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MARIANI’S
Virtual Gourmet
April
13, 2008
NEWSLETTER
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In
This Issue
LIGURIA, THE
ITALIAN
RIVIERA by John Mariani
NEW
YORK CORNER: kampuchea
by John Mariani
NOTES FROM THE
WINE CELLAR: Planeta Brings Sicilian Wines New
Respect
By John Mariani
QUICK
BYTES
LIGURIA,
THE
ITALIAN RIVIERA
By John Mariani
The
Harbor of Portofino
W
hen
British rock star Rod Stewart, 62, decided last spring to get married
again—to a 36-year-old woman named
Penny—he chose to hold the reception at the perfectly-named Hotel
Splendido in Portofino, high above the rippling
Ligurian
coast.
You may recall that one of Stewart’s big hits was “Some Guys Have All
the Luck.”
He
could hardly have chosen a more
beautiful place on earth, for Portofino is one of those small hidden
harbors full of Moby-Dick size yachts, above which hover piney,
flower-dappled hills where Dolce and Gabbana and Giorgio Armani have
homes. The Splendido itself (Salita Baratta 16; 0185-26-7801)
is
near the top of one of those
hills, up a winding road that isolates it from everything surrounding
and below it, and the hotel’s walls are lined with celebrity photos of
everyone from Ingrid Bergman to Julie Christie who have secluded
themselves there. (There is also a charming small hotel in
the town associated with the Splendido, called Splendido Mare.)
To
dine al fresco at the hotel’s La
Terrazza restaurant (below)
is just as glorious as everything else about the
place. Certainly nothing improves the taste of food and
wine more than salt sea air, and when that air is wafting over La
Terrazza and the wine is a local Ligurian pigato, there is nothing to
do but surrender to the romance of it all. The first thing to do here
is to order one of bartender Antonio Beccalli's aperitifs made from
white peaches, raspberry, and prosecco, which he has perfected over his
37 years at the Splendido.
As I was
served an amuse of a
fresh anchovy on toast and took my first sip
of the pigato, I was immediately struck by the notion that
drinking the wines of a region with the food of a region not only makes
sense but imparts a greater appreciation of the local gastronomy. When
in Rome, do as the Romans do, but when in Liguria, feast on seafood
from the Ligurian Sea and drink the wines made along this glorious
coastal region, which extends from Lerici to the sprawling port of
Genoa and up to the edge of Monaco and the French Riviera.
What
followed that
evening was very typical of the cooking of the area, culled from the
sea and inland farms and based on the simple idea that good ingredients
like langoustines, spiny lobster, branzino,
orata, dorade, scampi, and San
Pietro fish, along with
fragrant
olive oil, sweet pine nuts, bitter
arugula, and, more than anything else, the most aromatic basil in the
world, need nothing more than to interact. To manipulate such
ingredients is to compromise them. (Dinner
per person, with tax and service included, without wine, will run about
70 Euros.)
I spent several days in
Portofino, which rightly claims itself the most fashionable and
exclusive resort on the Riviera de Levante, its small harbor jammed
with enormous yachts, its hills dotted with grand villas. No cars are
allowed into the town’s center, so people stroll arm in arm on their
way to the boutiques or to the tiny, rocky scallop-shaped beach fronted
with chic restaurants like Chuflay
(Via Roma 2; 0185-26-7802)--an
Italian pronunciation of “Shoofly”). Here, just yards from the water (below) wealthy travelers
come to sip bellinis, eat seafood, and savor crème
brûlée flavored with the sweet Ligurian wine called sciacchetrà.
They serve excellent crudi (raw fish) with Ligurian olive oil drizzled
over it, and I loved the light but rich Ligurian goat's cheese from the
Savonesi hills with a dressing of pureed olives. Gnocchi are made with
vegetables, lobster, and fresh cherry tomatoes, and the mixed grill is
the ideal way to sample the day's catch. I, of course, could not resist
having another version of pesto,
a sauce and condiment that is at the heart and soul of Ligurian
cooking. (Dinner per
person, with tax and service included, without wine, will run about 70
Euros.)
