Slow Food & Brazilian Cocktail Party

This December, Slow Food Boston is kicking off a series exploring the food traditions of local immigrant groups. First stop: Brazil! On December 3, from 6:30-9:30pm, join Slow Food for a Brazilian Cocktail party at the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS), their host and partner for the event. MAPS is the state's largest immigrant assistance organization, working with Portuguese, Cape Verdean and Brazilian populations in the Boston area, Framingham and Lowell.

Enjoy a frosty caipirinha, piping hot cheese rolls and seven other delicious appetizers prepared by the Brazilian staff of MAPS. Tickets cost $20 and the proceeds will be donated to their AIDS/HIV Prevention & Education Program. You can reserve tickets here.

The MAPS offices are located at 1046 Cambridge Street in Cambridge, just off Columbia Street. Detailed driving & walking directions can be found here. Via MBTA, you can take the Red Line to Harvard Square or the Green Line to Lechmere, and then catch the #69 bus on Cambridge Street. There is street side parking available in the area.

Next up: a Vietnamese picnic in spring 2010.

Stoneham Sun: Where The Women Dine

My new column of "A Passionate Foodie" can be found in the November 25 issue of the Stoneham Sun newspaper. This is a weekly column that concentrates on reviews of local restaurants though it also sometimes touches on other food and wine topics.

The new column has been published today and will be available online soon. The new article discusses an interesting statistic, how 85% of the clientele of Myers + Chang, an Asian restaurant in Bostons South End, is female. The article speculates as to some of the reasons for this intriguing fact.

If you have any questions or comments about my column, feel free to add them here.

Dine with passion

Fall Wine Recommendations

It is the season for wine tastings, many different stores holding grand tastings with 50+ wines available to try. I have recently attended a few of these tastings and compiled a list of my favorites. I have grouped the wines by the name of distributor, which might make it easier for you to locate these wines.

Adonna Imports:
2008 Salzl Gruner Veltliner ($13)--This Austrian white wine has an enticing, aromatic nose with bright, delicious citrus fruit on the palate. It has plenty of acidity and a satisfying finish. It may not be a grape with which you are familiar but one taste and you will become a fan. Great on its own or with food.

2006 Redondel Teroldego ($19.99)--From the Trentino region of Italy, this wine comes from an excellent vintage. And it certainly was an excellent wine, with lush fruit flavors, especially blueberry and plum. It was a smooth wine with a pleasant, lengthy finish. A full bodied wine with hints of spice, I could also drink this wine on its own, or with food, from pasta to venison.

2005 Bianco Aldo Barbaresco ($39)--From the Piedmont region of Italy, this producer's vineyards are next to those of Angelo Gaja. The wine has a light red color, with an enticing spicy nose. The red fruits are restrained and there are some earthy elements too, slight hints of mushroom. It has a long, enjoyable finish and is a wine to savor over time, to enjoy its complexity. It is probably best accompanied by food and is worth the price.

Cafe Europa:
2007 Anne Amie Cuvee A Muller Thurgau ($14.99)--From the Williamette Valley of Oregon, this white wine is made from 100% Muller Thurgau, a popular grape in Germany. This producer though has created a delicious wine, which indicates this grape may thrive well in Oregon. It is crisp with bright fruit flavors of peach and lemon, with slight floral notes. If you are looking for a different white wine to try, give this a chance.

Charles River Wine Co.:
2007 Metz Pinot Gris ($19.99)--This organic Alsatian wine has plenty of character. Crisp and dry, it has tasty citrus flavors, some mineral notes and a very clean finish.

2007 Hendry HRM Zinfandel ($18.99): This is not your usual California Zinfandel. First, it only has an alcohol content of 13.8%. It has an alluring aromatic berry smell and on the palate is very smooth and not over the top. It has nice red fruit flavors, mild spice accents and a long finish. This is not that big, bold Zin you might expect. It is far more restrained and well worth checking out.

