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MARIANI’S
Virtual
Gourmet
April 24, 2005
NEWSLETTER
Russian
Easter Eggs
(2005)
Photo: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery
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Eating Around Valencia by John
Mariani
NEW YORK CORNER: The Harrison by
John Mariani
QUICK BYTES
EATING AROUND VALENCIA
by John Mariani
Photos by Galina Stepanoff-Dargery
I
suspect that the dish most associated with Spain's region of Valencia
in
most Americans' minds would be paella, an open-air meal in one big
platter, cooked over a wood fire till the rice sticks to the bottom and
gets crispy, which is considered one of the best parts of a
paella. Gastronomic
purists say the original paella was made only with eels from
Albufera, Valencia's saltwater lagoon, but today a wide variety of
ingredients, from seafood to chicken and rabbit, find their way into a
wide variety of paellas.
A
good paella, made with the short-grained rice of the kind grown in vast
paddies just outside of the
city of Valencia should be moist and tender, with
every grain suffused with flavor, neither mushy nor dry, though
somewhat drier than an Italian risotto. Depending on the
Valencian you are speaking to, only red or only white wine should be
drunk while eating paella. Another will say, wrong! You drink sangria with
paella.
Once paella was a poor man's dish,
then became popular in the city on Thursdays and Sundays, though the
locals usually eat
some form of rice dish almost every day. Sunday continues
to be a traditional time to go out for paella, and the neighborhood to
go is along the seaside, palm-lined Avenue
Neptune, where perhaps a dozen restaurants feature the dish. They
all look more or less alike,
and the menus don't differ by much. Families seem to have their
favorites, or else skip from one to another from week to week.
La Pepica
(6 Avenue Neptuno; 96-371-0366)
was Ernest Hemingway's favorite, which he wrote of in The Dangerous Summer: "Dinner
at Pepica's (right) was
wonderful. It was a big, clean, open-air place
and everything was cooked in plain sight. You could pick out what
you wanted to have grilled or broiled and the seafood and the Valencian
rice dishes were the best on the beach. . . . You could hear the sea
breaking on the beach and the lights shone on the wet sand."
Hemingway ate heartily and was very fond of the Balleguer family that
still owns the
restaurant and remembers Papa's good appetite for food and drink.
My wife and I chose the highly recommended La Rosa (70 Avenue de Neptuno; 96-371-2076),
down a few doors from La Pepica. It was flocked at lunch with the
locals who came to feast, possibly after Mass, though no proper lunch
begins much before two in the afternoon in Valencia. The interior
dining room (below) filled up
after the patio area did, and we were lucky, by virtue of a prior
reservation at a relatively early hour of 1:30, to get an outdoor
table, looking over the beach and
sea. La Rosa has a vast menu and a fairly good wine list, with a
number of excellent Valencian wines priced $10-$18, while Riojas and
Priorats cost far more. We were very happy with a bottle of
bright, very young, dry Muscat from San Terra vineyards.
We nibbled hungrily on fried pork skins
called chicarones but had
little taste for a banal salad of pink
tomatoes, shredded carrots, and mediocre ham. Then came the
paella, steaming in the big, concave pan that gives the
dish its name. We ordered one with rabbit and chicken and found
green beans and snails in the mix, the rice having absorbed the
flavors while cooking down to the proper consistency. I would
have liked more seasoning in the dish, but it was hearty and good, and
everyone around us seemed to be eating more or less the same thing with
enormous relish. Bottles of red and white wine seemed equally
divided among the guests. The meal, with wine, water, service, and tax,
came to less than $50.
Valencians
do not stroll from tapas bar to tapas bar, as they do in San
Sebastián, but they do snack on tapas during the day or eat them
as an array for dinner. So throughout the city
small restaurants and cafés always have a counter full of them
for
nibbling with a cold Mahou beer, a glass of wine, or a dry fino Sherry. You
should also try to sample the local thin spaghetti called fideua (fee-day-wah), which comes
with a variety of sauces not unlike those in paella. And don't leave
without slurping down a tall glass of cold horchada, made from chufas
(tiger nuts) and tasting like a cross between
coconut milk and wheatberries. Traditionally a summer drink, it
is now
available most of the year.
For a good introduction to Valencian cuisine, Raco del Turia (10 Carrier Ciscar; 96-395-1525) will put you at ease immediately, for the
place is bright, cheery with both locals and foreigners, and hospitable
to all. The moderately-sized dining room (right) has wood beams, white
moulding, painted tile wainscoting, peach walls, and brass chandeliers.