Take that perfume-like
sweet basil, the pinenuts, some olive oil, and a little garlic, crush
them in a mortar with some pecorino cheese, and you have pesto,
used in a variety of dishes
but so widely in pastas that it has become an obsession among Ligurians
who will hotly debate for hours where and when the best basil is to be
found. The Genoese dismiss the idea of hothouse basil (cultivated
in Liguria since the 18th century), insisting that only the plants from
surrounding communities like Pegli, Palmaro, and, in particular,
Prà produce superior
basil. Long before the tomato reached
Italy from the New World, basil thoroughly infused Ligurian food
culture.
Some fanatics refuse to
eat pesto when the basil flags at summer’s end, though they may
secretly pack the leaves in olive oil or make pots of the sauce then
freeze it, because it would be difficult for them to hold out until
spring without a taste of something than runs in their veins. It
is said that basil should never be touched by metal, insisting that
only a marble mortar and wooden pestle be used to crush the herb gently
and to incorporate the ingredients into a vibrant green, creamy
paste.
The
classic pesto dish is trenette col
pesto—thin
fettuccine-like pasta coated with the pesto
sauce to which are added boiled green beans and cubes of potatoes to
give it more texture. Trofie
are small, inch-long morsels
of pasta, like gnocchi, also
treated to pesto. The sauce is
worked into risottos and is lavished on another lovely Ligurian dish
made with thin, almost sheer pasta sheets called mandilli de saea (silk
handkerchiefs). When Ligurians make lasagne, they don’t sandwich
sheets of pasta with cheese and meat sauce and bake it; they merely
layer sheets of boiled pasta with pesto. Pesto is also lavishly
laced into a hearty vegetable soup called minestrone that is a
specialty of the region.![](%20chuflay%202.jpg)
One of Ligurians’
favorite non-pesto sauces is tocco
de noxe, made with walnuts,
breadcrumbs, ricotta, olive oil, and grated cheese, slowly and gently
worked in a mortar. It is traditionally ladled onto pansôti (fat
bellies), a ravioli-like pasta filled with herbs.
In the trattorias of Liguria
you’ll find local specialties like the rich fish soup called ‘ciuppin,
which lent its name to San Francisco’s similar dish cioppino. Bagnun is an intense,
well-seasoned anchovy and tomato soup served with
crusts of bread, and baccalà
is salted cod that has been dried
then refreshed in water before being turned into dozens of
preparations, included as fried morsels.
The Ligurians are also masters of fritture—fried dishes
that range from fresh anchovies and calamari to
little cheese puffs called focaccette
and bean fritters. On the second
week in May, in the fisherman’s town of Camogli (whose dialect name
means “Home of the Wives” for the women who patiently waited for their
men at sea), they hold the Sagra del Pesce, a feast to commemorate the
dire days during World War II when fishermen had to sail between German
mines to obtain enough fish to feed their starving families.
Under the protection of St. Fortunato, they succeeded, so that ever
since the town repays him by holding a bountiful feast at which huge
frying pans 13 feet in diameter are filled with oil and
fresh seafood,
which is then cooked and given away free to everyone, townspeople and
tourists alike.
In
Genoa, one
of the best
places to try fritto misto (mixed
fry) of seafood is at the very
popular 60-year-old restaurant Da
Rina
(Mura delle Grazie 3r;
010-246-6475; left), whose very attentive,
impeccably dressed materfamilias is 95 years old! The fritto misto will
include whatever is freshest that day--sardines, squid, anchovies,
mullet, and other items. codfish fritters came with crisp-fried
vegetables, and paccheri pasta is stuffed with fresh tuna with a sauce
tomato, olives, and capers. Chef Roberto Cantatore's mandilli de saea at Da Rina was one
of the best I've had in Genoa. Sautéed ricciola (amberjack) in a
balsamic reduction.
Afterwards., you can stroll under the
ancient arcades, said to be "a thousand paces long"--of Genoa where
certain shops specialize in nothing but
fried food, the ingredients for which they obtain just steps away in
the seafood markets across from the harbor. (Dinner per person, with tax and service
included, without wine, will run about 50 Euros.)
