An Utterly Haphazard, Completely Unreliable, Probably Not Complete List of Our Favorite Food and Wine Of 2013

Our Best of 2013 list, chronicled by month.

Criteria for this list: Good food, good wine, buggy-bear pairing love, something unique, something we very specifically loved, just whatever struck our fancy and deserved a list-type spot.

In short, some big impressions of the year past.

So...good, very good and great are listed, with the meh, huh?, and terrible not listed. Because who has the time for the bad in life? Just move on.

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:

Brandade, Crostini & Tomato Salad With 2013 Laurent Miquel Albariño & 2012 Perfum de vi Blanc

Read Matt Kramer's piece in Wine Spectator on the dogma from both sides of the 'natural' wine debate. We couldn't agree more, as is the case with most everything that comes from Matt Kramer.

Last night's meal checked off all of the boxes in terms of goodness. Substantial without being gut-busting? Check. Fresh and clean? Check. Twenty different flavors that mingled well together? Check. Wines that played right into those flavors? Check.

This was utterly satisfying food. Some of the best this year. But if we'd eaten this without wine, it would have been a meal that fell into the category of mere consumption, instead of the long, lazy, slow, indulging event that it became.

Plus, some people say they could eat bacon every day. I could eat fish in some form and drink albariño with it every day of my life and never tire of it. That's my bacon.

Should have taken a picture, cuz this was pretty food. Jacques Pépin Brandade de Morue au Gratin, substituting celery root for potatoes, rice milk for milk, and white balsamic for lemon juice. House favorite. This one shed its dairy-and-potato heft that sometimes wanders into heaviness, becoming something quite lifty and light. Charred bread to dip. Tomato salad - one of the best things I've eaten this year - of campari and yellow grape tomatoes, lightly charred garlic scapes, celery leaves, red chile and fresh oregano. One ounce leftover Dante sheep cheese shredded on top, mixed, and then put over arugula dressed with lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil and white balsamic.

Top-10 meal this year. Spectacular brandade and a tomato salad that brought the new and new with a side of new. The way the sheep cheese and fresh oregano mingled with the tomatoes was a perfect bite of food. All of it together felt oh-so vacationy. We're counting the days until vacationy turns into  vacation. Please get here. Please.

#37 - Wine Can Chicken, Tomato Salad & Arugula With '06 Mas De Maha

Couldn't have changed in just two months, right?

Couldn't have...?

We returned to Wine Can Chicken last night. With the Mediterranean feel of the meal, something Rhône-ish seemed fitting and we weren't in the mood for an actual Rhône.

Food: Wine can chicken with tomato salad/arugula and baguette with butter

No glaze this time. Chicken was rubbed in salt, pepper, copious amounts of cumin and baking soda, left in the refrigerator overnight. Glaze was put on the side in an attempt to see if the skin will crust up better.

Boy did it. Salty, crispy goodness. Best skin so far. Might have missed the molasses quality that comes with the glaze a wee bit, but that was made up for by the utter crispiness of the skin. I can see us switching back and forth between glaze and no glaze in the future.

Juicy, more simple roast chicken without the glaze.

We had the same tomato salad with this wine just two months ago. Cherry tomatoes, parsley, mint, red onion, pomegranate molasses, pomegranate seeds, thyme, lemon juice, peppers, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper - made and allowed to sit and marinate in itself. It's Turkish.

Exploding, bright, acidic salad without washing out your mouth with an acid bath. I could eat this concoction three times a week and never get sick of it.

Solid, solid meal.

Wine: 2006 Villa Creek Mas de Maha ($22 Binny's)

We're getting to the point here at Food With Wine where we can do real comparisons with wine and different food pairings. That's been the intent. Copious notes that don't rely on my brain. 100 pairings is the goal and then we'll reevaluate its utility.

Last time we drank the Mas de Maha, we had it with hanger steak, plantains and the same tomato salad and loved every second of it.

This is maybe the fifth time we've had the Mas de Maha and the consensus has been that it pairs perfectly with Cuban-influenced food. It seems unlikely that the Mas de Maha has changed in two months, but the price did mysteriously drop from $31 to $22 at Binny's. Did something change? The result last night makes me wonder.

What made this wine great was the tempranillo in the blend (60% tempranillo, 20% grenache, 20% mourvèdre). The cherry notes and the lifting quality of the grape brought a lightness and brightness to the wine while still retaining a nice heft. It could have been the food, but that seemed to fall last night.

Used to be a bit of tobacco and herb nose, with plum and cherry fruit on the palate. Never tannic, though. And that makes me think this might be changing rather quickly. Where the fruit was always concentrated, you could distinguish between the fruits and there was a lightness that seemed to defy what you were tasting. Last night was gobs of raspberry pie filling and some black pepper, like the grenache is starting to overtake the tempranillo, and it lost some of that lightness.

Still good stuff, just not what it used to be.

I never found a drinking window for this wine on the internet, usually meaning it's a drink early and often wine. But that big a difference in two months? I doubt this matters, but last night's came from the $22 batch while the one two months ago came from the $31 batch. Hmm.

With a few bottles left, we might relegate it to a meal we know works in an attempt to extend its pairing life - Cuban or Latin food.

Pairing: Perfectly good, just not what we were expecting

Even after saying all this, I liked the pairing.

Everything worked just fine, helping the chicken in small ways and standing up to the tomato salad.

We've had other offerings from Villa Creek and they came off a bit syrupy for my taste. The Mas de Maha never did. Last night, it kinda had that.

Mas de Maha = Cuban food, particularly with plantains and red meat fat from this point out.

#14 - Hanger Steak, Plantains, Tomato Salad and Rice With '06 Mas De Maha

Bad day to be an Angels fan.

In the span of three minutes, Lackey signed with the Red Sox and Halladay and Lee came off the market.

So it was with an open heart that a meal such as this took place.

Villa Creek's Mas de Maha opened us up to California wines. Before, we saw them as just too big, too forceful, too obvious without any subtlety.

Without any fun.

What was seen as not even an option, especially given our relative inexperience with some regions we loved and desire to explore those more, California, particularly Rhône blends, were suddenly on the table.

Food: Hanger Steak with Plantains, Tomato Salad and Rice

I was struck most with how Californian the meal felt. Something about nicely-charred, simple beef with simple rice and a Mediterranean tomato salad with acidity and fresh herbs that made it feel fresh, seasonal, clean and balanced.

And that's from a meal that should have felt mildly Cuban with the hanger and plantains.

Tomato salad made it. Cherry tomatoes, parsley, mint, red onion, pomegranate molasses, pomegranate seeds, thyme, lemon juice, peppers, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper - made and allowed to sit and marinate in itself. It's Turkish. Probably made the meal, at least for me.

