Graham Elliot

Graham Elliot is a relatively new top-flight Chicago restaurant. Young chef, good reviews, eclectic and creative menu, and a single Michelin star--in short, a good place. So, on a recent trip, we had to stop in to try it out. They have surpassed all expectations with their blend of creativity and courage with the foods and drink pairings, and provided one of the best restaurant experiences of my life. Now, within the last couple months I've eaten at two of Las Vegas's Michelin starred restaurants (Guy Savoy, a 2 star, and Le Cirque, a 1-star)--saving those comments for later. But suffice it to say, Elliot blew both out of the water with their creativity and daring, and equalled them in service. Now, I grant you, some of this is comparing apples and oranges. Both Vegas establishments are classic French places, so creativity could only go so far. But they leaned heavily on caviar, black truffles, and foie gras--all in classic style--to make a good menu. Well, with ingredients like that, not a whole lot to do, other than not screw it up. The wine pairings in Vegas were, of course, all French, and depended heavily on moderately well-known labels, albeit from tougher vintages often. Many were clunky, often served ridiculously young, and seemed more intended to impress with their label than to match the food exquisitely.

In contrast, Graham Elliot calls themselves Chicago's first "bistronomic restaurant", with a goal of serving great cuisine in a creative, accessible manner. They do that to a tee. And then some. Not only is the food fun, it makes you think about food, not just consume it. On the table when you arrive is popcorn with parmesan and truffle oil. Good, but not great--only because it wasn't quite as crispy and hot as you'd hope, but great flavor. But the smell of truffle to wake up the taste buds in incomparable. We started with one of their classics--a foie gras mousse lollipop coated with watermelon pop rocks. Playful, dancing in the mouth, playing on the classic combination of foie gras and fruit, with a decidedly lighter interpretation. The pairing was a sparkling Alsatian wine--a blend of pinot blanc, pinot gris, maybe riesling, and who knows what else--point is, it was somewhat sweeter, certainly more fruit driven than champagne, but still with tons of acid cut--and it paired exquisitely with the foie gras. Champagne may well have lacked the fruit and body to pair with the foie. Great kudos ot the beverage staff. That was followed by an amuse bouche of granny smith jelly with Wisconsin cheddar on a housemade cracker--a tasty bite. Then, a deconstructed Caesar salad--a block of quality lettuce with an anchovy on top, beside a fried mascarpone stuffed brioche "Twinkie", tied together with a more or less classic dressing. Wow. What a creative approach. And, paired with a fairly grassy/chivy 2009 Graves blanc, they brought out each other's herbal nature, and cut through the oil in the dressing and fish and crouton. Spot on. Then, on to a deconstructed chicken soup--with a veloute (nearly a gravy) poured into a shallow bowl tableside from a classic lab flask. In the bowl: A mix of thyme tagliatelle, a carrot marshmallow, I think a slice of chicken sausage, and other goodies. Tasted much like chicken soup. On steroids. Wow. And the beverage pairing was a fascinating goose island pepe nero, a dark beer brewed with black pepper, and a large piece of lemon rind in it--all served in a chemistry beaker. Nice. Creative. Outside the box.

Now, onto the protein: First, a black bass with a smoked leek cross section, served with almonds, tomato marmalade, a leek reduction, a vinegar reduction, tomato powder. Very nicely done, maybe a bit "much" going on, but I honestly don't know what I'd have not put on the plate, and it was SO tasty. Here, the wine pairing was positively out of the box--and perfect. A 2000 white Rioja from Spain--very old school, oxidized (intentionally) flavor, big, bold, and ideal with the Spanish nods to the dish. That was an inspired, and bold pairing if I've ever seen one. Then, a small course--razor clam with pernod-licorice foam and a hint of dill. Just 2 or 3 bites, great to cleanse the palate coming into the meat course. Again, wow. Then, meat time--wagyu beef flank steak, medium rare, with truffled trumpet mushrooms, a slice of roquefort panacotta, and salsify fries--a real play on steak frites, with nearly a nod to tournedos rossini (just missing the foie gras). It was a great play on teh classic pairing, too, of beef, earthy mushrooms, and bleu cheese. And, most sommeliers would haul out the bordeaux--probably too young of an age, or worse, a California cabernet. But no. A 2006 Lucien le Moine Bourgogne rouge. "Just" a baseline burgundy--and who ever heard of pairing any pinot, much less AOC BURGUNDY, with steak? Well, it sure worked. The acidity in the wine cut through the fatty richness of the dish, refreshing after each bite. The earthy mushroom notes of the wine amped up the truffles and black trumpets. The acrid Roquefort played with the natural funk of the wine. In short, WOW.

Then, on to the sweeter stuff. A light granita of grapefruit and campari--great acidity and flavor to once again, clear the palate, refresh things for a big dessert. Which was a cocoa cake crumble with a cardamom creme, vanilla salt, cinnamon gelato, a cinnamon tuile, just complex as could be. Tasty, and interesting. And paired well with a 10 year Tawny port from Quinta de infantado. What a dinner!

Throughout it all, the service was as near "perfect" as any I've ever received. The sommelier was knowledgeable, excited to talk wines. The waiters explained dishes well, but were not intrusive at all. Best of all, after dinner, we were invited to a quick kitchen tour--mid service on a Friday night. Whoa. These guys are good. THey know how to impress. And I will be back--to try out the new menu in a few weeks, or to try out the "bigger" 9 or mroe course dinners. These are deadly serious people when it comes to their food, but they have so much of a flair for playing with it, making it fun and creative. And, in the process, they really do make you think about what food is all about. And, best of all, they have a beverage program that doesn't give two craps about what the label is, but about how the food and beverages taste together. They think seriously outside the box, and as a result, the diner gets a meal that really works together, where nothing is an "afterthought". Because we were doing a tasting menu, I did not get to discuss the wine list at length with the sommelier. But based upon his ability to pair wines, at a reasonable price point, with challenging foods, he is clearly a rare talent. The wine list is an amazing blend of named labels and eclectic, off the beaten path, producers and appelations. I know I would love to taste through some wines with this guy--I think we'd have a lively conversation, to put it mildly.