Food-related paintings festoon the walls, including one showing
paella being cooked in the countryside outdoors.
The food here is seriously traditional,
beginning with a very pleasing arrangement of grilled
zucchini, asparagus, tomatoes, eggplant, onions, and mushrooms dressed
with a well-rendered romescu sauce of almonds, peppers, onions, tomato,
garlic and olive oil. Fat fresh shrimp came to the table very
hot and gilded with garlic and oil; monkfish on the other hand would
have been
better without its gummy white sauce.
A marked evolution of the local cuisine with modern
flair in presentation can be found at Tasca Josue (19 Carrier Calixto III; 96-384-1873),
in a youthful neighborhood where every other storefront seems to be a taberna, bodega, restaurante, or pizzeria,
and the
neighborhood is thronged with young people who go out and stay out very
late. Tasca Jose (below)
is a very friendly place, and while English is not spoken by anyone on the
staff, chef-owner, Jesus Ribes, standing in his open
kitchen, will happily try to explain what's good that
night.
Just nod and say O.K. to whatever he suggests.
We went with all his
suggestions, beginning with very thinly sliced octopus, zucchini, red
onion, tomato, and a gloss of olive oil, which made for a bright
beginning. We were then offered a kind of shooter with
puréed red
pepper and garlic and a single shrimp on the side, then a lovely plate
of
octopus with macadamias, asparagus, carrots, zucchini and a slick of
squid ink sauce. Tagliarine of calamari--clearly inspired by
Ferran Adrià--was tossed with string beans and zucchini, with a
mayonnaise colored with peppery paprika. For our main
courses we had snowy sea bass with assorted sautéed mushrooms
and pine
nuts, and a filet mignon with haystack potatoes and delicious shreds of
Spanish ham. For dessert melon soup with yogurt sorbet was a
perfect
way to end what was a fairly light meal, but I could not help polishing
off what I thought was the perfect brownie with chocolate ice
cream, white chocolate sauce,
and passion fruit. Dinner came to about $70, with wine, service,
and tax.
One of the trendier spots of the
moment, drawing a hip young crowd, is L'Ambigù
(Carrier Felip Maria Garin;
96-337-4005), which alternates canned contemporary pop with
absolutely enchanting classical music played by a string quarter (right). Here the menu changes
often and seasonally, and chef Mariano Fernandez, with three women
cooks in the kitchen, shares some of the experimentalism of
Ferran Adrià (what young chefs do not these days?). They favor tasting menus here, and if you
are adventurous and not tied to tradition, L'Ambigù should fit
the
bill.
I admit to being dazzled by the presentations, like
the "Mediterranean salad" in a star pattern, made from a purée
of
yellow
tomato and olive oil with a little scoop of avocado ice cream, which
was actually a striking way to start off the meal. An amazingly
good, if horrible sounding, raspberry vinegar-anchovy soup was like a
cold gazpacho, bracing and tart. "Mar
y Montagna" (sea and mountain) was a dish of pork, squid, and
octopus formed into a kind of torta
with a curried green salad
and shrimp sauce, not something I think I'd order ever
again.
To give you an
idea of Valencians' way with rice, Fernandez provides you with four
versions, containing squid, octopus and asparagus, chicken and
rabbit, and cauliflower and cod. Next came succulent pork cheeks
with
raisins, chorizo, and a
potato pancake, which paled only by comparison with
the rest of the meal. We ended off with a superb and fascinating
orange mousse with a crispy orange slice and little jellied orange
squares. A tasting menu here will run about $50.
Two friends took us for a very special afternoon to the Cavanel
neighborhood, full of gypsies and plenty of small tabernas, most hidden
behind faded, painted facades. One of them turned out
to be an
extraordinary wine bar and restaurant named Bodega Montaña (969 Carrier Jose Benlliure; 96-367-2314;
www.emilianobodega.com), owned by Emiliano Garcia. The building
dates back to 1836 and the bodega
is celebrating its centennial as an eatery that
now stocks 1,100 wines on its list and sells 15,000 bottles a year,
most from a front room (left) no bigger than a one-car
garage. To the rear is a smaller room with one well-used, large
round table,
which staff rush through constantly to bring food and wine to a
slightly larger room further back. I felt rather privileged to
have the big table, and I knew I was in for something special as
platters of buttery sliced ham were set down with a bottle of sparkling
cava. More
platters followed with anchovies and sardines, little
sausages and fried potatoes and mushrooms and a good deal more wine and
much else I simply do not remember, having put my notebook away after
the fifth course and second bottle of Monastrell red wine.
