MARIANI’S

                    Virtual Gourmet

Lorna Thayer, Jack Nicholson, Karen Black in "Five Easy Pieces" (1970)
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☛ In This Issue

NEW RESTAURANTS IN THE VALLEY OF THE SUN, Part One by John Mariani

NEW YORK CORNER:  Le Colonial  by John Mariani

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR: Do White Bordeaux Deserve Their Price? by John Mariani

QUICK BYTES
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NEW RESTAURANTS IN THE VALLEY OF THE SUN
Part One

by John Mariani

     Like every city everywhere, Phoenix has been hurt by a lousy economy, and, since this is a big resort city, its hotels and restaurants have taken big hits. There have been some notable closings, like SeeSaw and Digestif, hotels in foreclosure,  resorts cutting rates in high season. Still, hope springs eternal in the restaurant business (I just read an article that showed how much cheaper to open a restaurant in hard times than in good times), and Phoenix/Scottsdale and the surrounding territory seem to be showing a good deal of resiliency.  Here are some new places I highly recommend.

St. FRANCIS
111 East Camelback Road
Phoenix,
602-200-8111

     If the Martians landed and wanted to be taken to a typical American restaurant of 2010, they would do no better than St. Francis, which in its look, its vibes, and its mix of food pretty much sums up the way Americans like to eat when they go out these days.  As you can see from the photo to the right, it's a sleek, very casual place with an open kitchen and simple décor, but the food is serious, the waitstaff friendly, and the whole experience (save a high decibel level) infectious fun for a modest price. There's also a mezzanine level and outdoor patio.
      The place takes its name from the neighborhood land deed that dates back to 1936, and owner Aaron Chamberlain also trained as a chef in San Francisco. He has worked under some formidable masters, including Michel Richard, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Nancy Oakes. He calls his style "wood-fired cuisine" and there's a good deal of that on the menu, from flatbread with black Mission figs, melted leeks, arugula, and goat's cheese to a well-fatted roasted pork chop with polenta, sweet peppers and whole grain mustard salsa.  Food comes sizzling to the table, smelling good, looking great. There's a "forbidden rice bowl" with seven vegetables and sweet and spicy dressing; a hearty seafood soup (left) with shrimp, mussels, and fish, with good country bread for dipping; his pepper-crusted flat iron steak with creamed spinach, crispy potatoes and red wine sauce was tremendously flavorful, a paragon of this style of beef cut and cookery.
     In the same vein the desserts are not for those restrained in their diet--warm sticky toffee pudding with cream gelato, and a chocolate hazelnut parfait both demand you finish every bit of them, maybe with a dessert wine from a solid list.
      So bring on the Martians. They'll phone home good reports.

St. Francis is open  nightly. Appetizers run $6-$8, main courses $12-$20.

GALLO BLANCO
Clarendon Hotel
401 West Clarendon Avenue
Phoenix
602-274-4774
www.galloblancocafe.com

     People used to say you had to go the Barrio to get good Mexican food in Phoenix, but that's not always the safest of areas when the sun goes down. Which is at least one of the reasons Gallo Blanco--slang for "white guy"-- has caught on so fast and hit so big, for it is located in the old Clarendon Hotel but is anything but a hotel dining room. It is, in a word, funky, with deep colors, concrete floors, bare tables recycled from scrap wood, high counter chairs, and blaring music. Mexico City-born chef/owner Doug Robson, of Franco-Anglo-Vietnamese background,  doesn't want to do fancy, he just wants to do awesome.
     Gallo Blanco prides itself on its breakfast tacos, which are available throughout the day, and they're terrific, like the egg torta with chorizo and the chilaquiles verdes with chicken, sunny side up eggs, queso Oaxaca and powerful green chile. Others are stuffed with carnitas (braised, spiced pork), or carne asada (grilled beef), or as fish tacos with Iceberg lettuce, guacamole, and pico de gallo. There is also a slew of antojitos to start with, like the deliciously addictive chicarrón de queso of a cheese crisped and served with garlic sauce (and the menu note, "Gringos, this is not a quesadilla.") Actually, I found the guacamole somewhat bland, and I'm not sure what ahi tuna and guacamole with citrus vinaigrette is doing on this menu. The stand-out starter here is the elote callejero--grilled corn with cotija cheese and smoked paprika--a triumph of prole food that should be on every Mexican menu here and across the border. Fried potatoes are hand cut.
     Among the especiales, I very much enjoyed the pollo asado, the chicken long-marinated to absorb good flavors, then expertly cooked till crispy and juicy. And for dessert, the quality of the chocolate in the pudding is enhanced with housemade marshmallows fluff and Graham cracker crumbs--a sublimation of good old campfire s'mores.
     Ingredients show strongly across the board, right down to the fresh citrus juices used, and local farms and growers are cited as much as possible.  That sort of thing counts in Mexican food, where too often, to stay cheap, the food is not based on quality ingredients and thereby shows a sameness.  Gallo Blanco is a wake-up call, not just literally at breakfast, but figuratively to show that Mexican food is beginning to rise from its roadside image.  Robson doesn't want it to get too upscale; he just wants it to be as good as he can make it.