I would not say that this is an inexpensive restaurant, but a five course (that was what this was considered) tasting menu listed at $75/head. The wine pairings were $40. For this level of restaurant, for this kind of food and wine, it's a bargain. Is it everyday dining? Not for most of us mere mortals. In fact, for most of us, it's a bit of a splurge. And, probably, it shouldn't be everyday dining for anyone. No one should take such an exquisite approach to food for granted. Will this restaurant get a 2nd or 3rd Michelin star? I don't know. Their food departs remarkably from the classics, and they take a lot of risks. I happen to like that--even love it. For me, this is one of the most memorable meals I've had in a very long time, and I hope these guys keep up the phenomenal work, and keep taking the risks.

Pittsburgh

I've been in Pittsburgh for the last few days for a conference for work. This has had the disadvantage of keeping me out of my kitchen, but the joy of trying many new restaurants with old friends and colleagues, many of whom I've not seen for a year or more. It's been an interesting experience so far. Now, when I think of Pittsburgh, I don't particularly think of a foodie destination city or a lot of high quality dining. So, I've been surprised at the large number of quality establishments in the city, as well as at the sometimes relatively high priced food of the downtown area.

Let me start with the real gem: Bona Terra. It's a 42-seat, BYOB, market fresh restaurant with a menu that changes daily to reflect the freshest available ingredients, an incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, effective staff, and the food chops to back it all up. Three colleagues and I joined up for dinner; I brought some bottles from the cellar at home to share. We were greeted with a complimentary amuse bouche--essentially, micro-diced fried potatoes, done up with some wonderful herbs and spices and peppers and an incredible sauce. Nice start. Meanwhile, we dug into our first bottle--a somewhat aged Duval-Leroy champagne. It was showing nicely, although it did not have the time to chill to "proper" sparking temperature. It's already got a great bottle bouquet of yeast and toast, but it's not covering up fruit. We then moved on to our appetizers--I had mussels with a tomato infused white wine broth that were just amazing, and a nice portion size--even almost large for appetizer, and would have been share-able. Many reflected considerable creativtiy, but all had a nod to classic continental cuisine, and were executed flawlessly. As we waited for our mains, an intermezzo cantaloupe sorbet came out--not too sweet, and in fact, probably without any added sugar. It was frozen perfectly, with no larger crystals. Nice! The mains were the real attraction, though, and each had a creative combination of flavors and ingredients. I had a duck breast, seared and cooked to medium rare. It was covered with a healthy seasoning of salt and pepper, nicely crisped skin, and no soggy fat! It came topped with a cherry compote--so far, a classic combination--but then a curried lentil and zucchini combination to pair with it spiced it up a bit, and moved it to a next level. The combination worked great, in spite of being a bit outside the traditional realm of flavor pairings. A friend had pork chops, a heritage breed--amazingly, cooked to a medium doneness. That was a bold statement of faith of this restaurant in its suppliers and the quality of ingredients, and a respectful treatment of great food. We had both a 98 Fourcas-Hostein Listrac-Medoc and a 99 Rex Hill Pinot NOir with the mains. Unfortuantely, the bordeaux was mildly corked, so suffered from a wet cardboard tinge on the nose, but it was borderline acceptable, and loved by some. The pinot noir was quite a contrast--showing well, aged nicely, but rather New world in its heat, fruit, and flabbiness. If it weren't poured next to the bordeaux, it probably would have been very nice; for me, it simply came off as over ripe and rather one-note. I am again reminded--go to the wines you really love, not just those that are good. Dessert took me back to sorbet--a trio of beautifully executed, not too sweet, rather acidic fruits--a mix of mango, pineapple, and strawberry actually worked well together, surprisingly enough. The restaurant's one potential drawback is its location--it's about 5-6 miles from downtown, requiring me to retrieve my car, and navigate the horribly marked streets of town. We got rather hopelessly lost en route, finding our way through a combination of iPhone and helpful restaurant staff. It's located in "downtown" Sharpsburg, which seems to be a suburb or village taken over by the bigger city. It's a decidedly working class area, but there was on street parking, free, right across the street from the restaurant, and our car was still there, and intact, when we left! This is a place i'd return to gladly any chance I got, and would most highly recommend.

Now, the opposite experience, and my largest "thistles" imaginable go to... the "Original Fish Market" restaurant, located off the lobby of our hotel. OK, I should know better than to eat at a hotel restaurant--but it was where several senior colleagues gathered after our afternoon symposium, so I needed to go. And it was relatively well reviewed. I cannot imagine by whom. From the start, when we tried to get our group seated together, it was impossible to bring together tables. We ended up adding chairs to four tops, but the staff took three tries just to get a silverware roll for the addons. Then, as we prepared to order, one in our party asked how the server recommended preparation of his fish--"Blackened", said the server--for HALIBUT!?!? Really? What were they trying to hide? Sadly, I, too, had ordered the halibut--seared, as it should be to show off the nice, subtle flavors. Except, there were no such flavors. The filet, not only was tiny in size, but it managed to be soggy in texture, falling apart from overcooking and a bit dried out (at the same time as being soggy!!!). It was served with an ice cream scooper full of rice--still formed beautifully into a horribly sticky, glutinous ball of rice (which it was not intended to be), and an overcooked blob of spinach that reeked of spoiled fish. All this for $30! I also ordered a Pennsylvania local wine from the "by the glass" menu--one of few that wasn't from California--it was supposed to be a sauvignon blanc. Somehow, it managed to have no acidity, little fruit, tons of flab, and no varietal character. I think it had been open for a few days, to be honest. How this seafood restaurant has managed to have almost no old world wines escapes me--why were there no Meursaults or white bourgogne? Why no Muscadet? Had I not been sitting with the intellectual leaders of my field, my entire dinner, wine and food, would have gone back. It was that bad. On top of that, service was slow, not terribly friendly, and missed even on the most basic of points. I can only recommend this restaurant for closing.

