A Step-By-Step Guide To A Great Food And Wine Week

A map to a week of flavors:

Day 1: Make David Leite's Portuguese orange-olive oil cake. Because it's the best snacking cake on the planet. Breakfast, mid-afternoon, after dinner. It covers all your snacking cake needs for the week. DO NOT eat it the day you make it. This is best after a day or two or three. Soak five pinches of fenugreek seeds in water overnight.

Day 2: Drain fenugreek seeds and toss in the processor with garlic, cilantro, salt, green chile, lemon to make a paste. Forget to take out the seeds from from the chile. Enjoy the mouth burn. Set aside.

Glaze some marcona almonds that have to be eaten and roast them off for Day 3 vadouvan-bee pollen pork with beet-pickled rhubarb salad and griddle cakes. Wonder if they will come off remotely resembling Ubuntu's vadouvan almonds circa August 2011.  Nope, but still delicious.

Begin Afghani leek-scallion fry bread recipe. Roast some leeks, chop some scallions, set aside. Make the dough. Knead for 10 minutes. Think this is quite relaxing for eight minutes. Get sick of it. Ruminate about how impatient you are in life. Let sit (the dough and the rumination). Dump your fenugreek paste into a bowl with a 1/2 lb. of shrimp that's been in your freezer for weeks.

Make a fry bread dipping sauce of honey-lime-cilantro-garlic-walnuts. Taste it. Like it. Set aside.

Christmas

Let's kickstart this here blog back up.

The 365 Days of Food and Wine experiment, while interesting, sapped my ability to accurately describe the delicious food Mrs. Ney made. It got to the point where my word canon reached the very end of its description limit. I'd re-read things I'd written and think, "Hot damn that's boring!" And that wasn't doing any justice to the time and effort Mrs. Ney had put in to researching, thinking about, and making dinners.

The break was needed, but it's time to step back in, because while we hope anyone searching for food and wine pairing advice - a vexing and frightening proposition for many - comes across this site and comes to understand that it's not that frightening, mostly we want and need the reference. We also like to see how our year and tastes flowed and changed.

Christmas seems a good place to start.

Food: Bittman Lamb Osso Buco with Sean Brock Grits and Rapini

Mark Bittman osso buco recipe, from NYT Cooking. Lamb osso buco from D'Artagnan, seared, then cooked for 90 minutes on the stovetop with garlic, anchovies, sage, marjoram, rosemary, white wine, salt and pepper until tender. Meat removed, sauce reduced, served on the side. Cracked pink peppercorns sprinkled on top of lamb. Sean Brock grits, from Heritage: A Cookbook (page 74 - "How to cook grits like a Southerner"). Simple rapini done up with salt and pepper that somehow didn't taste so simple.

Luscious lamb. Frenchy touches with northern Italian guts. Osso buco is never going to be the best meat I've ever had in my life, but when it hits, like here, it's a meat-melty wonder. Rather perfect grits, as Mr. Brock seems to offer with most anything he offers (see burgers, patty melts, steaks, grits, griddle cakes...he's one of our house food guiders to the delicious). Silky, but corny and buttery, with a surprising jump and lightness. A great balance and vacillation between all the flavors. When some of the anchovy pan sauce bled into the rapini, it was maybe the best rapini we've had in a good long time.

This was a dinner worthy of Christmas, after a shockingly easy Christmas Eve visit to the family.

Wine: 2015 Jolie-Laide Trousseau Gris Fanucchi-Wood Vineyard RRV

We loved the poop out the 2014 Jolie-Laide Trousseau Gris, first had at Chez Panisse two Septembers ago. So board and giving. The 2015 is more sturdy and focused in its flavors. It gets more directly and quickly to the point it's trying to make. Bitter orange peel galore, like Chinotto or Aperol in presence and aggressiveness. Wispy touches of herbs and minerals, particularly on the back-end, even something tea-like thrown in there on occasion. This one needs to warm up significantly in order for it to stretch its legs and become more elastic and playful. The 2014 was all ethereal, sunshine-y goodness, but sputtered with some food. The 2015 is more punchy, and that over the course of the next year might make it more suitable to the flavors we love.

Pairing: Once it reached the right temp...nothing wrong with that.

I opened a 2005 Gourt des Mautens Rasteau (Jérome Bressy) and decanted couple of hours before dinner, but it didn't budge from its hairy-backed, tannic self, and would have been just terrible with how delicate the lamb was. But the Jolie-Laide served us quite well. Not perfect, not by any means. Once it warmed up though, there was enough weaving in-and-out with the grits and lamb together to say, "Slap Daddy! That's just fine!"

Lunch: Homemade duck pâté with Rogue Flora Nelle Blue Cheese, fig marmalade, baguette and salad, served with 2011 Matthiasson Vermouth. Mrs. Ney whipped up A LOT of duck pâté, this one more country in style with its small chunks of duck meat. Turned into one of those pâtés one eats and thinks THIS is how all pâté should be. Every flavor bouncing and jiving with each other. Rogue Flora Nelle has that ideal touch of blue streaks while still retaining a clean brightness to it. House fav.

All served with a Matthiasson Vermouth that's been sitting in this house way too long, and it was great here. Smoky tangerine peel, blood orange and bark. Still going quite strong. A bite of cheese and fig marmalade on baguette with a sip of vermouth was as pairing-perfect as it gets.

Damn good (and lazy) Christmas Day! We didn't get to the "Feast of the One Fish" (brandade). It's in the works for New Year's Eve. With bubbles. We need bubbles. So we'll have them. Because bubbles are essential in life.

After the jump is a list of all the pairings we've had since this blog stopped, some of it in shorthand. It's for our reference:

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #7

Dear Committee Members, by Julie Schumacher, was house favorite over the last couple of weeks. Breezy, hilarious read, particularly for anybody who spent WAY too much time in a college town.

The rest of the year will be me reading books I never finished. This week, White Noise by Don Delillo. It's rather refreshing to read post-modern literature after reading the pile of suck that is post-post-post-modern literature.

And I've never looked less forward to football season than this year, college and pro. It all seems so freakin' exhausting. Go...Browns?

Total food and wine cost for the week: $90 for food and $98 for wine = $188

Sunday: Free Chicken, White BBQ sauce, kumatoes, herb salad, basil and rolls with NV Grifone Bianco Sicily

Food Details: Free chicken! (no price tag on it at work), roasted. White BBQ sauce, basil, herb salad from Trader Joe's, and rolls. Rip and top. Eat. But the big key here was the magic that happened with the white BBQ sauce and tons of basil together. Make sauce, buy basil, compile ripped piece of roll + chicken + sauce + TONS of basil. It equals dinner MAGIC!

Did We Like It? YEP-YEP-YEP! Everything around the sauce-basil was background. This sauce and lots of basil made for an explosive new flavor that would probably be on a tasting menu from a Sean Brock-Michael Symon "special food night." Dances James Brown-like in your mouth! And the wine helped.

How Was The Wine? It's cheap moscato-riesling from Sicily. Trader Joe's. $5. Loves food, particularly big flavors from chicken pick-n-choose. Usually a nice fruity refresher with this meal, here with sauce-basil, it turned into a cross between moss-covered oceanside rock and water from a flower vase, with tiny hits of smoked fruit peel. And we weirdly loved it.

And The Pairing? See above. This wasn't right in a traditional pairing sense, but was oh-so right in a life sense. Piggybacked on the utter uniqueness of the sauce-basil flavor and created a second unique deliciousness in such a welcome way. Great meal right before vacation.

