The circumference of the volcanic island of Sardinia, all 1,149 miles of it, is a series of scooped out scallops, with bays, shoals and inlets, crab-like claws of land and offshore juttings of massive rock structures pushed up from the Western Mediterranean. To the north is Corsica, to the east the Tyrrhenian Sea and Sicily, to the south the edge of Africa. Such a location would seem to make Sardinia central to the export of Mediterranean seafood, yet there is no large-scale seafood industry on the island, whose economy is devoted overwhelmingly to livestock and agriculture.

    This all has the effect of allowing the Sardinians to enjoy a constant supply of local seafood along with excellent meats, cheeses and, now, a thriving wine sector that has adapted to modern viniculture. Sardinian pecorino, made from sheep’s milk, is the finest in Italy, and its suckling pig, porceddu, is succulent and sweet. Wild boar is available in season and seasonal seafood year-round, including the revered bottarga mullet roe.  Its most famous bread, called pane carasau or carta di musica (music paper) is exceptionally thin and wafer-like (left), set on every table when you sit down. The wines to drink include Cannonau, Vernaccia, Malvasia and Vermentino, though the Sardinians drink a lot more local beer than wine.

    As everywhere in Italy, the trattorias are maintaining the old traditions while new ristoranti are refining those same traditions in respectful ways.  Three weeks ago I wrote about my visiting the western city of Alghero’s La Boqueria, the trattoria in the fish market where it would be impossible to find fresher seafood, all of it brought in that day, all of it sold by eleven a.m. I feasted on half a dozen platters of it—fried, broiled, grilled, steamed. including glorious langoustines (right). It was my introduction to Sardinian cuisine, and over the next week I learned and loved a great deal about the variety of the food and the gusto of the Sardinians at both traditional and modern restaurants there.

 

 

IL CORALLO

Via Filli Kennedy 20

39 079 982772

    Located on a street named in honor of the Kennedy Brothers, Il Corallo is a white-walled barebones trattoria that nevertheless has draped tables and abstract artwork on the walls. Chef Tonino del Rio is the maestro in the kitchen, and, at a long table of local winemakers and food writers, I was astounded at what he sent out—a panoply of a dozen wonderful dishes, all with cadenced dispatch, set down family style.

    We began with a marvelous carpaccio of pesce spada (swordfish) of briny freshness and rose red triglie (mullet) marinated in orange juice (left). Then came seppie (cuttlefish) of mild flavor (they so often can taste fishy if not unstintingly fresh) with ripe tomatoes (right).  There was a little salad of sweet peppers and sliced zucchini, then meaty monkfish with artichokes, and tender grilled octopus with a “caviar” made from highly reduced olive oil.

    Rasa (ray) was dressed simply with arugula and served with purple potato chips, while fat gambero (shrimp) shared the plate with a puree of porcini mushrooms on toast.  Mussels were fried with a light tempura crust and came lashed with a lemony cream sauce, then came a bowl of linguine tossed with buttery sea urchins and morsels of tomato. 

    Excellent softened pecorino and some warm, soft cookies ended off this splendid dinner, whose diversity would be difficult to find reproduced anywhere outside of the Mediterranean. You may hear that the sea is being over-fished, but you won’t see that in Alghero.

    I can’t really give you an idea of what all that would cost per person, but for a three- to four-course meal, without wine, figure on about €40.

 

Open Wed.-Mon. for lunch and dinner.

 

 

TRATTORIA MARCO POLO

Via Cavour 46

39 079 973 8476

 

    Somewhat more creative, but still simply rendered, was the cooking at Trattoria Marco Polo, a new place in the historic center with a beautiful barrel vault brick ceiling, perfect lighting, a blackboard menu and a coziness that makes everyone joyous to be within its two small rooms.  If I ever owned a restaurant, this is what I’d want it to look and feel like.

    Stefania welcomes everyone at the front and makes sure your evening will be an enchantment, while Gianluca mans the stoves, sending out a first course of local charcuterie, a beef carpaccio with arugula and tomato, and sweet eggplant alla parmigiana.  I was swooning over a browned gratinata of Sardinian cheeses and zucchini (left).

    The pastas that evening were local favorites: culurzones, a large ravioli stuffed with potato, cheese, mint and saffron with a tomato ragù, and wide ribbon pappardelle with olives, batons of fennel and a rich wild boar ragù.

    Then came Sardinian porceddu (right), glistening roast suckling pig flavored with myrtle, the meat suffused with its melted fat and the skin crisp as parchment, which went very well with a local Cannonau Riserva 2012.

    For dessert there was fried cheese graced with honey; a chocolate torta made with a cream laced with Cannonau wine.

 

A meal will run you about €35-40, without wine, but tax and service included.