Wine: 2006 Villa Creek Mas de Maha - $30 Binny's

Only inspired by Rhône blends, this one's 60% Tempranillo, 20% Grenache and 20% Mourvèdre from Paso Robles.

Fine by itself but flat-out ridiculous with food. Bring a little Latin flavors to the plate and it's sublime. Dark purple in the glass and a hint of wet tobacco on the nose, it displays tons of dark plum with a great contrast of blackberry. Concentrated fruit. Tannins are there but never pronounced, serving to properly separate flavors. Wild herbs play in the background with a little smoke. Easy drinking.

A seamlessness to the flavors keeps us coming back. Everything flows so well.

Pairing: Might be our Definition of Perfect

I was a bit shocked that the acidity so prevalent in the tomato salad didn't kill the wine. Just a little hollowness on the mid-palate. The Grenache peeked its head out as well, bringing some black pepper notes.

Overall, the Tempranillo does the bulk of the work with its characteristic plum and cherry notes with a hint of vanilla (Spanish Tempranillo usually has cherry first). What you get with food is a grape that doesn't try to get in the way. Always enough acidity and tannins to hold up just enough with flavors to compliment a wide range of cuisine. Double down on that with Latin-influenced food-type stuff. Explosive and quite memorable.

A slight gaminess brought on by, I assume, the Mourvèdre played well with the beef alone. But with the beef and plantains together, all the elements of the wine came together and became a perfect expression, in our world, of a great wine and food pairing. Everything was elevated.

Really. It's exactly what you want from a pairing, especially for a mere $30.

#119 - Chicken Thighs And Skordalia With Two American Albariños

Two American albariños with Greek-style chicken and Turkish-inspired salad (on Polish plates with Austrian wine glasses all served on a $5 coffee table from Iowa. I can keep going...).

We accidentally went global because the soft flavors from the night before warranted it.

We wanted Flavors and we got it.

Food: Chicken thighs with skordalia and tomato salad

Chicken thighs simply roasted in the cast iron skillet and put over a big, mushy pile of skordalia.

A change-up from the previous preparation, this time using up the bread in the kitchen in place of potatoes. Almonds, bread, garlic, lemon, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice blended into a purée that on first taste, I thought it was a modified hummus. Great garlic punch here with a smoothness and non-dairy creaminess that coated every inch of my mouth.

Chicken thighs that served more as an vehicle for the skordalia. Together, the skordalia dominated but that's exactly what we wanted.

The entire meal came down to the beautiful garlic hit and smoothness of the purée and the contrasting acid bath from the tomato salad.

I heart this tomato salad with every fiber of my being. Tastes like mowing the lawn on a 90 degree day and then drinking a tall glass of ice-cold water. Insanely fresh, this time done without the pomegranate seeds usually incorporated to pair up with red wine (usually Mas de Maha). Cherry tomatoes, oregano, parsley, mint, red onion, thyme, lemon juice, peppers, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper. Mixed and left to sit for a bit to marry. Wakes up every possible taste bud in your mouth and we need to have it more often.

It felt like getting back on the horse in many ways. After having some largely uninspired food in Portugal and slogging through post-vacation ennui, it was an entirely welcome food night.

And the wine helped.

Wine: 2008 Bonny Doon Ca' Del Solo Albariño ($18 - Randolph Wine Cellars) & 2008 Abacela Albariño ($18 - Binny's)

Ca' Del Solo from Monterey County in California. Abacela from the Umpqua Valley in southern Oregon.

Bonny Doon's an interesting story. Their vines were destroyed by Pierce's disease in 1994 and they took that as an opportunity to get out of the big production world and into small production, terroir-driven wines. Now, they grow a ton of Rhône varieties along with a flurry of boutiquey-style grapes.

This one is 75% albariño, 21% loureiro and 4% treixadura, all grapes primarily grown both in Galicia in Spain and Vinho Verde in Portugal. It's also biodynamically-grown.

Minerals dominate with a precursor to a banana creaminess. Refined and understated citrus notes with some grapefruit, touch of melon, flowers and maybe even grass that made it wander into a sauvignon blanc realm for a time. Crisp but not over-the-top with a nice underlying acid in balance with everything else. Jumped around, vacillating between the different fruit notes yet still retaining its base of cream/slight butter/hint of oil base. Got better as it came up in temperature.

Not bursting with personality but in a good way. Light. Would be a good afternoon drinker on its own. The price makes it difficult for that, though.

The 2008 Abacela seems to be falling apart but drank well enough to enjoy moments. Clunky limeade, some nice melon tones and flat club soda notes with a wacky acidic edge that blew right past quenching and settled into tart and unwieldy for sips. Hasn't seemingly aged well in a very short time but some elements present in the initial bottle that we loved of this one showed up to the party with a bowl of fresh citrus showing best very cold in the glass. When very young, the Abacela exhibits a quirky citrus-pear-apple-creamy nut-crispy goodness that demands we follow it and we do (and will).

Pairing: 87 Mixed, largely welcome bag with the food

As the Bonny Doon came up in temperature, it enhanced all the separate flavors in the skordalia and chicken quite nicely. Tasted more of everything. The Abacela also had its base hits with its lime-lemon notes blending right into the Greeky purée just fine at times.

The tomato salad was predictably a land mine, though. Served best with the Bonny Doon more as a basic food-wine accompaniment but it had the guts to hang with the acid in the tomatoes and keep the basic elements of itself, though it was kind of spectacular with a big oregano bite. The Acabela hollowed out, finishing with something that resembled inhaling a cleanser vapor.

The 2008 Abacela seems to be hanging on for dear life but still occasionally told some funny stories. The 2008 Ca' Del Solo reminded me of the Do Ferreiro in some ways. Nice, light, refined, tasty but not exactly what we want from albariño. All that said, though, we liked what happened last night.

It had Flavors with enough complexity and nuance in the wine to enjoy everything that was happening.

#288 - Spiced Lamb Riblets With '10 Villa Creek Garnacha & Tapas With Albariño & Malvasia

Indian, Spanish and 4th of July-inspired food this week.

Served along with torrontés, Slovenian zelen, albariño, malvasia, New World grenache and pinot noir.

A rather lavish three-day spread. That's how we celebrated Independence Day.

That and staying out of the oppressiveness of outside, a brutality of heat so brutal that we skipped Winnemac Park fireworks this year. And from the relative lack of long and sustained firework bangs coming from two blocks away, so did mostly everyone else.

But we ate like people do on the 4th. American-inspired food with American wine. Can't say we're not flag-wavers.

Food: Barbecue-like lamb riblets, tomato salad and corn on the cob

#193 - Memorial Day Hodgepodge

We stayed in for the holiday due to the 90-degree heat.