Cost: $7 for food, $5 for wine = $12
    

Saturday: Indian Carrot Salad with Goat Curry, Naan and Raita with 2014 Earthstone Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma County

Source: Jamie Oliver recipe here.

Food Details: Took goat curry from the freezer, cooked it down to evaporate most of the liquid. A salad of carrot, onion, cilantro, mint and sesame seeds. Dressing of lemon, ginger, olive oil, cumin and mustard seeds, s/p. Mixed with salad. Plate of arugula, carrot salad on top, goat on top of that. Raita and naan on the side.

Did We Like It? Big thumbs up! Way up! And two more items came out of the freezer. It's rarely been so empty. I should clean it. Or maybe not. The goat curry turned into spicy Asian goat BBQ and it was delicious. But this meal, always, is a big spread of Indian-influenced food that satisfies every jones you'd ever have. Spicy, fresh, meaty, vegetable-y, dip, dunk, eat, cleanse. I love it so much. I like it more than I like most people.

How Was The Wine? We stayed cheap. The Earthstone Sauvignon Blanc has taken over for the Trader Joe's Growers Reserve, mainly because it offers cool, breezy acid and fruit restraint that went missing from the latter lately. It's nothing special, and wasn't here, but it hits some guzzle-worthy place when drunk during a busy and annoying work week, as it was here.

And The Pairing? See above. Missed on a goat curry bite, but the acid liked the carrots, cilantro and arugula. Fine "refreshing beverage" with this meal.

Cost: $7 for food, $10 for wine = $17   


Friday: Ham and Cheese on Pretzel Buns with 2014 La Granja 360 Tempranillo Cariñena

Food Details: That's it. You read it above. Cheap ham and cheap cheese on pretzel buns. We're saving for vacation, so poof! ham-cheese-pretzel.

Did We Like It? We're saving for vacation, so poof! ham-cheese-pretzel. Did I mention that?

How Was The Wine? Chilled tempranillo was put in a glass so I could keep up this 365 business.

And The Pairing? Wine. Food.

Cost: $9 for food, $4 for wine = $13


Thursday: Mexican Rice with 2014 La Granja 360 Verdejo-Viura Castilla y León

Food Details: Freezer-garbage Mexican rice dinner consisting of Mexican rice, kielbasa from Wednesday, freezer salsa, freezer peas and non-pooped-on cilantro. Sour cream on top.

Did We Like It? Went above 'filling a hole.' We MUST empty the freezer. Nothing goes in and at least one thing comes out with each meal. So, strange food this week, according to Mrs. Ney. Here, we had carbs, protein, herbs and sour cream goop. A big bowl of Mexican-ish stuff in it. That'll do.

How Was The Wine? House white. Spanish verdejo-viura from Trader Joe's. It's $5 and suffices for meals like this. Its flavor tastes like a random Tuesday when we decided it was time for afternoon wine.

And The Pairing? No complaints. Food and wine in the basic sense, but I wasn't left wanting.

Cost: $7 for food, $5 for wine = $12


Wednesday: Tapas Spread with NV Albero Sparkling White Wine

Food Details: Trader Joe's Spanish meats sampler pack of saucisson, serrano and chorizo, Sardininan Brigante cheese, marcona almonds, arugula, garlic/parsley/olive oil baguette and kielbasa-stuffed dates in piquillo-tomato (?) sauce, which we barely touched and will probably be puréed and used for a meatball dinner.

Did We Like It? Yep. Tasted like our Spanish/Portuguese vacations, when we go to a supermarket and compile a cheap dinner with what we can find at El Corte Inglés or Pingo Doce. This $5 sampler pack isn't too shabby. The serrano isn't particularly distinctive, but the other two maintain a minimum quality in terms of flavor/freshness to be worthwhile. And it's the perfect amount for two. Solid Sardinian cheese, which is true for most Sardinian cheeses I've tasted. They like cheese in the way I like cheese - sheepy, creamy, grassy, nutty. Almonds, arugula, garlic, parsley, all the goods needed for a tapas spread and a leisurely two-hour dinner. What's not to like?

How Was The Wine? $6 cheap Trader Joe's Spanish sparkler made from viura, malvasia and airén, we believe. Fruity, fuzzy, frothy, focused, six dollars. Likes food. What's not to like? Not. Fancy. Just bargain bubbles with nice acid and fruit, and tastes like cheap house wine in Spain, which has a quality we enjoy.

And The Pairing? Tasted like thrown-together vacation food, where the pairing doesn't really matter, and there's enough elemental Spanish-ness all over the place to bring a smile to your face.

Cost: $15 for food, $12 for wine = $27


Tuesday: Melissa Clark Green Goddess Chicken, Zucchini-Tomato-Onion Salad and Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits with 2014 Matthiasson Tendu White California

Source: Two Melissa recipes: Green Goddess Chicken and Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

Food Details: "Use stuff up!" dinner. GGC recipe altered a bit, using chicken thighs and cooked under a brick in the cast-iron. Green Goddess sauce, using as many herbs in the crisper as possible (no chives, so dill), while using a whole serrano to bring more pep. Used freezer GG to marinate the chicken. Made a fresh one for dipping and dunking. Buttermilk biscuits, a bit charred, but served admirably as a carb component. Grilled zucchini mixed with leftover pickled onions, and tomatoes that needed to be used up. Make it, drag and dump GG sauce through everything, and you'll be a happy camper.

Did We Like It? Yes, yes and yes. We went through a big Green Goddess phase from mid-2013 through mid-2014, but haven't had it recently. It has everything you need in terms of greeny punch and broad, healthy zip. Wakes you up and goes quite deep. Your stomach wants herbs, veggies, acid and balance. Your head wants it to taste good. This has all of that.

How Was The Wine? We fell in love with the 2013 Tendu, a 100% vermentino in a one-liter bottle that gave lovely herbal, ocean, briny notes with plenty of snap and character. Simple, lovely, right and proper. We blew through 6-8 bottles last year. The 2013 started to lose its snap and energy by the winter of this year, so we waited for the 2014s to show up in Chicago. Then it didn't, until Pastoral had it on their restaurant wine list and they were kind enough to sell me three through their shop. The 2014 is mostly vermentino with French colombard and chardonnay thrown in due to the fact that the vermentino this year didn't have the acidity needed to make Tendu, Tendu. At first, we loved it, thinking it might be better than the 2013, but the chardonnay showed up a little too much for us, losing the personality, grizzle and verve that we loved so much in the 2013. It's still Tendu. We like it, and will buy every release. It's wine that likes food that we like. This year just won't be "We need a case! Now!"

And The Pairing? This is where the Tendu wasn't the Tendu we love. The GG gobbled up the vermentino and shoved it into the background, allowing the chardonnay to come forth from the shadows. We like chardonnay but don't crave it, except with very specific food. And this was nice chardonnay, lean and mean. But this food wants vermentino to give everything that vermentino is, a wine that tastes like a stiff ocean breeze blowing over a sandy, grassy bank. Stupid California drought and heat.

Cost: $11 for food, $29 for wine = $40  


Monday: Sean Brock Steak, Potatoes and Steak Sauce with 2003 Chateau Fombrauge St.-Emilion

Source: Heritage, by Sean Brock: herb-marinated hanger steak with onion gratin and steak sauce (pg. 135; sauce page 240). Here's the recipe from someone on the internets.

