Posted 08/31/2008 at 09:46 AM by Cathy
As I walked the rows of vines, camera in hand, I knew this photo essay would be something special.What I didn't know, once I'd looked at the photographs I shot last week-end, was how accurately the film captured the impossibly perfect grapes, spider webs, and patterns of Sonoma's vineyards this time of year.I feel compelled to say that the photographs in this essay have not been manipulated in any way. The vineyards really are that beautiful.To view the photos, just click on Photo Essays at the ...
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Posted 08/30/2008 at 12:20 PM by Cathy
6 a.m.The people who will spend the day working the stands at San Francisco's farmer's market are still setting up. Things are not ready. Bins are half-full or empty. Makeshift tables still have that church-hall look about them. Yards of fabric, soon to cover all sorts of unsightly scaffolds underneath, still sit folded into neat squares. It's staging time. Unmarked white vans and trucks back up and over the Embarcadero curb. Doors open, some up and some out, and teams of workers unload and unpa ...
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Posted 08/29/2008 at 12:13 PM by Cathy
Imagine this...You read about a wine online (in this newsletter, say). You're so intrigued that you order it (also online). The wine is delivered to your door -- and you're drinking it yourself -- within 48 hours, without the hassle.Sound good to you?It sounded good to us too.That's why we're psyched to announce our partnership with Gordon's Fine Wines and Liquors in Waltham. We do the writing, they do the retail and the delivery. (Or you can go straight to the store, find the shelf-talkers wi ...
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Posted 08/28/2008 at 12:48 PM by Cathy
(Originally published on April 17, 2008)With a view of Boston's skyline from the 33rd floor above State Street behind him, winemaker Pascal Jolivet was a man on display. And so were his wines.Jolivet, along with a dozen other producers, poured from their own bottles last night for the crowd at the Frederick Wildman and Sons' Grand Tour 2008 tasting. These weren't just any producers, and these were definitely not just any wines: it was a room full of stellar winemakers and equally stellar wines ...
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Posted 08/27/2008 at 12:50 PM by Cathy
(Originally published March 10, 2008)Restaurant Week started in Boston today and Om on Winthrop Street in Cambridge was my first stop. It wasn't going well.The bartender had no idea which wines on the list were made by women, and the sommelier or anyone else who'd know either weren't working tonight or weren't available.So I took a stab in the dark. I wanted something white, since I'd be having Om's chick pea fries and lobster won tons. Choices by the glass were very limited but one in particula ...
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Posted 08/26/2008 at 09:19 PM by Cathy
(Originally published on April 23, 2008)It wasn't that my mind needed to be changed about Italian reds, exactly. I liked them just fine, especially when I wanted something that's generally assertive and powerful on the palate, something that's bold and full-bodied, something that hits me like a ton of bricks but in a good way."Finesse" and "elegant," in other words, were not two of the first words that came to mind when I thought of Italian red wines.Not, that is, until tonight.Tonight I met Pao ...
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Posted 08/25/2008 at 09:23 PM by Cathy
(Originally published on March 22, 2008)We've all heard the rumors of global warming's impact on the grape growing.Champagne grapes to be planted in southern England!Bordeaux's climate now more similar to Australia's Riverland district!Alsatian harvest bumped up from October 1 to September 1!Like all good rumors, there's just enough truth in these to make them tenable. There's also just enough generality to make them amorphous and, therefore, a little hard to get our heads around.So it helps to ...
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Posted 08/24/2008 at 09:28 PM by Cathy
(Originally published on June 21, 2008)There's an awful lot of focus at T.W. Food restaurant.Partly the focus is a question of square footage. Three cooks manage their choreography in a kitchen that looks to be smaller than my first studio apartment in Manhattan. (Trust me, getting three people to move about comfortably in that space was a feat of admirable coordination.) And diners, despite the loft-ish, lifting décor and well-spaced tables, are aware nonetheless that they're taking up a very l ...
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Posted 08/23/2008 at 09:28 PM by Cathy
(Originally published on June 21, 2008)There's an awful lot of focus at T.W. Food restaurant.Partly the focus is a question of square footage. Three cooks manage their choreography in a kitchen that looks to be smaller than my first studio apartment in Manhattan. (Trust me, getting three people to move about comfortably in that space was a feat of admirable coordination.) And diners, despite the loft-ish, lifting décor and well-spaced tables, are aware nonetheless that they're taking up a very l ...
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Posted 08/20/2008 at 05:40 PM by Cathy
Note: This article ran in print and online in today's Gloucester Times.Take your seat at the Grand Café, inside the Emerson Inn in Rockport, and you immediately start noticing things.You notice the sea at the edge of the Inn's lawn. It's mesmerizing, even though anyone who lives on the North Shore has seen it a thousand times before.You notice the heavy investment in furniture and wallpaper and carpeting. All dark, plush tones. All very evocative of a luxurious time-gone-by, except it's very rig ...
