Blog | Steve's JournalSteve's Journal | Travels, Thoughts and History

Pride Sushi and Thai

Posted on August 30, 2014 by steve

What a delightful surprise! This small fusion restaurant is creating some of the most beautiful—and tasty—sushi in Chicago.

The menu is about half Japanese, half Thai, and many of the fusion items are spicy, such as their take on edamame, which had a definite kick to it. The beef salad comes with the traditional spicy rice vinegar sauce that would accompany a waterfall beef salad. These were both good, but the stars of the show were the sushi items.

We began with a plate of sashimi. Although the chef offers a sampler, we selected our own, and the pricing was very reasonable to get exactly what we wanted. All of the items were very fresh and delicious.

Then we tried several rolls. Wow! As you can see from the photos, each was a work of art. I’ve never had sushi served with such a painterly approach! All three rolls were excellent, and really different from one another. My favorite was the “All About Salmon” which combined salmon, smoked salmon and ikura, balancing them with both creamy and citrus ingredients, plus spicy and sweet sauces.

A month ago we tried the high end sushi place across the street, and it was good but extremely expensive. At about a fourth the price, our meal at Pride was actually better, and I’m ready to return any time.

Posted in Dani, Dining, Evanston, Linda | Comments Off

Grace

Posted on August 30, 2014 by steve

Grace is certainly deserving of its two Michelin stars. Everything about the experience is near perfection, from the extremely professional yet friendly service to the plating of the food, which turns each dish into an individual work of art, combining delicate and varied flavors in surprising and visually appealing ways.

The dining room is sophisticated, understated, and calm, a serenity that extends even into the visible kitchen, yet the contemporary soundtrack keeps the experience upbeat and fun.

My only quibble is with the winelist, which has a strong focus on wines from the Loire region, not my favorite. This focus extends to the wine pairings served with the meal, some of which didn’t seem a great match, although the friendly and articulate sommelier explained the reasoning behind each match in such a captivating manner I was glad we had selected the pairing, even if next time I will strike out on my own.

Amuse bouche served atop and in a cork log. This tiny roasted corn ears were perhaps the single best item of the night.

A couple of treats inside the log. The pickled, caramelized banana was another highlight.

I had the “Flora” menu, almost entirely vegetables.

Tomatoes.

Asparagus.

Snap peas turned into slice of terrine.

Black truffles.

The first of several desserts, each of which included frozen components that I really enjoyed.

The kitchen was amazingly serene, given how much food was being produced. It is interesting that it’s arranged with the stations in the order the courses are served.

Posted in Dani, Dining, Evanston, Linda | Comments Off

Mars Cheese Castle

Posted on July 20, 2014 by steve

We passed this place on a drive to Milwaukee, and although we didn’t stop, I felt compelled to return. It’s a little over an hour north of Evanston, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

cheescastle2

It was everything I expected, and more. Actually I was expecting nothing but a tacky tourist trap. But you can’t really call it a trap, since hundreds of fans return here, again and again. Why? Because of the sheer volume of “stuff” they have.

cheescastle3

Yes, there are T-shirts and souvenirs. But really the place is about cheese, beer, gourmet foods and wine, not necessarily in that order.

cheescastle6

They also have a ton of hot sauces.

cheescastle5

The beer selection alone is vast. And there were many gourmet honeys, syrups, seasonings and biscuits I’d never seen before. Unfortunately the prices are pretty much at the level you’d expect, so I didn’t actually buy anything, but plenty of people were loading up.

cheescastle4

The cheeses I tried were actually fairly bland and forgettable, but them I’m more of a European cheese person. They also prepare hot food such as brats with cheese, which seemed popular, but I didn’t check out the menu.

On the drive back I happened to pass the Jelly Belly factory. Well, it’s not really a factory, just a warehouse and store. But at the store I made my sole purchase of the day: a carton of Belly Flops, defective jelly beans that sell for 25% of retail. I actually like them better than the regular ones, and they are certainly fresh. I think a lot of Dani’s friends are going to be getting jelly beans next week!

bellyflops

Posted in Midwest, Travel | Comments Off

Chicago Dining – Summer 2014

Posted on July 15, 2014 by steve

L2O

L2O-1

Having dined at nearly all the top places in Chicago, this one stands out. Just on the basis of the exceptional wine list, L2O (which stands for Lakes to Oceans) deserves its Michelin stars. Each offering is so well considered for its ability to match the food or offer something special, and there are a few real gems at reasonable prices.

L2O-2

The food is, of course, superb, and each dish is a true work of art. But perhaps the thing that most sets L2O apart is the service, which perfectly strikes that balance between professionalism and sincere friendliness. Truly an experience not to be missed.

I approached Next with some trepidation because I’m not a fan of Alinea, its sister restaurant. I found the atmosphere and service there stiff, and grew tired of the dictatorial way we were instructed to consume each course.

I’m happy to say that Next is nothing like that. Service is professional but relaxed, and the servers are happy, informative and passionate about the food they’re serving.

Next-2

As to the food, there’s little point in mentioning it… or the decor, for that matter. Because the restaurant evolves into something completely new and different every four months, and you’re unlikely to go twice during any given incarnation, you just need to put your trust in the culinary team and expect something special.

That’s certainly what we received the night we visited. There were several home runs and nothing forgettable about the Modern Chinese menu.

I also like the ticketing system. It was refreshing to have no transaction at the end of the meal. The food, wine pairing and tip were all included, and were certainly fairly priced for the experience we received. It left me anxious to return to experience future incarnations of this excellent restaurant.

Next-3

Boltwood

Evanston has a new high end restaurant to be proud of. The chef from Publican, and one of the owners of Brothers K coffeehouse have teamed up to take over this space, formerly a (good) noodle shop and turn it into a very trendy and noteworthy restaurant.

As others have noted, there is one major downside to the place. Because of its austere, hard-surfaced decor, it is VERY LOUD. In fact, if I had been at a regular table entertaining guests I would not be able to give it a five-star review. But since I was alone, and seated at the chef’s bar facing into the kitchen, the sound level was tolerable.

Of course, it’s wonderful that the place is packed all night after being open only weeks. And lots of people like vibrant restaurants. But when the quietest place in the establishment is the kitchen, there may be a wee acoustic problem!

So therein lies my tip for pleasant dining: ask to sit at the chef’s bar. Not only will you not be deafened, you’ll see the fascinating parade of dishes as they leave the kitchen.

Anyway, the food is wonderful. Since the menu changes often, my selections won’t necessarily be available to you, but I loved everything I had: grilled Brun-uusto cheese with sweet and sour cherry sauce, pickled cauliflower, quinoa salad, crispy potatoes (quite possibly the best potatoes I’ve ever had), a whole sardine with fennel and orange, and chicory ice cream.

There is a somewhat eclectic selection of wines, with about a third of them available by the glass, but I opted for the cocktails, because there were several interesting offerings. I prefer drinks with bitter or sour components, and these didn’t disappoint. I tried: El Mescalero del Norte (mescal, grapefruit, Compari), Evanston Sazerac (rye , bitter, absinthe), and The New Georgian (peach, bourbon, mint). They were all excellent, and I’ve listed them in increasing order of sweetness. The mescalero was probably the best, combining earthy and bitter flavors.

Given the quality of the food, I felt pricing was fair. Some of the starters and veggies are under $10, and most mains are about $20. Plan on a starter, main and vegetable, and you’re looking at $40 per person. If everyone at the table does that, and you want to sample everything, you’ll all get reasonable sized tasting portions and won’t leave hungry or broke.

Service was very friendly and professional. I’d read some uneven reviews on this, but I don’t think it’s completely fair to criticize a restaurant that’s not running like a well-oiled machine during its first few days. The service I received was faultless.

As the meal ended and I emerged onto Davis Street, a fire engine was passing with its siren on, and I noted how quiet the city was now that I was outdoors!

Posted in Dani, Dining, Evanston | Comments Off

Really Old Burgundies

Posted on June 28, 2014 by steve

You know you’re drinking some great Burgundies when the DRC shows up and it’s not even in the top ranks of the night’s wines! That’s what happened last night at the Chef’s Table at the Edgewater. Ron, Bev, Linda and I took over the back room for the evening for an amazing tasting of old Burgundies (and a couple of Bordeaux). The lineup had originally not included any DRC, but we added a couple bottles at the last minute, and decided to skip the originally planned ’71 Bonnes Mares.

When opening an old, nearly labeless Burgundy from the 20s it’s always a crapshoot, but tonight we came up a winner, as the first red wine of the night proved to be the Wine Of The Night, and one of the greatest Burgundies I’ve ever had. In fact, this was a night when the oldest bottles were fresher than some of the younger ones (although nothing was really young, as the most recent red was from 1979).

The wines were accompanied by a sampling of the small plates from The Tasting Room. Amazing service was provided by Taren, who also introduced us to her cocktail making skills and gave us a sample of her housemade bitters.

