Wednesday, April 28, 2010

#70 - Curried Wine Can Chicken & Spinach Pie With '05 Huët Clos Du Bourg Demi-Sec


This...was...stupid good!

There's been a general feeling in the Ney house recently that we've hit a bit of a lull when it comes to pairings that approach great.

We've had good, borderline great food. And we've had some good, if not great wines. The two just never seemed to come together for a great food and wine pairing.

In fact, before this meal, the best pairing we probably had in the last month was seafood sausage, rice cakes and bok choy with the 2009 Crios Torrontes. Nothing against that pairing. It was glorious. But given everything, we seem to have been in a bit of a pairing rut lately. Tons of "perfectly fine" pairings, a few "that'll work"s and a lot of "take or leave"s.

Until tonight. Until...Tonight!

Food: Curry Can Chicken with a raita, chicken glaze on the side and spinach pie

Chicken prepped the night before using twice the recommended salt along with pepper and baking soda rubbed all over it and stuck in the refrigerator overnight. Soda can stuffed with the crappy Alois Gross Muskateller from Monday with ginger and garlic and stuck up its rump.

Chicken glazed with butter, orange marmalade, "hot" curry powder, lemon zest and sambal oelek, a sort of hot pepper paste popular in Southeast Asia, then thrown in the oven.

Came out Beaut-i-ful! The extra salt intensified the curry, sambal oelek and marmalade to such a degree that every flavor continued to linger in such a glorious way long after we swallowed. Wasn't hot. Came off more like a deep honeyed char with orange hints and a perfectly-pitched curry with oodles of depth. Best wine can chicken yet. With the glaze on the side to remoisten everything, there really was no contest. Best ever.

Chicken was over a raita, an yogurt-based Indian condiment usually used as a cooling agent for the heat that comes with things like a curry. This one was yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, shallots, onions, mint, fennel fronds and toasted coriander and white pepper. This was probably the glue to the meal. While the chicken glaze wasn't hot enough to need a cooling agent, it served as something to cut any richness that the glaze offered while serving as a bridge to the feta in the spinach pie.

It's just frozen Trader Joe's spinach pie but Mrs. Ney really didn't feel like cooking after the last two days and the thought of another green salad or prepping another starch seemed like way too much work. Didn't need anything else in the least. I've said it before and I'll say it again, best frozen product along with seafood sausage at Trader Joe's by far. Flaky, fresh, not too feta-y, not salty in the least and just all around freakin' weirdly delicious.

So we had wine can chicken with frozen spinach pie. On paper, before eating it, it would have seemed like a fine enough meal, tasty and good. Perfect with a catalogue wine. Easy-peasy and we would have moved on, happy enough.

In reality, it was the best meal we've had here in a few months.

And the wine played as big of a part.

Wine: 2005 Domaine Huët Clos Du Bourg Demi-Sec Vouvray ($30-ish - WDC?)

Grape: 100% Chenin Blanc (biodynamic)
Region: Vouvray
Vineyard: Clos Du Bourg (Le Haut Lieu and Le Mont being Huët's other regular vineyards)
Vintage: 93 - warm, dry season and ideal weather at harvest; low yields led to concentrated, balanced wines (WS)

It's been sitting in the cellar, laid on its side right in the front, staring at me for over a year. I constantly thought, "Just drink the damn thing. It's probably only marginally cellar-worthy anyway."

Straw yellow in the glass. Lightly honeyed nose. On the palate, white peach to peach with honeysuckle, a bit of minerality and a glorious underlying floral note that wasn't overly pronounced but served as a beautiful base throughout and made everything seamless. Just kept giving with great precision. Straight-up off-dry. Vacillated between being almost rich and being lifting and light, walking a great line. Faint secondary and indistinguishable tropical fruit notes. A graceful acidity that wasn't bracing or overt but was enough to allow everything to play nice and come through. Medium to slightly short finish propped up mostly by the acid, keeping it from being a ridiculously good wine and maybe the best white wine I've ever had. If longer, it would have made the wine almost perfect. Long life to this one. By golly, this is pretty!

We'll be doggedly following this vineyard of the Huët line. Maybe not this exact vintage, but more will be bought and soon.

Pairing: 94 Simply great

All the soldiers lined up and saluted. This would have been a pretty great meal without wine. With this wine, it approached perfect. It made us think if the finish to the wine was a wee bit longer, it would have been. And would have sat right alongside the Asian beef filet with Yalumba and dry-aged beef with '94 Heredia pairing. For now, it slides right below those since I started this blog.

The white peach and honeysuckle in the wine danced with the feta and raita with the graceful touch of acidity frolicking beautifully with the chicken glaze.

The meal itself had some great bridges that surprisingly stayed right in the same range of weight and spice and the wine filled in any gaps that weren't bridged. Everything was so fluid, flowing and effortless.

It was a thrown-together Wednesday night meal for the most part and it ended up feeling like something quite unique and pretty remarkable.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

#69 - Tri-Tip & Yuca With '05 Ondalán Graciano


It's rare to see a 100% Spanish Graciano.

Typically used as a blending grape in Rioja to add structure (and aging potential) to a wine, a guy at Binny's said it was the first time in five years he's seen a Spanish 100% Graciano on the shelves at the store.

We had a Californian Graciano back in January that was surprisingly delicious, made more delicious by the $8 closeout price tag.

Last night's Graciano never got out of the "that was interesting to try" territory, though.

Food: Saffron-marinated tri-tip beef and tapenade with yuca fries and mayo for dipping

Mediterranean/Latin food with a Spanish hue. Medium-rare tri-tip (bottom of the sirloin cut) beef marinated in saffron, onions, yogurt, ginger, lemon juice and olive oil. We've had it before on many occasions and it's just the tops. An almond, gaeta olive, caper, parsley, sherry vinegar, paprika, garlic and olive oil tapenade glop over the top of the beef. It's one of our favorite beef preparations.

Yuca fries with a sherry vinegar mayo for dipping with an arugula salad.

The marinade got into the beef without saturating the beef to death. A good point. We may like it more with flank steak as it's a tad brighter and plays with the saffron and yogurt better but it was still quite tasty.

All of it was tasty. And Spanish Graciano should have slid right into the meal but...

Wine: 2005 Bodegas Ondalán 100 Abades Graciano Rioja ($25 - Binny's)

Grape: 100% Graciano
Region: Rioja
Vintage: 92 - Lively, balanced and graceful, firm yet expressive (WS)

Medium red in the glass. Smoke and wild berry on the nose that followed through on the palate. A sweet plum element that served as the core with loads of stones and a lingering dark berry note. Medium to short-ish finish. Enough acidity but nothing particularly graceful or vibrant and moderate tannins. If given blind, I might have thought it was something from around Ribera but not Ribera itself.

In the end, while pleasant enough, there wasn't anything in particular that stood out. No background prettiness or graceful entry and exit. Wasn't rough or clunky, just wasn't anything we'd want to revisit. At $25, marked down from $40, even with the markdown, something unique would have been nice. This wine spent 15 months in French oak while being Graciano so it should have shown better five years out. May have been stored improperly or something and that may have been the reason for the markdown. Some reviews talked about a brilliant violet/floral note, minerality and a vibrancy that just wasn't there in this bottle.

Pairing: 84 If we got what everybody else got, might have been quite good. We didn't.

The wine was too easily manipulated by the food. Granted, there was a lot going on with the supplementary flavors to cause such a thing, but we've had plenty of wines with similar food preparations that transitioned more gracefully at a lower price point (Crasto, Meandro, Cubillo).

