MARIANI’S
Virtual Gourmet
Travel Poster by Steve Thomas (c. 1965)
❖❖❖ IN THIS ISSUE EATING AROUND TAMPA By Geoff Kalish NEW YORK CORNER GNOCCO By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR GOOD NEWS FROM CHIANTI CLASSICO By John Mariani ❖❖❖ EATING AROUND TAMPA By Geoff Kalish Innisbrook Resort
As
winter fades away, those residing in cold
weather environments (especially golfers) may want
to consider a visit to south
Florida’s Innisbrook or Saddlebrook Resorts, each
located less than an hour car
ride from Tampa International Airport, both
offering moderately priced lodging,
a range of dining options, fitness centers, spa
pampering and multiple golf
courses.
At the recently refurbished Innisbrook Resort (www.innisbrookresort.com) in Palm Harbor, situated along the Gulf of Mexico just north of Clearwater, nightly winter rates for condo units start at $250, with a number of golf packages available. The resort also features a range of dining options, a fitness center, six individual heated swimming pools and a state-of-the-art spa, featuring treatments ranging from manicures and pedicures to a variety of facials and whole body massages with lime and ginger salt. As for golf, it’s available on the spectacular Copperhead (left) course, which hosts the PGA Tour’s Valspar Tournament (this year March 18-22), as well as three other well-groomed courses ranging in difficulty from the links-like South course to the North course, which offers a mix of narrow tree-lined fairways and wide, water-protected holes, to the “water, water everywhere,” very challenging, Island course. There’s the availability of breakfast and lunch at each of three golf clubhouses, with nightly casual dinner at The Market Salamander Inn offering an array of salads, soups and flatbreads, including one loaded with mozzarella and mushrooms and doused in a mix of balsamic and fragrant truffle oil, flatbreads and small plates like meaty ribs with mango slaw, a dewy fresh ahi tuna poke bowl (right) and wings coated in a tangy “Calypso” BBQ sauce. Two excellent main courses tried were the tasty blackened grouper and a thick pork chop that was crunchy on the outside and moist inside, accompanied by a heady Granny Smith apple chutney. For dessert we shared a decadent Ghirardelli chocolate brownie with coffee ice cream and chocolate sauce. There’s a good choice of wines, like the Faustino VII, with a bouquet and taste of ripe berries, we’d chosen to accompany our dinner, as well as a long list of spirits, featuring locally made whiskey. (Expect dinner for two to cost $90-$100, excluding wine, tax and tip.) And there’s Packard’s Steakhouse (left), which gives Tampa’s Bern’s Steak House a run for the money in quality of fare and service. In particular at Packard’s we enjoyed appetizers of grilled lollipop lamb chops drizzled with white truffle oil and a tuna poke bowl with a tasty yuzu citrus marinade, then both the filet mignon and NY prime strip steaks (cooked exactly to our specifications), both of which had robust beefy flavor that mated well with a Robert Hall Syrah, which had a bouquet and flavor of just-picked blueberries with a touch of tannin in its finish. The experience provided by Packard’s service from two very caring, yet professional and knowledgeable servers, each with over 30 years at the restaurant was a cut above the rather formalistic Bern’s experience. (Open daily. Dinner runs $140-$150, excluding wine, tax and tip.) For those who want to venture outside the resort, there’s the nearby, very popular Mystic Fish (3253 Tampa Rd in Palm Harbor; 727-771-1800) a storefront eatery with an eclectic nautically themed interior featuring a row of tropical fish tanks (right) separating the two dining areas. Served are perfectly prepared small plates like spice-rubbed, grilled Gulf shrimp atop a roasted sweet onion aïoli. Grilled octopus accompanied by feta and kalamata olives, and rare ahi tuna with ponzu sauce were also fine choices as apps. As for main courses, they run the gamut from seafare preparations like delicate, bronzed (slightly blackened) Chilean sea bass and flaky, sweet panko-crusted hog fish, to a range of chops, ribs and lamb dishes for the carnivorous crowd, all served with a vegetable and choice of potato or rice. Moreover, there’s a good choice of desserts like a rich white chocolate bread pudding as well as a sensibly priced wine list with gems like the elegant, toasty Jordan Chardonnay. (Open daily for dinner. Expect a meal for two to cost $100-$110, excluding wine, tax and tip.) Other notable relatively nearby dining spots include: Dimitri’s On The Water (690 Dodecanese Blvd.;727-945-9400) in Tarpon Springs overlooking the Sponge Dock harbor, which serves huge portions of toothsome Greek-inspired dishes like grilled octopus (left) and Gulf grouper to rack and leg of lamb, all served with a choice of vegetable and starch. Also, as expected, there’s a spectrum of classic honey-laced Greek desserts available. (Open daily. Expect dinner for two to cost a very reasonable $80-$90, excluding wine, tax and tip.) Tarpon Turtle (1513 Lake Tarpon Ave.; 727-940-5360), a casual lakeside spot (below) with excellent service overseen by affable manager Mike Hodges, features well made, very generous portions of appetizers like tempura-battered calamari strips and pulled pork flatbread, as well as main courses of mahi tacos, grilled grouper and a range of burgers. And for dessert we enjoyed a rich, flavorful homemade Key lime pie. (Open daily for lunch and dinner. Expect dinner for two to cost $70-$80, not including wine, tax or tip.) And for some diversions while in the area there’s Aspirations Winery (22041 US Hwy 19 N, Clearwater 727 -799-9463, open Wed.-Sun.) with a lively tasting area; the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art (600 Klosterman Rd, Tarpon Springs 727-712-5762, open Thurs.–Sun.) that features work of modernist artist (and Picasso friend) Abraham Rattner, and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (249 Windward Passage, Clearwater, open daily ) that also serves as a rescue and rehab facility for injured dolphins, rays and sea turtles and allows visitors to see (and feed) dolphins up close, with fascinating hour-long tours of the behind-the scenes activities given a few times daily. At the more compact Saddlebrook Resort (www.saddlebrook.com) in Wesley Chapel (a 30-minute car ride northeast of Tampa) condo units are available in winter from $250 per night, with some well priced golf and dining packages available. The resort features swimming in a centrally located area with multiple pools (heated, of course), a spa and fitness center, with daily breakfast, lunch and casual evening dining in the clubhouse at TD’s Sports Bar, featuring a range of cut-above-the-average pub fare, like a tuna poke bowl, slow-braised, flavorful short ribs and a tasty pulled pork entrée. And, there’s more upscale fare available at Dempsy’s (also in the clubhouse), where the offerings range from appetizers of seared, dewy diver’s scallops and jumbo lump crab cakes on a lime emulsion and topped with a yellow tomato salsa, to baked oysters and a wild shrimp cocktail. Popular main courses are the 26-ounce prime Porterhouse, rack of lamb, the 14-ounce pork chop with a cider-bourbon demi-glaze and the teriyaki-basted Chilean seabass, with the usual steak house sides available. (Open for lunch and dinner daily. Expect dinner for two to cost $120-$130, excluding wine, tax and tip.) Golf is offered on two challenging Arnold Palmer-designed courses – both scenic tree-lined tracts, with gnarly, steel wool-like rough and rather small, sand trap-protected greens, requiring great accuracy on drives as well as approach shots ❖❖❖ NEW
YORK CORNER
By John Mariani GNOCCO
337
E 10th Street (near Avenue B)
212-677-1913
Calvin
Trillin, upon suddenly remembering a
favorite Chinatown restaurant, remarked that New
York is the only city in the
world where you could forget a restaurant that
good existed. So, too, how could
I possibly have forgotten about Gnocco, now
twenty years old, a place I haven’t
visited in a decade? Open daily for lunch and dinner. ❖❖❖ NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
THE GOOD NEWS FROM
CHIANTI CLASSICO By John Mariani
Chianti
Classico, which is
an appellation under Italian wine laws, is a
topographical region distinct from
seven other Chianti zones, which include Colli
Aretini, Colli Fiorentini,
Colline Pisane, Colli Senese, Montalbano,
Montespertoli and Rufina. But it is
the Classico zone that has long been considered
the most distinguished, the
only zone with its own separate DOCG. It has
also been the zone most in the
forefront of Italian viniculture, currently with
more attention and commitment
to sustainability and battling climate change in
