths.

    The menu is wide-ranging, from small plates and salads to pastas—Argentina has an enormous Italian population and Buenos Aires many fine Italian restaurants—to items from the grill. I invite you to check out Chimichurri’s website, whose gallery teems with photos of irresistible dishes. I asked chef/co-owner Carlos Darquea  (left) to just keep bringing out food from every category, an idea he was excited by, so you should ask him the same.

    We began with a slew of regional empanadas within crisp pastry ($12), one of beef, one of chicken, one of Swiss chard and manchego cheese (below), along with a hefty platter of Argentine chorizo, blood sausage, Spanish chorizo ($21), which went very nicely paired with a vinegar-and-old graced watercress salad ($10).

    The two pastas we tried were excellent, one “ravioles de mi vieja” ($21)—“mom’s ravioli”—that really did have a homey, robust, good-for-you size and flavor, and house-made pappardelle ribbons with a ragù made from ribeye ($26), giving it plenty of rich fat in the sauce, along with Malbec red wine and just enough tomato to add sweetness. 

    There were four of us at the table, but we took food home after doing our best to finish a 16-ounce gaucho ribeye of grass-fed Black Angus South American beef ($58), luscious grilled baby lamb chops ($48), a filet mignon with a rich blue cheese sauce ($38). We did not take home the crispy polenta fries lavished with blue cheese ($14), because they were polished off greedily.  The same result with the quemada (“burnt”) cauliflower ($10).

    I’ve inveighed more than once about the ubiquity of farmed sea bass served in restaurants, so I was very happy to see and taste wild branzino (market price) at Chimichurri, a wonderfully meaty, flavorful fish grilled and glossed with olive oil and lemon.

Prices overall are remarkable for the size of the portions, including a parrillada tradicional for two composed of short ribs, hanger steak, pork and blood sausages and potatoes at $75.

    After such a hearty meal, desserts may seem too much of a good thing, but they are very, very good, including a crêpe with dulce de leche sauce (left); chocolate crème brûlée with a spark of cayenne; and a crisp and thin caramelized apple crêpe topped with homemade caramel ice cream (all $12).

    If you are curious as to how far the Argentine wine industry has come, you could start with Chimichurri’s list, one of the most extensive of its kind, with plenty of bottlings you don’t see anywhere else. Carlos is the one to ask for some special selections, which are sold at fair prices.

    You’ll see a number of Argentinians at Chimichurri—and they have a tango night on Tuesdays—including families who long for this kind of food. NYC is lucky to have two such restaurants, which are as close to the best you’ll find outside of Buenos Aires.

 

Open Mon.-Sat. for lunch, and dinner.

 

 

 

    With so many restaurants claiming to be serving USDA Prime beef and wagyu from the most exclusive Japanese purveyor, I thought I'd get closer to the truth of the matter by interviewing Jack Matusek (left), Founder of Raw Republic Meats and co-author, with s5 butchers from around the world of  Butchers’ Manifesto.

 

Q: The amount of certified USDA Prime beef traditionally has never been more than two percent of the beef market, yet scores of steakhouses are opening around the U.S. claiming they serve Prime.  How is that possible?

 

A: The growing demand for Prime grade beef has triggered ranchers to find ways to maximize the amount of Prime grade beef they can produce. Ranchers are now spending huge amounts of money (sometimes in the six-digit range) on bulls or semen that will produce offspring that will exhibit the money trait: marbling. John Mayer of Guymon, Oklahoma, has bought many of these “super bulls” in the past few years and has increased his Prime beef output dramatically. According to Texas Akaushi rancher Tony Spears, some outfits, such as 44 Farms, are now boasting 40% of their output as Prime grade beef. 

 

 

Q: So it is possible to increase the amount of Prime—which must be inspected and graded by the USDA—or are these suppliers simply claiming it is Prime?

