...more recent posts
A grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says, ''Hey, we have a drink
named after you!'' The grasshopper looks surprised and says, ''You have a drink named Steve?''
last night penne w/ melon in a gorganzola sauce--sounds funny but tasted yummy @ ribollita 260 park ave south--food was simple ok but a friend let us byob so :>):>)--he told me of a hot new brooklyn spot on 5th ave in the slope and spoke of lots of chef's thinking that brooklyn is the future, i ran into the wine buyer from aureole whom with another couple chaps i know opened a 70 seat spot on flatbush near 6th ave...maybe i need to move to brooklyn...
The Hunger Site will be returning soon -- we are under new management and looking forward to bringing back this fast, free and easy way for you to help feed the world's hungry.
Thank you for your support. With the help of dedicated visitors like you, to date we have provided over 250 million cups of food for those in need. Together, we will do even more in the fight against world hunger.
(RIGHT ON!!!!)
heirloom tomatoe madness at the market, cranberry beans, melon's are showing up and its awesome all around, corn heaven, got there early enough to get a large tuna belly:>):>)
anybody going to french guiana and wants to eat some wild game (pac, armadillo, tapir, agoutis, etc) try Kaz Kreol in Cayenne @ 35 Ave d'Estree 0594390697 book in advance for weekends!! yummy!! and dont miss the shrimps so fresh:>)
The Wheel is turning and he can't slow down.
Just received a fax about an upcoming wine tasting. Not so unusual. Oh, except for the fact that it originated from somewhere up the Maroni River in French Guiana. The man can not stop working. I can just picture his eyes bugging out when he spied a little fax machine behind some counter in some out of the way restaurant. "Hey, can I send a few messages out? I just have a little business to take care of."
Anyway, included in the message was some news of the trip which I'll reprint here:
"Today we're on the Maroni River fishing for piranha. For dinner last night we ate grilled capybaras (a large river rat that tastes sweeter than pork), roasted wild yams, and anaconda fricassee with kidney beans.
Looking forward to returning to NY, and eating some pizza."
current wines containing stagecoach grapes (of which my father owns a small share) --
atalon merlot and cabernet, 1998
cain 5, cain concept, cain cuvee
conn creek merlot, 1998
fisher coach insignia, 1998
hobbs napa valley cabernet, 1999
honig cabernet, "stagecoach cuvee," 1999
miner family merlot, vineyard designate: stagecoach 1999
rabbit ridge reserve merlot, 1998
robert pepi sangiovese, 1999
round hill van asperen, merlot and cabernet
rutherford hill reserve merlot
stag leap wine cellars, napa valley cabernet
tom eddy cabernet, 1999
villla mt eden, grand reserve cabernet
villa mt eden, signature series, 1998
zd cabernet, 1998
Bourbon and Branch
have to say i'm disapointed with the food so far, most restaurants are empty so i avoid, not that anything on the menu brings me in, dont want to do anything against nature but its sadening that all wild game is off limits recently to non indiginous indians, i was hoping for rodents and wild pig etc to be here, oh well, but even the fruit is a bummer and the market is boaring, maybe the feast of the patron saint on the river village next week will show some more wild stuff (all hotels have been sold out for months), and the jungle trip will provide some fresh interesting fish....
Java Jive
anyone eaten at Canton @ 45 Division Street??
one person whom has eaten all over the world said that its the only restaurant thats better than my home away from home Grand Sichuan Int'l.....
guess i have to go....
if in Beaune France--i and many others recommand Ma Cuisine and Les Tontons--both seriously yummy
Magic the Hat
longest meal of my life was in Provence couple weeks back
6 hours, we sat down at 7:30 and signed the check at 1:30am
yes had 6 bottle os wine for 4 of us but due to the long meal i didnt feel anything, we had the 9 course truffle menu, and some dishes were great other ok, i had fun and time wasnt an issue for me as i had enhanced my system before but the service was bad exp since this was a 2* michelin spot
the chef supposably runs through the woods in the am and finds wild herbs and finds new cheese producers etc
great dishes were: wild mint soup with a wild shroom girole plus shaved truffle, grilled veggies w/ wild mountain parley n truffle sauce that included sunfloer floers in all the stages, a baby zuchini stuffed with spicy truffled tomatoe sorbet....
Moulin de Lourmarin in Lourmarin
but you must click restaurant at the bottom to see the story!!
