#190 - Hanger Steak Adobada, Potatoes & Arugula With '08 Firehouse Red

Hey, look, I spelled hanger steak right.  I'm growing (shakes head).

I didn't expect a $15, short-windowed wine would need an hour and a half in the decanter.

A half-hour wasn't nearly enough, leaving us with a wine that, for over half of the meal, offered little outside of new oak and tannin.  We could feel that it desperately wanted to get there, wanted to come out and play but once it did, much of the food on the plate was already consumed.

Zinfandel was the call with this meal.  Or the similarly-priced Schild Estate GMS.

We hadn't had hanger steak in five months and this one was one of the best we've had and it very much wanted a better pairing to help it take off.

On a baseball note, the Angels haven't scored a run in 21 innings.  Runs are important. They help you win games.  In the immortal words of my former baseball coach, "I think if we score more runs than the other team, we might have a chance to win this one."

Just a thought.

Food:  Adobo-marinated hanger steak, potatoes with Michael Symon Worcestershire mayo, arugula and chimichurri 

A recipe from The Week magazine that sounds delicious and it was.  The only alteration was the use of specific chilies, going with ancho, casabel and mulato.  Not spicy hot, just tons of depth all over the place.  Chilies dominated but it was the secondary flavors that lingered so well.  Cloves and allspice jumped out with everything coming together to create a taste somewhat foreign yet deliciously familiar.  A perfect medium-rare sear.  Five months since the last hanger steak meal?  Really?

#189 - Garlic Shrimp, Ethiopian Hummus & Syrian Bread With '07 Brut Cava

But having wrote what I just wrote about Avec, we (and by 'we,' I mean Mrs. Ney) currently have (has) taken the Mediterranean angle and tweaked it to more of a Greek/North African/Middle Eastern bent.

It's a bit of what we currently love and last night fell right into that vein, maybe more than any previous meal.

Garlic shrimp isn't particularly finicky with wine as long as you follow certain guidelines.  A crispness, substantial enough body and especially a nice minerality is vital.  Albariño typically has all those traits and we've loved the combination in the past.  Lively and spritely is the order of the day, something to contrast the oily, garlicky shrimp keeps things balanced.  This recipe of shrimp has a certain smoky richness to it and it needs something with a certain energetic or effervescent quality to work.

We returned to a similar pairing we liked a year ago that showed why bubbles are lovely with food.

Food:  Spanish-style garlic shrimp, Ethiopian hummus, Syrian bread and mint snap peas

Same Cook's Illustrated garlic shrimp recipe from last June.  One head of fresh garlic, one head of black (fermented) garlic, dried thai chilies, bay leaves and extra virgin olive oil cooked up together with the shrimp and served at the table in the cooking pan. Great smoky, deep oil in the pan that demands bread for dipping, hence the Syrian, sesame seed-inflected bread.  This is great stuff, easy to make and can be whipped up for about $20 total.  We wanted shrimp and got shrimp in a form we like most.

Black beans found in the freezer puréed with cooked carrots, extra virgin olive oil, tahini and "berbere" spice blend from the Middle Eastern Market on Foster.  Deliciously weird, tasting almost like chocolate and cinnamon were involved but never fully dark and heavy-ish.  Dark-er but light in taste.  A blend of  chile peppers, garlic, ginger, dried basil, korarima, rue, white and black pepper, and fenugreek, the traditional blend used in Ethiopian cuisine and played wonderfully with the sesame seed bread.

#187 - Chicken, Potatoes & White Barbecue Sauce With '08 Confluence

Yesterday, I bemoaned the fact that a good meal with a good wine became less so because of the pairing, hurting a bit more with the $70 price tag that came with it.

Last night's meal stands diametrically opposed to that - a good meal with an okay wine became so much more because of the pairing, and came with the added benefit of costing a grand total of about $32.

I can get behind that.

White barbecue sauce will be used again but the rest of the recipe was pretty standard, a wine that most likely won't be bought again but had some nice moments by itself, but together, as a combination, it was a flavor I'll remember for awhile.

Food makes wine better and vice versa.  Last night's meal was a great example of that.

Food:  Chicken, pesto potatoes and arugula with white barbecue sauce

A F&W recipe, Big Bob Gibson's Chicken.  A grilling recipe adapted to a 500º oven under a brick.  Great chicken (simple salt, pepper, olive oil), moist chicken, chicken where the skin stayed on the meat and crisped up beautifully.  Pesto potatoes made from leftover mystery pesto in the freezer and apple cider vinegar.  Delicious.  The hit of apple cider vinegar made them taste fresh, outdoorsy and played right into the BBQ-ness of the meal.

#188 - Avec Restaurant

It's odd to realize I've never done an Avec post.

A favorite of ours, some of that has to do with the fact that it was closed for a healthy chunk of the life of this blog due to a fire.  It also has to do with never particularly loving the pairings we've had at the restaurant.

And the fact that our dear love for the place had waned a bit over the last two years, which itself came about for a couple of reasons:

One, the seasonal changes to the menu seemed to become more like tweaks than real changes.  Since, for the longest time, we skipped new places for the safety and deliciousness of Avec, lately it seemed to make for a ripe time to get a bit more adventurous in the city until the internet menu sparked a "gotta have that" feel to it.

Two, and most importantly, Avec was how we had come to eat at home with very similar flavors, regional feels and preparations.  Throw on the fact that we had drunk our way through the wines on the list that interested us in the dozen and a half times we had been there, that the wine list for years itself seemingly only went through minor tweaks instead of real changes and that while I'm intrigued by an unfined, unfiltered, old vines Syrah from the Coteaux du Languedoc, I'm just not interested in paying $150 for it, we always felt we could get the flavors at home with the added bonus of playing in the more general range of our peculiar wine tastes at a third of the cost.

But Avec is probably the best $150-200 meal in the city.  It's a place where you can throw caution to the wind, order everything you want and not leave feeling the wallet pain.  You get a real feel for the place with what's currently tripping chef Koren Grieveson's trigger in a setting that can only make you feel comfortable and relaxed.  When you eat there, it feels like a weekend.

#186 - Gnocchi, Ramps & Speck With '06 Capiaux Widdoes Vineyard

When ordering takeout from a restaurant that has two locations, check to make sure you ordered from the one you intended to drive to.

That's this week's nugget of wisdom.

Nugget #2 - Many times, Food & Wine recipes taste like exactly that - a recipe that photographs well and that's pretty much it.  A tomato, pickled walnut and blue cheese salad for lunch (a Richard Blais recipe from this month's mag) left one impression - it was pretty.

Nugget #3 - If some recipes call for an entire stick of butter, you probably don't need that much.  But if you use less, give the dish a little time to cool down in order to let the amount of butter used to work its magic, get all congealed and become all saucy.  Reserve judgment.

Because once last night's meal cooled down a bit, we came to love gnocchi, ramps and speck.

Food:  Gnocchi, ramps and La Quercia speck with lemon thyme

Here's the recipe, reprinted in last week's edition of The Week, with a few tweaks:  deglazed the pan with Muscadet, added lemon thyme and used 87.5% less butter than the recipe called for, allowing us to eat only a pat of butter per serving instead of 1/3 of a stick(!).

#185 - Stuffed Pepper Extravaganza, Plantains & Ramps With Two Wines

And radishes and corn and pea tendrils and cilantro-lime vinaigrette and a "romesco sauce"and a little chorizo.

We've wanted less meat lately and "a little chorizo" was the sum of all the meat present.

Last night's meal turned into a garden party with the plate looking like a jumble of every possible vegetable in the house and out in the world.

And it was delicious.

Served with two nice enough wines.  Should have stuck with one because I'm feeling it today.

Food:  Stuffed poblano and red Italian frying peppers, plantain mash and ramps with a radish, corn and pea tendril salad

Poblano and red Italian frying peppers stuffed with black beans, potato, Spanish chorizo and leftover Dunbarton blue cheese cheddar from Monday.  Could have roasted longer in the oven as the shells still had some bite to them but good stuff nonetheless.  Tasted balanced with each bite offering a nice hit of spice with the beans serving as the guts and the cheese and chorizo bringing some depth.  Each topped with a version of 'romesco sauce' made from the leftover kumatoes Provençal (from Monday as well) thrown into a blender with almonds and olive oil.