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Posted 08/19/2008 at 05:16 PM by Cathy
Last week we pulled together a list of Restaurant Week participants who, in addition to the prix fixe lunch and/or dinner menus, also included a wine component in their offering.That list included some of Boston's heavy hitters when it comes to the wine department. Excelsior. Legal Seafoods. Icarus.It also included some surprises in the sense of I-didn't-realize-that-restaurant-was-that-thoughtful-about-wine. dbar, for example, offered a wine pairing for each item on their dinner menu. Dante off ...
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Posted 08/18/2008 at 11:31 AM by Cathy
Dining outside, especially along Newbury Street late one sunny summer afternoon, makes it awfully hard to be introspective. With so much looking out, looking around, looking up, and looking down, it's difficult to look in to your response to wine. Or even to be terribly observant about it.We decided to put our noses to the grindstone anyway. Focus, we told ourselves.Dutifully we put our noses in the menus. And then we just about gave up hope. Tapeo Restaurant and Tapas Bar offers a choice of fif ...
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Posted 08/17/2008 at 11:31 AM by Cathy
Dining outside, especially along Newbury Street late one sunny summer afternoon, makes it awfully hard to be introspective. With so much looking out, looking around, looking up, and looking down, it's difficult to look in to your response to wine. Or even to be terribly observant about it.We decided to put our noses to the grindstone anyway. Focus, we told ourselves.Dutifully we put our noses in the menus. And then we just about gave up hope. Tapeo Restaurant and Tapas Bar offers a choice of fif ...
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Posted 08/16/2008 at 10:54 AM by Cathy
Reviews of Bottle Shock have not been kind.I can see why. The movie is full, painfully full, of clichés. The utmost liberty has been taken with the phrase, "Based on a true story," so that the "true" part is practically meaningless. And all sorts of stereotypes, from the flower-child free-love seventies to the Mexican "hombre" laborer to the stuffed-shirt law firm, are brought to larger-than-life.All of those objections are duly noted. If you go to the movie, don't expect anything close to an ac ...
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Posted 08/15/2008 at 09:41 AM by Cathy
What wine goes with Cambodian food?Riesling, if you ask one of the partners at the Elephant Walk, who traveled to Pfalz, Germany and bought J.L. Wolf's entire reserve of their 2006 "Wachenheimer" for the restaurant.The Wolf Riesling heads the list of featured wines on the Elephant Walk's wine list; it is one of a small selection in the category of northern European whites. Generally speaking, northern European whites are a good bet for Cambodian food since they include a range of sweet and off-d ...
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Posted 08/14/2008 at 09:10 AM by Cathy
Not many wine lists include a cheat sheet.So when you find one – as at the Scullers Jazz Club Green Room – you take note.They call it a "Wine and Food Pairing Guide" and it is a handy reference to the most popular red and white varietals and four or five foods that pair with them.?We're talking broad strokes here, as in:? Riesling: candied walnuts, duck, spicy chutney, caramel? Shiraz: Bleu [sic] cheese, salmon, beets, sharp cheddar? Pinot Noir: tenderloin, brie, chicken, mushrooms, tuna? Merlot ...
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Posted 08/13/2008 at 10:36 PM by Cathy
Restaurants all over town this week are featuring local produce, meat and fish on their Restaurant Week prix fixe menus.We've visited two local farms around town -- Long Hill Farm in Beverly and West Cottage Street Farm in Dorchester -- to take a close look at the produce growing literally beneath our feet.Just as you can find local produce on menus around the city, you can also literally find local produce locally.Have a look. Click Photo Essays in the menu bar at the top of this page, then Wes ...
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Posted 08/12/2008 at 08:29 PM by Cathy
I came to Tremont 647 for the Lobster Pad Thai. I'll come again, believe it or not, for their Zucchini Match Stick Salad.Normally the wine is my starting point. I pay attention to its color and nose and mouthfeel, and then look to the food I'm also eating for complementarity or contrast or, at least, interest. Not that food is an afterthought, it is simply what I do next.Tremont 647's Match Stick Salad, though, inspired me to turn the whole process on its head. There is nothing complicated about ...
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Posted 08/11/2008 at 07:44 PM by Cathy
It makes sense to choose your destinations for Restaurant Week based on the restaurants' special prix fixe menus. Once in a while, though, you'll see that a restaurant you've had your eye on because of their wine list – and not necessarily because their food – is participating in Restaurant Week.That's the day you call yourself lucky. You've been wanting to go there anyway for the selections from their wine cellar, plus you get three courses from their kitchen, all for an incredibly reasonable p ...