Masciarelli Wine Co.:
2008 Cucao PX ($13.99)--This unusual Chilean wine is made from the Pedro Ximinez grape, which you may know more for being a Spanish grape. Yet it is also one of the oldest grape varieties in Chile. This wine sees no oak so the grape is allowed to fully express itself. The nose was muted but the palate was intriguing. A dry wine with restrained fruit, including pear and pineapple, and a spicy backbone. Not at all what I expected but quite tasty and highly recommended.

United Liquors:
2008 Zenato Lugana di San Benedetto ($16)--This Veneto wine is produced from Trebbiano di Lugana and sees no oak. The wine bursted with bright citrus flavors including peach and orange, ending with a slightly bitter finish.

2007 Veramonte Pinot Noir Reserve ($15)--From the Casablanca Valley of Chile, this wine is a great value! You find few Pinot Noirs of this quality for under $20. It had a light red color, with fresh cherry flavors, a touch of vanilla and other spices. It was a smooth, easy drinking wine with some character. Highly recommended!

Vineyard Road:
2007 Revelette Coteaux de Provence ($15.99)--This biodynamic wine is a blend of Chardonnay, Ugni Blanc and Rolle (aka Vermentino). It has a very interesting taste, a melange of spice, herbs and subtle citrus fruits.

2006 Lesec Costieres de Nimes VV ($16.99)--A blend of Syrah, Mourvedre and Grenache which is sure to please. Lush tastes of blueberry and plum, subtle spices, mild tannins and a lengthy finish. A good food wine.

Da Vinci Ristorante: The Evening of Perfect Pairings

On December 8, Park Square’s Italian eatery Da Vinci Ristorante and Mionetto’s Area Sales Manager Pamela Crowley will team up to host “The Evening of Perfect Pairings.” This five-course specialty Italian wine dinner promises an evening of Executive Chef Peppino’s culinary creations expertly paired with Crowley’s wine choices. Pamela Crowley will introduce each course and provide a brief commentary on the selections, alongside Chef Peppino.

This complete five-course menu is available for one-night only and will be presented as follows:

First Course:

Mushroom Scallops (Scallop wrapped in phyllo dough, stuffed with mushrooms, served with pancetta corn ragout and finished with pomegranate reduction)
Paired with Mionetto Prosecco

Second Course:

Quail Raviolo (Raviolo stuffed with quail and served with a veal demi glaze cherry tomato sauce)
Paired with Conti Zecca Donna Marzia Primitivo

Third Course:

Halibut (Pan seared halibut served with lobster risotto cake finished with Mionetto Prosecco sauce)
Paired with Collavini Friulano

Fourth Course:

Rack of Lamb (Grilled rack of lamb served with mushroom and fingerling potato ragout and Tuscan kale finished with a pesto cream sauce)
Paired with Pertinace Barbera d’Alba

Fifth Course:

Apple Crostata served with vanilla gelato
Paired with Mionetto Moscato Dolce

Cost: This complete 5-course menu with wine pairings is available for $65 per person.

When: Tuesday, December 8th at 6:30pm

For more information or reservations, please call 617-350-0007.

Da Vinci Ristorante
162 Columbus Avenue
Boston, MA 02116
Phone: (617) 350-0007

Hinomaru Brewery: Jouji Sato Interview

I recently had the pleasure to meet Jouji Sato, the owner of the Hinomaru Jozo Brewery, and taste two of his Sakés. His Manabito Kimoto Junmai Ginjo is an exceptional Saké, one of the best I have tasted in some time.

Tim over at UrbanSake now has posted an interview with Jouji Sato. Please check it out to learn more about Sato, his Saké, and brewery. As his Saké has not been in the American market for long, this is a good opportunity to learn more about it.

Rant: A Rush To Judgment

When a new restaurant opens, there are a number of people who rush there and soon after post their thoughts and reviews. There is certainly nothing wrong with that and I engage in such behavior sometimes as well. Plenty of readers want immediate knowledge about a new restaurant.

But this comes with a caveat. Anyone reviewing a new restaurant must take into consideration the fact that it is new, and thus needs some time to work out all of the kinks. You cannot expect perfection from the start. It generally takes 2-3 months before a restaurant has worked out its issues. Menus may need to be revised, servers may need additional training, the food may need some refinement.