We don't enjoy hot.  If northern California didn't have earthquakes, we'd probably be living there.  Since it does, we'll just visit.  Next trip in three months.

But that's not to say we don't enjoy a hot day with a dip in the pool followed by lounging around on the patio afterwards with a bottle of wine.  We thought we could take or leave that before experiencing such a glorious 'that' at Quinta do Vallado winery in the Douro Valley last September.

While basking in the afterglow of a pool dip in 90-degree heat there, we drank a bottle of white from the winery.  I wanted to get all nostalgic and recreate that on the first hot day in Chicago with the same wine.  Yesterday was that hot day.

So we did.

Lunch:  Tomato salad, mozzzarella di bufala and baguette


Tomato salad made with tomatoes, red onion, garlic, fresno and jalapeño peppers, basil, oregano, white balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.  Mediterranean and all get-out and delicious stuff.

A ball of sliced mozzarella di bufala drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and topped with a handful of fresh basil leaves.  Baguette to mix and match.

Silly good lunch that tasted like a lunch that needs to be eaten once a week.  It's the very core of What We Want.

#279 - Shrimp Lunch With '10 Strub Riesling & Greek Dinner With '09 Villa Creek Avenger

Hey, it was thigh-soaking hot last Memorial Day as well.

And we went Greek then, too!

And we had Villa Creek wine just a few days before last May Remembrance with ropa vieja, a meal we were just talking about last night!

This is eerie. Moon cycles or something.

Our pairings were better this May holiday than last, with a quality bargain riesling and a surprisingly savory Villa Creek number that I think shows the vintage and the work Villa Creek put in to create something rather delicious.

Lunch:  Leek-saffron shrimp and bread for juice dipping with 2010 Strub Niersteiner Brückchen Riesling Kabinett ($18 - WDC)

#299 - Two New House Favorites With Two Wines

Back to home flavors after Rioja with two meals that epitomize new home flavors.

New in the sense of taking old favorites and tweaking them, moving old faves forward, keeping them fresh and new.

The first meal, Symon roasted chicken with down-and-dirty salsa verde and a tomato-corn-arugula salad, has become new with the weekly visits to the Lincoln Square Farmers' Market. Where roasted chicken used to reach such great heights with a simple roasting of the bird and tossing down some Fancy French cheese with good bread to slather with said cheese and sop up bird juice (that phrase sounds weird), the newness of the new comes in the impeccably fresh salad ingredients in various forms that become more than just side salad.

To wit. Here, the tomatoes were stupid-ripe and bursting with proper tomato flavor. Take advantage now. Not much time left in that realm. And it's corn season, folks. Use it and abuse it until you're sick of it. Predicted to be the worst crop in 17 years (news that piques an Iowan's interest, like me, because that was the de facto, 'the sky is falling,' grocery store-coffee shop-Casey's conversation everyday growing up), here was delicious corn complementing the tomato in great ways.

So...Michael Symon roasted chicken (chronicled many times on this here blog), this time an enormous Whole Foods five-pounder with a shimmering golden skin and juicy (even the breast) meat. One of the better ones of late. Tomato and corn salad with an arugula bed which was more about the tomato and corn than the arugula. Salsa verde, It's salsa verde in a different form, loaded with dirty delicious anchovy-caper flavor that's cleaned up in such a new, lifty way by the parsley-mint-olive oil driver (plagarized myself there). It's the thing on the side that sits there, saying, "Use me how you like. I don't care. Salad? Sure! Taste that! Chicken? Yep! Told ya. All of it together? That's what I'm about." Whole Foods Seeduction bread with butter to round things out.

Brandade & Fava-Corn-Avocado Salad With 2006 Marc Hebrart Special Club

Puréed fish and stupid-fresh salad with the best showing of Marc Hebrart in our limited Marc Hebrart world.

This is fancy Champagne that's still a little tight after seven years off the vine and two years in bottle. But it comported itself quite nicely with this food, never leading the way but never stepping back, always standing shoulder-to-shoulder with what was on the plate and leading to a meal that expanded out and opened up so much space in which to frolic and enjoy.

Food: Brandade and fava-corn-avocado-tomato salad

Best home brandade yet. Third one, I believe. The key may have come in using Fustini's white balsamic (crap. now I want that lemongrass mint business) instead of lemon juice, offering much greater and more integrated acid depth than previous versions. You buy that. It's not cheap but if you're making food, why not MAKE food?

Jacques Pépin brandade recipe (natch), using rice milk instead of cow. Salad of fava beans, corn, avocado, tomato, onion, lemon thyme and parsley, tossed with white balsamic and olive oil. It's our favorite summer salad with Colicchio Thai-style watermelon-radish certainly in the mix. Baguette to dip, dunk and dive.

We knew this would be good, just not as wide in flavors and goodness as it was.

More home happy food.

The wine helped to bring "the happy."

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #4

Ever buy tickets to a show a couple of months in advance and think at the time, "That will be fun. Dinner and show downtown during the summer. It'll be a nice night out." 

Then the show begins to approach, and slowly you begin to think, "Why are we going to see this person. He's fine and all, but...did we really just PAY money to see this person?" 

That'll happen this week. We'll see. 

Update: Completely fun show. A professional, veteran comic that knows how to entertain. 

Total food and wine cost for the week: $89 for food and $110 for wine = $199

Total food and wine cost for the month: $361 for food and $555 for wine = $916


Sunday: Big Greek Salad with 2014 Sigalas Assyrtiko Santorini

Food Details: Greeky salad of kumatoes, kalamata olives, onions, green pepper, corn, salami, feta, dill and oregano, over arugula, dressed with white wine vinegar (red for Mrs. Ney - a mistake, she said, with the wine), olive oil, salt and pepper. Buttered mini-ciabatta buns on the side. "A Big Salad….it's a salad, only bigger, with lots of stuff in it ..."

Did We Like It? Both of us worked hard this Sunday. A Big Greek Salad helps in forgetting the bad parts of most of that hard work, leaving, "Yeah. That sucked. But look what in front of me on the plate! It's a Big Greek Salad! I need nothing more right now."

How Was The Wine? We loved the 2014 with fried haloumi, skordalia, pita, and tomato-fennel salad in May. Pretty minerals and acid with wonderful length and gaps. Less so this time.

And The Pairing? It had the acid we wanted overall with the food, but became a little clipped and moody with the red wine vinegar for Mrs. Ney and the green pepper for me. Not everything we wanted in terms of pairing paradise, but still the kind of meal where you pause halfway through, lean back like Costanza's girlfriend after the risotto, and relish in the goodness.

Cost: $9 for food, $22 for wine = $31


Saturday: Dirty Rice with 2013 Michel Léon Vin D'Alsace Gewürztraminer 

Source: Recipe here, from Susan Spicer via Food & Wine, recipe halved.