#184 - TK Chicken, Kumatoes Provençal & Green Beans With '08 Turkey Flat Rosé

It's dangerous to know a little instead of a lot about HTML code.  Makes you think you can fix things or create an end-around when it's pretty obvious you can't.

So while you currently can't read these first few sentences because "TinyPic has been moved or deleted," I'll figure this out soon.  Or blow it up.  Either/or.

Quick one today.

Solid Monday night meal made better by the return of a favorite rosé, gone for about two years but inexplicably found on the shelves at Whole Foods.  And a 2008 to boot, which is just oddly odd in the oddest sort of odd way.

Food:  TK chicken, kumatoes Provençal, green beans, Dunbarton blue cheese cheddar, bread and butter 

Standard TK chicken.  Delicious with the difference this time being an almost buttery skin but the chicken became an afterthought with the compilation of great accoutrements.

Kumatoes Provençal.  A take.  Equal volumes bread crumbs, parsley and Bari giardiniera with a healthy portion of anchovies, then baked.  Deep achovy flavor, spectacular level of heat.

Green beans sautéed in the chicken pan with honey, red wine vinegar and thyme.  Felt needed and tasted delicious.  With the kumatoes Provençal and the green beans, there was enough range of flavor, depth and heartiness to feel like a meal in itself.  We gravitated toward these two elements because of that, leaving the chicken mostly as filler.  With the Tuscan bread, KerryGold butter and a beautiful Dunbarton blue cheese cheddar from Wisconsin, a cheddar that both of us thought might be the best cheddar we've ever had, this meal sans chicken could have been enough.

Good food that tasted like a place - distinct flavors that came together to feel like it was intentional, leaving an impression after just a few bites that a glowing satisfaction after the meal was guaranteed.

Wine:  2008 Turkey Flat Rosé ($19 - Whole Foods)

This has been missing for a couple years in Chicago.  A prized and loved rosé in Australia and that's probably why.  It's Mrs. Ney's favorite rosé and it might be mine as well.


Grenache (63%), Shiraz (18%), Cabernet Sauvignon (13%), Dolcetto (6%).

Though a 2008, this one's chugging along quite nicely.  Tasted a touch settled but still a wonderfully wild quality to it, tasting of the land more than polished and pretty.  A Grenache-y gnarly-ness to it with tannins still popping and a gift basket of red fruits jumping up and down with a darker edge to round it out.  Rose petal notes color the frame with a depth one doesn't see in rosés much and a great bite to it.

On various occasions, each grape separated itself out to reveal a singularity to each that was entirely welcome and delicious.

Pairing:  88  A perfect example of the wine staying right in line with the boldness of the food

Very little enhancement but we were both struck with how the structure and body of the wine played right into and stayed right with how big the food flavors were.  This one kept up with no trouble whatsoever.

At times, it seemed like the Grenache singled itself out with the kumatoes Provençal, like it pushed a button and said the Grenache needs to step up here with the heat from the giardiniera.  Same thing seemed to happen with the chicken and the Cabernet's curranty notes perking up.  Identical with the Shiraz and the green beans with a more dark fruit-juicy note.

Full and happy with the added bonus of having a wine that offers so much in, dare I say, a fun package.

#183 - Sake-Soaked Wagyu Beef & Sweet Potato Fries With '05 Yalumba HP Shiraz-Viognier

We eat meat, love meat and crave meat.

But this year, we've eaten much less meat, more lean meat and mostly mini versions of meat with each meal.

Under the auspices of 'you can have too much of a good thing,' we started to experience the fact that bigger portions of meat, even six ounces of meat, on the plate detracts from the after-burn from and basking in the enjoyment of a good meal.

We've been wanting our veggies more, our greens more and a well-prepared starch more with a smaller portion of meat at the center of the meal to complement instead of bullying such things.

We've always eaten well-balanced meals but being from the Midwest, we haven't completely shed the upbringing of meat and meat with a side of meat.

Eight ounces of wagyu beef, a slab of dead animal that tasted like a delicious grilled stick of butter, will force anyone to reconsider the peculiar details of an upbringing.  Sort of like eating the Meat Monster.

Mrs. Ney was prudent and stopped at four ounces of meat-butter consumption.  I did not.

Food:  Sake-soy soaked wagyu beef, sweet potato fries with red thai curry mayo and watercress

The Fish Guy on Elston wagyu beef ($36 for 16 oz.) cooked rare.  Not cheap but it's wagyu.  Oddly though, it left us wanting a bit.  This was the first time we cooked up wagyu at home.  Had it and loved it in various forms out in the world but never at home.  Dunked in salt, then sake, then soy sauce, then finished with a crusting of szechuan peppercorns; from a Saveur recipe and the same recipe used in the superlative #143 Asian beef filet with 2007 Quinta do Vale Meão in December.  Quality stuff but begged the question:  If you're going to buy one of the best cuts of meat on the planet, should you go whole-hog and buy the best cut of one of the best cut of meat on the planet?  Both of us weren't driving down to Fox & Obel and probably drop $20 more to get the same amount but we ended up wondering if he should have.  If done again, that would feel right and proper.

Beautiful taste, great marbling but we both felt like eating eight ounces of anything that tastes like a grilled stick of butter needs in its most basic form to be much...less.  Three to four ounces would have been prudent and even necessary.  Something about taking that first bite and seeing the task before you with so much more meat on the plate forces the meat to loudly star.  Stop halfway through?  Again, I grew up in the Midwest in a big family.  You clean your plate.  Still haven't shed some of that upbringing.

But the Asian preparation of the wagyu was delicious stuff and it's versatile with so many other cuts of beef.  Sake and soy come through beautifully, imparting a deep but bright and lifting quality that lingers nicely with a popping and bright szechuan peppercorn hit backing it up.

That played right into the sweet potato fries and Thai red curry mayo for dipping.  We like our mayo and this one sits in the top five.  With the meat prep and sweet potato-mayo-Asian goodness, we were happy.

Uplands Cress watercress bag from Jewel, roots and all in the bag, stemmed and then wilted in the meat pan.  A better watercress by every measure.  Planty and raw with a punch of something that tastes like the white bits in potting soil in the best possible way.  No other watercress will most likely ever hit the plate in this house.

Tasty food galore.  Asian-y, delicious and played right into one of our favorite wines.  But four ounces of beef filet offering something less of a "LOOK AT ME, I'M WAGYU!" might have been better.  We needed more low-key beefy goodness to allow every element of the meal to alternately take the stage and belch out to the rafters.  We needed a meat that would shut up and let others show their acting chops.

It was like watching Nicolas Cage chewing scenery with his bloated Nic Cage-ness at every possible turn.

Wine:  2005 Yalumba Hand-Picked Shiraz Viognier ($30 - Winerz)

Probably the fourth bottle we've had of this vintage.  Used to be available in town but sadly has gone away.

Biggest impression of the night was how little it's budged since we first had it.  Still chugging along, longer life here and cheap, cheap, cheap for what you get.  More dark cherry and wild berry with an underlying darker fruit note and a small creamy edge but plenty of dark, meaty fruit skin.  The fruit since our last experience seems to have became a bit more tight and focused.  Some nice grip.

Secondary flavors of herby sage, a touch of pencil and even something similar to sweet paprika with mature, paced transitions leading to a finish that kept going.  Viognier still lending a juicy acid feel to it, lifting it out of the ordinary Australian shiraz world and into something more pretty and friendly.

Followed a great arc throughout the meal, becoming more open and delicious halfway through and ending on an irony sanguine note that was utterly delicious.  Not fruit bomby, this is graceful stuff.

Again, shocked how little age this one has shown over the years.  Falls into the 2003 Pirramimma world for us - a wine that we'd buy a case of just to watch it die a fun death.      

Pairing:  89  Enough basic goodness but the world, like the meal, needs less of Nic Cage being Nic Cage

If we cooked up four ounces of beef filet with the same preparation, this one could have been great.

Good stuff paired the wagyu with the Asian preparation playing its part more than the meat.  Szechuan peppercorns continue to shine with Australian shiraz for us.

Nice with the sweet potato fries and Thai red curry dip and strangely good at times with the watercress, especially as the wine hit its later, irony stage.