If it had that floral note and minerality coupled with the nice sweetness the wine did offer, that may have happened. But it showed more as a wine trying to keep its head above water with the food than anything else. I got some cherry notes with the beef and the body briefly showed some lighter gracefulness at times only to quickly disappear. The stony quality was too rough around the edges to get over, though.

It played with the food rather than playing well with the food, like a kid dropped off at a new daycare just waiting for his mom to return. Sure, he played with the blocks and even participated in a little hide-and-seek, but his eyes were always on the door.

#68 - Seafood Sausage Lunch With Asprinio, Grüner & Musketeller


I've talked about the infinitely tasty Trader Joe's seafood sausage before.

They may become an endangered species soon so just go buy them. I'm begging.

And don't just microwave or boil them. Gussy them up. Make them delicious.

Just pick better wines than we did this time.

Food: Seafood sausage with sun-dried tomato-basil-shallot pesto with mâche and baguette

Grilled seafood sausage with a sun-dried tomato, basil, shallot, olive oil and white wine vinegar pesto. The seafood sausage is a frozen product that, if treated right, tastes entirely delicious. Do crap to it, people. It's a $4 package for four sausage links.

The entire meal was concocted in every way to accompany our first Asprinio. Seafood, even red pizza is considered good pairings with Aspirino. But there was problem...

Wine: 2005 Villa Carafa Asprinio di Aversa ($20 - Knightsbridge), 2006 Alois Gross Muskateller Steirische Klassik ($8 - WDC) & 2006 Stift Goettweig Grüner Veltliner Gottschelle ($15 - WDC)

The Asprinio was all done, finished, over. Dark yellow in the glass. Not unpleasant in that sense, but all sherry-like notes. We've had worse in the "dead-dead-dead" category. I knew before buying it that Asprinio should be drunk young but with their insane rarity and one available in the area, it seems worth trying. Asprinio is genetically identical to Greco yet the vines are latched onto huge poplar trees so they grow way up in the canopy, thereby getting the sea breezes that create their unique character. Wasn't technically good by itself but had a dead fruit, nuts and sherry quality that wasn't awful, really. Interesting to try but didn't in any sense reveal any true nature.

The Gross Musketateller was simple in the worst sense. Almost water in the glass with the faintest green hue. Notes from WS were "celery-like aromas following through on a palate that doesn't add up to much." Ding. Not good. Added up to nothing.

The Stift Goettweig is a bargain favorite of ours. Pretty, glimmering light yellow in the glass. By itself, more exotic fruit with a touch of creamsicle (wee bit less this time). Nice lively acidity, good balance and refreshing finish with some lees left over in the glass. Nice little wine that for the price gives a great representation of the grape while adding a little something unique with its great vitality. WDC is currently selling the Stift Geottweig Riesling for $8. I'm sure we'll be having it very soon.

But none of them were even close to good with the food.

Pairing: 75 No thanks

Great food with wine that was terrible with it. But let's be frank ("Who's Frank"). the Asprinio was dead, the Musketeller was awful by its very nature and the Grüner got lost in the sun-dried tomato-basil mix. No surprises, really. The meal was made on the assumption that the Asprinio would be somewhat more alive than it was. After that, we just grabbed the open bottle of Grüner in the refrigerator to get rid of it and tried the Muskateller before it become cooking wine (the result of buying bargain-shelf wine without knowing what we were getting into).

Not. Good. Food = pretty great. Wine = mixed bag. Pairing = ick.

Monday, April 26, 2010

#67 - Semiramis With Saumur & Champagne



Dinner at Semiramis.

Great place, always love it, always feel clean afterwards, has spectacular Arabic coffee and trying to figure out a wine to go with the food can be brutally annoying.

We had a Pinot Nero last time that did nothing for the food but I have fond memories of that wine by itself. Before that, I believe it was an Edna Valley Pinot Noir. Meh. Before that, a Syrah, I believe. Meh-meh. All three were tasty wines. All three didn't do much for/with the food.

We gave white a go this time.

Food: Hummus, Fattoush, Falafel and Dolmas

See the menu for descriptions. Best hummus in town. Best dolmas I've ever had (I've only had four different ones so...), solid, if not great falafel but they basically served as the "meat" in our small-bite visit this time and the fattoush is just so clean and good. It's open Monday (straight through), it's BYO, has a charming little atmosphere and we love the hell out of it.

Wine: NV Gaston-Chiquet Brut Tradition ($26 - WDC) and 2007 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur ( $28 - Red & White)

A great value Champagne along with being a pretty great little wine by itself, the Gaston-Chiquet will be the benchmark to work from for Champagne when and if we start getting into Champagne. Maybe a wee bit less complex than the last time we had it, this was still quite pretty. Loads of green apple and yeasty notes with nice finesse and tiny, tiny, mouth-saturating bubbles. Soft and round with a pleasing acidity. Nobody wouldn't like this.

The Domaine Guiberteau was a bit of a revelation, though. Very lithe and dry. Graceful notes of lanolin, beeswax, nuts and some sort of spring flower dancing in the background. Just an insanely intriguing wine. Everything was there with a fine finish I hated to see go away and it was nothing like the chenin blanc from Vouvray we're used to. The body was much more slender. Saumur has intrigued us. More will be bought soon.

Pairing: 86 Hit and miss EXCEPT FOR THE HUMMUS!

Saumur and hummus! Saumur and hummus! Well, this Saumur and hummus anyway. The hummus intensified with the wine, picking up a nutty note in the wine, making it taste almost like peanut butter was mixed in in the best way. The wine with the hummus was glorious, letting all the flavors pop out so pure and defined with exceptional balance. Tasted like liquid gold and the hummus tasted like hummus on steroids.

The fattoush, while not the best with the Champagne (which was good but never great with the entire meal - more of a "bring it for the bubbly fun" type of thing), made the sumac-laced juice stick in the lining of my mouth in a great way. The dolmas turned the Saumur a tad weird, bringing out more of a motor oil quality. The falafel was D.O.A. with both wines. Overall, good enough for us with one spectacular bite and sip.

So...what did we learn?

Saumur is good. Saumur and hummus is great. Semiramis continues to be awesome.

Friday, April 23, 2010

#66 - Grilled Thai Hanger Steak, Tostones & '05 Schild Shiraz


Pairing wine with Thai beef can be trickier than we originally thought.

A shiraz seemed right and proper but the best sips with the food last night came when the acid and tannins became even more muted in the wine and a fruit burst pushed its way to the front of the queue (I'm practicing my British).

While the food was solid and the wine was tasty, something was lacking. And that something might have been some sort of big sparkling dark berry notes in the wine to lift the Thai flavors a bit.

We might have been better served with a bigger, rounder, fruity-bomby type of a wine (I...can't...believe...I'm saying that) or the Rumball Sparkling Shiraz.

Food: Thai-grilled hanger steak with red curry rice, tostones and mâche/basil/mint with ponzu and sesame oil

From a Food & Wine recipe taken from Trinchero Winery Kitchen in California, substituting hanger for skirt steak. Beef marinated in sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, cilantro, peanuts, scallions, lime juice and chili oil and cooked on the more rare side. Tasty hanger with a good char that Mrs. Ney thought might have been too much but it didn't detract and even added something for me.

Tostones were the star, though and probably what we wanted most. Everything else was a vehicle for the tostones. Dipped in mayo flavored with the essence, that certain something, that je ne sais quoi of the Thai beef marinade and boiled down. Best part of the meal and we were okay with that.

White rice cooked in red curry paste that was full of flavor but might have been a wee bit superfluous with the tostones on the plate.

A huge pile of mâche, basil and mint drizzled with ponzu and topped with toasted sesame seeds. As always, good capper to the meal with mint and greens being inarguably delicious. Don't argue because you will lose.

