The road to Montevina

I have to point out one thing first, It's seems too weird sometimes when I find something, wether a website or an ingredient or a product that I've never seen before and then I read aobut it two days later on someone elses blog or in the news or somewhere. I don't think (in any way) that I'm beating someone to the punch of marking new ground, I just think it's extremely coincidental sometimes. I would put a link to http://www.ideasinfood.com/ and thier rescent post about Dublin Dr. Pepper but my link code won't work on this page anymore. But, I to ran into Dublin Dr. Pepper apon entering the Montevina wine tasting room. I was so sick of tasting wine at this point, I walked up to the little reach-in cooler they had to see what esle was there to drink and there it was....A "new" Dr. Pepper, to me at least. Go here, http://www.dublindrpepper.com/history.aspx?odrd=true&setuser= to get the history of this Dr. Pepper offspring. Anyone that knows me, knows I love Dr.Pepper. I often kid (seriously-like) that I will someday make a meal based on "my favorite ingredients" Dr. Pepper, Cool Ranch Doritos and a Kit-Kat bar.

Back to the trip. On this day we arrived at Montevina winery in Amador County. We had the privelage of taking the tour, which ended up being almost 4 hours...well spent. We were given the tour by the VP and former Wine maker, Jeff is his name and he pulled no punches with us. We spent 30 minutes looking in great detail the finer points of the 1/2 a million dollar machine that bottles the Montevina juice. And it was awesome. Any question, he was all over it, anything you wanted to see or taste, he was cool with it. No holds barred. We felt like we were boring him at some points.

But then it was on to the tasting room. 17 Different wines. We took our time.


On top of all of this was the house itself, Villa D'toro. Huge. Only four bedrooms, but the last thing you did there was sleep. It was for pure entertainment puposes only. Game room, pool (too cold for), garage with ping pong and darts, living room, dining room, brunch room, sun room, TV rooms, basically if you needed a room for anything it was there.

Dinner was prepared for us the fisrt night by the onstaff chef and server. The second night?.....I really liked the kitchen. Two reach-ins says a lot.

Napa Valley day 2

We started today with a tour of the Trinchero Winery Bottling warehouse. We walked through the barrel room and saw the massive level of production they are working in. Our guide Rosie was quite a character, which always makes a tour more interesting and memorable. That or all the animals (mascots) that go along with most tasting rooms.


If you click on the video, you get a small idea of how loud it was. And they crank out some bottles.

After that came Peju, a new one to me, but one I will keep an I out for. Even if just for the fact that Alan, our taste pourer, was awesome. He is an older gentleman that comes off very professional and knowledgable, but as soon as he starts pouring it's a whole new person.

We were actually told about him by someone at the first winery we stopped at, I just didn't realize this was the guy. He told jokes and lymrics and actually rapped, complete with a little "scratch" pad.


He caught me off gaurd, I only caught the very end of one of his songs. The wines were really good to.

A slightly last minute stop at Frog's Leap.

Then to Ana's Cantina (probably one of the only bars in town) for a little local brew. I love Red Seal, and it was on tap.
Then we headed out to our reservation at Go Fish, another Cindy Pawlcyn restaurant in Napa, for sushi, oysters and sake.

Back from Cali

I have a feeling this will be the first in a series of many postings concerning my recent trip to Napa and Amador Valley's. ( I was wrong in previous post about hitting Sonoma)

First off, I need to state (or re-state) that I've never been any further West then Ohio, so this trip was especially exciting to me.

The pictures and the comments may get a little boring to some, and I'll try to include as much "Food" for others. Including the price of Whoppers in Vegas.

The only time spent in Vegas was in the airport, we were treated to a grand entrance via the runway next to the Strip. I never knew how close everything was to the airport, and how little it is really. Just a random pyramid and a sky needle surrounded by lots of pre-fab homes.

I did triple my spendings on the return lay-over.

We then arrived in San Fran and drove up to Napa Valley. We hit our first winery around 3ish, I can't remember the name of it, but it was the only place to skimp on the tasting portions. Every place else was extremely generous and friendly.

We stayed at the http://www.sutterhome.com/> actual Sutter Home which most people know for their White Zinfandel, and as well you should, they produce in great volume mainly for banquet restaurants and the common wine buyer. They take care of the majority. I bet you didn't know that they are owned by someone else though. A family of Italian immigrants that also own, produce, grow and bottle a lot of great wines. The Trinchero'>http://www.tfewines.com/">Trinchero Family who also produce Terra d'oro, Folie a deux, Menage a Trios, and Montevina to name a few. (There will be great times at Villa D'oro at Montevina to come)

As predicted, we didn't make it to The French Laundry not to Bouchon. It's ok. I will someday. This trip was not a trip for just me, it was for everyone and everyone was focused on wine. But, we did however find some really great food while we where there. The first night was decided over an in room list of restaurants and menus. This one looked the most interesting and we already were recommended to "Go Fish" the next night. http://www.blogger.com/>Cindy's Backstreet
was such a surprise to all of us. It was, however, my unknowingness of where every single chef in the world has put up shop. I realized the as we were leaving that we just had an incredible meal because this was a http://www.blogger.com/>Cindy Pawlcyn joint. And everything was top notch.

