Friday, December 02, 2005

mmm...food

This wednesday column from the Bee is chock-full of new food news. A weird restaurant has taken over the failed Kamon cafe on J and 9th. It's upscale Italian that, for now, only serves lunch and is decorated with portraits of California government officials?! They list a lobster beef carpaccio. For lunch? Sounds gross, but I guess the lobster is probably cooked and the beef is raw. I don't get it.

Also, Taki is reopening soon with a new owner and the Ernestos people are opening a small Tortas shop next adjacent to Zocalos (which they also own). I'll try it, but if you like tortas, go for the grilled chicken at La Fiesta. I bet that's cheaper, too.

In other exciting food news, Corti Bros is now online and they are archiving Darrell Corti's newsletters. I can't wait to waste a bunch of time today reading it! Check out this page on their H.P.O. early muscat, which E.C. turned me on to. Delicious.

10 comments:

beckler said...

Hey Michele-
what does it mean when they say a port is a blend of two pipes? It doesn't just mean grapes does it?

check out that listing for the XSR 120 white port. It sounds soooo good! That's a funny name for a wine, though. It's a better name for a Datsun.

beckler said...

And what does this mean?

"As is generally the case with grape variaties, what is planted in California vineyards as petite syrah at times is "durif" and at the same time in the same vineyard could be syrah, peloursin, or even pinot noir.

Say what? This is from the newsletter on Clarksburg wines

http://www.cortibros.biz/WEBSITE/Newsletters/Newsletters/2005/April2005/April05P2.asp#wines

beckler said...

I want to try that Baron Herzog chenin blanc. $7.99 is about my price range. Yes, I will just keep commenting on my own post until someone else does.

beckler said...

Wow, look at this newsletter index.

http://www.cortibros.biz/website/newsletters/itemsbycat.asp#

Anonymous said...

That's so exciting that Corti's is online! I don't have time to look, becuase I'm leaving for New York to take my exam!

But, first, the answer to your questions:

1) 'pipes' is what port producers call barrels. They call sherry barrels 'butts' (hee hee).

2) What Californians call Petit Sirah, is most likely a french variety called Durif (not a totally inappropriate name since they both Durif and Syrah are from the Rhone valley). However, until fairly recently it was common for people to buy cuttings that they thought were one thing, and decades later when 'dna fingerprinting' came about, they discovered that what they thought was syrah, was actually durif, and what they thought was viognier was actually marsanne, and so on. This is partially because vineyards in Europe often grew up casually, where several varieties were planted in the same vineyard (this is especially true in the Douro where they grow port) and sometimes weren't marked in any way. So when cuttings are taken and propogated in a vineyard, and later sold to Califonians, there is a lot of room for misidentification. Also, it could be the case that cheaper varieties like durif were sold as syrah puropsefully and fraudulently. However, the name 'petit' sirah indicates that the California producers knew it wasn't really syrah.

-michele

Anonymous said...

That's exciting to find out more about the enigmatic HPO! After Ella poured me some I tried to search for info on the web, and there was nothing. That's cool that it's a crossing made by a Davis professor. A very succesful one.

OK, gotta go!

-michele

beckler said...

good luck!

Anonymous said...

CORTI!!! I love you!!!
I just bought 6 bottles of that Lajido Do Pico that they have. It is super cheap, and it is from my ancestral island! I love love love love the wine there in the Azores, especially on Pico and I'm so super excited about trying this brand. Read about it on the corti website! I bet it's going to be good. $8.99 a bottle.

I had a visitor from Sac over for dinner last weekend and she very thoughtfully brought me 3 bottles of HPO! That is love! I'm looking forward to drinking one of those tonight!

I also want to try Dr. Olmstead's Ruby Cabernet! He is quite the hybridizer!

Good luck Michele!!!

Ella

Anonymous said...

And by Dr. Olmstead, I mean Dr. Olmo. yikes. too much Mardesous last night.

Ella

Anonymous said...

Ella! That lajido sounds amazing! Leave it to Corti's to have a such an obscure wine like that. That's so interesting that 'lajido' is the name of a grape that went extinct thanks to phylloxera (massively destructive insect which wiped out many a vineyard in the 19th century)! Extinct! And that crazy lava rock corral system they described? i've got to try some of this shit! I hope it's still there when I get to Sac.

-michele