Quick tips for ordering wine in a restaurant

Baltimore’s Summer 2008 Restaurant Week is in full force and among the many restaurants participating this year there are endless types of cuisine and culinary treats to be devoured. But with a variety of restaurants, comes a variety of wine lists. For the casual diner who doesn’t want to go broke on a (bad) bottle of wine, here are some tips to ensure your next journey through a restaurant wine list ends with happy palates and a bank accounts. Read more

Good wine tastes even better when made by great people: An interview with Paul Romero of Stefania Wine

One of life’s simplest pleasures is a well made glass of wine. A single glass of wine exemplifies the hard work put into the vineyard and winery, as well as the personality and passion of its winemaker. When it comes to making good wines that express love and appreciation of both the vineyard and the wine, not many folks do it as good as Paul (and Stefani) Romero of Stefania Wine. Read more

Tasting Report: 7 Wines of the Loire Valley paired with Sushi

What wines go well with $360 worth of sushi? Well, for the 9 of us in attendance on Sunday at the Wine Club gathering (at Yamato Sushi- review to come), I think we’d agree that something from the Loire Valley (France)would work quite nicely.

Overall we had a great time working through the 7 wines (tough work but someone has to do it!). The only sparkling wine in the group came from Louis de Grenelle, a large estate in Saumur (home of some great red wines). We worked through 4 Vouvray’s and two other Loire whites, ending with my favorite wine from the Loire Valley, a red wine from Chinon (100% Cabernet Franc). There wasn’t a bad wine in the bunch, with two being great (89 pts!) and all being wines I’d gladly drink again. Read more

Should Wine Come With A Warranty?

I recently purchased an HD Camcorder that I am going to use to do some video features for foodandwineblog.com (more to come!). I bought the camera from an online store and a few days after it arrived, I received an e-mail from the retailer offering an extended warranty plan at about 1/5 of the cost of the camera. After weighing in the cost of the coverage, the chance of the camera breaking, and the price of replacing this exact camera in 3 years, I decided to pass on the warranty. Read more

Monday Wine Headlines: Great sushi tasting and homemade blends, Foodandwineblog to go digital, Great Grapes in Annapolis this coming weekend.

Sunday July 20, 2008 - Sushi and Wine Tasting: Yesterday’s sushi and wine tasting was more of a sushi and wine “filling.” Our group of 9 overtook a portion of Yamato Sushi in Timonium (review coming soon) for 3 hours of drinking, eating and story telling. We begin as a quiet group, with edamame, seaweed salad and a bottle of Sparkling wine from the Loire. We finished as a more vocal crowd, having devoured platters of raw fish, 9 bottles of wine from the Loire Valley (some very good wines), including a few homemade blends at the end of the night (which were surprisingly good) - pics can be found here. If you missed out on this month’s tasting, no worries, I’m already planning August. Look for something the week of August 18-25, involving grilled steaks and maybe, just maybe at our house again!

HD Camcorder Has Arrived!: Filming has begun for a new feature on this website to include wine tastings, food and wine pairings, restaurant reviews, winemaker and chef interviews, and more. Guest stars will include many familiar faces, winemakers, and more. Stay tuned over the next few weeks for the first release (once I figure out how to get my computer to recognize the camera!).

Great Grapes in Annapolis: As “Shar” pointed out in our forums, this coming weekend is the “Great Grapes” festival in Annapolis, MD. Hundreds of amazing wines will be poured over the two day event and many local and national winemakers and distributors will be on hand. For more information see the Great Grapes website.

RedWineBuzz wine Survey: To help out a good friend in the wine industry, please check out and complete this survey.

Foreign beer and Smoked meat: Part 1

As usual, the weekend affords me plenty of time to not do my research or other work associated with the research and to cook.  Seeing as how it is summer time, it seems only fitting that one should make proper use of the grill whenever possible.  So two nights ago as I was putting a glass into the freezer to get a nice chill before I poured a beer into it (it was a miller lite… I know what you’re gonna, but someone has to drink the leftover beer!) and I noticed a bag of ribs I had bought from the butcher.  Unsure how I had forgotten about a large quantity of spare ribs, I defrosted them in the fridge over night.

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Korean food: Jong Kak and Wong Gal Bi

by Greg B.

If anyone is ever in the mood to go stuff themselves silly on good food with a bunch of friends, Korean restaurants are the place to go. I had never had Korean food until this past winter, but since then it has become at least a monthly event. And, if you have never eaten it, it certainly is an event. I listed two restaurants because these are the only two I have been to, and both are excellent. Read more

A Few Recipes From Around The Blogosphere: With wine pairings!