We liked this meal but expected more, though.

And as Mrs. Ney says, "People that bitch about Australian fruits bombs can kiss my butt!"

Good ones are Great Stuff in our world.

#182 - Lamb, Spicy Carrot Purée & Onion/Tomato Ragout With '07 Antica Terra

Five days, my butt!

Two weeks ago, we opened a 2004 Joseph Swan Syrah and two weeks ago minus one second, we dismissed it as too cough syrupy.

Using a Wine Preserva wine preservation disk - little plastic round stoppers made for restaurants and their wine-by-the-glass programs - we shoved one down the bottle and tossed it above our sink to let it sit there, staring at me as I did dishes and wonder why the heck I haven't dumped it yet every night.

The disks are made for keeping the wine from oxidizing for 'up to five days.'

It's been two weeks and it was delicious.  Better than when we first had it by miles showing much more distinctive and typical syrah qualities of concentrated dark fruit, herbs, smoke, tobacco and leather.  Where were you two weeks ago, my friend?

With last night's meal and the other times we've had spicy carrot purée, it should probably be listed first in the description of the meal as it's been the leading act in two recent great meals (well, except for the fregola - consider it 1a in that one...well...1aa because the Hobbs and fregola pwned [look at me, I'm all internet-speaky] the night but you got my drift).  It's that good.

Food:  Spicy carrot purée, lamb and tomato/onion ragout with pita bread

North African Feast.  Well-made large flavors all over the place.  Medium-rare lamb marinated in onion, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, cinnamon and cumin - pan-seared and finished in 425° oven.  Melty, tasty lamb that actually took a back seat to everything else, serving as an accompaniment more than starring.

Because the star was the spicy carrot purée (did I mention that?).  1.5 pounds carrots, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, harissa, roasted garlic and cumin seeds.  So creamy, perfectly spiced and just bang-my-head-on-the-coffee-table fantastic.  Tasted like Love.  With a bite of lamb slathered in the purée, it tasted like flavors that people have been eating for centuries.  Ancient, delicious and un-improvable.  Pita bread for dipping with the leftovers.

More ancient and delicious flavors existed in the ragout. Pearl onions (frozen), can of Muir Glen roasted tomatoes, dried cherries, orange juice, garlic, ginger, orange zest, coriander, cumin, cinnamon stick, lemon thyme and bay leaves with parsley over the top.  The orange elements in the dish became vital to the overall enjoyment of the meal, adding a brighter citrus acid to go along with the tomatoes and mingling with the lamb and purée beautifully, making everything feel complete.  Something about the ginger as well.  Made the ragout seem to want the purée to mix with it with the spice level in the ragout tasting like someone has been tinkering with it for years and finally nailed it.

Mint leaves drizzled over all the food.

North African flavors driven entirely by spice abounded with very little (bad) fat and small portions of meat.  All for $20 and ended up tasting like it was exactly the meal we wanted at that specific time.

The wine didn't really have a chance but developed quite well over the course of the meal.

Wine:  2007 Antica Terra Pinot Noir ($43 - WDC)

No decant, just opened 15 minutes before the meal.  Could have used it.  Should have, actually.

Nose of a basket of darker berries smelled right next to a grass fire.  Closed and uninteresting at first but deeper and directed by an unidentifiable spice angle.  The great thing about good pinot noir comes from its quick development.  Good ones change so quickly, sometimes with segues and transitions so quick that the wine is completely different from one sip to the next with very little connection.  This was one of those.

The spice turned from undistinguished to prevalent darker cinnamon, allspice and clove on a dime, mixing with a very creamy cherry, a touch of blackberry and a muddy earth and sticks river bank element.  Very long finish that lingered nicely with a fine balance overall.  Smoother tannins already but plenty there to think this one has many years ahead of it.  Medium to fuller-bodied with a focused dark fruit concentration at its core mixing with some gnarly herb bush notes.  Jumped back and forth often, sometimes coming off bigger and darker with other times going more light, almost milky and peppy.

At $43, both of us felt that a bottle a vintage was our limit but good stuff nonetheless.  Made by Maggie Harrison, an assistant winemaker at Sine Qua Non for almost ten years so the pedigree is certainly there.

Pairing:  90  Food won but the wine did a good job of trying to keep up

After a bite of lamb with spicy carrot purée, asking for a wine to match and enhance its deliciousness almost seemed greedy.

The pairing's moderate success came in watching the wine transform into something delicious when there were few early expectations and the fact that much of the wine's specific spices played in the regional ballpark of the North African flavors on the plate.

Nice stuff, wouldn't do the pairing again.  We wanted more in the pairing as this wine begs for more simply prepared food where the wine can play more of a role in the combination.

Has the guts and is delicious stuff but needs to be a bigger fish in a smaller, less explosive food pond.

But with food this good, the fact that the wine never struggled to keep up made for something good enough in our world.

#181 - Tuna, Cannellini Beans, Arugula & Tomatoes With Two Non-Italian Whites

That's what the meal needed.

An Italian white.

But nope.  I had to try to get creative and see what else would work.

Thought process:  Cannellini beans in cassoulet has worked well in the past with rosé.  Tuna niçoise, the same.  Too miserable of a day for rosé.  We like rosé any time of the year except on days that straddle the time between damp and freakin' damp and miserable.

Basil, lemon juice and shallots were in play.  Albariño.  Rocky rocks would have been great.  Minerals always good.  Oddly didn't trip our trigger at the time.  

Sancerre, New Zealand or California sauvignon blanc is the typical recommendation for dishes such as this.  Just had a Sancerre and I just didn't want it.  A California one would probably have been lovely.

Prager riesling is a bit of a force-fit for the meal but we had a bit of a jones.  I liked the Croatian Malvasia three weeks ago with monkfish and veggies and just bought two more.  I didn't heed my own notes.  "Light package."  This meal needed more white wine guts, a wine made for the warmer weather food on the plate, a wine with more mouth-watering acid to take everything to a better place.

That didn't happen but we ended up fine.  The food was so good we ended up not caring.

Food:  Tuna and cannellini beans with arugula, grape tomatoes and Seeduction bread

Whole Foods tuna cooked rare.  Simple salt and pepper seasoning.  Beautiful slab of tuna for $13 taking what we learned from previous tuna meals and buying a smaller piece.  Sometimes, too much tuna is TOO MUCH TUNA!

Built on a bed of arugula and basil with a pile of cannellini beans in the center cooked from dry beans (key) and tuna on top.  Grape tomatoes sprinkled around and a vinaigrette of extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, white balsamic vinegar, oregano, parsley, shallot and mustard drizzled over everything.

Cannellini beans were the star, tasting at times like the essence peppered mashed potatoes without the mush.

But the surprise came in the acid level.  Acid galore in the preparation but the acid was so well integrated it never overtook one bite.  Little, proper spikes everywhere.

Whole Foods Seeduction bread - best bread in the world - to munch on.

A fresh and clean meal with substance.  In other words, beautifully balanced food that felt needed after mac and cheese pizza.

Wine:  2009 Matosevic Alba Malvazjia Istarska ($15 - WDC) & 2007 Prager Riesling Steinriegl Federspiel ($33 - Binny's)

Three weeks ago, we adored the Matosevic Alba Croatian Malvasia.  Pretty herbs and citrus with a herb water core all wrapped in a light package.  This time, not so much.  A baby aspirin and gauze quality dominated while overall coming off a bit clunky.  Tasted like we were drinking a glass of wine that had been left open in a hospital supply closet for too long.  Not terrible, just not interesting in the least.  Some bottle variation here.

While the Prager should have been saved, we had no real attachment to it after reading the early reports on this one.  What resulted was that this one could probably have used a decant as it became infinitely more interesting as it warmed and opened up an hour into the meal.  Started out with a boring blend of limestone, lime and choppy acid but settled into something more friendly.  Became more graceful and subdued showing a transition from lime to a more delicate lemon and pear fruit core with the minerals becoming more fine and a floral note popping up.  Light, almost pretty sugar but the alcohol separated itself out throughout the meal, becoming less so as it opened up and settled down but still there.  Almost dry, more off-dry.  Overall though, it felt like a wine that went through a brutal workout to get to the bottle.  Never elegant, which is something Prager excels at.  Nice, just never pretty.  I'm still trying to figure out if federspiel is even my bag.  My limited experience so far says the bigger smaragd style is more my speed.