Scallions and toasted sesame seeds sprinkled over everything.

And topped off with buttermilk bacon-maple gelato and waffle galettes again, this time with fancy maple syrup drizzle.

Happy eats. Nothing wrong with it.

Wine: 2005 Schild Estate Shiraz Barossa Valley ($25 - Sam's ?)

Schild shiraz got a ton of press right when we were getting somewhat heavily into spending on Australian shiraz. #16 on the Wine Spectator Top 100 list of 2007. It was a highly recommended bargain wine among a slew of overpriced shiraz on the market at the time.

Dark red in the glass. Some grilled meat, spices and plum on the nose. It started and continued with dark cherry and plum on the palate with very smooth tannins and a background acidity that made it fall into the 'smooth shiraz' category along with bit of chocolate that rounded everything out. Sufficient depth and a nice cascading burn to the finish. A nice, smooth, roundish, medium-bodied shiraz that really didn't bring many surprises. Never gets out of the realm of "a good representation" of Australian shiraz.

And that is why, while pleasant enough, it didn't hold up to the food.

Pairing: 83 Needed more

Paired best with the tostones and mayo, oddly. Something about the egg yolks in the mayo completely knocked out the tannins and acid, intensifying the fruit to large degree. Not at all what you want from a pairing but that's the best moment of the night for the Schild. We were scratching for a surprise and that had to suffice. In the end, I was fine with that.

The Schild had a great little finish by itself. Went on for 30 seconds at least with a nice residual burn that was pretty seamless all the way down. But with the beef, the mid-palate hollowed out completely. From a flavor standpoint, nothing became disjointed but it simply disappeared halfway down and came back for a last quick hit. We know from experience that other Australian shiraz with Thai beef-type dishes doesn't do that. This basic pairing worked great before in our world, making me think that a shiraz that brings more complexity and abundance of fruit - including some berry, especially blackberry - would have been a better fit.

It wasn't the ginger. It wasn't the soy. It wasn't the scallions.

It was the wine. It straddled the line of being too simple with not enough complexity to change into a different beast when more distinctive food flavors came into play. Bet it would be great with simply seared beef and no expectations.

We had some.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

#65 - Rabbit With Sauerkraut Pierogis & Two Alsatians


What the hell do you pair with rabbit in mustard sauce with sour cream, bacon, fennel, onions and sauerkraut pierogis...and a freakin' gremolata?

I mean...what the hell?

What do you jam into this?

Red was right out (though I think a funky Pinot Noir might have been at least intriguing). A dry white? Nope. Not a chance. It would get buried.

Our thought process started with bringing some sugar from the wine to deal with the sauerkraut and mustard. Seemed like the right place to start.

We weren't necessarily wrong.

Food: Rabbit in mustard sauce with lightly-smoked bacon, sour cream and herbs with sauerkraut pierogis and asparagus

Recipe from David Tanis, a chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley (a good day for us two years ago - Chez Panisse for lunch and French Laundry for dinnner).

The rabbit came out a little tough but nonetheless delicious. Lightly sweet, a little gamey and more tasty as a baseline flavor for the rest of the ingredients. A fennel and onion accompaniment helped things along quite nicely and a fennel green, mint, lemon zest and walnut oil gremolata brought some great bite.

Came off a bit cassoulet-ish in a great way, even if the amount of meat offered by the rabbit fell a bit short.

The sauerkraut pierogis from West Side Market in Cleveland had a shockingly mellow sauerkraut punch that was more welcomed than I anticipated. With a bit of the gremolata or a little of the fennel-onion-sour cream-bacon sauce goop, they were something that I'll be craving a week from now out of the blue at some random hour on a Tuesday.

We didn't touch the asparagus. Enough fiber came on Tuesday with the tuna Niçoise.

Wine: 2002 Dirler-Cade Tokay Pinot Gris ($33 - Cellar Rat) & 2008 Cuvée Michel Léon Gewürztraminer ($10 - Trader Joe's)

Tough call. A well-crafted Riesling (2006 Prager Bodenstein?) might have befit the meal better. The meal played slightly above the wine. But we brought the sugar.

The Dirler did just that. We could tell it was on the downslope but it still brought sufficient vibrancy. Dryish with a backbone of sweetness showing some apricot notes and hints of lemon meringue. Some honey and white tea with a pleasing mouthfeel that coated just enough. A solid wine in the best sense. Danced on the tongue while still tasting a wee old.

The Trader Joe's Gewürztraminer, for its price, played in the same range. It was half as good at less than a third of the price. Sure, it was all gewürztraminer-y but it pulled back on that at the right points and had a pleasant citrus-spice candy quality to it. This comes from the same private label that supplies Trader Joe's with the excellent-for-its-price Muscadet and Pouilly-Fumé. By itself, it wasn't great.

With the food...

Pairing: 88 Much better than expected

As I said, tough call. I liked the Dirler 14% better. It was right and proper, well-crafted, lively and went well overall with everything. But the Gewürztraminer was better with the sauerkraut pierogis. That wee bit more sugar played more friendly with the sauerkraut. And actually, on the whole, it settled down the cloying notes that came when drank by itself after food was offered.

We tried the Stift Goettweig Grüner Veltliner (my idea) but it didn't last ten minutes with the food.

But the subtle dryness offered from the Dirler made for a bit of a struggle with the food compared to the basic sweetness of the Michel Léon that cut through a lot in a nice way.

I think I'd always pick the Dirler if given the choice. It had that 'it' factor while being borderline elegant. But before trying this gewürztraminer from Trader Joe's, I wouldn't have given it a chance.

Really, it's not bad at all, especially with food.

Check that. Only with food because who wants to drink Gewürztraminer by itself.

#64 - Tuna Niçoise And A Bandol vs. Bulgarian Rosé Beatdown


Tuna Niçoise has increasingly become the follow-up meal to the un-follow-up-able (my high school English teacher just rolled over in his grave. Is he dead? Crap. Now I have to find that out).

It followed Blackbird last October. It followed dry-aged filet with the 1964 Heredia, the best wine I've ever had, in February.

It follows things of that level because it would be silly to try to match them or try to follow them up in the least. Tuna Niçoise's deliciousness lies in the freshness along with the gargantuan mountain of food on the plate that takes two hours to eat.

You can pick and choose from 5,000 different combinations of bites. It's all very democratic.

In that democratic vein, two rosés to taste, sample and compare seemed appropriate.

Food: Tuna Niçoise

Same preparation as in February:

"Clean you out!"

Seared rare tuna with cherry tomatoes, black olives, capers, green beans, potatoes on arugula with olive oil drizzled everywhere and two hard-boiled eggs for me.

Just a big abundance of food that never gets old. Acid from tomatoes, bitterness from arugula, brininess and earthiness from the capers and olives, carb hit from the potatoes with great, fresh Whole Foods tuna and lots of it.

We have it six to twelve times a year. Kind of resets the food clock with its mountain of fresh goodness.

This time, it was served with "Seeduction" bread from Whole Foods, a hearty, dense, dark wheat bread with a big, nutty flavor. Didn't go with the tuna niçoise but we didn't care. It's great stuff.

Topped off with bacon-maple gelato from Gene's, made in Indiana with bacon cured in-house at Gene's and served with waffle galettes. That's good eatin'.

Wine: 2008 Domaine de la Bégude Rosé Bandol ($20 - Vineyards Wine Mercant - Cleveland) & 2006 Slavyantsi Rosé Rose Valley Bulgaria ($12 - Gene's Sausage Shop - Lincoln Square)

The Bandol rosé had the typical, well-crafted rosé color in the glass. Shimmered a bit. A nose of strawberries and raspberries. On the palate, it was what Bandol rosés are, sort of the essence of red wine stripped down and lightened up. Meaty with an almost sanguine quality. Dry, long finish that kept changing as it went down, ending with a meat juice and alcohol note. Nice, pleasant, lighter, a bit different. Liked it. Bandols are good and we should drink more of them.