Unfortunately, some reviewers fail to understand this vital point. They write overly negative reviews, without giving any leeway to the new restaurant. They seem to expect perfection from the start, and that expectation is unwarranted and unjustified. Readers should also keep this in mind when reading any review of a new restaurant.

It would be beneficial to conduct follow-up reviews of new restaurants, to monitor their progress, to see how they have changed, if at all. Hopefully you will see positive changes, a correction of any prior issues. After three months, hopefully there will not be any more issues. If issues still exist, then that is a sign of something seriously wrong with the restaurant. Those 90 days should be sufficient to resolve any problems due to their newness.

And if you are at a new restaurant, and detect a problem, please inform the management about it. They will want to know about any issues so they can rectify them as soon as possible. If the management is unaware of a problem, they can't do anything to fix it.

Don't rush to judge a new restaurant. Understand the complexities of operating such a new endeavor and give them some leeway.

Living With Wine

With the holidays approaching, numerous coffee table books are published and offered as gift ideas. The basic idea of such a book is for it to be displayed on a coffee table for guests to see, thus sparking discussion about its contents. Such books also usually visually appealing, containing lots of colorful photographs and illustrations.

For wine lovers, you might be interested in Living With Wine: Passionate Collectors, Sophisticated Cellars, and Other Rooms for Entertaining, Enjoying, and Imbibing by Samantha Nestor and Alice Feiring (Crown Publishing Group, October, $75.00). This is a coffee-table sized hardcover of 256 pages.

Samantha Nestor is the special projects editor at Metropolitan Home magazine (which will fold at the end of this year) and a contributor to PointClickHome.com. Alice Feiring is a well known wine writer, author of The Battle for Wine and Love, and Veritas in Vino. The photographs in the book were taken by Andrew French.

The book presents 30 wine cellars, from all across the country. Each section describes the cellar, the owner, and includes some of their favorite wines. The book is divided into five chapters, each chapter collecting cellars with the same general purpose. This include: The Entertaining Pair's Lair (where the cellars are also used to entertain); The Gentlemen's Haven (for big collectors, those with many trophy wines who might even have cellars within cellars); The Sybarite's Sanctuary (luxury cellars which are objects of display); The Modernist Refuge (more innovative, nontraditional cellars) & Urban Retreats and Inspiring Spaces (cellars with limited space and commercial wine cellars that inspire).

For all of these individuals, the wine cellar is more than just a place to store wine. They are intended to be aesthetically pleasing, as well as to display the owner's personality. These are not inexpensive cellars, and most of us can only dream about one day owning such a cellar. Thus, the book becomes more a fantasy for many readers, the cellars we might build one day if we won the lottery. As such, the book might not appeal to everyone though the photography is very stunning.

My own favorite of the cellars is the "Ode to Saké," where a man who collects wine and Saké had special refrigerators built into his wine cellar to accomodate his Saké.

Interspersed between the cellar articles, are some small side bars on a variety of topics such as Artwork & Collectibles, Technology and Kosher Wine. Though these items are short, they do make for interesting reading, and add to the value of the book. At the end of the book is a Resources chapter with contact information for architects, furniture, lighting, computers and much more, each keyed to the specific wine cellar that was previously described. So if you ever get enough money, you will know who to contact to build your cellar.

At $75, this is not a cheap book and I don't think it is going to appeal to a large audience. It is well written and visually appealing, but I am not sure the subject matter will be too compelling to a general wine-loving audience. For those who do find the subject matter interesting though, then you will likely enjoy this book.

Lower Falls Wine Co.: Saké Source

I am so pleased to see more and more Saké on the shelves of local wine stores. I have already posted about some of them, and will continue to post about any other I find.