But it worked best with the food.

Pairing:  84  No clashy but no matchy

We were fine.  Italian white was the way to go, though.  Should have picked up a Greco when I thought of it.  A Friulano or even a Soave would probably have worked beautifully as well.  Or jumping into a California sauvignon blanc might have been at least interesting.

Became one of those pairings though that emphasized what it was not.  No clash.  The wine satisfied the basic definition of being there and being welcome.

Nothing exciting but the food made up for it in spades.

Simple, delicious, well-prepared food can do that.

After waiting tables in Italian restaurants for nine (gasp!) years, I had given up on Italian food as something I wanted to eat.  Got sick of the whole concept of the style after serving it so much.  Too familiar and wanted flavors not associated with work.  That's changed dramatically in the last year.

If you told me I'd be craving Italian food with Italian wine a year ago, I'd have thought you were a crazy person.  Last night again reaffirmed its newfound goodness, even when both elements weren't present.

Or should I say, because both elements weren't present.

#180 - Bacchus In Milwaukee With 2000 Pingus

Back in December, I ruminated about Quinta Do Vale Meão having a customer for life.

Every vintage until we die (Gary Vaynerchuk over at Daily Grape just wet his pants over the same 2007, as he should.  It's silly delicious).

It's our Lafite-Rothschild, our Ausone, our Pingus. When one's cracked, it's a holiday in our house.

But it's also our Lafite-Rothschild, our Ausone, our Pingus for another obvious reason.  We can't nearly afford such wines (the lowest US price on wine-searcher for a 2005 Lafite-Rothschild is $1400 - a bottle of that would be the third most expensive thing we own!).

But when we saw a 2000 Pingus on the wine list at Bacchus in Milwaukee for $410, a bottle that regularly sells for $800 retail, we pointedly felt like it would be a supremely dumb decision NOT to buy it.

So we jumped in the car for a one-day mini-vacation to Milwaukee for the opportunity to drink a wine our pocketbooks normally wouldn't allow and drank the best bargain we've found since the $35 wall-to-wall bookshelves and $5 coffee table.

We were treated to a delicious meal, beautiful wine and just fantastic service in a beautiful space tucked right next to Lake Michigan just an hour and a half away.

It was one of those moments when you decide to do something that is, by definition, frivolous (like drinking a $410 bottle of wine) and immediately and at every moment thereafter, feel like you made a great choice.

Food:  Bacchus

Contemporary American, seasonally-driven.  Bacchus along with French-focused Lake Park Bistro more north, a kitchen also run by head chef Adam Siegel (James Beard Best Chef Midwest 2008), are the flagships in the Barolotta mini-empire in greater Milwaukee area, it seems.

Like most good American cuisine (which is somewhat rare), the menu draws from world techniques using local and seasonal products to create something else, something of a distinctive flavor that can't be replicated anywhere else because it's so specifically driven by the products locally available, the chef's particular tastes and what's currently exciting him.  Sounds roll-your-eyes food writerly, but you know it when you eat it.  Bacchus works.  It's French technique with a huge nod to coastal-contrasted-with-mountain Mediterranean flavors (the Italian Mare e Monti in full effect).  Seems like Siegel is playing around with the beauty of bitter greens and root veggies for this season's menu (as it's the season).  Slightly tweaked Italian classics abound.  Spanish ingredients play a role.  An underlying Greek dalliance seemed present, especially with some of the Italian dishes, sort of an Italian face upfront with a Greek nana pulling the strings.  In short, you can taste what the chef is currently messing around with and that's a good thing.  Tastes purposeful, honest and playful.

We ate very well.

Menu:

Appetizers:

Red Beets – oranges, crispy prosciutto, arugula, Marcona almonds, Hidden Springs cheese
Foie Gras – rhubarb, French toast, bacon, quail egg, maple syrup

Pasta (half-portions):

Seafood Ravioli – white wine butter, braised artichokes, oregano
Tagliatelle – Maine lobster, tomato confit, lobster cream

Entrées:

Roasted Duck Breast – Spring vegetable and duck confit ragout, roasted garlic
Strauss Free Raised Veal Chop – baby potato salad, mustard vinaigrette, veal jus
  
Dessert:

Molten Chocolate Hazelnut Cake – Caramelized Hazelnuts and Coffee Ice Cream
Raspberry Millefeuille – with Crispy Pastry, Raspberry Sorbet and Vanilla Cream

Delicious.  Again.  We ate very well.


Wine:

Started with two glasses of NV La Marca Prosecco.

A bottle of 2009 Pascal Jolivet Sancerre to drink with the first half of the meal.

A glass of Sauternes (forgot name) to pair with the foie gras.

Two glasses of Adelsheim Vin de Glace with the raspberry millfeuille

Two glasses of Heitz Cellars Ink Grade Port

It was a lot of wine spread over about 3 1/2 hours.  Standard Prosecco, a good enough Sancerre that missed a bit on offering that singular mineral, rocky core that makes good Sancerre good Sancerre.  I now get the Sauternes and foie gras thing.  Good stuff, even if the fruit straddled the line of being a touch flat.  Both dessert wines WILL be bought soon.  The Adelsheim so delicate and the Heitz so smooth and open.

But we came for the 2000 Dominio de Pingus ($410)

The GM and wine director at Bacchus, Katie, couldn't have been more wonderful.  The Pingus was an auction buy for the restaurant and, I'm sure, not fully knowing the storage conditions and provenance of the original buyer and the wine's trip made for the lower price tag.  Kudos to the restaurant for pricing it while taking such things into consideration and marking it up based entirely on the price they got it for instead of what they could get away with.  We know tons of places that wouldn't.

We went back and forth over when to decant and settled on an hour before the reservation to make sure we didn't over-decant (better not enough than too much).  2000 was a 'drink or hold' in Wine Spectator's view for Ribera so there was a realistic chance this one could have been pretty much ready to go with just an hour or so.  We were wrong but not by much.  It really hit its stride three hours into the original decant and after a double decant halfway through the meal.

A nose of everything that makes Ribera Del Duero the best nose on the planet.  Big and gnarly with grilled meats with tasty sweet char all over the place.  Sweet smoke and roasting coffee followed by a raspberry-blueberry-blackberry compote/cassis-y type business that followed right through to the palate (probably leaned more red fruity overall, which surprised me a bit), with an additional something that was like grilling rosemary, smell, taste and all.  

Oak spikes on occasion, especially about two hours into the original decant that went in and out.  And it was at that two-hour mark that it felt like the wine really wanted to break through.  Wound up, itching and ready to go.  Felt like it wanted to punch through from the mid-palate to the finish to create the seamlessness that brought everything together but couldn't get there.  The fine-grained tannins were holding it back a bit.  It finally did so at the three-hour mark, right in time for the entrées.  They were out of lamb for the night, which would have been right in the wine's wheelhouse, but we got a side of olive tapenade for the night's salmon special that did some great things with the wine, knocking all the soldiers right into line.  It sung.  Beautiful stuff.

Mostly, we just wanted to know what a full-fledged Pingus tasted like.  It's our first and at that price, it was worth it.

So worth it that the overall impression left on us was if a similar bargain on this exact vintage of Pingus came up, we'd certainly think deeply about buying.  It was everything we love about Ribera Del Duero and still has a long life ahead.  Tasted like a baseball player that's no longer considered young but can surprisingly leg out a triple with ease and could play well into his 40s.  Maturing but not old in the least.

And served us well with the tasty veal chop and duck breast.  While a bite of duck and olive tapenade together, by itself, was on the odd side, but taken with the wine it became delicious wine and food heaven.  Similar result with the veal and tapenade but served best with a big bite of char on the veal.

Yes.  Great decision.  No question.  We Loved it.


Two quickies:

1.  Mac & cheese pizza sounds like a food abomination.  It's not at Pizza Shuttle in Milwaukee's Brady Street area.  Ten in the morning on our way out of town and we couldn't have wanted anything else more.  Came off...strangely light.  And stupid good.  Yeah, we followed a Pingus with mac & cheese pizza.  That's how we roll.