Suffice
it to say that no one leaves this bodega hungry and no one goes away
without a smile
on his face and a strong intention to take a nap before a late, late
dinner.
Certainly
the most charming restaurant we visited was well outside of a
little hill town in Estenas near Utiel. Only a few months old,
and set on a winding street seemingly in the middle of nowhere, Hotel
Rural "El Enverno" (6 Plaza
del Omo; 96-217-6000;
www.hotelruralenvero.com) might be missed in the blink of an
eye. There
are only three rooms here, tiny but cozy, rustic with stone walls; the
dining room (below) is just as
minuscule, with a small fireplace where they cook many of the meat
dishes, and only about half a dozen well-set tables. Pure
sunlight pours through the window and casts a golden glow on the stone
walls. There is a menu of seven appetizers, three meats, and five
desserts, and the food is simply done and absolutely delicious.
We began with a carpaccio of beef, and bacalao (salt cod) with dried
peppers that gave it just the right tingle. There is also a delightful
dish of sweetbreads with trumpet mushrooms.
The real strength of the cooking,
however, is
the array of meats cooked over a wood fire--something I've found the
Spanish do as well or better than any people on earth. We had
pork
that had been fed only on acorns, and cochinillo
(suckling pig) of
impeccable, velvety texture. Baby lamb was perfect too, juicy,
fatted, and richly flavorful with faint smokiness imparted from the
slow cooking. There is also a tenderloin of beef with liver.
These entrees range from $15-$19, and I haven't had better
examples anywhere. With a bottle of Valencian bobal red
wine from a
producer like Dominio de la Vega, I could be coaxed to stay on for days
in this small corner of Spain.
Valencia's
situation on the sea makes the bounty of the Mediterranean both readily
available and seasonal. Some of the best of the region's seafood
restaurants are in the vacation city of Alicante, which sprawls around
the deep water harbor dotted with some of the largest yachts in
European waters. One of the best places to watch them ply those
waters is at the 45-year-old restaurant Dársena
(Marina Deportiva; 96-520-7589;
www.darsena.com), a huge place with indoor and outdoor seating (below),
upstairs and downstairs seating, and an ebullient host-owner, Don
Antonio Agustin Pérez, who seems to regard everyone as an old
friend,
deferential to all the women, with a firm handshake for all the men. He
bounds about his restaurant with obvious glee; he should: he's very
successful.
There is a long, very tempting tapas bar here
where you might eat your fill for the day or night. There are
also dozens of crustaceans and mollusks glistening on ice, and whole
fish are admirably displayed for you to see in all their pristine
freshness. The menu is vast beyond all that, and their rice
dishes and paellas teem with ingredients straight off the docks
that morning--so the best thing to do is to go with several friends and
order several rice dishes, with shrimp or anchovies or langoustines or
squid or any of a score of other ingredients. You drink the wines
of Alicante, which are very good and amazingly cheap, and you look out
on the water and feel you that this is truly one of the most beautiful
parts of Spain with some of the best food too. How much you order will
determine what you pay.
NEW
YORK CORNER
by
John Mariani
The Harrison
355 Greenwich Street
212-274-9310
www.theharrison.com
My
wife and I had just returned from a week of eating Turkish food
in Istanbul, so we were very much in the mood for New York comfort
food, by which I don't mean steak and potatoes, but the kind that is
wholesome, very tasty, deeply flavorful, and expressive of a
chef's best instincts. The
Harrison leapt to mind.
The
Harrison's owners, Jimmy Bradley and Danny Abrams, garnered early
praise for their gumption in opening just weeks after 9/11, since
it is located just blocks from the horror. While other restaurants
remained shuttered--or went out of business entirely--The Harrison
opened to very good reviews for its food and as a new beginning. Its
immediate success was testament to the
resilience of New York's dining scene so that a trip down there
became almost a bold requisite. Three and a half years later, its
TriBeCa neighborhood is once again thriving, with Chanterelle, TriBeCa
Grill, Montrachet, Nobu, Odeon, and other restaurants packed most
nights of the week.