Food Details: Andouille chicken sausages, wild rice, mirepoix, chicken stock, herbs, ground pork, chicken livers, chopped scallions on top, habanero hot sauce added. It's a big, honkin' bowl of rice chockablock with meaty, herby, Cajun flavors.

Did We Like It? Always do. It's strangely deep and dirty, while being simultaneously clean. Probably have it four times a year. Rotation food that pops up when the crave hits.

How Was The Wine? It's $10 gewürztraminer, sold at Trader Joe's, that's better than any we've had in this price range, and even a bit above. We don't particularly like gewürztraminer, mostly because they can be more hit-and-miss than other grapes we like (i.e. - we don't take a chance on a random gewürztraminer in a store just for funnsies. We gotta know if it's going to be good).  But it picks up spice, herbs and heat well. Get one with a nice sweetness and acidity play and it can elevate itself to something quite nice with the right food. Michel Leon is our default gewürztraminer because it always delivers. Its shimmering and bouncy acid lifts the lychee and grapefruit notes to something that tastes elevated and sprite-like. As it did here with heat, herbs and Cajun accents here.

And The Pairing? The wine was a great refresher, countering everything in the bowl quite well, particularly with the excess hot sauce I dumped on top. WHEW! That was HOT for the few first bites!

Cost: $9 for food, $10 for wine = $19
      

Friday: Chicken Parmesan and Garlic Bread with 2012 Trader Joe's Barbera Mendocino County

Food Details: Chicken breasts, breaded, fried. Mozzarella from Monday and tomato sauce dumped on top, then baked off. Basil on top. Pugliese bread, sliced, slathered with a butter, olive oil, parsley and garlic spread, broiled off.

Did We Like It? It's a "use stuff up and eat like it's 1986!" dinner. The fancy restaurant near my hometown growing up was Rastrelli's, an Italian-American place where everyone went for their graduation-reception-"just got my braces off!" dinner. This meal tastes like I just got my braces off (and this is still on the menu at Rastrelli's, by the way). Homey, goopy and delicious.

How Was The Wine? It's our house red for weekday Italian meals, because it's juicy, bright and friendly, with an underlying spicy edge. We always wonder if we should have something different and inevitably wander back to this one, because it delivers.

And The Pairing? Lively and lovely. Simple Italian-American meal with a wine that kept things on the bright side.

Cost: $12 for food, $10 for wine = $22


Thursday: Fava Bean and Ricotta Salata Strozzapreti with 2014 Quinta de Porrais Branco Douro 

Source: Recipe here, via Lidia's Italy, using strozzapreti instead of cavatelli.

Food Details: Onions sweated with garlic and red pepper flakes. Fava beans added to the pan with some pasta water and reduced down to a sauce. Strozzapreti, cooked, drained. Fava-onion-garlic sauce added to the added to the pasta in the pasta cooking vessel and swirled, plated. Dressed with ricotta salata, pecorino, dill, tarragon and parsley.

Did We Like It? Best batch yet! Less of a saucy-sauce this time, which allowed the dill and tarragon to come through, taking this batch to a different place, and we loved it. This is great with fresh fava, it does make a difference, but bagged fava didn't leave us wanting here at all. It's a simple dish where the triangulation of the fava, ricotta salata and onions is simple Italian cooking on full display.

How Was The Wine? We were stunned to hear Francisco Olazabal of Quinta do Vale Meão made a white Douro wine at Quinta de Porrais, about an hour northwest of Vale Meão in the Douro Superior. How did we not know this? High elevation, cooler climate; 55% códega do larinho and 45% rabigato. It's at Perman Wine for $14 (and somehow about $4 at Jumbo - a strange, but pleasant supermarket chain all over Portugal - like if K-Mart and Jewel had a baby). This might be the best expression of a Douro white we've had. Cool climate gaseousness and acid. Plenty of space offered to enjoy its subtle hints of flowers and spiced pears at your leisure, with only of hint of honeydew, something that typically takes Douro whites to a rather basic, boring place. This isn't a fancy white. It's just all the Douro white parts in all the right places. And it LOVED this food.

And The Pairing? The dill, tarragon and parsley medley made for a firmer, greeny background in this plate of food and the wine picked up on it and ran, rounding and extending itself out beautifully. While the finish reminded you of what you just tasted, just in case you forgot. This is a fairly versatile meal. We've had it with frappato, Sancerre, even a Douro red from Duorum. This was the best yet. Just the tops. We bought four bottles when we heard this existed. After having this meal, we bought four more two hours later. They'll be gone by winter.

Cost: $16 for food, $14 for wine = $30          


Wednesday: Cornish Game Hens, Amaranth Greens and Pretzel Rolls with 2013 Broc Cellars Mourvèdre Martian Vineyard SBC

Food Details: Cornish game hens (domestic - Harvesttime - $3.69/bird), spatchcocked (fun word to say, along with dessert - a schichttorte), stuffed with a fig jam/kalamata tapenade under the skin (David Leibovitz), roasted Dorie Greenspan-style (from Around My French Table, a book that's been good to us, page 225). Amaranth greens, leaves removed, tender stems sauteed with a shallot, garlic; leaves wilted in that pan; drizzled with balsamic. Lemon spritz on bird and greens. LaBriola pretzel dinner rolls, butter and lavender jam.

Did We Like It? We liked the "lil chickens!" Could be a good vehicle for other "lil chickens!" preparations down the road on the cheap. And the tapenade was delicious. But these amaranth greens are just the tops. We've had amaranth greens once or twice before and liked them. Bump that up to LOVE with this meal. These are rarely stocked in Mrs. Ney's supermarket sweep. You see them, you buy them. All sorts of greeny-planty-earthy goodness here. Grown-up greens. Pretzel rolls with butter and lavender jam that brought more "Holy crap! That's delicious!" shouts. Overall, we liked it. My goodness, we liked it.

How Was The Wine? More Broc being Broc. Smelled like smoky brisket right away. Turned into a light mourvèdre that highlighted its floral-bright fruit character with low alcohol, light spice and sunny disposition. There's something that Broc Cellars does with their reds. About 2/3 of the way down, a place where many reds concentrate, get a little showy, strut around, try to show how masculine they can be, Broc allows space at this point. There's a pause to allow food to frolic. That's why we love them. Same with this mourvèdre. Because...

And The Pairing? So freakin' perfect with the amaranth greens, taking this wine to a maximum expression. Long, broad, juicy, rich, balanced; everything on full display. A bit short with the game hen and tapenade, which was surprising. Figured we had a match there. But with these greens, it made the entire meal into something memorable. One of those times where you say, "Why do people care so little about their food and wine pairing when this exists in the world?"

