MARIANI’S
Virtual
Gourmet
ARCHIVE Sean Penn in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982) HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY
HAPPY FOURTH
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IN THIS ISSUE EATING AROUND MYSTIC, CT By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER TUSCANY STEAKHOUSE By John Mariani CAPONE'S GOLD Chapter Fourteen By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR MOËT HENNESSEY GOES SERIOUS GREEN By John Mariani ❖❖❖ On this week's episode of my WVOX Radio Show "Almost Golden," on Wed. July 7, at 11AM EST,I will be interviewing Jeffrey Sussman on the great boxers of the 1950s Go to: WVOX.com. The episode will also be archived at: almostgolden. ❖❖❖ EATING AROUND MYSTIC, CT By John Mariani Nana's Bakery and Pizza Photo by Idlewild/Catherine Dzilenski I will
go to the mat insisting that the greatest
seafood in the world is in the North Atlantic,
and in summer, trolling
the New England coast, you find it in profusion,
on the grill, in chowders, boiled, steamed and
served raw. For many that would be enough, but
the small town of Mystic has some restaurants
that go well beyond that request, easily a match
for Boston’s best.
Grass & Bone (24 East Main
Street; 860-245-4814) is also owned by
Laipply and Wayman, and it is mainly a take-out
butcher, serving food up till 8 PM. It has a
spanking, smart-looking interior done in white and
charcoal gray, with their aging meat locker to one
side and tables inside and out. The meats and
poultry are locally sourced, and it’s a bellwether
spot for first-rate, well-aged beef (raised on grass, finished on corn). We
took some home and were very impressed with the
quality on the grill. The Prime steak goes for $30
a pound. They also sell “seaside” mushrooms.
The
Shipwright’s Daughter (20 East Main
Street; 860-536-7605) is a
pretty spot within the Whaler’s Inn, done in
nautical blue, hardwoods, rough-hewn beams, and
bare tables, with a delightful window on Main
Street to watch the people come and go. Oyster Club (13 Water
Street; 860-415-9266), just off Main Street,
is a cannily rustic spot that looks like it might
have served
whalers a century ago—it opened in 2011—and for
that its wooden walls and beams and big glowing globes
cast a shadowy, romantic light from a high
ceiling. The service staff could not be
more cordial or helpful, and chef Renée Toupence
shows a balance of regional dishes done with her
own turn of creativity, saying, “We could not do what we
do without the people who farm, fish, ferment,
brew and craft in this little corner of
Connecticut.” Above the dining room is The
Treehouse, with a raw bar, burgers and craft
cocktails, soon to offer the same downstairs
menu.
If
you are looking
for a whole lobster on a regular basis, as well as
lobster rolls, just head south of Mystic to Noank,
a nine-minute drive, where the long-lived and
much-loved Abbott’s
in the Rough (117 Pearl
Street; 860-536-7719) has its own dock where
the lobstermen pull up daily (left), so you
can be assured of a well-fatted lobster rather
than one that’s been wallowing in a fish tank for
days on end. You can eat outside in the bucolic
Connecticut countryside and feast on crabcakes and
chowder, oysters just cracked open, lobsters (MP)
that weigh up to ten pounds and strawberry
shortcake for dessert. ❖❖❖ NEW YORK CORNER
TUSCANY STEAKHOUSE
117 West 58th
Street 212-757-8630 By John Mariani The dated
macho attitude that used to be the rule in
old-line New York steakhouses like Palm, Smith
& Wollensky and Peter Luger, where the
maître d’ said things like, “You got a seven
o’clock reservation? So do a lot of people. Wait
at the bar,” and the waiters barely mumbled,
“How d’ya want ya steak cooked?” was, thank
heavens, superseded over the last decade by a
welcoming, cordial hospitality that seemed to
begin about the time Wolfgang’s
Steakhouse opened near Grand Central Terminal.
