Bon Vivant at Basha’s
Wednesday, March 24 4p-6p
1920 West Chandler Blvd
Join KMLE and the Boys and Girls Club of the East Valley as we get ready for the 25th Annual Bon Vivant. We’ll be at Bashas on the NE corner of Chandler Blvd & Dobson from 4-6pm. Stick around and don’t miss our raffel. We’ll be giving away a pair of tickets to Bon Vivant! For more information on Bon Vivant click here.
This is a singular Asian concoction. It’s pretty much what it sounds like: rice wine, with a snake in it. Or maybe two snakes, depending on what you’re drinking. Usually a cobra, or a cobra and a green snake, maybe with some ginseng tossed in. I don’t know what folk medicine beliefs underlie this particular mix, but it’s become rather ubiquitous as a tourist draw in Vietnam and Cambodia. I was able to pick up a bottle from some American importers (I use the term loosely; I don’t think the manufacturers of this stuff actually have international distribution deals, and there isn’t even a label on the bottle) to give it a try. The result of putting a dead cobra in a bottle of rice wine is a dark, burning rice wine with an air of snake carcass (which air is almost pretty much the entire nose of said beverage). It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever drank, but having tried it once, I wouldn’t be in a hurry to drink it again.
Here is the challenge. You are having a dinner, and people will be choosing one of three entrées. How do you decide what wine to serve to make everyone happy?
This is the follow up question to last week’s post The Anatomy of a Wine Pairing, where I performed the same exercise for the appetizer course. And this isn’t just an intellectual exercise. This will be the dinner and wine pairing for a special meal I’m having next week at the SCCC cooking school’s Casola Dining Room.
Here is the menu:
Sauté de Veau Marengo
Veal stewed with pearl onions, tomato, and mushroom. Garnished with heart-shaped croutons.
Saumon á la Florentine
Poached salmon cutlets with Mornay sauce. Accompanied by sautéed spinach and cocotte potatoes.
Poulet Saute au Fines Herbes
Chicken Breast sautéed and finished in a sauce flavored with tarragon, chives, chervil, and parsley. Accompanied by pommes de terre marquis and sautéed haricots verts and carrots tossed in a fines herbes veloute.
It is no easy task. The foods cover a range of textures and flavors. From the rich meaty veal stew to the delicate poached salmon to an herbaceous chicken breast there is not necessarily a lot of common ground.
This is what I see as I look at the food. The wine will need to be able to cut through the richness of the stew, be delicate enough to not overpower the poached salmon, and have some kind of herbal component in order to play nicely with the chicken. Additionally, I think some earthiness would complement the mushrooms in the veal and the potatoes in the other dishes.
Two things will cut through rich foods, acid and tannin. Tannins will primarily be found in the bigger red wines, which would completely overwhelm the more delicate dishes, so in this case we are looking for a wine with lively acidity but without much tannin.
The old standby of red with beef and white with chicken and fish doesn’t really do us much good here.
A lighter red, like pinot noir, is an obvious choice. It provides the acidity we need, and can have the herbal complexity to work with the chicken without overwhelming the fish. But since French pinot noir, which is primarily grown in Burgundy, can be one of the world’s best wines, it is difficult to find a good one at a reasonable price.
But a white wine is certainly a possibility too. The only tricky task for a white wine is pairing up with the veal stew. And I think the acidity of a white Bordeaux, which is made from a blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon, could be up for the task.
What it really comes down to is what my local wine retailer has in stock that will fit the bill.
My preference would be to search for a wine that is broadly connected to the cuisine, so French food would call for a French wine. But if push comes to shove I will demur on country of origin to find a wine whose flavors complement and contrast with the foods being served.
This is where the experts come into play, whether they be your local wine merchant or the restaurant’s sommelier. Experts work best when you can tell them what you are looking for so they can give you a bottle that matches those criteria.
“A wine that goes with veal stew” is a helpful place to begin. But “A light, herbaceous French wine with lively acidity (but low tannin) and some earth that is around twenty dollars” gives the professional a bit more to work with.
Because the truth is that no matter how educated you become about wines, there is no way of knowing what the wine in any specific bottle tastes like without opening the bottle. In theory at least, sommeliers and good wine merchants should know the flavor profiles of everything they sell, and be able to send you home with a winner.