Open for lunch and dinner Tues.-Sun.

 

 
 

TRATTORIA MARISTELLA DI SIMONIC E CABONI

Via Fratelli Kennedy, 9

+39 079 978 172

 

    A very good lunch or dinner spot near the arc of Alghero’s stone barricade on the sea is this pleasant-looking trattoria favored by the locals, with a simple menu of Italian and Sardinian classics as dependable as sunrise and sunset.

    The walls are sea green, the linens white and corn yellow, and the windows are hung with wreaths of dried red peppers. The chairs are admirably sturdy and there is a wall of wines to peruse after ordering from the menu.

    A friend and I nibbled on the bread and carasau wafers, which went well with the various crudi served on the half shell as a selection of six species brought in that morning. The crisp, golden fried calamari made for a good nibble as an antipasto.

    Our appetites sparked, we then dug into one of the best renderings of spaghetti with clams and garlic I’ve ever had. (Spaghetti, by the way, is a far better pasta to use for this dish than the usual linguine.) Perfectly al dente, the pasta was coated with the olive oil and clam liquid, the clams—left in their shells, of course!—were sweet and sea-flavored.  You may also have this dish with olives and toasted breadcrumbs (left).

     Another pasta we tried was malloreddus (above), which are like ribbed cavatelli, with just enough spicy tomato sauce to coat each one. The grilled fish is just given a blessing of olive oil and lemon: that day pagro  (sea bream, known as porgy in America), was a special, grilled to have a faint smokiness.  You might also consider a mixed grill of fish, octopus and Mediterranean lobster. Or a mussel-based couscous.

    You’ll probably want to skip desserts here.

A meal will run you about €35-40, without wine, but tax and service included.

 

Open for lunch and dinner daily.

NEW YORK CORNER
By John Mariani

    I could throw a stone off the terrace of Grand Central Terminal and hit at least ten first-rate steakhouses, all with more or less the same menu, all striving to serve first-rate USDA Prime beef. The distinctions, however, are not just in the decors but in the greeting and caretaking of guests. At places like Palm and Smith & Wollensky, do not expect much more than a grunt of acknowledgment if you’re not a regular. At national chains like Capitol Grille and Del Frisco’s it will be formally correct in a corporate way. And at a few, like Ben & Jack’s, the greeting will most likely be warm and even effusive. Owners Ben and Jack Sinanaj, with two siblings, Harry and Russ, really, really want you to come back as often as possible, and they work hard at making you a regular.

    The original B&J’s opened on these East 44th Street premises ten years ago and was recently re-opened—the building had been gutted and a hotel put in—and though it’s a brand new décor, it still abides by the old-fashioned look of dark wood, pale walls, and big, well-set tables. Chandeliers add a touch of elegance, but the lighting itself needs a lift: it is low and flat and should look more like it does in the appealing accompanying photograph.  The crowd—O tempores! O mores!—dresses down for the most part. It's now very casual.

    You’ll get a big basket of good breads to start with while you peruse the wine list, which hasn’t improved much in the past few years, with too many overly familiar labels, not in a league with their nearby competitors’ lists. The bar does make excellent, well-proportioned cocktails.

    The menu does not stray from the New York steakhouse template, and specials are few on a nightly basis.  The raw bar always has platters of both East Coast ($17) and West Coast oysters ($24) available, along with the usual shrimp and crabmeat cocktails (both $23).

    Yellowfin tuna tartare with avocado and seaweed salad ($21) could have used more spark in the seasoning, while perfectly good sea scallops ($21) came seared but steamy one evening. A lobster bisque had an admirable component of lobster morsels but the bisque itself was one-dimensional ($14).  I’m a sucker for an old-fashioned Iceberg lettuce wedge when its appealing crisp texture is added to with a rich Roquefort cheese dressing, amazingly good tomatoes for June and nice chunks of bacon ($16), as it is at J&B's..

    Last time I reported on Ben & Jack’s a few years ago, I was critical of crabcakes that were very little crab and too much breading. The ones I had as an entrée last week were a 180-degree different turn for the better—just enough breading to bind big sweet jumbo lump pieces of crab (two for $42; one for $22).

    With its steaks B&J is buying very good beef with a light mineral flavor and good char on the outside. The options range from porterhouse cuts for two ($104), three ($156) or four ($208), along with filet mignon ($51) and others. Frankly, even four of us took some of the very generous steak for two home. An order of veal chop brought two hefty ones on a plate ($52).

    The service of the steaks follows the tradition set at Peter Luger’s decades ago of bringing the beef out on red-hot plates set at an angle on a another plate on the table. It’s only a small bit of showmanship, but to tell the truth, a perfectly cooked steak is going to go on cooking on such a hot surface.  Ask your waiter for your steak to be served on a warm, not scorchingly hot, plate.