I read a lot of food blogs and am always impressed with the number of great home chefs (and pro chefs) out there! Since I love food and wine, and enjoy coming up with interesting wine pairings for any dish, I decided to feature a few recipes from around the internet each week and offer my wine pairing advice.

From FigandCherry.Com: Red wine lamb shanks with herb mash

If this dish doesn’t look or sound amazing to you, then I’m guessing your a vegetarian! With a nice red wine sauce, the obvious pairing here would be a medium to big bodied red with good structure and dark fruits- I’d look to the left bank of the Gironde river in Bordeaux to the Cabernet-heavy blends.

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Free Advice To Restaurants: How to sell more wine and keep your customers coming back for more.

Two months back I was asked by a friend and restaurant manager who I’ve known for years for advice on her wine list. She asked how her restaurant (a mid-range restaurant in a nice area of suburban Detroit) could increase their wine sales and revenue since it had slowly been decreasing as the economy worsened. This was a great question and one that I feel is relevant for many fine dining restaurants in Baltimore and elsewhere in the US. In a time when the economy has many people eating at home and spending less on food and wine, how does a middle to high class restaurant survive? Here I offer advice some pretty simple advice for restaurants that either do not have a dedicated wine manager, or who could use a few ideas on how to sell more wine and make more money. Read more

Best places on the internet for (free) wine information.

Here are some of my favorite online wine resources- from videos to forums to wine blogs and more. I’m compiling a list of my favorite “Lesser Known” wine blogs and websites as well and hope to publish these in the next week. I have no competing interests in any of the sites, except for www.wineinterview.com, where my blog is also published. That said, my only compensation is link-backs, so there is no financial motive for me to put them here! If you have suggestions on other great websites, let me know! (image from dreamstime.com) Read more

Monday, 7/14/08: Chefs and Wine Recap, Wines for Bastille Day, A few spots left for this weeks tasting!

Baltimore Chef and Wine Experience a Success: The 2008 Baltimore Chef and Wine Experience has come and passed. Dozens of food, wine and other related exhibits were on display for eating, tasting, reading and learning. Both national and local celebrities and chefs were on hand, as well as a couple Master Sommeliers, all sharing their recipes and experiences with those in attendance. The packed event was highlighted by talks given by television star and food writer and critic Ted Allen (my new close friend, see above!). I had a chance to meet Ted during the “VIP” tasting (which was crowded!)- a very down-to-earth, nice guy who definitely loves good food and wine. More on this event in the next few days while I recover my notes (from a husky mishap!) and put the pictures and film together.

What are you drinking this Bastille Day? French toast for breakfast with a French Roast coffee. French fries for lunch. Ladies walking around with French twists in there hair…what’s going on here? Ah! Today is Fête Nationale (”National Celebration”), the day on which the French celebrate the storming of the Bastille which took place on July 14, 1789. I hear it has something to do with the French independence or revolution or something. Whatever it is, it’s a great reason to open a French wine! So join me tonight in drinking a nice Bordeaux as we salute the republic of France!

A few spots left for this Sunday’s Wine Club Tasting- Sushi and Wine! So what are you waiting for? Go here to RSVP!

Sushi Sono: Best Sushi in the Baltimore area - by Greg B.

Author: Greg B

Everyone is picky about their sushi restaurants and we all have our favorites. And why not? We are, after all, eating raw seafood. It’s only natural for an organism to return to the same feeding places where they have successfully eaten and not gotten sick… or worse. After dating a girl in college who took me out to sushi one Friday afternoon (lunch special at Sushi Hana in Towson = excellent), my life changed. Fridays became known as “sushi Fridays”, and it drew a crowd of people from across campus. Once it started, it kept going. Sushi Friday continued even after friends of ours and even we, graduated. Sushi Hana was an excellent place to learn about sushi, and while it is still one of my favorite sushi places to eat at in Baltimore, it has been surpassed.

The first time I ate at Sushi Sono was when my boss took the entire lab out in celebration for getting a very large grant. I cant be sure exactly how much sushi was there, but saying over 200 pieces would certainly not be an overstatement. However since then I just don’t drive very often, and it is extremely rare to see my down in the Columbia, MD area. But this Saturday my roommate and I just so happened to be down there, and with 3 hours to kill around lunchtime. The scene was set for some delicious sushi.