But the Bulgarian rosé (no info or pic on the webby-webs) was oddly more interesting, probably because it was Bulgarian, came from Gene's Sausage Shop, was a four year-old rosé and didn't suck in the least. Very dark pink in the glass. Green olives on the nose with a huge alcoholic hit right away. Made from cabernet grapes, it opened up nicely as it was given some air. Probably liked it better because of what it did with the food.

Pairing: 86 A flurry of food and wine choices to pick from

By itself, the Bulgarian rosé wasn't anything special. With the food though it turned into strawberry shortcake with every bite. Surprised us completely. Any combination of the tuna Niçoise, be it the bitterness of the arugula, the brininess of the capers and/or olives, the acidity of the tomatoes, it was strawberry shortcake. The wine had a cabernet backbone and was still kicking quite nicely for a four year-old rosé...from Bulgaria...bought from a sausage shop.

We reached for that much more than the Bandol even as the Bandol was an entirely pleasant wine that was probably better from a technical wine standpoint. It just didn't offer us much in the way of surprise. Paired nicely, didn't get thrown off its game in the least but we couldn't let go of the Slavyantsi that offered strawberry shortcake where there previously wasn't strawberry shortcake.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

#63 - Blackbird



We love Blackbird because it's delicious.

We love Blackbird because the staff is spectacular.

We love Blackbird because it always surprises the hell out of us.

For us, when discussing the best restaurants in Chicago, it begins and ends with Blackbird.

Last night reaffirmed those notions and may have even upped the ante. Best experience yet.

Starter bubbly: French brut rosé

A gift. Weren't told the specific wine. Strawberry notes with a nice delicacy and vibrant bubbles. Not on the list.

Amuse Bouche: Asian carp with black garlic

I'm guessing Asian carp (from Google searches). Didn't hear what it was and didn't ask. Very soft fish with a refined punch of black garlic. Tasty.

Appetizers: Crab tail and duck sausage with mortadella

Alaskan king crab tail with ricotta mayo, sunchokes, smoked paprika and pickled parsley paired witha glass of 2007 Regis Cruchet Demi-Sec Vouvray

Charcuterie plate of duck sausage and mortadella with lobster roe vinaigrette and almond yogurt (?) paired with a glass of 2008 Domaine Ostertag Alsace Riesling

The Vouvray was different than other demi-secs we've had. Solid fruit with very pleasing dried flowers but it seemed to enter and finish in the opposite order than other demi-secs in my experience, starting with dried flowers and finishing with an expanding fruit and honey note. Good stuff and a solid pairing. But freakin' genius with a parsley bite.

The Alsatian Riesling had a stylish and elegant purity to it that felt almost ethereal. Flowery with candied stone fruit notes and only a wee hint of sugar. Minerals and a hint of herbs. Loved it. And liked it well enough with the duck sausage (which was spectacular) and mortadella (which was the best I've ever had - can't beat fancy bologna).

Intermezzo: Half-order of crispy black bass with green papaya, dandelion greens, walnuts and charred beef vinaigrette

A gift. Great browning on the fish and terrific, julienned green papaya. We were hesitant to order it as an entrée, mainly due to the dandelion greens, which we had a few times during a very brief phase about a year ago and went "those are awful!" These were hidden. Iffy to say if we would have loved it as an entrée but both of us thought it was insanely balanced and infinitely tasty. The sort of glazed walnut clusters really elevated it as well.

Paired with a Napa Chardonnay that our server - who shall remain nameless but is our favorite server in the city by far, always gives us interesting recommendations, lets us try stuff, gives us way too much free stuff and is just overall 50% of the reason Blackbird rules - was trying at the bar and gave to us in a futile attempt to get us to open up to Chardonnay. Nope. Still don't get the allure.

Entrées: Lamb Saddle and Wagyu Flat Iron

Roasted colorado lamb saddle with white asparagus, vermouth, fromage blanc and spring pea falafel

Grilled wagyu flat iron and warm bone marrow with pickled cippolini onions, caraway crumble, chickweed and pomegranate molasses

Lovely lamb, mild and sweet and gamey and lovely. Beautifully-prepared piece of tender meat and the best quenelle-ish falafel Mrs. Ney has EVER had (and the second time in a week we've had sweet pea in some modified form). We prefer the bone-in, more gnarly lamb incarnation but it was tasty nonetheless.

Different preparation of wagyu than I've had. A smokiness reminiscent of spectacular BBQ by itself and more dense, less buttery style. But eaten with the shockingly wonderful caraway crumble (I wanted to have its babies), some onion and a little green, I'd probably put it in the top 20 of the best bites ever (that list now has about 72 things on it). The bone marrow was a tad superfluous (and didn't have a chance after Lola's bone marrow appetizer).

Entrée Wine Pairing: 2005 Domaine Gourt de Mautens Rasteau

We're relative Rhône novices and had never drunk a Rasteau before. Recommended by our server to pair with the entrées, it's predominantly Grenache with a touch of Mourvèdre. Small producer, impossible to find.

Rasteau mainly grows Grenache and is located just east of Carianne and north of Gigondas in the Rhône valley.

Purple in the glass with blue edges. Medium-bodied. Meat and pepper right away but after ten minutes or so, this exploded with huge blueberries and a quality background of violets, some earthy grit and a hint of sweet herbs. Kept subtly changing with the intensity of the blueberries fading in and out, changing over to red fruits at times. In its blueberry phase, I would have thought it was strange, wonderful and less dense Syrah. Overall, it was delicious and liked it even more after the bottle was finished and had some time to process it.

If this is Rasteau, I want more Rasteau. It wasn't great with the lamb due to the fact that the lamb preparation was more on the delicate side with softer flavors that didn't match up with the earth and herbs in the wine. Fell just on the other side of the fence of being too big for the dish. With the wagyu, it fell right in line with nearly every note. Heck, the wine could even had been a bit bigger with this preparation of wagyu. Mrs. Ney thought the exact opposite with the lamb being a much better pairing than the wagyu.

Pre-dessert: Rhubarb sorbet with quinoa

A gift. Quinoa and sorbet? Yes. And it's good.

Dessert: Hazelnut and chocolate

Hazelnut dacquoise with espresso, crispy chicory caramel and apricot kernel sherbet

Criollo chocolate with cupuaçu, milk meringue and tonka bean ice cream

The dacquoise (funny word to say) was the better of the two but the chocolate dish had elements like the tonka bean and cupuaçu that I've never had before with everything having a pleasant wild grittiness to it.

But that dacquoise. Wow! Like butter.

The hazelnut dessert was paired with a 2006 Francis Tannahill "Passito" Oregon Gewürztraminer while the chocolate was paired with a darker sparkling rosé, probably a French bubbly left on the skins a bit longer, that wasn't on the list. Both gifts. Had them before and liked them enough.

Everything topped off with double espressos and a Grappa made from Barolo. See you in five years, Grappa. Still don't get you.

But Blackbird, oh Blackbird! See you very soon. Much sooner than the six months in between the last two visits.

And the window seat on a slow night made it that much better.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

#62 - Ham & Cheese On Syrian Bread With '08 Orballo Albariño


Sandwich Day Friday brought a nice surprise this week.

We've let our Albariño love wither on the vine over the last three years (Bah! Wine humor!).

More will be drunk this summer, I sure.

Food: Ham & cheese on Syrian bread with cherry tomatoes and arugula

Deli ham with herbed-up cream cheese on toasted Syrian bread topped with artichokes, cherry tomatoes, arugula with some olive oil and a little balsamic.

