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

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

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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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.

Read more

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.

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

Outstanding Belgian food, bier and hospitality! Read more

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

Recipes for the 4th of July…with a few wine pairing ideas!

Here are some recipe and wine ideas for this fourth of July that are certain to make your celebration a delicious success. Many of these come from Cathy at the Noble Pig website, which is my favorite food blog and overall just an outstanding website with great pictures, stories and more! I highly recommend you check out her website and sign up for her feeds!!!

As for the dishes below, most are simple, all are delicious and are complete with wine pairing ideas.

Appetizers:

Cinghale Shrimp on Greens: Wine Pairing: I like the fruit, acidity and complexity of a nice Spatlese Riesling. My pick: 2002 J.J. Prum Riesling Himmelreich (Spatlese) ($30)

Blue Sky Potatoes: Wine Pairing: The slight oakiness of a good Chardonnay would go well with the bacon and creamy potatoes. My pick: 2006 Wente Chardonnay Arroyo Seco Riva Ranch ($13)

Shrimp Rockefeller Stuffed Mushrooms: Wine Pairing: This is a tougher dish to pair, there are a lot of big flavors and a variety of textures. I think a safe bet would be a crisp Sauvignon Blanc such as 2006 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand ($16). Read more

Recipe: Old Ebbitt Grill Crab Cakes courtesy of Ali Ehrlich!

This past weekend Kim, the dogs and I spent three days kayaking, fishing, swimming and relaxing at our friends Shenandoah River house. The company included our friends Dave and Ali (Ali is pictured here on the left, with Kim and Raja), who we met through the weekends host a few months ago. Great food was eaten, great wines were drank, and great stories were both told and written.

Ali and I got to talking about her website “Life as an E” (Ehrlich) in which she gives fun and well written commentary on her life since marrying her husband David Ehrlich (the “E”!). The blog covers much more than just what they did last Tuesday or who called them last night. In fact, it is a good source for random travel, food and wine information including tasting notes and recipes! After picking her brain a bit and going through her website, I’ve asked her to share some of her recipes with us since many of them sounded very good.

Below is recipe for “Old Ebbitt Grill Crab Cakes” which I’m going to give a shot as soon at the kitchen is finished!!! Don’t forget to check out her site which features more recipes and great food and wine ramblings!

From “Life as an “E” by Ali Ehrlich:

Old Ebbitt is a DC institution, and while this is about 99% their recipe, we have made it at home a few times and tweaked it a bit for our tastes. These are authentic Maryland style crab cakes -all lump meat with almost no filler added and tastes incredible! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

First, you will need:

1 large work bowl
1 small/ medium work bowl
a baking sheet
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons crab boil seasoning (such as Old Bay)
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon water
4 Saltine or Ritz crackers (or ¼ cup of breadcrumbs)
1 lemon (optional)

Got everything? Now, you:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet

Pick the crabmeat over to remove excess shells and cartilage.

Combine the mayonnaise, crab seasoning, parsley, mustard, and water in the medium bowl and mix until smooth. Add the mayonnaise mixture to the crabmeat and mix, being careful not to break up the lumps of crabmeat.

With your hands, break up the saltines into crumbs and mix into the crab mixture.

Form into patties and bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, then turn the crab cakes over, and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until nicely browned.

Plate and garnish with any extra fresh flat leaf parsley and lemon wedge, serve with tarter sauce on the side. Enjoy!

We usually get our crab and fresh seafood and fish from Cameron’s Seafood Market in Rockville. They have lots of locations in the DC area, and have daily and weekly specials available online.

Montalcino Restaurant Review: Osteria Al Giardino (Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy) - Upscale and pricey, but worth it. Highly Recommended!