So, on a beautiful, clear, twilighted
Tuesday evening this week, my wife and I returned to The Harrison after
a long absence. The windows were open to the street, where people
were happily enjoying cuisine alfresco, and the crowd inside radiated a
downtown sophistication it was marvelous to feel after a week away from
New York. Business people flock the place during the week, then
locals and bridge-and-tunnelers come over the weekend (the restaurant
is open seven days a week.)
The dining room (below) looked as unassuming and
charming as ever, maintained to a neighborly polish with creamy walls,
dark wood and slender pillars, with a convivial but not loud walnut
bar, and superbly flattering lighting. If I owned a restaurant, I'd
want it to look just about like this. The decibel level, by the
way, at least on a weeknight, is moderate and lends itself to
conversation. Soft music plays but does not intrude, nor does the
staff, a very cordial, friendly, helpful bunch of young people.
You
will be well received, your table will be impeccably set, the wine list
has something for everyone, and the bread is irresistible.
Bradley and Abrams have become very good at
what they do,
with three other winners to their credit--the Red Cat in Chelsea, Pace
in TriBeCa (reviewed here at www.johnmariani.com/041205),
and the Mermaid Inn (the least of their efforts) on the Lower East
Side. Last fall they hired chef Brian Bistrong at The Harrison,
and what was consistently good before is now very good indeed, and the
new spring menu bears this out in dishes that have the flavor and
dash of the season. Bistrong has strong credentials, having
worked at Lespinasse and Bouley before becoming chef at Citarella (now
Joseph's). He cooks in the modern American style, taking full
advantage of the best fish now in the market, the spring peas that go
into his pea sprout salad with butter lettuce and toasted peas, and his
schnitzel of baby lamb.
There are happy little ideas like
"biscuits and gravy," studded with scallions and mounted with three
species of clams and bits of chorizo. Peeky toe crab did not have
much flavor on its own, but the accompanying avocado, grapefruit, and
tangy mustard oil brought it alive. Ricotta cavatelli came with
braised rabbit, escarole, and mint in a "natural jus," which was delicious if a tad
soupy for the pasta.
Bistrong's say boat scallops with
hominy, black olives, pecans, and an aji amarillo sauce was a
masterpiece of sweet seafood flavors and crispy textures. The
scallops were among the best I've had in a long while, and I really
loved the way the pecans and hominy gave such an unexpected boost to
eating them. He has wisely kept The Harrison's signature crispy
fried clams with lemon-coriander aïoli on the menu.
One
platter will go very fast.
My wife chose perfectly sautéed,
buttery skate wing fanned out against cucumber, pineapple, capers and a
balsamic vinegar that gave the fish equal sweet, sour, and vegetal
notes. Pork tenderloin, cooked pink as ordered, was good quality,
and the black-eyed peas, collards, and barbecue gravy was just the
thing I wanted to eat on a warm spring evening back in the USA.
As was Meyer lemon meringue pie with
candied kumquats and lemon-thyme sabayon, and a terrific, gooey coconut
custard tart with a tropical fruit salad. A pool of passion fruit broth
detracted from the homey American goodness, however. Pastry chef
Jeff Gerace more than redeemed himself, however, with a dish of
beignets cuddled in a napkin. Pop one in your mouth, bite down
slowly,
and chocolate spurts out over your palate in a wondrous ooze that is
more than likely going to dribble down your chin.
April's light had faded over the Hudson
River, but the sky still had a downy blue edge against the New York
skyline. I was happy to be home, and I was happy to have chosen
The Harrison for my homecoming.
Appetizers run $8-$15, entrees
$20-$32.
OF COURSE, FILLING
THE STREETS WITH WATER DOESN'T DO MUCH FOR TRAFFIC IN VENICE EITHER
"There are two kinds of people in America: those who like
Florence and those who like Venice. No hard feelings, but if
you're one of those Florence types, I wouldn't expect us to have much
in common. Take the Duomo, for example--the cathedral that
impedes traffic in the center of Florence. You probably love it,
but green churches have never done much for me."--Alan Richman, "A Tale
of Two Cities," Bon Appetit
(May 2005).
TRULY
WRETCHED EXCESS
A bar in Fort Collins, Colorado, canceled a
gelatin wrestling
event--with free shots of alcohol for women--intended to honor a
Colorado State University student who drank herself to death after a
night of heavy consumption. Part of the proceeds from what was to be
called Wrestle-O was to go to a program to promote alcohol awareness.