Today, I want to place the spotlight on Lower Falls Wine Co., which has long been one of my favorite wine shops anyways. It seems that their Saké selection has been growing and they currently have 9 available, including:

Takasago Ginga Shizuku "Divine Droplets" Junmai Daiginjo ($34.99/300ml)
Sato No Homare "Pride of the Village" Junmai Ginjo ($23.99/300ml)
Chikurin Karoyaka Junmai Ginjo ($33.99/720ml)
Fukucho "Moon on the Water" Junmai Ginjo " ($17.99/300ml)
Yuki No Bosha Junmai Ginjo ($16.99/300ml)
Yuki No Bosha Junmai Ginjo Nigori ($9.99/300ml)
Kasumi Tsuru Yamahai Junmai ($22.99/720ml)
Tozai "Snow Maiden" Junmai Nigori ($9.99/300ml)
Hana Hou Hou Sparkling ($16.99/300ml)

Support your local wine store that carries Saké!

Lower Falls Wine Co.
2366 Washington Street (Rt. 16)
Newton Lower Falls, MA
Phone: (617) 332-3000

Want Free Lamb & Chocolate?: The Winners

I recently held a special contest, in conjunction with the Hachette Book Group, where the contestants could win two new cookbooks, one Greek cuisine and the other dealing with chocolate.

The first book is How to Roast a Lamb by Michael Psilakis and Barbara Kafka, which deals with New Greek Classic Cooking. The second book is Chocolate: A Love Story by Max Brenner and Yonatan Factor, which contains 65 chocolate recipes. These new hardcover books are worth over $60.

The contest ended at midnight on November 18, 2009. It is now time to announce the two randomly chosen winners.

Winner: The Hungry Mouse

Winner: Sunday Cook

Congratulations to the winners! Please email me your mailing address so you can receive our books. Thanks to everyone else who entered.

90+ Cellars: Good & Inexpensive Wines

While persuing the shelves of your local wine store, you may see a label marked 90+ Cellars. This label is currently sold in about 90 wine/liquor stores in Massachusetts, as well as being available in about twenty other states. But what is the story behind this label, and should you take a chance on this wine?

90+ Cellars, a Boston based company, is a virtual winery where they purchase excess wines from established wineries and sell it under their own label, and at a significant discount. The wineries sell this excess wine because either they produced too much or the demand for that specific wine has waned. These wines have already been produced and bottled so all that needs to be done is for 90+ Cellars to have their label placed onto the bottle.

They don't just buy any excess wine. There is criteria used to determine which wines they will sell. The criteria is that the wines "...must have a pedigree of 90 or higher ratings, best buy or gold medal accolades from major publications." They cannot though tell the consumer the name of the original winery. That fact must remain anonymous.

Each of their wines is assigned a “Lot” number upon release and Lot #15 will be their next wine available, in a couple months. All of the wines are available in limited quantity. Their Reserve selections may only be available in 100-200 cases, while the normal line will be available in the thousands. But once a Lot is gone, it will no longer ever be available.

Recently, I met a couple of the guys behind 90+ Cellars, including Kevin and Brett. They invited some local wine writers and wine store owners to taste some of their current wines, and potential future releases. Prior to the event, I had some questions and concerns about 90+ Cellars and intended to raise them at the event. I was unsure how they would handle these issues as they might not be the easiest.

I was extremely pleased that Kevin and Brett were honest and forthright in response to my questions. They did not try to evade or obfuscate the issues. Such integrity impressed me. They were also able to clarify several issues for me.

Why do they rely on 90+ ratings? First, they do not rely on only such ratings, and at least one of their wines has not received a 90+ rating. As mentioned above, the 90+ rating is only one such possible criteria. They will also consider other significant accolades. Though the label may imply to some that they only rely on 90+ ratings, their website does mention the other criteria.

Second, 90+ ratings are important to them because many consumers do consider such ratings when buying wines. They are a business, trying to make money, so it makes financial sense to use ratings if many consumers rely upon them. Especially if they are a new company trying to enter the market.

Personally, I would rather consumers relied less on such scores, and were more willing to try wines that maybe did not score as high, or which lack any score. There are plenty of excellent wines that fail to attain a 90+ rating. But I do understand why wineries and stores use scores to promote wines.

Another concern for me is that the 90+ Cellar wines generally lack a story, or at least one which can be disseminated to the public. Because of the anonymity of the wines they sell, the consumer cannot learn about the actual winery, cannot heard about the stories behind the wine. Kevin admits that is an issue, and not something that really can be changed.