2.  Skirt steak tacos (grilled tortillas, guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, lettuce, onion, hot sauce) was the quick, easy and utterly wonderful dinner after the drive home.  Eaten with 2009 Orin Swift Abstract (Grenache-forward with petite syrah and syrah included, mostly from Sonoma).  We don't love it, didn't love it in the past.  All plummy and black raspberry-ish with a barnyard poop pile on a bale of hay quality.  If tasted blind, its California-ness would be the dominant characteristic that shines through.  A touch syrupy but you can really taste the efforts to not make it so.  The 2009 was the first year they've made it and while we don't love it, I'd be inclined to give it another go in future years just to see where it goes, especially with how it performed with the skirt steak tacos, becoming more friendly and willing to take a backseat to the food instead of announcing its presence so loudly.  Mingled quite well.  Not running out to buy more 2009s but fine and good stuff when we didn't expect much.

#179 - Short Ribs, Mashed Potatoes & Spinach With Two California Syrahs

(excuse me...kak...kaaaaak...glurp...kak-kak-kak)

Sorry.

Still getting the richness and cream out of my throat.

(KAAAAAAK!)


I think that's it.

Actually, this was food we both grew up on.  Richer food, low in acid, made more rich due to the fact that it was low in acid.  Just kinda sits there.

We liked this food overall.  Wasn't nearly as bad as the kaks portray.  We just don't EVER want it again and we won't.

Seriously, who eats like this all the time?

Food:  Short ribs, mashed parsnip-potatoes and spinach with Aleppo pepper

Good short ribs.  Savory and succulent without being sticky and fatty.  Probably the best short ribs I've had but I don't really enjoy short ribs because they're usually sticky and fatty.  A recipe from Around My French Table (page 254), a cookbook we've enjoyed, a cookbook that gave us the Best Tuna Ever but we're starting to think that we're going to be left wanting with some of its recipes.  This is the second time we've said, "Needs more acid."

Good meat, though.  Gene's Sausage Shop short ribs, braised in Trader Joe's California Syrah and cheap (that's kind) port.  Parsley, thyme, rosemary, star anise, bay leaves, carrots, onions, garlic, tomato paste, orange zest and so on.  Great balance and a flavor that stuck in our cheeks then gracefully went on its way.

Good parsnip-potato mash, made for heavy cream and butter.  Simple but good in its simplicity.  Creamy.

But putting the two together made for a gut-buster, food that made its presence known at every stage down to our stomachs and stayed around til last call.  And not the good kind of last-call reveler.  The kind that just won't shut the hell up.

Both of us thought the spinach, made with Aleppo pepper, nutmeg and balsamic vinegar, was the best part of the meal, mainly because it offered something close to an acid cleanse we were so desiring.

After stepping back, this was a meal with three elements made well, from a thoughtful recipe that tasted utterly French, but also a meal, when combined, made us want a nap.

Plus, when much of the meal was made beforehand, Mrs. Ney was in the kitchen entirely too long.  It would make anybody crankypants.

The wines made efforts and at times both were decent stuff, but like the meal, we don't feel a need to revisit such things.

Wine:  2005 Graff Family Consensus ($20 - FWB) & 2004 Joseph Swan Syrah Trenton Estate ($37 - Red & White)

The Consensus (90% syrah, 8% mourvèdre, 2% viognier) is a bit fruit bomby but right smack dab in the middle of transitioning to something more settled.  Sitting right on the fence.  Blueberry and raspberry everywhere but the dominating characteristic was one of cheap cocoa powder.  Some undistinguished herb play but good (at least interesting) segues overall with layers and movements from front to mid to finish.  Lowish in acid and some fading tannin making itself known, making the wine approach but never reach an impression of a boring flatness.  A little perk-up at the end (probably from the viognier) always kept it lively enough to enjoy it for exactly what it was - a bit of a middle-aged fruit bomb aging well enough.

The Joseph Swan was cracked for comparison and because we were both absolutely sick of looking at it.  More acid here, brighter, lighter but dominated by a cherry-blueberry cough syrup quality at its core that wasn't completely unwelcome but somewhat personality-free.  Missed the window, I think.  Seemed like at one time, this one was maybe quite elegant and balanced.  Still drinkable but not much in the realm of 'wanted'.  Not disjointed but certainly echoes of being on its way.

Pairing:  90 for the Consensus strictly as a pairing, 80 for the Joseph Swan

But that doesn't mean we'd ever want this meal again.  Good back-and-forth play with the Consensus.  The cheap cocoa powder quality turned into something a bit more, like an orange zest Ghirardelli chocolate bar playing with the orange zest in the short rib recipe.  Tasty stuff and generally remained quite welcome with most of the food.  Right and proper, if not exactly what we love.

The Joseph Swan's only saving grace was what it did with the Aleppo pepper in the spinach, becoming something almost close to a higher acid, fresh, bright, cleansing and satisfying presence.  Just never got all the way there.

The Consensus won the pairing night.  We almost went with a Lirac and probably should.  But then again, this wasn't food we enjoy.

Just as I was reaching the point of complete openness to California wines, two bottles with that California-ness reared their heads.  We like the possibility and what many offer.  We just haven't gotten to the point of ever craving it.  Still always seems like an experiment.  So many of them tend to blow their wad right away like a friend that can't ever keep a secret.  It just kills them that they're sitting on juicy info and have to tell someone now!  

Much like this much fat, heavy cream and butter, the word 'subtle' never enters the equation.

And that's never a good thing.      

#178 - Lamb, Turkish Beany Goodness & Rice With An '05 Cab Franc

Things learned or reaffirmed last night:

1.  Find a good meat purveyor.  That's understood.  But also find a second-favorite meat purveyor when your favorite feels a wee bit too expensive for the budget or the meal (1a. - and find a cheapo you can trust for those really tight weeks).

2.  Keep trying grapes you don't love.  That's understood.  But when you pick a bottle containing said grape, pick a good one and spend a couple of bucks extra.  Otherwise, it's like watching baseball for the first time and checking out the Astros.  That's not good baseball.

3.  Recipes with names you can't pronounce are usually pretty good stuff.  If the name lasted this long and wasn't translated into something like Turkish Beany Surprise, there's probably a good reason for it.

4.  Watching Red Sox Nation go into full-blown apocalypse mode this early in the season has been a joy to watch.

Food:  Lamb, zeytinyagli barbunya, basmati rice and asparagus

Medium-rare lamb, tasty lamb, not a lot of lamb but we were fine with the amount, simple lamb full of enough lamb goodness.  From Gene's Sausage Shop in Lincoln Square.  $20 for both plates as opposed to $30-35 from meat purveyor numero uno, Paulina Meat Market, also on Lincoln.

24-hour marinade of puréed onion, cinnamon and olive oil for the meat, cast-iron seared and finished in a 450-degree oven.  Onions came through, cinnamon not so much but perked up with the wine.  Good meat but the side dish made the meal.

Zeytinyagli Barbunya, a Turkish bean dish from The New Book Of Middle Eastern Food (page 327).  Borlotti beans soaked overnight and mixed with onions, garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, sugar, Aleppo pepper, dill and parsley, minus the tomato paste to keep it lighter.  It's a dish similar to ful, the Egyptian fava bean dish but without the lemon juice.  Extraordinarily subtle flavors with everything taken down a notch from what we expected.  Light, but once the tongue quickly adjusted, we relished in its low-key goodness.  Like most good recipes, every ingredient could be tasted, all surrounded by a thin, delicious liquid that brought everything in line.  This is great stuff, bringing the entire meal down in intensity, tasting fresh, light but never making us feel like we were going to have to hit the snacks two hour later.

Basmati rice and asparagus to round out the meal.

Ate well.  Could have gone in tons of directions with the wine.  A lighter syrah or mouvèdre blend might have beefed up the meal.  A Rioja might have mingled well with its tobacco, cedar and cherry notes though after eating, I tend to think it might have clashed.

We went with a grape we don't love.  Cabernet franc.

Wine:  2005 Charles Joguet Les Verennes du Grand Clos Chinon ($35 - Red & White)


100% cabernet franc.  Two hour decant and it needed it.  Extremely tart right out of the bottle.