My notes:

Veuve Clicquot (Chef’s Table)
Very balanced 90 pts

2008 Chateau “Y” (Steve)
Butter, honeycomb wax, hint of botrytis, 93 pts

1923 Henri de Behegre Clos Vougeot (Steve)
Bacon, smoke, sweet, blackened sugar, Creme brûlée, candied crab apple, balsamic dressed mushrooms, dark buttered brown sugar toast, toasted nuts, burnt marshmallow, started to fade after 90 minutes, then a comeback, curry, 100+ pts

1934 Francois Martenot ( Dr. Barolet) Chambole-Musigny (Ron)
Sour cherry, orange rind, bug spray, minerality, high acid, iron, smoke, orange bitters, cedar sawdust, forest floor, held up 2 hrs+, 100 pts

[My previous note on the above wine from last year at Peperoncino:
Very light, orange rind, rust, spiced meat, sweet, coffee, candy, tobacco, cigarette smoke, red licorice ropes, cherry, pine needles, great fruit, mint, refreshing acidity, 100 pts]

1949 Charles Vienot Corton-Bressandes (Steve)
Young fruit, anise, cherry licorice, fennel, earth, pine needles, noodles in soy sauce, devolved into sewage/cheese smells after 30 minutes, 88 pts

1949 de Sylou Grands-Echezeaux (Ron)
Young fruit, chocolate, vanilla, gravel, forest floor, pine needle, high acid, 96 pts

1979 DRC Echezeaux (Steve)
Carmel, bacon fat, seemed a bit simple compared to the previous wines, 94 pts

1972 DRC Grand Echezeaux (Ron)
Mushroom, very closed, this wine didn’t really show up for work, flawed bottle? 86 pts

1978 Haut Brion (Ron)
Gravel, bright fruit, solid tannins, chocolate milk duds, coffee, it’s interesting that this year, originally so tannic, is now drinking great, 93 pts

1979 Château La Mission Haut-Brion (Steve)
Wax, tight tannic, cotton candy, silky, 91 pts

Posted in Dining, Linda, Orlando, Wine | Comments Off

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan

Posted on June 22, 2014 by steve

Ingredients

1 eggplant cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 cup grated parmesan
12 plum tomatoes
EVOO
thinly sliced fresh basil
minced garlic

Preparation

Heat barbecue.

Combine tomatoes, garlic, basil and EVOO and set aside.

Coat eggplant with EVOO. Grill about 5 minutes. Turn over and top with tomato mixture, sprinkle with parmesan.

Reduce heat and grill for ten minutes with lid down.

Posted in Cooking | Comments Off

Moto 2014

Posted on May 25, 2014 by steve

It had been a couple of years since we went to Moto, Chicago’s temple of molecular gastronomy. We had a very different experience on this visit from our past visits. It began with a table downstairs, in a space we didn’t realize existed. It’s much quieter than upstairs, and you can watch one of the chefs prepping dishes.

We entertained ourselves by identifying the element symbols on the wall

Downstairs dining room. It’s much quieter than upstairs, and you can watch the prep chef

Previously Moto served a ten or twenty course dinner where each course was very playful, and looked like something it wasn’t. For example there was a tiny cuban pork sandwich that looked like a cigar. But now they seem to have reinvented themselves as a more upscale experience (although pricing for a 14 course extravaganza remains a very reasonable $175). So the dishes were less playful, and there was a focus on how they were presented. Some of the presentations were extremely fun and imaginative, and a few we recognized as influenced by 11 Madison or Tru.

Because their dishes are hard to match with wines, we’ve always had the wine pairing in the past, but since these are (by necessity) rather odd wines, we opted to go off the list this time. That was probably a mistake, as indeed few of the courses matched our chardonnay and pinot noir. Dani and I finished by sharing a couple ounces of 1912 D’Oliveiras Verdelho Madeira, which was spectacular and would have matched every course. I photographed some of the more interesting looking courses:

This was the “menu.” A tiny sample of an ingredient from each dish to follow

Fish with assorted accompaniment

Welks and accompaniments on a glass plate over seaweed and seashells. I suspect this was inspired by Tru

Chicken crest and egg custard

This was everyone’s favorite course, an amazing combo of onion and garlic flavors, and one tiny fragment that tasted like an entire smoked rabbit

Pork belly and lamb in a custom box

Three tiers, with wagu on to, broccoli in the middle, and other goodies below the screen

Three tiers, with wagu on top, broccoli in the middle, and other goodies below the screen

Shredded pork in mole. This was Linda’s and Dani’s second favorite dish

Three delicious cheeses. This was my second favorite course

Toasting marshmallows stuffed with graham crackers and dark chocolate, an inside out smore

Final parting course, a beach ball macaron

Afterwards we toured the kitchen, which was driven by an automated computer system that tracked and voice announced every course for every table. There was also a separate room for growing all the micro greens and herbs used throughout the menu.

We found this new approach at Moto interesting, but because it’s less playful, it requires spectacular food. Admittedly we are spoiled by other great restaurants we’ve been to, but we felt that, despite the creative presentations, there was only one gastronomic home run in the meal: the sampling of various onion and garlic pieces with a tiny fragment of smoked rabbit that was so flavorful it was like having an entire barbecue meal the size of a grain of rice!

I’ll return to Moto, but probably wait a couple of years to see what new things they come up with.

Vacuum and other lab equipment

These poker chips are used to track food allergies

Kitchen

Sophisticated, automated, voice announced course planner for each table

Micro greens

Hydroponic micro greens

In the hydroponics room off the kitchen

Posted in Dani, Dining, Evanston, Linda | Comments Off

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

Posted on May 24, 2014 by steve

Linda flew in to Chicago for a long weekend and to escape her Disney projects. Dani and I met her at Midway with Korean Barbecue tacos from the nearby Dos Ricco’s Mexican and Asian Cuisine. I like the Korean taco, but with a corn tortilla. These were a bit spicier than the last time, with a big squirt of Sriracha on each!

We had four hours to kill before our dinner theatre tickets, and Linda wanted to visit the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, where she hadn’t been since our visit in 1986. When we got there we discovered their featured exhibit was… wait for it… Disney!

For some reason the museum was closing at 4pm, so we only had two hours. Still, we made good use of our time, booking tickets for the Disney exhibit, the WWII sub and the coal mine.

I’m pleased to report that the museum is in excellent repair, a vast improvement from Dani’s an my visit a few years ago. Further more, the employee morale is amazing. We encountered five cast members — ticket seller, Disney tour host, two different guides at the sub, and the mine tour guide — who were all incredibly enthusiastic and helpful, going out of their way to make sure every guest had a great experience. This was better-than-Disney guest relations, and we left feeling very impressed.

MSI2014-4

Dinner was a The City Winery. We didn’t know the group playing, Jackopierce, although they’ve been around for 25 years. But I picked it because Dani and I had been before, and loved the ambience, great acoustics, interesting small plate food, and wines.

We spent an hour on the outside patio having appetizers and wine. Linda discovered that in addition to their own wines they have a 400-bottle list. Wow! Wines from just about every country, and some real gems at pricing only slightly higher than retail. We started with a Sea Smoke Chardonnay, and finished with a 2005 Morey Saint Denis that was really smokin’. I can’t believe that bottle was just $80. And all the glassware is Riedel, with each matched to the type of wine. Those glasses cost more than our wine!

Jackopierce was very talented, although no particular song stood out for me. But I really liked the opener, a local guitarist and singer named Phil Jacobson.

CityWinery

Posted in Dani, Dining, Evanston, Linda, Music | Comments Off

Bottles and Bottega

Posted on May 22, 2014 by steve

Last month Dani and her friends visited Bottles and Bottega to drink some wine and paint a picture. It looked like so much fun I suggested we go there on the evening I arrived in Evanston, and Dani eagerly agreed. A bottega, as we learned, is an artist’s studio where students learn by doing.

The long, narrow space is divided into a painting area where a dozen people can work simultaneously, a lounge, and a party space at the rear. The evening begins with a half hour to enjoy any wine or snack you’ve brought, and then you sit at one of the tables where a canvas, paints and brushes have been provided.

Everyone works on basically the same picture, but it’s amazing how much variation occurs because of individual styles. Some useful but light hearted instruction is provided throughout the evening, and there are plenty of breaks for more wine.

I hadn’t really worked with acrylic paints before, and really liked the way they dried in minutes, and one color could cover another; quite the opposite of oils, were your colors keep mixing on the canvas for days.

BottlesAndBottega3

Dani and I were both pleased with the way our masterpieces turned out.

by Dani

by Steve

Posted in Art & Sculpture, Dani, Evanston, Wine | Comments Off

Enterprise Car Rental, Midway Airport

Posted on May 22, 2014 by steve

This was the most amazing car rental experience I’ve ever had, and in the place I least expected it. My absolute worst car rental experiences have all been at Midway, where I have slowly been working my way through all the different companies. Dollar was particularly awful, with incredibly rude, uncaring employees who thought it was absolutely standard operating procedure to not only not have the car you reserved, but not have any cars, with a two hour wait for the next random, uncleaned vehicle to come in.

Anyway, I digress.

At Enterprise, the woman behind the counter greeted me, introduced herself, shook my hand, processed my reservation in less than a minute, shook my hand again, gave me her card and sent me upstairs. I thought maybe she was just an anomaly.

