On this week's episode of my WVOX Radio Show "Almost Golden," on Wed. February 17,  at 11AM EST,I will be interviewing Dr Geoff Kalish about the Polio Pioneers and today's COVID virus. Go to: WVOX.com. The episode will also be archived at: almostgolden.

         Every dish, whether great or modest, had to have a moment of creation. Some born from necessity, others by accident, the original dishes caught on and became classics for very good reasons and have been widely imitated by cooks all over the world. Here are ten places where you can still get these enduringly popular American dishes, where they haven’t changed a thing about the original recipe. When the Covid pandemic lifts, these restaurants will still be serving them all.

 

Lobster Newburg— A rich dish of lobster meat, sherry, egg yolks, cream and cayenne pepper made famous at Delmonico’s restaurant in New York in 1876,  when the recipe was brought to chef Charles Ranhofer by a West Indies sea captain named Ben Wenberg. It was an immediate hit, especially for after-theater suppers, and owner Charles Delmonico honored the captain by naming the dish “lobster à la Wenberg.” But later Wenberg and Delmonico had a falling-out, and the restaurateur took the dish off the menu, restoring it only by popular demand by renaming it “lobster à la Newberg,” reversing the first three letters of the captain’s name. Chicken à la King and Eggs Benedict are also Delmonico’s creations.

 

Bananas Foster—(left) A dessert made from sliced bananas cooked with butter, brown sugar, then flamed with rum and banana cordial and served with vanilla ice cream. The dish was created by chef Paul Blange in the early 1950s at Brennan’s restaurant in New Orleans as part of a Breakfast at Brennan’s promotion that has since become a city tradition. It was named after a regular customer, Richard Foster, owner of the Foster Awning Company in New Orleans.

 

Boston Cream Pie—(right) A pie made of white cake and custard filling or topping. If chocolate icing is added, it is called “Parker House chocolate pie,” after the Parker House Hotel in Boston, where the embellishment was first contrived. The first mention of the dessert as “Boston cream pie” was in the New York Herald in 1855. The hotel is also responsible for Parker House rolls.

 

Hot Brown—(left) A sandwich of chicken, bacon, or ham with a cheese sauce, created at Louisville’s Brown Hotel in 1926 by chef Fred K. Schmidt as a late-night dish. It is still the specialty of the house at the hotel’s restaurants, including the English Grill, J. Graham’s Café and the Lobby Bar. You’ll find it elsewhere in the city, but the oldest is still the best.

 

Irish Coffee—(right) A blend of hot coffee, Irish whisky, and whipped cream. According to a plaque outside the Buena Vista Bar in San Francisco, “America’s first Irish coffee was made here in 1952. It was inspirationally invented at [Dublin’s] Shannon Airport by [chef] Joe Sheridan. It was fortuitously introduced by [newspaper writer] Stan Delaplane. It was nurtured to a national institution by [bar owner] Jack Koeppler.” Sheridan actually created the drink in 1942 at Foynes Dock, where flying boats docked in World War II. It was promoted as of 1947 at Shannon Airport as an official welcoming beverage. (In the 19th century the term “Irish coffee” was slang for whiskey, entering print in 1875.)

 

Muffuletta— A hero-type sandwich on a large, round Italian bread loaf stuffed with ham, Genoa and mortadella salami, cheeses, and pickled olives. It is a specialty of New Orleans, where it was created at the Central Grocery in 1906 by Salvatore Lupo, based on a Sicilian sandwich, although the word itself, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, does not appear in print until 1967. Muffuletta is a Sicilian dialect word for a round loaf of bread baked so that the center is hollow, so it may be stuffed, usually with ricotta cheese.

 

Pizza—While the first pizza alla Margherita, with tomato, mozzarella and basil (the colors of the Italian flag), was created in Naples in 1889, it was just sixteen years later that immigrant Gennaro Lombardi made his own at his namesake pizzeria on Spring Street in New York, before others followed in the Italian communities around the city. Gennaro Lombardi’s moved from its original address but is still on Spring Street. Enrico Caruso was a regular.

 

Buffalo Chicken Wings—Deep-fried chicken wings served with a hot sauce and a blue-cheese dressing originated at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, on October 30, 1964, when owner Teressa Bellissimo, having just received an oversupply of chicken wings, was asked by her son Dominic and his friends for something to nibble on. According to Dominic, “She cut off the doohickeys, fried them, drained them and swished them around in margarine. Then she improvised on the hot sauce and put blue cheese dressing—our house dressing—on the side.” Being Catholics, the Bellissimos did not eat meat on Fridays, so they waited until midnight to serve the first wings. The dish became an immediate hit and in 1977 the city of Buffalo declared July 29 “Chicken Wing Day.”