But what 90+ Cellars does offer are very good wines, at a significant discount from the original wine. I tasted through many of their wines, and they were generally very good. None of the wines were bad, though some were not my preferred style. My favorites included:

Lot #6 ($13.99), an Unoaked Chardonnay from Australia was excellent, a crisp wine with delicious fruit.

Lot #8 ($11.99), a Garnacha from Spain, a delightful melange of bright fruits, including blueberry, some spice notes and a touch of herbal. Very easy drinking and fun wine.

Lot #15 (soon to be released), a Pinot Noir from the Carneros region of California. This Pinot has not received a 90+ rating, but I know the source and it is a top producer, as well as one of my favorites. This wine was excellent, and a great value.

So will you like the wines of 90+ Cellars? If you want a delicious wine, at a good price, then definitely give them a try. You will miss out on the story of the wine, but that may not matter to you. I certainly would buy some of these wines, based on their taste and low price. So keep an eye out for these wines.

Bobby's Grille: Initial Impressions

Grilled Long Island Duck Breast with Smoked Gouda Risotto and Balsamic Reduction. Tender, meaty slices of duck atop a creamy, smoky risotto with a concentrated, sweet reduction. It is a superb dish, a signature item of the talented Chef Stephen Bell.

Back in September, I mentioned the upcoming opening of Bobby's Grille, a new restaurant in Wellesley. The restaurant opened this week and I stopped by last night for dinner with several friends. Based on my positive experience, I believe the future of Bobby's Grille is going to be very bright. I will certainly return there soon and highly recommend that my readers check it out too.

The restaurant is medium-sized with a large walnut bar and an elegant yet casual atmosphere. I liked the dark red walls, like a rich burgundy, and the artwork was intriguing, including a large American flag and what looked like a giant owl. The restaurant is open for both lunch and dinner.

There is a full bar and they have a menu of special cocktails. Their wine list was interesting with a number of compelling wines. The list has about 35 wines by the bottles, and about half of them are available by the glass. Wines by the glass range from $7.25-$12, and bottles average in the $30s, making the list reasonably priced.

We started with the 2008 Bodegas Montesierra Rosé ($7.50/glass, $30/bottle) from the Somontano region of Spain. This small region is not well known yet but they are producing some very good wines, and this Rosé is a fine example. It is very Old World in style, dry, restrained red fruit and some herbal notes. A very food friendly wine I would recommend. We would also ordered the 2005 Podere la Brancaia “Tre” Super Tuscan ($12/glass, $44/bottle). This was also a very good wine, some black cherry and plum flavors with moderate tannins, good complexity and a nice finish.

The food menu is has plenty of choices, though the choices are not overwhelming. There are Starters ($8-$14), Soups ($7-$8), Salads ($7-$9), Sandwiches ($9-$14) and Entrees ($10-$29). I think the menu is reasonably priced, especially after considering the portion size of many of the dishes. There are some traditional offerings, such as Shrimp Cocktail and Caesar Salad, as well as more creative dishes such as Lolly Pop Lamb Chops with Tzatziki Sauce and Sliders with Portabello Mushroom, Spinach and Asiago Cheese.

I have known Chef Stephen Bell from back when he owned Savory Tastes Cafe in Reading. You can search my blog for multiple, postive reviews of that restaurant. Chef Bell is a very talented and passionate chef. I was saddened when he had to close Savory Tastes but was elated when I learned he would be the Executive Chef at Bobby's Grille. So I had high expectations for the food at Bobby's Grille, and I was not disappointed.

Prior to our food starting to arrive, we received baskets of slightly warm, fresh rolls with soft, whipped butter. This is certainly a very good way to start any meal and appeals to my heart. Plus, once our rolls were gone, we were even brought more.

I began my dinner with the Duck Breast dish ($9) that is pictured and described at the top of this post. Others at the table had the French Onion Gratinee ($7), Classic Caesar ($9) and Buffalo Chicken Sliders ($9). They enjoyed all of those dishes. The Sliders included three sandwiches, each filled with a good-sized piece of chicken, and accompanied by Cape Cod potato chips.