Cost: $15 for food, $24 for wine = $39               


Tuesday: Peanut Chicken Satay, Pot Stickers and Carrot Salad with Watermelon Sangria

Food Details: Chicken satay using peanut sauce from the freezer (golly! Was this from TWO years ago?). Surprisingly great freezer sauce, vacillating nicely between peanuty and coconuty; concentrated, yet light. Chicken, sauced and skewered, grilled off. Trader Joe's vegetable pot stickers. Here's a product good enough to avoid making pot stickers if you don't have the oomph to make pot stickers, pan seared, then steamed, and delicious. Multi-colored carrots for carrot salad. Ponzu for drizzling and dipping. Extra peanut sauce for dipping.

Did We Like It? We did. "This is really pleasant," was the phrase of the night. Pan-Asian flavors that satisfied the Asian-flavor jones, quite nicely, thank you very much.

How was the booze? Watermelon purée from the freezer, lychee juice steeped in lemongrass leaves, mint, manzano pepper, ginger beer, liter bottle of 2014 Innovac!ón Malbec-Syrah Rosé Mendoza ($8 - Whole Foods). Sangria? More of a delicious spritzer. We got all of the flavors included at first sip, then it become so broad and friendly about a 1/3 of the way down. Thought about adding gin, then abandoned adding gin, because gin is satan's spawn the day after for us.

And the pairing? Pleasant and friendly, friendly and pleasant, we liked this. Great minimum goodness across the board. Floor was raised with every bite and every sip. At $5 a plate and about $10 total for the booze, we say big winner in terms of dollars-to-satisfaction ratio.

Cost: $10 for food, $10 for booze = $20  


Monday: True-Blue Pick-n-Choose with Laurent Savoye "Magma des Granites" Vin Mousseaux Rouge

Food details: Heirloom tomato, salt, peppered and oiled. Celery and fennel seed mostarda (fun word to say in combination with dessert - a blueberry/peach crostata). Sliced roast beef. Salami. Marinated mozzarella balls (barely eaten). Arugula-parsley-basil salad. Baguette. Pick-n-choose on crack.

Did We Like It? Yeah. Definitely certain combos. Way too much food, a result of trying to turn the all elements of caprese that we had on hand into a dinner. Big winner here was a baguette, mostarda, salad and heirloom tomato bite. So gosh darn fresh and vertical in flavor. Mostarda-roast beef-bread = happy. In the end, a fine and good pick-n-choose with a garden-like quality. But this wine, man... This wine...

How Was The Wine? Outrageously good. A mousse-y gamay from Beaujolais, this was jumpy, jaunty, juicy, light and delicious. Round and upfront blueberry-blackberry fruit. Big herby background. Tasted like eating black fruits right from your picking basket, seeds, dirt, vines, leaves and all. Straightforward bubbly red that's so friendly and done oh-so well. It's $20, from Vin Chicago, and can't be recommended more highly.

And The Pairing? A baguette, mostarda, salad and heirloom tomato bite with a sip made the wine become an HD 4K version of itself. On a 90" TV. Rather ridiculous stuff. Nice with the roast beef. Less so with salami. Less-less so with the cheese and greens. But this wine, man... This wine... We'll be buying much more.

Cost: $18 for food, $20 for wine = $38

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #6

Watch Two Days, One Night. It's the Dardenne brothers doing what the Dardenne brothers do best - break your heart. Netflix.

I can't recommend more highly this GQ's cover story of Stephen Colbert.

And NYT's piece on Amazon will make me avoid Amazon until I'm shopping for something and it's wildly cheaper on Amazon. That's when the true test of my half-baked conviction will be put to the test. We'll see.

Birthday Week!

Total food and wine cost for the week: $120 for food and $331 for wine = $451


Sunday: Smoked Trout and Salami Pasta Salad with 2014 Quinta de Porrais Branco Douro

Source: The New Basics Cookbook; One If By Land Pasta (page 143)

Food Details: Fusilli pasta mixed with smoked trout, salami, green pepper, onion, dill, parsley, salt, pepper, crème fraiche, olive oil and white wine vinegar. Old School pasta salad from an Old School cookbook that never gets old.

Did We Like It? It's fresh. It's bright. It's substantial. It's delicious. Great vehicle for dill with fish. And there's something about the green pepper in this salad. Green pepper's utility is limited as a showcase/integral flavor in almost anything, but it works here in spades. Nothing fancy, just a big pasta salad with a lot of Stuff in it.

How Was The Wine? Last had here. It's a $14 Douro white with all the goodness of Douro whites, but without the "hey, that's good...like that part...oooo, that's nice...ah, ya just lost me. Damn!" It's complete in every sense. I bought what possibly could be too much of this wine for its drinking window so I tried to shoehorn it into this meal.

And The Pairing? Weirdly good. The salami gobbled up the acid in the wine, leaving it without a refreshment that normally wouldn't work here, but the firm body and texture with this one picked up the slack, leaving a unique expression of delicate flowers and fruit with wisps of gassy minerals. But not flat. Vertical flavors that came in stages. The wine's youth and great winemaking took a meal that needed an acidic snap from the wine, pivoted, adjusted and found a way to offer something unique and good. Big surprise.

Cost: $17 for food, $14 for wine: $31
  

Saturday: Porchetta and Asparagus Flatbread with 2014 Trader Joe's Reserve Pinot Gris Yountville Napa

Food Details: Leftover Syrian Bread from Friday topped with herbed cream cheese, asparagus, onion and thinly sliced porchetta. Simple. Easy. Done.

Did We Like It? Yeah. Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. Don't know if the more expensive porchetta offered more than simple ham would have, but a modicum of "hey, you're more fancy" was achieved. Good stuff.

How Was The Wine? A new Trader Joe's bottle, just in and the first time it's been sold, I believe. For $9 and for all that it offers, it pushes the bounds of acceptable, but just enough acidity, pleasing gas, and a watery, but sunny Napa fruit burst. Liked the order in which it brought everything.

And The Pairing? Big blast of pleasing pineapple in the wine with this food. And it gathered more body with each bite. Really, not a bad little wine. Liked it. Interesting enough weekday one-off.

Cost: $11 for food, $9 for wine = $20
  

Friday: Pissaladière and Herb Salad with 2009 Didier Dagueneau Silex Pouilly-Fumé

Source: Recipe here.

Food Details: Onions, carmelized. Lemon thyme, garlic and Muscadet added, cooked down. Onions put on top of Syrian bread with oil-cured olives and anchovies, baked for 10 minutes. Herb salad with tomatoes.

Did We Like It? Not the best version, but acceptable.