 

Seafood Carpaccio—Upon opening Le Bernardin (left) restaurant in New York in 1986, brother and sister Gilbert and Maguy Le Coze, from Brittany, France, committed to using American seafood as much as possible, and came up with the idea of serving raw, sashimi-like seafood paper thin, like beef carpaccio (invented at Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy) and dress it with a light mayonnaise. It was an overnight hit whose repercussions made raw fish ubiquitous on menus worldwide.

 

Cincinnati Chili—“Cincinnati chili” was the creation of Macedonian immigrant Athanas Kiradjieff, who settled in Cincinnati and opened a hot-dog stand called the Empress (named after the Empress Burlesque Theater in the same building), where in 1922 he concocted a layered chili (seasoned with Middle Eastern spices) that could be served in various “ways.” “Five-way” chili was the most elaborate—a mound of spaghetti topped with chili, then chopped onions, then red kidney beans, then shredded yellow cheese, and served traditionally with oyster crackers and a side order of two hot dogs topped with shredded cheese. Kiradjieff later changed the name of his chain of eateries to Empress Chili, now a chain in Ohio and Kentucky.

NEW YORK CORNER
By John Mariani

LOVE AND PIZZA

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

 

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN        

        Signora Palma’s theme that season was Hollywood actresses of the 1920s, including Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, with Nicola playing Louise Brooks, bob and all.  Nicola did so well that she was asked to stay to do magazine work for the next week, at a very good fee SNAP had arranged.
        The problem was how to tell Marco that another week would go by without them seeing each other.  She believed that abject apologies would be the only way to appease Marco, but she was wrong.
        “Oh, Marco,” she said over a bad phone connection. “I am heartbroken not to be with you next week but I can’t turn down this work. I owe so much to my agency. I am so sorry, cara. Can you forgive me?”
        “So, Nicolina,” he said. “You say you are heartbroken? Or do you mean you have no heart?  There’s a big difference.”
        “I swear, Marco, when I get back I will take a vacation, no jobs, no shooting for two weeks, okay?  How’s that sound?”
        “It sounds like I’ll see you when I see you,” answered Marco and the phone clicked off.
        Nicola was frightened. She immediately called her agency and said she needed a two-week vacation, which was greeted with no small degree of dismay by the booker, who said, “Steven wants to speak with you, Santini.”
        Steven got on, saying his phone hadn’t stopped ringing, everyone wanting to get Nikki Santini.
        Nicola let him go on for a full minute, rattling off the impressive names of those who wanted to hire her immediately, then she said, “Steven, that’s all great, but I’m really exhausted and I need to take a vacation.  Just two weeks, please.”
        “Aw, Nikki, this is not a good time for that. You gotta strike when the iron is hot, sweetheart, and you are red hot.  Hell, you’ve even become known by just your first name, like Twiggy and Iman and Verushka.  Look, things start to slow way down as of middle of May through Labor Day.  Except for the lay-outs the magazines have to do for the November and December issues, everything else gets quiet.  The whole industry goes on vacation. They even close down all the clothing factories. Just give yourself until middle of May, then, fine, take off the whole month of June.”
        “There’s more to it than that,” said Nicola.
        “Family crisis?”
        “No.”
         “Oh, Nikki, tell me it’s not your love life.  You know how many models have gone down the tubes over some guy they went off with, even married.”
        “It’s not really like that.  But there is a man involved. But let me talk to him, and, Steven, thanks for all the support.  You know I really, really appreciate it.”
        “And you make a lot of money for this agency, Nicola. So we’re even, kiddo.”
        Nicola didn’t dare approach the subject again with Marco until they could see each other. When she got back in a week, she’d have to renege on the immediate vacation but she could most probably fix things so she didn’t have to go out of the country on location.
        The second week in Milan went by quickly because Nicola was very busy, but she begged off even more offers to stay on, hurrying back to New York as soon as possible after her last job. 
        She did not hear from Marco but thought—hoped, really—he was just acting like a child and pouting. But after two days at home, the only phone calls were from SNAP. 
        Then, on the third day, Marco called, though with no discernible repentance in his voice. Nicola told herself she would happily play the one to take the blows of criticism as long as Marco could get it out of his system.
         “I really need to see you, Marco,” she said. “How about tomorrow night?”
         “I’m working tomorrow.  Next day?”
         “Sure, next day is fine.  Where, when? Come here to the apartment. We’ll have some wine and talk.”
         There wasn’t much to decipher in the brevity of  Marco’s remarks, but she took some hope in the mention of the wine.