The
harbor area and historic district
teem with little cafés, candy shops, bread stores, and spice
emporiums under those ancient archways. In the pastry shops, look for
the cookie with the word
zena on top-- a local name for Genoa, and the rich, chocolate-flavored
and buttercream custard called sacri
pantina. Ask where to find Viganotti Romeo: You walk down a
narrow
one-block long carruggio
(alleyway)
named Vico Castagna off the Via Petrarca, and on
the left-hand side is a wooden door that opens onto a small interior as
unprepossessing as a shoe repair shop. But this is considered one of
the finest artisanal chocolate shops in Liguria, lovingly made in
small, beautiful batches by the maestro Alessandro Boccardo.
Unless you spend a great deal of time touring
historic palazzos along the Via Garibaldi and the gallerias and
museums, the old central part of the city may be walked around in a
morning and afternoon, including Porto Antico, where the Aquarium is
located and architect Renzo Piano has been in charge of the renovation
of the port. The Cathedral of San Lorenzo is a very 12th
century Romanesque church of black and white marble with Gothic
additions and a sacristy holding a museum of jewels, including a plate
supposedly used to hold the head of St. John the Baptist.
Driving
south of Genoa
you come to the Riviera de Levante region of Cinque Terre—five quaint
villages, each with its own character—and the fishing
villages-turned-resort towns of Portofino, Santa Margherita, Chiavari,
Camogli, and Rapallo. To
the
north of the city is the other
Riviera, with equally beautiful towns like Noli, Finale Ligure, Cervo,
San Remo, and Ventimiglia. The locals vie to paint their house facades
in bright colors of trompe l'oeuil, which was also a way for the
seafaring Ligurians to spot their homes on their way back.
The sea is everything in these towns.
Locals revere seafood as an inexhaustible resource that has sustained
these villages in good times and bad for a millennium. Nowhere is this
bond more jubilantly celebrated than in Camogli, a vibrant fishing
village with pine-darkened mountains looming above a harbor packed with
fishing boats and an increasing number of yachts.
All share, more or less, the same food
traditions, and even after you cross the French border, you’ll begin to
see many of the same dishes you saw in Liguria, modified with French
names. Thus, pesto becomes pistou,
and fried fiori di zucca (zucchini
flowers)
become fleurs de courgettes;
chickpea
flour fritters
called panissa in San Remo
become panisses in Saint
Tropéz, while the
chickpea pancake called farinata
in Chiavari is known as socca in
Nice.
Farinata
is somewhat puffier
than socca, and often
flavored with herbs or onions. At the very
rustic, very popular restaurant in Chiavari named Luchin (Via Bighetti 51; 0185-301-063)--this
year
celebrating its centennial in business--farinata is a specialty, cooked
in copper pans in a big pizza-like oven. It bubbles up golden
brown on top, and it’s brought to you outside (left), where you sit under a
sun-screening arch at a wooden table and drink the slightly sparkling
house wine as you nibble one piece, then another of the farinata, while
thinking about the fried anchovies and the minestrone to follow.
And you get a lot for a little: The pastas run 7 Euros, the main
courses 7 to 10 Euros, and local wines by the carafe 7 to 8 Euros.
In any of these towns along the sea,
there is an array of gelaterias selling artisanal ice cream and
everywhere—as everywhere else—pizzerias. But in Liguria the specialty
pizza is called sardenaira,
topped not with mozzarella cheese,
but only with olives, anchovies, garlic, basil, and olive oil; on the
French Riviera this is called pissaladiére.
Best of all are the numerous focaccerie—storefronts
selling the puffed-up, dimpled bread called focaccia. Hot from
the ovens, baked with onions, or cheese, or herbs, and sprinkled with
sea salt, focaccia is as
proudly Ligurian as pesto, and the people
consume as much of it as they do bread.![](focacceria.jpg)
A good focaccia
has a slightly crispy
top and is tender within, not so spongy as you find elsewhere in Italy
or the United States. Once you taste it, you will give yourself
over to the ritual of lining up outside your favorite focacceria and
wait with others, ravenously hungry, for the big steamy squares to come
out of the intense heat of the stone ovens. In the town of Recco
they even hold a Festa del Focaccia attended by thousands of people who
start with plain focaccia and
coffee in the morning and end the
afternoon with focaccia
stuffed with cheese while enjoying a glass of
local vermentino.