Settled into something quite pretty.  The main reason we don't love cab franc is the wet leaves.  Check that.  Not wet leaves.  Drenched old wet leaves, like when you have to dig out the eaves in the spring from all the detritus from the previous fall.  That's been our limited experience with 100% cab franc.

But as usual, find a good one and the goodness makes it good.  Lots of raspberries in different forms throughout with a small hit of cherry and even a tiny bit of concentrated blueberry underneath.  Secondary flavors of tobacco and some sort of dark spice.  Fine structure offering layers galore all wrapped in a medium body with some of the prettiest, understated acid I've had in a long while.  Tannins played its right and proper role in lifting and mixing all the flavors.

Never turned ugly or odd at any turn with the food, always taking cues from the food and doing good things.  Which brings me to the defining flavor in the wine.  With the asparagus especially, something was sitting in its core that we couldn't put our finger on.  Something slightly creamy with spice and acid.  Then Mrs. Ney nailed it.  It tasted like great homemade ketchup.  

The wet leaves were there but never dominated.  No real green herbs hits or twigginess though, which I expected from a cab franc.  Just a pretty wine drinking well now, could easily be held for years and from a very good vintage taken from a small parcel of ungrafted vines of Franc de Pied instead of grafting on phylloxera-resistant American rootstock (that's really old-school).

It took me awhile to get there but I'll be buying more.  Flickinger is currently selling it for $30.

Pairing:  89  The wine was in lockstep with the weight and grace of the food

Came down to what didn't happen.  Nothing ever reared an even slightly ugly head.

The cinnamon in the meat rub and the Aleppo pepper in the zeytinyagli barbunya shot right to the wine's core, perking up the wine's edge and lifted and intensified the fruit in a great way.

And the ketchup with the asparagus made for the most surprising and funny note of the night.

We could have gone in a ton of directions with this meal and each would have been different and most likely good stuff.  Even an oily, herby and lemony white would have been entirely interesting with only a small tweak or two with the food.  It was that light considering it was lamb.

But in the end, the impression left on me was that the Les Verennes Du Grand Clos served so well that it probably would have landed in the upper tier of any pairing.

So...success.  And delicious.

#177 - Greek Chicken Quarters, Celery Root Skordaliá & Celery Mostarda With Two Whites

Not the best chicken.

It was 50 cents a quarter so you get what you get.

But mediocre chicken or not, what happened with everything around it become a meal that made us happy and full.

And celery mostarda could elevate roadkill in my book.

Food:  Greek chicken quarters, celery root skordaliá & celery mostarda with pita for dipping

Greek chicken quarters gussied up Greeky with an onion, parsley and lemon marinade, cooked under a brick. Came off boring and a bit fatty.  Meh.  But the marinade got into the skin nicely was what helped with the rest of the meal.

Combining the skin with the celery root skordaliá made for something delicious, an onion, lemon, celery root explosion in the mouth.  We began our love for skordaliá only about a year ago - that Greek garlic, almond, potato goodness - but the celery root version in place of the potatoes might be better.  Lighter, smoother, even a bit more complex and ingratiating to more subtle accompaniments on the plate.  Served under the chicken and in a big bowl for pita dipping.  Great stuff.

But the biggest joy of the meal came from the celery mostarda/chutney.  Celery stalks, sugar, sea salt and lemon juice with added mustard seeds and Aleppo pepper.  Magic.  Transparent, tiny dices of celery with a dark orange/green hue with a pleasing, just right citrus note and wee hit of heat.  Tasted necessary.  Tasted like the element that turned the tide of the meal after wrestling with the mediocre chicken.

Arugula, parsley, dill and tomato salad to finish.

Boring chicken, yes.  But in the end, the celery root skordaliá and the celery mostarda/chutney business, two food-type thingys we've never had, made for a meal that became entirely satisfying and two things that made it pretty memorable.

It's always good to eat food you'll remember two months from now.  That's why Food is Good.

Wine:  2009 Raventos i Blanc Perfum de vi Blanc ($20 - Red & White) & 2008 Orballo Albariño ($20 - WDC)

The last of our 2009 Perfum de vi Blanc.  The 2010s are out.  Drank in an attempt to mimic a pairing at Alinea four years ago, a shellfish, gooseberry and celery ice concoction in the shell.  Served with the 2004 then.  The 2009 settled down since we last had it with tapas last May.  The marshmallow-mandarin orange-fruit salad quality has turned into a light and graceful mandarin orange juice with a small touch of cream, finishing with more orange blossom.  The huge rose petal note from before has turned into a light white flower bunch in a great way.  Drier than I remember.  On the downslope but I enjoyed this incarnation more than I did a year ago.  More settled and thoughtful, like a middle-aged person that's rejected the stupidity that comes with a mid-life crisis with enough acid still hanging around.

The 2008 Orballo came off a little more boring two years out from release.  The sharp acid is fading and that's leaving the wine more jumbled and flat.  Still a big lemon note and good rocks but the acid isn't lifting it as well as before.  No more mouth-watering, rocky core. Still pleasant enough with that signature Orballo goodness that will also have a place in our heart but the 2009s and 2010s would be welcome at this point.

Pairing:  87  Mixed bag but some wonderful highlights to go with a few lowlights

The Orballo saved itself with its great mingling among the skordaliá and pita.  Tasted familiar and delicious.  The minerality perked up.  With everything else, the tiredness of the wine showed its face.

The Perfum de vi Blanc won the night, playing along with mostly everything, offering more, different citrus to go another with the celery mostarda/chutney business spread all over the plate.  Tasting like if anything was missing in terms of flavor in the food was filled more than adequately by what was offered by the Perfum de vi Blanc.  And that's one of the key elements anybody wants from a pairing.

It may be settling down but we reached for the Perfum de vi Blanc much more because it's still so good.

#176 - Monkfish & Veggie Explosion With Two Whites

I recently had an amazingly bland risotto primavera dish at an Italian restaurant on Chicago's west side, which reminded me why, growing up, purely vegetarian dishes in the small town world of the Midwest never got ordered.

The vegetables came off 'healthy'.

I choked that primavera down, regretting my order upon first sight and really regretting it after the first bite.

Bland, bland, bland.  No care was taken to elevate the veggies at all.  It really was just risotto with chopped-up vegetables tossed in at the finish.

Last night's meal was not one of those.

We can thank you, Tom Colicchio and your recipe for making a heaping plateful of veggies taste wanted, needed and utterly delicious.

Food:  Monkfish and vegetable explosion with Mexican pearl municion pasta

About 10 ounces of monkish from Fish Guy on Elston.  Great shop and a grand total of $7 for very fresh monkfish.  Five ounces each, slathered in a blend of one head of watercress, two tablespoons of mayo and lemon juice, baked in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Meaty fish and mingled well with the watercress sauce.  Tasted like spring along with the rest of the plate.

Colicchio's Food & Wine recipe:  Sauteé leeks, fennel, celery, onion, carrots, celery, garlic.  Add artichoke crowns, Muscadet, water:  reduce. Add fava beans, asparagus:  warm.  Add diced tomatoes, parsley, chives, mint.  Low and slow.  Bringing the veggies up slow allowed every flavor to infuse into each other without becoming muddled, taking care to make sure the tomatoes were added last to finish instead of having the acid in the tomatoes change the dish completely into a broken down mush.

Great mixture of textures.  Went back and forth between fresh/herby and deep/sweaty.  Ate every bit of a very heavy plate.  Served over Mexican pasta of pearl municion.  Looks like baby Israeli couscous, tastes like a darker version of that in mini-pearl form with more resistance (and 49 cents a bag at Harvestime).

A meal that a pesco-vegetarian would swoon over and a meal that we completely loved.

A meal though that probably needed a sauvignon blanc, but we ended up just fine with a white that reminded us of Portugal in every way and another white that will be bought very soon.