Light and fresh with a nice herbal kick. Bright with the ham, nice acid with the tomatoes, creamy/earthy depth with artichokes, a sort of herbes de Provence hint that played off the subtle toastiness of the Syrian bread with everything cooled off by the cream cheese and freshened up with the peppery arugula.

Was it a flatbread? Was it an open-faced sandwich? I tend to steer away from the flatbread description as it's a bit too trendy (well...a year ago). Sandwich Day is always a great day. Nothing can go wrong in the world when it's Sandwich Day.

Wine: 2008 Orballo Albariño ($15 - Binny's)

Grape: 100% Albariño
Region: Rías Baixas

Located in the far west of Spain on the coast, just north of the Portuguese border, Rías Baixas grows a bevy of local grapes for local consumption (including Torrontes, which I didn't know) but Albariño is the star export wine. Known as Alvarinho in Portugal for the bottling of Vinho Verdes in the Minho region just (and I mean just) over the border.

A nice wine. Maybe not as game-changingly good as a few sites say but we'll be buying more. A good wine to have around in the fridge to pop anytime.

Straight yellow in the glass with maybe a hint of green. Tons of lemon rind to start with a bit of creamy almond and maybe a little pineapple (some other fruit I couldn't figure out). Solid acidity, good balance, a little tinge of bubbly that danced on my tongue. Even a little depth as well. Just nice stuff.

Sure, Albariño falls in the Muscadet/Vermentino category for the most part as wines that border on the simple, but like those, if you find a good one that hits you just right, they can be utterly delicious, even showing a unique character and bring a surprise or two.

Pairing: 89 Refreshing and good

Every bite had all the food elements in it. With that, the wine cut right through the food and cleansed the palate. I caught a change with the wine as the lemon rind note turned to pure lemon juice, especially with a bigger bite of arugula.

Everything became better with a bit of balsamic and even that wee hint of creamy almond in the wine showed up on occasion with the food.

The open-faced sandwich had everything we needed to be happy. But something about having it with a wine that brought some pleasing lemon notes and a balanced acidity to play off the herbs in the cheese and arugula made it that much better.

It was just a sandwich and a decent little Albariño...but it felt like a full-fledged, sit-down, use a napkin sort of meal.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

#61 - Skirt Steak with Almond Potatoes & '06 Torres Celeste


Tonight was another case of the food outshining the wine.

But again, no real complaints.

We just wouldn't do this exact pairing again while both of us would eat the same exact food tomorrow. It was that good.

Food: Skirt steak with paprika butter and almond potatoes with arugula mixed with parsley and mint

If we had to only eat one sort of cuisine for the rest of our lives, it would be Spanish...hands-down.

Medium-rare skirt steak marinated in a purée of onions and olive oil. I took a bite after it rested for a few minutes and it was one of the best bites of beef I've had in a long time. Extremely juicy with a distinct onion overtone.

Paprika butter was whipped up and put on the side to drizzle over everything. Butter in a hot pan with smoked paprika, garlic, rosemary and a little lemon juice to brighten things up. The butter breaks, turning the entire mixture into a sort of a jus with a burnt orange color and an unctuous quality that stuck in my cheeks in a great way.

Almond potatoes that screamed Spanish were a mixture of almonds, garlic, saffron, sherry vinegar, bread, olive oil, parsley and black pepper. The result is like a hot potato salad with a clingy goop that coats everything. Great eats and with the paprika butter, it covers many of the critical flavors present in authentic Spanish food.

I could eat a huge bowl of arugula, parsley and mint with the paprika butter and remnants of the meat juice and be a full and happy person.

This meal was exactly what we freakin' love about Spanish-influenced fare.

Wine: 2006 Torres Celeste ($20 - Binny's)

Grape: 100% Tempranillo
Region: Ribera Del Duero
Wine Spectator vintage score: 90 (Fresh and firm with bright fruit and good balance)

Miguel Torres makes more than 50 different wines in three different countries. We've had probably ten or so of them, two since November - his Chilean Cabernet and the Viña Esmerelda. His Santa Digna line in Chile isn't too shabby and his Xarel.lo-based Nerola white from Catalonia is quite tasty as well.

From Torres wines, you get solid representations of the respective region, serving as a good starting point when you don't know anything about a region or style of wine, as his name on the label did for us.

The Torres Celeste is no exception.

Dark ruby in the glass. Muted nose. Cherry and espresso right away. Left it open for close to an hour before drinking. No decant. The fruit, a mix of blackberry and darker cherry, was muted on first sip and that continued throughout the meal. A hint of spice with pleasing tannins and nice balance. Medium body and medium finish.

Mostly, it had that sweet smoke characteristic of Ribera Del Duero. For $20 ($12 at Wine Library right now and used to sell in the mid-teens in Chicago), you get something very typical of Ribera. If you like it, you're probably going to love Riberas. If you hate it, you can probably move on.

Nothing spectacular but worth my $20. When it was around $16, it was a ridiculous bargain. I THINK we had the 2005 (better vintage - 95 WS) a couple years ago and liked it more. I seem to remember this being a bit larger.

And the bottle is just so pretty!

Pairing: 85 Fine enough but no surprises

A problem arises when you have great food and merely good wine and this is an example. Nothing plays off each other in new or intriguing ways. A Ribera wine should have been right in this meal's wheelhouse but there just wasn't enough chutzpah in this particular Ribera to step to the plate and take some hacks.

We were glad a solid wine was present. And the wine certainly qualified as a solid little wine. But other wines like a higher quality Ribera or the Heredia Cubillo (weird we haven't had this since November) would have been a better pairing.

An even more intriguing match might have been a Australian Shiraz/Albariño blend, the First Drop Two Percent. A bit more fruit with a sparkly roundness might have been wonderful.

Heck, even if it was just skirt steak, breaking out the big boys wouldn't be out of the question. The food was that flippin' delicious.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

#60 - Shrimp, Bacon & Black Bean Ravioli With A Northwest Wine Bent


Sort of an impromptu Northwest wine tasting for Tuesday.

Much cussing came from the kitchen for this meal as timing three items to be finished at the same time in our crackerbox of a kitchen is Freakin' Annoying.

Two items? Fine. Three? Breaking point and shouldn't be expected from any rational, breathing individual.

Food: Carrot and chipotle-marinated shrimp with black bean ravioli and a thai-lime cashew pesto and chard

So much for revisiting shrimp a few years from now. Maybe shrimp has been given short-shrift in the Ney house. I can see the appeal. Still more as a vehicle for a good sauce (or maybe needs a spectacular sauce) but there's a place for that, certainly more than I ever wanted to concede before the last few weeks (stupid seafood sausage - it's a gateway drug!).

Shrimp done in a carrot tropical juice blend and chipotle pepper reduction that was pretty hot when we tasted it by itself but mellowed out in the cooking process. In fact, it was what tied everything together in my book. Slightly overcooked shrimp. Initially, they were supposed to be wrapped in bacon but that went to hell as the bacon was of the thick-cut sort (from Czuchraj's Meats at West Side Market in Cleveland) and became soggy. Mrs. Ney crisped it up and put it on the side. Shrimp eaten with a piece of the crispy, smoky, meaty, charred bacon was quite delicious.

Black bean ravioli also from Ohio City Pasta at West Side Market in Cleveland were pretty tasty and, if they were available in town, would be consumed by the dozen. Nicely subtle spice. Thai-lime-basil cashews from Trader Joe's turned into a pesto sauce with sesame oil, extra virgin olive oil (ain't writin' EVOO), rice vinegar and cilantro then put over the ravioli.