Gallo Blanco is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Dinner starters run $2-$12, main courses $5-$26.

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THE BOULDERS
3561 North Tom Darlington Drive, Carefree, AZ
480-488-9009
www.theboulders.com

     Of all the resorts in the Valley of the Sun, none is unique in the way The Boulders up in Carefree has been for two decades now. Surely no resort has ever been so well named, for as you come off the highway and round a curve, there they are--magnificent, primeval granite boulders (12 million years, to be exact) set against the intense blue sky, seemingly stuck together like bread rolls by some Indian earth god.  Into this setting the resort sprawls respectfully, so that all the 160 casitas, 60 villas, spa and the main building fit beautifully within the natural landscape in a way you will not find anywhere else. Nothing looks overly landscaped or artificial: even the golf course seems to have grown up with the territory.
     Once you check in, you are cordially taken by golf cart to your casita or villa, which is done in desert colors evoked outside the room, with its cacti, wildflowers, and nearby and distant mountains.  The boulders themselves throw purple shadows on the trails, the air smells sweetly, and at night, you will not have to listen very hard to hear coyotes howling in the darkness.  This is a very special place, remote, restful, and possessed of a superb Golden Door spa.
     The Latilla Room (left) is the resort's beautifully renovated  restaurant, itself with a wonderful view of a cascading waterfall. Comfortable, civilized but casually chic, it is done in soft pastels and sand colors, with an Engleman Spruce tree trunk beneath a latilla ("little sticks") wooden ceiling. Exec chef Michel Piéton has recently been joined by young chef Gregory Wiener, who are working to make a balance between global and regional culinary styles in their menu, including dishes like Southwwest corn chowder, blue corn-dusted crab cake, and hickory grilled quail with an agave rub and huckleberry jus.

Latilla is open for dinner. Starters run $8-$15, main courses $15-$34, with a fixed price dinner at $39, with 2 wine pairings $55.

CAFÉ BINK
36889 N Tom Darlington Dr., Carefree, AZ
480-488-9796
www.cafebink.com

     Kevin Binkley's casual  restaurant Binkley's reigns in the region as one of its finest dining experiences, with Kevin and his wife Amy preparing  artful cuisine each night for a intellects willing to head up to Troon North and pay a good tab for the dinner, accompanied by an exceptionally strong winelist.  Those not so inclined towards a very serious evening out can get a remarkable facsimile at a fraction of the price at the new Café Bink.
    It's a pretty little place with 30 seats inside, 40 out, in view of Black Mountain, no frills but very friendly, and if one or the other is not prepping dinner over at Binkley's, Kevin or Amy will be here making sure you're enjoying everything. And I guarantee you will if you order items like mahogany-colored French onion soup; a lovable quiche with bacon and blue cheese; the superb country pâté, and the nonpareil pulled mozzarella with red onion marmalade, p[pesto, and confit of tomatoes.  I will say right out loud: this is the finest mozzarella I have ever had in this country and it competes with the best I've had in Italy. Do not miss it!
    There are also a number of sandwiches at lunch worth considering, stuffed, generous, and, as always, composed of top-quality ingredients, from the chicken with pancetta, caramelized onions, fontina cheese, and mayo on an onion roll, to the Cuban style pork with dill pickle, Dijon mustard, Gruyère, and horseradish on a crisp baguette.  The French fries have an enviable reputation for being among the best in the Valley, and they deserve it.  They are just perfect.
     Can I tempt you to try a rich milkshake (two straws?) or go for the butterscotch pudding, the profiteroles with roast banana ice cream, or the donuts with crème anglaise, chocolate and caramel sauces. Just say yes.
      Dinner is a bit more ambitious, and I will be back for it, because this is the kind of food that is irresistible and shows where American cuisine truly shines.  That it can be done at reasonable prices is an amazing benefit of the current economy's restrictions. That's not a bad thing.

Café Bink is open Tues.-Sat. from 11 AM-9 PM. Dinner starters run $9-$25, main courses $16-$28.
 