Food Details: Hanger steak marinated tarragon, parsley, chervil, chives, s/p and olive oil. Let sit. Seared medium-rare. Onion gratin. You don't have to slice onion paper-thin. It's going in the blender. You do have to slice the potatoes paper-thin, because, like potato tart, the texture it gives is essential. For the gratin, the recipe says 8-inch round baking dish. No way three pounds of potatoes fits in there. Adjust. Steak sauce made from about 15 different ingredients, simmered, blended (used dried apricots instead of golden raisins).

Did We Like It? Here's steak and potatoes, with a steak sauce that tastes like a hybrid of Heinz 57 and A-1, but it's so much more than mere steak and potatoes with steak sauce. In fact, the entire meal was a hybrid of steak and potatoes many of us grew up with, while elevating everything enough that anybody could get into the nostalgia trip without thinking it's a gimmick. Make it. It's Sean Brock. He makes things that come from a good and honest place. Everything will taste like a better version of every steak and potatoes with steak sauce meal you've ever had.

How Was The Wine? Gotta. Drink. All. This. Bordeaux. So this meal seemed like a good opportunity. Huge, pretty nose. Real presence. Very alive wine, with round blackberry/cherry that gives way quickly to an earthy mid-palate and a subtle vanilla oak/blue Sweet Tart finish. Sounds like a generic Right Banker, but it's very nice, medium-bodied, properly aged, value-driven stuff.

And The Pairing? Delicious with the gratin, giving everything it could give, and creating that thing that nice Bordeaux and food creates. Less so with the hanger and steak sauce, as the vinegar in the sauce interrupted the linear progression of the wine, chopping it up a bit. But happy stuff overall here.

Cost: $34 for food, $33 for wine = $67

It's Been Six Weeks...

Husk Restaurant

This blog isn't dead and I haven't been busy.

FAR from busy.

Which is too bad in ways, because I've forgotten many of the details of some very good meals and solid pairings that should have been detailed.

But let's try in stream-of-consciousness form.

Ten days in Portugal in September left us wanting, even bordering on annoyed. There just wasn't enough 'vacation' in it, not enough 'holy crap!' to it. So with our first round-number anniversary approaching, getting the heck out of Dodge again was necessary. Personally, I think Portugal might have been fine enough if not for a couple of meals that put the nail in the Portuguese food coffin. "Wait for it, wait for it, I bet we get potatoes AND rice and overdone meat again. Here it comes. Put your bets in. YEP!" I'm a snob and Spain spoiled me. Plus, it might have been fine - it WAS insanely relaxing - but that Newark passport-control line. Oh, that line. 300 people and four booth attendants. Screw you, Newark! Screw you! I no longer love you!

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #50

When you have the urge to hate on something, the New York Times Style or Weddings section will usually fit the bill.

I've wandered over or stumbled upon pieces in those sections over the years and came out with an adrenaline rush of hatred combined with gut-busting laughter so weirdly pleasurable that I felt like I really should examine why I found those pieces of garbage so pleasurable.

But then I read something like 'The Sound of Music Is in His Blood and Now His Heart' from yesterday's Weddings section and I know that there is objective terribleness in this world and it really should be resoundingly mocked.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $117 for food and $120 for wine = $237

Sunday: Tapas Spread with 2011 Juvé y Camps Brut Nature Reserva de la Familia Cava

Food Details: Iberico ham, Harriet sheep's cheese, marinated grilled artichoke hearts, piquillo peppers, rosemary marcona almonds, ciabatta and arugula/parsley salad.

Did We Like It? Feels like it's been years! We used to have this "rip open some packages and open some jars" Spanish-style tapas meal quite often. Good ham, good cheese, all the Spanish accoutrements; eat pokily, drink good Spanish bubbly, enjoy. This wasn't even great Iberico but it's been so long that we loved it. The big star here, though, was the Trader Joe's artichokes. They're grilled, then marinated, and the result on top of ciabatta with some parsley (maybe some cheese) was the bite of the night/week - offering a taste that was long, wide and delicious. This was a two-hour meal that reminded us why we love Spain so much.

How Was The Wine? Another reminder of Spanish goodness. I feel like I would have done a write-up on our last drinking of this Cava favorite. Looking back in the history, it's been 2 1/2 years since we've had it. Odd. Very odd. One of the problems of buying wine in Chicago is that everyone carries the same wine when it comes to non-hot/less popular regions. We've drunk every Cava in our market - there's only about six - and Juvé y Camps is our undisputed go-to Spanish bubbly in that group. It has the rawness and grizzle all Cava should have, not bubbles trying to be Champagne and coming up short. It should taste like an quiet explanation, and not a justification, of why Spain doesn't have to compete against other European or Mediterranean food-type stuffs. You be you, Spain. You. Be. You. This Cava tastes like that. Plus $5 TJ's Palomino as an alternative to the Cava.

And The Pairing? Pure Spanish breeze.

Cost: $36 for food, $23 for wine  = $59    


Saturday: Ham and Pretzel Bread Panzanella with 2015 Field Recordings Fiction Grenache Rosé Paso Robles

Food Details: Garbage salad of baby kale, ham, pepper jack, vidalia onion, tomato, dill, pretzel bread croutons and honey mustard dressing.

Did We Like It? No need for a plate, just eat it straight from the bowl you mixed everything in. Perfect Saturday night food that tastes like a nostalgic hug.

How Was The Wine? I can't find anything on this bottle around the webs. Feels like a Field Recordings one-off to get some rosé on the market due to the fact that the Alloy rosé cans sold out so quickly this year. Frankly, we liked this one more than the 2015 cans. It's very much a straight-up grenache rosé, no frills, just dirt and fruit with brightness and balance. Paso sun without the Paso syrup. Kudos on this one for $15. Perfect price for a rosé that gives much.

And The Pairing? It loved the mayo-honey in the dressing and the copious amounts of dill in the salad. And of course...rosé and ham are besties. Big pairing success here. Wasn't superlative, just a damn good garbage salad with a rosé that liked it.

Cost: $10 for food, $15 for wine = $25    

Friday: Green Beans, Peanuts, Lime and Radish Sprouts with 2015 Lila Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough

Food Details: Yotam. Ottolenghi. Always. An enormous amount of green beans mixed with a slurry of peanut, kaffir lime, ginger, lemongrass, garlic, etc. Over white rice, topped with radish sprouts, cilantro and a lime spritz.

Did We Like It? I mention the radish sprouts twice (not included in the recipe) because they brought a garden-dirt quality and verticality to an already delicious Asian-y green bean curry-like bowl of happiness. It's the summer of radish sprouts in our house, it seems. They brought something akin to mung beans without being too mung bean-y as mung beans can be.

How Was The Wine? Barely worth mentioning. Mrs. Ney was sick, so no wine. I had a can of Lila, which brought a bit of grassiness that linked with the food in basic ways, but it lost its cleanse. Meh.

And The Pairing? See above.

Cost: $10 for food, $3 for wine = $13

Thursday: Allium Tart with 2013 Jean Masson Jacquere Savoie

Food Details: Allium tart (garlic scapes, chive blossoms, charred spring onions) with tarragon, dill, and feta. Arugula salad with pomegranate seeds on the side. Tart shell recipe here. It's bistro food.

Did We Like It? A damn solid tart. Elevated weekday grub.

How Was The Wine? Another wine that slipped through the storing cracks. This meal seemed like a good opportunity to get some value out of it. At three years old, it's lost some of its crispness and floral nature, coming off as slightly better than basic white wine here. Touch of oily peach pit notes that was pleasant though.

And The Pairing? Merely okay.