But upstairs the attendant greeted me before I even got near the booth, introduced himself and escorted me to a car. Using a tablet for checkout he noticed the car’s license had expired. He apologized and immediately said that for my inconvenience I could choose from any of the upgrade cars there. He had obviously been empowered to do this; what a delight! He checked whether one of the cars had a feature I wanted, assured me it did, gave me his card (on which he’d hand-written return instructions for the facility and his email!), and I was off.

At the exit kiosk I was handed my paperwork and asked what I thought of their rental experience. “Awesome” was all I could reply.

Posted in Evanston, Travel | Comments Off

The Revenge of Burgundy

Posted on May 18, 2014 by steve

A few weeks ago we got together with Ron and Bev for dinner at The Vineyard, with the shocking result that the Bordeaux outshone the Burgundy. This almost never happens. So when Ron invited us to join Rhett from B-21 at their home for dinner, I was ready for a rematch.

Dinner, which Ron and Bev threw together on the spur of the moment, was amazing. We started with tuna tartare, smoked salmon, and Ron’s famous balls (sweet red peppers stuffed with mozzarella and wrapped in bacon). These all went really well with the Jacques Selosse.

We segued to the patio for Stone Crabs with mustard sauce. What a great match to the Aubert and what a perfect evening for stone crabs on the patio!

This is where the Burgundy kicked in, and the first two were the wines to be all night… until the end, when Ron did beat them, with another Burgundy, as you’ll see.

In the dining room we had a phenomenal baked sea bass, radicchio salad with a delicious Chardonnay vinegar, and then prime steaks from the Meat House. We finished off with Bev’s famous tira misu. (I don’t think I’ve had tira misu since the last time I had Bev’s because it’s never as good anywhere else!) The idea was to mimic a dinner at Eddie V’s, but every course surpassed it.

As for the wines… order was restored to the universe. The old Burgundies were absolutely superb, and eclipsed all of the other wines. The Bordeaux paled in comparison, although the Unico certainly was a great wine.

As dinner wound down, I didn’t think anything would top the two 1964 Leroy wines, but then Ron dared me to name something and he’d see if he had it in his cellar.

For years my go to wines at Bern’s were the now-depleted Pierre Ponnell Burgundies 50s and 60s, in particular the 1957 Morey Saint Denis Clos de la Roche. 1957 was a pretty good year in Burgundy, but I always wanted to try the 1953. Sure enough, Ron had it! Well, not only was it stellar, it was the Wine of the Night, beating the Leroys. I scored it 100 points.

And now Ron has even more bragging rights about his cellar, because where else in the state (country, world?) could someone just pull that wine from their cellar?!

We finished out by the fire pit with some Armagnac. Everything had been so wonderful even Linda was amazed to discover it was 2am!

Jacques Selosse Lieux Dite La Cote Faron (Ron)

Creamy, Toast, great balance, green apple, kiwi fruit. Smooth, 94 pts

1990 Bollinger, disgorged 2001 (Ron)

Crisp, green, austere, acidic, bitter walnut, 90 pts

2008 Aubert Loren (Ron)

Butterscotch, cinnamon, toast, butter, very balanced and elegant, 95 pts

1964 Leroy Pommard Les Grande Epinots (Steve)

Earth, soy, forest floor, Asian spices, super balanced, crushed pine needles, 97 pts

1964 Leroy Grand Echezeaux (Ron)

Intense chocolate coated cherries with kirsch liqueur, really long, 99 pts

1966 Ch Mouton Rothschild (Steve)

Black cherries, bell peppers, pine, really awkward at first, then opened up, gardenias, vanilla, Creme brûlée, dust, then quickly faded, 88 pts

1995 Rayas (Ron)

Cherry pie with caramelized cinnamon crust, fig newton cookie dough, 94 pts

1982 Diamond Creek Volcanic Hill Cabernet Sauvignon (Steve)

Fading fruit, still goof tannic structure, dust, cocoa, cherry, 84 pts

1983 Ch Cheval Blanc (Ron)

Bordeaux gravelly nose, black pepper, 90 pts

1970 Unico

Very, very young, mint, vanilla, not at all Spanish tasting, 100% Tempranillo, American oak, dill, cinnamon, caramelized sugar, buttered icing, 96 pts.

1947 Aloxe-Corton Bouchard (Ron)

Cherry, tobacco, bright, fresh, balanced, vanilla, elegant, woody, sweet, earthy, cotton candy, charred wood, 99 pts

1953 Pierre Ponnelle Morey Saint Denis Clos de la Roche (Ron)

Young, perfectly integrated, cherries, earth, balance, vanilla, wood, mint, vanilla, cocoa, spice, butterscotch, charred wood, amazing sweet fruit. I named a producer, vineyard and vintage that I wanted to taste and Ron produced exactly that wine, and it was the Wine of the Night. 100 pts

50 Year Armagnac

Pleasant, but lacking the depth, balance and complexity of Laberdolive Bas Armagnac. 90 pts

Posted in Dining, Orlando, Wine | Comments Off

MoneyShot!

Posted on May 17, 2014 by steve

Alexander Sage Oyen is a young composer of Broadway-style music. He first came to my attention when a few of Dani’s friends sang on his debut album, released shortly after his graduation for Dr. Phillips High School. Since then I’ve purchase two more of his albums, which include many excellent numbers that could easily come from a musical in the style of Songs for a New World or The Last Five Years.

Last year Dani, Linda and I attended a revue of his songs at The Abbey, and the year before that, Hunter and I saw a reading of his musical, Moneyshot! It’s about a girl who goes to Los Angeles to be an actress and ends up as a porn star.

That reading of the show had a number of good songs, but the plot and pacing didn’t quite work. I sent Alex a couple of pages of notes about it, and he sent me unreleased recordings of the score. So it was with great interest that I went last night to see the opening of the show at the Orlando Fringe Festival.

The first thing I noticed on the poster was that the book had been rewritten by a different author, so I expected a different approach to the story. Indeed, that was the case. The previous slow start, prior to going to LA, was completely cut, as was a drawn out chase scene in the ending (which would never have worked onstage).

The middle part was less changed, although the plot is advanced more through songs and less through dialogue, a good move. The show still has two fundamental problems, though.

The first problem is that it revolves around a love story between the lead and a guy she meets on her first day in LA and moves in with. Their relationship is never developed, and just doesn’t ring true. In fact, since his part has been pared down and his roommate’s part bolstered, I kept expecting her to fall for the roommate instead.

The second problem is that this is a show about a girl who becomes a porn star, but to avoid any nudity (not a requirement of the Fringe, but appropriate for a show rated PG13) her entire career has been skipped. She goes for an interview, and then, except for a couple of arguments, we skip forward five years and she’s thinking of quitting. This simply doesn’t work. We don’t see why she likes the job at first, why she grows tired of it, or why it causes the arguments. And since the arguments are about a relationship that never developed, it leaves the whole thing looking for a convincing story line.

That said, Alex’s music is excellent. I noted many of the songs had changed. I wish he’d left in a couple of the catchier ones, but there were also some good new ones.

The talent was top notch. All three leads were excellent singers and actors, and the choreography and pacing were terrific. Clever use of rolling chairs, tables and couches made for lightning fast set changes.

Music was prerecorded, and very well produced, and the main cast members had fairly good radio mics. At times it was hard to hear the ten or so person chorus.

Four lighting towers topped with robotic lights provided a stunning light show during the overture. I wish this had been saved for a big finale, because the show sort of trails off at the end. It could have used that final boost and a bigger production number to finish off, but that’s going to depend on yet another try at finding a compelling story.

It’s really impressive how quickly they load in these shows, as Fringe has the same theater scheduled back to back to back.

The audience was large and appreciative. Given the care with which this production was put together, I’m sure this is one of this year’s top Fringe shows.

Posted in Orlando, Theatre | Comments Off

This Week in Zendesk

Posted on May 16, 2014 by steve

Every Friday afternoon the Alcorn McBride engineers and support team gather to discuss the week’s support tickets, which are tracked in Zendesk. Hence the meeting is called TWIZ. Since it’s late on a Friday, the meeting doesn’t run on any particular agenda, and lasts until the support tickets or beer runs out, whichever comes first. This week, responding to a suggestion from Hunter, Loren provided everyone with official Alcorn McBride lab coats to lend a clinical analysis to the proceedings.

Posted in Alcorn McBride | Comments Off

The Night Bordeaux Beat Burgundy

Posted on April 13, 2014 by steve

Long, long ago, when I first became interested in wine, there was a general perception that Bordeaux wines were better than Burgundy, particularly when they were aged. Over the decades that I’ve been tasting wines, I’ve come to the conclusion that’s almost always not the case. It’s true that some Burgundies lose their fruit over time, but 1 in 100 bottles of Burgundy that is aged for several decades turns into something magical that I’ve never encountered in a Bordeaux.

But last night things were different. For the first time in so long none of us could remember it last occurring, the Bordeauxs were clearly better than the Burgundies. We had selected terrific vintages for both categories. Our Bordeauxs were from the famous 1945 vintage, regarded as the best in the century. And our Burgundies were from 1949, an almost equally prestigious year. But the Bordeauxs clearly were hitting on all cylinders last night.

