French Onion Soup: White or Red?

One of the first things I learned how to make when growing up was French Onion Soup. My mom had a fairly easy recipe and it was a great place to start on cooking. Cook some onions, add some broth, melt some cheese and you're good to go! Needless to say, I'm still cooking French Onion Soup, but in a more complicated way these days. Recently, I've been clinging to an Emeril Lagasse recipe that uses Bourbon and takes about two hours to slowly cook the onions. And I've been lightening it up by melting the Swiss on a toasted bread rather than imprisoning the soup under a fortress of cheese.

So, when I have some gut instincts but am curious about what to pair with certain dishes, I always go to my reference guide: "What to Drink With What You Eat". Their recommendations for French Onion Soup were as I expected. Beaujolais, Cote du Rhone Rouge, and Alsace Pinot Blanc. Also, Manzanilla Sherry, which I would've loved to have but didn't have any in the house. I wasn't completely excited about any of these pairings, so I veered off on to the scenic route:

David Arthur, Chardonnay, Napa 2006 VS. Morlet Family, 'Coteaux Nobles', Pinot Noir, 2006 Sonoma Coast

I love a good side-by-side! Especially white vs. red!! Everything about this dish says red wine, right? Caramelized onions, beef stock, bread, hearty amounts of cheese. But I was taking the underdog's side and putting my bet on a white wine. Of course, the white has sentimental value since Kara and I ate the Chardonnay grapes off the vine from David Arthur in 2006 about thirty minutes before I proposed to her in Napa...

The Chardonnay was fairly typical: Grilled pineapple, vanillin and baking spice from oak, baked apple and pear, plus a nutty oxidative note that makes me suspect I'd better drink my last bottle of this sooner rather than my usual annual re-visit. With the soup, the fruits toned down to a cleaner and crisper (more youthful...?) tone. The oak characteristics were minimalized by the bread. I only had Blanton's Bourbon in the house (and didn't want to waste it in cooking) so I used a cheap Brandy instead. I found the oak character of the Chardonnay filled in the void of the American oak that I was missing having used Brandy instead of Bourbon. All in all, I must say this was a much better wine with the soup and I found myself wanting to return to this glass throughout the meal. But when the soup was gone, I left the Chardonnay gladly.

The Morlet Pinot was pretty awesome! Having tasted this wine a couple of times already (once with Luc Morlet himself), I still like to check in with Cellar Tracker sometimes to see what Joe Wino thinks the wine is doing these days. All the reviews seemed to lean toward a more Burgundian style and a highly reserved wine. I found quite the opposite: this is just well-crafted California and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir in the way that it should be made! Very perfumed and floral, with controlled ripe fruits: ripe cranberry, ripe black cherry, pomegranate, touches of baking spice and cocoa from oak. This is far from Burgundy, but it's interesting to think that the American palate finds this Burgundian in light of all the Pinots they have become used to. With the food, this wine showed very well and consistent flavors with or without the food, but it felt a little heavy-handed in comparison to the Chardonnay.

My vote: David Arthur Chardonnay. Perhaps it was the cool temperature that made it so refreshing to come back to? Maybe I just had myself convinced I was going to like it already? Not sure, but when you WANT to drink a wine with the food you're eating, but run away from it as soon as you're done with the dish, that speaks to me of a great pairing. At least, as far as the wine is concerned. Both wines were completely acceptable and showed their best.

You should definitely seek out Luc Morlet's wines. They're really quite amazing, but also very pricey. You may know Luc from his work at Peter Michael where he was the winemaker for a number of years. These are terrific examples of what California can do with Pinot Noir and are well worth seeking out. He also produces some great Chardonnay, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and a terrific White Bordeax-styled blend called 'La Proprtion Doree'.

Barbaresco at Firenze Osteria

I feel like I may have mentioned Firenze Osteria before. It's our new favorite restaurant in the valley where finding decent food is the biggest challenge. Top Chef contestant Fabio is the owner and chef. It's very cute and reminds me of restaurants we dined at in Tuscany. The food is pretty solid with some hits and misses in the pasta category, but light years above every other Italian restaurant in the area.

Today, we grabbed a bottle of Pio Cesare Barbaresco 2001 and headed out to our new favorite haunt. The wine was showing beautifully - right in its window of happiness! This is hardly a profound wine, but it is textbook Barbaresco. I have blind tasted this wine and nailed it down to the vintage. Bricking at the rim, rose petals and chalk on the nose with candied cherry fruit. Grippy, but only from the varietal character. It's pretty spot on right now!

It worked wonderfully with the Burratta and Bacon Crostini we had as a starter. And even better with the Orechiette with Sausage and Spinach. This was an awesome pairing! I ate the whole dish myself and didn't really share much with Kara. But she was much happier with the Butternut Squash Ravioli in the Brown Butter Sauce, even though it was not that great a wine pairing.