Europe. Q: You report that 2019 “ended on a very positive note for Gallo Nero.” Can you give us some details? The vintage of 2019 has closed on excellent results for Gallo Nero [Black Rooster] wines with the success of the latest harvest, while 2020 makes an auspicious start. It may still be too soon for a definitive assessment, but the wines destined to become our 2019 Chianti Classicos are expected to be fresh and well-balanced, thanks to the good balance between acidity and tannin, perfectly concentrated texture and excellent aromas. The alcohol content is slightly lower than average compared to previous vintages, in line with the market trends. To summarize, we are looking at an excellent vintage year that will perfectly enhance the characteristic features of the Sangiovese grape and the many facets of such a widely varied area in terms of soil diversity and microclimates. Another important and positive piece of news is that in 2019 Chianti Classico was crowned by Italian and international critics as one of the best wines in the Bel Paese, offering pleasant surprises to those with the patience to wait for its maturation in the bottle over the next few years. Rather than “King of Tuscany,” the more appropriate title for Chianti Classico would be “Grand Duke,” as a tribute to Cosimo III de’ Medici, whose far-sighted judgment defined the production zone for today’s Chianti Classico DOCG back in 1716. The 300th vintage of the Black Rooster region has enjoyed an extremely appropriate success. Q: What are the driving forces behind these results? Chianti Classico is enjoying considerable success. Behind it all is a globally unique terroir, as well as a great deal of hard work, heavy investments and the deepest respect for the environment. In an area that is two-thirds woods, with only a tenth of the acreage planted with vines, 40% of which is now certified organic, Chianti Classico wine producers are increasingly aiming for ecological balance, working to reduce human impact as far as possible. The wine reflects the terroir like a negative photographic image, and this is why preservation of the environmental context and caring for this prestigious product are so important. Q: You say that “The key word for our 2019 vintage, and to open 2020, is ‘satisfaction.’” Can you explain further? Satisfaction
means that we
are aware of many positive trends going on in the
Chianti Classico
area. Financially, 2019 was a very positive
year for the designation’s
wines. At the close of business last year, sales
were still slightly higher
than the previous year, and this trend has
continued in January 2020 (+10%
compared with January 2019). Generally speaking,
the overall value of the
designation is increasing, starting with the
grapes: the market price per
quintal from the 2019 harvest was 10% higher than
the previous year, offering
greater profits to grape-growing estates that do
not bottle their
wines. Q: Has the number of producers increased in recent years? Why is this happening? The number of producers of Chianti Classico has slowly but constantly increased in recent years. Nowadays the members of the Chianti Classico Consortium are 515 vine growers, the majority of them (354), not only grow grapes but vinify and bottle their wines as well. Everybody in Chianti Classico is fully aware that quality means more and more AUTHENTICITY and TERRITORIALITY (terroir driven wines). All the vine growers and winemakers in Chianti Classico are more and more confident in the Sangiovese potential for quality and are optimistic in a further growth of the appellation. Another word that I would like to add to “satisfaction” is “cohesion”: all our vintners are in fact united in considering Chianti Classico not just as one of the oldest appellations of the world but also a very modern wine and projected onto the future. Q: Can you explain briefly the difference between Chianti Classico and other Chiantis made in Tuscany? Chianti
and Chianti Classico
are two distinct and separate DOCGs, with two
different sets of production
regulations and above all, with production zones
that are completely separate
and different. The Chianti DOCG is produced in
various zones of Tuscany, a
largest area, which goes from west to east from
the province of Pisa to the
province of Arezzo. Chianti Classico, on the
other hand, is produced in a territory that is
located in the heart of Tuscany
between the cities of Florence to the North and
Siena to the South. It is
composed only by 7,000 hectares of vineyards that
represent less than 15% of
its total surface. The Chianti Classico
appellation is very old, one of
the oldest in the world, in fact dates back to
1716, when the territory had
been delimited, for the first time, by an edict of
the Grand Duke Cosimo III of
the Medici family, fixing the borders of the
production area. Q: Has the informal marketing term “Super Tuscans” helped or hurt Chianti Classico’s image? Has the term largely been discarded in the industry?