Wine:  2009 Niepoort Tiara Branco ($29 - Binny's) & 2009 Matosevic Alba Malvazjia Istarska ($14 - WDC)

The Tiara, a wine we had at DOC in the Douro Valley and wanted to revisit, is a blend of the Portuguese white grapes Codega, Rabigato, Donzelinho, Viosinho, Cercial and others.  Tough to describe the allure of Portuguese whites.  Certainly full of wet rocks.  Green apple and citrus notes abound.  But it's how they combine in a unique way that draws us in, like every flavor is jammed together and the winemaker says, "Here.  I like it and don't care if you don't."  Sharp, mouthwatering acidity that signals it as a perfect hot summer wine.  Great grip with an edge of lime and rust in a great way.  A lot of grace and finesse here though, with an overall impression of lightness, even a bit steely.  Tastes intentional and refined.  $29 is a bit much, reminding me of the Do Ferreiro, a very good wine that I've thought about a lot since having it but left me wanting in terms of the price tag.  In the end, both of us thought we'd buy it again after much hemming and hawing.

The Alba, a Croatian Malvasia, took no hemming and hawing.  It will be bought very soon.  Herbs and citrus galore but all wrapped in a light package.  A three-act play here.  Blind, it could have been a lighter Királyudvar.  Touch of light honey and light cream around a citrus and apricot core but at the mid-palate it turns into shockingly refreshing herb-tinged water (rosemary?) with all of the fruit fading away, only to return in a more subtle form on the finish.  Refreshing as all get-out and interesting as hell.  Great stuff and a bottle that could be sucked down without food to great effect.

Pairing:  85  Nothing great, should have gone with a sauvignon blanc, but we were fine

No great enhancement, really.  The Alba seemed to work the best of the two bottles with its hints of herbs mingling nicely with the herbs on the plate, but the Tiara played well with the monkfish, tasting like a flashback to DOC.

Mostly, it came down to harkening back to Portugal in white form for the first time since our trip and trying a Croatian Malvasia for the first time.

Great food, interesting wine.

If nothing goes off the rails in terms of pairing, sometimes that's enough.

#175 - Flatiron, Portuguese Potato Skins & Rapini With '04 Schild

Happy New Year!

Opening Day christens the beginning on my year as I settle in for roughly 500 hours of following a softball team in the LA Angels along with five fantasy teams, down from 13 just three years ago.

So that's progress.

More progress happened last night.  Well, not so much progress, more of a reminder that wine is BFFs with food and many times, it absolutely needs it.

Cracking a bottle of red just to drink has become foreign to us.  The same is true with most whites outside of some bubbly, an occasional Muscadet and whatever is hanging around in the fridge and probably should have been drunk a week ago (I can report that Retsina, after a three weeks in the fridge, crossed the Rubicon into Pine-Sol so much more than it was pop-and-fresh).

Last night's Schild Estate Shiraz demanded food, needed food, died without it and reaffirmed our commitment to the Truth:  Who cracks a bottle of big red wine and just drinks it?

Especially for anything over $25, it seems to us it's like buying a fancy car and never taking it out of the garage.

Food:  Flatiron steak, Portuguese potato skins and rapini

Paulina Meat Market flatiron rubbed with salt, brown sugar, smoked paprika, roasted garlic, cinnamon and wee bit of coffee, cooked medium-rare.  Just came through the back door at Paulina.  Wasn't even out in the case yet and we could taste it.  Fresh meat ("heh-heh," - B&B back this summer).  And kinda tasted like bologna.  Or mortadella.  Something about it came off like blended, seasoned, packed meat product in a way we utterly enjoyed.  Still retained its beefiness, something we somewhat missed lately as we try to consume less red meat things, but there was a hint of fancy luncheon meat to it in a great way.  Also had one of those rubs where every ingredient could all be alternately tasted.

Portuguese potato skins, from The New Portuguese Table, was a recipe Mrs. Ney has been staring at for months.  A bundle of fresh herbs (parsley, mint, rosemary, marjoram) are dumped into a pot of oil and very slowly heated up, infusing the oil with the herby essence.  Herbs are strained out, the oil cooled down and the brought back up to deep fry the potato skins.  More, fresh herbs are deep-fried in the leftover oil, crushed and sprinkled generously over the top.  Mayo for dipping.  Didn't fully crisp up like Mrs. Ney wanted but freakin' great stuff here and will be tried again at a future time.  Earthy was the aim of the night to contrast with the expected fruit bomb nature of the wine and the potato skins played their part with the skins cut and herbed up to emphasize such things.

Rapini blanched, blended with Aleppo pepper and finished in the meat sear pan to get the leftover rub and meat char into the greens.  I don't know what and when it happened but rapini has become something actually wanted in my world.  Bitterness toned down beautifully by the good blanching.  Had a bit of a popcorn edge to it.

A pretty great meal.  Tasted like we got back to something.  Red meat, of course but something more as well.  We're sort of the conventional opposite of most people when it comes to seasonal cravings.  Big meals that go with big red wine are craved in the summer and light fare with spice accents to go with interesting whites/bubbly in the dead of winter.

Felt like we kicked off that season last night.  Much like Opening Day, let the games begin.

Wine:  2004 Schild Estate Shiraz Barossa Valley ($30 - 20/20)

Didn't decant.  More people on the interwebs had better results lately not doing so.  Grilled herbs and meat and virtually no fruit initially on the nose.

Bloody as all get-out to start, iron and salt blowing up but mingling nicely with a sort of melted down black cherry Lifesaver quality with underlying blackberry jam.  Concentrated but not thick.  A meal in the glass nonetheless, though, with salty and sweet vacillating back and forth.  Loved, loved, loved its sanguine nature that stayed throughout the entire meal.  Never big, long enough finish with toned-down acid that played its part and an occasional and proper vanilla hit from the oak that popped up at proper times.

This one got huge press when it was released for its impressive body and concentration for a fraction of the price of similar Barossa offerings at a time when Australian shiraz was just ending its peak (and bloated) popularity.  We didn't especially love the 2005 Schild Estate Shiraz last April.  Liked it, didn't love it.  This one, the 2004, garnered superlative ratings from multiple critics and it showed.  I was never particularly fond of the couple of Schilds we had (2003, 2005).  This was different.  Great stuff.

But alone, by itself, without food, it was a disjointed mess with oak and tannin everywhere and raspy, uninteresting fruit.  Outside of some Rhônes we've had, I don't think I can recall a wine that desperately needed food more than this one.

Pairing:  94  Delicious!  Every element of food and wine goodness showed up

We angled for a contrast between the earthy notes all over the plate and the presumed fruitiness in the wine.  What we got were two elements that stayed in the same realm of dark and delicious with only underlying notes of contrast.

The bloody notes in the wine picked up the smoked paprika, cinnamon and salt beautifully on the meat rub and took a bite-and-drink to great places.  The brown sugar served as a great bridge to the subdued jammy notes in the wine.  The herby potato skins with deep-fried herbs brought out some very welcome bitterness in the wine, turning it into more of a well-rounded number that tasted of an entire bundle of fruit, branches and all, grilled over a enormous flame; wild and bucking like a big burly wine can and sometimes should be.

Let the summer of big meals with big reds...begin!

#174 - Taxim

Last Monday, after postponing it for a disappointing visit to Coco Pazzo two weeks ago, we finally made it to Taxim (1558 N. Milwaukee), a delicious Greek spot in Wicker Park.

Beautiful space, Byzantine was a description I saw and that nails it.  Pillows line long benches straddling the length of the each wall of the narrowish restaurant that never feels crowded leading back to the kitchen.  High ceilings that lead to odd lighting at first but we quickly warmed up to it.  Dark wood, copper accents and comforting, relaxed, even quiet with a welcoming low-key feel.

But it's really about the food.

It's not country Greek, more urban Greek with refined, modern touches and the use of local ingredients to achieve the effect.

From the website:  Farmers:  Iron Creek, Gunthorp Farms, Mint Creek, Nichols Farm & Orchard, Heritage and Green Acres Farms. All of our breads, pastry, phyllo, charcuterie, preserves and yogurt are housemade.

No skimping here.  No shortcuts.  Well-sourced and it tastes like it with every bite.

#173 - Scallops & Tuna With Three Wines

Mrs. Ney threw down the gauntlet a few months ago and demanded that the world "Beat THAT!" when we had the best tuna preparation we've ever had.

Last night's meal, a dinner with a co-worker, actually came close.

Same Moroccan-inflected tuna. It didn't beat the previous one but this meal's joy came from everything else we had with it, how all of it complimented each other and how it built to the tuna.

In the end, the tuna became just one of three elements that we'll be revisiting again and soon.