Cost: $7 for food, $13 for wine = $20

Wednesday: Chicken-Radish Sprout Sandwiches and Chips with 2013 Heidi Schrock Muskatellar Burgenland 

Food Details: Paulina Meat Market smoked chicken, radish sprouts, pickled onions, avocado and tomato on pretzel bread. Olive oil chips. Mrs. Ney finished the chive blossom-garlic scape pancakes for her side.

Did We Like It? Radish sprouts are delicious, and turn an already well-crafted sandwich using up some leftover stuff from the week into The Fancy. Delicious.

How Was The Wine? This is aborted wine from yesterday's pairing, and it's helpful when you can take fridge wine and find food that turns it into so much more than "fridge wine," like here. The radish sprouts pried open a depth and mineral-driven fruit in this muskatellar that was never present in yesterday's food. A real roundness and tick-off of deliciousness. At $24, it's a bit pricey compared to Darting's muskatellar that offers similar goodness and less finickiness, and it's $6 cheaper. But big fan here.

And The Pairing? See above.

Cost: $8 for food, $24 for wine = $32  

Tuesday: Bittman Fish Sauce Chickens and Chive Blossom/Garlic Scape Pancakes with TJ's Lambrusco

Food Details: From Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World, Vietnamese cornish game hens, page 334; Lucky Peach spicy fish-sauce sauce; crispy chive blossom/garlic scape pancakes (instead of scallions), from Serious Eats. Charred yu choy (Chinese flowering cabbage).

Did We Like It? It's the kind of meal that reminds us, "God, food is Good!" Even when we've now had this meal a handful of times. It always tastes new and punchy and possesses everything anyone who likes food would ever want or need. This batch a touch salty overall (from the fish sauce bottle) and the yu choy offered nothing in the way of interestingness, but we loved nearly everything about this meal.

How Was The Wine? Our original bottle, a 2013 Heidi Schrock Muskatellar Burgenland was DOA with the food. And another bottle in the fridge, a 2013 (!) Ponzi Pinot Gris, which slipped through the wine-storing and monitoring said wine-storing cracks, was dead, period. The only other thing chilled was a Trader Joe's Lambrusco. We gave it a go and had absolutely zero issues with its ice-cold-water-like refreshment and sweet, bright fruit.

And The Pairing? The Lambrusco salvaged what could have been a disaster. Its sweet-like fruit and frothiness stood up to the aggressiveness SE Asian flavors quite admirably. Tailed off as it warmed up but no complaints given the situation. In fact, the fish sauce and salt negated the cheapness inherent in this wine and allowed it to ONLY give nice fruit, dirt, acid and cleanse. Surprise. Big one.

Cost: $20 for food, $20 for wine = $45

Monday: Sean Brock Cheeseburgers with NV Marietta Cellars Old Vine Red Lot #63    

Food Details: Sean Brock's Heritage cookbook, page 131. Double stack burgers with American cheese, onions, mustard-pickle sauce, potato buns. Bagged fries. This meal plus two more meals in the freezer cost $26.

Did We Like It? We like many cheeseburgers from around town. Kuma's is a great burger. Bill's Drive-In is fantastic. Recently, we had the Au Cheval burgers and found it quite good. Five Guys works. Shake Shack is good... But when we think of the most superlative cheeseburgers that exist in this world, it's Sean Brock home cheeseburgers. Not really even close.

How Was The Wine? Merely fine, and that was a surprise. Zinfandel, petite sirah, syrah, mixed Italian blacks blend. Came off a bit thin and reticent, lacking a forceful or focused personality, compared to other drinkings of this series. Reached the point of just enough pleasure but never went beyond that.

And The Pairing? Fine.

Cost: $26 for food, $12 for wine = $38    

New Year's Eve and Day

Going through the process of finding another place to live turns one's brain to a gooey, drippy mess.

In the 13 years of living in our same place, moving always came up, and the cost-benefit analysis (along with sheer inertia) kept us planted where we were. But no more. It's time to stop staring at crappy hardwood floors and "weathered" walls; hearing EVERYONE come in and out of the apartment building, with the accompanying doors and gates slamming; and it's time to not live below what sounds like a gaggle of apes playing with a football.

Thank all that is holy. It's time to live like adults.

Two meals, one to close out a REALLY shitty year and one to open a new one.

New Year's Eve "Feast Of The One Fish" with 2008 Gaston-Chiquet Special Club Brut

Food: Jacques Pepin brandade. Salt cod, more celery root than potato, almond milk, garlic, cayenne, pecorino, etc. Served with charred bread. Mustard-ized ($10) asparagus for veg, and it's been too long because they were freakin' delicious. Everything was delicious. Silky texture with the brandade. One of the top batches ever made in this (soon-to-not-be-our) house. Perfect balance between the celery root lightness and meatiness of the salt cod, with the almond milk lending a wee touch of nutty goodness. Just a great bite of food on perfectly charred bread. Great way to close out this year's silliness.

Wine: $58 Special Club from Vin in Barrington. This one is also available at Binny's (!). We got three and need three more, because this one has a LONG life ahead. Barely any fruit right now, just fireworks-like minerals everywhere. It's chalky, it's lean, it's a bit floral and it's all sorts of awesome. This one might turn out to be one of our Champagne threads over the next ten years.

Pairing: Wasn't perfect, yet somehow that made it better. Brandade isn't an ideal pairing accompaniment with Champagne, but we found loads of goodness "in this corner, and that corner, and over here and over there." And super with the asparagus. Overall, top-notch, TOP-NOTCH!


New Year's Day Hoppin' John with 2010 Antica Terra Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

Food: Sean Brock Hoppin' John - New Year's good luck food, with 12 green grapes as well - from his Heritage: A Cookbook, page 16, over Anson Mills Carolina Gold rice (we're out and gotta git mo - can't live without that now...). Sean Brock shortcut collard greens mixed with mustard greens and pomegranate seeds. Pan gravy to dribble over all the goodness, and this was good. Subtle, but a subtlety that PER-SISTED all the way down and well after swallowing. This isn't our food, but nice to have once a year (or every other).

Wine: I'm not a red Burgundy expert. Too spendy for us. But blind, this is what a damn good red Burgundy tastes like, with teeny-tiny wisps of New World sun. PLENTY of earth in about five forms, with integrated, pretty fruit, and lil pops of roses all the way down. Hell, I thought I tasted a little truffle at one point. A beautiful wine. Really, quite beautiful. We forget sometimes that Good red wine is Really Good.

Pairing: The wine was the star, as it was all class. But this one weaved into the subtlety in the food and didn't bully, didn't demand things. It only took what was offered and gave all it could with each bite and sip.

Now, we need word on our apartment today or my head is going to explode.

Like...now.

Or...now.

Anything yet?  

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #19

Links:

Wonderful Karl Ove Knausgaard piece (speech) in the New Yorker this week, with a bonus video of the superlatively great Jhumpa Lahiri at the bottom.

This piece on Rhonda Rousey couldn't be more spot-on.

The Davis Theatre in Lincoln Square is a dump and has been for decades. That's about to change.

And Jon Bonné checks back in on Abe Schoener of Scholium Project for the Chronicle.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $110 for food and $125 for wine = $235

Sunday: Salmon, Bagels and Cream Cheese with 2014 Berger Grüner Veltliner Kremstal

Food Details: Trader Joe's salmon, bagels, herbed-up cream cheese, kumatoes, arugula. Rip, top, eat.

Did We Like It? More easy food that brings an enormous satisfaction that belies its easiness.

How Was The Wine? All of Berger's freshness here on full display. Stony, peppy, lively, proper hits and hints of greens-citrusy fruit. A bit of an ammonia note kicked up for me, but that didn't deter me from finishing it off.

