Virtual Gourmet
German
Café Poster, circa 1935
❖❖❖ ❖❖❖ THIS WEEK
WHERE TO EAT IN MEXICO CITY by John Mariani
SPIRITS
LOCKER
Mezcal Primer by John Mariani
❖❖❖ WHERE TO EAT IN MEXICO CITY BY JOHN MARIANI
"Mexican Market"
(2012) by Galina Stepanoff-Dargery Yes, you could
eat Mexican food in Mexico City throughout your
stay, but in modern-day Ciudad, that would
constitute a narrow gastronomy in a metropolis
with increasing breadth and depth of
restaurants. Here are some of the most notable
right now.
But her heart and soul have always been at her beautiful Mexico City restaurante Izote, set on two stories and frequented by those who know just how sophisticated, yet, casual, dining out in the capital city can be, from the serene décor to the flawlessly amiable service. Quintana herself is on premises as much as possible, and her overseeing of every detail—not least the choice of every ingredient—is legendary. On my recent trip I enjoyed an extensive tasting men that showed Quintana’s range, beginning with a glass of sangrita--a kind of Mexican Bloody Mary, with tequila--to sip (or knock back) with little quesadillas filled with the corn fungus known as huitlacoche and a sopacito of refrito beans and four distinct salsas. Zucchini flowers drifted in a light broth, with rice and avocado, accompanied by a fine Mexican wine, a chardonnay 2010 from Piedra del Sol. Next came a roast snapper with pumpkin seeds and strips of mild poblano chilies, served with a light-bodied viognier. My favorite dish was a deep dark mole called Chamorro Revolucionario barbecue, which is succulent, deeply flavored pork cooked in a banana leaf, eaten with tortillas and enjoyed that evening with a Casa Grande Shiraz. Another specialty was fida sec, dry, crispy noodles enlivened with chilies and chorizo. We ate on, still hungry, with the celebratory chile nogada, stuffed with nuts and pomegranate seeds; a rich duck mole with Oaxacan tacos (Quintana says moles are the most difficult dishes in the Mexican repertoire to master), and chicken steamed in a banana leaf. The flavors of all these dishes, unlike those in so many Mexican restaurants both in Mexico itself and north of the Border, were complex, diverse, never repetitive, always with textures and underpinnings of spice, and very personalized. For dessert there was a refreshing mousse of Mandarin oranges and some wonderful nopales (cactus) cookies with essence of fig leaves. If you had only one night in Mexico City, there’s no question that it should be spent at Izote. Ask Patricia a question about Mexican food and that evening can become long and fascinating. She is a walking encyclopedia who speaks and cooks from her heart.
Los
Danzantes is a more traditional restaurant in
Coyocàn (with two branches), featuring many of
the favorite Mexican classics and a good deal more
throughout its menu, not least a fine array of mezcals
(including their own), the spirit now having its big
moment in the international market (see the story
below). The restaurant, with its
outdoor patio, looks out on the pretty Plaza of the
Coyotes and the Church of St. John the Baptist. Inside, the restaurant rambles,
is colorfully tiled. Coming here with a group, as I
did, is the most fun, sharing platters of good food,
sipping those mezcals.
We ordered all over the menu, starting with a
flattened hoja
santa leaf stuffed with goat’s and Oaxacan
white cheeses, with a green chile salsa (left). Fried
breaded shrimp followed, then corn cakes with a
crumbly dry white cheese, salsas verde and roja, and wild
mushrooms. Lovely medium-rare tuna was next, served
with pretty green rice tinted with habanero chilies,
and then a snapper glazed with soy, accompanied by a
julienne of vegetables—impeccably juicy and
beautifully cooked throughout.
The most interesting dish that day was Mexican
ravioli stuffed with huitlacoche in a rich, tangy hot
chile poblano sauce and zucchini flowers.
ROSETTA
For starters here are appetite-stirrers like bone
marrow with parsley and capers on toast, and a
lovely carpaccio of octopus in good olive oil. There
is a green bean, fava and potato salad that is light
and delicious, and excellent burrata cheese
with tomato and basil.There
are about
nine pastas, including a goat's cheese ravioli with
simple plum tomato and basil sauce; nettle pappardelle
with a rich rabbit ragù; the same kind of
pasta ribbons come with juicy chicken livers, while
black truffles are dashed on a third
rendering; a lovely butternut squash ravioli
with sweet amaretti
cookie crumbs, sage, and butter; and a risotto with
nicely fatted duck confit.
Acquarello has made quite a
splash on the Avenida Presidente Masaryk, which has
more than occasionally been called Mexico City’s Fifth
Avenue or Rodeo Drive.
So the ebullient chef-owner of Acquarello,
Bergamo-born Mario Gamba, with long stints in top
restaurants in Switzerland, France (with Alain
Chapel), and Munich (with Heinz Winkler), made sure that the
restaurant should be a design statement you cannot
miss driving down the avenue—a huge block of
gold-lighted, slatted walls and glass, which from the
outside you see little and from the inside a great
deal.
It’s on two levels, beautifully arrayed with
more glass and tile, hanging lights, all in seaside
colors of aqua blue, sand, white and yellow, with
walls of wine and well-set tables of good linens and
stemware, and an impeccable waitstaff and sommelier to
serve you. The
idea behind Acquarello can get pretty windy—“una cocina que refleja
alegria de vida y esta inspirada en el gozo y el
gusto por la comida. . .” (hands anyone?)—but
this is indeed stylish cuisine, light, with a global
sensibility that borrows as much from French
classicism as from modern renditions of Italian
cuisine.