The pesto worked well with the ravioli but oddly was better with the simply prepared wilted chard with a little onions.

Mrs. Ney gave a warning right before eating, saying, "We might be ordering a pizza."

Piffle. Turned into a quality meal. Tasted very Northwest with its jumble of sllightly disparate flavors that oddly work together. And that, rather accidentally, played right into the wine.

Wine: 2008 Chateau Ste. Michelle Eroica Riesling ($20 - Binny's), 2007 Gypsy Dancer Pinot Gris ($19 - Binny's) and 2007 Acabela Albariño ($17 - Online)

First off, the owner of Gypsy Dancer winery in Willamette Valley, Oregon (and founder of Archery Summit), Gary Andrus, passed away in January of last year.

Personally, I was just getting into his Gypsy Dancer Pinot noir line and both of us really liked the Pinot gris. I first had the Pinot noir on our first trip to Lola and, while it maybe wasn't worth the price tag, I always distinctly remember everything about it. Wonderfully big dark fruits with an underlying earth note but clean, minty finish. Huge and round.

I couldn't remember exactly if I liked the Pinot gris as I hadn't had it in probably a year. Upon first sip, I remembered. Good stuff. Big peach flavors here with a touch of apricot maybe and a solid acidity and quite graceful. Right now, it's dying with an almost brown tint showing up in the glass. The previously vibrant peach has turned to dried peaches. No syrupy quality and still quite elegant, maybe more elegant than before in many ways. Just when you think it's going to become too big or out of whack, it playfully pulls back. Still alive. It's too bad this is our last bottle.

We waffled back and forth on the best wine of the night between the Pinot gris and the Eroica Riesling. This Riesling is a 10-year collaboration between Washington's Chateau Ste. Michelle winery and Dr. Loosen, the revered German winemaker from the Mosel region with the vineyards in Washington state. Their 2000 select release received rave reviews (along with a huge price tag), including a 98 from Wine Spectator and Parker declaring that Eroica is the finest non-dessert Riesling produced in the U.S.. I first read about it only a week ago. Very faint green/yellow in the glass, almost watery. Done in the Kabinett style so the sugar wasn't expected to be pronounced. Off-dry but very tight. Reviews say this should blossom and I can see it. Right now, it's very restrained but elegant with a faint hint of pears and flowers and some sort of 'it' factor that demands a bit of respect.

We weren't blown away by it but buying one more and giving it a couple years might be a good idea. It's just so tough when Prager, a Riesling we know and love, has a decent amount of options sitting in the basically the same price range and show a more mineral quality and more interesting fruit. Nice change of Riesling pace, though. Very clean.

The Abacela Albariño from the Umpqua Valley in Southern Oregon fell short of expectations. It's done. This was a Mrs. Ney favorite right after release while I didn't have any feelings about Albariño until a bit later (read: Didn't know enough about them). The acid was gone (especially with food) and the fruit was simple (turned into watery lemonade with food).

Overall, it was nice to get back to Northwest whites. Something about them scream spring with their pure, clean and pretty fruit.

Pairing: 86 Worked just fine trying each one with a different bite

Both of us settled on the Riesling as the best pairing with the shrimp and bacon while the Pinot gris showed best with the ravioli and pesto. A mixed bag otherwise but still interesting to try all three with each flavor on the plate. The food turned out to be dating below its level of attractiveness with the wine (funny given the pizza salvo) but we were full, happy and pleasantly tipsy by the end.

No complaints at all.

#59 - Red-Spiced Wine Can Chicken & '06 Ponzi Pinot Noir


Initial thoughts were that we were trying to force-fit a pairing here.

Not that chicken and pinot noir is necessarily bad, just that it can feel a bit uninspired. We were craving both, though, so Mrs. Ney did everything she could to lubricate the pairing, resulting in some pretty inspired results.

Wine: Cinnamon and sumac rubbed wine can chicken with cherry-rosewater jam, mâche salad and baguette with butter and explorateur cheese

Mrs. Ney pinot noired up the chicken! Rubbing it with cinnamon and sumac made for a great skin and much more spicy-earthy quality than previous wine can chickens. But the star was the cherry-rosewater jam. Cherry jam mixed with rosewater and black pepper. It brought some acid and really let the wine open up.

Good eats and juicy chicken made better by the wine.

Wine: 2006 Ponzi Pinot Noir ($30 - Binny's)

What used to be a graceful, straightforward, fruity pinot noir that made us love Oregon pinot noir has started to become more complex. We had this one back in January and saw that it had started to become more dark and deep but had maybe lacked the leafy quality that made us love it.

It's back and, most likely, it was brought out by lubricating the food in the direction of the wine more than pistachio-crusted lamb could. Instead of relying on lamb itself to carry the day, Mrs. Ney played up many pinot noir-ish secondary flavors to ease things along, letting the wine sort of do its thing with a ton of support along the way.

Popped and poured. A touch darker and brownish in the glass than I remember. Alcohol right away but it blew out quickly. The previously immediate and pronounced straight cherry note is gone, giving way to a slightly more tart black cherry. Even before the chicken skin, cinnamon and a bit of spice box. The dry autumn leaf quality has changed to a wet bundle of leaves and earth quality. Sort of forest floor-ish without the mossy quality.

About 30 minutes in, a deep and dominating cola note showed up for me and hung around for about another 30 minutes. Great stuff. I thought about decanting but this made me glad I didn't. Some sort of pie filling note showed up as well that was not so much syrupy, like a traditional pie filling note is, but more like a faint viscosity mixed with fruit.

Still some gracefully fading acidity here that retained its balance to the last drop of the two hour meal. Could easily have drunk another bottle. The finish was medium to short, going away a tad quickly only to kick back up a few seconds later and show some nice heat while continuing to linger for longer than expected.

The 2006 continues to impress us and should drink well enough for another three years or so.

Pairing: 90 Nothing wrong with that

Great with the cherry-rosewater jam, made to pair with the rose petal note we found specifically in the Ponzi on previous occasions. We put it on the chicken and on the bread and it was consistently the star. The cinnamon and sumac on the chicken with the jam and the wine was some great stuff.

Not good with the mâche, making us a little too aware that we were eating greens, and not in a good way. Surprisingly not terrible with the funky Explorateur.

Mostly though, it was the constant changes and constant surprises that drew this pairing out of the uninspired realm and into a nice, unexpectedly good little meal.

It never quite got into the "great" realm. I can't say that Ponzi would ever get there. It's not a wine that ever approaches knock-your-socks-off spectacular. We like it because it's shocking how comfortable Ponzi is in its own skin, never aspiring to be something it's not, always delivering what it promises on the first sip, evolving gracefully and bordering on elegant. There's an integrity about it, I guess, and that's what keeps us coming back.

The meal without the wine would have been fine and good. With the wine, it was utterly delicious.

Monday, April 12, 2010

#58 - Spinach Pie & '08 Château de Loirère Muscadet


Today's lunch is an example of a meal that seemingly wasn't the best pairing but become infinitely better toward the end and even after.

It left that kind of impression, especially upon reflection.

Food: Trader Joe's spinach, feta and phyllo pie

We've talked about this Trader Joe's product before (in the link at the bottom). It's $4, filling on its own for lunch due to its butter content, isn't salty, isn't too feta-y and tastes utterly delicious.

Wine: 2008 Château de Loirère Muscadet Côtes de Grandlieu Sur Lie ($15 - Binny's)

Unlike most Muscadets we've had. The lemon notes are more in the background with more of an orange leafy note dominating. Salty but more like a light, consistent salinity. Also had a silkiness and purity that was unlike any muscadet we've had so far, bordering on minerally with something that resembled floral. Pretty good stuff and now has a place in our Muscadet world. WDC has it. Randolph Wine Cellars has it, IIRC. Widely available.