Osteria Al Giardino:

Ambiance: Elegant,
Food: Upscale and traditional Montalcino/Tuscan cuisine
Service: Outstanding: attentive, great wine service.
Wine List: Good overall. Fair pricing with a good number of bottles with some age to them.
Pricing: $$$$ - Expensive, but worth it for a special occasion. Expect around 60 Euros per person, plus wine (our total was aorund 230 Euros)
Attire: Upscale, but comfortable/business casual seems appropriate.
Overall Rating: Great. Highly recommended for special occasions but be prepared to spend some money. The food was exceptional across the board and the service was very good. Chef Giovanni Luca di Pirro shows great passion in his food and keeping you well fed!
Piazza Garibaldi 10
Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy
Bookings and Fax: 0577 849076. e-mail: osteriaalgiardino@virgilio.it
Closed Wednesday.

Il Girdino: This was our favorite “upscale” dining in Montalcino. The service was attentive and very helpful, the food was outstanding, and the setting was elegant and warm. Situated near the middle of town on the top of a hill where the main streets merge, Il Girdino was all around a great meal. The wine list represented some of the best wines in Montalcino and prices were on par with other restaurants and enotecas. Our meal began with a beef carpaccio of neck meat that was sliced so thin and delicate that it melted on the palate. Our other primi course was a poached egg served with a decadent white winter truffle sauce that was very simple but quite delicious. We paired these with wines by the glass from a well thought out list.

For a first course we split two dishes: white winter truffle linguine and a potato ravioli with artichokes and parmageano reggiano cheese. The homemade pasta dish featured a rich truffle sauce and a large plate of linguine covered with fresh shaved white truffles. This was a hit- the simplicity again let the truffle shine but prevented it from overpowering the palate. The potato ravioli was a bit of a let down. It was well spiced but the flavors and texture just weren’t that great. Overall, we were happy with this course.

Our main course featured both beef and cinghale (wild boar): a well seasoned steak cooked medium rare and a tender and flavorful cinghale stew. This course was paired with a 1999 Poggio al Vento (Col d’Orcia Riserva) that was served in beautiful stemware and went perfect with both dishes and which I rated 95 pts.

For dessert, we decided on a hazelnut Creme Brulee that featured lovely flavors and texture in the creme sauce hiding beneath a perfectly crisp top layer. This topped off one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten- all compliments to Chef Giovanni Luca di Pirro, who came to our table at the end of the evening to talk with us about our meal. You could see his passion for preparing world class meals in the way he spoke about the meal. A passion that was even more evident in the food itself.

Overall this was our favorite upscale meal in Montalcino. The setting is more elegant than most of the other restaurants, the food a little more upscale and complex, and as you’d expect, the prices a little bit higher. The meal with wine cost us around 220 Euros, or roughly $350 USD. Expensive? Yes, but worth it for one special night out in one of the most amazing towns in Italy.

MD Cru June Offline: Rieslings, Malbecs, Chorizo, Shrimp, Scallops and Flank Steaks- “Life is good.”

“Life is good.” That statement, which was made about halfway through dinner Saturday night by history guru “GF”, would be sufficient to sum up the evening. This was, of course, the monthly meet-up of the MD Cru- a group of food and wine enthusiasts who organize through the Wine Spectator forums to share great food and stories. And of course we open a few bottles of wine as well.

This month we were in D.C., at the beautiful historic home of one of the groups long-time members (there is no official group, or membership, for that matter, but it’s an easy way to refer to what has become a gathering of friends). The wine theme was two fold: German Rieslings and Argentine Malbecs. Other wines made it into the rotation, of course; a couple whites to start, a Champange, dessert wines, and a “pair” of ringers from Chile. Read more

Recipe: The most simple grilled rainbow trout…EVER!

Another simple recipe, this time using Rainbow trout that was on sale for $7.99 / lb at Whole Foods! This went great with zucchini and asparagus. The other items on the plate are chicken breast and spicy chicken burgers. I know the plate looks messy and crowded…but when you don’t have a kitchen (STILL!) it’s nice to use less dishes so you are able to cook at home sometimes!

Grilled Rainbow Trout

Ingredients:

• Whole rainbow trout, cleaned and gutted with head intact.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Ground Sea Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper
• 1/2 lime, cut into wedges

Necessary tools:

• Grill (or broiler)
• Metal skewer (or wood skewer soaked in water for 30 mins)

1. Rinse trout in cool water.
2. Rub inside and out with olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Place lime wedges inside trout and use metal skewers to enclose the cavity of the fish.
4. Grill over medium heat, 6-8 minutes per side until skin is crispy. Flip only once and use great caution not to let the fish fall apart.
5. Serve!

Ordering wine in a restaurant: “By-the-glass” offers a fun learning experience (4 wines with steak)

After a few hours of working on the kitchen Saturday, Kim and I were getting hungry and it was getting late. 8:00 PM rolled around and we decided we wanted good steaks. Our favorite steakhouse in town is Fleming’s Primes Steakhouse and Wine Bar which offers 100 wines by the glass, an extensive reserve wine list and a variety of meats and seafood to satisfy any appetite. Beware that the wine prices are a bit high, but their by-the-glass list offers many good values, the food is always good, and the service is outstanding. So we called, squeezed in a 9:30 reservation and excitedly hurried over anticipating a great meal.  (Image from dreamstime.com)

Now, normally at a nice dinner I order a bottle of Champagne and a bottle of red wine at the beginning of the meal. This gives the wine time to sit in a decanter if necessary and helps us decide on what we are going to eat. At a steakhouse, it’s almost always a Cabernet or Bordeaux-blend, with the occasional Malbec or other miscellaneous varietal wine. On this night, though, we decided to try something different. SO we started our meal with a round of white wines by the glass, a Riesling and a Gewurztraminer to be precise. Both were quite good and perfect with our fried calamari appetizer. Read more

MD Cru May 31, 2008: A night of Northern Rhones

What is a Northern Rhone? France’s Rhone Valley is home to some of the best wines in the world including the renown wines of the Southern Rhone’s Chateauneuf-du-Pape region. But it is in the Northern Rhone region that the best Syrah’s in the world are produced. Though it is true that Syrah and Shiraz are one in the same (as far as grape is concerned), the Syrah’s of the Rhone are vastly different than their Australian (or elsewhere) Shiraz counterpart. Whereas the New World style creates wines with subtle spice notes, more concentrated fruit flavors and often more “oak” influence, the Old World Syrahs of the Northern Rhone tend to be more “terroir” driven wines with subtle earth and more moderate spice and pepper notes.

The MD CRU. This past weekend a group of friends (who happen to be fine food and wine enthusiasts) met up to share old stories and of course some Old World Syrah’s. These monthly outings, or off-lines, began years ago with a small group of laid back and generous friends meeting up through the Wine Spectator forums. Years later, many of the faces have changed (Kim and I are new to the group as of October 2007) but the main idea hasn’t: great food and wines shared at either a restaurant or someones home amongst a group of the most unpretentious and outgoing wine lovers this side of the Chesapeake. Read more

Persian Recipe: Persian Meat Loaf

This is the first of many upcoming recipes of traditional Persian Cuisine. Growing up, my father often cooked Persian food on nights my mom wasn’t making Schnitzel or some other traditional German dish (she’s of course, German). Persian cuisine features a variety of exotic spices and flavors that capture the essence of thousands of years of culinary history.  Below is a recipe for Persian Meatloaf that I’ve adapated from In  A Persian Kitchen by Maideh Mazda.  You’ll find this meatloaf to be a more interesting take on the traditional American version.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 lb ground lamb
• 3/4 lb ground beef (can use 1 1/2 lbs of either meat alone)
• 1 large onion, grated
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup finely chopped celery leaves
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• slice white bread

As side items: Fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.

1. Place all ingredients into a large mixing bowl, except for the bread.
2. Soak the bread in water for a few seconds, then squeeze excess water from bread and add to bowl.
3. Mix all ingredients until everything is uniformly distributed.
4. Let rest for 20 minutes (room temperature) or up to 4 hours in the fridge.
5. Remove from fridge and place into baking pan at 2 1/2″ thickness.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place meatloaf on middle rack for 45 minutes.
7. Increase heat to 425 for last 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through.
8. Serve with yogurt and fresh cut tomatoes and cucumbers.

Recipe: Simple Grilled Rockfish (Striped Bass) With Citrus Marinated Red Onions

This is perhaps one of the easiest ways to cook a whole Rockfish highlighting the freshness and flavors of the fish. Simple, healthy and delicious! (image from wikipedia.org)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole rockfish (2-3 lb), scaled, gutted, and washed thoroughly
• olive oil
• red pepper flakes
• red onion, sliced very thin
• juice of 2 lemons
• juice of 2 oranges
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• salt/pepper

1. In a small bowl, combine red onion, white vinegar, lemon/orange juice (and zest), and salt/pepper. Place in fridge for 1 hour (up to 24 hours) before preparing fish.
2. Preheat oven to 315 degrees also, preheat grill to medium high heat. Rub fish (inside and out) with salt/pepper, red pepper flakes, and olive oil.
3. Place fish on grill for 3 minutes per side or until skin is slightly charred.
4. Remove from grill and place in baking pan. Bake at 315 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes away from skin.
5. Remove fish from oven and plate with marinated red onions.
6. Serve with a Vinho Verde or other crisp white wine.
7. ENJOY!

The Perfect Steak; and a few reasons I hope my kitchen renovation takes a little bit longer!

With the kitchen about 1/3 of the way renovated, I’m beginning to enjoy our dinner options: Eat out or grill. Last night we rewarded ourselves for getting the tile in this past weekend with a nice surf and turf on the grill. Here’s my recipe for the perfect steak, and a recap of our night:

The Perfect Steak:

1 1/2 - 2″ thick dry-aged ribeye steak (brought to room temperature)

1. Rub steak with olive oil, salt and pepper.
2. Place on very hot part of grill to sear each side, approximately 4 minutes total.
3. Move steak to indirect heat location of grill and maintain interior temperature of the grill at 300 degrees. Cook for an additional 6 minutes per side.
4. Remove from grill, top with 1 Tbsp butter and add salt to taste.

It’s that easy! Enjoy. Read more

Recipe: Another great pizza recipe with ground lamb and goat cheese.

Alright, this one is as simple as the others - same basic crust, but this time we’re going with lamb and goat cheese on top. The pizza went great with a 2005 Il Poggione Rosso di Montalcino ($20).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb ground lamb (sprinkle with salt/pepper)
  
• 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped thin (dried rosemary works as well)
• 1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped thin
• 1 Tbsp chopped garlic
• 2 oz red wine
• 1 Tbsp chopped jalepeno pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil (4-5 tablespoons)
• 1 lb fresh Caprino (Itlian goat cheese) or cheese of your choosing, grated or broken into balls
• Marinara sauce (or other preferred pizza sauce)
• Pizza dough - enough for 1 large pizza (either frozen dough from store or use recipe below)
• Flour

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. In saute pan, brown lamb over medium heat with garlic, jalepeno, mint and rosemary. After 3-4 minutes, add red wine.
2. Stir frequently over medium heat for an additional 5-7 minutes or until lamb is cooked through (and liquids have cooked off). Remove from heat and let cool.
3. Place dough on an oiled (olive oil) pan and rub crust with olive oil, salt/pepper.
4. Lightly coat pizza dough with marinara sauce. If not included in sauce, sprinkle lightly with dried rosemary for extra flavor. Evenly top the pizza with lamb and cheese and place in for 17-20 minutes, or until crust in golden.

Homemade Dough (Variation of Mario Battali Recipe)

1/4 cup Chianti (or other red wine)
3/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 ounces fresh yeast
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
3 1/2 cups flour

Place wine, water and yeast in a large bowl and stir until dissolved. Add the honey, sugar, salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil and mix well to combine. Add 1 cup of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon until it becomes a loose batter. Add 2 more cups of the flour and stir for 2 to 3 minutes, incorporating as much flour as you can with the wooden spoon.Bring the dough together by hand and turn out onto a floured board or marble surface. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes, until dough is smooth and firm. Place in a clean, lightly-oiled bowl, using remaining tablespoon of oil and cover with a towel. Let rise in the warmest part of the kitchen for 60 minutes.

For one large pizza, knead into 1 large round. For either, let rest for 15 minutes.

A few wine pairing ideas

Pasted from:

“Cellar Notes” on WYPR: Great programming, but not always great advice!

BBQ: For starters, try telling the people of Argentina who make some of the best BBQ in the world that their prized Malbecs aren’t a classic pairing with grilled meats. Or perhaps, try telling Zinfandel lovers that a big Zinfandel doesnt’ go great with BBQ ribs. These are some of the best food and wine pairings out there (simple grilled food, straightforward wines). Sure a beer goes great with BBQ, but there are many different wine options that go even better.

Pizza: Maybe Al was talkling about cheap, Papa-Johns takeout with loads of toppings and cheese and dipped in that butter garlic sauce? But with real pizza (homemade or just very good pizzaria pizza) there is nothing better than a Chianti or Barbera. I’ve enjoyed pizza in Florence, Bologna, Siena and Montalcino (picture above is of Kim and I in Montalcino enjoying fresh made pizza with a 2004 Casanova di Neri Rosso di Montalcino)…and you know what everyone was drinking with their pizza? Local-produced red wines. Sure some toppings can be wine-unfriendly, but for the most part pizza and wine is a classic pairing (just make sure to find wines with good acidity that go well with the toppings).

Thai Food: One of the better BYOB restaurants in Baltimore is Thai Arroy. This small Thai Eat-in/Carry-out restaurant in Federal Hill offers good thai food and great service. Being BYOB makes it even better since you can try a variiety of wines you like to see how they go with the spicy cuisine. On many occasions we’ve enjoyed a crisp Riesling or sparkling wine with our spring rolls, beef nagamaki, or spicy fish and noodles. One of the best pairings with Thai food? A Gewurztraminer. Subtle tropical fruit notes and spicy acidity goes GREAT with Thai food. Sure, beer works great…but I’ll tkae a spicy Gewurztraminer any day over an ale or lager.

Chinese Food: This one can be tricky, but isn’t “impossible”. For starters, the same wines that go well with Thai food go great with spicy Chinese dishes such as Schechwan Chicken. A Pinot Noir is a great choice with duck, whereas a Syrah might work with a heartier dish. Riesling and Chardonnay both work great with a variety of Chinese food as well. Again, beer is a great match for the complex spices and flavors in traditional Chinese cuisine, but there are many great wine options that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Recipe: The million dollar cookie (courtesy of the Noble Pig)

Maryland native Carolyn Gurtz recently one a million dollars for this peanut butter cookie.  Our friend Cathy at the Noble Pig put her spin on it.  Check out her website for step-by-step instructions and outstanding photos of the whole “million dollar cookie” making process.

Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies
adapted from Carolyn Gurtz’s Million Dollar Cookies

1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 package (16.5 ounces) Pillsbury Create’ n Bake refrigerated peanut butter cookies, well chilled

Preheat oven to 375 degree.

In a small bowl, mix chopped peanuts, granulated sugar and cinnamon; set aside.

In another bowl, stir peanut butter and powdered sugar until completely blended.  Shape the mixture into 24 1-inch balls.

Cut a roll of cookie dough into 12 slices.  Cut each slice in half, crosswise to make 24 pieces; flatten slightly.

Shape one cookie dough piece around one peanut butter ball, covering completely.  Repeat with remaining dough and balls.

Roll each covered ball in peanut mixture; gently pat the mixture completely onto the balls.  On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart.

Spray the bottom of a drinking glass with cooking spray.  Flatten each ball to 1/4-inch thickness with the bottom of a glass.  Sprinkle any remaining peanut mixture evenly on tops of cookies; gently press into the dough.

Bake 7 to 12 minutes (mine took eleven) or until edges are golden brown.  Cool one minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack.  Store tightly covered.

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