Call It Winegate

Few individuals hold as much leverage over an entire sector of the economy as Robert Parker does when it comes to wine. How he rates wines can be make-or-break for a vintner's profitability. Those who hold such power should be held to a high level of accountability.

And that's why this news story has been getting a lot of attention in the food and wine-related media. According to the WSJ's David Kesmodel:

For decades, wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr. has championed a rigid system of ethics, paying for all of his travels to wineries and shunning gifts from the trade. "It is imperative for a wine critic to pay his own way," Mr. Parker wrote in his latest book, published last fall.

But Mr. Parker, it recently has been discovered, hasn't held some fellow writers at his influential newsletter, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, to the same standard.

. . . The trips haven't been disclosed in the newsletter. [One of Parker's fellow WA critics] also has vacationed and enjoyed lavish social dinners in the company of wine importers whose wines he reviews, according to his own writings and interviews with industry executives.

Great Pork Rinds in . . . . Chicago?

Apparently so. And they are worth making a detour for at a restaurant called Publican.

According to the N.Y. Times' Frank Bruni, who wrote this review:

At Publican, an outstanding newcomer in this city’s Fulton Market neighborhood, the wrinkle is rinds.

As you sit under three monstrously large illustrations of pigs, you can nibble on slivers of fried pigskin that aren’t anything like the clunky, often gratuitously crunchy wedges plucked from a plastic bag.

These rinds are airy — as if pigs really could fly and you’re touching bits of their wings — and subtly fiery in taste and color, courtesy of Espelette red pepper and cheddar dust. They’re rinds made-over, rinds classed up: a Pig-malion story.

The Name Game

There is someone, somewhere who is responsible for starting a custom that is distinctly American and annoying at the same time. I don't know who that person is, but they deserve a kick in the pants.

I'm referring to the custom of a server at a restaurant approaching your table, usually with a wide-eyed grin, and telling you, "Hi, my name is ________ . . ."

It isn't really that useful because even if you're looking for your waiter or waitress, most of us are very unlikely to approach another server and ask, "Excuse me, have you seen Scott?" Why? Because it just feels weird.

Scott isn't our friend, and we are unlikely to ever lay eyes on him again. We're only here to eat. Sure, instruct our server to be cheerful and attentive, but our server can behave in this manner without telling us his/her name.

As this column from San Diego magazine notes, a lot of diners seem to agree with my view:

Once again, it’s perfectly clear most San Diegans aren’t seeking a closer, personal bond with their waiters. “I don’t want to know my waiter’s name, and I don’t want my waiter to be my friend,” sniffs one reader.

But, apparently, the name game can get even worse. According to this post at Complainable.com

. . . why in the world do I need to know my waiter’s name when I eat out at a restaurant? Furthermore, why does it need to be written in purple crayon on my table? I’m sure you’ve had it happen to you before. You walk into the Italian restaurant and some overly friendly kid from the junior college comes over and scribbles his name. Even worse, the waiter or waitress will often embellish their name with a heart or maybe a balloon.

Actually, I have never had such a "scribble" incident occur at my restaurant table. And I sincerely hope this practice is limited to a class or category of restaurants that I don't tend to frequent.

Who the hell does this? Applebees? Buca di Beppo? Say it ain't so.

Maybe there's a simple compromise. Why don't restaurants approach this like hotels? Have waiters wear small, unintrusive name tags, but stop making it part of their job to tell us their name.

Best Steakhouse in NYC?

Given the competition, that's a title that shouldn't be claimed or assigned lightly. But N.Y. Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni is calling Minetta Tavern "the best steakhouse in the city." Excerpts from Bruni's review:

. . . it’s serving some of the most expertly aged, flavorful and exquisitely prepared prime beef in New York. This beef is showcased in one trailblazing burger and two titanic steaks, the côte de boeuf for two and a bone-in New York strip, that have for two months now been the incessant talk of insatiable carnivores, who can’t get enough of them.

. . . Although little of the rest of Minetta’s food rises all the way to the extraordinarily high level of the beef, much of it is terrific.

While the best porterhouse on the best night at Peter Luger can be an amazement, there’s no seafood there as fine as the tender, sweet lobster in a big, crisp salad at Minetta or as this restaurant’s trout meunière, buttery and bedecked with crab meat. And at Minetta the servers don’t bark at you.

Here is his full review.

I may have to find an excuse to dine there soon.