I believe that the
informal marketing term Super Tuscans has never
damaged the Chianti Classico
image. On the contrary it helped to enhance
the reputation of Tuscany as
a region dedicated to the production of wines of
excellence. As you know, Super
Tuscan has never been a legally defined
classification but a term that was
first used in the Seventies. mainly by the
American press, to identify some
outstanding wines that didn’t meet the DOC
standards of the time. The majority
of those wines was coming from the Chianti
Classico production zone. With the
passing of time, the term Super Tuscan has been
more and more used to identify
all the wines that were produced in the region but
outside the recognized DOCs
and DOCGs, and therefore its original meaning of
excellence in quality was
partially diluted. Nowadays it is less used in the
wine industry. Q: In terms of grape varieties, Chianti once, by law, used varietals, as determined by Baron Ricasoli’s model, like Canaiolo, white Malvasia, Trebbiano and Colorino. Are these still used in Chianti Classico? Under
the latest production
regulations, Chianti Classico DOCG should be
produced with Sangiovese (minimum
80% up to 100%) and other red varieties (up to
20%). Among the latter, there
are the indigenous ones (e.g.,
Canaiolo, Colorino, Mammolo, Malvasia Nera,
Pugnitello, Foglia Tonda and so
on), and the international ones (e.g.,
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Syrah,
Petit Verdot and so on), but
we have seen growing use of the indigenous grapes
when Sangiovese is blended.
White grape varieties are not permitted since the
2006 vintage. Q: How do Italian producers, in particular those of Tuscany and Chianti, regard the problems that would be caused by a 100% tariff, as well as Brexit? A
100% duty imposed in the
U.S. is to be considered as a kind of sword of
Damocles looming over all
Italian wine and would have devastating effects in
the whole wine industry
sector. This is why all of us were sincerely
pleased to know that the decision
on an eventual imposition of new tariffs has been
postponed at least six
months. As far as Brexit is
concerned, we will see. It is really difficult to
predict its effects: until
now we have only registered an increase in the
volumes of Chianti Classico that
have been sold in the market in 2019. Q: How are the Chianti Classico producers combating climate change? As I’ve noted, the respect for the environment and the continuous research for an ecological balance are our best weapons to combat climate changes. More than 40% of the vineyards of Chianti Classico are already certified organic and more than 70% of our estates apply good practices in terms of sustainability in order to avoid soil erosion and to manage water supply. In general, big investments have been done by the Chianti Classico winegrowers both in the vineyards and in the cellars and there is much more professionalism than in the past.
❖❖❖
“Everything is more
glamorous at The Siren. On the first floor of the
downtown Detroit hotel-cum-jewel box, a barber shop
(left),
with its reclaimed vintage barber chairs and
contemporary finishings, duals as a hub for cultural
conversations.”—Lindsay Green, "Karl’s in The Siren
Hotel Turns the Greasy Spoon up a Notch," Detroit
News
(February 2020).
"A Wine Bar for the People: Natural wine is thriving in
restaurants and shops in America, but wine bars are
still finding their place" , Eater (2/22/20).
❖❖❖
Any of John Mariani's books below may be ordered from amazon.com. 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! “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. ❖❖❖
❖❖❖
FEATURED
LINKS: I am happy to report
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Gourmet is linked to four excellent
travel sites: Everett Potter's Travel Report: I consider this the best and
savviest blog of its kind on the web. Potter is a
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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
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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
JOHN CURTAS has been covering the Las Vegas
food and restaurant scene since 1995. He is
the co-author of EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50
Essential Restaurants (as well as
the author of the Eating Las Vegas web site: www.eatinglasvegas.
He can also be seen every Friday morning as
the “resident foodie” for Wake Up With the
Wagners on KSNV TV (NBC) Channel 3 in
Las Vegas.
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET
NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Publisher: John Mariani. Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani,
Robert Mariani, Misha Mariani, John A. Curtas, Gerry Dawes, Geoff Kalish and Brian Freedman. Contributing
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Advisor: Gerry
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