There are a dozen reasons to avoid obsession and angst pairing wines with your Thanksgiving feast. The problem begins with a cornucopia of flavors and tastes from sweet to bitter to savory, spicy, and salty that roll from the holiday kitchen. While thousands of different wines will be appropriate for millions of tables and gatherings, […]
Sake, Not Wine, With French Cuisine?
Wine stemware was conspicuously absent at AKA Bistro’s sake and French cuisine dinner. On the table in front of me, next to a flask-like tokkuuri, were wood box masu, some kiki choko beaming their bottom-of-the-cup targets, and a flat ceremonial sakazuki drinking vessel. Of course, I would know little about any of this crystal-trumping nomenclature without the help of […]
Pair Wine With Children Not Food
It is easy to turn your back on wine media around Thanksgiving. Hundreds of wine and food writers boldly recommend thousands of wines to pair with millions of holiday ingredient and flavor tapestries. It all looks as delusional as amusement park revelers wagering on spinning arcade lottery wheels; the odds say your instincts for picking […]
Pairing 2010 Brun Fleurie Beaujolais With Oysters
Opening red wine with oysters stirs cries of insubordination similar to the ones Beijing party leaders might attach to Tiananmen political dissenters. Champagne, Muscadet, Chablis, Sauvignon Blanc, Gruner, Chenin Blanc, Picpoul and a smattering of other crispy acidic white wines make the cleared list while reds take cover in their brackish shadows. Give me oysters bathed in […]
2005 Clos Rougeard Les Poyeux and Menton Boston
In both cases, drinking 2005 Clos Rougeard (click for review) and luxuriating over dinner at Barbara Lynch’s Menton (click for review) in Boston’s Fort Point extension last week were opportunities for critical return visits. I first tasted the entry level 2005 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny a couple of months back and made my one and only previous visit to […]
Wine and Food at Troquet: Half of Uncanny New York Analog
On August 26, 2009 Frank Bruni inked his last New York Times Dining column answering a group of questions that follow around restaurant critics with pulpits as authoritative as his. Finding great value is on everyone’s minds these days, and his “top value spot” answer to New York foodies neatly covered two of my favorite […]
WineZag Alert: How to Stretch the $US in France's Wine Market
I want to share a stunning winner from the Loire Valley, made by Marc Ollivier, fully hand harvested, from Muscadet’s heralded appellation between the Sevre and Maine rivers, that sits on its lees until bottling, which you can drink now or lay away for more than 25 years, brought to us by Louis/Dressner . Oh and by the way, it costs $13. An […]
More Eleven Madison Park
Restrained but glorious flora, service staff whispers, John Ragan’s selections, the Daniel Humm aura, soaring ceilings, Madison Park fauna, a team-in-motion “whoosh”, and Will Guidara sets the Eleven Madison Park tone. Like explorers’ in the deep rain forest, your senses are pumped with addictive tonic to lure you back; again and again. Returning recently after a regretfully long hiatus, I anticipated another evening of wine and food wizadry with my colleague who […]