Because we knew it would be a late evening, Linda and I checked into the Ritz-Carlton. They unexpectedly upgraded us to a suite. I wish we had known in advance, as we could’ve checked in earlier and taken advantage of the gorgeous room and view. But Linda had a cold anyway, so we took it easy and joined our friends Ron and Bev at the Vineyard at 7pm.

The Vineyard does an interesting balancing act, not really a fancy restaurant, but not casual dining, either. We love the fact that the chef enjoys going off-menu to create whatever comes to mind, and that our server, James, really enjoys coming up with interesting food and wine pairings.

Dinner was the usual five hour plus extravaganza. Outstanding courses included the best ceviche I’ve ever had, accompanied by a brilliant fennel and mango salad, excellent fried green tomatoes (high praise from me, indeed), smoked salmon, parsnip ravioli, Caesar salad, all four fish from the menu, and a duo of filet mignon and rib eye. The chef basically knocked it out of the park. And then at the end of the meal we were presented with an embarrassingly low bill.

The sad thing is that this restaurant is closing next month, which was one of the reasons for our visit. It’s a shame, because they’re replacing it with something low brow, and it’s hardly necessary–the room was nearly full most of the night.

As for the wines, my favorites were very surprising. My top rated wine of the night was actually the Comtes Champagne we bought from the restaurant’s list. It was fabulously creamy, and priced barely above retail. I also liked Ron’s Laville Haut Brion Blanc.

Turning to the reds, the Burgundies just didn’t show up for work. They weren’t flawed, just not exciting. I’d even had Ron’s wine before and left a stellar note on Cellar Tracker, but this bottle was not a kindred spirit.

Of the Bordeauxs, everything was pretty close and all the wines were true to their heritage. My notes follow.

2004 Comtes Champagne (from the list) $175

Cream, yeast, great balance, long toasty finish, 96 pts

2005 Laville Haut Brion
Caramel candy, wax, lanolin, butter, ash, floral, super balanced, long, 97 pts

1945 Château Léoville Las Cases St. Julien (Steve)
Low fill, Wax, sweet raspberry fruit, chewy, fresh, 96 pts

1945 Leoville Poyferre St. Julien (Ron)
Very dark, tart blackberry, wood, coffee, young, 93 pts

1949 L’Heritier-Guyot Clos Vougeot (Steve)
Ruby, really fresh, fennel, 91 pts

1949 Liger Belair Charmes Chambertin (Ron)
Slightly musty, citrus, 86 pts

1966 Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac (Steve)
Young, bright, coffee, green peppers, lead pencil, classic Bordeaux, 92 pts

1966 Cheval Blanc (Ron)
Herbaceous, tight, anise, mint, chocolate, black cherry, 93 pts

1976 Joseph Phelps Insignia (Steve)
Red fruits, 91 pts

1978 Joseph Phelps Insignia (Ron)
Coffee, coffee, coffee, big fruit, vanilla, long, 95 pts

2001 Ch Suiduraut (Steve)
Great acidity and balance, great botrytis nose, raisins, long vanilla finish, figs, cream 94 pts

Posted in Dining, Linda, Orlando, Wine | Comments Off

Great Old Wines at The Chef’s Table

Posted on March 10, 2014 by steve

We convened in the private room at The Chef’s Table at the Edgewater for a tasting. I have been trying for a couple of years to get Kevin Buckler of Adobe Road to schedule an extra day when he is in town so that I could introduce him to the magic of old wines. Kevin has an extensive cellar focusing on modern California wines, while Ron and I have cellars full of old French wines. So this was the day.

In attendance were Ron and Bev Siegel, Kevin and his friend Henry Wolfond, John and Debbie Henline, Martin Chaney, Linda and I.

We’d never done an event like this at The Chef’s Table, because they lacked the glasses. I solved that problem by giving them 62 Riedel Ouverture series, which worked well for both Burgundy and Bordeaux. Now we’ll have glasses there for future events.

The Chef’s Table staff, and especially our server Teran did a fabulous job. She is quite interested in wine and had researched the background on the wines, which was really neat.

Rather than our normal tasting followed by dinner, I had pre-matched the wines to food. Every course was great, and perfectly paced for our almost 5-hour dinner.

It was fun to introduce a couple of virgins to the complexity of old wines, and I think it’s safe to say they were stunned by the freshness and appeal, especially of the old Burgundies. As usual, serving the Burgundies first took the bloom off the Bordeauxs, but overall every bottle was in great shape and had something to offer.

The menu, followed by my wine notes:

Salmon Tartar
House Made Smoked Fish Dip
Pan Seared Scallops
Combination Cheese and Butcher Plate
Mushroom Torte
Eggroll / Crawfish Fritter
Heirloom Tomato Salad
Boudain Ball / Chicken Liver
Beef Filet with passed sides: Chef’s Mac & Cheese, Duck Fat Fries
Combination Dessert Plate

Jacques Selosse Substance (Steve)

Complex oxidative nose with secondary fruit flavors that develop after several minutes. This wine evolved for two hours in the glass. This Champagne is made with a Solera process, where older years are added in to new vintages. 95 pts

2008 Chateau “Y”(Steve)

Candle wax, lime, cotton candy, anise, butter. This was a bit of a disappointment as it never opened up as much as usual. 92 pts

2010 Aubert Chardonnay Reuling Vineyard (Steve)

No contest, this wine blew away the “Y”. Wood, spice, caramel, butter, good acid. A great match to the salmon. 94 pts

1953 Romanee Saint Vivant, Bouchard Aine & Fils (Ron)

Smoke, bacon fat, charred log, fresh cherries, fabulous. My (and most people’s, I think) Wine of the Night. 96 pts

1955 Louis Latour Romanée St. Vivant Les Quatre Journaux (Steve)

Iron, good fruit on the palate, earthy finish. 95 pts

1959 Corton, Charles Vienot (Ron)

extremely youthful, pine, dust, wood. 96 pts

1964 Maison Leroy Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru (Steve)

Refined, youthful, mint, dried roses. 94 pts

1997 Chambertin Domaine Armand Rousseau (Henry)

Delicate, refined, great potential, it was easy to see how this could turn into one of those great old Burgundies some day. 92+ pts

2001 Adobe Road Pinot Noir (Kevin)

A great Burgundian wine, the first released vintage from Adobe Road. Wow, I wish they still made their pinot in this style! The wine fit right into the Burgundy flight. 92 pts

1961 Château Montrose (Ron)

Great color, latex, smoke. 92 pts

1961 Château Lynch-Bages (Steve)

Great color, briny, spice box, red fruit, extraordinary balance. 92 pts

1966 Château La Mission Haut-Brion (Ron)

Youthful, minerals, forest fire, sea brine, good acid, gravel. Not showing as well as several recent bottles of the same wine. 93 pts

1970 Château La Mission Haut-Brion (Steve)

Much headier than the ’66, young, red fruit, balanced. I hadn’t had this vintage of this wine before, nice one. 92 pts

1990 Ch. Cos d’Estournel (Henry)

Huge, structured, balanced, round, charred meat. This wine didn’t fit in this flight, but it will be great some day. 94 pts

1969 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve (Steve)

This was supposed to be a 1968, but turned out to be a 1969. Fortunately the vintages are extremely similar, although this was not an exciting bottle. Waxy, youthful but with a slightly bitter finish. 89 pts

1971 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve (John)

I think I’ve only had this vintage once before. Waxy, young, tight, green. This just wasn’t a Georges de la Tour night! 88 pts

1974 Simi Alexander Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Ron)

A very serviceable old California Cab with good fruit and balance, nothing remarkable. 91 pts

1975 Angelo Papagni Alicante Bouschet (Martin)

I think there was a lot of disagreement about this wine, but it has always blown me away, and continues to do so. Dark, unctuous, very fresh and young. Linda called it cough syrup, I thought melted chocolate. I wish I still had some of this! 95 pts

1985 Silverado Estate Bottled Cabernet Sauvignon (John)

Wood, smooth, youthful, balanced. Holding up much better than other old Silverado I’ve had. Of course, this was a great year. 93 pts

1988 Stags Leap Napa Valley Petite Syrah (Martin)

Smoke, almost no petite syrah character. This is the wine we’d slip into a cab tasting to fool everyone, and it would win. I wish they still made it in this almost Bordeaux-like style. 93 pts

2004 Penfolds Grange (Steve)

Smoke, huge. I decanted this 3 hours before we poured, and it was almost ready to drink. This vintage is much more accessible than most Grange. 96 pts.