 

A: Ty Lawrence, an animal science professor at West Texas A&M, is currently investigating whether cattle cloning is the answer to the prime beef demand. After spotting the greatest prime carcass of his career, he gained permission to clone a bull from DNA in the carcass. The result, Alpha, was then bred to three other Prime clone heifers at a research study at West Texas A&M. The offspring already are taking on all the desired physical traits as well as sporting an incredibly tough immune system. 

    Feeding ratios have also become important as ranchers look for the perfect blends of proteins to give their beef advantages in flavor, tenderness, and marbling over their competitors. Corn continues to remain in the process as it remains the most efficient way to fatten cattle. Today, the Prime beef cattle now control 3% of the total market due to increased genetic and feeding control. As the demand for high-quality beef continues to rise, expect more ranchers to turn to genetics to fill American bellies.

 

Q:  And how is it that, aside from obtaining Prime beef, can these steakhouses buy it dry-aged?

 

A: For thousands of years, the only form of aging had been dry aging. Beef is hung in the carcass form, primals or subprimals, at near freezing temperatures with heavy ventilation for weeks on end. During this period, enzymes began breaking down muscle tissue, which makes the meat more tender. At the same time, the meat loses moisture, which concentrates flavors within the meat.

    

Dry aged beef from DeBragga Butchers, NYC

     The downside of this method is that the meat must be heavily trimmed, which drives the price up. The moldy, crusty faces of the meat must be discarded, but still must be accounted for. 

The invention of vacuum packing in the 1970s brought about “wet aging,” whereby meat is placed in a plastic bag and stored in a refrigerator (right). This method allows the meat to age in its own juices, sometimes leaving behind a slight metallic flavor. When using this technique, the meat doesn’t have to be trimmed, saving a lot of meat and keeping costs down.

    Today, a vast majority of the beef market uses wet-aging techniques, somewhere around 95%. Dry aging is a very expensive business to get into. Customers should check the restaurant menu and make sure it specifically states “Dry aged for xx days.” Want a little more confirmation? Ask to see the dry aging setup.

 

Q: Is all American beef aged to a degree?

A: Just about all beef is aged at least 7 to 14 days, usually in the harvesting facilities. From there, the carcass is broken down and used in a number of ways. Most often, you will see dry-aged steaks anywhere from 28 to 48 days. This is an ideal time frame for aging as the meat has started to tenderize and some flavors have started to concentrate and develop. I have seen steaks aged past 400 days. Knife, a John Tesar restaurant in Dallas, experiments with a wide range of dry-aged steaks. When steaks are aged past 100 days, the flavors become very intense and cheese like, which can be off-putting to some.

 

Q: Then there’s the question of wagyu, once wholly unavailable in the U.S. Now it seems ubiquitous.

 

A: I have only worked with Texas Wagyu a few times and I have yet to make it to Japan and Australia to really grasp the essence of this phenomenon, so I am by no means an expert on that subject. Yet, the Wagyu/Kobe mystique still shrouds the American mind and wallet, so I’d love to give you my take on it. 

 

Kobe grades

  A few years ago, I read a Forbes article by Larry Olmsted in which he separated fact from fiction when it comes to Wagyu and Kobe beef in the United States. He has since published an updated article on the Kobe movement as well as a book, Real Food, Fake Food. My Wagyu information stems from his writings as well as a few Texas Wagyu breeders I’ve visited.

    In 1976, the U.S. began its import of Japanese beef, Wagyu.  Wagyu is broken into four breeds of cattle (below): Akaushi (Red and Brown), Kuroushi (Black), Japanese Polled, and Japanese Short Horned. Tajima-gyu, the only breed that can be certified “Kobe,” is a strain of The Black Kuroushi (below), which makes up about 90% of cattle raised in Japan. Over the next two decades, bulls, heifers, and genetics made their way to the United States shores. In 2010, the U.S. placed a ban on Wagyu because of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Japan. It is for this reason that a lot of prized Brazilian and Argentinean beef doesn’t reach the United States.  In August 2012, the U.S. began allowing small amounts of Kobe beef to be imported.  

