Carolyn Tillie

On weekends, there isn't a winery on the main drag that DOESN'T have a tour with some background. Honestly, if you get to any of the 'smaller' wineries off the beaten track and you engage any of the amiable-looking pourers in conversation, most of the time he/she will be happy to offer insight into how to taste, what to taste, etc. I never feel put upon when a guest says that they are neophytes or are just learning. I'm happy to do Tasting 101 with folks IF the tasting room is not too packed. But it is the folks that chat back with me that I am most willing to assist -- not just those there to get drunk. Also, I don't believe there is a free tasting to be had in the valley... Most places charge these days. Some give away the glasses, some don't. Most of the time the glasses aren't worth having anyway. A dozen years ago, Beringer was a nice tour - at least for a newbie like me (then!). It was informative even though it was a bit campy. It was also nice to taste the difference between a $5.00 bottle of wine and a $60.00 bottle of wine (although you have to pay extra for that).

Thanks for the compliment -- I used to work at a dot-com that bordered Torrance/Gardena and went out to lunch every single day in that neighborhood. I miss them all, but Shin-Sen-Gumi was a definite once-a-week place. I remember Otafuku now and frequented it moreso in the winter when I was cold and needed comfort food. Sen Nari Sushi on the corner of Western and 182nd was also a favorite. It is funny about Mitsuwa and Marukai. I'd go to Mitsuwa for its food court, mochi and other bakeries, and toys; Marukai for ceramics, general food ingredients, and antiques (upstairs!). Gads I miss that place...

Ichiban on University in San Diego. Hole-in-thewall Japanese joint. Worth the wait. Shin-Sen-Gumi on Western in Gardena. Hole-in-the-wall Japanese Yakitori. I used to eat there for lunch every week and miss the Tanaka Rice. Marukai market (a bit further up on Western in Gardena). Oriental Market to-die-for. Yo on Texas & Travis in Fairfield. The most inexpensive and imaginitive Maki and Temaki I've found in California. And cheap. Bouchon Bakery in Yountville. Pastries so beautiful and tasty they bring tears to your eyes. Slavko's Fried Chicken on Grand (?) in San Pedro. Must-have with the potatoes. Fish House Vera Cruz in San Marcos. Something about the sauce they use on their fish... Crab Cooker in Newport Beach. Something about the paper plates - I've been eating there for over thirty years. Open Sesame in Belmont Shore, Long Beach. Cheapest, freshest Middle Eastern cuisine - with no corkage. Just a beginning for me...

But can you make Duck Lips with them?

Yeah, my fried rice doesn't use Vegetable Oil but Pork Fat. And soy sauce (no oyster sauce). My godmother's secret ingredient in her Hawaiian Fried rice was half a can of cheap beer.

Several recommendations for you. In the past, I bought exclusively at Age of Riesling at 510-549-2444 (is name is Bill Mayer and is located in Berkeley). He sends out a catalogue of his German travels and stuff he imports personally with notes and great info. Then I discovered Dee Vine Wines: (877-DVW-WINE - www.dvw.com). They were slightly preferable as they are located on the Embarcadero in San Francisco and I preferred to go there and see the wines and talk to the proprietor. They also notched up a few points on my scale when the cardboard case I brought my wines home in had a name written on the side of a respected reviewer in Boston -- seems my case was just used pre-shipping but when I contacted him later, he confirmed that he buys all his German wines exclusively from Dee Vine.

Yes, boiled Ham. A touch of mayonnaise and sometimes butter. Oh yeah, and pickles. Hmmm... unsure which cut of pork. Not butt, I think - something sliceable.

Mine, on the other hand, would NEVER have cilantro -- but the roasted pork on crusty baguette would include HAM... (but then again, I'm not remotely Cuban!)

Thank god -- I thought I was seriously missing some vital piece of data making me incorrectly judge the critical point of this thread.

I've been following all this but now have a stupid question -- IF the clip actually does what it says it does, and makes the wine smoother during its initial pour, then is it actually just forcing the wine open more quickly? I mean, if a wine were decanted for, say, and hour, would it achieve the smoothness that the Clip can produce immediately? I ask because the great joy I receive from wine is experiencing the physical act of it opening. I enjoy tasting a wine "closed" when first a bottle is opened, but then a half-hour and then an hour or perhaps two later, when the wine has opened. I'm sorry if I am so lame about this, but am I missing the point of what the Clip does? If all it does is force a wine to open early, than I can't see why a true wine geek would want it, prefering the experience of the wait...

For a quickie vegetable side dish, pan-fry mushrooms and asparagus with butter and toss in a teaspoons of Herbes... (I also use in quiche).

Russ; It has been great having you here and so accessible to our community -- many thanks. I have watched in amazement as the last two decades have opened up the genre of culinary history including Felipe Fernández-Armesto’s Near A Thousand Tables, Reay Tannahill’s Food in History, and James Trager’s Food Chronology. Then there are the more specific and cultural-centric tomes such as L.A.’s own Charles Perry’s Medieval Middle Eastern translations. It has truly been a wonder how the entire subject matter has expanded beyond restaurant reviews to the literary world that now supports journals such as Gastronomica and organizations like Slow Food. Robert Wolke’s What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained to me, seems within the same genre as your How to Read a French Fry< and expands the social and historical implications of food into the realm of science. As a burgeoning food writer I am curious what you think the future of food writing holds. Is there an as-yet untapped trend that would care to predict? amazement

It is very current -- I drive by every few days and yes, indeedee -- the trucks have started rolling in.

It doesn't mean much -- Liparita, for example, is only restructuring but not going out of business. So their wine is still being produced (and still fabulous). They are, however, doing private verticals and are discounting to those who go to the tastings. They are getting rid of some bulk wine so there will be some deals out there, if you hunt.