Focaccia
and pesto, seafood and olives,
and good wine have sustained the people of Liguria for centuries.
Now, in times of abundance they still enjoy their native food with
tremendous gusto and a generosity of spirit that is infectious.
So, whether you are eating a glistening branzino with only a
benediction of green-gold olive oil at a place like La Terrazza or
noshing on fried anchovies and ordering another carafe of white wine at
a trattoria like Luchin, you will be surrounded by people who seem
quite justified in believing there is no more beautiful place to be and
no better place to eat and drink.
On
my last night in Portofino I ate at a charmingly casual trattoria at
the
north end of the town--the lovable Concordia,
(Via del Fondaco 5;
0185-269-207), where the owner Gian Battista (left, center) lavished our table
with fried anchovies and zucchini blossoms, raw fish drizzled with
olive oil, and grilled octopus. He serves an exquisite pesto lasagna,
thin sheets of fresh pasta layered with a beautiful, smooth pesto
that’s sweet from the basil and pine nuts and tangy and salty from
Pecorino cheese. With it we drank a bottle of Azienda Agriciola
Riccardo Bruna Pigato 2006 from the region around Ranzo Borgo. It
showed a big floral bouquet followed by minerals picked up from
gravelly soil and the saltiness of the sea that gave it a nice, brisk
structure in the finish. Concordia's winelist focuses on the wines of
northern Italy.
The evening was wholly typical of the cooking
of the area – simply prepared food made with wonderful ingredients
culled from the sea and inland farms, a menu of langoustines, spiny
lobster, branzino, orata, dorade,
scampi, and San Pietro.
On that night in Portofino, watching the pine green hills slowly
darken above a sapphire-blue sea and beneath a cerulean sky, and
drinking the cold pigato and dining so beautifully, I knew that
my appetite for Liguria had only just been whetted.
NEW
YORK CORNER
by John Mariani
![](kampachea%202.jpg)
kampuchea
78 Rivington Street(corner
of Allen Street)
212-529-3901
www.kampucheanyc.com
I
don't know if New York is in for a slew of new
noodle parlors--it's not as if the city hasn't long had plenty of
them, in and out of Chinatown and Queens--but the overhyped success of
David Chang's Momofuko enterprise in that genre has certainly made
chefs and restaurateurs think about opening their own. Kampuchea
on the bustling Lower East Side has been around since last year, and
its
popularity is based on all the right moves: The place is casual
but snappy, the open kitchen allows you to see what's going on, the
prices are right, and the service staff couldn't be nicer. It has also,
wisely, dropped "noodle bar" from its name; indeed, while the noodle
dishes are terrific, they are equally matched by the great sandwiches
and other dishes.
The name is the Khmer word for Cambodia, and
Chef Ratha Chau, whose parents emigrated to the U.S., is doing a great
job of approximating the street food of that country, not just with
noodle dishes but with a panoply of unusual dishes you won't easily
find anywhere else in NYC. I have no experience with Cambodian
fare--the only other NYC entry was South East Asian Cuisine, which
closed--but I assume Chau, who is self taught, is paying his most
sincere homage to the food of his home country.
The small restaurant has expansive windows on
two sides, some communal tables, and seems to get as many families with
kids in tow as it does LES denizens. Kids seem to take to this food
readily: a lot is fried, most can be eaten with your fingers. And
if you want to complain to anyone, Chau is standing just feet away in
the kitchen.
It's an overly ambitious menu for such a
small kitchen--18 small plates, 12 sandwiches, 5 crepes, and 11 soups,
noodle dishes, and stews. But most of what I had was pulled off with
panache, beginning with chilled rice vermicelli with grilled Berkshire
pork, Chinese sausage, an egg over easy, shallots, and crushed
peanuts. The cold noodles worked nicely with the warm pork and
texture of the peanuts. I'm not a huge fan of monkfish liver, but the
seared version at Kampuchea with a beef jus, macerated spiced pears,
pickled daikons, and bush basil had enough extra flavors to work with
the too-often-pungent liver.