The other spots have been more mid-stream--neither amazing, nor horrific. Lidia's, a Bastianich Italian restaurant, was a great stop for our first night in town. The food was good, if not spectacular, the wine overpriced, but at least marginally Italian. The service, though, was impeccable. Our waitress knew her food, was spot on in presenting it and describing the menu, and was just amazingly friendly and kind. And, when we inquired about their moderately extensive grappa list, which she didn't much about, she sought out someone who did. The wine steward/sommelier who came over was passionate about the grappas, suggested an amarone based one as a starter--which we did. It was smooth, beautiful, oak aged, easy drinking--none of the rocket fuel that drives a lot of grappa. He brought a 2nd grappa over later for a free taste--the Bastianich brand from a variety of grapes. Honestly, it was probably their baseline grappa--but it had the grappa grip--tons of firey notes, but also nutty, and a bit of olives, and a long wonderful finsih. I actually liked it a bit better than the amarone one. So, for service, five stars, for food, more like 2 or 3. It wasn't that it was bad--it just wasn't all that.

Another night, I ended up at a tapas bar, whose name escaped me then and now. It was rather bizarrely laid out, intneded to be way trendier than I am, and yet failed miserably at that in the end. It was self-seat, and it took nearly 10 minutes to get service in an almost empty restaurant. Once we ordered, we found out that they were out of one of the things we wanted, and soon found out they also didn't have the replacement. Not encouraging. When we inquired about sushi, the waitress highly recommended the spicy tuna roll--enough to send me away from teh raw menu at lightning speed--nothing like spicy sauce to hide old fish. The wine list was decent--had a good white rioja--which is something you seldom see on a restaurant list, or for that matter, anywhere else--and it wasn't even Muga! The dishes were mostly acceptably, competently made, but to be honest, two days after eating there, I can't say that more than one or two sticks with my memory. The serrano ham wrapped asparagus was decent, but who can't make that at home in a flash? The olives were good, the almonds overspiced, the manchego quite good--but probably again, none of it was even made there. I could open those jars and slice the cheese as well as they did. :-) The chorizo was decent, the balsamic reduction a bit of a nice counterpoint to the spicy sausage. the smoked fish wiht strawberries and tomatoes skewered together was just plain weird--especially since the fish was coated with sesame seeds! Who pairs strawberries and tomatoes anyway???

So, I'll leave Pittsburgh with a great food experience, some very nice service, and a real dud of a place. There's one more night in town, so, we'll see what tomorrow brings for food. May it be as good as tonight's was!

New Adventures in Eating

I was back in Georgia for a few days for field work a couple weeks ago, and while the field work can only be described as unpleasantly hot, humid, rainy, sticky, buggy... some of the food was rather revelatory. My field site does not have inexpensive hotels nearby, so that meant we needed to find housing--in the outer suburbs/exurbs of Atlanta. As it happened, we picked an extended stay place in Suwanee, which has a large Asian American population. The nearest grocery store is the Super H Mart, a wonderful Korean grocery. And it is situated in a plaza filled with Asian restaurants--a tofu place, a sushi place, a noodle bar, and so on...

Naturally, this meant I had to explore all these options I could. So, my first night in town, I had some sashimi at the sushi place. I went for dinner early, and it was a Sunday night, and stormy, so the restaurant was quiet. I sat at the sushi bar, the only patron up there initially. Started talking to the sushi chef as he prepared my basic sashimi platter. For the uninitiated--sashimi is the raw sliced fish with no roll, no rice, just good, unadulterated sliced raw fish. This is the one thing you do not order in a crappy sushi place that keeps its fish too long. Well, the plate came with generous portions of flounder, yellowtail, salmon, and tuna. All was good, each showed such uniqueness and freshness in taste--none of that slight fishiness or, God forbid, ammonia, that comes off of subpar fish. As a result, I used very little soy sauce or ginger, and left the wasabi alone--didn't need it, and could better enjoy the fish without it. So, this is very good. But the chef noticed I was appreciating the fish and it so happened the owner was in for his 'special meal', and it allowed him to share a couple slices of another type of flounder with me. Didn't tell me the details, just said, "Try it". It was amazingly briny, seawatery, a bit of iodine, and incredibly firmer than the other piece. in fact, it almost seemed like the piece was trying to "bite back" as I ate it... As it turned out, it was LIVE fish--the fish had just come out of a tank in the store, its heart was still beating. Now, is this a bit macabre? Yes. Tasty? Oh my, yes. What a difference! The texture was, in fact, the muscle tissue still contracting in reaction to such a novel environment. A few minutes later, over comes another few slices--this time, live blackfish. Again, briny, chewier, and thoroughly delightful. I don't know if I'll get another shot at this sort of food in the near future. I hope I do.

My second outlandish food experience was a fruit I've been dying to try, a durian. Now, this is a fruit that is large, 8-10 inches or more in diameter, spiny, tough, dispersed by tigers, native to Southeast Asia... And, did I mention--it smells like rotten meat? (that's one of the least colorful descriptions of this smell--running the gamut from stinky gym socks left for a year in your locker, to "French kissing your dead grandmother".) So, why eat it? Well, for many people, it has an incomparable flavor of mixed fruits, nuts, custard.... I was quite trepidatious about tapping into that thing, with the odor it was giving off, and the reputation. But, as I had two students with me, I had to simply dig in and brave it. And, when I did....

out came the most amazing combination of flavors and scents. Yes, there was the rotten putrid smell; but it was part of an amazing bouquet of banana pudding, creme brulee, custard, almond, hazelnut, macadamias, lychees, all brought together with a slightly fermented note of brandy. And that does NOT do it justice. I really cannot think of another comparably complex food that I've eaten, particularly a completely unadulterated fruit. The complexity and beauty of it all was most reminiscent of a fine, well aged wine... all produced directly by nature, with no real help from humans. One of my students shared my interest in the fruit (or at least pretended); the other was utterly revolted and ran from the room to avoid being ill.. . sad for her, but more for the rest of us... :-)

Sure, there were other good foods--some nice noodles, Korean grilled ribs, kimchi, gyoza, and some rather mediocre barbeque from a chain restaurant near the field site... but none of the rest was that incredibly enlightening.

When living in Georgia, we had previously shopped at Super H Mart, so I knew what to expect. But it's still a shocking panoply of foods... amazing produce in great quality, great price, and amazing selection--8 types of basil, dozens of different chilis, 4 types of bananas, plantains, burdock, banana flowers, lotus roots.... and on and on... Then freezer cases full of meats of all types... 3 kinds of tripe, tendon, bull penis, testicles, pork belly... rabbits, poultry of all kinds--black chickens, pheasants, quail, capon... and a fish case with live fish of many types.... flounder and fluke prepared as you shop, snapper, conch (in shell and out), live crabs, more kinds of shrimp than.... yeah... wow...