2008 B20 Sine Qua Non Syrah (Ron)

Blueberries, dense, still needs years. Like the Grange, this has 3 hours in a decanter, but still wasn’t ready. 97+ pts

1998 Adobe Road Cabernet Sauvignon (Unreleased) (Kevin)

What a treat to try this unreleased wine made from Silver Oak fruit and done in half French half American oak! dusty, balanced, smooth. 93 pts

Adobe Road Mystery Bottle (Kevin)

This unlabelled bottle was probably 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon. Another stellar effort. surprising sense of residual sugar, perhaps just a sign of how much fruit is still in it. 93 pts

2002 Adobe Road Zinfandel (Kevin)

Pasalaqua vineyard. Smoked meat, holding its fruit really well for an old Zin. 92 pts

2005 Adobe Road Zinfandel (Kevin)

Winner of the Sonoma Harvest Fair. This is a terrific wine. 94 pts

1968 D’Oliveiras Madeira Boal Reserva (Steve)

Too bad this came at the end of a long evening; it’s spectacular, and would have matched every dish we had. Sometime I’m going to take this to the Chef’s Table and nurse it all night. Burnt sugar, caramel, citrus on the palate, great acidity. 98 pts

Posted in Dining, Linda, Orlando, Wine | Comments Off

Ron’s Birthday at Scratch

Posted on February 13, 2014 by steve

Ron Siegel celebrated his (ahem) 60th birthday at Scratch. It’s the new restaurant on Fairbanks in Winter Park, next to All Fired Up. The place is owned by three young restaurateurs who have done an amazing job of designing the space and creating an exciting environment for superb food.

This panorama captures almost the entire space, which is less than 20 feet wide.

They actually closed the restaurant for our party of 14. Our timing was great, because we arrived at 5pm, just before the thunderstorms, and left at 10pm, just after them. Some of the others were still there partying until well past midnight. Scratch is open until 2am.

Ron, Keith and I provided most of the wines. We didn’t try to match the food, we were just looking for great wines.

Every course was great, but my favorite was the rib eye, which was unlike any I’d had. It was served with bone marrow, which I’d never had like this. A bit of the bone marrow on each bite of rib eye was amazing. Easily the best beef I’ve ever tasted.

Also great was the coq au vin, which had an incredibly flavorful bone marrow reduction and amazing shallot puree.

Thanks to Ron for hosting this wonderful celebration, and for all the great wines. I’ve listed them below, although there were many more after we left, I’m sure.

1990 Pol Roget (for the millennium) (Ron)
Caramel, toast, lovely. 93 pts

1989 Jose Michelle (Ron)
Very crisp and dry, too dry for me. 90 pts

1992 Haut Brion Blanc (Ron)
Honey color, caramel, burnt orange, cinnamon, wax, sweet burnt marshmallow, lemon peel, I love this, and hadn’t had this vintage before. Keith felt it was oxidative, which is probably true, but one of the things I love about old HBB. Certainly unidentifiable as sauvignon blanc. 92 pts

2008 Corton Charlemagne Louis Latour (Keith)
Extremely floral, acacia, soft buttery finish, fairly simple, would hav egone well with the scallop, but didn’t match the ceviche. 90 pts

1961 Clos Vougeot Grivelet (Steve)
Tamarind, earthy, rich, medium garnet, orange peel, still good tannins, very appealing considering this was only a so-so year in Burgundy. 93 pts

1949 Clos Vougeot (Ron)
Mineral, sawdust, iron, blood, sweet finish, oranges, charred wood, this took a while to come around, but turned out to be great. 94 pts

1995 Corton Renauds (Keith)
Seashore, cherry, short, 88 pts

1970 DRC La Tache (Ron)
Good color, surprisingly tannic, vanilla, citrus, fairly simple, a good wine, but not a great quality to price ratio. 91 pts

1961 Ch Lynch Bages (Steve)
Very, very young, bright red cherries, vanilla, blockbuster, glad I have several more. 98 pts

1978 Ch Haut Brion (Ron)
Chalk, peppers, gravel, dust, slightly musty, I think this bottle was slightly off. 92 pts

1989 Ch Cheval Blanc (Keith)
Really balanced, vanilla, cherry, tannic, mint, black pepper, great aging potential, tobacco, I love Cheval, and this is the best (and youngest) one I’ve had in a while. 96 pts +

1966 Ch La Mission Haut Brion (Ron)
Perfect bottle, gravel, sweet cherry, long mint, cinnamon, smoky wood, This wine, poorly rated by Parker, is almost always my wine of the night. 99 pts

1983 Ch Margaux (Ron)
Seashells, briny, tannic, talcum powder, chocolate coated cherries, wood, this is why I don’t collect Margaux any more. 92 pts

1994 Ch Pavie Macquin (Gary)
Nicely balanced, dust, chocolate, tannin, youthful, good food wine, good with beef. 90 pts

1982 Ch L’Evangile (Keith)
Tar, extremely chewy, long tannic cherry finish, mint, herbs, pine forest floor, mushrooms, this is one of Keith’s favorite wines, and I can see why. This is the best 1982 I’ve had. 99 pts

1968 Grange (Ron)
Burnt mesquite, wormwood, young, probably still not ready, tannic, long, did I mention tannic, powerhouse that make be at its peak in another 50 years. 95 pts

1970 Lynch Bages (magnum) (Ron)
Bright red fruits, succulent, tart finish, pleasant, but a shadow of the 1961, 92 pts

1993 Ch Pajzos Esszencia (Steve)
I opened this because we needed to leave and I wanted to taste it, so I left the bottle for everyone else. I hope they enjoyed it. A Robert Parker 100 pointer with a reason. Phenolic, citrus, syrupy consistency but amazing acidity to offset it, dried fruits, pear, apricot, smoke, apple, caramel, kumquat, greatest dessert wine I’ve ever had, including Yquem. 100 pts

Posted in Dining, Linda, Orlando, Wine | Comments Off

Solaia at K Restaurant

Posted on January 26, 2014 by steve

Keith Edwards organized this great vertical tasting at K on Edgewater in College Park.

Attending were Keith and Parlo; Ron and Bev; Steve and Linda; Niccolo’ Maltinti, the Antinori US Brand Manager; Tobias Fiebrandt of Leitz Wine; and Marc and Kai Frontario.

KeithEdwardsSoliaia

We began with a 1966 Moet & Chandon I’ve had in my cellar for twenty years. As with most really old Champagnes, the effervescence was gone, but great acidity made the wine quite an interesting old chardonnay, with a caramel and fig finish. An amazing accompaniment to the deviled eggs. 90 points.

Keith’s Jacques Selosse Initiale proved a great palate awakener after that, with a toasty nose, crisp fruit flavors and a lichee finish. Served with raw oysters I didn’t try. 92 points.

We then took our seats for the vertical tasting. As always, Keith was super organized, with beautiful tasting booklets for everyone. The tasting began with some introductory comments by Niccolo’.

Solaia is:

75% Cabernet Sauvignon
20% Sangiovese
5% Cabernet Franc

We tasted the wines from youngest to oldest, in four flights. My notes:

Flight 4

1982 349.00 (Keith)
Easily the Soliaia of the night, by a wide margin. A dead ringer for Georges de la Tour. Mint, coffee, vanilla, wax, with a long, sweet coffee finish. 97

1985 (Keith)
Slightly corked, thin. 87

1987 169.00 (Keith)
Intense peppers, tight, 88

1989 226.66 (Ron)
Dust, thin, short. 87

Flight 3

1990 226.66 (Ron)
Ripe unusual fruits, short. 88

1991 159.00 (Keith)
Mint, herbal, the favorite of this lackluster flight. 90

1993 189.00 (Keith)
Very ripe, with a short finish. 88

Flight 2

1994 189.00 (Keith)
Roasted nose, vanilla, mint, short. 87

1997 226.66 (Ron)
Tannic, thin, Wine Spectator Wine of the Year. 87

1998 (Keith)
Tobacco, pleasant but somewhat dull. 89

1999 189.00 (Keith)
Ready to drink, sawdust, very smooth, opulent. The favorite of the flight. 93

Flight 1

2001 189.39 (Keith)
Still needs time. Dust, good tannic structure, tight. The favorite of the flight. 92

2002 159.00 (Keith)
Smoked peat nose, no structure, short. 88

2008 (Niccolo’)
Chocolate mint, a hot weather wine, green pepper, cab franc, silky, sweet finish. 90

2009 214.39 (Keith)
Dust, charred meat, a bit gangly, acidic. 91

Overall thoughts: I was struck by the fact that the youngest wines were quite drinkable, which I wasn’t expecting, and that the oldest wines, even those completely ready for drinking, showed no signs of age. There were several stylistic shifts across the years, with the wines from the 2000s clearly better drinking, and the 1982 (one of the very first vintages) a completely different animal. Unfortunately that animal is what I’m looking for (as, apparently, was the rest of the group, since 9 out of 10 selected it as their favorite).

The value of the vertical was to show the consistency of the winemaking, which was high, and the product, which was moderate. Certainly as a group these wines could not be compared with French first or second growths, or the best cabernets from California. For Linda and I it reinforced why we don’t have Italian wines in our cellar, but of course for others the impression was different.

Dinner included a perhaps too subtle ceviche, a nice corn chowder, a lovely fish on a spectacularly flavorful bed of savory corn, an excellent duck dish on a risotto that even I (a risotto avoider) loved, and a superb wagu beef with truffle oil and mashed potatoes. This was far and away the best meal I’ve had at K. It ended with many passed desserts. Linda and I left after dessert, although more great wines came out, but she was tired, and the sugar had made it impossible to return to dry red wines.