And The Pairing? The ammonia note, that was more like a farmhouse well next to the pig sty note, actually helped here. Weaved into the salmon, taking it to a down and dirty place that resembled being on said farm...in a good way.

Cost: $19 for food, $15 for wine = $34 

Saturday: Pick-n-Choose Meat and Cheese with 2014 Alloy Wine Works Grenache Rosé Central Coast

Food Details: Ham, salami and red leicester cheese with peppers on ciabattini with sundried-tomato mayonnaise and herb salad

Did We Like It? Always and forever. It's pick and choose your bite, in whatever order you want, with whatever toppings that trips your fancy.

How Was The Wine? More Alloy Grenache Rosé in the can, our fave rosé this year. Dirt-covered, juicy grenache showed up in bunches. Perky, substantial, bright and happy can o' rosé.

And The Pairing? Had everything anybody would ever want. It's like standing at the food spread on a table at some sort of function you don't want to be at, and enjoying everything in front of you, while avoiding all the people you don't want to talk to. It's a double-whammy of happiness, with guzzle-able rosé to accompany all of that.

Cost: $14 for food, $14 for wine = $28

Friday: Pizzas and Arugula with 2015 Viñas Chileans Reserva Rosé Valle Central

Food Details: Digiorno tomato/cheese and pepperoni pizzas, topped with arugula.

Did We Like It? Rough work week for Mrs. Ney. Easy food is smart food. Buy two, get one free offer made this an easy choice.

How Was The Wine? Best thing about the meal. This is $4, fresh, fruity, round, bouncy and delicious. Cabernet-syrah blend done up rosé style. Nice find here.

And The Pairing? Good wine, mediocre pizzas. That's what it was.

Cost: $12 for food, $4 for wine = $16

Thursday: Rotisserie Chicken, Charred Onions, Yogurt and Ancient Grains Bread with 2014 Terrasse du Moulinas Blanc Elegance Languedoc-Roussillon

Food Details: Whole Foods prepared rotisserie chicken, charred onions done up Melissa Clark-style, over labneh-yogurt with parsley and pomegranate seeds, and Whole Foods Ancient Grains bread. Rip, top, eat.

Did We Like It? We're going to eat this charred onions and yogurt business until we're sick of it, which I'm betting won't be anytime soon. It goes beautifully with the meat of your choice. Chicken here, lamb and goat in the past. Prepare your food, slice your bread, put it in front of you on the coffee table, turn on your mindless entertainment for the evening, sit back, relax, and enjoy the goodness for an hour or two.

How Was The Wine? Great find, also at Whole Foods. A one-liter bottle of a Langeudoc white blend (grenache blanc, vermentino, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc). It's a four-act play, with the grenache blanc and chardonnay offering softness, freshness and roundness in different forms, while the vermentino (which shows up big here) and the sauvignon blanc offers perkiness, cut and bite, also in different forms. Keeps vacillating back and forth between the four and the result is impressive for the price. It's $10, one liter, and one of the better wine bargains found this year. Should be a very versatile white blend that's cheap and plentiful. What else does one need?

And The Pairing? Exactly what anyone would want here. Not transcendent, just a cheerful pairing offering slice-and-dice acid when needed and softness, body and depth when wanted.  Delicious.

Cost: $16 for food, $10 for wine = $26

Wednesday: Sean Brock Patty Melts and Punched Potatoes with NV Marietta Christo #2 Sonoma-Mendocino Counties Rhone Blend

Source: Sean Brock burger patties (from Heritage, page 121), Sam Sifton faux pomme frites, Serious Eats sun-dried tomato-garlic mayo

Food Details: Burgers griddled, on seeded light rye bread (I can't hear "rye bread" without thinking of this now), with pepper jack cheese and shaved raw onion. Punched potatoes, drizzled with rabbit oil, baked in the oven. Quick dipping sauce of sun-dried tomato and garlic for both the potatoes and patty melt.

Did We Like It? Yes, sir. And the patty melt got oodles better as it came up to room temperature. Classic patty melt flavors (a "fancy food" when I was 19) with all the patty melt nostalgic goodness (maybe should have gone with American cheese). Damn fine, crunchy, creamy, rabbit-oiled potatoes. Delicious as heck dipping sauce. Everything we wanted from patty melts and potatoes-in-some-form was here.

How Was The Wine? Syrah, grenache, petite sirah and viognier. This is our first Lot #2 after having Lot #1 a half-dozen or so times. Lot #1 was pure joy in the bottle; loose, expressive, a wine that takes its time to give you everything it has. Lot #2 felt quiet here, giving some of the smoke-blackberry-lavender business that we love from this wine, and taking its time to give it all in one sip. This might need a bit of time, as it opened up more as the meal progressed, but it missed a completeness the Lot #1 had (and last had with a very similar meal).

And The Pairing? A ton of basic happiness here, but it somewhat lacked that second and third level that we've found in the Lot #1; that viognier-like "voooooop!" at the end; that point where you can't stop taking a bite and reaching for the glass because it's so gosh-darn good. After an hour open, we did find whispers of the Christo magic, so... We'll see.

Cost: $10 for food, $16 for wine = $26

Tuesday: Vietnamese Cornish Game Hens, Scallion Pancakes and Spicy Fish Sauce with 2013 Darting Muskateller Kabinett Trocken 

Source: From Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World, Vietnamese Cornish Game Hens, page 334. Lucky Peach Spicy Fish Sauce. Scallion pancakes from Serious Eats.

Food Details: Aldi Cornish Game Hens ($3.59 each!), marinated in garlic, shallot, fish sauce, ginger and honey; roasted in a 500-degree oven on a preheated griddle for 22 minutes, drizzled with sesame oil after roasting. Spicy fish sauce of Red Boat fish sauce, garlic, chiles, white wine vinegar and lime zest (added) for dipping, dunking and drizzling on everything. Scallion pancakes, charred up in the cast-iron. Salad of cucumber, radish, scallions, arugula, basil, mint, cilantro and pomegranate seeds.

Did We Like It? Mrs. Ney, after seeing the lacquered-burnished-blackened birds, said, "Well, at least the salad will be good." But the full-blown glossy char on these lil birds was absolutely essential. It created a quick crust that seemingly protected the bird from drying out, leaving perfectly juicy bird meat throughout (the breast meat was freakin' perfect). Perfect inside meat with fish sauce-sesame oil crusty skin, dripped in a Lucky Peach fish sauce-sauce that's bright, perky and crackling delicious. Best scallion pancakes yet (or Chinese fry bread - we like the fry breads). A salad where the basil's bitterness took over, unfortunately. But this meal was an enormous shock, though it shouldn't have been, really. That Bittman book has hundreds of recipes and we have all our lives to cook through it. It's $5 right now on Amazon! The beef cheeks in chickpea purée was one of the better meals we've ever had.

How Was The Wine? Speaking of best meals ever, we last had this muskateller with probably the best meal of the year. Certainly the best pairing. Less so here, as it lost its definition of classiness and pure sunshine. This time it delved more into its fruit and talc, becoming more of a blue collar, workhorse wine attempting to counter the flurry of Asian flavors on the plate and mostly succeeding.

How Was The Pairing? We were rather content with the muskateller. Loved the talc that remained steadfast in its presence. But a cheap Trader Joe's Mosel riesling was cracked to compare and it did things with its fruit and seamless transition to that second, gaseous, riesling-and-minerals level that the muskateller didn't. It wasn't fancy riesling in the least, though it found a place with this food quite nicely. But if a wine has talc, it comes from a place we like. That's the truth.