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Posted 08/10/2008 at 09:03 AM by Cathy
I know ArtBar is in a hotel lobby (at the Royal Sonesta on Edwin Land Boulevard in Cambridge).I know it's tiny tiny (a few two-tops, a few more tables for four, seating at the bar, and a communal high table for eight or so).I know these places normally get a bad rap.But ArtBar is tastefully done (the art, the bar, and the food). And the wine – I chose the 2003 Kendall Jackson Hawkeye Cabernet Sauvignon – is awesome.What more could I want?Besides, isn't it time to rethink hotel lobby restaurants ...
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Posted 08/09/2008 at 10:30 PM by Cathy
Restaurants all over town this week are featuring local produce, meat and fish on their Restaurant Week prix fixe menus.We've visited two local farms around town -- Long Hill Farm in Beverly and West Cottage Street Farm in Dorchester -- to take a close look at the produce growing literally beneath our feet.Just as you can find local produce on menus around the city, you can also literally find local produce locally.Have a look. Click Photo Essays in the menu bar at the top of this page, then Lon ...
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Posted 08/08/2008 at 12:08 AM by Cathy
The following is a list of restaurants and their wine-specific additions to their Restaurant Week menus, according to information available on the official website. Note that restaurants not listed here may offer on-site specials.? 29 Newbury offers a bottle of 2006 Kendall Jackson Chardonnay with dinner for $28.08.? For lunch Dante offers four wines by the glass, from $9 to $14, plus a virgin cocktail of the day for $7. Dante also offers four different wines by the glass for dinner.? Davio's of ...
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Posted 08/07/2008 at 10:30 PM by Cathy
Restaurants all over town this week are featuring local produce, meat and fish on their Restaurant Week prix fixe menus.We've visited two local farms around town -- Long Hill Farm in Beverly and West Cottage Street Farm in Dorchester -- to take a close look at the produce growing literally beneath our feet.Just as you can find local produce on menus around the city, you can also literally find local produce locally.Have a look. Click Photo Essays in the menu bar at the top of this page, then Lon ...
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Posted 08/06/2008 at 05:37 AM by Cathy
There's an idea going around about ordering the second cheapest wine on a restaurant's wine list. It's good enough to be on the list, but you don't need to suffer the restaurant's mark-up to quite the extreme, quantitatively speaking, as a higher-priced bottle.We put that theory to the test tonight at Nicoletta's Italian Café in Corolla, on North Carolina's Outer Banks. We ordered a bottle of Mastroberadino Radici for $29, partly because we'd never even heard of the wine or the grape or the prod ...
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Posted 08/05/2008 at 05:37 AM by Cathy
There's an idea going around about ordering the second cheapest wine on a restaurant's wine list. It's good enough to be on the list, but you don't need to suffer the restaurant's mark-up to quite the extreme, quantitatively speaking, as a higher-priced bottle.We put that theory to the test tonight at Nicoletta's Italian Café in Corolla, on North Carolina's Outer Banks. We ordered a bottle of Mastroberadino Radici for $29, partly because we'd never even heard of the wine or the grape or the prod ...
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Posted 08/04/2008 at 11:56 AM by Cathy
"The signs fall over every time a hurricane comes through."That was the first caveat, such as it was, when I asked if I could walk the rows of Syrah vines at Moonrise Bay winery on Knotts Island in eastern North Carolina. Wayfinding via signage would be spotty.And the second caveat? Stay out of the high grass. Snakes have been particularly popular this summer.I took my chances, and was well rewarded by the snapshots I captured along the way. With my camera I caught snapshots of the grapes and sn ...
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Posted 08/03/2008 at 03:49 PM by Cathy
How does wine happen at a vacation spot like the Outer Banks?The answer seems to be... just like it happens everywhere else. You'll find good wine, bad wine, expensive wine, cheap wine, shopkeepers selling it heartlessly and just for the profit, other shopkeepers selling it because they love it and sincerely want you to love it too. Just like in Boston, you can tell the difference.The one distinction at a vacation spot like this may be the frequency of wine tastings. Visitors to towns on the Outer ...
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Posted 08/02/2008 at 09:56 PM by Cathy
The thing to understand about wines from Alsace is their climate.The Vosges Mountain run north to south in the western part of Alsace, forming a protective barrier against poor (read rainy) weather coming from the west.Which means that grapes growing in Alsace are not subjected to nearly the amount of rain that could saturate a neighboring region, such as the Mosel in Germany.Which means grapes in less rainy Alsace tend to achieve optimal ripeness and highly compacted fruit.?Which means – and th ...
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Posted 08/01/2008 at 06:04 AM by Cathy
The thing about Summer Winter is the expectation.For anyone who's been disappointed in spin-offs of top-notch chefs' original restaurant, you know what I'm talking about. Expectations can be a bear to fulfill.Restaurant Number One just has that aura, that cachet, that's awfully tough to replicate whether it's across town or across the country or, in the case of Summer Winter, from rustic, vacation-y Arrows restaurant in Ogunquit, Maine to the lobby of the Marriot hotel in suburban Burlington, Ma ...
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