Tamarind baby back ribs with
cilantro and a lime dip was addictive, and at only $13 everybody at the
table should get their own rather than fight over one plate. I do love
sweetbreads, and Chau (with Scott
Burnett left)
does well by them, giving them a quick searing then bobbing them in a
shiitake broth with an enoki-basil salad. Mussels, not too big,
not too small, are not for th faint of palate--the spicy-sour broth
packs a wallop, tamed by okra and tomatillos and sopped up with a
crusty baguette.
Now, about those sandwiches: They
are sensationally delicious, proving that something considered as lowly
as a sandwich can rise to gastronomic heights if you just take care and
use great ingredients, much the same as with a well-made pastrami on
rye at Katz's Deli nearby. Have the num pang, a tasting of three of
them, perhaps the
coconut tiger shrimp with toasted coconut; the sweet
pulled oxtail with tamarind-basil sauce; or the Hoisin sauce meatballs
with tomato sauce. They are the kind of dishes that make you wish you
lived right around the corner from Kampuchea.
We also noshed our way through a catfish crepe
with ground peppercorn, honey-soy, and sesame seed; a grilled whole
mackerel with chili sauce; and crispy pork belly with honey,
scallions, and apple cider. And, oh yeah! The noodles: A hot,
rich chicken broth with flat rice sticks, ground pork, duck confit,
chicken breast, tiger shrimp, and herbs--a kind of kitchen sink dish
that succeeds as much on complex flavors as on sheer bravado.
All of us really enjoyed the food at
Kampuchea--as well as the signature cocktails like the mango
caipirinha--but I think what I enjoyed most was in seeing the
commitment and self-taught talent of Ratha Chau and his kitchen staff
bring something new to New Yorkers who profess to have seen and tasted
it all.
Kampuchea is open for
lunch Fri.-Sun, for dinner daily. Small plates $6-$12, sandwiches and
crepes $10-$17, large plates $15-$18.
NOTES
FROM THE WINE CELLAR
PLANETA
BRINGS SICILIAN WINES NEW RESPECT
by John Mariani
Wine has been made in Sicily at least as early as the
Fifth Century B.C. but it’s taken about 2500 years to get it
right. Even 20 years ago Sicily was known mainly for Marsala and
dessert wines like Malvasia delle Lipari and Moscato di
Pantelleria, whereas many of the region’s cooperatives
deliberately overproduced wine to be distilled into alcohol allowed
under EU laws.
Only a
handful of Sicilian wineries, like Duca di Salaparuta and Regaleali,
used modern technology to produce premium varietals, and only in 1995
did Planeta, with
holdings in Sambuca di Sicilia since the 1600s, produce its first
vintage—a highly successful chardonnay and a fiano; now, after a dozen
vintages, Planeta also makes wines at their other estates at Menfi
(syrah, merlot, and others), Vittoria (nero d’avola and frappato), and
Noto (nero d’avola and moscato bianco). In that short time
Planeta has helped bring Sicilian wines, both traditional and new
varietals, considerable respect in the international market.
I met with Francesca Planeta, who owns the
company with her cousins Alessio and Santi (below), at a restaurant in
Tuckahoe, NY, named Angelina’s that cellars one of the largest Italian
winelists in the tri-state area. Over generous portions of Southern
Italian food that included eggplant rollatine, gnocchi with tomato and
basil, and a very good pizza alla margherita, I sampled ten of
Planeta’s wines, ranging from $15 to $40.
Born in Palermo, Planeta, 35, is the daughter
of an English mother and a Sicilian father who is president of island’s
best-known cooperative, Settesoli. She studied classics in Palermo,
earned a masters in communications in London, then another in Milan,
all by the age of 22, when she worked briefly in public relations for
the Milan-based marketing division of Nestle before joining the family
business.
“My father’s motto, and also mine,“ she said,
“is, if you compare yourself only with your neighbor, you will never
improve.”