DEPARTMENT
OF CORRECTIONS
A
digit was left off the telephone number for Lisca
restaurant in NYC in last week's newsletter. The number is 212-799-3987. Also, the restaurant does not
currently accept credit cards.
QUICK BYTES
To all my friends in the public relations
community: With regard to Mother's Day celebrations (as well as
Father's Day, St. Valentine's Day, etc.), the volume of announcements I
receive has made it impossible to list every one in the Virtual
Gourmet.
Therefore, I
shall endeavor to include as many of those that seem to have the most
interesting, singular events, rather than those that offer merely a
special price for the day, e.g.,
Mother's Day brunch.
*
On April 29 Chef Chris Fernandez of Poggio
in Sausalito,
CA, will join
with Susan Pey, one of Marin County's only
female winemakers, for a wine dinner. Call
415-332-7771.
* On May 4 Rocco's in Cleveland welcomes Sean Garvey from Flora Springs
Vineyard for
a 7-course dinner paired with wines. $100 pp. Call
216-781-8858.
*
On May 7 Corey Creek
Vineyards on Long Island, NY, presents a dinner and discussion of “Niche
Whites” with sommelier Darrin Siegfried
at its tasting room. $100
pp, for general public, $75
for Wine
Club Members. Call
631-765-4168.
* On May 15 chef Anne
Quatrano of Atlanta’s Bacchanalia and Floataway
Café, and her mother, Gulielma,
are
hosting their first mother-daughter event to benefit the scholarship
and
mentorship program of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs. The event will
incl. cooking
demos by women chefs from around the country, with high
tea to follow. $150 pp, incl. In
Mother’s Kitchen by Ann Cooper and Rick
& Lanie’s Excellent Kitchen Adventures by Rick & Lanie
Bayless. Call 404-365-0410 x 22 or visit www.womenchefs.org.
*
The 14th annual New
Orleans Wine and Food
Experience will be held May 25-29.
More than 800 vintages
from around the world will be
poured at a series of events, incl. Vintner¹s
Dinners at over 30 restaurants, hosted by winery representatives. The Grand Tastings, with dishes from more than 100 of New Orleans
restaurants and
wines from more than 200 producers, is on May 27 & 28. “Bubbles and
Brunch,” a champagne jazz brunch will be
held on May 29. Visit www.nowfe.com.
* From May 27-29 the Second
Annual "Best of the Wurst" Festival will be held at the Inn at Danbury,
NH, incl. Trachten
Contests & Live Oompah Bands. Overnight packages are
available.
Call 603-768-3318 or 1 866-DANBURY ; www.innatdanbury.com.
LET
ME TAKE YOU ON A SEA CRUISE
Dear Subscriber,
I
will be hosting a
very special
and, I think unique, cruise event this summer from June 4-16 on
the S. S.
Crystal Serenity. I
have chosen some of my favorite
places in the whole world to visit and dine at, including Alain
Ducasse’s illustrious three-star Louis
XV restaurant in Monaco,
and the enchanting Don Alfonso
on the Amalfi Coast.
You
will be treated to the finest these and other dedicated restaurateurs
have to offer in their unique way.
I will be telling you everything worth knowing about the
food and wines of the regions we visit—Dubrovnik,
Barcelona, Monaco,
Florence, St. Tropez,
Sorrento, and Rome—including
the best places to find haute cuisine to the most charming trattoria or
the liveliest bistros and cafes.
My wife Galina, co-author with me of The
Italian American Cookbook (which we’ll sign copies of), will
also be
giving an exclusive cooking lesson onboard I know you will enjoy.
Between relaxing and
enjoying yourselves onboard and coming with us to the loveliest sites
and restaurants in the Mediterranean, you will
have a unique and memorable trip and, I hope, become as familiar with
these glorious places, cultures, and people as I am.
Galina and I look forward to seeing you onboard in June! For details, go to http://www.festivalsafloat.com/html/mariani/letter.html
-- John Mariani
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MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher:
John Mariani. Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani, Naomi
Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson, Edward Brivio, Mort
Hochstein, Lucy Gordan, Suzanne Wright. Contributing
Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery, Bobby Pirillo. Technical
Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.
John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the
Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia
of American Food & Drink (Lebhar-Friedman), The Dictionary
of Italian Food and Drink (Broadway), and, with his wife Galina, the
award-winning new Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common
Press).
Any of John Mariani's books below
may be ordered from amazon.com by clicking on the cover image.
copyright John Mariani 2005
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