How Was The Wine? QUIET! The 2009 Silex was one of our favorite wine experiences, at Etxebarri in Spain. We gave up on it here. Gave. Up! It had all the hallmark flavors of Silex, but way too quiet, and without the vibrancy, electricity, lift and life typically of it. Usually it's a tour de force. Quiet and a bit tired here. Just never wanted to get going and show itself. This is our first bad experience with Silex, a wine I've pronounced on many occasions to be my favorite wine on the planet. Makes me want to open another to wipe this experience out of my mind.

And The Pairing? Nope. The 2007 worked beautifully last year with pissaladière. Off bottle this time. Stored perfectly, even decanted it once we realized it wasn't perking up. No-go. C'est la vie.

Cost: $8 for food, $135 for wine = $143  


Thursday: Greek Hand Pies and Tomato Yogurt with 2014 Earthstone Sauvignon Blanc Sonoma County

Food Details: Using up leftovers! So...Greek hand pies. Phyllo stuffed with leftover chicken from Semiramis, amaranth greens, leftover kale from Tuesday, feta, scallions, mint, oregano. Yogurt blended with tomato to glop on top.

Did We Like It? Worked quite nicely. Three hand pies for each of us. Everything you'd want from a Greeky weekday meal in hand-pie form. The tomato yogurt made it. Something about how tomatoes blended into yogurt. It gets all 'essence of tomato'-ish.

How Was The Wine? A perfectly good substitute for the $5 Trader Joe's Sauvignon Blanc from Napa that's out of stock right now (and frankly, the last vintage wasn't its usual deliciousness in $5 form). Has that Napa-Sonoma sauvignon blanc fruit, but more restrained, less bullyish, something that more expensive Napa SB can become when the winemaker tries to get all showy, which is why we don't buy them. Nice body, lilty-bouncy acid, pleasing all-around.

And The Pairing? We found what we wanted - a refreshment, mop-up and cleanse, without the wine's flavor getting lost in the process of doing that.

Cost: $8 for food, $5 for wine = $13


Wednesday: Anne Burrell Chicken Milanese with NV Trader Joe's Reserve Brut Sparkling North Coast

Source: Recipe here. Make it, eat it, and you'll make it 200 more times throughout the course of your life. It's that good.

Food Details: Chicken breasts, breaded. Quick-pickle red onions. Pecorino-nut-herb dry gremolata-ish goodness. Arugula. Mini-ciabatta, buttered.

Did We Like It? Yep. Always. Good batch here to boot.

How Was The Wine? The superlative greatness that is the Owen Roe Pinot Gris Crawford Beck Vineyard with this meal can be mimicked with any wine giving a minimum of snappy acid. Matthiasson Tendu White (the 2014's haven't shown up in Chicago yet - c'mon!), a good falanghina, albariño, you get it. The Trader Joe's Brut Sparkling does the job, and did here. Nothing ridiculously great, just "fine and good." With this food, it's all you mostly need.

And The Pairing? Decent cut, nice froth to cushion, stood up to the pickled onions, no complaints whatsoever.

Cost: $11 for food, $10 for wine = $21


Tuesday: Yakitori-marinated hanger steak, yuca fries and Tuscan kale salad with 2006 Quinta do Vale Meão Douro

Food Details: Freezer yakitori mixed with olive oil and rosemary. Hanger steak, seared medium-rare. Post-sear marinade of hanger with yakitori, with extra on the side for drizzling. Yuca fries fried up. Semiramis garlic sauce mixed with mayo and lemon zest for dipping. Tuscan kale salad (Melissa Clark recipe).

Did We Like It? Umm...I don't want to get all superlative here (it's eventually going to a big yes, it'll just take me some time to get there...), but this food (which is a house staple) with this wine from Vale Meão (always for "The Special") reminded us of how Avec, when Koren Grieveson worked there, informed Mrs. Ney's concept of What Is Good. Umami, earth, high salt, high acid. It's food your tummy wants. It's food your soul wants. The food we eat is utterly influenced by Ms. Grieveson's food and this food is a prime example. Soy sauce, rosemary, crunchy-creamy yuca, not wimpy garlic - garlic galore, RAW greens providing cut and planty-ness. The beef here was even secondary, mainly serving as a vehicle for the yakitori, and bringing a beefy-meaty depth to the overall meal. We loved this. Birthday week happy food. It's steak frites taken to a more personal level.

How Was The Wine? Surprising as hell. We've had the Vale Meão vintages from 2002 through 2007 with more in the hopper. This 2006 was the lightest Vale Meão has shown to us and it's not even close. Had everything Vale Meão has - kirsch, plum, earth, cocoa, sweet mesquite - but ticked them off like a greatest hits of the winery, all enveloped in a shockingly light body. There was a lot of swearing and silly pauses-stares as we enjoyed every sip. This drinking was YET ANOTHER example why Quinta do Vale Meão is one of our top-three favorites wine on the planet.

And The Pairing? Perfection. Vale Meão loves soy sauce. Always has. And garlic. And rosemary. And kale, weirdly. It just LOVES these things so why would we mess with that? A lot of people don't care about wine pairings. They think it's too complicated and/or unnecessary. Others think you don't have to be that fussy. We say "BUNK!" Not when we can have a dinner like this, a dinner that reminds us that the joy of food and wine is...wait for it...the Joy of Life (just threw up a bit in my mouth, but it's true).

Cost: $30 for food, $120 for wine = $150


Monday: Semiramis with 2014 Domaine Guiberteau Saumur Blanc Les Moulins and NV Albero Cava Brut

Food Details: Two orders of hummus, pita, fattoush, whole chicken, arabic coffee and date/walnut maamoul cookies

Did We Like It? One of the best leisurely dinners out in the world in a good long while. Our love for Middle Eastern food for us began with Semiramis (Lebanese here, specifically) about ten years ago. I have no idea how we were directed to this place, but we're so glad we didn't have to waste too much time with other Middle Eastern restaurants because it begins and ends with Semiramis. It's the atmosphere, the flavors, the owner Joseph who feels like a friend, his staff over the years that have been nothing but great, just everything. We can't replicate this food. We can get close, but when we take into account the utter comfort of his sun-drenched dining room and an atmosphere that's come to feel like home, it's one of the best meals out in Chicago. BYO and silly cheap.

How Was The Wine? This place can make for a funky match. We've found decent enough pairings over the years (I seem to remember liking the Crios Malbec Rosé more than I thought I should), but Loire chenin blanc, and specifically Saumur, even more specifically Guiberteau Saumur, was a revelation a few years ago, especially with his hummus. It's the kind of individual pairing that can make a meal. The Guiberteau entry-level blanc worked that time. This time, a cuvée that I THINK is a new bottling for this winery. Softer than the entry-level and a little tight, a underlying buttery texture without the butter, little wisps of white flowers and lightly smoked citrus. Liked it. Very nice.

And The Pairing? The Guiberteau worked with the hummus, if not reaching the heights of their entry-level bottling. The Albero Cava turned all creamy white peach with the fattoush in a nice way. Overall, a very pleasant back and forth.

Cost: $35 for food, $38 for wine = $73
     

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #51

Movie reviews:

'Hail Caesar!' - a bit pointless.

'45 Years' - Great acting, but a little hollow. Wasn't enough there there.

'Trainwreck' - You know, for someone whose entire show/persona is taking on sacred cows, could you choose a more formulaic, sappy movie, Amy. I wanted to bang my hands on the desk like Jon Oliver, saying, “NO! NO! You can’t do that! You can’t be what you say you are and do that!”

'F for Fake' - Welles' last film, and if you allow yourself to be lured in, it's quite lovely.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $97 for food and $84 for wine = $181

Sunday: Fish Cakes, Pickled Potatoes and Beet-Avocado Salad with Two La Granjas

Food Details: Fish ball recipe (page 196) from Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, turned into cod fish cakes and using a dried lime variation at the bottom of the recipe (along with eggs, pepper, turmeric, cumin, garlic, breadcrumbs, cilantro). Michael Solomonov's fried pickled potatoes (recipe). Farmers' Market beets, beet greens and avocado salad with serranos, cilantro, lemon thyme and pomegranate seeds. Chermoula from the freezer mixed with mayo for dipping and dunking.

Did We Like It? As Mrs. Ney said, this wasn't even great, but it was so gosh darn good. The dried lime business in the fish cakes turned out to be a dud. Flat taste, with mostly a vague brown spice flavor coming through. But great pickled potatoes, as always. And this beet-avocado was boss. Beety, creamy, with a firework explosion of flavors bouncing everywhere. Good. Meal.

How Was The Wine? We opened a síria to start, but it came off too delicate for the flavors on the plate. Moved on to fridge wine, a Trader Joe's La Granja throwdown: one verdejo-viura blend and a Cava. Cheap Spanish wine that has served our house well over the years, because it does this with the food...

And The Pairing? The verdejo-viura blend was terrible with the pickled potatoes, neutral with the fish cakes, but jumped out of the glass with the beet-avocado salad. Wonderfully broad, aromatic and all-around delicious (we'd pay $20 instead of $5 for how it performed with this beet-avocado salad). The Cava served as a mop for everything else, liking the pickled potatoes best as it became frothy and sparkly, turning into a right and proper Cava with all its Spanish-style strut. Very happy how this turned out given the síria failure.

Cost: $12 for food, $12 for wine = $24    

Saturday: Caprese with 2014 Charles Smith VINO Pinot Grigio Columbia Valley

Food Details: Trader Joe's bocconcini balls of marinated mozzarella, Farmers' Market baby tomatoes, copious amounts of basil, and baguette.

Did We Like It? This used to be a Monday lunch staple. We loved it then, a few years ago, as it served as a long lunch that made a clean break from the after-burn and frustration of the workweek. Having it now reminds us of that. And we're glad we don't have it as often today. Good. Tasty. Fine.

How Was The Wine? We love Charles Smith's pinot grigio for its zip, fruit and cheapness. But it must be fresh. This 2014 showed as other 2014s have of late - getting a little tired and lacking chisel, cut and verve.

And The Pairing? Fine, basic, elemental matchup, just nothing to get all worked up about.

Cost: $10 for food, $11 for wine = $21

Friday: Lamb and Pickled Vegetables Salad with 2014 João Portugal Ramos "Lima" Loureiro Vinho Verde

Food Details: A riff on a house fav, Indian lamb-carrot salad, using Solomonov pickled vegetables (cauliflower, celery and carrots) from the fridge instead of carrots (Mrs. Ney needs the pickling liquid for upcoming Solomonov pickled potatoes). Ground lamb crisped up in the cast-iron with onion, ginger, garlic, black cardamom, coriander and black pepper. Arugula on a plate, pickled vegetables on top of that, then the lamb with pomegranate seeds and toasted sesame seeds on top of everything. Black mustard seed raita and naan on the side.

Did We Like It? I found it perfectly simple, perfectly spare, perfectly dressed and perfectly poppy. This riff on Indian carrot salad is missing nothing. Nothing at all. I'd go so far as to say that it had a cut and intensity that Indian carrot salad doesn't. Not better, just blissfully different.

How Was The Wine? Lightly fruity, lightly floral, lightly acidic. It's $8 loureiro.

And The Pairing? It was trying... Tons of wine-trying... But the LIMA has been missing its élan, its joie de vivre, its purpose and pep of late. Same here.

Cost: $14 for food, $8 for wine = $22    

Thursday: Roasted Carrot and Ricotta Sandwiches with 2015 Terrasse du Moulinas Blanc Elégance Languedoc-Roussillon

Food Details: Carrots from the Lincoln Square Farmers' Market, roasted; leftover ricotta/country ham mixture from Tuesday, with garlic and piquillo peppers added; tomato, onion, arugula, basil and marinated artichokes (for me), all on ciabatta. Olive oil chips on the side.

Did We Like It? What was essentially a "Use stuff up" sandwich dinner turned into "Who doesn't want roasted carrots, ricotta and tons of other matchy foodstuffs together?!" Messy and so damn good. I certainly didn't want a camera on me while eating it. I'd eat this once a month.

How Was The Wine? $10, one-liter, grenache blanc, vermentino, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc blend from the Languedoc. This was our house white for awhile. Less so lately. It's rather happy juice for $10. Mixed bag of orchard fruit with enough of an acid edge to like a lot of food that leans Mediterranean.

And The Pairing? Here, it was more of an accompaniment to the food than any sort of pairing wonder. I like this wine and it was nice to have it there.

Cost: $8 for food, $10 for wine = $18      

Wednesday: Dirty Rice with 2014 Firelands Winery Gewürztraminer Ohio

Food Details: Susan Spicer's wild and dirty rice recipe, via Food and Wine, subbing tasso and country ham for ground pork, with beet greens and andouille sausage.

Did We Like It? Great balance to the spice in relation to all the other flavors with this batch. Cleaner, yet still dirty. Had a sparkle to it. Meaty, herby, Cajun bowl of Happy.

How Was The Wine? Huge Ohio Winner! June is Cleveland's month with the Cavs championship, and even the Indians have won 14 straight as of this writing (six away from the MLB record). Mrs. Ney is from Ohio. I'm a 30-year-plus Browns fan. This is an Ohio house (except for OSU - screw them). If we see something like an Ohio gewürztraminer for $14, we buy it. "Gotta support the team." This one is a straight-forward, well-made, rather delicious gewürztraminer, giving a perfect, baseline tension to its acid and fruit. Lychee and peach with real lift. Stick this in a lineup with Old World gewürztraminers and this house would put it right up there with all the others, particularly with food.