Here are my notes on the wines that accompanied dinner:

1986 Gruaud Larose (Ron)
Restrained fruit, simple 88

1986 Lynch Bages (Steve)
Very similar to Gruaud, slightly less fruit, coffee 87

1969 Clos Vougeot Domaine Gros Freres (Steve)
Fruity, good acid, tobacco, bacon, mint, vanilla 94

1961 Chambolle Musigny Les Beaux Bruns Greveley (Ron)
Dried flowers, fat, Carmel, burnt log, forest floor 95

2005 Corton Clos du Roi Prince Florent de Merrode (Mark)
Now owned by DRC. Pleasant fruit, simple 90

1990 Gevrey Chambertin Nadeef (Keith)
Candy, mint, dried fruits 90

1993 Mersault-Perrieres Les Champeaux Ampeau (Ron)
Floral, good acid, fresh, drinking 20 years younger 94

1999 Rinaldo Barolo (Keith)
High acid, red berries 89

1991 Dominus (Keith)
This wine was presented blind as a first growth, but there was little doubt in my mind what it was. Green pepper, great tannin structure, coffee, graphite, spice, jalapeño, very young, talcum powder. Easily Wine of the Night! 99

Thanks to Keith for putting together a great event. These vertical tasting can be hard work, because they require lots of attention and careful discussion, but I find them the most educational of all wine events.

Posted in Dining, Linda, Wine | Comments Off

2011 Bordeaux

Posted on January 16, 2014 by steve

Last year we attended the 2010 Bordeaux tasting at the Rosen Shingle Creek, and it was a terrific event, so we were looking forward to this year’s version. Quite a few of our friends also attended, so there were 15 of us in all. That was actually a fairly large percentage of the total attendance of 150-200, which seemed to be down from last year, perhaps because ABC provided no way to buy the tickets online.

The event was held in one of the large conference spaces at the Rosen. We’d planned to have some sushi before hand, but a large sales convention had taken over nearly all the restaurants. We ended up at the bar of A Land Remembered for a tuna appetizer.

At the event we quickly learned why 2011 is not regarded as a great year in Bordeaux. The wines were mostly tannic but green, short, off balance, and thin. Certainly nothing like the 2009s and 2010s. Interestingly, though, the better producers managed to make significantly better wines than the lesser ones. While this isn’t surprising, the stratification was noteworthy, with almost no wines in the middle. Each wine seemed to be either completely unappealing or very good, with almost none falling in between.

It only took about an hour to try most of the promising wines, although we skipped a few whites and the Sauternes. As was the case last year, the obscure Château St. Pierre was probably the best buy.

The food last year was plentiful, but this year is seemed either more limited or simply delayed, and the attendees fell on it like hungry wolves. With long lines for the hot food we decided to leave and go to Calla Bella, the hotel’s Italian restaurant. We had a fairly uninspired meal there last year, but this year, sitting at the presentation bar that faces the kitchen we had excellent food and service. The Marguerita flatbread was authentically Italian, the Chilean sea bass was done with a deft touch, and the mushroom side was great.

If they do the event again next year I will definitely go, but I suspect similar results for the 2012 vintage.

Here are my notes on the wines:

Château d’Aiguilhe

Tight 88

Château Branaire Ducru

Tannic, some potential 89

Château Brane Cantenac

Really tannic 88

Brane Baron

Balanced 90

Château Camensac

Drinkable vanilla 88

Château Canon La Gaffelière

Green 89

Château Cantemerle

Very green 86

Château Cantenac Brown

Tannic 88

Château Carbonnieux

White: SB nose, astringent 85

Red: balanced 88

Château Chasse Spleen

Very rough 86

Château Clinet

Great structure 95

Daugay

Smooth but short 89

Clos de L’Oratoire

Tight, thin 87

Ferriere

Short 86

Fombrauge

Tannic 87

Château Gloria

Great coffee nose 91

Château Grand Puy Lacoste

Balanced 90

Lacoste Borie

Tannin mint 87

Château Haut Batailley

Very drinkable 92

Château Haut Bages Libéral

Green bitter 84

Château Lafon Rochet

Tannic green 85

Château LaPointe

Varietal balanced 94

De LaPointe

Merlot 89

La Tour Carnet

Good structure 90

Château Langoa Barton

Rough 85

Château Léoville Barton

Smooth 87

Château Léoville Poyferré

Mint, nice balance 95

Château Lynch Bages

Tannic 89

Echo de Lynch Bages

Drinkable 85

Clos Marsalette

Smooth 89

Phelan Segur

Awkward 87

Château Pichon Longueville Baron

Good structure 94

Château Suduiraut

Pape Clement

Great structure 95

Pibran

Dense, chocolate, coffee, Pauillac 93

Château Smith Haut Lafitte

Coffee gravel smooth 95

Château St. Pierre

Beautiful coffee nose, great structure 94

Château Talbot

Great balance 95

Posted in Dining, Orlando, Wine | Comments Off

Butter Cookie Taste-Off

Posted on November 27, 2013 by steve

We did a butter cookie taste off, buying tubs of butter cookies all over Solvang.

Olsen’s Danish Village Bakery was the first of four bakeries in Solvang where we purchased a tub of five dozen butter cookies. These were among the best, but the real standouts here were the pastries. The macaroon was the best I’ve ever had, with a perfect crispy crust and chewy but not soggy interior. The cinnamon pastry, a sort of palmier with a cinnamon crust was amazing. We nursed it for breakfast three days in a row, and it was still just as good!

I found that Mortensen’s has the butteriest tasting cookies. I particularly liked the plain round ones with the curved tops. They have a long, buttery finish that is slightly salty and not as sweet as some.

Birkholm’s is Linda’s favorite. As of this writing their butter cookies still come in the traditional waxed cardboard tub rather than a plastic bucket. These were the softest and crumbliest. The standout is their plain, round, flat butter cookie, simple and very buttery.

Danish Mill Bakery’s were my favorite. I particularly like the crispy kind with raisins (or are they currants?) Their cookies seem to have a bit more body than the others.

Sadly, we did not visit the Solvang Bakery, since we already had twenty dozen, so we’ll have to save tasting notes from the iconic windmill shop for another visit.

Posted in Dani, Dining, Linda, Los Angeles | Comments Off

Ancient Wines at The Vineyard

Posted on October 20, 2013 by steve

Close to a decade ago Ron purchased three old Burgundies from Premier Cru for next to nothing–$75 a bottle he recalls. Over the years we consumed the 1899 and 1893 bottles. I rated them both 100pts, and number them among the best wines I’ve ever had, fresh yet unbelievably complex.

But Ron had been saving the best for last. The four of us met at The Vineyard at The Ritz Carlton to experience his 1904 Richebourg and some other very old wines.

What a great night it was! We matched each pair of wines with food, and spent more than six hours appreciating these beauties, each of which was in fabulous condition, and very long-lived in the glass. If only we could find more of these treasures.

2002 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos (Ron)
Kiwi, pineapple, dry finish, soft, waxy, dusty, 95pts

2010 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos (Steve)
Seashells, minerals, brine, lime, 93pts

1999 Perrier Jouet (Vineyard wine list)
Caramel, toast, really balanced, 96pts

1904 Larronde & Freres Richebourg (Ron)
Great color and clarity, Caramel, still great fruit, last of Ron’s trilogy, leather, cinnamon, vanilla, spice box, mocha, butter, smoke, shouldering campfire, rhubarb, forest floor, juniper, burnt log, strawberry starbursts, possibly the greatest wine I’ve ever had, 100pts

1923 Henri de Behegre Clos Vougeot Grand Cru (Steve)
Great color, clarity and fill, iron, cherry, bacon fat, candy apple, cedar, still fresh after more than an hour, 98pts

1904 Cos d’Estournel (Ron)
Cinnamon nose, light color but brilliant, Indian food, curry, bacon fat, fresh sawdust, dusty, reminiscent of 1937 Cheval Blanc, 93pts

1959 Château Cos d’Estournel (Steve)
This wine had a very unusual label, having been imported to London by the Army Navy Stores. I saved this bottle. Great color and clarity, vanilla, restrained fruit, wood smoke, 89pts

1968 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve (Steve)
Very youthful, fig newtons, grilled buttered sour dough bread, red fruit, dill from American oak, 96pts

1978 Chateau Montelena (Ron)
Very youthful, paint, great structure, soy balsamic, mint, greens, silicone, asparagus fern, mint, licorice, good n plenty, 94pts

We ended the evening with a lovely Armagnac, comped by our server, James. Linda and I had booked a room at the Ritz, which seemed like one of our more inspired ideas at 1am!