We walked into the restaurant and were immediately greeted by a very polite older woman. Asking if we wanted to sit at a table or the bar, we chose the bar. I like to sit there and watch the sushi be assembled and the fish get sliced and arranged, it’s very interesting work. Once we sat down, a very pleasant young woman dressed in traditional Japanese kimono asked for our drink orders. My roommate got the usual (Asahi) beer, and I decided to get cold sake instead of warm (perhaps the 90 degree temp had something to do with it?). I ordered a bottle of OzekiYam Nishi for $22, thinking I would have plenty of time to drink the bottle before it would be time to go. However, this lunch was governed by extreme efficiency, and just after I drank my first glass, we ordered.

I ordered the vegetarian box A from the lunch special ($10.95) which came with vegetable tempura, rice, a spinach roll and a shittake mushroom with asparagus sushi roll. I also ordered two pieces of Massago (smelt roe, for $4) and two pieces of White Tune ($4.50) since I had never had either of these. My roommates ordered a lunch special Chicken Tempura box ($9.95) with chicken tempura, tempura veggies and rice, along with a Spicy Tuna roll ($5.50). Within minutes, the Miso arrived.

In all honesty, Miso soup is miso soup. It is very rare I get Miso soup I don’t like, and most places taste almost exactly the same. Except again, the waitress was extremely polite and friendly. Halfway through the Miso, one of the men behind the bar placed a wooden tray with my Massago and Tuna over the fridge compartment and onto the bar. It was then that I knew I probably had to drink up with the sake! I finished my Miso and a few more drinks of the sake when our pleasant waitress returned with my meal and my roommate’s spicy tuna roll.

Sake goes great with Japanese food. There is no other way to say it. Drinking sake for it’s own sake (I couldn’t resist) is not something I do unless it is wintertime and the sake is warm. This particular sake brand was not one I had consumed before, and it was very mellow, which went well for a summer afternoon. The vegetable tempura was excellent, along with the little bit of spiced radish we got to place into our digging sauce. I had never had the spinach roll or shittake mushroom roll before, and the spinach roll was pretty good. It was served cold, with a slight touch of rice vinegar. The shittake roll was very good also, as the texture of the mushrooms and the asparagus nicely opposed each other for an interesting bite. The smelt roe was good, but not too surprising, however the white Tuna was not something I had eaten before and was excited to try. It was like butter, soft, cool and delicious. You did not even have to bite to eat it, it was so soft. Definitely a new favorite sushi dish of mine.

As my roommate got a call from the Sears guy saying he didn’t have the 4 tires in stock he thought he had, and we could get the car back anytime, I hurried up my sake consumption. The waitress returned, and took the rest of our plates (they had been floating around during the meal, and as soon as any piece of plateware or lid or anything was finished, they would remove them from the table almost instantly. Definitely made me feel like I was at a fancier establishment than my tee shirt and shorts I was wearing indicated). We paid our bill and received our Japanese fruit flavored gum in a box, you all know the kind. We walked out and I made a mental note to return more often. Hopefully, this is one restaurant I will keep good on my promise.

Belgian Ale Night

It was a day like any other day. Trying to graduate school and squeeze in time to do experiments between all kinda of administrative nonsense and mountains of useless paperwork, but at least the evening held the promise of something delicious. Dr. Didier Depireux, a Belgian, had his parents bring a few bottles of beer over when they visited recently and it just so happened one of the bottles is Jim’s french-canadian roommate’s favorite beer: Forbidden fruit. This beer was the reason for the occasion.  Brewed by Hoegaarden and known as ‘verboden vrucht’, the bottle had a crown top metal cap (unusual for Belgian beers, I think).

Jim acquired a rather large bottle of Chimay red to use as a baseline comparison. The bottle of Forbidden fruit was smaller, and the bottle had a substantial quantity of sediment in it, something I dont mind too much (also, it’s high in vitamins!) especially since all my homebrew also has it.  We opened both, pouring each a sample of the Chimary red and the Forbidden fruit, cheersed to Didier and his family, and took a drink of the Forbidden fruit.

I have to say, despite the fact that I am not the world’s largest fan of Belgian style beers, this one was not too shabby.  What it lacked in body it made up for in flavor AND, very importantly, it did not have an overwhelmingly strong alcohol taste/smell to it.  For me, this is a big issue, as I usually tend to drink a substantial quantity of beer when I do drink, and I could see myself downing a few of these beers in a night, rather than just a few and waking up the following day unable to look at sun light.  The beer gave off a rather small quantity of head, something made up for by the Chimary.  The size of the head is important for a beer, as it traps in some of the aroma and maintains some of the carbonation.  However, Forbidden fruit had a very nice carbontaion style.  The bubbles were very very small, almost champagne style, which made the Chimary’s bubbles seem very large by comparisson.  You could actually feel the difference between the two while drinking.  I do feel that Forbidden fruit would have lost a good deal of its carbonation within a few minutes, so you’d be doing yourself a favor by drinking up.