Speaking of her efforts to distance Planeta from
other Sicilian wineries, she explained that Sicily has a myriad of
terroirs, and too many farmers simply grow whatever will produce the
most grapes. “There are at least 100 microclimates. Only the area
around Mount Etna is volcanic, others are sandy, and western Sicily
varies a great deal in soil composition. That’s why we plant
different grapes in our different estates. You can’t make the same wine
from grapes that have such different characteristics.”
Indeed, I found the Planeta wines had marked
differences, though every one manifested the robust sunniness of
Sicily, giving body to both reds and whites.![](planeta.jpg)
Fiano di Avellino is the white varietal in Planeta’s
Cometa 2006 ($39), which shows the minerality of its chalky terroir.
The fruit has a real smoothness and blossoms on mid-palate, kept
refreshing by a balance of acid. It is a lovely wine with seafood and I
might even try it with salads dressed with lemon or vinegar because it
can hold up to those sharp flavors.
The 2006
chardonnay ($39) gains from 10 months in French oak
barrels, whose toastiness harmonizes with the voluminous honey and
peach fruit flavors. This is a sun-struck wine of power that, with
20,000 cases produced, has understandably become a favorite restaurant
wine with customers.
La
Segreta Rosso 2006 ($15) is a delightfully complex red wine
drawing on different grapes from different regions, 50 percent nero
d’avola, 25 percent merlot, 20 percent syrah, and 5 percent cabernet
franc. The first gives the wine its big body and tannins, the
merlot softens it, the syrah provides a cherry-like spice, and
the cab franc rounds it all out. It went perfectly with the pizza and
the tomato-rich gnocchi.
Planeta’s Cerasuolo
di Vittoria 2006 ($15) is not the same wine as the rose of the
same name made in Abruzzo from montepulciano di Abruzzo. Instead it is
a dry red—the name means “cherry red”--made from 60 percent nero
d’avola and 40 percent frappato, a Sicilian grape that really does have
a cherry red color and flavor. Both pick up the iron from the
region’s soil, along with abundant fruit that just misses being
cloying, so it goes well with Italian cheeses like buffalo mozzarella
and asiago.
I was especially impressed by Planeta Santa Cecilia 2005 ($39),
made exclusively from nero d’avola in the Noto region. The grapes are
allowed to macerate for 12 days, giving it a tannic backbone, and 12
months in oak tames that into a velvety, lustrous and uniquely peppery
wine, an excellent foil for fatty roast duck or venison.
The last wine I tasted is called Burdese 2005 ($39),
Planeta’s Bordeaux-style blend of 70 percent cabernet sauvignon and 30
percent cabernet franc. It’s a powerhouse, robust and vigorous, rather
like a wine from the Médoc that spent summers in Sicily. It
would be
beautiful with charred steaks, and should get better for some time to
come.
“We make our wines to be drunk as soon as we
release them,” said Planeta. “But if you have patience, which is the
key to all winemaking and the enjoyment of wine, a little age will only
make them better.”
John
Mariani's weekly wine column appears in Bloomberg Muse News,
from which this story was adapted. Bloomberg News covers Culture from
art, books, and theater to wine, travel, and food on a daily basis, and
some of its articles play of the Saturday Bloomberg Radio and TV.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHY
ARE WE NOT SURPRISED?
Lollipops from - where else? - China have been recalled after metal
fragments were found in at least two lollipops sold at central Florida
stores.
WE
ALWAYS THOUGHT 330 WOULD BE MORE THAN ENOUGH
660 Curries by Raghanan Iyer (Workman, $32.50).
QUICK
BYTES
*
On
April 30 The
Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce proudly presents the 11th
Annual BROOKLYN EATS™ at Abigail Kirsch at Stage 6
Steiner Studios, showcasing Brooklyn as a dining and cultural destination. More
than 34
local restaurants will serve tasting portions of signature food dishes with international wines,
micro-brews, coffee and Brooklyn sodas. Announcement of the winners of the
sixth
annual Brooklyn Eats Scholarships. Advance
Purchase: $95 pp; at the door $115; Visit www.ibrooklyn.com
*
On May 1 restaurateur Sirio Maccioni will be honored at the 2nd
annual Taste of
the World to
benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at Chelsea Market, with an
international
menu of signature dishes from 24 New York area restaurants, incl. Avra
Estatorio, Graffiti, Hudson River Café, Klee Brasserie,
Landmarc, Le Cirque,
Lever House, Mai House, Maremma, Osteria del Circo, Payard Bistro, San
Domenico, and Toloache. $250- $750 pp.