Wolfgang Zwiener, who’d spent decades as a
Luger’s waiter, was determined to serve food
every bit as good as any in New York but to
eliminate the rudeness and focus on good
service. And he had the good sense to hire a
large number of already experienced waitstaff
from Eastern
Europe—Albanian, Slovenian, Croatian,
Montenegrin—whose demeanor was a far cry from
the old “sit-‘em-and-serve-‘em” routine. ❖❖❖
CAPONE’S
GOLD
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
David had been
lucky to find “Pants” Cuoco still alive. Very
few of Capone’s cronies from the 1920s and 1930s
were, simply because they would have to have
lived into their eighties. Given
their odds of surviving a life in crime, they’d
be lucky to live into their forties.
*
*
*
* David’s
next call was to Lt. Brian Cunningham in
Chicago. *
*
*
David
met Katie at her apartment for a late breakfast
of decent bagels and good coffee. © John Mariani, 2015 ❖❖❖ NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
MOËT HENNESSY GOES SERIOUSLY
GREEN
By John Mariani It has been extremely gratifying to see how the food-and-beverage industry, as much as any, is treating climate change and sustainability as a critical effort at what has been called a tipping point in world history. In food and beverage, not least the wine industry, climate factors have always been crucial to their survival. As one of the biggest players in the global market, Moët Hennessy sees the issues as paramount. I interviewed Sandrine Sommer, Chief Sustainability Officer of Moët Hennessy, to find out how they are taking care of business with an outlook on the near and far future. Why has MH put so much effort into sustainability? As the global leader in luxury Wines & Spirits with many iconic Maisons, we recognize our unique responsibility to our stakeholders and the planet as a whole. Since the era of our original founders, our mission has always been to ensure that people and nature coexist harmoniously—getting the best from the earth and giving back to it. Today, Moët Hennessy is accelerating sustainable development initiatives, articulating our commitments, and setting objectives involving all our employees, distributors, partners, customers, and consumers worldwide. Our sustainability program is a fantastic opportunity to innovate, so we can meet present and future challenges together, thereby having a lasting positive impact on our industry. What is the PADV and how is MH involved? As part of our steadfast commitment to regenerating our soils, we enlisted the support of the PADV, a French NGO consisting of multiple experts in this field, to help us test and learn regenerative viticulture and agroforestry practices on different sites, which we have already begun in Champagne and Provence. This partnership allows us to benefit from the PADV’s expert network as we progress in technical areas and ensure we implement the right KPIs to measure our progress. We also teamed up with Reforest’Action, a company that works with partners and individuals to regenerate forests all around the world. One of our Champagne Maisons, Ruinart (left), has dedicated 40 hectares of its historic vineyard to an agroforestry pilot project that will help promote biodiversity by providing habitats for fauna. Hennessy, our Cognac Maison, is particularly sensitive to reforestation as Cognac barrels are made of wood. Over and above its own sourcing, the Maison, in partnership with Reforest’Action, is participating in the regeneration of forests locally, nationally and internationally, including in Europe, North America and Africa. What is the Living Soils Living Together program? “Living Soils Living Together” is our sustainability program that articulates our 4 major commitments: Regenerating our Soils, Reducing our Climate Impact, Being Committed to society, and Empowering our Talents. To help regenerate our soils, we continue to reduce treatments, carefully manage water supply and promote biodiversity everywhere. In terms of mitigating our climate impact, we continue our efforts to drastically reduce our carbon emissions, including eco-designing our packaging and marketing assets, opting for low-carbon transportation, decreasing energy consumption, and increasing the transparency and traceability of our activities. To engage society, we build awareness around the importance of Responsible Drinking, guarantee business integrity, and support the growth of local communities. Finally, we empower our teams by involving them in sustainability initiatives, and promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in a spirit of solidarity and in the interest of the common good. Has MH been sharing their scientific knowledge with other vintners/ distillers? We actively encourage partners and stakeholders in the regions where we operate to improve their sustainable development practices. In Champagne and Cognac, for example, we are supporting our winegrowers in achieving environmental certifications by providing training and other incentives. At Hennessy (left), we already use only bio-gas at our distilleries and are sharing this best practice with our distillers. At Belvedere, we intend to help our strategic raw spirit suppliers move from 100% to 0% coal dependency with a renewable energy plan. We are aware that we cannot act alone, which is why last year we presented our commitments during Vinexpo Paris to encourage the industry as a whole to get more involved. We will continue to share and capitalize on best practices. To this end, we will have an event in June 2022. More to come soon on this. Although MH has no