I was a bit surprised by tasting this beer, since I head some quick reviews online and the tastings were all over the place.  A lot of people tasted a bitter beer with alcohol finish, others had a sweet beer with no alcohol, or sweet with alcohol, etc.  In the end, I’d have to say the beer had sweet malty taste, without a big alcohol taste, and had a dry finish.  You could smell some overtones of fruit… but not citrus, though I’d need another beer to be able to better detect the fruit.  Not a bad beer, and in the lineup, I’d put it above Chimary Red as far as categorizing beers based on goodness goes.  Maybe next time we can compare it to Chimary Blue!

Recommended pairings: A strong cheese… I’m thinking bleu and a real sharp cheddar (NY aged, of course).  You might be able to get away with the classic mussels dish, but it should be a very strongly seasoned and flavorful dish to match the flavors in the beer.

Restaurant Review: Mannequin Pis Restaurant (Olney, MD) -A night of Belgian respect with Chris and Dana

Outstanding Belgian food, bier and hospitality! Read more

Baltimore Food and Wine Events: Chef-Wine Experience, Restaurant Week, Dining Deals Website

Now is an exciting time to live in Baltimore if you’re a food and wine enthusiast! This Sunday will be the Baltimore Chef’s and Wine Experience (at which I’ll be attending!), July 26- August 3rd is Baltimore’s Restaurant Week, and through outstanding chef and author Dara Bunjon’s “Dining Dish” blog, I have found a great Baltimore dining site that offers gift certificates for half-price to many of Baltimore’s best restaurants. Information on these events can be found below. Also, check back soon for my “Best Bets for Restuarnat Week” where I’ll give recommendations for the best bang-for-your-buck restaurants that are participating this time around!

• Baltimore Dining Deals- Eating great for half the price!
• Chef’s and Wine Experience - At the Tremant Grand, Sunday July 13, 2008
• Baltimore Restaurant Week- Make your reservations soon!
• Dara Bunjon’s Dining Dish Blog - Great writing, lots of Baltimore information, recipes and more!
  

Tasting Report: Good Values From Sicily- The Wines of Sicilian Producer Tasca d’ Almerita

Sicily is well known for its sweet Marsala wines, which make up a majority of the wine produced in the DOC wine region. But in recent years, there has been a surge towards producing quality red and white table wines as the global demand for quality wines increases. Read more

Breaking news: Sunday, July 20, 2008 - Foodandwineblog wine tasting- Sushi and Loire Valley Wines!

Title says it all. We’re capping the event at 12 people! For more details and to RSVP: http://foodandwineblog.com/forums/index.php?topic=158.0

Brief News: Monday July 7, 2008: Greg’s Pig Roast with TJ’s beer, Brunello allowed into the US, Baltimore events!

Our resident beer guy roasts a pig and makes Thomas Jefferson’s beer: This past Friday, July 4th, Greg B spent half of his day cleaning, dressing, salting, garlicking and roasting a pig. His “Jefferson Beer”, having spent months in the making, was ready for consumption and was a great pairing with the salty pork. What Greg didn’t mention in his great recap is that he and I tried roasted pig brain for the first time. Lucky for us, there were over 200 bottles of his various homemade beers on hand to wash it down! Don’t foget to keep an eye on “Greg’s Corner” to follow his journey through beer and wine making, whole-animal roasting, and internet blogging!

Brunello gets it’s groove back: After months of controversy surrounding Brunello di Montalcino (more here), Decanter.com reports that Italian Authorites have “guaranteed” that all Brunello being exported to the US meets the standards set by Italian wine law and Brunello di Montalcino DOCG regulations. Though 2002/03 weren’t good vintages in Montalcino, this is good news for Brunello lovers as it’s nearing time for the highly praised 2004’s to go on pre-sale!

Things of note in Baltimore this week (find out more on Localwineevents.com):

Jul 07, 2008 (Mon) - Jul 10, 2008 (Thu)Aperitivo Hour and $10 Pasta at Sotto Sopra

Jul 07, 2008 (Mon)Monday Nights 1/2 off bottled wines at Sotto Sorpa Restaurant

Jul 07, 2008 (Mon)Monday is Neighborhood Night at AIDA Bistro: All Pastas Specially Priced

Jul 08, 2008 (Tue)Dinner with Daniela - 4 Course Italian Home Cooked Dinner

Jul 13, 2008 (Sunday): Baltimore Chefs and Wine Experience: A must if you are available on Sunday!