Had a decent meal last night at Jane (Houston St. - north side - and Thompson.) Very nice room. Entrees around $19, apps around $9. We had good fried clams (very good fry, maybe not enough clams,) O.K. crab cake, O.K. tomato and watermellon salad, and a great fennel and beet salad with some sort of sliced hard cheese. For entrees we had a good eggplant and truffle oil risotto, a nice sea bass with gnocchi, and two meat dishes that looked good (but I didn't taste.) Maybe that doesn't sound like a great review, but overall it felt very nice. Maybe it was the service which was excellent. That always helps. Nothing to absolutely die for, but no mistakes either.
On the wine side we drank a good 99 Lingenfelder Reiseling (Terry Theise selection) and the ever popular 98 "Les Terraces" Rioja ($43 - a little cheaper than I've seen it elsewhere.)
Good choice by itself, plus it's pretty handy if you can't get into Lupa (who can?) and don't want to walk very far for a decent alternative. It gets my vote.
ate again last night at Locanda Vini & Alii--it rocked and was far superior to my fist visit--salad's, soup, app's and pasta's were all we ate--all but one were right on--room had some wine industry rockers and good mix of local's--jim is right the 1997 Pico Vini is very good in an old school way, but the wine star is the 2000 Petite Arvine IMnotsoHO.....
Brézéme
Over ten years ago Eric Texier read about a lost viticulture area in the 1880’s book Les Grands Vins de France by Dr. Ramain. This once famous area is very similar to Hermitage, with its steep, south-facing slope, hillside vineyards. It is about 30 miles south of Hermitage, on the east side of the Rhone River, outside the town of Livron. The history of the appellation goes back to the last century, and in the early 1900’s, wines from Brézéme sold for as much as Hermitage. In the middle part of the century most of the vineyards were abandoned. There was less than one hectare planted in vines in 1961.
There are now 22 hectares in vines and Eric is the #1 bottler
of Brézéme, controlling more than a third of the current appellation. There is room for more vineyard plantings but this is a very complicated issue. From what I gathered on my magical visit is there are six owners but only four bottles it as Brézéme. Note: due to the microclimate
Brézéme is harvested end September to early October,
several weeks later than Hermitage.
Pouchoulin
First vintage was 1940 and he’s the Grandfather of Brézéme . His father made the wine before him and some of these 100 year old Syrah vines remain. All his vines are 60-100 years old. He is slowly turning over his vines of Syrah and Roussanne to Eric. In the 2000 vintage he is making only 55cs of red and less of white. This was the most moving visit we have ever made in all the years visiting cellars.
Pouchoulin age’s his Syrah for 30 months in barrel’s, which look like they are from the 40’s. We tasted: 2000 Blanc, 1999 and 2000 Rouge from barrel, plus the 1998 Rouge and 1999 Blanc in bottle. Also the 1989 Rouge that spend 2 months in new oak (the only time new oak was ever used) than 4 years in old wood. Bottled in 1994, this was the first time Pouchoulin tasted it since 1997.
Pouchoulin told us one interesting story. He read somewhere many years ago that the chemicals that you put in the vineyard will end up in the grape and the wine. So as he is his #1 customer, (he drinks half of his production himself) he went to organic farming as to not poison himself.
Jean-Marie Lombard
We did not visit this producer but did taste his 1995 Rouge (which showed flawed winemaking) the night before at Moulin de Lourmarin. Older vintages were said to be excellent here.
It’s the only reference to Brézéme we know of before Eric as they were at one time imported to the USA.
Chateau La Roliere
A grand family whom own a marvelous Chateau and the Clos La Roliere. In 1995 they left the Co-op to bottle themselves. The Clos is about six hectares of which Eric buys almost half. It’s located on the next ridge to the north of the main slope of Brézéme, slightly less steep, but still south facing. The vines are 25+ years old and Eric is assistant winemaker at this time. The wines are sold only at the Chateau.
We tasted: 2000 Rouge tank and barrel. 2000 Viognier, 1999 Roussanne/Marsanne blend, and 1999 Cuvee Speciale Rouge from bottle.
Eric Texier
We tasted with Eric five different barrels that will go into his 2000 Brézéme’s. He will bottle a V.V. this year for the first time from Pouchoulin’s steep terraced vineyards. He has also secured a few lots of other V.V. vineyards in such lesser-known appellations as Seguret (80 yrs old) and St Gervais (113 yrs old). We also tasted the 1998 Brézéme Blanc. Eric also found two other lost viticulture areas in the same old book.
One of which he is in the works of bringing to light,
but sorry we are sworn to secrecy:>)
in 1985 i weighted 137 pounds--in 1987 152 pounds--by the mid 90's i was 172--over the past # of years i have gained 4 pounds on every trip to europe--today i weight 200 pounds.....
http://mwheeler.home.texas.net/intro.html