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NEW YORK CORNER
by John Mariani

Le Colonial

149 East 57th Street (near Lexington Avenue)
212-752-0808
www.lecolonialnyc.com

      I'm very surprised that NYC does not have more upscale Vietnamese restaurants.
Most people love the food, the interiors are usually evocative of an era hardly anyone now remembers, and they are a relief from all the Italian, French, steakhouse places that smother midtown.  True, Vietnamese restaurants proliferate in way downtown Manhattan and in Queens, but they have nothing of the panache and cachet of Le Colonial, whose owner, Jean de Noyer, knows a little about both.
     Having assiduously avoided going to Vietnam during the war (high lottery number!), I claim no familiarity with the cuisine on site. And I had no fond memories of Le Colonial when it opened two decades ago. The place was handsome, designed to look like Saigon when Vietnam was called Indochina, with pretty tiled floors,  antique mercury panels, louvered shutters, rattan chairs, ceiling fans, potted palms and graceful banana trees, giving it the look of an RKO movie where Jane Russell was the down-on-her-luck band singer and Robert Mitchum or Robert Ryan dropped by to ask her  a few embarrassing questions. Upstairs, with walls of antique black-and-white period photos, is where you'd expect to see Sidney Greenstreet smoking a water pipe.  (Also, unlike it's main competitor, Indochine, Le Colonial is not ear-shattering loud, thank God.)
      When it opened, Le Colonial promoted its upper east side pretensions by catering to an upper east side crowd that wouldn't know cha gio from choucroute.  The first time I made a reservation with friends, I was turned away at the door by a young hostess who was obviously told never to smile at mere customers, saying, "Uh, Tina Brown of Vanity Fair took the whole place over for a party tonight." Protesting that I did have a rez, she glanced at the book, saw my name there, shrugged and said, "Well, come back some other time."  Nice. It was a long while before I did so.
      Many years have passed, however, and although Le Colonial (now with branches in San Francisco and Chicago) still draws some of those bow tie-and-suspenders types and women with concocted first names, it is a far more egalitarian place, and, with the arrival of Chef Brigitte Xuan (right) two years ago, the food has taken a significantly upward arch. And it's fun now, not stuffy or snooty.
       I pretty much put myself in Xuan's hands and out came a parade of delicious dishes, beginning with appetizers like banh tom so diep, crispy scallop dumplings with tangy ginger ponzu dipping sauce, and banh cuon tom, steamed shrimp ravioli drizzled with light coconut milk, on a bed of bean sprouts, mint, shallot frites, and that pungent Vietnamese fish sauce, nuoc cham. We also tried a very good novelty called avocado crab martini, which was basically seasoned crabmeat in lime juice with more nuoc cham. Delicious!
     Tom dua were crispy prawns battered with coconut and served with sweet lime ginger and, yes, nuoc cham. Not that any of these dishes were mere variations; they each had their own textures and tastes, embellished by the sauce, which also went with most other dishes for dipping. Ca bam was monkfish scented with lemongrass and seared, served with crunchy peanuts, fresh basil, and toasted sesame rice cakes.  Goi buoi was a refreshing, lovely salad of pomelo, apple, celery, jicama, mint, and cashews.  I think the favorite at our table was the banh xeo, a crispy moon rice crêpe with shrimp, crabmeat, bean sprouts served in lettuce leaf wraps with pickled carrots. There were more bites and tastes--spring rolls, summer rolls, wonderful baby back ribs giving off the aroma of lemongrass. Grilled shrimp mousse was wrapped around sugar cane and served with angel's hair noodles, lettuce, and peanut sauce, like a savory lollipop.
     The temptation is to tell you to stop with the appetizers, but there are some very worthwhile main courses I know you'll enjoy, including bun cha Hanoi (left), a combination of grilled pork with nuoc cham, Batavia salad, green mango, rice noodles, and mixed herbs; ga nuong xa was roasted lemongrass chicken, and bo luc lac was wok-seared filet mignon over a bed of watercress, tomatoes, and red onions with a vinaigrette. Meaty and satisfying was thit bison (I can't imagine they have real bison in Vietnam) in a pinot grigio-apricot reduction--a good, not great dish.
      Oddly enough none of us was bursting at the seams, so we indulged in some happy desserts that included a banana beignet, chocolate pyramid, and green tea crêpe.
       There was so much here to love, so little to worry about tasting, so many flavors that, if not wholly new, came together with just enough exoticism to make the idea of returning to Le Colonial again and again for the same dishes a foregone conclusion.  Chef Xuan has clearly brought Le Colonial to its peak and the management couldn't be nicer to everyone.