         Two days later Nicola made sure she looked her very best without looking “model-y,” which Marco always found excessive.
        The doorman let her in without calling upstairs, and she took the elevator to Marco’s apartment.  He was waiting with the door open, smiling only a little.  They embraced, kissed briefly and sat down.  The bottle of wine was not yet opened.         They both said, “So ...” at the same time.
         “You first,” said Marco. “How was Milan?”
         “Very hectic, very profitable though. The shows went well. What about you? Va bene?”
         “Not much to tell you. Work, painting a little, not much. I was lonely, as usual.”
         “So was I, Marco.  I so wish you’d been with me.”
         “Oh, I’m sure you were busy with the parties with all the big fashionistas and the male models and all the parasites who hang around them.”
         “Marco, give me some credit.  Those are not my kind of people.”
         “Perhaps, but all that glamour can be seductive. And you were a lonely American girl in beautiful Milan, and . . .”
         Nicola almost slapped him but then realized he was trying to tell her something about himself.
         “And what about you, Marco?  Handsome young Italian painter who can cook a girl right off her feet? What about you?”
         Marco was silent.  Nicola’s mouth dropped.
         “You slept with someone while I was gone?”
         Marco lifted his chin, as if it deserved to be slapped.
         “Nicolina, I told you I was lonely, and I was very, very angry with you. I didn’t even know if I would ever see you again. It was nothing. Just a girl.”
         “Just a girl?  And where did you meet this girl,” saying the word as if akin to gumar.
        “In the museum. We started talking, and . . .”
        Nicola’s eyes were tearing up and she started to wave her hands. 
        “I cannot deal with this now, Marco,” she screamed. “I go away for two weeks and you screw another woman?  What kind of person are you?  Did you really think we wouldn’t see each other again? Or was that just a goddamn excuse?  You make me sick!”
        Marco tried to calm her down but Nicola would not have any of it. She grabbed her jacket and started for the door.  “Cara, Nicolina, please!” he implored her. “Let’s have some wine and talk.”
        Nicola flashed her eyes at him and said, “You know what, Marco? I’m done talking, so why don’t you take that cheap bottle of wine and shove it!”
        By the time Nicola hit the street, she was deep in tears. She ran to a phone booth on the corner and dialed Catherine’s number.
        “Hello?”
        “Catherine, it’s Nicky.”
        “What’s up?”
        “Can I come over to your dorm?  Right now?”
        Fifteen minutes later Nicola was in Catherine’s arms, trying to tell her what happened between patches of sobs.
        After Catherine calmed Nicola down, she said, “I’m really sorry about all this, Nick. You sure don’t deserve it.”
        “Well, maybe I do!” answered Nicola. “Maybe I shouldn’t expect a guy like Marco to wait around for me to get back from this show or that shoot all over the world and ask him to act like a saint.”
        “Nicky, he had no right to screw that girl.”
        “I don’t know anymore.  All I know is that I can’t trust him and, in a different way, he can’t trust me.  I tell him I’m taking a vacation, then I can’t. Or won’t. Maybe it’s too much to ask.”
    Catherine tried to take her friend’s side but knew in her heart that Marco’s patience had been more than stretched to the limit.  It had snapped and now tying the two of them back together might be impossible.
        “Listen, Nick, how about when you get some time—you said you’d be free in June?—how about you and I go to Paris?  Forget all about Italy and the goddamn Italians. Just the two of us!  We’ll eat croissants and chocolate and gain five pounds.”
        Nicola smiled slightly and said, “Funny thing is, now I can afford the airfare and hotel. I just can’t afford to put on five pounds.  Everybody I work with says I should lose ten.”
        “Well, then, you can starve yourself. Come on, we’ll go to the Louvre and the opera, stroll the boulevards, maybe even meet some nice French guys, if there  are any.”
        “Thanks, Catherine, but that’s about the last thing on my mind right now. I think the better thing for me to do would be to throw myself into work for the summer, then see what happens when I go back to school in the fall.”

© John Mariani, 2021

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

 

         Unlike the wines of northern Italian regions like Tuscany, Piedmont and the Veneto, those of Emilia-Romagna are less well known and haven’t the marketable reputation of the others. Its best known wine is Lambrusco, whose own reputation as a sweet bubbly wine is based on oceans of plonk from big name wineries like Reunite. Working hard to change the region’s reputation is the 50-year-old winery Umberto Cesari, which specializes in Sangiovese wines, along with Albana, Pignoletto and Trebbiano as well as international varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Innovations and a focus on terroir at eight ‘poderi’ or fields (Claterna, Casetta, Parolino, Laurento, Ca’ Grande, Miravalle, Tauleto and Liano) spread over 355 hectares of clay-rich vineyards protected by the Calanchi Azzurri “badlands” and enjoying a mild climate.
         To find out what the current plans for Umberto Cesari are, I spoke with Gianmaria Cesari, son of the late founder.

 

1. Your winery has been a champion of Emilia-Romagna wines, which has not had anything close to the reputation of Tuscany and Piedmont. Why do you think that has been the case? 