    The buttermilk onions rings (11) are as good as ever, and the French fries ($11) are just about perfect—no need for dried truffles or sprinklings of herbs. A side order of broccoli ($11) was, however, overcooked, perhaps too long in advance. 

    B&J’s brings in New York’s vaunted S&S Cheesecake (left)—always worth ordering—as well as a creditable crème brûlée and a pecan pie made on the premises.

    As I said, attentive, cordial service is a distinguishing mark at B&J’s, whether or not you’re a regular. If they turn up the lights a little, it’ll be even more of a convivial option in the area.

 

Open daily for lunch and dinner.

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

 

    For Mother’s Day mothers get flowers and scarves and crayon drawings. Fathers inevitably get Duluth underwear or Lands’ End Comfort Waist shorts. If they’re lucky they get booze, and most dads are happy with whatever their favorite Scotch has been for decades, like Dewar’s or Chivas. Those who wish to go outside that comfort zone might consider these spirits—or some very good wines—to give the old man. Here are some I intend to enjoy.

 

 

MICHTER’S SINGLE BARREL 10 YRS. OLD KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON  ($175-$200)—Michter’s has been growing its reputation on the basis of new releases of bourbon and rye. Some, like this single barrel offering, are sold as collector’s items with only 24 barrels produced.  Master Distiller Willie Pratt ages this one for ten years—considerably longer than most bourbons—and its price reflects not just its rarity but its refinement. A bourbon-loving dad will probably just ogle the bottle for hours before opening it to share with with close relatives and friends.

 

KOPKE COLHEITA 1999 PORTO ($50)—Don’t get me started on how Port producers continue to shoot themselves in the foot by offering so many kinds and grades of their products—white, ruby, tawny, colheita, vintage, crusted, late bottled, and on and on. Suffice it to say this delicious colheita (a single vintage dated tawny) has a real vibrancy and, if shy of a true vintage Port you’d have to wait another decade to mature, this nine-year-old has come around beautifully.  I’ve enjoyed it immensely recently with very ripe pears and Gorgonzola cheese.

 

RON BARCELÓ IMPERIAL ONYX DOMINICAN RUM ($40)—Just released this spring, this Dominican rum from a firm founded by Julian Barceló in 1930 is a dark añejo blended from 10-year-old rums made not with molasses but from their own farmed sugar cane. It is aged in ex-bourbon barrels that are, uncharacteristically, heavily charred, then filtered through onyx stones, which sounds gimmicky. Whatever, it is a very rich, very distinctive rum with the oak balanced out by dark fruit flavors. Not intended to be mixed with lemons or limes but to be sipped after dinner wearing a white straw hat.

 

SAN PEDRO 1865 SINGLE VINEYARD CHARDONNAY 2015 ($15-$17)—Chile now makes and exports a tremendous amount of wine, and, while quality is rising, too much bulk wine still gets shipped out. Viña San Pedro dates back 153 years and is now part of the VSPT Wine Group, the third largest vitivinicultural group in Chile and the second largest exporter of Chilean wine. But this Chardonnay, produced in cool climate Molina by a young enologist named Matías Cruzat, is part of Viña San Pedro’s fine 1865 portfolio. Well priced, this three-year old with 14% alcohol has enough age on it to reveal its layers of settled flavors, fruits and acids. Excellent all summer long with seafood of every kind.

 

MUI-GRIES LAGRIEIN 2016  ($18)—Located on the site of a former Benedictine monastery in Italy’s Sud-Tirol-Alto Adige region, many vines date back to the 1930s.  The indigenous Lagrein grape, allied genetically with Teroldego, Pinot Noir and Syrah, is far from a well-known varietal (it has a DOC), but good examples like Mui-Gries are spreading its popularity.  Very few are available in the U.S. market, so a connoisseur dad will be happy you brought a bottle like this to his attention. With 13.5% alcohol it has medium body and goes well with simple meat dishes and risottos.

 

CRAGGY RANGE TE KAHU SINGLE VINEYARD 2015 ($20)—Twenty-five years ago Terry Peabody and his wife, Mary, bought up untouched land in the Gimblett Gravels Winegrowing district in Hawke’s Bay, intent on making a variety of wines but focusing on Bordeaux-style blends not then in fashion in New Zealand. One result has been Te Kahu—“the cloak,” referring to the shroud of mist that covers the vineyards in the evenings. At just 14% alcohol, it is a robust but restrained blend of 76% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Carbernet Franc and 2% Malbec, making for a very satisfying ready-to-drink red with already softened tannins.

HOW LUCKY CAN ONE GUY GET?

“Michael Ruhlman Finds Love in Oaxacan Mole” By Chris Crowley, New York Magazine (June 1, 2018)

·