Yes, yes! rosés are so underrated and go so well with Creole!

Melkor's suggestion are fabulous and the malbec is pure inspiration (I always forget how much I like 100% malbec). To break your customers from the easy mindset of 'nasty chard' or other similar crap, I would recommend you put the wine pairing recommendations directly on the menu with the individual dishes. Start off with a mini tasting menu of recommended wines with certain courses but offer a slight discount to those who take advantage of it - ultimately, they will be spending more money and your revenue will increase with added beverage sales.

Can you tell us what your wine list currently has on it? That would help -- also who are your reps and what companies do they represent? There are tons of wines I might recommend that you can't get in Indiana. Also, tell us more about your menu -- that also helps in making wine recommendations. For southern home cooking, there are a number of varietals that work surprisingly well. For the nod to Creole, I recommend Alsatian-style Gewurztraminers (low residual sugar). Many Gewrtz are sickly sweet and considered more of a dessert wine but Alsatian-style can enhance Creole dishes tremendously. More whites would include Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc (especially for fried food and anything you might have with oysters). Also, Pinot Noir is the be-all, end-all of food wines. It is amazing how many dishes go with a good pinot but some taste tests might need to be done to find out just which ones (I recommend Robert Sinskey as he grows organic and makes fabulous California pinots). As far as cult wines, Cabernet Franc is the new up-and-coming (I think). It is the grandfather grape to Cabernet Sauvignon and pairs well with a hefty steak as well as anything slighty fruity (glazed ham, lamb, meatloaf with ketchup...) I hope this helps a bit.

Generally, it is thought that reds should be served at room temperature. But (if you think about it), depending on where you live, room temperature could be 80 degrees! I like to think that if I were hideously wealthy, I would have a wine cellar that would keep my fine wines at a constant 55 degree temperature. With that in mind, I tend to drink reds "at room temperature" during most of the year, but when it is especially hot, I will put a bottle of red in my fridge for 20 or 30 minutes to bring the temperature down. This is very generic information, by the way. Beaujolais, is almost always served at around 40 degrees. Whites are a different story. I believe most people serve white wine too cold. If coming straight from the fridge, for example, that would be 32 degrees which, for a chardonnay, masks too many flavors. I like my champagne quite icy (32 is fine), but I will take my chardonnay out of a fridge for 20 or 30 minutes and let it warm to, say, 40 to 45 degrees before serving. Gewurtz, Ries, SauvBlanc, and Pinot Gris are fine straight out of the fridge as well, IMHO. This is all subjective, again.

Totally agree with SLKinsey -- it is a horrible mess to clean the oven afterwards, but by never covering the duck at all, you can guarantee a very crispy bird.

Several months ago, I was very fortunate to taste an evening of California Cabs from the 40s to the 80s. The list included BV Latours from 1968 to 1985, '74s from Caymus, Ridge, Silver Oak, and Stag's Leap, and '78s from Stag's Leap, Mt. Eden, Diamond Creek, and Heitz. Hands down the winners of the evening were Inglenooks from 1958 (Case F30, Cast F10, and one with no cask notation). I didn't have to pay for them and doubt I will ever be in a position to taste the likes of such again, but they were amazing.

SWoody, I wish you the best. My partner and I did something similar last winter except that instead of moving from one side of the country to another, we simply moved from the bottom half of the state to the top half of the state. It was still far away enough to incorporate the nostalgia factor as we started heading to all the places we know we would never go again (I mean, when/if I head to SoCal, it ain't gonna be to go to Disneyland...) Coincidentally, we DID go to Musso & Frank's as I had never been there (I ordered the classic martini, steak, and caesar salad...) We also went to L'Orangerie. Knowing I was moving to another exceptional culinary city, I was not too concerned about missing too much in the way of food. Then it dawned on me - no more great Mexican food, Fatburger, or Versailles! So, my last few weeks in L.A. were spent at museums (Getty, Norton Simon, LACMA, and Bowers), walking Melrose, Hollywood Boulevard, and Belmont Shore, seeing a movie at they Egyptian, having fresh oysters at the Redondo Beach Harbor, and eating tons and tons of Versailles' Cuban pork and Rubio's fish tacos. Best of luck to you!

And me, too! (Actually, I work for TWO different wineries [one in each valley])...

We recently had a fabulous eGCI class on food writing by David Leite. It mostly covered the business as far as getting into publications are concerned. Do you have any recommendations for the aspiring food writer that is well underway with a book? Nay, I'm not published enough to warrant an agent. Would working on journal or magazine publications first be an easier "in" to the publishing industry? We are thrilled that you are here and so accessible to us

Putting on my bibliophile hat for a moment - It's "scarce", not "rare", and is worth (assuming condition is good or better) roughly $700 signed. My girlfriend adores this book, and I nearly bought it for her last Christmas, but I couldn't find a copy in the right condition. I bought mine, unsigned, for about $200 -- take a look at my website: http://www.geocities.com/carolyntillie Several years ago, I prepared a 10-course meal out of this cookbook, and documented the event.

Like others, not really showmanship involved, but a visual... I hosted a trompe l'oeil dinner where all the food had to look like something else. The dessert was the clear winner with this woman bringing in a raspberry preserves-filled chocolate cake. Why was it the winner? Well, she cut the chocolate sheet cake into the shape of a dead dog, complete with tire tracks leading into his decimated middle. The raspberry jam? Well that was the blood that was oozing out of his middle. Yeah, it was pretty grotesque looking but well-made and quite delicious. We were terribly impressed with her use of shaved chocolate to simulate a furry coat and red liquorice cut for a tongue that was hanging out. Ah, if only they had made digital cameras back then...