Northern Michigan, Day III

This was a shorter day, spent near Traverse city, and driving back to Ann Arbor. One winery, one restaurant, one hippie coffee shop.

Lunch: At Trattoria Stella, in the old mental institution, which is being converted to a series of shops. This was the best meal of the trip, hands down. We did an appetizer plate of seared beef, greens, olives, raspberries, strawberries, pickled ramps (man, they were garlicky!), hazelnuts. Yum. I did a cheese stuffed pasta in yellow tomato sauce--amazing--as my main. Julie had a gussied up nutella type sandwich with fruit. It was also good, though not to my taste. Dessert was amazing--I had gelato--a mix of blackberry and rhubarb, and Julie had panna cotta. We each did a glass of L. Mawby Talisman with lunch--a great pairing for everything.

Left Foot Charley: Modern tasting room, also at the institution, very knowledgeable, friendly staff, really good wines.
2008 Pinot Grigio: Strong acid, moderate pear and lemon fruit, some minerality, but a bit hot.
2008 Pinot Blanc - Island Vineyard: Amazing wine with great acid, minerality, green apple, lemon. Wow!
2008 Rose of Cabernet Franc: Classic cab franc notes of tobacco, herbs, with strong cherry fruit. well made, would compete with Chinon.
NV Murmur: Blend of pinot grigio, riesling, traminette. rather fruity and floral, a tad sweet, reminiscent of Alsatian Edelzwickers.
2008 Riesling Medium Dry. Floral and white peach notes, hints of sweetness, great balance.
2007 chardonnay: oaked, but not overly so.
2008 Riesling Seventh Hill Farm: Great dryish rielsling, balance of acid and fruit, substantial complexity, apricot; should age
2008 Riesling - Longcore Vineyard: Sweeter, has acid to balance. Not as much to my taste, but well-made.
2007 Red Blend: Mostly cab franc: Classic cab franc notes, but NOT overproduced; has good fruit, tobacco, but not over tannic, overoaked. Pleasant drinking wine.

In all, we had a great trip. Tried dozens of wines. Liked many of them, learned a ton about what Michigan wines are all about. And, at long last, the blogging on this is done!

Northern Michigan, Part II

Day two was Leelanau Peninsula. The peninsula is a lot bigger than Old Mission, and accordingly, has more wineries, if a bit less dense development.

1. We started the day at Chateau de Leelanau. The tasting room is removed from most of the rest of their operation, and is part of a building with other shops and hte local Chamber of Commerce. It was a rainy, cool day, and we were the only ones there, and the staff person was very friendly, if not all that knowledgeable about the wines. They were pouring a number of rather old wines, which may or not have been particularly age-worthy wines. Of note:
2004 Sur Lie Chardonnay: Lot of fruit and acidic, still fairly fresh for the age, surprisingly enough.
2004 Barrel-Fermented Chardonnay: Oak. All oak, and nothing but the oak.
2008 Dry Riesling: This was their standout, with petrol hints on the nose (Yes, this is a good thing), along with apple, lemon, pear, and great acid.
2005 Pinot Gris: Pleasat enough, not a stand-out.
2007 Bianca: Not a grape with which I'm familiar, was quite fascinating, if not stellar. Tropical fruits, includin mango.
2003 Semi-dry riesling: Cloyingly sweet, honeyed, floral perfume notes.
2005 Rose of cabernet franc: Tons of strawberry and raspberry, a bit over the hill at 4 years old.
2005 Pinot Noir: Surprisingly nice, fruit driven, with tobacco and pepper from judicious barrel time.
2004 Cabernet Franc: usual tobacco, tar, herbal notes, rather stemmy, tons of tannins. Lacked fruit to hold up to barrel time.
2005 Select Harvest Riesling: Tons of sugar, moderate fruit, low acid.

2. Willow Vineyard: Not a producer we were familiar with, perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the trip. Really a neat producer on a hill overlooking West Bay that has the best view imagineable. Wonderfully landscaped, great knowledge of the wines.
2007 Chardonnay: Oaked, but not heavily, rather burgundian in style, remarkable minerality.
2008 Baci Rose of Pinot Noir: Stellar pink. Reminded me of the subtlety of French Sancerre rose. Lovely wine.
2007 Pinot Noir: Great balance of fruit and oak, a tad sweet, cherry, tobacco notes.
2007 Pinot Gris: Hints of swetetness, big fruit, pear, peach.

3. L. Mawby: Focuses exclusively on sparkling wines in two lines. The first, and arguably better, are marketed as L. Mawby, produced in tradition champagne style method. THe second, M. Lawrence, are less expensive as a whole, less complex, and use a less traditional production method. They're intended to be fun, and a bit more "mass market", with names like "Sandpiper", "Sex", and so on. We mostly tasted from the traditional L. Mawby line, and were quite impressed. The tasting room staff was knowledgeable, able to accommodate everyone from the "fun" casual wine drinker to geeks like us, and were friendly and fun about it. Yay!
The wines:
Sandpiper: moderately sweet, good fruit, not to my taste.
L. Mawby Talisman: The best of the lineup in my mind. From vignoles, chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot gris. Quite dry, very complex, toasty notes, some fruit, huge, long, minerally finish.
L. Mawby Cremant Classic: From vignoles. Rather one-note in nature, well made, but not to my taste.
Jadore: Some age, a sweeter version than the others, balance of sweet fruit notes and acid.
Blanc de blancs: 80% chardonnay, 20 pinot gris. Light, minerally, lemon and acid, some steely notes. Well made.
Blanc de noirs: from pinot noir. Strong berry notes, fruit, cherry, not as austere as blanc de blancs. Well made.
Conservancy: "everything" blend, a bit sweeter and more complex than above two. I thought a bit muddled and undistinctive, but still well made.

4. Shady Lane: Rather busy, young staff, not particularly attentive or knowledgeable. We sampled two for free, and decided against staying to try more.
2007 semi-dry riesling: cloyingly sweet, lacking acid to back it up.
2006 pinto noir: Decent wine, oak a bit strong for my tastes.