Côtes de Grandlieu as a sub-appellation only came into existence in 1996. Before that, the area was responsible for most of the basic AOC Muscadet simply labeled Muscadet on the market.

After this, we'll be buying this exact one again and keeping our eye out for other Côtes de Grandlieus. It made me immediately think an expanded Muscadet tasting that was eventually pared down might have been marginally (even if ever so marginally) worth it (and originally bought for that).

Pairing: 87 Given everything, entirely enjoyable

Not spectacular as a pairing by any means. But the greatness inherent in the $4 frozen spinach pie makes for an interesting wine choice if you're so inclined. For us, our love for the spinach pie forces a choice of wine already in the refrigerator from some other backup wine preparation that we never got to on some other night.

But interestingly, it would seem wrong to choose the crappiest one in the cooler to go with the pie. Choosing something a bit unique in the mid-dollar range seems right and good as the pie is forgiving so you can try a wine you might not have been too jazzed about but eventually want to get to someday.
The pie is pretty solid little lunch, infinitely open to tons of wine options for what it is and works great for us with Monday being our Friday-after-work type-thing. We're tired, gosh darn it.

Mostly, it was good meal with an interesting wine that didn't clash as a pairing.

Sometimes, that's completely welcome.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

#57 - Chicken Breasts, Sweet Pea Gnocchi & '06 Cassis White


Dinner after the drive back from Cleveland.

Bought some sweet pea gnocchi at West Side Market in Cleveland in the morning and built a dinner around them that night for dinner back home.

Food: Chicken breasts, sweet pea gnocchi and asparagus

Whole Foods chicken breasts stuffed with herbs, olive oil, mustard and hot sauce paste under the skin. Juicy chicken and nice heat made for a welcome change from their the red meat and salt fiesta we experienced in Cleveland.

The sweet pea gnocchi were delicious. Maybe not fluffy pillows but not dense and heavy in the least and certainly tasted handmade and fresh.

A mountain of asparagus was what are bodies were screaming for after the aforementioned bathing in meat and salt.

A good and needed meal.

Wine: 2006 Clos Ste. Magdeleine Cassis White ($15 - WDC)

This is the first time we've had a wine from Cassis, a wine region in Provence.

Most of the wine made in Cassis is white and rarely gets exported. Located right up against the Mediterranean, it's said that the wines take on a salty quality and paired great with seafood dishes.

We didn't do that.

A blend of rousanne, ugni blanc and clairette. Golden color in the glass. No nose. On the palate, a touch of herbs and honey. Muted fruit, some tropical notes. LOW acidity. Some flowers but not a hugely pronounced floral note. Delicate oil and salt finish.

The wine was four years old. I wonder if Cassis wines have a short shelf life. Didn't taste dead but it felt like the flavors were beginning to meld into an undistinguished jumble. Overall, we liked it well enough and might be open to trying another.

We just missed a wee bit more acid and little more nerve.

Might be great with scallops or shrimp, though.

Pairing: 84 Good, fine, nice enough

No complaints. The delicate salt-oil finish helped with the butter and the salt of the food.

More acid and fruit in the wine would have helped the chicken with the mustard and hot sauce, brightening up the party and making me want to reach for the wine after a bite more than I did.

But nothing was bad, nothing became weird and some notes helped.

Just needed more pop.

And maybe seafood.

#56 - Cleveland



Back from the Cleve.

Great weather, pretty good food, got away from home, nothing to complain about.

We have become a bit too familiar with Cleveland over the last year and a half, making it feel less like the getaway that we needed. Cheap two-day getaways are sometimes only just that. It was nice nonetheless.  

But it just isn't right to consume this much meat and salt in this short a timeframe. I loves me sum meat but geesh! I need freakin' vegetables now!

And when we do go somewhere, our impression of the place is starting to be influenced by the quality of wine there. Toronto was an example of that with its LCBO weirdness.

In Cleveland, I've never seen so much cabernet, Italian wine and bubbly. Take those out and not much in terms of depth was left in our visits to three of the better wine shops and perusing restaurant wine menus.

But we have a soft spot for Cleveland. Nicest people on the planet and great downtown area. It's nice to see a city in the Rust Belt making such efforts to reinvent itself and largely succeed.

Cleveland's a charming little place...plus Michael Symon now has 12,000 restaurants there.

Lola Bistro


The first stop now, always and our third visit to Lola in the last 18 months. It's that good.

The Menu:

Appetizers: Charcuterie Plate, Beef Cheek Pierogi, Veal Sweetbreads & Crispy Bone Marrow

The duck speck on the charcuterie plate might have been the best thinly-sliced meat product we've ever had, rivaling the painfully-thin herbed French salami at Avec. We've had the beef cheek pierogi all three times. This one was a bit of a congealed mess and lacked the dark, funky juiciness that made me crave it out of the blue on a random Tuesday in the months between visits.

The veal sweetbreads were cooked nicely, served on a great chickpea and mushroom bed, but it wasn't anything that made us reconsider sweetbreads. Both of us don't love them but I like them enough to try them once a year.

But I embarrassed myself a bit with the crispy bone marrow, moaning like a hog going to town on a slop bucket, but I didn't care. Four pieces of crisped-up bone marrow served in two-inch by one-inch strips and accompanied with Cyprus sea salt, lemon wedges, pickled shallots, sherried onions and parsley with crispy baguette strips. It was a mix-and match paradise. But with sea salt, lemon and parsley, it became something I'll crave for years. And it was one of those moments where I had strong feelings about even the type of salt used. The Cyprus sea salt, a kind I've never had, was perfect. I can only speculate, but something like gray sea salt probably wouldn't had been as good.

Entrées: Hanger Steak and Lamb

Lamb with cannellini beans, rapini, florina peppers and meyer lemon was a solid representation of a sort of wild, bucking plate Lola typically offers, even if this one was a bit familiar to us. Good. Prepared well.

The hanger steak with pickle sauce, chilies and lola fries with a fried egg on top (my addition - I was in the mood) was something we had the first time we went to the restaurant. Still spectacular. Hint of spice, silky sauce, nice low-level acid.

If we had a complaint about Lola, it would only be that the exact preparation of the entrées haven't really changed in the three times we've been there. Not a problem. It's what they do and have been wildly successful with it. Just that sometimes, a little playfulness and surprise would be welcome in the entrées. I understand why.

But that doesn't take away from the fact that we've always had a ridiculously good meal at Lola and have been treated so wonderfully by everyone that works there. Really. The best restaurant people we've ever encountered.

Wine

Solid pairings all around but not much that overwhelmed us.

2007 Flor de Pingus ($125)

Great price! $75 retail on the interwebs. And that speaks to how good Lola's wine menu really is. Plenty of restaurant wine bargains to be had. Called ahead to decant. Got two hours in a stylish but maybe too little surface area decanter. Needed more time and a wider base, I think.

Compared to the 2006, another one that was drunk too early but we didn't care, it was more closed but stood up to the food nicely. Had that sweet smoke and silky sweet tannins that we're coming to identify and love about the second and third bottlings from Pingus. Hints of vanilla in the background. Berry fruit a little muted but I think the 2007 may end up being a bit more smooth than the 2006. Less wildness with a bit less acid. Still dark and earthy but, in the end, I believe we'll end up liking the 2006 better. Who knows? Both aren't there yet.

Three glasses: 2008 Owen Roe Sharecropper Pinot Noir, 2007 Alvaro Palacios Finca Dofi Priorat & 2005 Chateau Rieussec Sauternes

The Owen Roe had a unexpected density to it that made me want to buy more of this one. At $21, it's a bargain. Wet earth first with underlying mix and red and black berries. Good stuff.