Cost: $17 for food, $18 for wine = $35  

Monday: Uzbeki Lamb Plov with 2008 Avanthia Mencia Valdeorras

First, a Monday lunch of Greek sandwiches and olive oil chips with 2014 João Portugal Ramos Lima Loureiro Vinho Verde kicked off a very productive weekend of house cleaning and winter-is-coming organizing. Feta-pepper spread (from week #17) with cucumbers, tomatoes, arugula, onions and black olives from Barcelona, from a sister of a work friend, marinated in herbs from said garden. Leftover Pugliese bread, toasted. Trader Joe's olive oil chips. Our favorite, cheap, $8 loureiro. THAT was a Happy Lunch. A new favorite dinner, which is basically Uzbeki paella in a way, rounded out a great food day.

Source: Recipe here, via Cucee Sprouts

Food Details: Last eaten in July, and we loved it then. This version was better, simply because the lamb bones were cooked in the braise. A savory, boney, gelatinous, succulent juice-sweat resulted, and it was be-aut-i-ful. Farm City lamb shoulder, chickpeas, carrots, barberries (doubled the barberries, omitted the raisins in the recipe), garlic, cumin, tumeric, basmati rice. A one-pot meal that's considered the national dish of Uzbekistan. Tomato-onion-mint salad on the side.

Did We Like It? (Swear word) yeah! That marrow sweat-juice business...it was a sumthin-sumthin. This is homey, country-style lamb stew taken to another, complete place. It's the bestest.

How Was The Wine? We opened this wine a week ago, didn't find it interesting in the least, put a Preserva disk in it, and left it on the counter. With its $40 price tag, dumping it, or even drinking it with a more simple, weekday meal seemed sad. So we gave it a go here and were rewarded. This settled into a medium-bodied beauty with smoky cherries/raspberries and spicy tobacco, bright minerals and perfect jolt of acid with this food. Maybe we opened this too soon. Maybe it needed a healthy decant. While we found the smallest bit of a watery thread from it being opened for a week, this was a complete pairing surprise.

And The Pairing? There's some elemental crossover between plov and paella, mostly in presentation and strut. Like the first time we had this food, with the Abacela Tempranillo, there was some nice pan-Spanish pairing perkiness, with the mencia loving the lamb and lamb sweat, leading to a "good enough!" experience. And it loved the tomatoes. Just loved them. So...good stuff, we say.

Cost (for lunch and dinner): $22 for food, $48 for wine = $70      

Duck Legs, Grits, Brussels Sprouts And Serrano Ham Red-Eye Vinaigrette With 2009 Domaine des Tours Vaucluse

A $14 Aldi duck was turned into three quarts of duck stock, Christmas duck pâté, and this duck leg dinner.

And what a good duck leg dinner it was. The smells alone!

Duck Legs, Grits, Brussels Sprouts And Serrano Ham Red-Eye Vinaigrette

"Cheater's" duck confit from Anne Burrell (with a decent amount of duck fat drained off and saved for future endeavors). It's duck confit without the "Yes, we get it. It's cooked in duck fat," leading to simple, delicious duck that can mingle with other flavors on the plate instead of screaming, "I'm cooked in duck fat!"

Bob's Red Mill white corn grits, based on Sean Brock's instructions for cooking grits in 'Heritage.' Since Mr. Brock uses what's probably the best corn on the planet, his one-hour cooking instructions didn't apply to Bob's Red Mill. Half-hour was perfect. Soak the grits overnight and DON'T USE MILK! Subtle corn goodness with perfect texture. Hello, grits. We'll be getting to know each other more intimately from here on out.

Charred Brussels sprouts that were nice to have around to fill out the plate but got very little attention.

Thomas Keller serrano ham vinaigrette, modified into a red-eye vinaigrette with the addition of a 1/2 cup coffee, reduced. Duck broth used instead of chicken broth, duck fat used instead of vegetable oil. Added sherry vinegar. This concoction "really tied the room together," bringing a third, fourth and fifth level of deliciousness.

A Trip To D.C. And A Week's Worth Of Meals

A second mini-vacation to D.C. last week left us feeling like it might have been the easiest traveling experience we've ever had.

People say you should always travel to a new place, see new things. That's bunk. Some of the most superlative joys we've had traveling have been returning to a place we loved and expanding on the familiarity of it all. It makes the place feel like a tiny chunk of Home.

Some D.C. Notes: It's getting expensive. Things are inching up. ... Komi, the main reason we returned, continues to sit among the four places on our Mt. Rushmore of food (Extebarri, Ubuntu, El Trujal del Abuelo ???). Such friendly staff and spectacular food. Swapped out goat for lamb just for funsies this time. Very good lamb. Goat's better. ... DC is hot. God, it gets hot there. ... Red Hen does it right. Great wine program with oodles of natural wine and very good food to match. It's what Chicago wants, but blows it in the execution and price. ... The woman I sat next to on the flight there was pregnant. Do you know how I know? She told everyone around us 48 times. ... A return to 2 Amy's made for a great lunch, without the ass-sweatingly hot walk we made last time. The pizza quality is leaps and bounds better, with a near-perfect chewiness and lift. Sad not to see the Hipster Cuvée on the wine menu. That was delicious barbera. And the salty albariño is gone as well. Sad. But the Vesuvio (sparkling aspirinio and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice) is "super-super-super." Sammy, the child next to us was rather annoying. Do you know how I know his name? His mom said it 48 times. "Sammy. Sammy. Come here, Sammy." ...

On the one non-hot day of our stay, we weren't waiting in the hour (probably two-hour, because it was non-hot) line at Rose's Luxury. So more pizza, this time at Pizzeria Paradiso (from the Obelisk people), which made for a quality, cheap pizza dinner with cheap Lambrusco. Happy stuff. ... We haven't experienced much Uber surge pricing in Chicago. In DC, if there's a darkish cloud in the sky, it seems that 5X is rational and proper. ... On the new "sharing economy" or whatever the heck my 42-going-on-82-year-old brain won't ever call it, we had an entirely pleasant first AirBnB experience. Not too shabby. ... Amsterdam Falafel is our new favorite chain. What more does anyone need? Falafel, 12,000 topping options, and a crapload of fries with various sauces for dipping. It's perfect! ... If you're going to DC, why would anyone fly into Dulles? I'm asking. National (I won't call it Reagan) is right there and it's linked to the Metro. Everything is 20 minutes away! ... The town is getting so trendy that everyone is moving there, making for patently absurd traffic. ... The 9/11 Pentagon Memorial is quite a sight. Rather unforgettable, really. ... There's flights every hour or so from DCA ---> ORD during the day. Do you know how you get bumped up an hour if you arrive early to the airport? You ask. And it was free. ... Uber, I like you. But can you create a button that lets me opt out of hearing the driver's life story? ... Our TV in the condo we stayed at only had a few TV channels, so we knew every detail of the quadruple homicide investigation as it unfolded. Terrible. But the reporter on the scene changing his fedora to a new one every report was a bit much. And funny. ... Champagne on the roof with chips and guacamole left for us by the AirBnB owner (I hope)? Nice. ... Cava and dessert at Jaleo after a quick stop at the Arcteryx store (because I like nice things sometimes)? Also nice. ... Realizing that you can wake up on the coast, go to the airport, fly home, and be on your couch by noon is a little weird in the grand scheme of things...and VERY NICE.


