If you are curious, you can go check out my guest blog on Excellent Everyday Wines
Archive | May, 2011
GUEST BLOG: Everyday Italian White Wines: Beyond Pinot Grigio
9 MayHi there NYC Nom Nom readers. I am very excited to announce that I have partnered with Jonas, from Excellent Everyday Wines, to guest blog monthly for NYC Nom Nom about WINE. Jonas has spent a portion of his career in the wine industry and I have very much enjoyed reading his posts that suggest great wines at everyday prices. His first guest post is about life beyond Pinot Grigio. Enjoy!
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Greetings. Let me first say that I am very excited to be guest blogging with NYCNomNom about my favorite beverage. While filling in on the floor of a friend’s wine shop over Easter weekend, I couldn’t help but notice that the vast majority of people asking for an Italian white wine asked for pinot grigio. Now don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few great pinot grigios in the 10 to 15 dollar range. But there are also many other Italian whites that are readily available and are great values. I did a mini-tasting of 3 of them recently for NYCnomnom.
My wife and I tasted a Gavi “La Luciana” from Araldica, A Soave from Allegrini and a Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi from Fattoria Laila. All are fine bargains at $9.99 each for the Gavi and Soave and $10.99 for the Verdicchio. Gavi is made form the cortese grape, an early ripening varietal that does well in the cooler climate of Piedmont in Northern Italy. It was the lightest of the 3 and really opened up after warming a bit. It had beautiful white peach and flowers on the nose along with a touch of apricot. It is light-bodied and delicate with ample fruit and wonderful balancing acidity. It really has a crisp, refreshing feel.
As for the Soave, this is not your parents Bolla Soave. Soave is made from the garganega grape and this version has 20% chardonnay in the blend. Allegrini usually produces great wines and their Soave features slowly opening aromas of pear, flowers and roasted nuts. It has a little more body than the Gavi with pear and green apple fruit in the mouth and a smooth finish. This wine also has good acidity and goes well with shellfish. As soon as the peas come up in the garden, Janet makes us some tagliatelle with mussels and peas and a good Soave goes great with that dish.
As for the Verdicchio from Fattoria Laila, this wine was my favorite of the trio. It comes from the Marches on the east coast of Italy where it grows in sandy soil with a layer of chalk rich in fossilized marine animals. This soil gives it a distinct mineral spine to go along with it’s aromas of pear and mint. It had the biggest mid-palate of the 3 but it was also the most complex, and it has great balancing acidity.
All 3 of these wines are vinified in stainless steel tanks and see no oak whatsoever. They are imported by 3 of my favorite importers of Italian wine. The Gavi is imported by Vias, the Soave by Leonardo LoCasio via Winebow, and the Verdicchio is imported by Montecastelli. Look for other wines from these great portfolios. Cheers!
James Beard Foundation Pop-Up: David Chang and Iñaki Aizpitarte
8 MayWhen I heard that the James Beard Foundation was doing pop-ups in Chelsea Market, and one was featuring David Chang, I was ecstatic. Luckily, GiltCity was doing a special where you could buy tickets before they formally went on sale, so we jumped on it.
They are also doing a number of events in Chelsea Market. It’s only through May 14th, so get going!
When we got to the event, it was decorated beautifully with lights strung on the ceiling. The earlier seatings were finishing their meals in shifts.
While we waited, we were served some champagne and nuts.
I took the waiting period to walk around the room and photograph some of the fun displays they had.
They had a number of programs listed and a nice Angus cow to show it off.
They had a bar in the back with a number of fun colored jugs. It added to the festive feel of the room.
They had a Julia Child display that was fun.
Especially when you’re a ham like I am…
Since the JBF Pop-Up is a limited time event, for only 27 days, all the staff were wearing shirts where they crossed off the days left. We were day 22!
Our table was set up beautifully, just waiting for us to eat.
And there was a large chalk board to feature the dining experience. While David Chang was definitely the draw for us (I have professed my love for him on this blog before), I was excited to try the food of Iñaki Aizpitarte from La Chateaubriand in Paris.
The menu changes daily, but this was the menu for our meal. We began with chicharones, which were like fried pork rinds. (Sorry, forgot to snap a pic!)
Next up was white asparagus with mozzarella, sorrel, finger lime, and parmesan. This was cold. Super cold. So cold you could hardly distinguish the flavors. It was definitely lacking in punch of flavor and everyone around us was muttering the same thing. Bummer.
The next dish was kimchi jelly with fresh garbanzo beans, english peas, asparagus, ramps, fava beans, and herbs. I couldn’t try this one because the kimchi had red peppers, but everyone around me was very dissapointed by this dish. One diner next to us mentioned that he thinks it would have been okay as an amuse bouche, but not as an “entrée.” They said it was lacking in flavor and depth and was just a really strange dish to be served by David Chang. At this point, everyone looked around nervously and you could just feel the “this is IT!?” fear in the air."
(We also felt pretty rushed… the 6:30 seating was still wrapping up when we got our main course… and we sat at 8pm. Hmmmm)
But then… there came the lamb. WOW! This was milk fed lamb on charred eggplant, with some pickled fruit and onions. What I LOVE LOVE LOVED about this dish was that it was a lovely piece of lamb plus some more exotic cuts, which I’m pretty sure was lamb belly and liver.
It was also paired with an EXCELLENT wine. I enjoyed the wines along the way, but this one was awesome. Montgras Carmenere Reserva, Chile 2008 is now on the short list!
This was perfection. Absolute perfection. (Note to self: When in France, go to Chateaubriand. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.)
Every bite was savored and the full table of 20 seemed to say “mmmm” at the same time.
At this point in the meal, the chefs came out and thanked each other. Unfortunately, there was no mic so we couldn’t really hear what they were saying.
I did go up to David Chang afterwards and literally thanked him “for being awesome.” He was very humble and thanked me for being a fan of his food. It was a love fest. A David Chang love fest!
We had spotted Jeffrey Steingarten, the usually grumpy judge on Iron Chef, when we first entered (scroll up if you want to play Where’s Waldo and find him in some of the room shots above.) He came up and spoke with David Chang for a while.
While they were chatting, dessert came out. I can’t say it sounded all that exciting: Poached rubarb with sweet potato vinegar, sicilian pistachio, goat butter, and goat milk from Momofuku Ko. This was surprisingly delicious! I didn’t have great expectations, but the flavors blended marvelously. Very enjoyable!
We all left this meal a little confused. We went because we loved David Chang, but the consensus when we spoke to other diners was that the 3 things from him (the chicharones, the kimchi jelly, and the dessert) were just not what we would expect from Chang. Perhaps he was trying to blend well with the French chef? I’m just not sure… but the main dish he made (the jelly) just wasn’t very good according to Mike and our fellow diners.
The lamb, however, almost made this worth every penny. It’s pretty impressive when one dish can make the meal.
Either way, it was exciting to be there. I wish it were a bit more, but I’m glad to have been able to attend.
There are only 4 days left, so go stop by!
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