Phil Ward

Having spent almost a decade working as a cook/sous chef/pastry chef/Exec Chef in Phila, I had to make endless pots of snapper (turtle) soup and the occasional pepper pot (tripe) soup. It was never fun cleaning the cooked turtles or working with the tripe but the end results were always rewarding. For me the essential ingredients in snapper soup are: the turtle stock and a good veal stock, of course the herbs and spices (mace was key), finished off with lots of chopped/diced turtle meat (we would occasionally extend the meat with a bit of turkey if the turtles were small), chopped hard boiled egg and a good splash of a fine dry sherry. YUM! You can still find good versions of snapper soup from time to time but I have rarely seen pepper pot available. Phil

Its time to reactivate this thread. Went last night with some Rat's/Grounds for Sculpture virgins. Lovely late Fall early evening walk through the Grounds to stimulate the appetite. I had a "new" style sashimi of Hamachi (very fine and topped with shredded red radish) and Diver scallops that were super. PM had Foie Gras terrine that was a bit too chilled but very flavorful and Lamb Loin. Finished off with a shared dessert of Crepes Suzettes that could have been a bit thinner and were quite flavorful. Wines: Panther Creek Pinot Winemaker's Cuvee for PM and our friends; I had a Monpertuis CdP Blanc for the walk; Dinner Coudy Bay Pinot, 2003 from Marlborough NZ, everyone raved; ordered a bottle of Coturri Zin to follow (CORKED) and then had a bottle of Ridge Zin Pagani Ranch 1999 that was drinking beautifully; finished off with a glass of Vin Santo; our friends shared a Maury with their Chocolate dessert. All in all a wonderful evening at one of NJ's best restaurants. They will be announcing the "new" chef de cusine in the near future. Phil

Its also nice to see Eroica Riesling in once again. Certainly one of the best, if not the best, American Rieslings made each year. Phil

Riesling and PN for us. Since there are only four of us and we are all wine lovers: Dr. Thanisch Berncasteler Docktor 98 Spatlese and Prieure Roch Nuits-St-Georges Clos de Corvees 1995 ( if that gets hit hard, Byron Nielson PN 1996) Its great to have access to wonderful wines to share. Have a good gobble gobble day. Phil

Also, Shrimp shells make a very nice basic stock and most fish mongers have plenty of them to give away. Basic ingredients/recipe: chopped onion, celery carrot, garlic, herbs of your choice (parsley and thyme are classic) (I tend to stay away from Bay leaf), white wine, lots of shrimp shells, water; bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for about 30 minutes, strain and reduce. Phil

Dear Betsy, Beautifully written. American BD has been proud to support the NJRA over the years and I am proud that we have now become Allied members. Personally, I think, the NJRA does many good things for the restaurants in NJ. Phil Ward

To the best of my knowledge, a BYOB may cook with alcohol and must buy it from a licensed retail shop. Almost every chef I know at BYOBs does this, daily. They, of course, may not serve/sell the wine/spirits in an uncooked fashion to their customers. Phil Ward

Roise, Thanks for the updates and I agree, both establishments do a fine job with food, service and especially wine, which you failed to mention. Hmmm... are you and Lowell not imbibing these days? Phil

Have been a few times, recently, for lunch. Paul put together a five course tasting menu for me and few co-workers from Beringer Blass Wine Estates about a month ago. Quite wonderful. Phil

Tommy says: <<The diner shouldn’t need to know going in that red Boudreaux means “cabernet sauvignon” (and I say this only because I recently learned that most red bourdeaux wine is merlot dominated). >> By the way, great reponse. BORDEAUX is not dominated by Merlot. Typically the red wines of the vast area are blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and bits of Malbec and Petit Verdot. Yes in St. Emilion and Pomerol, Merlot is the dominate part of the blend. As to becoming an educated consumer, it can only benefit us if we become more knowledgeable whether dining or walking into our local wine shop. All my best to the e-gulleters Phil

10 days and that was due to antibiotics and that was 15 years ago. Since then maybe a day due to flu. With my business, wine distributor, it's a necessity of life. I love my job! Phil

Katie, Thanks for that link. I had seen it a couple of years ago and it is good to visit it to see what the fine folks who produce Gallo Sonoma, Red Bicyclette, Peter Vella, Livingston Cellars, Turning Leaf, Ballatore, etc, and those who produce Ravenswood, Franciscan, Estancia, Blackstone, Simi, Hardy's, Banrock Station, Almaden, Alice White, Paul Masson, Talus, etc. turn out for those less fortunate than we who drink and market fine wines. Hmmm..... Phil

Dear CRaig, As a former host of the AOL wine boards(6+ years) back in the early days, I know how much time and energy it takes. Thank you for all of your informative pots. I wish you the very best. Phil Ward