But I am perplexed by something. At the top of the NYT article, it shows Minetta Tavern getting three out of a possible four stars. How does Bruni justify calling Minetta the best steakhouse in NYC if it doesn't garner four stars?

Guacamole: My Recipe

You may have read my recent post on guacamole. Well, I made it, and I was pleased.

Below is the final recipe that I settled on -- it's a hybrid of a few different recipes I found on the web. One thing's for sure. The texture of guacamole isn't thick enough if you add the juice of a whole lime (as the Food Network's Alton Brown suggests) so I decided to cut that back to the juice from just 1/2 a lime.

For the sake of simplicity, I also propose using two cans of premium, diced plum tomatoes. If you choose wisely, you give up nothing on taste while avoiding the time-consuming chore of peeling, seeding and dicing your own tomato. Plus, it adds a nice color.

Be sure to add the diced tomato after you have mashed and combined the other ingredients. Without further adieu . . .

GUACAMOLE

• 3 Haas avocados (halved, with pits removed)


• 1/2 cup of diced red onion


• 1/2 lime, juiced


• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper


• 2 tablespoons of fresh, chopped cilantro (or 1-1/2 tablespoon of dried cilantro leaves)


• 1/2 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce (optional)


• 2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced


• Dash of freshly ground black pepper


• 2 cans of diced plum tomatoes (look for 14.4 oz. cans)

DIRECTIONS: Scoop the avocado pulp out of its peel and place it in a large bowl. Add the next seven ingredients to the bowl. Use a potato masher to mash and integrate all of the ingredients. Add the diced tomato and then fold them in by stirring with a spoon -- not the masher. (If you're going to add the Tabasco to give it extra "kick," then add it with the other herbs and spices.) Let the guacamole stand at room temperature for 15 minutes, then serve with tortilla chips.

Economical Steaks for the Grill

The temps outside are starting to climb, and the summer grilling season is just around the corner. So I welcomed this Washington Post article headlined "Affordable Steaks That Make the Cut."

According to the Post article:

Affordable cuts of beef tend to fall into three groups: hanger and flatiron steaks, long prized by chefs; flank, flap, tri-tip and skirt steaks, which used to be even cheaper when they were less popular; and gems such as chuck eye, chuck shoulder and top sirloin steaks, which are, for the moment, the least expensive of the lot (less than $5 per pound).

One thing they all have in common is their tough texture. They come from well-exercised muscles of the animal, which tend to be the most flavorful.

. . . Attentive prep work, intense marinades and closely watched grill time can do wonders for the bargain cuts we're focusing on here.

And the recipes for those marinades can be found near the end of the article. You might also want to read this article from N.Y. Magazine on how to grill the perfect steak.

The Best Wine Importers

Culinary writers are constantly recommending wines and even wine producers. But a recommendation for wine importers? That's pretty strange.

Frankly, I can't remember ever reading an article that purports to give me something akin to a Foreign Wine Cheat Sheet naming the most dependable importers of foreign wine.

But that's precisely what Slate's Mike Steinberger has done. The article is right here -- look for the hyperlink to the Cheat Sheet near the end of the first paragraph.

Guacamole Decisions

I'm planning on making guacamole later today. I've bought everything that I'll need -- avocados and the rest. But, first, I need to decide on a recipe.

The Food Network's Alton Brown has this recipe, calling for a 3-to-2 ratio of avocado to tomato. That contrasts with this recipe from the website Simply Recipes, and it has a 4-to-1 ratio of avocado to tomato.

Maybe I should split the difference. Then there is the issue of whether I simply use cayenne pepper or whether I add something with a little more kick -- such as diced serrano peppers.

Decisions, decisions.

Incivility Around the Bar

At the food blog on Atlantic Monthly, Derek Brown has an axe to grind. And I'm inclined to sympathize with his point of view.

In this post headlined "Why Your Bartender Hates You" (provocative, eh?), Brown explains how things can get off on the wrong foot:

The incivility can be from both sides [of the bar], so I do acknowledge that sometimes customers are the victims as well as the perpetrators (and sometimes it's just one long chain). However, it's not uncommon for customers, bar side, to begin their interaction without even the basest of pleasantries. They shout "gin and tonic," an unnecessarily hostile beginning like a cannon ball fired from close range. This happens even in a quiet or slow bar.