There are also a
number of Mexican wines here that, if not yet world
class, show remarkable progress for a young industry
with very old missionary roots. I enjoyed a
clean, light Casa Madero Semillon 2009 and the same
estate’s shiraz from the same year. A tempranillo
called Vino de Piedra 2008 was admirably true to the
varietal.
There are a few options for dining at
Acquarello, including four-, five- and seven-course
tasting menus, offered for complete tables. Our table
of many guests ranged over the à la carte
offerings, and I liked the first course of vitello tonnato in
its signature creamy sauce very much. A
sweet-savory rendering of fig tortelli pasta
came with grilled fresh foie gras in a sweet reduction
of cassis liqueur, followed by a robalo fish with
a reduction of a Tuscan cacciucco broth made with five
items of seafood.
Foie gras also comes with a pea risotto in a
balsamic reduction.
For meats, there are a ribeye of lamb in a
bread crust with a praline of eggplant, and a poached
tenderloin of beef with grilled artichokes and
reduction of Mandarin oranges.
For dessert you might opt for a flourless pear
tart or a luscious ricotta soufflé with cool
pear sauce.
Acquarello is a special occasion place and not
cheap, but it stands out as one of the city’s most
creative new restaurants. Also a good place to sport
the new fashions bought along the Avenida.
PENDULO Alejandro
Dumas 81
NEW
YORK CORNER
42 Ritz-Carlton Hotel 1 Renaissance Square White Plains, NY 914-761-4242
The evolution of the
restaurant on the 42nd floor of the Ritz-Carlton in
White Plains (about an hour's drive from midtown
Manhattan), under chef-partner Anthony Goncalves (left), is nothing
short of amazing. The place always had its aerie
beauty, wrapping around the building from lounge to
dining room to banquet rooms, with its own elevator
that takes you up to a hallway past the kitchen where
Anthony Goncalves and his brigade turn out beautiful
global cuisine. Self-taught, Goncalves has over the last
decade proven himself a receptive sponge, always
absorbing the most contemporary ideas in food and
adapting them to his own tastes and talents. Upon
opening three years ago, he tried too hard to impress
by style and complexity, but since then he has
mastered the difficulty of true simplicity in cooking,
making every ingredient count in a whole, finished
dish. Recently, for a small
group of old friends, I let Goncalves cook whatever he
wished, and the results were stunning, beginning with
a deeply flavorful lobster bisque with a milk foam.
The wooden board of charcuterie (below) alone
showed that Goncavles is unstinting in his choice of
ingredients, which includes the finest Iberian ham it
is possible to obtain. The board also included
pork terrine, duck prosciutto, pork sausage, pickled
vegetables, and warm country bread. Big fat tiger shrimp
from Madagascar were enhanced with crunchy
breadcrumbs, the meat of the crustacean perfectly
cooked just to a tender turn, accompanied by Spanish
ham, bitter-salty broccoli di rabe, and a good dose of garlic. Goncalves
is, by the way, of Portuguese heritage, and he proudly
shows it off in his cooking. Next came seppia, wonderful
morsels of cuttlefish in an herb-citrus sauce with
rice colored and flavored with the seafood’s own ink,
and dusted with crumbs of Iberian ham. Touchino was a
splendid rendering of fried rice, studded with fat
pork belly nubbins, nicely seasoned with herbs, and
topped with a runny poached egg that seeped into the
rice. The
last of the savory courses was a Peking-style duck he
called arroz de
pato, with a crisp, juicy duck breast and the
bird’s confit, barley, the scent of lemon and the bite
of chouriço,
a touch of sweetness in a cranberry mostarda, and
lightly steamed Brussels sprouts. We did not have a cheese course, but as
you enter, you’ll see an impressive selection of
cheeses aging in a temperature- and humidy-controlled
glass case. Incidentally, in the lounge area called
Bellota (below),
42 offers an array of contemporary tapas from a
blackboard menu. For dessert we
had a whimsical version of Rocky Road, made from
marshmallow, chocolate cheesecake, dusted with a
walnut-toffee powder and ice cream.
The winelist at 42
is one of the best in the TriState area, with big name
bottlings among better priced offerings in every
category.
The Michelin
Guide has long retained its highest rating
for restaurants “worth a journey.” Since that
guide began in the 1920s as an aid to French
chauffeurs, that meant a jaunt, perhaps, from Paris to
Lyon or Nice. So,
anyone living within driving distance of White Plains
should well consider paying a visit to 42. It’s really
that good. Oh,
and there is an airport in White Plains, too.
❖❖❖ SPIRITS
LOCKER
John Mariani's spirits and 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.Mezcals Ditch the Worm and Pitch Their Artisanal Roots by John Mariani
❖❖❖
WELL, THAT'S A
RELIEF!
AUNT BEE EATS OUT
❖❖❖
Any of John Mariani's
books below may be ordered from amazon.com.
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LINKS: I am happy to report
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travel sites: Everett Potter's Travel Report: I consider this the best and
savviest blog of its kind on the web. Potter is a
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Weekend, Diversion, Laptop and Luxury Spa Finder,
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"I’ve designed this site is for people who take
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places as five-star experiences." THIS WEEK: BEYOND
CHINA'S BIG CITIES; STEAMBOAT SPRINGS.
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.
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).
ALL YOU NEED BEFORE YOU GO
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET
NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John
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