    I like to say Kobe beef is like Champagne. If it isn’t produced in the Champagne region of France, it isn’t champagne. It's not just the grapes that produce the wine’s flavor, but all the environmental factors, like soil, rain patterns, and airflow, that effect the end product—the terroir, a French word for “sense of place.” 

    My expertise is in charcuterie and there is a similar phenomenon with Prosciutto di Parma (below). Prosciutto from this area is prized due to the pigs being raised in ideal circumstances, and for the weather. The dry, fragrant air sweeps off the Apennine Mountains, creating a perfect environment for curing meat and imparting a unique flavor that cannot be replicated. If the entire product isn’t produced in Parma, it isn’t Proscuitto di Parma.  

    This “Kobe beef mania” has grown due to false labeling and advertising. Because USDA labeling laws are very vague (non-existent when dealing with Japanese beef), many restaurants slap the “Kobe beef” or “Kobe-styled Beef” label on their product and get away with it. The animals they are selling might have been just a ¼ Wagyu and ¾ Angus and raised in Texas, but the general public doesn’t know the difference. A vast majority of the Wagyu that you see in the states have been crossbred with native cattle breeds to better adapt the foreign breed to their new environments. There are only about a dozen authorized dealers of Kobe beef in the states and I’ve provided an up-to-date list here.  

    With only 4,000 head of cattle meeting the requirements of “Kobe Beef” each year, chances are that much of the American public hasn’t touched it. Last year, the United States as a whole received just over 600 pounds of certified Kobe beef from Japan. 

Q: If an importer or restaurateur wanted to pay for the real wagyu and Kobe, how would he go about it?

 

A: If you were going to get into the meat business, I’d advise planning some producer visits. The only way to really know what you are putting in customers’ mouths is to go visit the source. I know a number of good quality ranches that produce Prime grade beef, such as 44 Farms, but many are already overwhelmed due to current demand.

      If you were going to open a steakhouse chain tomorrow, my number one stop would be 7X. The all-natural beef coming out of Colorado cattle is some of the best out there and they can handle quantity as well.

    As far as authentic Kobe beef, my best advice would be to book a flight to Japan and go shake some hands. I think Japanese producers are much more likely to deal with someone they have met in person rather than a random person they received an email from. I made my way around Europe in a similar fashion. After sending countless emails, I went and knocked on the doors of butcher shops until someone let me in the door to work for them.

 

Q: And what exactly is kosher beef?

 

A: Kosher beef is beef fit for Jewish consumption. The cattle must be slaughtered in a very ritualistic manner by a highly skilled butcher of high moral character. Cattle are usually chained by the leg to separate corners of the room and then given an inspection. If the animal passes the physical inspection, the butcher uses a very quick motion to slice through the throat and major blood vessels in the steer’s neck and the animal bleeds out while still conscious. It is a very stressful slaughter and the meat quality is certainly affected because of it. The organs are then submitted to another rigorous inspection and then the front half of the carcass is deveined under rabbinical supervision. The posterior end of the steer is too difficult to devein and is usually sold as non-kosher beef.

 

 

                                                                                                                                          ❖❖❖

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
By John Mariani

 

GOD FORBID YOU SHOULD GET A LITTLE
FISH BLADDER IN YOUR CALIFORNIA CHARDONNAY!

“It’s complicated [making vegetarian wines.] After wines have fermented, winemakers often depend on a practice called fining to remove impurities. In red wines, for instance, fining agents remove excess tannins. In white wines, they remove proteins that can make wine look cloudy. Traditionally, these fining agents have been made from animal products: egg whites for red wines and a derivative of fish bladders, called isinglass, for whites. But a growing number of Napa wineries are foregoing animal-derived fining agents — whether to be vegan friendly or simply because they want to produce wines that are as natural as possible. Currently there are at least two dozen Napa Valley wineries, regularly open to the public, that pour wines that are vegan friendly, whether labeled as such or not.”—Peter Fish, “How Much of the Wine You Drink Is Truly Vegan,” SF.com (11.12.17)