Some Food Notes: Coming home to chicken panzanella and 2013 Berger Grüner Veltliner ($14 - Vin Chicago) is the Way. To. Go. ... And this Spanish salad of watercress and arugula with quince paste, manchego and almonds, served with cheap LaGranja Cava Brut ($8 - Trader Joe's) makes for an easy, Old School Spanish lunch that's quite friendly. ... But the two big winners of the week were Sean Brock burgers for Memorial Day and a Greek white wine. ... From Mr. Brock's Heritage, page 131, these are burgers with nostalgia woven through every freakin' bite. Tastes like Tasty-Freeze or Dairy Sweet burgers from my childhood. Double stack burgers with onions in between and cheese everywhere, zippy burger sauce and potato buns to round their perfection. Huge winners here. A bottle of 2010 Owen Roe Ex Umbris ($30 - Binny's), while solid and a favorite for backyard BBQ-y type stuff, didn't match the level of joy the burgers brought. Almost too savory (can't believe I just said that). Marietta Old Vine was the play. And half the price. ...

But big food-wine winner with the next dinner. Fried haloumi, skordalia, pita, and tomato-fennel salad with 2014 Sigalas Assyrtiko Santorini ($22 - Binny's). House staple when it comes to the food. This meal has everything. Fried cheese, char, creamy potato goodness, cleanse and refresh from the salad. It's always good. And this 2014 from Sigalas is ALL minerals and acid in the best possible way. We loved the snot out of it. Great meal. ... You can't go wrong with Asian beef and some sort of fresh salad doused with chile peppers, lime juice and fish sauce. Ever. So Asian hanger steak (marinade) with carrot and red onion with spicy fish-sauce sauce (from this month's Lucky Peach, page 68) and rice. Halve the carrot and red onion in the recipe if for two people, but keep the same amount of herbs. Because herbs are good. And if you make crappy rice (which I did), just mix some extra herbs in and you're good to go. This was a hearty Asian beef meal that still was oddly clean and light. And all of it without rice vinegar or ginger, which was strange. To drink, rosé-watermelon-gin-triple sec-lemongrass-serrano-mint sangria. Just dump stuff in a container and see what happens. This was delicious.

Hoppin' John, Flap Meat, And Lamb Niçoise With Three Favorite Winemakers

I haven't heard much carping, mostly because I haven't been out in the world much over the last two weeks. But let us remember how this winter's weather has been so far.

When it's minus-7 this week, and a foot of snow rests under every step, how about we just shut up about it? There has been no literal 'winter of our discontent.' It's been boss. And pitchers and catchers report in six weeks.

Three meals, three wines.

#1  New Year's Day Hoppin' John, pea gravy, buttermilk biscuits and Iberico ham, served with 2011 Luis Pato Ferñao Pires Beira Atlântico ($28 - Lush)

Hoppin' John is thought to bring good luck if eaten on New Year's Day. Black-eyed peas, same. Pork, ditto. So, black-eyed pea Hoppin' John, using Sean Brock's red pea Hoppin' John recipe, from Heritage. Trader Joe's Iberico ham, because I was too lazy to go find country ham, and Thomas Keller fatty-delicious buttermilk biscuits, from Ad Hoc At Home, because they're fatty-delicious.

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #13

Seasons change. Baseball's regular season has ended.

It's a sad day in many ways. The day-to-day workings of my life alter slightly. No more coming home from work, turning on the Angels, scanning through boxscores, watching highlights, calculating possibilities, creating a vague picture of how this week, month, year will play out. It's a process that means nothing, constantly changes and ultimately useless. And I could have taken the 350 hours a year I put into watching baseball and learned about five languages by now.

We all need processes, methods, well-understood flows and familiarities to get through the day-to-day and year-to-year. Baseball is mine. 184 days until Opening Day.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $170 for food and $365 for wine = $535

Sunday: Salmon, cream cheese, bagels, kumatoes, pickled onions and herb salad with 2014 Matthiasson Tendu White California

Food Details: Trader Joe's smoked salmon, cream cheese (tarragon, cilantro, chive, serrano, garlic, cream cheese), sesame seed bagels, sliced kumatoes, herb salad dressed with white vinegar and olive oil, and pickled onions. It's more pick-n-choose, because it's delicious. bagel+cream cheese+salmon+kumato+salad+onion, then eat.

Did We Like It? Always. This batch took on the ridiculous amount of coriander/mustard seed I put in the pickled onions quite nicely. Flavors flying all over the place!

How Was The Wine? We didn't love the 2014 version of the Tendu White last time we had it, feeling like the chardonnay toned down the spritely bounce that the 2013 offered. Mr. Matthiasson said the vermentino - which is the vast majority of the three-grape makeup here, along with French colombard - didn't have the requisite acidity to go 100% vermentino in 2014. But this drinking showed better. While still not getting as much distinction as the 2013 had, nice acid-vague fruit back-and-forth to be happy enough. Two bottles left.

And The Pairing? With the flurry of flavors in the pick-n-choose, the wine offered a nice acid-slight mineral refreshment and cleanse. We liked this pairing, even if it didn't reach higher than mere like.

Cost: $17 for food, $30 for wine = $47  

Saturday: Croque Monsieur-Champagne Lunch & Steak Frites-Syrah Dinner

Food Details: Croques Monsieur (recipe) lunch, with chicken and abondance cheese, using almond milk for the béchamel. Olive oil chips. Steak frites from Bistro Campagne for dinner. It was a Day of Celebration that turned bistro-style French.

Did We Like It? Golly this was a Good food day for Anniversary-type celebrations. Easy croques monsieur that weren't traditional but have all the goods that make good croquet monsieur good. Steak frites from Bistro Campagne. At $27 each, with the quality of the hanger here and the huge handful of fries that accompany it, and $15 corkage, it makes for one of the best quality-to-price ratios in our neighborhood. When we break down the cost of making steak frites at home, food is going to be in the mid-$30s with the hanger, potatoes, all the marinating ingredients, arugula, and probably something extra to make it different than other preps (like Sean Brock steak sauce). We'd drink a wine that isn't everyday cheap, probably between $25-40. So we'd already be in the $55-70 range for the both of us. Our bill at Bistro Campagne was $100 before tip (tip on the wine you bring, people). No dishes, no frying or frying-oil hassle and mess for the fries, and we get out of the house and go to an utterly pleasant restaurant space that has neighborhood charm. Big winner. And given how good their steak frites are, it's a bargain. A big one. PLUS! We have a glut of wines in our cellar that were bought with good intentions and former interest years ago that simply don't excite us like when we first bought them (I'm looking at you, 40 bottles of Right Bank Bordeaux). With $15 corkage, this is a perfectly productive way to shed these wines with food that goes with it. Might become a once-a-month thing.

How Was The Wine? The 2004 Gaston Chiquet Special Club Brut Millesime for lunch was nothing like Mr. Chiquet's other bottlings. Very loose, with tons of space. It wasn't vanilla. It was like the juice in the tank was NEAR vanilla. Or peach skin and cream. It was like the juice in the tank was NEAR peach skin and cream. Nice mousse and happy lift, with a minty undertone. Tasted like a unexpected yet welcome chilly breeze. We Loved it. We have no idea why we stopped drinking Champagne about a year ago. That'll be changing.

The 2007 Jonata "La Sangre de Jonata" Santa Ynez Valley Syrah, brought to Bistro Campagne and decanted there, needed a few more years and more air. Lovely violet, licorice, plum, tobacco, everything expected from this big-boy syrah (with 2% viognier), but with nice pauses and real elegance. Initially did feel very northern Rhône, but turned more Californian as the night went on, which wasn't unwelcome, but few surprises here underneath its alcohol and richness. We liked it. It was nice. And now we don't have it in the cellar, which is mostly fine with us. It was heady, and would still be a few years on, something we've mostly moved away from.