I was the only one who ordered a second course, the White Cheddar and Fontina Mac & Cheese with Lobster ($15). This dish had a light breading atop it, likely panko, and the pasta seemed like it might be fusilli. It was quite delicious, with a strong white cheddar taste, and the pasta was a nice choice. The sweet lobster meat included two claws and some additional pieces. It is a dish I would order again. I should also note you can get the Mac & Cheese without the lobster for only $10 or have it with ham & peas for $11.

For my entree, I had the Filet Mignon Sliders ($10) with Sharp Cheddar and Spicy Ketchup. Like the Buffalo Chicken sliders, I received three sandwiches, on soft, fresh rolls with a good-sized piece of filet inside. The meat was very tender and the sliders were quite delicious. A couple of my friends chose the 12oz Filet ($29), which comes with a baked potato and a choice of Bernaise or Madeira sauce. The filets were quite thick, tender and tasty. Both very much enjoyed their steaks. A couple other friends had the BBQ Pork Tenderloin ($21), with a house dry rub, 81 BBQ sauce, sweet corn succotash, red bliss potato hash and cole slaw dollop. Though the pork was very flavorful, both felt the BBQ sauce was a bit overwhelming. They also raved about the hash.

Service was generally very good. There were a couple minor service issues, but all easily attributable to the fact that the restaurant just opened. As I have said repeatedly before, all new restaurants need a couple months to iron out all the kinks. I am confident Bobby's Grille will rectify any minor issues in the near future.

Overall, I was very pleased with this restaurant. Good wines, nice menu, pleasant ambiance, delicious food, and more. The restaurant was packed last night and the crowds have been growing all week. If you are going, you definitely should try to make reservations. And as word spreads, I am sure it will be even busier.

I recommend you check out Bobbys Grille and tell them the Passionate Foodie sent you. I will be returning soon and will keep you all updated. There are plenty of other dishes that I want to try. Please come back and tell me your own thoughts about the restaurant.

Bobby's Grille
11 Washington Street
Wellesley Hills, MA
Phone: (781) 235-2345

Burtons Grill: New Small Plates

I have mentioned numerous times that I am a big fan of small plates. I love the chance to taste a wide variety of dishes, and I don't mind sharing. Now Burtons Grill is offering a special small plates menu. For only $4.95 you can select several delicious items from the menu below. These small plates are available at all Burtons Grill locations, from Monday through Sunday from 3:00pm to close!

Small Plates Menu

Warm Goat Cheese Salad (a blend of alouette and goat cheese, lightly breaded with
panko crumbs and fried, served over a spinach salad)

Firecracker Shrimp (crispy shrimp tossed in a spicy aioli sauce)

Chipotle BLT (a classic BLT served on a brioche roll with a zesty chipotle mayonnaise, served with crispy onion straws)

Scallop Crostini (pan seared and served on a warm bacon crostini, finished with a light lemon butter sauce)

Fried Feta (buttermilk battered and fried, served with a tomato cream sauce)

You can pair these dishes with a hand crafted cocktails such as the Harvest Sangria or the Spiced Cider Mojito.

Harvest Sangria
.25 oz Navan Cognac
.25 oz Peach tree Schnapps
.25 oz Van Gogh Applefest Liquor
3 oz Cranberry Cider Mix
3 oz Chardonnay

Combine all ingredients in iced cocktail shaker and shake well. Pour into wine glass and garnish with a splash of ginger ale, sliced apples and dried cranberries.

Spiced Cider Mojito
1.5 oz Captain Morgan
.5 oz Stoli Gala Aplik
.5 Green Apple Puree
.5 oz Cinnamon Simple Syrup
3 oz Apple Cider
3 Lime Wedges
5 Mint Leaves

In a pint glass muddle mint, limes, and Cinnamon Simple Syrup together. Fill glass with ice and add remaining ingredients. Top with Boston Shaker and shake well. Pour back into glass, top with Ginger Ale and serve.