July 4th Pig Roast

This past friday was July 4th, and I felt it was time to celebrate our independence from the British empire the way Americans should celebrate: by getting drunk with friends.  However, I felt that, given all the recent issues and troubles our nation has been experiencing, from erosion of constitutional civil liberties to economics woes and war, we needed something a little extra.  Thus, the first annual July 4th Pig roast celebration was born.  Complete with homebrew!

This party had been on my mind for month, since February after we held our much-delayed 2nd annual Gregtoberfest.  In anticipation, I searched online for recipes of beers from some of our great founding fathers and came across three:  George Washington’s Porter, Ben Franklin’s Spruce Ale, and Thomas Jefferson’s Wheat beer.  Given that I dont enjoy porters, I ruled out George Washington’s beer for now.  The spruce ale sounded very intriguing, and the Maryland homebrew store does have spruce extract for such such an occasion, but I decided to leave this beer for an experimental batch for myself, rather than give to people.  Thus, Thomas Jefferson’s recipe was chosen.  Preparation began in April and the beer was racked in early May, about when i started searching for the pig.

My usual butcher (J.W. Treuth) did not have whole hogs for sale, and being that I dont like small undertakings, I continued to search for a good one.  Luckily, my boss informed me of Wagner’s our in New Market, MD.  I called them up and very quickly they informed me I could have any size hog I wanted, and the different prices associated with the poundage.  I settled on a 37.5 lb pig and we agreed on a pickup date and that was that.  I was the proud potential owner of a pig.  The next issue was clear…. How to cook it?

If there’s one thing any good American knows, it’s that BBQ is awesome, and that roasted meats are awesome (sorry pescatarians and such, I dont mean to offend, I’m just stating my opinions on the matter).  After weeks of searching through recipes and consulting cooks, I decided to follow a rough estimate of what the internet Italians call ‘porchetta”.  When I finally got my pig, I salted the meat for 24hrs, squeezed lemon juice on the skin (it helps break down the fats under the skin) and added cracked black pepper to the animal and let it sit in my fridge.  The following 12 hrs I added a bit more salt, stuffed the pig with many (and I do mean many) garlic cloves, fresh sage leaves, rosemary and some fennel, along with 4 lbs of loose sage sausage.  I then proceeded to sew up the animal, and inserted garlic cloves in various places under the skin and let the animal sit in the fridge overnight, for the roasting day.  I also prepared a basting solution of water, salt, olive oil, black pepper corns, garlic, fennel, rosemary, oregano, sugar and a medium sweetness blush wine.  Keep in mind this was basting for a large animal for several hours, so the total solution volume must have been well over a gallon… for your own preparation records!

Come July 4th, I awoke and ran downstairs, possibly more excited than a kid at christmas.  I assembled a spit that one of my Greek friend’s mother’s was gracious enough to lend to me, skewered the pig, tied him up and started the coals.  By 9am, I had the pig roasting on the fire, trying to be careful to keep the coals near the hams and shoulders, since these are thicker parts and require more heat than the gut.  Almost exactly 6 hours of roasting later, the pig was done and left to cool on a table, prepared for butchering when guests arrived.  And arrive they did!  Over the course of 9 hours, we must have put down easily 200 beers, a small pony keg of heineken, several bottles of wine, and a couple shots of tequila.  oh, and some pig brains too.  Approx. 50 people made their way through my house, consuming almost all the food and almost all the beer.  The perfect party!  The pig was a little salty, which I felt went well with the beer available.  The TJ wheat beer was a hit as well (though I felt it lacked a little something extra… maybe next time!).  All in all, things worked out well.

In the end, I realized that when you roast an animal, people come from all sorts of places to eat it.  However, I am looking forward to my next excuse to roast an animal.  Anyone have any good reasons excuses??

 

Wine Pairings: What wine goes with 64 hotdogs?

This past Friday, July 4th, Nathan’s Hotdog had their annual hot dog eating contest. Dating back to 1915, the annual Nathan’s hotdog contest brings the worlds biggest appetites to NYC for a 10 minute hot dog eat-off. (Photo credit: A hot dog, taken by Renee Comet, photographer, and from the National Cancer Institute. http://visualsonline.cancer.gov/details.cfm?imageid=2669) Read more

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