And The Pairing? The Gaston Chiquet was flat-out lovely with croques monsieur and chips. Just the best. And it kept changing; towards the end it felt like it was losing steam just a touch. The Jonata, though shortened a bit by a garlic bite, had real a presence and complete expression. Though again, maybe not an expression we love anymore. Like it, but paying $70-80 more for 10-15% more joy than, say, a Marietta Cellars or Owen Roe Ex Umbris...doesn't feel wise and certainly isn't in the budget. Also, some of these big boys can be surprisingly finicky with food. Since we don't drink red wine by itself...

Cost: $72 for food, $224 for wine = $296

Friday: Fenugreek-perfumed Black-Eyed Pea Curry, Naan and Raita with 2013 Recuerdo Torrontés La Rioja, Argentina

Source: From 660 Curries, page 321, "Fenugreek-Perfumed Black-Eyed Peas"

Food Details: Black-eyed peas, onion, garlic, ginger (added), peppers, tomatoes, dried fenugreek leaves, turmeric. Make the day before. It's better. Raita and naan, to dip, dunk and cool.

Did We Like It? It's now our favorite curry. This one helps on this day, because it's vegetarian and we have a large slab of meat on deck for tonight's meal. Lovely altering curry depth and lift, moving back-and-forth, up-and-down so nicely. Then the same back-and-forth, up-and-down with the altering curry-then-raita-on-naan bites. It's the best.

How Was The Wine? Fine enough torrontés. A higher floor for this torrontés in the cheap torrontés world, but nothing special. A little bit of Earthstone Sauvignon Blanc as well, just for funnsies.

And The Pairing? The floral notes in the torrontés brought a peek into the world of what good torrontés can be in the vindaloo/curry realm, but it never brought more than a peek. Even given that, this food was so good, with said peek, we were both quite tickled.

Cost: $9 for food, $12 for both wines = $21      

Thursday: Rotisserie Chicken with basil, tomatoes, arugula, pickled onions and ciabatta with NV Grifone Bianco Sicily

Food Details: After a chicken fail, have more chicken. Because who doesn't like chicken? Mariano's rotisserie chicken, ripped up into pieces, sliced tomatoes, pickled onions, arugula and mini-ciabatta buns. Build your own open-faced mini-sandwiches. It's pick-n-choose your own combination for each bite.

Did We Like It? Always. Easy and delicious. The basil and the stupid glaze Mariano's puts on their chicken was key. Both sets off this $5 riesling-moscato blend from Sicily in ways that's just strange. It's store-bought chicken and $5 wine...and it's perfect (also great with white BBQ sauce).

How Was The Wine? Fruity, bright, bouncy, and floral. For $5, this wine has a disproportionate amount of balanced refreshment.

And The Pairing? We wouldn't drink this wine by itself. It'd taste like $5. But with this meal, particularly this exact meal of Mariano's glazed chicken, tomatoes and basil (it needs all of those together), it turns into a great example of lightly floral, minerally refreshment with great snap. For me, it even offered more chicken skin notes in a different form. Oddly more savory than it's ever tasted, especially given that this is a riesling and moscato blend. We L-O-V-E this.

Cost: $13 for food, $5 for wine = $18
     
Wednesday: Let's Not Talk About It with 2012 Birichino Malvasia Bianca Monterey

Food Details: Failed chicken in mustard sauce. Weird texture on the chicken so we dumped it and had salami and dill havarti cheese with homemade Pugliese bread, which turned out quite nice. Mustard green salad with tomatoes and pickled onions. Filled a hole.

Did We Like It? See above.

How Was The Wine? Last bottle of Birichino Malvasia. Pretty elderflower and lime leaf. Happy stuff, but the failure of this meal clouded its loveliness.

And The Pairing? I can't believe I'm still writing words about this meal!

Cost: $5 for food, $28 for wine = $33

Tuesday: Lamb Chops, Charred Shallots, Yogurt, Tomato Vinaigrette and Pita with 2014 Broc Cellars Valdiguié Solano County and 2014 Charles & Charles Rosé Columbia Valley

Source: Melissa Clark shallot recipe, via NYT Cooking

Food Details: Trader Joe's lamb chops marinated in garlic, rosemary, evoo, soy and balsamic, seared medium-rare. Shallots, roasted in oven, placed over Middle Eastern yogurt, topped with parsley, mint and pomegranate seeds. Pita charred on the flat-top. Tomato vinaigrette to round out the meal.

Did We Like It? Mother F%7k! There was a lot of moaning, and strange sounds, and cursing. Here's a meal with flavors we have ALL the time, just in different proportions. It's Middle Eastern food, which is our favorite food, but this wasn't Middle Eastern food we've ever had before. The glut of yogurt coupled with the char of the shallots, the addition of herbs, all of that put on top of pita...again, all flavors we know well...but this was utterly different and stupidly delicious. It all came in the small adjustments to well-known goodness. This will be placed in the rotation and eaten once a month henceforth. Omit the meat (which also was so simple, yet so lovely here), substitute arugula and we'd be Just Fine for an easy weeknight meal that would completely satisfy every corner of our being (and serve it with any minerally, snappy white you like). The tomato vinaigrette was its usual goodness here, but superfluous. Not needed in the least.

How Was The Wine? The Broc Valdiguié was its typical loveliness. A well-made, light-bodied wine giving nice lilting notes of cherry, herbs and dried rose petals. A mismatch with this food though. We could have stayed with it and it would have been fine, but the Charles & Charles Rosé came off freshy French and jumped out of the glass with this food. Best this wine has shown for this vintage.

And The Pairing? The tomato vinaigrette and pita liked the valdiguié but shied away from the best part of this meal, the shallot-yogurt-pita bite. The Charles & Charles rosé didn't in the least. It loved every bite, turning gutsy and punchy in the best sense. This meal was so ridiculously great, words aren't gonna do it. Just make it, but skip the tomato vinaigrette until another day, when it can be the star of the show.

Cost: $29 for food, $39 for wine = $68

Monday: Asian Short Ribs with Star Anise and Tangerine, Kabocha Squash and Amaranth-Basil with 2010 Abacela Syrah Umpqua Valley 

Source: David Tanis recipe, via NYT Cooking

Food Details: Bison short ribs from Whole Foods (not always there, so buy them when they're there). Short ribs marinated with five-spice, tangerine zest and juice, ginger, garlic, etc., two-hour slow roast.  Roasted kabocha squash, wilted amaranth and basil, salad of tangerine-radish-scallions. Pan juice drizzled over bison and squash.

Did We Like It? There was a boatload to like here, though short ribs have a lower ceiling than many of our food loves. Juicy short ribs that went well with a multitude of different food bites. The amaranth-basil-meat combo was a big winner, but the kabocha squash and meat bite came in a close second. Nice with radish, solid with tangerine, this was a good meal. Mrs. Ney just wouldn't make it again.

How Was The Wine? With tangerine and five-spice, a tough match, but we found a wine that performed better than what most anything else would. The Abacela Syrah Estate is co-fermented with
1% viognier and includes 4% tempranillo, and each of them showed up to the party. Black fruits and plum, black and white pepper, cinnamon and smoke. Medium-bodied, trending more savory. But this was defined by its citrus-like acid that kept everything bouncy and buoyant, which helped immensely with the food.

And The Pairing? The wine changed with each bite, showing about ten different expressions with each chew-and-sip, all of them rather nice. Good wine guts here. Liked it muchly.

Cost: $25 for food, $27 for wine = $52