5. Black Star Farms: One of the larger and more corporate operations. Friendly and knowledgeable if over-extended staff. Wines didn't impress as a whole.
2007 Bedazzled: Sparkling from chardonnay and pinot noir. Sweet fruit notes, somewhat flat, bubbles large, due to forced carbon dioxide rather than traditional bottle fermentation.
2008 Pinot Noir rose: Dry berries and minerality.. Not bad, not great.
2007 Pinot Gris: Crisp acid and minerality, one of their best wines.
2008 Arcturos Riesling: easy drinking, crisp acid with some residual sugar.
2008 Sur Lie chardonnay: Not bad, not distinctive, crisp notes, not malolactic.
2008 Barrel Age Chardonnay: Too much oak.
2006 Arcturos Pinot noir: Well-balanced between oak and fruit
2004 Isidor's Choice Pinot Noir: Fruit driven, rather over done.
2007 Cabernet Franc: Rough drinking without the complexity to make it worhtwhile.
2007 Isidor's Choice Terrace Red: Cab Franc, Regent grapes. Remarkably pleasant, but not all that good of value. Tobacco, fruit blend.

6. Chateau Fontaine. These guys weren't supposed to be open, but I called, and since it was rainy, they were working in teh tasting room and had opened it up. The room is run by the owners and winemaker, so we got to talk to the source. That matters a lot. It was VERY busy, but the owner managed to keep up with everything very well indeed. Really a fun place.

2007 Pinot Gris: Harsh, unpleasant finish
2007 Chardonnay: Hints of oak, but good fruit, some minerality. Not outstanding, but decent.
2008 Woodland White (Auxerrois): This is their best wine, by far. Crisp acidity, citrus, floral notes, very well made. Impressive, award winning wine.
2007 Gewurztraminer: Honest gewurz, floral notes, some lychee, subtle.
2007 White Riesling: Moderately sweet, perhaps not enough acid for balance.
2006 Pinot Noir: Fruit, showing very little oak, not bad
2006 Woodland Red: Cab Franc, cabernet Sauvignon, merlot, and syrah. Bizarre that cab sauv and syrah, in particular, produce this far north. The wine suggests that perhaps it's a stretch.
Cherry wine: NOt bad--off dry, well made, pleasant, FOR what it is.
2008 Off-dry Riesling: Great balnace of acid and fruit, lemon and apricot notes.

7. Bel Lago: A nice tasting room, friendly and knowledgeable staff. Good line up of wines. Got to try both 07 and 08 vintages of two of their white wines, and recommend the 08's highly!
2007 Pinot Grigio: More acidity and crispness than most PG's from NoMi.
2007 Auxerrois: Good fruit, floral hints, minerality
2008 Auxerrois: As above, but on steroids--crisp minerality, tons of complexity, wow!
2007 Semidry riesling: Good balance for vintage between acid, fruit, sweetness.
2007 Gewurztraminer: Lychee on nose, palate runs rather hot.
2008 Gewurztraminer: Again, as above, but on steroids, except not hot. Great perfume, lychee, classic!
2006 Pinot Noir: Pepper strong on nose, apparently from Dijon Clone 777. Reasonably well balanced.
NV Bel Lago Red: Cab Franc, merlot, regent, dornfelder, maruette, gamay, anything else tey can find. Core is 2005, a great red year, and it shows. Fruit driven.
2005 Tempesta: High end wine, intended for aging, cab franc based. Lots of tannins, but integrated already.

We did dinner at Tuscan Bistro. It was a disappointment. The carpaccio was acceptably good, and the homemade pasta was nice, if not spectacular. Our server was not terribly knowledgeable about wine, so we were on our own for figuring out pairings and so on. I had a chianti classico with a pasta bolognese, which worked ok, although the wine was rather new world in style, and Julie had a pinot grigio with a cheese stuffed pasta, again an OK pairing. Neither wine stood out.

Northern Michigan, Day 1

Julie and I are on vacation in the northern part of Michigan. To be precise, we're staying a couple days in Traverse City. Now, this area is known for a few things. A lot of water, massive tourism, a Cherry Festival, and, important to us, a lot of Michigan's best wine. As it turns out, our trip is largely centered around tasting wine. And taste we have. Yesterday, we went up Old Mission Peninsula, a strip of land maybe 15 miles long and probably no more than a mile wide. On the peninsula, there are probably 8-10 wineries. We visited five. This trip is a real way of seeing just how variable wines of a small region are, and just as important, how their producers approach not only making, but also selling, wine. So, here's a run down of the day's wineries:

1. Brys Estate: Their tasting room, rather pretentious, was peopled with a sort of "faux friendly" staff who either didn't know all that much about wine, or didn't want to talk about it. Their wines were a mixed bag--some good, some OK, and a few not so much. Unfortunately, they charge for tastings, and make you pick from among their wines to taste, so we didn't get to try nearly all of their wines. Here are some impressions:
2008 Pinot Blanc: A good example of p.b. from Michigan. Floral and mineral notes, some apple, quite charming.
2008 Pinot Grigio: Decent acid, moderate fruit, a rather bizarre finish that was a bit "salty" in nature.
2007 Rose of Pinot Noir: Decent minerality and creamy raspberry notes, the wine drank rather hot, especially toward the finish.
2007 Dry Riesling: One of their best efforts, petrol on the nose, tons of acid, lemony notes. Probably the best of their wines.
2007 Pinot Noir Reserve: A lot of oak, some fruit, decent peppery earth tones. Too oaky for my tastes.
2007 Late Harvest Riesling: One of the least impressive rieslings we tasted, for what it was supposed to be. This should have been comparable to an Auslese or so, I figure. Well, to its credit, it had decent acit, but it was just plain thin, without the fruit that should have been there to credit it as a late harvest. I got the sense they picked before they really should have, based on what they were trying to do.