vineyards in Bordeaux and Burgundy,
is there a
consensus that global warming will ultimately harm vineyards in
Bordeaux
and Burgundy (which could use more heat)? Global warming will change all our lives, and while we can already see its impact in our vineyards, we are working tirelessly to find ways to mitigate the situation: we built a new R&D center in Champagne dedicated to advances in sustainable development. We are also planting hedges and cover cropping in the vineyards, which promote biodiversity, but also adapt to climate change, as they provide humidity and shade in the summer and protect the vines against frost in the winter. How do the Paris Agreements fit into all of this? We are conscious of our key role and do our part to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius. Our consolidated carbon footprint target for 2030, for all our Maisons together, is to stay below the 1.5 trajectory, meaning to decrease up to 50% of our carbon emissions vs 2019. We know that it is ambitious, but we also are aware that we have no choice. Moët Hennessy’s President & CEO Philippe Schaus and the Executive Committee are fully supportive of our sustainability program and are making it a priority in all pivotal meetings at MH and within LVMH. How has your new luxury vodka Belvedere managed to reduce CO2 so dramatically? Belvedere’s natural and simple approach is echoed in its new communication platform, Made with Nature. Beyond a campaign, Made with Nature speaks not only about Belvedere’s products and lifestyle, but also about its commitment to the Moët Hennessy sustainability program, Living Soils Living Together. In terms of CO2 reduction, already from 2012 to 2017, Belvedere cut energy CO2 emissions by 42% by shifting fuel sources. Then, in 2018, Belvedere became the first spirits distillery to receive a grant from the European Commission to pilot an ambitious green energy initiative that saw the installation of a biomass facility on site in Q1 2021. The new plant will start producing 100% renewable energy, subsequently reducing energy-related CO2 emissions by 80% for Belvedere. The biomass captured from production waste, notably natural by-product and heat recovered from the distillation process, will generate enough energy to supply both the distillery and neighboring businesses—many of whom rely on burning coal for fuel. We are currently designing a plan to supply the power network of our Żyrardów, Poland, hometown with green energy produced in-house starting by 2024. Why is Glenmorangie Scotch concerned about sustainability? Glenmorangie (right) has been working on sustainability initiatives for many years, particularly with regard to reducing energy consumption and improving water quality. With two coastal distilleries, and in a conscious effort to reduce its impacton the environment, in 2017, the Glenmorangie Company(right) installed an anaerobic digestion plant that is able to neutralize 95% of distillery waste before it enters the neighboring sea, known as the Dornoch Firth. The plant also reduces the distillery’s fuel oil demand by 15% by creating biogas and returning copper-rich fertilizer to the barley fields of Ross-shire. To address the remaining 5%, the team looked at bio-filters through an initiative they started in 2014. The Dornoch Environmental Enhancement Project (DEEP) is a collaboration between industry, academia and charity to restore native European oysters to the protected areas of the Dornoch Firth, as these organisms, which had been depleted from the waters by humans 100 years ago, are efficient biofilters. The Company’s long-term ambition with DEEP is to extend the numbers of oysters in the Dornoch to 200,000 over three years, then four million over five years, creating a 40-hectare, sustainable oyster reef. ❖❖❖
"[At
Gage & Tollner] there are Parker House rolls,
basted in butter and so pillowy you’d want to
stretch out and go to sleep on them if they weren’t
served scalding hot."—Pete
Welles, "Gage & Tollner," New York Times
(6/16/ 2021). ❖❖❖ Sponsored by ❖❖❖
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. ❖❖❖
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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
Photographer: Galina Dargery. Technical
Advisor: Gerry
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