Posted in Dining, Linda, Wine | Comments Off

Four Concerts, Seven Bands, Five Days

Posted on September 26, 2013 by steve

It’s been a busy few days in Chicago. I originally booked this trip for the Vienna Teng concert and launch of her new album, but as the timing worked out I was able to also fit in the Hart Davis Bordeaux tasting, a fantastic new production of Evita, and several other concerts by favorite bands. The musical odyssey began on Saturday with the first of three concerts at SPACE, the wonderful performance venue just down the street from Dani’s condo. We had dinner at the Union Pizza company and then saw Ari Hest, who did a great job. His music works particularly well as a solo performance, and the place was packed with fans. We continued on Sunday with a Dar Williams concert at City Winery. We hadn’t been to this venue before, which is down on Randall Street not far from Dani’s office and the Girl and the Goat restaurant. It’s a massive space, with a working winery (grapes shipped in from California and Europe), restaurant, bar, and large performance venue where they serve dinner before and during the show. The wine offerings were extensive, and the food, mostly shared plates, is terrific. The warm up act was Nina, an 18-year-old who had an interesting playing style. We would have bought her CD, but her mom took her home before Dar’s concert ended! Dar was great, talking a lot with the audience, and really funny. She played all our favorites, and a few others we didn’t know, although I think we have all of her CDs. While at the Ari Hest concert Saturday we saw a poster for Theo Katzman (who we’d seen before) but discovered Jillette Johnson was warming up for him. So we had to return to SPACE on Monday to see both of them. Despite the late booking and a packed house, somehow we ended up with our usual front row center table. That was a pleasant surprise!

Jillett’s music is great, but she seemed tired, perhaps due to an early morning television appearance. Theo, on the other hand, has realy amped up his act since we last same him. This might be the tightest band I’ve ever heard, and the crowd, as they saw, went wild.

After a day off to recuperate, we returned to SPACE on Wednesday for the grand finale, Vienna Teng. This new tours is in support of her album Aims, released the day before. In addition to show tickets, we’d bought admission to the sound check, and it was great fun watching them rehearse.

Since this was the first concert on their tour, they were still working out lots of stuff, which made it very interesting. After the sound check there was a meet and great in the green room, and about 15 of us got to chat with Vienna for close to an hour.

The warm up act was Barnaby Bright, another favorite of ours, and it was great to see the audience response to them. I think they’ll have a lot of new fans as a result of this tour.

Vienna, Alex Wong, and Jordan put on a great show, playing our favorite songs, and some great stuff off the new album. Since Dani and I particularly like two obscure older songs, it was pretty neat that they were the two Vienna chose to do solo: Whatever You Want and Recessional. They finished with the raucous Level Up from the new album, and then an acoustic number (unamplified) and finally Vienna sang a cappella. A great concert, and a wonderful start to her tour.

Posted in Dani, Music | Comments Off

1990 and 2000 Bordeaux Tasting

Posted on September 26, 2013 by steve

Hart Davis organizes an annual Bordeaux retrospective, and this year’s event was particularly impressive. It was held in the private room above Spiaggia overlooking Michigan Avenue in Chicago. It’s a beautiful space, although Spiaggia itself is a fairly terrible restaurant.

Since 1990 and 2000 were both excellent years, I was really looking forward to this event. Dani and I spent about 90 minutes comparing the 40 wines on offer, opting to pour the two vintages from each chateau side by side, so we could compare them.

I took a fair number of notes, but most were in agreement with professionally published tasting notes, so I will omit them. Here are my numeric rankings, with the 1990 followed by the 2000 in each case. Bold faced entries are particularly good buys:

Château Calon-Ségur 95, 93

Château Cheval Blanc 97+, 97

Château Clinet 90, 88

Château La Conseillante 95, 94

Château Cos d’Estournel 90, 95

Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 90, 89

Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 90, 92

Château Gruaud Larose 88, 97

Château Haut-Brion 98, 100

Château Lafite Rothschild 98, 99

Château Latour 97, 98

Château Léoville-Las-Cases 99, 95

Château Léoville Poyferré 90, 89

Château Lynch-Bages 95, 94

Château Margaux 92, 98

Château La Mission Haut-Brion 96, 98+

Château Montrose 96, 94

Château Mouton Rothschild 97, 100

Château Palmer 94, 96

Château Pichon-Longueville, Baron 92, 99

Château Pichon-Longueville, Lalande 94, 99

After the tasting we joined our friends Ron and Bev for a dreadful dinner at Spiaggia. But we brought some of our own wines, which redeemed the meal:

59 Charmes-Chambertin Pierre Ponnelle (Steve)
Really youthful, mint, cherries, lemon curd, vanilla, orange, cedar, coffee, drinks like a wine from the 80s, 94 pts

59 Clos St Denis Pierre Ponnelle (Ron)
Old burgundy nose, mushrooms, caramel, sweet, mouth filling, 94 pts

1966 Haut Brion (Steve)
Soy sauce, chewy, wood, older Bordeaux nose, yet still lots of fruit, 94 pts

1966 La Mission Haut Brion (Ron)
Cherries, not quite as complex as the Haut Brion, very youthful, 94 pts

Posted in Dani, Wine | Comments Off

10 Million Words

Posted on August 29, 2013 by steve

From the time Dani was a baby until she went off to college, I read to her every night. As the years passed, our reading material became a lot more sophisticated, but we never tired of the routine. Here are the books (that I can remember) that we enjoyed over the years.

The Shy Little Horse and hundreds of other stories
But Not the Hippopotamus and hundreds of other picture books
Pony Pals (many)
RL Stein books (Many)
The Cat in the Hat
The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (many times)
To Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street
Yertle the Turtle
Horton Hears a Who
Horton Hatches the Egg
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
The Lorax
Madeleine (and its sequels)
Bunnicula
Howliday Inn
Redwall
Mossflower
Mattimeo
Alice in Wonderland
Tom Sawyer (twice)
Huckleberry Finn
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Silent Storm
Walk Two Moons
The Cave
The Princess Bride
The Dragon In the Cliff
A Bone From a Dry Sea
Letters From Felix
The Princess and the Goblin
Where the Wild Things Are
The Wind In the Willows
The Willows In Winter
Peter Pan
Peter Pan in Scarlet
The Lion’s Paw
The Phantom Toll Booth
SOS Titanic
Night Tree
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (about ten times)
Wolf Story (many times)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician’s Nephew
The Last Battle
The Indian In the Cupboard
The Return of the Indian
The Secret of the Indian
The Mystery of the Cupboard
The Key to the Indian
The Westing Game
Chasing Redbird
Sarah Plain and Tall
Dealing with Dragons (and its sequels)
Rascal
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Island of the Blue Dolphins
A Cricket In Times Square (and its sequels)
The Wheel on the School
Mary Poppins (the original novel)
101 Dalmatians (the original novel)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (the original novel)
Misty of Chincoteague (and its sequels)
Hank, The Cowdog (and many sequels)
A Night to Remember
Back to Titanic
Back to Lincoln
Back to Paul Revere
Goodnight Moon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Wizard of Oz
Green Eggs and Ham
Stellaluna
The Polar Express
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
If You Give a Moose a Muffin
The Napping House
The Little Engine That Could
Curious George
Arthur series (many books)
Berenstein Bears series (many books)
Clifford series (many books)
Linnea in Monet’s Garden
The Boxcar Children series (many books)
Charlotte’s Web
A Wrinkle In Time
The Secret Garden
Island of the Blue Dolphins
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (and its sequels)
The Trumpet of the Swan
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Stuart Little
The Borrowers series (many books)
The Pearl
Walker of Time
Tag Against Time
Walker’s Journey Home
She Flew No Flags
Watership Down
The Call of the Wild
White Fang
The Shipping News
The Crystal Cave
The Hollow Hills
The Old Man and the Sea
To Have and Have Not
Myst: The Book of Atrus
Myst: The Book of Ti’Ana
Myst: The Book of D’ni
On a Pale Horse
Bearing an Hourglass
With a Tangled Skein
Wielding a Red Sword
Being a Green Mother
For Love of Evil
And Eternity
Perry Mason (several)
Shutter Island
Void Moon
Chasing the Dime
Harry Bosch novels (four or so)
The Doomsday Book
To Say Nothing of the Dog
Lincoln’s Dream
Three Men in a Boat
Three Men on the Bummel
A Confederacy of Dunces
The Mirror of her Dreams
A Man Rides Through
The Lincoln Hunters
Harry Potter And the Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Black Dahlia
The Clan of the Cave Bear
The Valley of Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
The Plains of Passage
The Shelters of Stone
Empire Falls
Straight Man
Nobody’s Fool
Bridge of Sighs
The Seventh Scroll
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Round Ireland with a Fridge
Ring of Diamonds
A Matter of Justice
Everything In Its Path
Cider House Rules
The World According to Garp
Snow Falling on Cedars
East of the Mountains
The Blind Assassin
Oryx and Crake

And Many, Many More

Posted in Books and Writing, Dani, Orlando | Comments Off

Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse

Posted on August 8, 2013 by steve

With Kevin Buckler, principle of Adobe Road Winery and The Racer’s Group

Dani and I went to an Adobe Road Wine Dinner here, rather than experience the normal dining room offerings. We were going to meet in the bar, but on a Wednesday night after work it was a madhouse, so we hung out in Starbucks until it was time for the dinner.

Boy did the chef knock it out of the park. I’ve been to hundreds of wine dinners and this had to be near the top.

We started on the mezzanine of the Intercontinental Hotel with a superb 2009 Chardonnay. Great wine, possibly the best of the night, but unfortunately the winery is out of it. This was accompanied by a passed appetizer of bruschetta, which was a twist on the usual, with buratta cheese, proscuitto and a thin slice of pickled peach. Delicious.