While this method is direct, it's also a more appropriate first meeting for a vending machine. Why not, "Hi, can I get a gin & tonic?" or even, "Please." (Exasperated "pleases" don't count, either.)

. . . I was at an event recently making specialty cocktails and John McLaughlin, of the McLaughlin Group, asked for tonic water and lemon. When I tried delicately and politely to direct him to the bar that had those ingredients, which I did not, he threw up his hands in astonishment and made a gruff remark before departing the station. I did keep hoping he would say, "from zero to ten, ten being metaphysical certainty, do you have tonic water?" Of course my answer still would have been no.

He's One Fastidious Frenchman

And our stomachs are a lot happier because of it. Celebrity chef and restauranteur Daniel Boulud will soon open his latest restaurant (no. 10) in the lower east side of Manhattan. It will be called DBGB, and it's slated to open within a few weeks.

As this N.Y. Times article reveals, Boulud remains very meticulous to detail, especially when he is grading potential dishes for the new restaurant:

. . . during Round 8 of recipe tests, on Tuesday, [Mr. Boulud] refuses to grade on the curve. He stoically appraises entrees and appetizers in what feels like a marathon episode of “Top Chef” — except that this judge has helped conceive the dishes and never seems very pleased by the results.

The lamb ribs confit with roasted lamb leg and spring beans? “Maybe a little more herbs in it,” he suggests. The Maryland lump crab cake with a curry sauce and pickled radish? “More crab, less garnish.” The passion fruit crepe with mango slices? “We’re still not there.”

One of the dishes he tested sounded very tasty -- beer-battered haddock beignets. I hope that makes the opening menu.

Experts have calculated that Boulud's new restaurant DBGB will have to generate $4.5 million a year in revenue in order to be profitable. That's a lot of business, especially when you consider that DBGB envisions the average bill for a three-course meal coming to roughly $32. For NYC dining, that's simply "moderate to expensive."

Well, it definitely provides another excuse to return to NYC for a weekend this summer.

Are All Melons Created Equal?

Apparently not.

Yubari melons are probably the most highly coveted fruit in all of Asia, if not the entire world. On Friday, the first two Yubari melons of the season were auctioned off in Japan for $5,200. That wasn't a typo -- the price for these two melons was indeed $5,200.

If that sounds like a lot of money, consider this. The "winner" of that auction must feel like he or she got a really good deal because the first two Yubaris from last year were auctioned off for five times that amount.

Camel's Milk Chocolate

This post definitely brings a whole new twist on that old Madison Avenue line: "I'd walk a mile for a Camel." In the current issue of Harper's magazine, Negar Azimi writes an article called "Dubai Is for Flamingos." Here's an excerpt:

Just off the road to El Ain, a few kilometers from the densely zigzagging skyline that marks "downtown Dubai," is the world's first producer of camel-milk chocolate. ... [Al Nassma] operates under the patronage of Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and the vice president of the UAE ...

Van Almsick, the general manager of the firm, is a German-born chocolatier who once served as director of Cologne's chocolate museum.

... "The newspapers write about Iraq and Afghanistan and all these sufferings, but people have had enough. They need chocolate! We all need it. It is something related to our childhoods," he says, biting into a piece of chocolate shaped like a camel.

"And camel's milk has higher-than-average levels of vitamins B and C — iron, too."

... [Al Nassma] is faring well. Since its launch last October, van Almsick has attracted many customers, among them several luxury hotels in the region and the Saudi royal family. Soon you will be able to buy his chocolates from Harrod's, in London.

Lays It On Thick

Are large food producers stretching or manipulating the real meaning of "locally grown" or "locally sourced"? From an article in the N.Y. Times:

When Jessica Prentice, a food writer in the San Francisco Bay area, invented the term “locavore,” she didn’t have Lay’s potato chips in mind. But never mind. On Tuesday, five potato farmers rang the bell of the New York Stock Exchange, kicking off a marketing campaign that is trying to position the nation’s best-selling brand of potato chips as local food. Five different ads will highlight farmers who grow some of the two billion pounds of starchy chipping potatoes the Frito-Lay company uses each year. One is Steve Singleton, who tends 800 acres in Hastings, Fla. “We grow potatoes in Florida, and Lays makes potato chips in Florida,” he says in the ad. “It’s a pretty good fit.”

Puh-lease.

Well, at least it suggests that the mass-producers of processed food realize that more and more Americans are thinking a few seconds more than they used to about what they put in their mouths.