2. Two Lads: One of the newest and smallest producers on Old Mission, they only had three wines to taste. But the winery is an ultra-modern, somewhat "green" facility. Their staff was mostly family, and they genuinely cared about the place and their wine. That showed through not only in the experience iwth them, but in the wines. That said, all of their wines are a bit "over-produced" in my view. They were talking about how their wines were "only" 13.5 or 14% alcohol. Personally, I don't want my pinot gris or rose to be at those sorts of alcohol levels, especially from Michigan, and I honestly don't quite know how they got the fruit so danged ripe. The run-down:
2008 Pinot Grigio: Well made, but I really wasn't sure I wasn't drinking a sauvignon blanc when I first tasted it. It was herbal, grassy, gooseberries, even a bit of cat pee (in a good way, believe it or not).
2008 Rose of Cabernet Franc: This isn't your granny's white zin, nor is it as subtle as many fo the beautiful french roses. The cab franc tobacco, and even tar, came through, along with orange notes. A bit big by my standards, rather alcoholic.
2007 Cabernet Franc: Big, tannic, I thought a tad overmade. Lots of oak.

3. Bowers Harbor: The best, most enjoyable winery of the day. Quite large operation, with a slightly rustic appearing tasting room. The staff was uber-friendly, quite knowledgeable of their products and processes, very willing to share information and passion with folks tasting. First free tasting, too. These guys make especially great rieslings, of a most impressive stature. The rundown:
2008 Block II dry riesling: Tons of petrol on the nose, minerals, crisp acidity, tons of complexity, a lot going on. I can see why it won a lot of awards already, and is promising for 2008 rieslings up here.
2006 Montana Rusa Riesling: Also some petrol, more well settled and rounded out than the newer vintages due to age, fruit not as big as the acid.
2006 Pinot Noir: Too much oak, some sour cherry notes. 06 wasn't a great year for reds up here, and the oak didn't help. Their weakest wine.
2005 Cabernet Franc, Erica Vineyard: Classic tobacco and tar of cab franc, well made, impressive already, could age.
2006 2896, Langley Vineyard: Blend of cab franc, merlot, and cab sauvignon. The cab sauv is amazing to me, as i didn't think it'd ripen well up here. Lots of chewy tannin, minerality, fruit, decent balance, will need age.
2005 Block II off-dry riesling: Great balance of acid and sweetness, lots of citrus notes. SHould age some still.
2007 Riesling Langley, off-dry: Floral notes pronounced, not as acidic as some others, probably too much fruit relativ to acid levels.
2006 Gewurztraminer Icewine: One amazing wine. Lychee, trop fruits, huge long finish, plenty of acid to cut the fruit and floral notes. Should age well. Not sure it's worth the huge price tag, though.
Blanc de Blancs Sparkling wine: 80% chardonnay, 20% pinot gris. Nice if not stellar sparkling, a lot of acid, toasty notes, some nuttiness. Well made.
Cherritage: A cherry wine, 2:1 ratio of tart to sweet cherries. More appealing than I expected, not that sweet, pleasant.

4. Chateau Grand Traverse: The mass-market NoMI winery. Staff not terribly knowledgeable, lots of visitors, little attention or discussion. Not worht the visit, in my opinion. Almost none of the wines were worth writing much about, and were rather unimpressive. But I will note three interesting wines. Surprisingly, their reds were really good news, particularly when they didn't "try too hard".
2007 Gamay Noir "Limited": I really doubt there was much limited about it, but it's an honest fruit-driven gamay with classic fruit notes and some pepper hints. Could've been a simple beaujolais.
2006 Pinot noir: Not bad, almost all fruit driven, some oak for balance and complexity.
2006 Gamay Reserve: This was one of the most disturbing wines on the list. They managed to make it both sweet-fruity and overoaked, all at once. Truly bizarre experience, and not at all pleasing.

5. Peninsula Cellars: Tasting room in an old one-room schoolhouse, great staff, friendly, moderately knowledgeable. Awesome tasting room, fun quotes and themes, reflected a lot of effort. Again, no tasting fee.
2007 Pinot Blanc: Floral, acid, pear and apple. Not bad, not great. A bit too floral for my tastes.
2006 Chardonnay: An amazing amount of acid, not so much on the fruit.
2006 Gewurztraminer: Petrol, some lychee, reserved
2006 Manigold Gewurz: Tons of expressive floral notes. Too much so for my liking.
2006 Dry Riesling: Lime and floral notes, strong acid.
2006 Semi-dry Riesling: More complexity than above, lot of floral notes, some apricot.
2007 Pinot Gris: peachy, very long minerally finish. NOt what I would expect for a P.G.
2006 Pinot Noir: Good balance of fruit and oak. Well done.
2006 Select Riesling: An auslese style that was made well. Complex, apricot, peach, sweetnees balanced with good acid. Their highlight!
NV "Homework" rose of pinot noir. Sweet, cloying, not so desirable
2005 Cabernet Franc: Has honest cab franc notes of herbs, tobacco, cherry fruit, not hugely complex, but good.
2005 Cabernet Franc Reserve: Much more complex than above, a bit overdone, perhaps, needs age still, oak, smoke, minerality. Interesting.

In all, good wines and wineries, not too many disappointments, a lot of nice people.

We went for dinner at Amical, a french bistro downtown Traverse City. I'd rate this as a very good, solid restaurant, with a few "issues". The good: Nice, friendly, moderately knowledgable staff. Fun atmosphere with eclectic art. Creative menu that reflects effort and thought. The not so good: The wine list was rather unusual, and not in a particularly complimentary light. It was a strange mix of good and bad, New and Old World, Michigan wines, and it was unclear how they fit together for coherence. My real beef, though, was with the "by the glass" list--which to their credit was pretty extensive. Not so good--they didn't list vintages. Now, if you have drunk much wine, you know--vintage matters. So, list it, dammit!

Specific food: We started with soup--Julie had a tomato soup iwth a bread crust over it. Amazingly good, and a HUGE crock of soup--too much food, but tasty as can be. I had an Asian chicken soup with cabbage and mushrooms--the cup was a great appetizer side, and pretty tasty. Not great, though. Entrees: I had a lamb shank braised in beer with a honey-beer reduction sauce and herbs de Provence. Very tasty, perhaps a bit too sweet. Pairedw ith a 2006 Bastide Cote du Rhone. Not a bad wine, good pairing. Julie had a veal puttanseca with spaetzle. Good taste, the puttanesca was awesome. The veal was overcooked, though, and the spaetzle was a weird pairing with the dish. IN all, a good restaurant, and a place I'd recommend, if not in the most glowing terms possible. Solid place.