Le Colonial is open for Lunch Mon.-Fri.; Dinner, nightly. Dinner entrees run  $9-$13, main courses $18-$28.

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NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR

Do White Bordeaux Deserve Their Price?
by John Mariani

    Bordeaux is justly famous for its magnificent red wines but the region also makes a few good whites. Fewer still rank with the better white wines of Burgundy, yet the prices for some white Bordeaux can match those of all but the most illustrious Grand Crus.
      I exempt from this discussion Bordeaux’s enchanting dessert wines, Sauternes and Barsacs. In fact, under the famous 1855 classification of the white wines of the Gironde, none were dry.
      Up until the mid-1980s, Graves, where most of the better known whites come from, made such a wide variety of styles—light sauvignon blancs, overly herbaceous sémillon, wines that were oaky or oxidized—that buyers had little consistency to base decisions on. Then, in 1987 the northern communes were given a higher classification of appellation, “Pessac-Léognan,” which challenged vintners to upgrade their facilities and wines.
      Quality has improved overall, though, with so short a track record, it is difficult to accept the contention of those in the industry who insist the better white Graves need a decade to mature.  To me, that is very risky business, since few of even the great white burgundies get better over ten years. And who has the patience to wait that long for a white bordeaux?
      Recent tastings of several of the best-known Graves whites did little to change my mind about wines whose fans actually celebrate their “flinty austerity,” which is another way of saying they have minimal fruit, lean body, and a short finish.
      Château Lynch-Bages, owned by the AXA Insurance Group, makes a Fifth Growth red wine many believe should rank higher.  But the 2006 Blanc de Lynch-Bages seems little more than an expensive afterthought, selling between $40-$70. One on-line wine site finds “fruit, citrus, young, acidic, white, nutty, mineral, nuts, lemon, Mediterranean and subtropical fruits.” I’ll agree with it being white, but the only Mediterranean reference I taste is that it’s no better than a modest pinot grigio at one-third the price.
      Carbonnieux Blanc 2006 ($30-$45) is indeed austere, like a performance of John Cage’s 4’ 33”, in which the pianist sits at the piano for four minutes and thirty-three seconds and plays nothing. There is only an aroma if you imagine it, only flavor if you squint your eyes, and were it not for its alcohol, you might mistake it for mineral water.
      Of those whites I enjoyed, Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux 2005 ($75-$135) is 100 percent sauvignon blanc and made to express that varietal’s floral, citrus and vegetal character. The high 14 percent alcohol helps rather than hinders in this case. This is not a lush Loire-Valley style sauvignon blanc, but there are mineral nuances here that make it a stand-out for bordeaux. I do not, however, think it is getting any better after four years of age, so drink up now.
     Château Smith Haut Lafitte 2005 ($70-$90) is made from 90 percent sauvignon blanc, 5 percent sauvignon gris, and 5 percent semillon, and shows the kind of upgrade Bordeaux whites have gone through. Here is a wine pleasingly plump, balanced with enough acid to be refreshing while still delivering richness.  It also has a lovely finish of minerality that adds to its being excellent with seafood.
       For me, one of the great white bordeaux is not even from the Graves district. It is Château Monbousquet, a St.-Émilion whose Grand Cru red brother has built a high rep all its own since Parisian hypermarket magnate Gerard Perse bought and completely renovated the vineyards in 1993.
      I tasted the Monbousquet blanc 2004 by chance recently when I asked Emilie Garvey (right), sommelier at the New York Financial district restaurant SHO Shaun Hergatt to choose a good white wine for our dinner. “It is a wine that is extremely allocated and difficult to get,” said Garvey. “It’s certainly not typical of Bordeaux whites, which have a lean, crisp, flinty flavor from the shells in the soil. Monbousquet has a fat, creamy, buttery taste and texture I think is the richest style in the market right now.”
      She’s right: the wine was a revelation—a white bordeaux not shy about its body. In the nose, in the first sip, and in the finish, here was a wine that showed the fullness of sauvignon blanc without the grassiness that can cripple the fruit. But that’s only the beginning: the blend has 35 percent sauvignon gris, 5 percent muscadelle, and 5 percent sémillon, each bringing nuance and floral flavors to the wine. Only about 450 cases are made each year, so the 2006 and 2007 vintages are bargains at about $40-$70 a bottle.
       By the way, Emilie Garvey was only able to obtain three bottles.  I drank one. Now she has two.  So hurry.