I think that Emilia-Romagna has not promoted its wines, and its territory, like other regions in Italy, but I still consider Emilia-Romagna to be the best kept secret of Italy and yet to be discovered.

2. What potential did you see in ER back in the 1960s, when Albana and Lambrusco were the only wines most people knew? Do you make a Lambrusco? If not, why not?

Back then it was a completely different world. Albana wine has been very popular in the past and I still consider Albana one of the best white grapes of Italy. Albana has a special bond with Romagna, which geologically and climatically is very different from Emilia. Indeed, the attempts at cultivation in other areas have not produced interesting results. It is no coincidence that in 1987 Albana was recognized as the first white wine DOCG in Italy, which is attributed only by virtue of a deep link between the vines and the cultivation area, both in terms of territorial vocation and cultural tradition. Albana is also a particularly acidic white grape, rich in tannins, and this means that even in the past, when there was no technology, it was possible to make a wine that would maintain the white color (Albana derives from the Latin term albus, which means “white par excellence”) and ages very well over time. Furthermore, Albana has shown itself to be particularly resilient with climate change; indeed, at times it expresses itself better now than in the past.

As far as Lambrusco is concerned, it is important to notice that Lambrusco wines are native grapes of Emilia and are best expressed in that specific location. Umberto Cesari vineyards are in Romagna, which is why the company has dedicated its attention to typical grape varieties of this area and, in particular, to Sangiovese and Albana.

3. Does Emilia-Romagna have many different terroirs? 

Italy has so many different terroirs, and so does Emilia-Romagna. There is a huge difference between the flat parts and the terroirs that you can find on the hills. Geologically speaking, Emilia-Romagna is divided into three macro areas: alluvial plain, hills of Emilia and hills of Romagna. Each area differs in terms of soil, climate, and grape varieties. In particular, the hilly areas are affected by the exposure of the slopes, and in Romagna also by the proximity to the Adriatic Sea. All these variants therefore influence the respective productions.

 
4. Why did you plant Sangiovese? Was it ever grown in Emilia-Romagna before?

I planted Sangiovese because it has always been the most important grape of Emilia- Romagna. Emilia-Romagna was the first region in Italy to have been granted a DOC appellation dedicated to the Sangiovese grape, back in 1967 (Sangiovese di Romagna DOC) and for a long time it was the only one, long before Tuscany. Moreover, there are a lot of books talking about the Romans planting Sangiovese in the region.

5. Who else in your family is involved in the winery? The winery is owned by me, my mother and my sister and we are all involved in the winery operations.

 
6. Please give me a little of your own biography.  Born in Bologna, Italy, in 1975, I am the son and first child of Umberto Cesari, the founder of the company. I inherited the passion for wine from my father. I graduated in economics at the University of Bologna, and today I am managing the winery, but still travel around the world to promote Umberto Cesari wines.

7. Is your rosato of Sangiovese unique? 

I think it is unique. Making a rosé with Sangiovese grapes certifies its unicity. But it is also a completely new way of thinking a “rosato” wine in the region. Until today a rosé made with Sangiovese grape was like a light red wine, while we wanted to create an easy-to-drink, pleasant and elegant Provence-style rosé.

 
8. You also seem very devoted to eco-tourism and even a gelato museum. Please tell me more about them.

Eco-tourism is part of our philosophy. We are a sustainable winery, so tourism is sustainable as well. We promote and organize e-bike tours with electrical bikes. Everything we do is dedicated to preserve nature, because we live out of nature. The gelato museum is one of the excellences of this region. Maybe some people don’t know the name Emilia-Romagna, but they probably know some of the masters of excellences that are based here. You can think about the “motor valley” with Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Pagani, the Ducati motorbikes, and next to Ducati we have one of the oldest gelato machinery companies that is called Carpigiani. They are so good that people come from all over the world to see how they make gelato, so they created a gelato museum.  

9. How has climate change affected Emilia-Romagna?

Climate change has affected all the world. We have dedicated one of our wines to this important topic. It is called Resultum, a name taken from the Latin term resilire, which means resilient, because we have seen that our vineyards have adapted and reacted positively to climate change. We get very little rain in the winter and then tropical storms in the summer, and every single year a hailstorm. We believe that climate has changed for sure, but we cannot do anything, we know that we have good vintages and other times not so good.     

10. Why do you make so many wines, rather than concentrate on a few labels? 

Because, talking about terroirs, we have different estates, and we want to emphasize the peculiarity of each terroir. For us it is important to make wines that are the expression of every single terroir.

 
11. How do your wines compare with other Sangioveses? 

Talking about our reds, that are made mainly with Sangiovese, the closest comparison is with Tuscan wines. I think that our tannins are softer and riper compared to the Sangiovese grapes grown in Tuscany. But again, it is difficult to make comparisons, because every single terroir and philosophy is different.