The welcoming sign for Toulouse Vineyards, Anderson Valley.
I’d spent most of the spring stockpiling some quality Napa Cabernets, taking advantage of the lauded 2007 vintage. But while these big reds gain some age and finesse, I needed a mixed case of white wine and sparkling wine to provide some relief from the summer heat. I suspect that the weather here in the Napa Valley could become very serious in the near future, and while most of June has been relatively cool by Napa standards, the end of the month did deliver a more realistic taste of summer, [... read more ...]
"A Night on the Town," dedicated to Schramsberg's legendary riddler of more than 36 years, Ramon Viera, who retired last December.
As a Napa Valley local, I’ve visited Schramsberg maybe half a dozen times over the last few years, but today I’ve finally decided that this winery offers the mother of all wine tours, hands down. The deep history, the unique property, and the world-class sparkling wines are practically unrivaled here in the Napa Valley, and for these three reasons, Schramsberg truly belongs in a class by itself. I’ll just leave it at that. Below, I’ve posted [... read more ...]
Bravo’s “Top Chef” has offered me added interest this season, ever since I discovered that one of my old CIA instructors, Lynne Gigliotti, was a contestant. I had “Chef G” for my Skills III class, which meant that she was just my second culinary instructor at the CIA. Coincidentally, my very first CIA instructor was Chef Theo Roe, who was one of the subjects in Michael Ruhlman’s 2007 book, “The Reach of a Chef: Professional Cooks in the Age of Celebrity” (as one of Chef Roe’s very first culinary students, I was also mentioned in Ruhlman’s book, though only [... read more ...]
I don’t think that anyone has ever claimed that Nutella was actually healthy, but some proposed European Union (EU) labeling laws have placed Italy’s much-adored, chocolate-hazelnut spread in a sticky situation (I apologize, that’s my best material at the moment). Apparently, it’s not just Americans who have been grazing their way towards obesity for the last several decades, but weight-related health issues are also beginning to plague the citizens across the Atlantic as well. In order to enact change, the EU has recently drafted a measure that would mandate more conspicuous labelling for foods that have especially high percentages [... read more ...]
I took a quick trip into San Francisco yesterday to visit some old chef buddies, two of whom work at Perbacco Ristorante in San Francisco’s Financial District. Although I did learn that their chef, Staffan Terje, fell just short of winning the National Cochon 555 Cook-Off in Aspen over the weekend, it was nice to sample some of the restaurant’s new dishes nonetheless (incidentally, the 2010 winner of Cochon 555 was David Varley of Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak DC). Here are a couple photos of Perbacco’s appetizers…
Sauteed porcinis with a 63ºC egg.
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