Wine Country

We're leaving tonight (this morning) for Sonoma Valley
View Larger Map
and Napa Valley
View Larger Map
We"re going to fly into San Francisco and just drive around for a week. Extremely excited.
The possibility to eat at the French Laundry came about too late I'm afraid, but I'm sure we'll find some great food anyway. Maybe Bouchon
These are the winery's we're visiting.
Trinchero
Folie a deux
Clos Du Val
and Monte Vina winery's

So, I'll be back in about a week with lots of pictures of winery's and hopefully food.
Thank you very much to Patrick with Capital wine and spirits for taking us along.

Links

I can't figure out why, and it's caused great frustration, but my links won't work.
I don't think that I'm doing anything wrong either, I've researched and researched my dad has helped research, everything says to do what I'm doing.
The Links Work in the Email Subscriptions, but not on the actual page.
I can't find a place on Blogger to actually ask someone why this is happening or how to fix it.
So, I apologize, the links on my posts are important to help understand some of the content and to offer further detail into a person, ingredient, or organization.
But I can't get them to work properly.

Vias Wine/ The Spotted Pig

New York got a little smaller this trip, more on that later.
The whole point of the trip was the wine tasting, www.viaswine.com and it was insane. On the ninth floor of the Marriot Marquis were at least 30 tables, each with 4-9 wines at them along with maybe 800 people all trying to spit into white (possibly scallop) buckets. I was so hungover from the night before, I almost didn't make it. I'm know it was worth going to for our sommelier, but it was way too much for me. Too many (stereotypical) snobby wine connoisseurs, although I am very grateful to the owner for taking me along and to Mary for suggesting that we attend.
I have to say, I feel slightly influenced right now, ...I read Kitchen Confidential years ago when it first came out. And, recently, I acquired the book on CD version with Anthony Bourdain reading in his own tones and personalized expressions and emphasis on words. I've been listening to it for the past couple days, and I can hear his voice in my head as I type....kinda weird. More on that later.
Back track, the first night in NY on Sunday, we went out to get sushi, It was stuck in my head do to all the Sake conversations as of late. We hit a place called Sushi Samba, the food was good but very very small. We did try some sakes though. It was late and we asked our server for a bar nearby that would still be open.
Off to Barfly, about three blocks away on 3rd ave, Five minutes into getting comfortable at the bar I notice someone walking towards me out of the corner of my eye.
"hey man? aren't you....???"
"Heyyy?..? , oh yeah! You're Foster's old roommate."
"Yeah, so are you, right?"
Long story short, New York gets smaller when you run into someone you met twice in your life at 1am in a random bar around Gramercy Park.
Hours of conversations ensued, along with 2 other bars, and hence the hangover for the wine tasting the next day.
BUT!, I got up fairly early the next day (all things considered, 5am bedtime) and decided to walk around town (everyone I was with were still asleep). It was nice, cool air, refreshing, and I wanted to really figure out how the streets were lined up. And I was starving.
I started off to my right, figured I'd loop the block and get my bearings, 3/4 around and what do I see....Les Halles! the restaurant made famous in my mind by the the aforementioned book Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdains kitchen of the time. Although, as far as I know, aside from his books up on a shelf in the dining room, he has little to do with it now.
Everything's coming together. The guy I ran into the previous night (and his current roommate) strongly suggested a well know gastropub, The Spotted Pig.
Stating that I would be able to divulge in every part of the pig, a tour de pork, inside and out, "the ear confit are amazing", head cheese, intestines, trotters, everything....
Yeah. Look at the menu, no pig on it.
After an hour and a half hour wait, well spent really watching the bartender "pull" beer from an old school pressure system....she was hot that's all I need to say, we sat down to a cramped table setup, a server who'd been asking me to "move!" out of his way for the past hour and a half that all the sudden was willing to treat my like a human (or patron of his) and several plates of really good food....although this plate of Skirt Steak was like $28 or something ridiculous like that.


The Mop Rolls and the Chicken Livers where amazing though.

Turns out, the Pig From Head to Toe menu only happens on certain occasions.
It was a good time though. New York Usually is though.

Very early sake dinner menu

Sake Dinner
緣故晚餐
Green Gables
綠色山牆
February 8th 2008

Crab and Avocado
Truffle Sticky Rice
螃蟹和鮞梨
served with Warm Sake

Black and Blue Beef
Wasabi Mashers
黑和藍色牛肉
served with Sake Bloody Mary

Scallop Sashimi
Saffron Tomato and Lemon Grass
扇貝生魚片
Sparkling Cucumber Saketini

Lobster, Foie and Bananas
Tempura and Curry
龍蝦、肝臟和香蕉
Rihaku Nigori, Junmai

Tuna tartar
Watermelon
金槍魚齒垢
Yuki no Bosha, Junmai Ginjo

Yuzu-Ginger lime pie
Candied Tobikko
中國石灰餅
Asian Pear Sake-Rita

This dinner should be a lot of fun.

sake

We've got a Sake dinner coming up on the 8th of February. I didn't realize how much I didn't know about it. Mary, a wine rep, really helped us get started on learning, then a stop at Samba Sushi in NY let us experiment with some mixed Sake drinks and tastings with food.
Then Ben told me about www.esake.com , it's awesome! There is so much to read and learn about Sake. Tasting notes on the basic 5 grades of sake, food pairings, how it's made, etc.
I recommend to anyone that loves the warm sake you normally get at American sushi places to expand into what higher grade sakes really are.

Snowshoe Pics

First off, we're up on the mountain, just got there, driving around looking at what's what. We're split up into three vehicles, certain people coming from certain places. Three of us in one vehicle all look at our cell phones and realize we have no service (thanks Verizon) we actually drive around holding our phones in the air like we might hit some random strand of radio wave that will let us send a text. Or better off, let us get a hold of the other two vehicles somewhere driving up the eastern side of the country.
Well, it turned out that not having cell phone use was pretty sweet actually. And, it turned out that there was some kind of satellite telescope on the mountain that blocked all radio waves. It was tough not being able to talked to loved ones (and confusing to them as to why you won't return there calls or texts) or being able to communicate with work and organize orders and such. But, then you realize....I'm on vacation. They're gonna have to suck it up and make things happen for themselves.


Grand Marnier made the trip with us. Along with three or four handles (maybe five) of bourbon, four bottles of vodka, two bottles of gin, two large Jaggers, three or four bottles of wine(come on it's for a week for ten people), one case of red bull, one case of Gatorade, and not enough water, but many of memories and good times. Along with enough food to keep us healthy and happy.

We went out to eat at a place called Ember, the fine dining restaurant on the mountain. It was pretty cool. The food was a
little cold at times, under seasoned, techniques and ideas missed and just not used properly, but enjoying each others company more than made up for any misguided salt block attempts.


Every morning the deer would be looking into the large kitchen window like they were watching TV, knowing all the previous humans would through food out to them, we were an expected source of nourishment. If they only ate proteins they would be the best fed deer on earth. Instead they got bread (9grain) and
frozen waffles (come on, where else are there deer eating waffles?)
and some peanuts. I realized why we eat these little creatures instead of using them as pets or to heard cattle, the are not bright at all....and they taste good. Don't worry, we didn't eat any of our new breakfast friends. Although it was talked about.

Throughout the week we would entertain ourselves by reading the "welcome to our house" books that the owners leave out for guest to fill in with their experiences and good times. Most of them were
complaints, which are well justified, but it seemed to defeat the

purpose of what the owners were looking for, at least that's what I think, I really hope it's a nice old couple that enjoy sharing their home with strangers as if they were grandparents taking in their grandchildren and their friends.

Vias Wine, 25th anniversary

Just got back from snow shoe resort in WV, I will have stories and pictures later. But, taking off today to Vias wine
25th anniversary tasting in NY.
I will be back in a couple days and try to catch everything up.

Snowshoe

Vacation!
It's been several several years since I've been on vacation.
Two, maybe, in my life.....well, adult life.
One really great time when I was about 19 with my friend Mandy, driving south and sleeping where we could. Really, someone should have told us that you have to be 21 to rent a hotel room.
The second one about 4 years ago with an ex. Stressful do to money more than anything. Hard to just relax.

This one though....This is what movies are made about. Or should be.
Friends, family and friends that feel like family all gathered for a week in the mountains of West Virginia. Snow Shoe Mountains. (My links still aren't working)OK, West Virginia is completely unimportant to this gathering.
But, think about it....10 or so people in the same house. Chefs, bartenders, servers....all breeds bred of the f&b industry. We're all bringing coolers full of food, bottles of booze (that I'm sure are mostly opened before we get there), wine, music, movies, and all the stories we have of the good times we've all spent together in the past.
We will cook, eat, drink, relax.....some may venture outside for skiing or something like that. I'm going to relax and enjoy this.
The only thing I'm worried about is what the kitchen is stocked with. Equipment, plates, silverware....salt?
I'm bringing salt. You can't live without salt.
I'll take many pictures and get back in a week.
Enjoy yours, I'll enjoy mine.

Beef Chain Confit part 2

My favorite blog Ideas in food have played around with Cheese Mosaics enough to inspire many others. Myself included. I think everyone that reads their blog owes them a lot of "Thanks", they create and share so much with thee entire world to look at and they do it for free.

My approach to this technique is a rolled version. Re-applying the combination of Chocolate and Blue Cheese. In addition to a much better use of the beef chain confit from several posts ago.

The beef chain is reheated in mole and placed on some poached and fried fingerling potatoes, topped with arugula tossed in Maple mustard dressing. Pinenut relish and Walnut crumble accent the chocolate, blue cheese and salty-ness of the confit.

Craigslist.com

This add http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/fbh/506335905.html was posted to Craigslist almost a month ago and we've heard nothing back.
Just goes to show.... a lot I guess. No help coming this way, maybe there is none?
Anyway, I figured I'd repost it here, no harm in trying.
Maybe someone interested in the food found on this blog will find this link especially interesting.
I've been hanging on to the spare set of Sous Chef keys for over ten months now.