Vegetarian Restaurant

Tonight was the start of "restaurant week" in Ann Arbor, and we decided to try out Seva, a veggie restaurant here in town. Now, typically, I find vegetarianism annoying and generally unpleasant, but I do think that some veggie cooking can be good, and this restaurant had a really innovative, well-aged wine list on their website. With a 3 course meal on a 2 for 1 deal with $25, this seemed a good idea. Well... the results were mixed, in my view.

The food itself was decent, even good. My spring roll was tasty, and Julie's cheese with honey and pistachios was downright amazing. We both had cheese-stuffed ravioli as our main, with a side salad of carrot and apple. The salad was good, with a nice ginger taste. The ravioli was OK, but rather lacking in flavor--it would've been amazing with a bit of pancetta on there. Both the sorbet and vanilla ice cream were a nice finish. So, decent points for food. Good, not great. And, the wine we ended up with, a 2002 Selbach-Oster Spatlese Riesling was well-aged, nicely made, and showing well. And, it was at a great price--only a couple bucks over retail. Indeed, the wine list attracted me to this restaurant more than anyting else--a bunch of older (5-20 year old) wines at really good prices.

Now, the problems begin. When we arrived, they had my name wrong on the reservation. Now, how hard is to spell "Lake"? OK, we figured that out. Then, I look at the menus, and they didn't bring out a wine list, only had the drink menu with "by the glass" wines. I asked the waitress for the wine list, which led her to point out the few "by the glass" wines. Now, this was not her fault in the least--she just had not been trained well enough to know this wine list existed. Bad restaurant management. Then, she finds it, brings it out, with a warning--the list may be a bit out of date, and they may not have everything. OK, that's horrible management--keep your damned menu up to date. So, we pick a bottle, which they don't have, but to the credit of the waitress, she suggests a different riesling (she called it a Weingut, which is equivalent to "Domaine" on a French wine, so again, crappy training) from the menu (but it was a 2006, a vintage I find lacking in complexity). Fortunately, there were 3 other rieslings on the "reserve" list, so I suggested they try that. Meanwhile, our apps hvae arrived. Now, the manager comes over with the two rieslings they could find--one of which was the spatlese we chose. Bizarrely, the wine goes back to the back for another five minutes until the waitress comes back with it and glasses. Again, just weird. Now, at the end of dinner, we had some wine left in the bottle--not a lot, not enough to take home, not enough to even get a mild buzz. So, I asked our waitress, who was a wonderfully friendly, attentive person, if she'd be interested in trying the wine, as I figured these probably didn't get opened real often. Knowledgeable staff would, presumably, make for a better sales staff, right? She was very interested, appreciative, but went to ask if it was OK. Apparently, this was seriously against the rules, and staff simply couldn't taste wine at work. So, what's the moral of the story? Great people working the floor, good food. And, at least tonight, the ability to show a complete lack of ability to manage a restaurant successfully. These guys advertise online a serious, aged, great value wine list. But they don't bother to do what they need to keep up the inventory, maintain an accurate list, or train their staff in what that wine is, or, for that matter, even anything about its existence. It's really a disappointment. I also am a bit amused at some of the list--there are 10 year old barolo, barbaresco, cabs, even a 20+ year old bordeaux. These are serious, great wines, and they're BIG. They go exceptionally beautifully with meat. I don't know that anything in the vegetarian menu works with that sort of wine. So, again, I'm not convinced that the management has thought through their list with their menu in mind, but my mind is open, and I'm impressed by the list still.

Happy Birthday... to me. Part I. Dinner

Today, I turned 35 years old. I guess that means I'm officially old now. Not feeling terribly different today than I did yesterday, but hey, that is a definite milestone. It's been a good day, too, all in all. Julie took me out for a nice dinner at The Earle, a good "continental cuisine" restaurant here in Ann Arbor.

The restaurant has very solid food, and one of the best wine lists in all of the Midwest. The list is probably close to 1000 different wines, and importantly, they have been appropriately cellared, and have had enough time to age really nicely. One of my biggest pet peeves about high end restaurants is the often overpriced list of high end, good wines from recent vintages. Many of them are absolutely wonderfully good wines--arguably, even worth the hideous markup, where they charge 2.2-3.0 X retail. If only they had been aged. But, sadly, holding wines for years is not good for the bottom line, and doing it properly actually costs money, too. So, you end up drinking those expensive, monster wines before they have the time to mature and gain their real complexity. But, The Earle is different. They have a talented, brilliant sommelier who is both a bit old school, and who loves and understands his wines. He's thankfully not pretentious, and he doesn't look down on your if you're not buying that $200 bottle. And, if you know something about wine, and talk about it with him, he likes that, and shares his insights and gives you suggestions on interesting things to try. When you pick an older bottle, in particular, a mid to higher end one, and especially one that may not have been seeing a lot of turn-over, a good sommelier will very much appreciate it if you offer him a taste. Why? No, he's not trying to get drunk on the job. But it helps him to know how a particular vintage of a wine is aging, whether he should be trying to get it sold soon, and what it would pair well with.

So, tonight, we decided on a northern Rhone wine from Crozes-Hermitage. These are dense, serious full-bodied red wines, made almost exclusively with Syrah (sometimes doctored with a bit of Viognier). The bottle was a 1999 Domaine Belle Cuvee Louis Belle Crozes-Hermitage. Crozes is one of the "lowest end" wines of the northern Rhone, a second sister to uber-powerful Hermitage. They typically don't age as beautifully or have the subtle complexity as the Hermitage; they don't come from quite as primo of vineyards in the best sites overlooking the Rhone River. That is not to say they're crappy wines at all--they are usually still extraordinarily complex and will outshine most American or Aussie syrah/shirazes--but they are relatively inexpensive (usually $25-45 retail, $40-90 in restaurant, vs. well into 3 figures for Hermitage).

So, about the Belle? It was a real "belle" of a wine. Upon opening, it had tons of mature plum and cherry, blackberry, tobacco, smoke, some pepper and spice, and tons of slaty minerality. It was very refined, smooth, complex and tasty. This was a very serious wine. As it turns out, the vineyards are apparently within a few meters of "true" Hermitage, and the vines are 80 years or more in age. That all showed in the wine. Now, my one complaint is this. As the evening progressed and the wine was able to breathe, it rather quickly lost some of its bright fruit. This suggests the wine is probably a year or so past "peak"--not a flaw in the wine at all, but this is one that probably better be drunk in the next few years.