Call 212-986-8783 or email sedelstein@cff.org. Visit www.CFF.org.
*
On May 2, a “Five Star Night”
gala will
benefit the Alameda County Meals On Wheels, hosted by Narsai David, at
the
Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension in
Oakland, CA. It features a
champagne and fine wine reception, silent
and live auctions, gala dinner created
by 15 Bay Area chefs,, and dancing to the
live music of The Fabulous CruiseTones. $300 pp. Call 510-577-3580; www.feedingseniors.org
* On May 4,
six top female chefs from the Chicago area will prepare the 12th Annual
Girl Food Dinner at West Town Tavern.
Chef Susan Goss and Drew Goss, the restaurant's owners will donate all
proceeds to the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Chefs participating
incl. Christine McCabe, Blue Plate; chef Jill Barron, Mana Food
Bar; chef Karen Armijo, Gary Comer Youth Center; chef Leah Caplan, The
Washington Hotel; and chef Nadia Tilkian, Maijean Restaurant. $150 pp.
Call 312- 666-6175; www.westtowntavern.com.
*
On May 7 Sustainable Food Center's “Farm to Plate” fundraiser
to benefit
Austin Farmers' Market will be held at Triangle Park, with 16 chefs and 8 Hill Country wineries.
For info
visit www.sustainablefoodcenter.org.
NEW
FEATURE: I am happy to report that the Virtual Gourmet is linking up
with two 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 columnist
for USA 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 their travel seriously," says Potter.
"For 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." To go to his
blog click on the logo below:
Tennis Resorts Online:
A Critical Guide to the World's
Best Tennis Resorts and Tennis Camps,
published by ROGER COX, who has spent more than two decades writing
about tennis travel, including a 17-year stretch for Tennis magazine. He has also
written for Arthur Frommer's Budget
Travel, New York Magazine,
Travel & Leisure, Esquire, Money, USTA Magazine, Men's Journal, and The Robb Report. He has
authored two books-The World's
Best Tennis Vacations (Stephen Greene Press/Viking Penguin,
1990) and The Best Places to Stay in the Rockies (Houghton
Mifflin, 1992 & 1994), and the Melbourne (Australia) chapter to the
Wall Street Journal Business
Guide to Cities of the
Pacific Rim (Fodor's Travel Guides, 1991). Click on the logo
below to go to the site.
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MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John Mariani.
Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani,
Dogtty Griffith, Suzanne Wright, John A. Curtas, Edward
Brivio, Mort
Hochstein, and Brian Freedman. Contributing
Photographers: Galina Stepanoff-Dargery, Bobby Pirillo. Technical
Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin
.
John Mariani is a columnist for Esquire, Wine Spectator, Bloomberg News and
Radio, Diversion., Forbestraveler.com, and Cowboys and Indians.
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 Italian-American Cookbook (Harvard Common
Press), and other books below.
Any of John Mariani's books below
may be ordered from amazon.com by clicking on the cover image.
My
newest book, written with my brother Robert Mariani, is a memoir of our
years growing up in the North
Bronx. It's called Almost
Golden because it re-visits an idyllic place and time in our
lives when
so many wonderful things seemed possible.
For those of you who don't think
of
the Bronx as “idyllic,” this
book will be a revelation. It’s
about a place called the Country Club area, on the shores of Pelham Bay. It was a beautiful
neighborhood filled with great friends
and wonderful adventures that helped shape our lives.
It's about a culture, still vibrant, and a place that is still almost
the same as when we grew up there.
Robert and I think you'll enjoy this
very personal look at our Bronx childhood. It is not
yet available in bookstores, so to purchase
a copy, go to amazon.com
or click on Almost Golden.
--John
Mariani
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© copyright John Mariani 2008
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