A quick note on how restaurants recover from bad experiences, because this was the real highlight of the day: They have this really awesome olive focaccia at Firenze Osteria. Kara dug in as soon as it hit the table and was about to take a bite when she saw that one of the olives was actually a dead fly. She quickly notified the server who apologized. The manager came by shortly thereafter and apologized, informing us the least they could do was take care of our lunch. What a recovery! As a restaurant manager, I don't expect this kind of response. We're the easy guests to deal with because we've been there a hundred times on the other end of it. But it reminded me how good it feels and how important it is to come back hard when a guest has a bad experience in your restaurant. The "recovery" from something like that is so important! I already liked this place, but now I know that if anything ever goes wrong, they've got my back! And I will definitely be telling my staff about how this bad experience was turned into an amazing one. Great work, guys!

So - another fantastic day in the world of food and wine. Hope you're drinking some good juice as well!

33rd Birthday Celebration

After our party the night before, Kara and I were a little slower getting started the morning of my birthday than we'd hoped. But, we eventually got our act together and jumped in the car to head down to Disneyland. Kara is convinced that I'm at my happiest when in Disney theme parks. What better place to spend the birthday? Bill and Beckie were meeting us down there with Callie (their daughter) to spend the day.

The park was a blast, as usual. California Adventures serves wine, beer and margaritas as well. So, I had a Karl Strauss Oktoberfest with my chicken soft tacos for lunch at the Pacific Wharf. Then, with a full stomach and fading hangover: off to the Paradise Pier Roller Coaster to start the day!

After a day full of festivities and rides (including the re-screening of Captain EO with MJ!!!), Kara and I snuck off to the Napa Rose Restaurant in the Grand Californian hotel. I'd never been, but had been wanting to go for a long time. We got in without a reservation. The atmosphere is okay: Kara said it had a "cafeteria"-feel to it, but also made her not feel so bad about wearing a tank top and sandals. There were elements that infiltrated from the theme park that made it a little tacky. But the food and service were top notch.

After cocktails, I ordered a bottle of Abazzia Barolo 2004. Incredibly young, I know! But a great vintage and it was one of two Barolos on the menu (the list is very heavy in California, as one might expect). After a quick decant, we dug into it along with our Rabbit Meatloaf and Quail Egg, Red Pepper Ketchup and Fava Bean Salad. After this course, we knew it was going to be an awesome experience. The Barolo was perfect with the rabbit cutting the firm tannin and showing off some more spice notes and florality. Kara was most impressed with the Red Pepper Ketchup.

For dinner, Kara ordered a Roasted Duck with Goat Cheese Stuffed Cherries. I ordered the Braised Short Ribs in Zinfandel Jus. We accompanied that with a Truffled Orecchiette and Cheese (Mac and Cheese!). The Duck was the best pairing of the night with the Barolo, I must say. It just sung. The Short Ribs, while awesome, were a little heavy for the wine, but dang were they good! Their Truffle Mac is pretty awesome as well. Everything on the table was excellent and we were totally happy.

We had to run off immediately to get back to see the new water show called World of Color. This show was absolutely spectacular! A must see! Words can't really do it justice - even trying to explain the concept or technical aspects will make it sound lamer than it is. You just have to see it.

This was one of the most fun birthdays I've had in years. Granted, after working most of them, having the day off was a plus. But I can't thank Kara enough for showing me such a great time. Can't wait 'til next year!

On the Eve of 33

I don't usually "get into" my own birthday. I'm pretty sure I've worked for the past ten of them of so. Even my 30th! But, I figured I was crossing a boundary this year into the wild world of Middle-Agedom (closer to 35 than to 30 - ) so why the heck not?! And I was about due to celebrate a birthday for a change. So, we started celebrating on the Eve of 33!

Matty, Bill, Beckie and their daughter Callie all dropped by on Monday night for a low-key hang. Kara had tried to organize an official party, but just couldn't get everyone together on a weeknight. So, we got some pizzas from our favorite local joint and just popped some corks while Callie was entertained by one of my Tom and Jerry DVD's in the background.

The line-up:

We started out with a Vine Cliff Cabernet Sauvignon 1995. Rob Sweeney (part owner of Vine Cliff who we ate with at Redd recently) had been saying that this was one of their better wines. I just happened to have a bottle that I picked up with a '94 last year and thought we might give it a shot. The '94 we drank earlier this year was going vegetal and was definitely past its prime. Tangy and green - not a good showing. This '95 however was far more structured and dark, with dusty/chalky tannin and still showing good black fruits. It seems it may have a few more years ahead of it even. While not a profound wine, it was very good for a fifteen year old California Cab and better than I expected from it. And I picked it up for about $30 after shipping off Wine Commune. I think I just saw a couple close at $25 this weekend on that site. Pretty awesome deal!

Next, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, I pulled out a Lewis 'Mason's' Mt. Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 for Bill. I've written this wine up recently so I won't bore you with the tasting notes again, but this was clearly the favored wine of the evening. Bill was one of my bartenders when I was the GM of Sterling Steakhouse in Hollywood. We poured this by the glass as our premium Cab, but I'm fairly certain we drank more than we sold. Still great and instantly gratifying and it has never disappointed anyone I've poured it to or myself for that matter.

I let Bill pick the next wine out of the "Guest Cellar". He selected the Berronia 'Gran Riserva' Rioja 2001. Well, while I think this wine is a terrific value and I do like it, there was no way this was going to follow up the Lewis. Dirty baby diaper, coffee and plum/cherry fruit with dill are always a disappointment after a big ole jammy Cab. So, we corked that back up and I dove down into the real cellar to pull something to redeem myself.

I pulled a Barrel Sample of the 2003 Phelps Insignia. A good friend who worked at Phelps gave us this bottle when we visited a number of years ago when the 2003 was still in barrel. We never did get around to trying it so it became sort of a collector's piece: useless! So, I popped it for fun. Interesting: it definitely wanted a heavier dollop of oak than it had, which I know the final product did. There was a prickle to the mouthfeel still, even after years in the bottle. But the fruit was beautiful and pure Insignia. This was a cool experiment and I'm kind of glad I kept this bottle and finally chose to open it.

Before we even finished the Insignia, I pulled a bottle of L'Aventure 'Optimus' 2003 because Bill has five of them in his own cellar he is saving. He loves the winery. I thought I'd open my last one so he can check in with it to see how it's drinking. It was good, but not as good as bottles I've had in the past. The fruit seemed a little less pronounced (tired, perhaps..?) and while still showing structure, that youthful vivacity that is so joyful in his wines seems to have passed. I personally am glad this is my last bottle, but I will be interested to retaste this over the next day or two.

So - a hearty thanks to the gang for coming over to celebrate with me. These events are always better spent with friends.

Chateau Lassegue and Wellington

Just looking at this picture makes me SO happy. I adore Beef Wellington and I've become something of an expert at making it as a result. It's like my obsession with the Club Sandwich: I'm disappointed more often than excited so I simply have to make them at home to ensure satisfaction. A Club seems so simple that anyone could do it, right? But good bread is quintessential, as is the quality of the turkey and the crispness of the bacon. Every piece of the puzzle is integral to the quality of the final product. Such is the case with the Beef Wellington!

So, let me get off my soap box to talk about this spectacular dining experience and the wine that accompanied it:

I use a good Bleu Cheese and wild mushrooms instead of Foie Gras on my Wellington. I think it creates the same earth tones, but adds more complexity. And it's sort of more fun to pair a wine to! The side dish was actually from a local restaurant that we discovered recently: Osteria Firenze. This is their "Naked Spinach Dumpling" which seems to be just a ball of spinach and cheese. It was sort of disappointing when it arrived as an entree in the restaurant, but the leftovers made a badass side dish for this dinner.

To pair, we opened a Chateau Lassegue St. Emilion Grand Cru 2004. This is a project run by Jess Jackson (yes - of Kendall Jackson...) and made by Pierre Seillan, who also makes the highly touted Verite wines domestically. I must say, for what I paid for this wine, it was really quite wonderful. It's definitely a more "New World" style of Bordeaux. But as California can not create the terroir of France in its wines, Bordeaux can not seem to hide the terroir that is inherent even when dolloped with 80% new oak. The wine was showing a lot of youthful character still and seems to have a significant life ahead of it. Rich, youthful and dark fruit mixed with lots of oak character and mineral/earth. Solid stuff. And much better than his Tuscan wine of the same cepages (Arcanum) which we tried recently as well. There is no question that Tuscany's Bordeaux blends have nothing on the "real" Bordeaux.

I think this retails for about $60-ish. I don't know if it's worth that much. But they've been discounting it to move out the old vintages so you might find a good deal. At $30 it's be a good steal!

Teaching the Monkeys 2: The US

The staff at Jar have traversed their way through the unit on France, fairly successfully I must say. The scores on the exam were very good and it was obvious who put a little effort into their study. Good thing we didn't use a bell curve because Cheree got a 100%.

This week we are throwing the gauntlet down again with the wines of the United States and the flavor profiles of major grapes. It's another unit with a lot of information, but all of great importance. It touches on what AVA's are and the bottling regulations, major AVA's on the west coast, and the common flavors found/tasted in varietal wines.

I hope that this unit improves their tasting ability and vocabulary a little bit. Having a textbook list of flavors for each grape was always helpful to me in the early stages. My recommendation was that they think of all the potential flavors as ingredients in a dish that would be cooked together, rather than thinking of each fruit individually. The combo of blackberry, cassis, eucalyptus and licorice is different than just thinking of if the wine tastes like any of those things individually.

Study hard, Jarheads! Your next exam is written and awaits the fruits of your efforts!

All in Good Fun

This idea has been a year in the making. We've just never been able to get our act together to shoot it. Finally got it done last night! We had better takes than this one, but there's something I really like about the "realness" of this one. As well as the brilliant performances!

And I must say that I have nothing against the winery. It just wasn't as funny with any other name...