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.

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TWO WEEKS AGO SHE CALLED TO SAY HER HUSBAND REFUSED TO BE HUNG WITH CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

Kerrville, Texas, prosecutors may charge a woman with "911 abuse" for calling 911 thirty times over six months for non-emergency reasons, including a call to complain that "her husband did not want to eat his supper" and that the woman was screaming "about things that happened two weeks ago."

HMM, WE'VE ALWAYS HAD OUR BEST SUPPERS IN GRIMSBY, OR MAYBE IT WAS PORTHMADOG--ALWAYS JOLLY GOOD FOR SOME BLOATERS AND MUSSELS ROLYPOLY.

"Tonight, however, we have a reservation for the right place, and we can’t wait. There is nothing quite like having a long day ahead of you with nothing much to do except look forward to a supper you know will be the best in all of Dartmouth. In all of Devon. In all the world. The day itself need be nothing more than a mere appetiser. We woke up mid-morning in Dittisham, in my friend Henry’s boathouse, and thought we’d chug into Dartmouth for a look at the food festival there."--Giles Coren, The Times  (11/29/09)

QUICK BYTES

✉ Guidelines for submissions:  QUICK BYTES publishes only events, special dinners, etc, open to the public, not restaurant openings or personnel changes.  When submitting please send the most pertinent info, incl. tel # and site, in one short paragraph as simple e-mail text, WITH DATE LISTED FIRST, as below.   John Mariani

*  From Jan.7-9, the annual Chef’s Food & Wine Festival takes place in Albany, NY. Chefs from dozens of restaurants in the capital area, and wine from more than 50 American and foreign wineries will be featured in the ballrooms of the Crowne Plaza. Visitors can enjoy wine pairings, seminars and cooking demos. Tix start at $50 pp. Call 518-434-1217, www.albanywinefest.com.

* Jan. 18 in Chicago, ChicagoOriginals will celebrate Restaurant Week. Member restaurants create special, 3 and 4-course menus for only $29.10.  Some restaurants will also offer great bottles of wine for $29.10. Restaurants incl. Cafe Bernard, Cyrano's Bistrot, Dinotto, Hemmingway's, Le Titi De Paris, Bistrot Bourdeaux, O'Brien's, Restaurant Michael, and Co-Si-Na-Grill. Visit the websites of each restaurant for their special menus.  Visit  www.chicagooriginals.com.

* Jan. 20 in New York City, Chef Eric Fréchon from Hôtel Le Bristol in Paris brings his  cuisine to Daniel restaurant, incl. champagne and hors d’oeuvre cocktail reception, 5-course dinner with wine pairings, autographed cookbook from Chef Fréchon, autographed menu from Chefs Fréchon and Boulud, gourmet gift, and chance to win a two-night stay at Hôtel Le Bristol. $350 pp, tax and gratuity included. Tickets must be purchased with an American Express card. Call 212-933-5262 or visit www.danielnyc.com.

* On Jan. 21 in Boston,  The Greater Boston Food Bank presents "Super Hunger Chef Challenge," an Iron Chef-like cooking showdown between past Food & Wine “Best New Chef” winners Mary Dumont & Gabriel Bremmer. Judged by former “Best New Chef” winners Jody Adams, Michael Leviton and Barbara Lynch. $200 pp, proceeds to benefit The Greater Boston Food Bank. Call 617-598-5050.

* On Jan. 23, Castle Hill Inn & Resort in Newport, RI, is  presents the return of  Long Trail  Brewing Company for the its annual beer dinner.  Brandon Mayes of  Long Trail will lead guests through each selection paired with Executive Chef Jonathan Cambra’s 5-course dinner.  $85 pp. Call 401-848-0918.

* From Jan. 29-31, The Broadmoor, in Colorado Springs, CO, presents the 8th Annual “Salute to Escoffier” Weekend, celebrating Auguste Escoffier and benefitting the Education Fund of the Colorado Restaurant Association. Events incl. cooking demos, a wine luncheon, and Grand Buffet—a progressive dinner of 5 courses with more than a hundred offerings. Packages start at $449 pp. Visit www.broadmoor.com or call 719-577-5775.

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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."

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Eating Las Vegas is the new on-line site for Virtual Gourmet contributor John A. Curtas., who since 1995 has been commenting on the Las Vegas food scene and reviewing restaurants for Nevada Public Radio.  He is also the restaurant critic for KLAS TV, Channel 8 in Las Vegas, and his past reviews can be accessed at KNPR.org. Click on the logo below to go directly to his site.

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