As to food: for starters, I went with escargot in a vol-au-vent--a bread-like structure, with a butter-wine-garlic sauce. Tasty, but not great. And the snails were perhaps a bit overcooked. Julie had a chevre on a bed of greens, topped with sesame seeds and dressed an acidic dressing. Tasty. For mains: Julie had filet with roquefort sauce, potatoes and veggie. A very classic dish, it was well-executed, amazing texture on the meat, and a very smooth sauce. My entree, though, just blew me away. Duck breast, seared and cooked to medium-rare, wiht a port wine reduction sauce, strawberries and raspberries. Now, cherries are a classic pair with duck, not so much these berries. But they worked. The port sauce was beautifully reduced, with an unctuous demi-glace built in. Wow. And it was a solid pairing wiht the fruit in the wine. In all, a great dinner! Thank you, Julie!

Sad occassion, happy results

We're just back from Cleveland, where Julie and I attended her grandmother's funeral. We miss her terribly, and this was a largely somber few days. However, we also wanted to take advantage of what Cleveland had to offer us during "down times". So, in that spirit, we sought out a good place for dinner last night, and also sought out some good Polish food to bring home to cook.

Dinner last night was at Lola -- a "high end" downtown restaurant run by Michael Symon, whom you may know from his frequent appearances on Food Network. So, the good, bad, and ugly. The food itself was good. Very, very good. We started with a charcuterie platter, some, but not all, of which were "house-made" by the restaurant. Amazing sausages and other cured meats. Julie had a smoked pork chop that was cooked to perfection--juicy, sweet smoky flavor--with polenta and assorted other goodies. I had squab (pigeon) with foie gras, sweet potato puree, etc. Very tasty, in both cases. Dessert was also good--I had a 'french toast with bacon-maple ice cream'--good, but not amazing, humorous combination, as it was served on a skillet shaped plate. Julie had a sweet potato smores sundae--sweet potato sorbet, chocolate cake, house-made marshmallows. THe flavors were good, but the textures really made the dish. So, really good, creative food. The not so good: The wine experience, and at the start, the service. After we were seated, it must have been 15 minutes before we even got menus. Then, our server seemed insistent that we needed cocktails right away. Well, no, not so much, and no apology for the delay. After that, though, our server was really good, by and large. We also wanted wine with dinner. Now, we weren't sure if we could find a good pairing for both our dishes to share a bottle, but my mind immediately jumped to Rhone, as the mix of softer fruits, earth notes, and herb tones might work with both smoky flavors and the roasted poultry. So, I picked a couple that seemed like good options. Our waitress first suggested we should instead go with an Argentine malbec--not my style of wine, not a very good buy, and honestly, better suited to steaks than poultry. But she did seek out input on the Rhone wines, and suggested another (cheaper) option that would be more fruit-driven and softer than the others we looked at, and sold it as a "Great buy". Now, it was a fine wine, and it paired fairly well. nothing exquisite, but decent. My issue was the misrepresentation of it as a good buy--the menu price was 3.5 X the retail price of the wine (usually, it's more like a 2X markup). I didn't know the specific wine, but the price was reasonable for the AOC (on the high end, but good wines do tend to command more $). I'd have been fine with the situation if either 1. we'd specifically selected this to start with, and 2. if we'd not been sold on it being a great deal. As it is, I felt somewhat taken advantage of, basically being sold something it wasn't (the others we looked at thatr would've worked well were more in line with the typical 2X restaurant mark up, and only about $4-5 more than what e ordered). So, buyer beware. My other overall complaint with the list was a large number of high quality, high price wines on the list. Is that bad, per se? No. The problem is, most were very young--much too young to be really good, in some cases probably down-right shut down in style. I don't really WANT to think aobut drinking a 2005 Chateauneuf in 2009--try me again in 2019. I understnad that it takes work and money and time to age wine properly. But to sell some of these things for hundreds of $ a pop for current consumption is just disingenuous. It might be fine for status seekers, but it'd be a real disappointment to drink.

This morning, we stopped by Jaworski Meats (see earlier post from prior visit), picked up more sausages, house-made sauerkraut, pierogis, and more. In all, many tasty goodies. The Easter loaf (a sort of Polish-seasoned meatloaf) was an especially nice dinner tonight. quick to cook, great tastes. Paired with cottage-cheese stuffed pierogi (seasoned iwth nutmeg) and sauerkraut, it was a nice dinner, indeed. And, very easy to fix!

Last Night's Dinner Out

Last night's wine tasting turned into more of a full night out. We tasted 18 wines, and I actually rather liked more than half of them, and found a few rather spectacular--notably, the 2005 Guigal Crozes-Hermitage, as well as a low-price Nero d'Avola and three nice 2005 Bordeaux for under $20/each. Two of them were pretty "in your face", while the third was much richer, smoother, and refined. Not that one was better, just different -- in terms of grapes, and in terms of vinification techniques.

As we were preparing to leave, our host offered "a cocktail"--which, with him, is probably a dangerous proposition. This initially turned into a tasting of four buffalo grass vodkas -- some of which were amazing, and some rather artificial. Of course, we had to try three other vodkas for comparison (a Stoli in all its elegant glory, a smoky-earthy potato vodka from eastern Europe, and another wild one that was really fascinating). Then, we had to try an eau-de-vie (really, five of them)--including framboise, and two earth gentian-root ones. Then, a lichen-extract eau de vie, then an Italian grappa infused with juniper. And, as a coup de grace, a beautiful, unoaked corn whiskey from Scandinavia (I think--somewhat overwhelming lineup of alcohol.).

By this point, it was after 9 pm, and several folks decided to stop at Pita Pita in Ypsilanti for dinner. As I didn't particularly feel like cooking at that point, we joined in--and were VERY pleasantly surprised by their sampler platter. Some of the best Middle Eastern cuisine I've ever tasted, and great Turkish coffee. Yum! So, the pork chops are put off a couple of days--shall be on Saturday, I think.