But first you need to be able to speak their language.
Just for fun, let’s share a little:
http://downtownwinstonsalem.blogspot.com/2010/03/updates-barnhills-installs-new-sigange.html
We love the downtown Winston-Salem blog for keeping our name out there while we work on getting open. Thank you!
This article is cool too because they are also supporting Gusto who is in the fabulous building on the corner from us. If you look at the picture, you can see the corner of our blue awning behind the Gusto store.
http://www.winstonsalemskyscrapers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15155
We’re mentioned in there along with the fact that our building has vinyl siding on it. We have no idea what it looked like before the siding but we have no control over that. That’s a decision for the building owner to make, not the tenant! It doesn’t detract from the charm of the inside of the building and I hope they will come visit us anyway!
http://npaper-wehaa.com/yes-weekly/2010/03/09/#?article=789502 This was a little blurb that showed up in Yes Weekly.
(Press Release) – March 20, 2010- There are many other cafes and restaurants in the area but what makes Wharfsdiecafe different from the other places is due to the beautiful location, great quality food and also the much loved beverages of this place. It is present on the port of Eden which provides a real wonderful view and outlook to this place. People totally adore the appearance and outlook of this place and as they enter inside wharfsidecafe they fall in love with this exquisitely designed and decorated place at once. It is the best place for having a great time with your friends. You can enjoy your conversations and long talks along with enjoying the freshly prepared coffee or other beverages. The whole environment would be filled with the aroma of these hot beverages and you would start to enjoy this atmosphere even more.
Wharfsidecafe promises to bring the best to you when it comes to meals of any kind. You can have the best menus for the breakfast and lunch and that too at quite affordable prices. If you compare the price of these items with their quality and taste, you would feel that you are having a luxurious and most sumptuous meal of the world at very low price. The feeling you can have in this place in superb as the whole environment is made quite romantic and friendly. When you wish to have the best time even if you are alone, you can always rely on wharfsidecafe to provide you with the quality services and scrumptious menus. It is such a restaurant that is one of a kind. It is because of the combination of the outside and inside appearance of this place. One thing for which you can be really sure is the ultimate fun and joy that you would have once you step into this place. Your mind would be relaxed and would forget about the tensions and worries of life. It would be totally lost into the beauty of this elegant and marvelous place.
Contact info:
Wharfside cafe
Shop2/253 Imaly Street.Eden,
NSW,2551, Australia
Phone-+61 264961855
Website: http://www.wharfsidecafe.com.au/
Email: bgljn02@gmail.com
The Colorado Red Cross even joined us for the evening and gave a wonderful presentation on the importance of Infant/Child CPR. Use the code “blogger” at checkout and receive 15% any class. A good opportunity if you need to be certified or renew.
Adding to the fun, Colorado’s own Steve Spangler Science had hidden tubs of Leprechan green snow around the room for us to find in a combination St. Patrick’s Day Easter egg hunt.
At the end of the night, Water 2 Wine treated us all to a bottle of wine custom-labeled just for us. Custom labeling, tastings and private parties are all part of the fun offered at this unique establishment. Already planning our next date-night!
Just when I thought the night couldn’t get any more great, yours truly won a drawing for four tickets to Sesame Street Live! Woot! Here we come, Elmo!
How many cigars do you smoke in a week? How many drinks do you consume in a day?
I ask this question for curiousity’s sake as well as to see where I fit in the moderation spectrum. You see, I recently upped the number of cigars I’ve had in a week from 4 to about 6 and maintained my drink count at 4 drinks a day. Usually two glasses of wine, two scotches.
I asked a few of the smokers I hang out with about their smoking habits and found that most seem to hover around 3-4 cigars a day. If I smoked that much I’d never get anything done!
My cigars and pipe are a relaxing thing for me that keeps me out of the office. Cigars require me to leave the house and be outside at least long enough to head to BART to go to Grants or Tobacco Road. Or at the very least I can sit ont he lake and light up.
Regarding drinks, I just never thought about why I can’t have four drinks in a day. The wine and last scotch of the night is centered around a hearty meal and the early drink I have with lunch.
I drink plenty of water, tea and juice. I eat fairly well and beileve in a good diet all around –which should include fine scotch and cigars!
What say you?