Pre-meal opening: Spicy carrot purée with Seeduction bread, Kerrygold butter and rose petal jam

Wine: NV René Geoffroy Rosé de Saignée Champagne ($60 - WDC)

Same bread and accoutrements as the last tuna meal. Best bread ever. All raw dark grains without being too raw. Creamy, rich butter and floral-as-all-get-out jam.

But the love came from the Moroccan-spiced carrot purée. Cumin, ginger, cinnamon and harissa blended into puréed carrots. Tasted creamy without any cream added. Silky and more delicious with each subsequent bite. We fell in love quickly using the Seeduction bread to dip.

The René Geoffroy is 100% pinot noir (disgorged July, 2010) somewhat disappointed. Only the second rosé de saignée we've had with the Christmas Larmandier-Bernier being the first. That might have been some of the problem. Having only two and the first being that, a comparison inevitably came into play. Nice, small, fine bubbles. Light roses and strawberries notes dominated with a solid red berry core supporting everything but it came off a touch flat, missing an acid lift. Didn't wow us with its depth and concentration like the Larmandier-Bernier did.

And with the Love in the Bowl that was the carrot purée, it became an afterthought.

Appetizer: Scallops with a pea purée and pancetta

Wine: NV Gruet Brut Rosé ($15 - Binny's)

The dinner guest has a partner that doesn't eat seafood of any kind so we seafooded him up. Two scallops, seared beautifully with a nice touch of sweetness to them that sang with the subtle, spring-like greenness of the pea purée. Great hit of dark, charred meatiness from the pancetta without being too smoky. If someone ever asked what was the most balanced bite of food I've had recently, this might be it. Came off purposeful, thoughtful and nuanced following the carrot purée as the meal felt like it was building properly. More of a darker carrot purée lifted up and cleansed by an intense freshness with the pancetta serving as a bridge.

The Gruet Brut Rosé, compared with the Geoffroy, showed more liveliness with a crisp and bright core. Not a technically better wine, tasting more like a very pretty $15 brut rosé, but more wanted, more playful. Cherry and citrus notes with a bit of cream dancing around and propped up by some great acid. More bright notes that played into the scallop preparation more effectively than the Geoffroy and the carrot purée did.

Entrée: Moroccan-inflected tuna with blood oranges and black olives with an arugula and pomegranate salad

Wine: 2008 Ponzi Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

Some differences with the January tuna (recipe there). This one had less of a pink and Szechuan peppercorn presence due to the fact that we didn't know the level of peppercorn tolerance our guest had. Still utterly present, just not at the level we like. Medium-rare tuna that Mrs. Ney thought could have come up to room temperature a little more before searing, but nonetheless mimicked almost identically what happened in January. Hits of peppercorn, cardamom and coriander mingling beautifully with the blood oranges and black olives. The joy comes in the fact that one bite brings 20 different tastes that vacillate between dark and bright, deep and light while all of it coming off entirely clean. Still the best tuna ever.

Served, like in January, with the 2008 Ponzi Pinot Noir. Started to get a little bit of palate fatigue but still picked up similar notes as last time. Not quite fully open for business yet but still had that signature Ponzi floral, leaves and black tea notes backed up by cherry and plum fruit. Forest floor moss and tobacco interlaced throughout with the acid allowed everything to come through in a pure way. Even pleasantly gnarly at times.

Pause-worthy again with the tuna. A match made in heaven. It was a new food and wine pairing place for us last time and brought all of the same joy this time.

Finished the meal with dessert brought by our guest. Poached pears done in apple cider, orange and lemon zest with mascarpone and orange zest on the side. Served with Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur, a spirit that's been sitting in the pantry that we forgot about. Delicious stuff and a great finish.

Pairing: 94 The food was the focus but the wine, especially finishing with the Ponzi, played a welcome role

In fact, when it came to the food and wine goodness, it was mostly the Ponzi with the tuna.

We liked what the Gruet offered, bringing a different, more red-fruit freshness to the scallops, but as a technical pairing, it wasn't the enhancement we necessarily wanted. More nice to have around than great match.

And the Geoffroy just didn't stand a chance with the loveliness that was the carrot purée.

Nothing new in terms of a pairing presented itself but that Ponzi and tuna, oh that Ponzi and tuna. Always, everyday and often. It saved the food and wine night.

In the end, with this much completeness and complimentary flavors in the food, we didn't really care that the first two wine selections didn't live up.

We ate too well to care.

#172 - Greek Flank Steak & Skordaliá With '07 Boutari Xinomavro

Happy St. Patty's Day to everyone.

We're celebrating with fish tacos and purple corn sangria. You know, for all the Irish-Mexican-Peruvians in the world. I feel like they're under-celebrated and should also get a tip of the glass.

It's funny to think that a frozen product from Trader Joe's introduced us to Greek wine. For a good stretch in 2010, it was our Monday default lunch that kicked off our weekend. Quick, easy, delicious and great with Greek white in many forms. All apples and creamy lemons, a pinch of salt and great acid with creamy spinach-phyllo goodness. A $20 lunch that utterly satisfies.

But a trip to Purple Pig and two wines we had there made us more intrigued about Greek reds, especially the Alpha Estate Axia, a 50/50 split of Syrah and Xinomavro.

Greek food in general recently has hit a pleasure zone in us similar to Spanish food five years ago, Moroccan accents two years ago, home-cooked Portuguese in the last year and simple Italian preparations very recently with the use of Italian and southern French basics pretty much always.

In short, Mediterranean cuisine has always always our food love and constant strand, picked and prodded here and there, but it happened incrementally and built. Greek was the next, natural step and it's quickly turning into our next love.

We like hot climate food. You can taste why it's made and consumed. Like much good wine, it tastes of a place.

And the great thing about last night's meal was it was mostly freezer food.

Food: Greek-influenced flank steak, skordaliá and pearl onions and rapini

Medium-rare flank steak marinated in onion, parsley, evoo and lemon juice. Still tender and melty with charred herb hits. Great meat but it wasn't the star.

Became a side dish because of the stellar skordaliá, a blend of potatoes, ground toasted almonds, roasted garlic and extra virgin olive oil with bits of oregano and a splash of red wine vinegar. Dipping heaven with pita. Perfect, balanced shots of every ingredient.

But the real star of the meal came from the pearl onion and rapini combination made with sundried tomatoes rehydrated in white wine, dill (oregano & mint, to a much lesser extent), lemon zest and pecorino romano (standing in for feta). Complex stuff with everything in balance. The rapini with sheep's milk cheese brought an unexpected, deeeeeep depth to the entire plate of food with dill serving as a bridge to the onions, lemon zest and the parsley that was spread over everything.

This was a spectacular meal with a flurry of flavors all playing nicely together. And it was that way because of diligent attention paid to keeping it Greek. They've been around for centuries and know what they're doing.

Like most pairing attempts, if you make a meal that pays heed to cultural traditions, those cultures usually make wine that goes with their food.

Wine: 2007 Boutari Naoussa Xinomavro ($15 - Cardinal Wine)

Our first 100% xinomavro, an indigenous, fickle grape grown mostly in Macedonia. Go here for a great write-up on xinomavro.

Herbed-up stewed tomatoes and meat on the nose. Tough to explain the palate. Like a blend of cabernet franc and carmenère that's aged beautifully, maybe. Fruit isn't the game here. It's fresh, stewed tomatoes and herbs with fruit of cherry and a touch of blueberries (?) only serving as the supporting cast, rounding out things. Nice, light hit of sweet oak and pleasing acid. Vacillated between being a bit brawny and graceful but always a great medium-bodied weight overall. In the end, the wine was defined by its constantly changing tomato and small olive notes, like a spicy tomato stew that came off fresh and light. Original.

By the end of the bottle, it was a winner. Completely interesting and worth every bit of the $15 price tag. I wouldn't have felt ripped off if it were $25-30. Good stuff.

Pairing: 91 A couple of extra points for its Greekiness

Only an occasional isolation of the tannins in the wine with the flank steak was our only criticism of the pairing.

Overall, the wine served admirably as a catch-all, playing up the herbs while the tomato and tiny olive quality in the wine slid right in with all the other flavors in the meal.

Greek food and Greek wine. We are just getting into it whole hog but this was the kind of meal that is only going to bring about oodles more of such things.