And The Pairing? This wine loved the dirty rice. Every bite and sip jolted us out of the run-of-the-mill drink and sip and made us pay attention. Can't ask for more.

Cost: $10 for food, $14 for wine = $24  

Tuesday: Carrot-top Pesto Ravioli with 2015 La Spinetta Vermentino Toscana

Food Details: Homemade ravioli, using 00 pasta flour, stuffed with a Whole Foods ricotta, country ham, nutmeg and black pepper blend. Carrot-top pesto with carrot tops from the Farmers' Market: garlic, olive oil, tarragon, dill, sage, lemon zest, pistachios, whatever was in the house. More Farmers' Market baby tomatoes mixed in with the ravioli and pesto, topped with pecorino, parsley and crushed pistachios. Arugula (not baby) salad with pomegranate seeds to finish.

Did We Like It? Big plate of Good. Plant-y. A little bit of everything and not much of one thing.

How Was The Wine? I liked the 2010 of this vermentino and remember enjoying the 2013 (no write-up). This vintage brought oodles of green apple and pear, but not enough minerality, acid or ocean breeze to give the grizzle and presence we want from vermentino. This is more quiet and, to us, less interesting.

And The Pairing? They didn't really want to be friends. Not unpleasant, just not particularly interesting. A few sips and bites were trying, but overall, nothing to see here. The plantiness and surprising subtlety in the food wanted the pecorino we had in the house.

Cost: $15 for food, $20 for wine = $35      

Monday: Lamb and "Potato-Tomato!" with 2013 Bokisch Montastrell Belle Colline Vineyard Lodi

Food Details: Paulina Meat Market lamb rosettes (marinated in onion, garlic, oregano, evoo, white wine), seared in cast iron; Sam Sifton faux pommes frites; tomatoes with shallots, serrano, oregano, parsley, mint, evoo, white balsamic; arugula; Saveur olive-anchovy aioli.

Did We Like It? More nostalgic home food done better than when it was first consumed. We used to eat something akin to this meal once every couple of months a few years ago. It's been too long since we've had Paulina's lamb rosettes and that's gotta change. They're everything that's best about lamb. And the Lincoln Square Farmers' Market has tomatoes right now that are so perfectly ripe that it's turned into tomato week in our house. FUNKY aioli in the best sense for potato dipping. This was a spectacular meal.

How Was The Wine? We're members of two winery clubs: Broc Cellars in Berkeley and Bokisch in Lodi. We get a case from each twice a year (just joined Bokisch). One thing we've learned over the years of being members of other clubs is that one should pick a winery that a wide array of bottles from different and unusual grapes that are made with food in mind, bringing the requisite amount of acidity and balance. And you're not being given their showy wines at $50-80 a bottle. Join a wine club to have a bottle for those casual lunches or solid dinners. Don't go for the club that gives you the "look how rare this wine is" bottles (read: stuff they couldn't possibly sell on the open market). Join a wine club that wants you to drink their wine everyday. Like Bokisch. Our last shipment had two gracianos, four albariños, a verdejo, two verdelhos, garnacha blanca, a rosé and this montastrell (mourvèdre by another name), all for around $220. Spanish grapes with California sun.

9% graciano in this montastrell, it's earthy, with red fruits galore, figs, and a light floral background. Very mourvèdre with a clean edge. More medium-bodied than expected, but a touch of sappy fruit on the finish. Very long and very nice though, and a good example of getting something different from a wine club that satisfies. This one is not going to blow you away with its amazingness, but you're going to get a well-made wine that wants food from a producer you like and trust.

And The Pairing? Changed often with various bites, liking the lamb and the anchovy-olive aioli well enough to be happy overall with what it gave to the grub. Again, nothing amazing, and the pairing could have been better, but this one was clap-your-hands-together and say, "That was quite fine!"

Cost: $28 for food, $20 for wine = $48  

#99 - Two Favorites With Two Wines

Tons of catch-up to do. A messed up left hand and vacation (forthcoming and our 100th post!) has set me back a few days.

It's funny to constantly be reminded what wine can do for a meal.

The first one was an example of one of our favorite meals - so clean, fresh and filling - that once again informed us that rosé is really the only way to go with it.

The second one was an example of a fair-to-middling meal utterly taken over and elevated to such great heights by the wine, stupefying us as to how such a thing could have even happened.

#1 Tuna Niçoise with 2009 Domaine Collotte Marsannay Rosé ($17 - WDC)

I'll just plagarize myself as typing is a process right now.

Tuna Niçoise will Clean you out!

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

Just a big abundance of food that never gets old. Acid from tomatoes, bitterness from arugula, brininess and earthiness from the capers and olives, carb hit from the potatoes with great, fresh Whole Foods tuna - a bit less of it this time, which was prudent.

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

Paired this time with a 2009 Domaine Collotte Marsannay Rosé made from pinot noir. The Saintsbury Vin Gris of Pinot Noir might be the best we've ever had with tuna Niçoise but this one performed admirably. Softer, bright and pure, showing mostly strawberry cream. Enough backbone to stand up to mostly anything on the plate but not tannic or aggressive in the least.

A pleasing rosé for a reasonable price offering something a bit more distinctive than a run-of-the-mill pink. We might like a rosé to bring a bit more in a darker, more complex vein but it was light and fresh in an Ugly Betty sort of way.

A solid 88 pairing score. No complaints at all and just reassured the notion that there's not much better than tuna Niçoise and rosé is the only way to go in our world.

#2 Falafel, pita, tomato salad and cucumber yogurt with 2006 Villa Creek Mas De Maha ($22 - Binny's)

Lots of tasty flavors with the meal. Everything represented but the falafel came out a little toasty and the pita a little crispy. It was a quick dinner right before vacation with our minds more on that. Some parts were delicious and the falafel was kinda great, if a bit overcooked.

But something happened on the way to the forum. I've written about our love for Villa Creek Mas De Maha (60% tempranillo, 20% each of grenache and mourvèdre) in the past. It's awfully great with Latin food, especially anything with a Cuban bent. When we had it with hanger, plantains and tomato salad, it was pretty revelatory, like we found one of the perfect pairings that exist in the world. Something happens to the Mas De Maha with spice and tomatoes. It takes the entire plate of food with those elements by the hand and leads it to the promised land.

In the past, it's been with meals that were good on thier own. With this one, it picked up the plate by the back of its pants and said, "get your ass to the land of goodness!" I can't ever recall a meal so lifted to such a better place by the wine.

A 95 pairing score due to what was an archetypal example of what wine can do to and with food.