The Alvaro Palacios Finca Dofi may have been a mistake. It sold for $13 a glass but goes for upwards of $70 retail. Either way, it was forgettable. All the characteristics of a Priorat without the distinction, acid and wonderfully odd fruit that sometimes kick up with Priorats. Meh.

I want to know more about Sauternes but haven't the wallet to get the good ones. The one was pleasant enough. Sweet but not cloying. Nice light honey and apricot. Smooth finish but a bit short. Decent Sauternes take at least 10 years to be ready and that's probably why. Don't know this one at all.

Great meal. Interesting wines. Lola always was the goods.


Bar Cento

Bar Cento is a solid little bar food restaurant west of downtown Cleveland, near West Side Market (a right and proper farmer's market that's been there forever), specializing in beer from around the world while having a decent (mostly Italian) wine list to boot.

Open only two years, it felt like a college town place that's been there for at least 15. Well-worn in a good way. Hopleaf would be a fair comparison with 200 less beers, a better wine list and the addition of pizzas.

Sort of upscale-ish bar food, nothing revelatory, but we left full and happy.

Food: Salumi with mozzarella di bufala, pommes frites with dipping sauces (the plural of that got us), ramp pizza (it's the season) and bianca with arugula pizza.

Mostly, it's worth mentioning for one wine: 2008 Orin Swift Saldo Zinfandel

We've had and loved this one before but it's been difficult to find in Chicago the last year or so.

Herbal with typical, slightly jammy Zinfandel fruit but not in an over-the-top way. Predominantly blackberry with good balance and a charred meat quality. Hint of tobacco with a pepper finish. Not 100% Zinfandel. A little syrah and petite syrah is mixed in. The syrah really comes through, adding a hint of licorice. Usually in the mid-$20 range, it's a wine we wish were still in town. Went great with the fries. Served too warm (the restaurant itself has an open format to the outside and it was 80 degrees that night) but good stuff anyway.

The 2008 Gini Soave Classico was certainly serviceable. Soave is kinda like Muscadet. They're never going to blow us out of the water with their nuance but they can be damn tasty. We've had better Soave but it served its purpose admirably.

Cleveland, we love ye. But we might be taking a break for a couple of years.

That's a lot of salt and meat.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

#55 - Lamb in Mole, Sweet Potatoes & '06 Concha y Toro Merlot


A quick one before a quick sojourn to the Cleve to do some eating.

It's clean-out-the-freezer week in the Ney house.

Food: Lamb with mole, sweet potatoes and mâche and parsley salad

Lamb from the freezer. Mole from the freezer.

Quality medium-rare on the lamb and the mole (from a duck and Quinta do Vale Meão meal last month) still popped.

A simple meal but still tasty for what it was.

Mole can be a bit tricky when pairing it with wine. Really depends on the type of mole you're working with. What comes through first? Chocolate? Chile? Earthy? Is it smooth or biting? How earthy is it? How much back-end heat does it have? It's all a bit of a fine line since the wine must first stand up to the mole.

Wine: 2006 Concha y Toro Merlot Marqués de Casa Concha ($16 - WDC?)

Both of us thought it could have been a cheaper syrah on first taste.

Earth first with touches of bitter chocolate, not the freshest, deepest plum but serviceable, certainly some tobacco and green vegetable notes on occasion. Some heat.

A decent QPR wine but nothing outstanding by itself. In the mid-teens, it's about what you'd expect. Best thing going for it was that nothing came off strange or disjointed and the dominating earth notes went well with the food.

Pairing: 85 Probably one of the better food pairings for the quality of the wine

The wine wasn't outstanding. The food wasn't outstanding. It's freezer week.

But both were solid enough. And together it worked, making the entire experience better than if each were consumed by themselves.

Individual notes would be pointless (though it was pretty great with the mâche). This was the sort of catalog wine that's nice to have around for meals such as this one - above cheap crap wine, from a good producer (we used to drank the Casillero del Diablo ALOT once upon a time), doesn't get weird with food and doesn't cost so much that you feel like you should drink it with a critical eye.

Just enough distinction to think, "Not too shabby for $16."

Thursday, April 1, 2010

#54 - Chicken Piccata, Mustardized Potatoes & Asparagus With An '06 Jurançon Sec


As a parting shot before retiring from the exhausting business of helping old ladies decide between one $5 bottle of wine over another, one of our favorite wine people at Wine Discount Center recommended a wine from a appellation I didn't even know existed.

Wine Discount Center is easily one of the best wine shops in the city, maybe the best for its sheer variety, frequent turnover and three people (down to two) that work there who have been unbelievably helpful and taught us a lot over the years.

The times I've been asked about wine and how to navigate the seemingly insurmountable amount of information you have to know in order to understand even the basics and avoid drinking bad wine, Wine Discount Center has always been the example. Find a shop employed with good people that share your taste and pick their brain to death.

WDC has also become akin to going to the toy store as a 12 year-old, sifting through the Star Wars action figures to find the Gamorrean Guard or Nien Nunb.

Spending an off-day going to different wine shops carries with it the same feeling as my mom running errands to Paul's, K-mart and Target and I get to do a complete sweep of every Star Wars section. I'm 12 again.

But I digress.

Food: Chicken piccata with mustardized potato and asparagus

What was supposed to be a rather thrown-together meal, cleaning out the fridge before vacation, turned into something pretty great.

It's just chicken piccata. But it didn't end up that way.

Some of that had to do with the sauce. Instead of reducing a half-cup of chicken broth down to a quarter-cup, Mrs. Ney reduced a cup and a half down to a quarter-cup, making for an intense, darker, earthy sauce coupled with capers, kalamata olives, butter and a good amount of lemon juice.

It resulted in a more concentrated and delicious version of chicken piccata.

Even though we just had mustard asparagus the day before, the asparagus, too, had to be used up along with potatoes. Things were bordering on 'old' in the fridge and cupboard. So, mustard-drenched grilled asparagus with a sort of mustard dry potato salad made sense. We worried about it being mustard and mustard with a side of mustard but it wasn't. Turned out great, especially with the wine.

On that...

Wine: 2006 Clos Uroulat Cuvée Marie Jurançon Sec ($23 - WDC)

I stupidly assumed that Jurançon was some sub-appellation of Jura near Burgundy and based on chardonnay. It's not. It's located in southwest France near the Pyrenees, is known more for its sweet wines based primarily on the same Gros Manseng grape as the dry offerings and produces intense wines on the darker end of the white spectrum showing pineapple, melon and banana flavors.

This was a dry version, 90% Gros Manseng, 10% Corbu.

All honey and cat pee on the nose and on the palate right out of the bottle. Tight and funky. We were told to decant this, something we've never done with a white. Gave it a 2 1/2 hour decant on ice and it opened up beautifully.

Very concentrated flavors of honey, banana, green pepper (!), pine needles, Pine-Sol, smoked pineapple, maybe nutmeg? and a sort of brighter oil. Good viscous body with a smooth finish. Rich.

Never had anything like it. As a very basic description, it has small similarities to a Heredia white. Only in the same, very broad realm but serves as a starting point to describing it.

And given its concentration and verve, it should be age-worthy.

Completely unique to our world and we'll be buying more. Great stuff.

Pairing: 91 - Made a very good meal something pretty original and great in our world with the wine

The food was a darker version of what we expected.

But the wine brought it to a place populated with 12,000 different flavors, changing all the time. Something new with each bite and something to ponder and figure out each time.

Piccata is Italian but this tasted French Country, something that seemed to fit with a wine and region we've never had.

Tasted right and just.

And delicious.