As to Porto Leggero and lunch, looking at my F... up calendar, 10/20 is the only good day for me. I doubt they will allow us to BYOB. Phil

As a distributor of RM Family of Wines in NJ, the thoughts around the office today are that RM and his family will buy back the Napa Winery and Opus and possibly some key vineyards (ToKalon, Stags Leap and Carneros) and keep them in the family. Sell the rest and get back to their core business. Its gonna be interesting to watch over the next few months, eh? Phil

Thanks to Craig for the link but I couldn't get it to come up. Hmmm. That beeing written, there are now about 22 wineries in our state from the north, Sussesx County, all the way to south, Cape May County. Having written numerous articles on them and having tasted the wines over the past 15 years, I can say we are producing some high quality wines in NJ. Are they world class? Debatable. We are producing wines that are representative of the garpes from whence they spring. I have had some very fine examples of Seyval and Vidal Blanc, Marechal Foch and especially Chambourcin. I have had a couple of good examples of Norton/Cynthiana which usually grows well in VA and Missouri. The biggest problem for our state is getting Vinifera varieties to grow well in our climate and soils. To date, I have not had a great example of a vinifera based wine. Some good, some not so good and some, why did they bother. I truly believe that the individuals who run these wineries are doing their best to supply the needs of the state's wine lovers with quality wines at reasonable prices, continuing agriculture in our over populated state, the "Garden State", and many are actually making a profit. I wish all of our NJ Wineries continued success and hope they get support for the NJ Dept of Ag for many decades to come. I also hope that the consumers and tourists support these wineries with their dollars. That's my $.02 and thanks for reading. Phil

I'm amazed the folks in Washington gave them label approvals considering what they have rejected in the past. Phil

Well, it is a sad day in the world of cooking, socialization, wine and the culinary arts. An Icon has left us. Having loved her books, her many shows and having had the priviledge to sit across the table from her twice in my life, I mourn the loss of Julia Child. Personally, she was one of the people who inpsired me to join the food and wine business. She also made me realize: the simpler the better, good ingredients are essential, hang the presentation as long as it tasted good, the wine should be fine and the folks around the table should have a lively conversation! I will miss her and her influence. The current world may hang on Emeril's $%^&* Bangs but "Bon Apetit", in that lovely voice, is much better for my ear. All of the above, IMHO. Phil

Phil, these are marvelous wines, and real bargains in todays inflated, over-extracted Cal Cab marketplace, don't you think? Cheers, geo Geo T, Yes they are bargains when you look at the rest of the over priced high end CA Cab market and the potential longevity of his wines in a good cellar. But, then Patrick has always said he wanted to offer bang for the buck. Look at the line up: Reds, Terra Rosa, Counterpoint, and the Estate Wine. All good values, IMHO. Phil

Geo T, Great tasting. Having been a fan, distributor, marketer and friend of Patricks since the first vintage, I still have many btls in my cellar that I pick away at from time to time. They never seem to disappoint. Phil

<<I don't know anyone that "trained" on Château Beychevelle. And if I did I'd have to marry him!>> Katie, I was lucky enough to train on Beychevelle due to a family conncetion many years ago. Sadly for you and happily for me I am married to a wonderful woman who loves wine. Phil

Well, Here's the web site link for anyone who cares to check it out: http://www.cherryhillvineyard.com/ I want to go to that "dude" ranch. Phil

Have you considered getting a "Wine Keeper"? It's an easy-to-use system where you pump nitrogen into the wine bottle, thereby keeping the wine drinkable for two to three weeks, maybe even a month. I don't drink wine, but my husband sometimes likes to have a glass or two with dinner at home. He buys full bottles and, using this system, no wine goes to waste. I hate to disagree re wine keeper or any other Nitrogen system but I must. They only preserve wine for about a week due to the fact that there are trace amounts of oxygen mixed with the nitrogen. As we all know, oxygen will eventually oxidize the wine and change it over time. One is better off putting the wine into the refir after the nitrogen is injected and blankets the wine or after vacuvining the wine. Cool temps act as another preservative method. Just my $.02 Phil

Well the weather cooperated and the hoards turned out. For many of us who donated foods and wines, it was over subscribed, imho and in the in ho of many chefs I spoke to during and after the event. We apologize for running out of product but we can only donate so much wine and food and be fiscally responsible. As one of my wineries said, I can bring 4 cases of really fine wine or 10 cases of plonk. He chose the former rather than the latter and we were out of wine by 6:00. Foods that I had a chance to taste, not much time as I was pouring wine most of time, was extremely good: Ixora's lacquered Quail and Spargo's Pina Colada poached Chicken stand out. I loved Spargo's presentation in the Chinese to go container! The Roque Ale was refreshing and flavorful. Anybody else have some wine/food tasting notes? Phil

And if money is no object: Nicolas Joly Coulee de Serrant Phil