Dinner was in a room off the mezzanine perfectly sized for twenty people. I got the sense it was far from the kitchen, because it took several servers quite a while to deliver each course.

The first course was Duck with cherries and dijon mustard, a perfect accompaniment to the 2009 Pinot Noir. The wine is good, but may have a trace of sorbate, and after a slightly earthy nose it quickly fades into a just okay California pinot noir.

The second course of hickory smoked lamb chops with mint, watermelon and tomatoes might have been my favorite. It was served with a 2009 Syrah that offered a smoky, meaty nose, but seemed a bit shut down. Apparently the night before it had been even more so; I think it just needs a rest after shipping.

Third course was Wagyu Ribeye with roasted baby potatoes and a black carrot. It was perfect with a chewy 2010 Knight’s Valley Cabernet.

Dessert wasn’t my favorite, although Dani liked the brown butter cardamom cake with roasted plums and whipped cream and black pepper. The plums seemed a bit tart to accompany the 2008 Zinfandel which was jammy but nothing remarkable.

Then Kevin pulled out the Beckstoffer Georges III Cabernet Sauvignon. Wow! I could sip this all night. After an hour it was just starting to open up and do some amazing things. Brandy soaked cherries coated in dark chocolate, with a bit of pound cake at the end. It was dessert in a glass, yet not a drop of residual sugar! The wine must be close to 15% alcohol. Worth every cent of $95 retail. Give me this and the Chardonnay, and lock me in a room.

Kevin Buckler and Bob Dickinson were welcoming as always, and promised to come do a private event next time they are in Orlando (January?) We also met some other interesting people including Thaddeus Buggs, author of TheMinorityWineReport.com

I was very impressed with the “banquet” food at Michael Jordan’s. I’m not sure which course was the best, but I would happily return here for any of these entrees. Service was prompt and friendly, and the private room was perfect for a group of twenty. Most seemed to be racing enthusiasts at this gathering, as opposed to the Orlando events where it seems the guests are mainly wine enthusiasts.

I will definitely go back to check out the regular menu, because there is some serious talent in the kitchen.

Posted in Dani, Dining, Wine | Comments Off

Easy Chicken Pot Pie with Puff Pastry

Posted on August 4, 2013 by steve

These turned out as delicious as they look.

Ingredients

olive oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 package diced frozen peas and carrots
2 medium celery stalks, diced
1 cup green beans
1 potato, diced
1 can Campbell’s Cream of Chicken soup
2 tbsp freshly chopped tarragon
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp five spice
1 dash cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 frozen puff pastry crust
1 egg

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400F
Remove pastry crust from refrigerator
Use a ramekin to cut circles from pastry crust
Cut up chicken
Sauté onions in olive oil
Add chicken and sauté until brown
Add veggies and soup (do not dilute with water)
When warm, add herbs and seasoning
Divide into ramekins
Brush pastry circles with egg wash
Top ramekins with pastry circles, brushed side down
Brush tops of pastry
Bake for 30 minutes or until crust is brown

Posted in Cooking | Comments Off

Cauliflower, Potato and Green Bean Curry

Posted on August 3, 2013 by steve

Here’s a simple recipe for curry made from scratch. You can pretty much use any vegetables, this is just what I had lying around.

Ingredients (in order used)

4 potatoes, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large sweet or red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon

2 tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp ketchup
4 cups cauliflower, broken into florets
3 cups green beans, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup water

1 cup cilantro, chopped

Preparation

Microwave potatoes until almost cooked, but still firm.
In a large pot, sauté onions and garlic in oil and spices.
Add vegetables and water.
Bring to a boil, simmer until tender, about 10 minutes.

Add cilantro, toss and serve.

Posted in Cooking | Comments Off

Lamb Burgers

Posted on August 1, 2013 by steve

These turned out well. They taste like Kefta. I served them with Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

Ingredients

8 oz. ground lamb
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. finely chopped parsley
1/2 tsp. finely chopped mint
1/2 tsp. finely chopped dill
1/2 tsp. dried Greek oregano
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1⁄4 tsp. ground coriander
1⁄4 tsp. ground cumin
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 scallion, chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Acoompaniments

Sliced red onion
Feta cheese (optional)
2 hamburger buns, toasted

Preparation

Mix ingredients and form into two patties.
Grill over a gas grill on medium-high until charred on outsides.
Serve with sliced onion, toasted hamburger buns, optional feta cheese.

Posted in Cooking | Comments Off

Lang Lang at Ravinia

Posted on July 28, 2013 by steve

Chinese pianist Lang Lang rose to fame with his first performance at Ravinia in 1999, when he was just 17, as a last minute substitution. He returned this year for his 12th Ravinia appearance. It was a cool night for late July, with the temperature dipping into the low 50s. The program was mostly in C Major. It was Dani’s first classical concert, and I think she liked it. My favorite was the incredibly demanding Prokofiev concerto. Lang Lang also debuted a piano-only performance of the Tiger Overture, which he played from sheet music. We had almost identical seats to the ones we were blown out of by the One Republic concert. How refreshing it was to hear instruments without amplification!

Verdi		Overture to La forza del destino (“The Force of Destiny”)

Beethoven		Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15Allegro con brio Largo Rondo: Allegro scherzando

Britten		*March from Matinées musicales, Op. 24*

Prokofiev		Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26Andante—Allegro Tema con variazioni Allegro ma non troppo

Wagner		“Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre

Posted in Dani, Evanston, Music | Comments Off

Peach, Brie and Bacon Pizza

Posted on July 26, 2013 by steve

Thanks to Kara for bringing this recipe to my attention! It was fabulous. If served to me blind, I don’t think I could have identified the ingredients, they meshed so well.

Ingredients

1 lb pizza dough
Flour
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Peaches (I used doughnut peaches) slices into 1/4 inch or thinner slivers
4 oz. brie, rind removed
4 pieces crispy bacon, cut into small pieces
fresh tarragon
balsamic vinegar

Directions

Let dough warm for a few hours, quarter, roll in flour, stretch into 8″ weird shapes, brush with olive oil.

Grill on one side until crisp on the bottom and char marks appear (5-10 minutes).

At the same time, grill the peach slices, turning once.

Flip the dough, layer with peach slices.

Add Brie, bacon and tarragon.

Grill until the bottom is crisp (5-10 minutes).

Drizzle with balsamic glaze and enjoy!

Posted in Cooking, Evanston | Comments Off

Smoke House Garlic Bread

Posted on July 24, 2013 by steve

For years I’ve been trying to duplicate the amazing garlic cheese bread served at the Smoke House Restaurant in Burbank, California. Tonight I finally did it. The secret is to make up a paste and spread that on the bread. As it melts under the broiler, it leaves the crumbly nodules of intense cheese flavor that distinguish the bread. Here’s how to do it:

Ingredients

1 Loaf of uncut sourdough bread, preferably a sort of large baguette shape.
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp dehydrated cheddar cheese powder (Kraft macaroni mix will do in a pinch)
1 tsp garlic powder

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450F.
Soften but do not melt the butter.
Mix in cheeses and garlic, let stand for a while
Turn on oven broiler
Cut loaf of bread in half horizontally and save half for something else.
Spread the slurry onto the bread.
Place bread under broiler until edges are brown.
Cut into narrow slices.
Serve immediately.

Serves 1-4 depending upon how much of a pig you are.

Posted in Cooking, Dani, Dining, Evanston | Comments Off

L2O

Next

Boltwood

My notes:

Ingredients

Preparation

Jacques Selosse Substance (Steve)

2008 Chateau “Y”(Steve)

2010 Aubert Chardonnay Reuling Vineyard (Steve)

1953 Romanee Saint Vivant, Bouchard Aine & Fils (Ron)

1955 Louis Latour Romanée St. Vivant Les Quatre Journaux (Steve)

1959 Corton, Charles Vienot (Ron)

1964 Maison Leroy Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru (Steve)

1997 Chambertin Domaine Armand Rousseau (Henry)

2001 Adobe Road Pinot Noir (Kevin)

1961 Château Montrose (Ron)

1961 Château Lynch-Bages (Steve)

1966 Château La Mission Haut-Brion (Ron)

1970 Château La Mission Haut-Brion (Steve)

1990 Ch. Cos d’Estournel (Henry)

1969 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve (Steve)

1971 Beaulieu Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Georges de Latour Private Reserve (John)

1974 Simi Alexander Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (Ron)

1975 Angelo Papagni Alicante Bouschet (Martin)

1985 Silverado Estate Bottled Cabernet Sauvignon (John)

1988 Stags Leap Napa Valley Petite Syrah (Martin)

2004 Penfolds Grange (Steve)

2008 B20 Sine Qua Non Syrah (Ron)

1998 Adobe Road Cabernet Sauvignon (Unreleased) (Kevin)

Adobe Road Mystery Bottle (Kevin)

2002 Adobe Road Zinfandel (Kevin)

2005 Adobe Road Zinfandel (Kevin)

1968 D’Oliveiras Madeira Boal Reserva (Steve)

Ingredients

Preparation

Ingredients (in order used)

Preparation

Ingredients

Preparation

Ingredients

Directions

Ingredients

Preparation

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives