New Release Focus - Superstrada 2013

The much anticipated 2013 vintage release of Superstrada, my super Tuscan styled blend, has started making the rounds among my friends and will soon be available for wider release.

The 2013 Superstrada is composed of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Sangiovese with 100% of the grapes from hillside vineyards in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County. The wine was combined in equal parts in January of 2014 to a combination of French, Hungarian, and American oak barrels, specially coopered to integrate oak from different forests.

Superstrada_mastro_scheidt

Why incorporate different styles of oak? Why not just use French?

Each type of oak has unique characteristics, adding flavors and textures to the wine over time; building complexity. Superstrada will continue to mature and develop gracefully over the next 10 years, however, for those who like a more forward wine that focuses on lively fruit, this wine is ready to drink now.

New Release Focus - 1TL 2013

The 1TL is always our most discrete bottling every year; a total of 50 cases of wine. That's it. All previous vintages of this wine are sold out.

The wine represents a specially selected single ton of fruit each harvest, designated AT harvest for the 1TL bottling. That's not always easy for me as the owner and winemaker to determine nearly two years ahead of a bottling. In the past, the 1TL has been Cabernet Sauvignon, with one exception, the 2010 1TL which was Cabernet Franc.

1TL_mastro_scheidt

The 2013 1TL will be 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from D. Rafanelli Vineyards of Dry Creek Valley, 100% hillside. I am incredibly pleased to have this fruit for a second year in a row for the 1TL. Bold, black fruit, expressive tannins, full-bodied and without compromises, that's the 2013 1TL.

Buy the 2013 1TL here

New Release Focus - Proprietary White Wine 2015

As we jump into Spring 2016, the first thing I get asked by customers is, "When is the white wine being released?"

Your wait is over, the 2015 white wine is here!

Mastro_Scheidt_white_wine

Full of beautiful fruit, freshness and follow through, the 2015 Hunter is a blend of white varietals, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscat de Frontignan from Alexander and Russian River Valley. You won't find any green, grassy flavors in this wine. So if you like Kiwi Sav Blanc, look elsewhere.

The nose has hints of honey and lemon curd, with a palate of ripe pears and full-palate finish. The wine is neutral barrel fermented for 2 months in French barriques.

New Release Focus - Signature 2013

My Signature bottling from Dry Creek Valley has always been about a unique expression of Dry Creek Valley fruit; trying to go beyond just spices and blackberries.

Signature_mastro_scheidt

The 2013 vintage marked another year of steady warmth and drought conditions in Dry Creek Valley. Two different Cabernet Sauvignon hillside vineyards from opposite sides of the valley were used for the 2013 Signature bottling. Both vineyard sites in these drought conditions are yielding 3 tons per acre or less in 2013; with one of the vineyards being completely dry farmed. The 2013 Signature was bottled unfined and unfiltered without additional sulphites.

The flavors are integrated, elegant and expressive. Despite the warmer, drought conditions, the fruits on the palate are black and fresh, not cooked, due to proper timing of the harvest. Deeper, back palate flavors of mocha come through along with fine grain tannin. This wine will continue to develop in the cellar for 10 years or better. 

Buy the 2013 Signature here

New Release Focus - Sangiovese 2014

My 2014 Sangiovese was harvested from a single vineyard in the northern extremes of Dry Creek Valley. The 2014 vintage marks the first time I crafted the Sangiovese with native fermentation. In other words, I let nature take its course and did not inoculate with a commercial strain of yeast.

Native fermentation is tricky and I was a bit nervous throughout the process. However, the results prove out the benefits, in this particular case, richer flavors and a more complete finished wine. 100% of the oak used in neutral, as Sangiovese and new oak don't mix very well.

2014_Sangiovese

What we taste is purity of fruit and place; with a warmer climate and flavors in the wine that lend themselves to red fruits, cherry to raspberry depending upon the temperature the wine is served. The bouquet is of spice and ultra-light tobacco with a slightly floral note, but not perfume or clipped flowers.

A special note to my friends that love Pinot Noir...my 2014 Sangiovese will pair up nicely with many of the dishes that Pinot will pair with.

Buy the 2014 Sangiovese online.

Chicken tenders and Selling Wine

The life of Owner/Winemaker is one that sounds glamorous, but with the amount of highway miles I travel, I'm often confronted with food choices that are less than spectacular.

Chicken tenders from a highway gas station are one of those less than spectacular choices.

For every picture on Facebook that gets posted of me eating a incredibly well prepared meal, the balance in the universe is restored by eating one more chicken tender. Perhaps, I should do a chicken tender pairing with my Proprietary White Wine and perhaps my Sangiovese...goals for 2016.

Lucky for me, I have a incredibly well developed palate, seeking out only the best road side chicken tenders in California. A freshly fried chicken tender from Popeye's located at the Travel Center in Livingston is very different from the McDonald's in Lone Pine. I'll take Popeye's chicken any day. 

There are some big upsides to chicken tenders over other highway food . Tenders only require one hand to eat; therefore, one hand is always on the wheel. Tenders do not ooze grease, mustard or ketchup the way an In-N-Out burger would, thus removing accidental stains on clothing and automobile interior. The downside to chicken tenders in the car while driving, no special sauce. If you want BBQ or Honey Mustard, you're best to dip at the pump.

Frequency of Visits for Chicken Tenders

Punto Part Two, Lucca

I've already sung the praises of Punto in Lucca. I found their approach to be refreshing, technically proficient, and complimentary toward traditionally Italian dishes. I could have chosen anywhere in northern Italy to finish out my last several days in Italy, I chose Lucca for two reasons, the town is lovely and Punto just changed their menu again.

I saw the menu change at Punto online and the introduction of a beef tartare to the menu, it made my decision that much easier.

Redemption!

Beef tartare in Italy was found worthy at the one place I thought it might. Punto in Lucca.

A smokey oil on the tartare carried all the flavor. Like the oil from salmon skin, silky and packed with flavor, the oiliness transferred smoke, salt and umami to the dish. I think that it almost had the scent and oiliness of cold smoked salmon. Nothing is what it appears at Punto. Looked like every other boring and unseasoned tartare I've had in Italy. I spoke again with the partner about this; we are in agreement about the boring nature of tartare in Italy. The fact that beef needs time, a Michael Mina table treatment won't work on beef. It needs time. Tuna can be quick cured at the table. The beef needs time to penetrate.

Celery risotto. Exactly as billed. No tricks. Celery was breathed all over it, almost juiced in it, so the pungency wasn't there but you knew what it was, celery. No stray celery fibers, instead, very tiny pieces of celery that were perfectly soft. Some ground black sesame garnished the dish. Beautiful presentation.

Guinea fowl was spot on the fegato on top of the farrow polenta added fat. Simple prep, but each piece was moist and flavorful

Chocolate dessert was a flavored mascarpone mousse covered in chocolate dead simple easy to do ahead. Take what I had at Le Logge in Siena, the creamy nutty goodness and soak that on here too. The mascarpone was almost cheesecake like, not so soft like a mousse, but not as thick as a dense cheesecake either.

Punto deserves respect. 

Italian Wine Notes, Tuscany and The Veneto

I wanted to drink great Sangiovese in Italy. 

One must continuing trying wines. Great wines. Lesser wines. Wines that come from a jug. Wines that I'll never remember the name; but I'll remember the experience. I make wine for a living and I don't want to develop a "cellar palate".

The pictures below are the wines I've been drinking during my travels in Italy. I don't give scores; I give basic descriptions, often the impact of the wine and my personal outlook at the time. I was probably eating something while I was drinking. These tastings are not blind, ever.

I'm only looking and reporting on the score from the major critics after the fact. I generally didn't have any idea on scores while I was purchasing. A few wine stores did post the score at the point of sale. The descriptions are varied, sometimes without a single word regarding any of the properties often assigned by critics; a simple Up or Down vote from me might do.

This is NOT an exhaustive list of wines I consumed in Italy. Stuff falls through the cracks, but it's a good representation of what I've been drinking. I might be drinking with friends, restaurant staff, the winemaker, winery owner, or alone. The list is heavily Sangiovese influenced, that is the one purposeful item I injected into my overall experience. After all, I make Sangiovese for a living.

Manifesto on Italian Beef Tartare

I've had many a plate of raw beef in Italy. One thing prevails, simplicity above all else.

The Italians like to showcase what they believe to be a product of extraordinary quality. Why would one adulterate a product that is of quality? I appreciate the parochial culinary philosophy and 99% of the time, the Italians are correct.

However, in the case of beef tartare, adding a couple ingredients can bring out more flavor in the dish.

At the beginning of the trip in Parma, Zingaro offered tartare three ways, picante, seared and normale. The seared and chilled version was outstanding with olive oil and salt, the sear on the outside of the meat adding to complexity. The picante was flavorful, adding some pop to the tartare. While normale was exactly that, raw meat with scant amounts of salt and olive oil; a bit dull. Toast points in butter with salt would have lifted the dish. Zingaro was a culinary outlier, offering so many choices.

Continuing to order the tartare in different towns across Italy may border on obsessive behavior, considering the results, high quality meat without substance or follow through. Obviously all of the tartare versions were memorable, but they are not all sweet memories.

Once I determined that I was returning to the Laboratorio in Lucca, the first dish I constructed was beef tartare.

Keeping with the spirit of using Italian centered products, no Worchester, Tabasco, or Dijon mustard, in what would be American or French versions of a tartare. I could add peperoncino as that is a Southern Italian staple. Italians would use capers in normally cooking, but I didn't have access to those.

It is important to hand-cut your filet. No grinding. Hand cutting thin cubes of beef is a little painstaking, but worth the extra effort. Hand cutting allows for additional texture. Besides, I wouldn't use ground beef to make tartare in the United States. I would only use whole muscle (filet, sirloin) as I don't know the origin of the ground beef.

Toast points are necessary for texture and the ability to actually "chew" the tartare. What's to chew if you only have scoops of tartare? Nothing. Like caviar or foie gras, toast points or a cracker is helpful to spread the flavor of this luxury item on your tastebuds. Salt-topped focaccia was used for my in-house preparation.

Ingredient list:

  1. Red onion
  2. Lemon Juice
  3. Green Olive
  4. Fresh Oregano
  5. Olive oil
  6. Black Pepper
  7. Salt
  8. Chicken Egg Yolk

All of these ingredients are common in Italian cooking. No exotics. Nothing I couldn't get locally or in the winter season.

Use scant portions of red onion, green olive, black pepper, oregano and lemon juice. Where I go heavy is the olive oil, salt, and the chicken egg yolk (many a tartare use quail egg). So in other words, incorporate fat into a dish that doesn't have much fat if you're using Filetto di Manzo aka American Filet.

The results, in my opinion, are superior when one incorporates just a few scant items to the base of filet. The flavors are more mouth filling, continuous, and complimentary to the raw beef without overwhelming it.

With a little effort, expanding the list of Italian ingredients, would be beneficial and fun, but staying with the concept that the beef is the main ingredient and each of the other ingredients are playing supporting roles to enhance, but not take over. Versions of the Italian beef tartare theme, using a wider scope of Italian ingredients:

  • Marinated Porcini, not raw
  • Truffles
  • Capers
  • Mustarda variations (think horseradish flavors)
  • Balsamic Vinegar, high quality not industrial, adding an umami depth
  • Toasted Pine or hazelnuts, Michael Mina has used pine nuts and pears for years in his famous ahi tartare
  • Parmigiano, Microplane grated would add umami.
  • Peperoncino, for a Southern Italian accent and heat kick
  • Walnut oil as a substitute for olive oil
  • Other herbs, such as chives, chervil, parsley
  • More complicated reductions, infusions or essence of an ingredient, such as Bay Leaf or Sage or Parmigiano.

There was finally some redemption for the Italians on my last night in Lucca and second to last night in Italy. Punto, recognized earlier by me for superior culinary thinking, amazed again with their version of beef tartare.

Punto in Lucca, Beef Tartare

Punto in Lucca, Beef Tartare

Antica Bottega del Vino, Verona

On the recommendation of friends from Vicenza, I visited Antica Bottega Del Vino in Verona. A place with history and an institution of traditionalism. I love places like this.

I purposely ordered a little lighter on lunch and more aggressively on wines I haven't experienced before. My friends were taking me to have no less than four different courses of risotto later in the evening, so it was better to go light on the food.

To start, cotechino filled tortellini with a horseradish butter was awesome. They did not skip on the cotechino stuffing inside the pasta. I've made cotechino several times before for dinner parties and Italian guests, but never thought to put it in pasta before. As good as the cotechino was, the horseradish infused butter stole the show. All the perfume of horseradish, without the bite. Perhaps memory engrams fire in my brain to think of meat when horseradish flavors show up on a plate. Delicious, elevated dish with one simple ingredient.

My first wine was just ok until the pasta, then it totally opened up with a hint of sweetness. The wine on its own tasted a little flat, dull, honestly. I think it needed the fat from the cotechino to open up.

Course two, beef tartare is cold, minimally seasoned and a bit bland. I reach for the crunch of bread sticks searching for the help of some salt and texture. I know. I keep getting tartare wondering if it will be amazing next time at the next place. It hasn't been. I need a French chef or I need to prepare it myself.

The wine on this course, was outstanding. Mixed with Syrah and described as a first cru in valpolicella with a complex mixture of scents coming off the nose; raisins, teriyaki and barbecue like smelling the crust of long cooked bbq. Sorry, no picture.

Dessert was chocolate mousse with a Zabiglione mousse in the middle. The straight chocolate with the wine doesn't pair as well. Dessert with wine number three is an recioto/amarone style wine and it's the bomb, not specifically a dessert wine. A sexy wine. They offered dessert cookies that were very similar to Elena's at Parma.

Overall a great experience at Antica. Jumping into completely new wine territory with Ripasso and Amarone styled wine. What would happen if our friends at In Pursuit of Balance started heralding the merits of balanced wines at 16% that are fermented whole cluster? The California wine world would come unglued! What would a Somm do?

Risottoria, Vicenza

A tour de force of risotto in Vicenza. This is a locals spot, a short drive out of the main center. Naturally, I was introduced to this restaurant by locals, this restaurant doesn't show up in the guide books or the Gambero or Michelin guides. The rule of thumb, one risotto per person. We pick them and the restaurant decides in which order to serve them. They will come out one-at-a-time.

Please take notice, the risotto has texture, yet remains loose. Individual grains have texture, "bite", not mooshy and over-cooked. There is also liquid surrounding the rice. Risotto is NOT served dry like pilaf or white rice. 

Mantovana, with crema di zucca, salsiccia cotta with rosemary fresco tritato. Great way to start off the evening. Creamy mouth feel, rosemary is mellowed out, sausage adds depth. I'm not a fan of rosemary mashed potatoes, the rosemary is just too pronounced. However, with risotto and with the lighter touch of rosemary, there isn't the pungency, only the fragrance, opening up the senses, almost as an appetizer should.

Mantovana

Mantovana

El Burielo, it had smoked meat and veggies in it. Smoke, tempered, just added perfume to this risotto. Think about adding a speck to a risotto. Spanish chorizo could be introduced here, a play on paella. Opens up a world of possibilities. Smoke is a meat flavor multiplier. There wasn't that much smoked meat in this dish, but that smoke makes you believe you've just eaten some barbecue.

El Burielo

El Burielo

Tartufato, with scagliette di ricotta fume. It's hard to beat this risotto. It's truffles for Pete's sake. A lot of them too. Really, I have not words. It's wonderful. It also removes any smoky nuances from the previous risotto.

Tartufo  

Tartufo  

Piccantino alla Puttanesca, rice with black and green olives, capers, spicy tomato sauce, anchovy, peppers. Wins the award for unique. Why is puttanesca parochially reserved only with pasta? I think risotto melds the ingredients of puttanesca better than pasta. There's an edge on pasta puttanesca (I know that's the point), sharp flavors of garlic, pepper and anchovy can be off-putting. The risotto incorporates the flavors better because of the starch in the sauce. A bite of anchovy or garlic doesn't stick out in risotto like they would with pasta. With each scoop of rice, every single ingredient is part of every bite with the same basic concentration. With pasta, many of the ingredients are at the bottom of the bowl, not homogenized around each bite of pasta. With risotto, no ingredients are left behind, homogenized evenly in the entire dish.

Puttanesca  

Puttanesca  

I finished with a lemon sorbetto in a martini glass and the sorbet was a bit loose, and certainly had egg white. I sometimes forget how much I like something bright, clean and acidic to finish off a rich meal; a rich meal with a wide variety of flavors.

Pasta is still my favorite dish in Italy, perhaps in the whole wide world. However, this stretches the boundaries for risotto as truly a main dish and a dish that can take on any combination of ingredients and styles, just like pasta can. And for the gluten free crowd, a proper risotto preparation is ten times better than any rice, whole wheat or quinoa pasta.

Osteria Le Logge, Siena

Osteria Le Logge, not 50 yards from the Campo in Siena, normally wouldn't be a restaurant I would choose, due to its proximity to a famous landmark; these places are touristy and terrible. But Le Logge is different. They are also a Brunello producer, are noted in the Gambero Rosso guide, have their own cookbook, and limit the menu to a few choices in each category to what I would consider classics. Yes, it's an institution of traditionalism, but it seems to serve them and their guests, well.

One wine with the entire meal, Gianni Brunelli 2010 Brunello di Montalcino - this is a more traditionally styled Brunello.  Not heavy on the palate with oak or fruit or tannin, but softer, more anise and earth on the nose than fruit notes. Paired up great with each dish, save the foie. I'd love to see what happened in 24 hours and how it would have developed. The food and wine were one, not only because I finished the bottle, but because this wine was crafted to be elegant and not overpowering.

Italian Ham and Eggs

Italian Ham and Eggs

To start, ham and eggs with toast. I'm poking a little fun here about my description, but upon presentation, that is the first thing in my head. The cracker of amaretto was both sweet and texturally playful in a world of oozy eggy hamey goodness. The local Proscuitto was similar to the lonza that I cured a few years back, ripe and wild flavors with great texture when sliced thin enough. The egg was sous vide and served at room temp, not hot. The liquid around the egg and the base of the plate was hot, while the egg remained cold in the center. I ate the dish with a spoon and bread. If I'd been polite and used a fork, I would have missed out on three-quarters of the dish.

Seasonal winter pasta

Seasonal winter pasta

The pasta was spaghetti "Faella" with onions, shallots, green onions, and pancetta. I've basically made this dish in Italy about 5 times or at least a version of it. This pasta confirmed that the pastas I have been cooking at the apartment have been seasonal, because of the onions, the cabbages, the chicory and lettuces that are in season. I thought I was being unoriginal with my thought process, doing a version of this pasta in Lucca and here in Siena; but I was thinking properly, seasonally. The use of cured meat also makes sense, that was the whole reason you cure in the first place, to use it in winter. No tomatoes. No squash. No eggplant. No peppers. No summer fruits and vegetables.

Spinach was fantastic in this dish

Spinach was fantastic in this dish

Lamb shoulder en croute. The lamb was thick cubed and cooked sous vide. There was no other way the lamb could have been this tender unless there was a sous vide machine involved. The spinach, however, made this dish. The spinach was sweet and has nearly none of the oxalate that dries out your mouth. The en croute was a phyllo dough applied just prior to finishing the lamb in the oven. This is continental cuisine with the use of a modern sous vide technique.

A bit of a left turn from traditional Italian

A bit of a left turn from traditional Italian

Bonus from chef. Cold chicken liver pate, dredged in curry/tandor spices, a quick grape jelly and avocado. I told the owner that this was a version of a dish I had at Robuchon with eel and avocado. The play on textures and flavors is there. Fun, yet cross cultural. The curry style spice mixture was powerful, so wine pairing will temporarily be on hold until you have a coffee or grappa.

Liquid Gianduja

Liquid Gianduja

Dessert was liquid Gianduja  puréed in cream or mascarpone with hand-torn pieces of doughy bread. Then if it wasn't rich enough, pastry cream filled cannoli and add some creamy gelato to the mix. It's sweet, rich, mouth filling and the perfect end to a really savory meal. The dessert was fantastic.

Il Campo for the 2009 Palio in Siena, my shaved head in the foreground.

Il Campo for the 2009 Palio in Siena, my shaved head in the foreground.

A delightful afternoon at Le Logge. It's hard to believe that back in 2009, not 35 yards away I was in the middle of Il Campo for the Palio. Good times.

Il Santino via Santo Spirito

Vibe! Atmosphere! Presence!

Il Santino via Santo Spirito is a great place to be for drinks, brunch, a snack or dinner.

I think I just got lucky. I sat at the bar in an Italian restaurant for my entire meal! The Italians really don't want you sitting at the bar in the main dining room. They just don't. They do everything to persuade you that a table would be more comfortable. If this were a wine bar, then you're going to stand (most bars have no chairs to sit in) at their bar. At an Italian restaurant, table service is an expectation.

Call me a stubborn American for this one point. I like eating at the bar when I'm by myself. Honestly, the restaurant should like the fact I'm not taking up real estate at a table. I watched, for over 2 hours, people come in and be turned away from the bar immediately. Like I said, lucky.

Chestnut Tagliatelle

Chestnut Tagliatelle

To start, chestnut tagliatelle with oxtail and "dolce forte" sauce with sliced radish. The aroma, the scent takes you first; there is sweetness in the air. You approach carefully, finding just the right spot to make your move, longing for that the pasta to touch your lips. Then it comes, the first bite, the buttery nature or near sweet flavor of the dolce forte sauce is a deliberate, premeditated tease to keep luring you in. The demanding flavors of braised oxtail are next. Flavorful, rich, the passionate deep kiss of the sauce, oxtail and pasta are coming together. Enter the radish.The radish, a bitterness, near the end, just to remind you that it can't be bold, sweet and sexy all the time. You have to take everything on the plate together, not just the piece you want.

Brunello and this meal was a wonderful pairing

Brunello and this meal was a wonderful pairing

This chestnut tagliatelle dish is best described as Monica Bellucci in the Matrix. Sexy. Risk taker. Bitter. Passionate. Single minded. Ruthless. Practical. Wise. Complicated. Simple. Carries a pistol. Willing to fool around in a bathroom. And she has a crazy boyfriend who speaks French. The whole package or nothing at all.

Moving on.

Roasted veal rib chop with pomme purée and Calvados poached pear purée. I couldn't get enough of the pear. I ate all the pear and half the potatoes. The potato was super smooth and creamy and well seasoned, but that pear just hit. The veal chop couldn't have gotten any better. Great color, seasoning and cut. Again, no one asked me how I wanted my veal chop cooked, there's only one way, medium rare. Great cut of meat.

Veal on the bone

Veal on the bone

I had the folks behind the bar put together a trio of sheep milk cheeses to finish along with a grappa. The sheep's milk cheeses all came from Sardinia and were each a different age, roughly 3 months, 9 months and what was probably over a year. I favored the fresh and oldest cheeses. The middle one just didn't have the extremes of flavor.

Grappa of Cab Sav

Grappa of Cab Sav

The grappa was made from Cabernet Sauvignon and one of the bigger grappas I've had since I've been here.

The Arno at Night

The Arno at Night

A great night and a great walk back home down the Arno.

Zeb, Firenze

I wouldn't have found this place without Cousin Vince. It was the first thing he mentioned to me when I told him I was visiting Florence for a weekend. On the other side of the Arno and near the walk-up to Piazza Michaelangelo, Zeb is a counter only, mom and son run restaurant of solid reputation, not just because I trust Vince, Zeb has made its way into the Michelin Guide the last two years. Vince was on to something BEFORE the Michelin Men.

This was a late day lunch for me, around 2pm, I wasn't feeling super hungry and didn't really want to go big this afternoon. Plenty of items to choose from in the counter display, but I decided on a classic from the menu.

Wild Boar Ragu

Wild Boar Ragu

Wild boar ragu with pappardelle, and upon presentation, there is certainly rosemary in the sauce. Pasta were wonderfully cut wide ribbons, yellow in color and with a nice bite on the tooth. The sauce was rich, the rosemary coming through on my first bite, with the meat falling apart from the slow braise in sauce. This was textbook wild boar ragu. It's not going to get better. This is why we have to love tradition and the classics and understand them. What's to improve here? We can use sage instead of rosemary, but that's a twist, not an improvement.

This sauce has been made and will be made for time eternal. It takes patience, a few basic ingredients, some timing and simple execution in the last minute before presentation. Personally, this type of food never goes out of style, it's always in fashion, never a fad.

Pastry cream torte spiked with Vin Santo and mixed nuts was awesome. I made pastry cream a couple times over the summer for my desserts in Mammoth. Dessert making is not my favorite thing to do, it needs to be done in advance of the savory prep, in the morning and with a certain precision, following instructions that my brain doesn't always care to do, oddly enough. I could have eaten the whole torte presented to me and the remaining torte in the dessert station. The play of various nut flavors, textures, sweetness, everything was just so damn delicious.

Pastry Cream and Nuts

Pastry Cream and Nuts

Zeb is about the most informal dining experience I've had in Italy, yet the food is of top quality. It's rare when you can eat at the counter and talk to the owners and chefs at the same time. Great wine selection to. 

Great find Vince!

La Menagere, Firenze

​I went to La Menagere on two separate occasions, firstly for an aperitif and snack, secondly for lunch.

Sous Vide machine is working well

Sous Vide machine is working well

On aperitif night, I tried the "Fried Egg", basically a sous vide egg, coated and deep fried with a pea purée. Fun. Good starter.

Nice fry job on the egg

Nice fry job on the egg

They also gave me a plate of Ruffles potato chips and fresh veggies, fennel, carrot and celery as a snack. It's just funny to see a plate of Ruffles offered. Sure, I ate them, they're salty and good and pair well with a Negroni.

Bankers Gin in my negroni along w a shaker for bitters...way more perfume than normal, I like it. Using a a higher end Martini brand sweet vermouth and they are infusing chili in the Campari as well. The Italians don't care for it... But some one does. Also doing a chili hot vodka infused martini with the glass washed w Hot chili Campari/white and red...for an inferno look to it

Hello, we cater to Americans and Vegans

Hello, we cater to Americans and Vegans

 Lunch Day 2:

Awesome lunch of gnocchi that were toasted in seasoned cous cous lightly adorned in sheep cheese and then placed on top of a sauce of sheep's cheese and garnished with black pepper, sliced apples and zested lemon. Outstanding. Sorry, no picture, it would have been rude, I was with a guest.

Dessert of olive oil chocolate mousse, but creamier, topped with pineapple gelato (I'd do coconut in a second) and just dripped with olive oil. then crumbs of what could have been Oreo cookie were incorporated into the dessert. Almost trifle-esque. Simple to make, but decadent,

Zibbibo 2.0, Florence

Chickpeas on toast...Hummus

Chickpeas on toast...Hummus

When I lived in Florence back in 2009, my apartment was in the Santa Croce neighborhood. Because I love nostalgia and tradition, I rented an apartment for the weekend in the same neighborhood, about 5 blocks away from my apartment in 2009. Zibbibo 2.0 is a well regarded restaurant in the area and a Gambero Rosso top pick.

Degustazione Pesce for the evening

Hummus on toast to start. Not much more to explain here. Toast was crunchy, hummus was smooth. I was offered a glass of sparkling as a welcome.

For the entire meal, I drank a singular bottle of wine, Roero Arneis from Valfaccenda. Arneis has depth and length, without all the acidity of Vermentino or the match stick quality of Greco di Tufo. Sicilian Chardonnay would have been a fine option as well, but with my experience drinking Arneis at Punto a week before, I wanted to keep trying Arneis.

Trio of seafood

Trio of seafood

The trio of fish as a first course was a good exploration of flavors and skills. My favorite of the grouping was, seabass tartare. Unctuous mouth feel, yet with a simple salt and olive oil, preparation. The seabass is a fattier fish, so this makes some sense.

What was described as Char by my server, was marinated for a long time, a bit tipica but spot on, but that's what it's supposed to taste like. A cured fish, with vinegar or some acid based mixture, takes on a texture and flavor that says to me, I'd rather finish this portion of fish earlier, rather than later. I don't want my last bite to taste like curing liquid, because my next sip is going to be wine and those two won't pair well. I'd rather drink a beer with marinated and cured fish.

Scallop was cooked exactly right and the salad was a nice pop. Nothing tricky, just a solid scallop, cooked properly. Thankfully it wasn't stacked on the salad or vice versa, to make the scallop cold. Solid first round of fish, Michael Mina style in trio.

Best of the trio, sea bass crudo  

Best of the trio, sea bass crudo  

Gnocchi with salt cod, off the charts good. Has a lemon and lime zest, black pepper and chive spike to it, which is superb. Salt cod can be overpowering and texturally chewy. This is where the pasta comes it. The textures are similar, a hint of a bite for each, but the flavors and textures work together. The stronger profile of the sauce really brings things together. I liked this dish and the Arneis wine paired well. 

Outstanding gnocchi  

Outstanding gnocchi  

Tortellini was stuffed with lobster. The pasta itself was right on, perfect boil and texture, however it stood alone, surrounded by its sauces. This was a shame. I wanted butter all over it!! The pasta needed to be consumed immediately and with the sauces on it. Sitting there without sauce is a mistake. The pasta gets cold fast and actually begins to dry out. Not a good idea. Solid technique on the pasta, poor execution on plating.

Naked and afraid pasta

Naked and afraid pasta

Gambero was cooked right on sucked that head and ate it but the squid ink flan was the star of the plate. Outranked the prawn by a long shot. A first for me to have a squid ink flan. Call it flan or budino or sformatino, generally I don't care for them. I wrote about this flan mental block in my head previously, flan is dessert and therefore sweet, not savory. This squid ink flan broke all my rules. I still don't think I'm a convert to savory flan, but this helped move me in a savory direction.

Outstanding squid ink flan

Outstanding squid ink flan

Cioppino. For many Italian Americans, I think that's what most people would see, smell and taste with this soup dish. No, it's not loaded with crab legs, but the concept is basically the same. Octopus was tender in the extreme. The broth was strong with a heavy herb influence. Red wine could easily pair with this fish stew. Arneis is holding up. Not a basic herb profile, I'm guessing bay leaf, but there were bits of green in the broth. Not tarragon but maybe, it was cooked a long time. Solid finish to the multi-course menu.

image.jpg

Wine offered for dessert was orange Muscat from Sicily.

Homemade Nutella! It's like ganache with hazelnut infusion and nuts so stable and smooth at room temp, so maybe cornstarch? I don't know. Totally spreadable, awesome, fun.

Homemade Nutella! 

Homemade Nutella! 

The mini cheesecake bites are also lovely. The dessert chef is earning their stripes tonight. A sweeter version of a marmalade is the topping. My palate was a bit fatigued and with the savory finish of the fish soup, these are welcome sweets at the end of the meal.

A new and interesting digestif  

A new and interesting digestif  

My server, probably had figured out that I was ready to tap, so she suggested a digestif. The milk based digestive is like a lemon bar on the nose. Not strong, cause it's creamy. Limoncello would be lemony in the extreme. This isn't.  New experience, welcome experience.

Lucchese Meals

As you saw in the last post, I've got everything outside my door. With access to great product, of course I'm gonna cook. Here's a sampling of what I was cooking at home.

image.jpg

Enjoy the slide show!

Punto Officina del Gusto, Lucca

Napkin at my table

Napkin at my table

Just a napkin or a symbol of rebels in the kitchen?

Punto is 100% Italian, but more like an up-and-coming Italian designer rather than Brioni. Brioni is classic in every way and you know what to expect.

Punto Officina del Gusto is a bit unexpected amidst the ancient walled city of Lucca, or the Roman wall outside the front door, which happens to be nearly 2000 years old. The atmosphere is fresh, modern. Despite being less than 2 years old, Punto has already received accolades from the Gambero Rosso guide book, high praise indeed.

Amuse of arancini

Amuse of arancini

​If a traveler to Lucca was looking to find a version of Italian American cuisine in the heart of Lucca, keep walking. If you were looking to find a spot to come every year and have the same dish you had when you proposed to your spouse so that you can memorialize that bowl of pasta that was so delicious when you dined at Punto in 2015, forget about it, they've changed the menu 11 times since you've been gone.

This is a chef and staff that like change, experimentation and diversity but pay high respect to traditional methods, local ingredients and high quality execution.

An amuse from the kitchen is an arancini, with lemon zest spiked risotto inside. The arancini itself, could be the single best fried item I've had all year. The texture, crunch, flavor is why the People of Planet Earth love fried things. The visual contrast is also striking, the deep forest green covering the top of the perfectly brown arancini. The presentation of the "Arancini on a Stick" is not traditional Italian, it's Italian modern art, it's what one might expect in a molecular gastronomy styled restaurant. But frying a risotto ball is not molecular gastronomy, it's Italian 101.

"A rose, by any other name", Romeo and Juliet

"A rose, by any other name", Romeo and Juliet

First course, peeled artichoke, stem left on, slowly cooked then finished on the grill, but left whole, to impart greater flavors and textures, laid on top of cooked barely and finished with a chili salt. This was an unexpected and refreshing stance on the standard grilled artichoke, or maybe I'm thinking too much like an American who's been to the Hitching Post. The visual of the artichoke with its stem looked like a rose on the concrete plate, and this edible portion of the artichoke, is naturally the flower bud. It made me smile. It was art and food. Whole grain barley as "the ground" which the artichoke flower is grown in. The concrete plate signifying to me another earth symbol, yet another statement and symbol to the guest that dinner is more than just food on a white plate.

Most people know my love of pasta. I love that it can be simple or decadent and sometimes both. There are dishes that I'll always remember, but this particular pasta at Punto I will never forget. The fresh noodles, made with licorice, to give it a black color, could easily be confused for squid ink, as that's standard practice with many restaurants. A smoked butter and a bit of grated Parmigiano was the complete sum of parts. In a word, Wonderful. Other "Never Forget" pasta dishes include Linguini with ricci in Bari many years ago. Fusilli con Tonno with Maestro Lucci Fanni. Not just good, outstanding. The applications for smoked butter were a flutter in my mind. Scamorza would have been the typical thing to do. Boring. Pedestrian

A pasta I will never forget! 

A pasta I will never forget! 

Punto is not boring or pedestrian.

Rabbit got me thinking

Rabbit got me thinking

I started thinking more about the meal, its construction, with each course. I began to think more about elements and themes, more artistic than generalized culinary techniques; and yet these are one in the same. My rabbit dish, which tasted much more wild than caged, had texture, simplicity, contrast and uplifting nuance.

Texture: the rabbit itself was meaty, cut boldly without pretense, cooked just to temperature and not much more.

Simplicity: minimal ingredients, bascially three on this plate, skilled technique (a kidney was cut in half on the plate, showing attention to detail), nothing on the plate was superfluous

Contrast: the cabbage added pleasing bitterness to the wildness of the rabbit

Nuance: fresh herbs were there for sweetness, a foil to the cabbage, added a domesticated and familiar herbal lift to the rabbit.

The torte to finish was again an lesson in simplicity, contrast, texture, and nuance.

Final course

Final course

Texture: raw sugar was placed on top of the torte, so that every bite has a crunch. Yogurt foam instead of plain yogurt.

Contrast: Raw sugar to creamy yogurt foam. Slight bitterness of yogurt to sweetness of torte.

Simplicity: Look at it. So much flavor, texture, contrast in what amounts to three elements

Nuance: Interaction of ingredients and flavors what torte and yogurt foam are eaten together, rather than apart with just a hint of hazelnut, The fact that a yogurt cream was used instead of plain yogurt says Chef is thinking about texture; the cake is the heavy element, the yogurt is a light element when foamed, plus, anyone can place yogurt on a plate.

Local mystery digestif. 

Local mystery digestif. 

I've been to several restaurants during this trip to Italy, from Tipica to Michelin starred. Punto deserves my highest praise and respect so far on this trip. It's Italian, it's classic and modern, it's traditional and avant garde, it's thought provoking and comforting; full of symbols and facts. It's everything I look for in a restaurant, but like every symbol, one has to know where and what to look for, otherwise, it's just a napkin with a skull on it.

Bravo Punto! 

Osteria del 36, Parma

Upon entry, I didn't see anyone at the front desk. So I made a little cough noise. I can only assume it was the owner that heard me, he clapped twice, loudly, as if to summon someone from the back to help. That's exactly what happened. The summons clap, something you won't ever hear in an American restaurant.

Incredible wine list here. Pages of stuff. Lots of big names and verticals from Tuscany. This is where traveling solo has a disadvantage, missing some great wines at reasonable prices. This is probably the reason this restaurant is on the Michelin list as an up and comer.

It's pasta, it's soup, it's good. 

It's pasta, it's soup, it's good. 

This is the first place that I noticed non-Italian music in the background.  Club beats in English no less, from Pitbull. Truly Mr. International.

To start, tortellini con brodo. It was pure. I added 2 spoonfuls of Parmigiano. There's not much to say here, it's broth, it's pasta (some meat filled, some only cheese), it's good. Look at the picture.

Time for your close-up Ms. Pasta

Time for your close-up Ms. Pasta

Wild board with pears

Wild board with pears

For my second plate, wild boar. The cut is a loin chop, bone in, with pear in a red wine reduction finished with what are small enough to be huckleberries and  a ton of butter. A true pan sauce style. The boar is gamey and wildish in texture and flavor like wild ducks. Frankly, a bit tough and chewy. The rare part near the bone is where it's at. The Italians can cook a steak perfectly rare, but pork or boar, always cooked through. The pan sauce is the bomb. I actually took bread to soak it up. If it weren't for the sauce, I would have been disappointed.

A first, Parmigiano with honey

A first, Parmigiano with honey

Parmigiano with honey. A first. The pairing doesn't clash with the pitcher of wine. No problem. Never seen honey served with Parmigiano, only w Gorgonzola. 

This is basically what I drank at Osteria 36

This is basically what I drank at Osteria 36

My pitcher of red wine is a drinker, plain and simple. It's my Jug wine. It's red, Sangiovese based and an easy going bouquet that will pair with everything I eat. This is why I made the Jug wine.

Grappa generally has a couple choices, morbide or dolce and then bianco or the caramel colored variety that has been aged in oak. The Italian purists believe that anything other than bianco is not one should drink. Basically, the oak adds color, some sweetness and mellows out the flavor. That oak treatment is something I've seen in many an American restaurant for sure. We do love oak, sweetness and mellowing. I tend to get bianco and morbide.

Grappa and the end of another meal

Grappa and the end of another meal

Was this my best dining experience in Parma? No. However, there was one very positive take-away, chunks of 24 month or older Parmigiano pair very well with wild honey and dry red wine and for that alone, I'm glad I dined here.

Another night (or two) at home

Creating my own meals are just as important in Italy as going out to dinner. I get to shop at various markets in my general area, work on my otherwise horrible Italian language skills, and walk-to-shop something I haven't done in too many years (I drive to shop for everything these days). 

Buying some basic stuff from the market; fennel, oranges, persimmon, raw onion, and treviso I can create a simple, seasonal salad. While this salad is just basically chopped stuff on a plate (because that's what it looks like), I did slice the fennel and onion about an hour ahead of time, squeezed oranges and a pinch of salt over them to allow the fennel/onion mixture to "cure" as I didn't want the harsh flavor of the onion and overly crunchy fennel, as my knife selection here isn't sharp (or I would have cut the fennel thinner)

Fresh winter style salad. 

Fresh winter style salad. 

The salad makes a great starter course to be followed up with pasta with braised fennel, onions and mortadella, topped with Parmigiano. 

Homemade pasta in Parma

Homemade pasta in Parma

Dolcetto d'Alba. Easy drinker for the week. 

Dolcetto d'Alba. Easy drinker for the week. 

Re-working a dish of leftovers, is just as important as a new dish when you're only in town for a few days at a time. You may recognize the big green cabbage roll (below) that I had earlier in the week (that's another purchase) since it's filled with pork, it's going to be tonight's protein. Beneath the cabbage roll are the denser and greener stalks of fennel as well as the whiter parts of the treviso, scraps from the salad I mentioned above. Add a little bread to the plate and bingo...another meal in the books and no waste. 

Pork filled cabbage roll with braised fennel and treviso

Pork filled cabbage roll with braised fennel and treviso

What's next in the kitchen? Don't know. I keep a supply of yogurt for breakfast along with a big hunk of Parmigiano for when I get hungry mid-day. We'll see what the market has to offer.