docsconz

Thanks for the B-day wishes, Mulcahy and Rich. Looking forward to seeing Rachel's Sister in Saratoga. Let me know when she'll be racing. Hopefully, I'll get to see her and root her on. Maybe she'll even race during the eGullet Day at the Races!

Interesting recommendations, Rich.Thanks. The pinot is particularly intriguing. Pinot Noir is a great food grape-probably the most versatile red grape. It is great with a lot of seafood. PN is my goto wine with salmon and other flavorful, robust fish, but I haven't had it with shellfish. I will try it, but not today. I ought to be able to get the Dr. Frank around here.

My wife will be cooking the dinner while I'm at my son's baseball game. May you have a lovely birthday dinner as well! What is on your menu?

Ok, I'm having a special dinner with soft-shell crabs (pan-fried with butter, garlic, capers and lemon) and I was planning on opening a bottle of 1999 Joly Savennieres Coulee de Serrant, but have been accused of infanticide. I happen to know that as of a few months ago it was drinking superbly and yes, I do have a few more bottles. What are your thoughts and recommendations? Do it or go with something else? Unless I hear some compelling arguments that baby is gonna be in my and my wife's glasses tonight!

Welcome back, Ben. Lookin' forward to your recap.

Frankly, the whole Thomas Keller deal leaves me cold, and the name is just the icing on the cake, albeit a perfect cake. I would choose a dozen places to dine at over the FL or Per Se. If I had $1000 in my pocket and access to any New York restaurant tomorrow I would choose Ducasse, Masa or even Spice Market over Per Se. Hell, even a Cuban sandwich at Schiller's Liquor Bar seems more appealing than a four-hour parade of endless perfection. Ok, Leslie, Ducasse or Masa I can understand, even the cuban sandwich in an anti-elitist way, but Spice Market??

The French restaurants will likely do well relative to anyone else. Then again, we may be in for a surprise. It will be interesting to see how they handle restaurants like Craft, gramercy Tavern and Blue Hill.

You either are more organized have a better memory than I or both Besides, that price is just rubbing it in

The problem is that there really are very few restaurants with either good by-the-glass or half-bottle programs. I would be satisfied with either. If I am with a 3 or more people it doesn't matter, but for one or two the 1/2 bottle is by-the-glass is helpful especially since I like to order diverse courses.

Price information isn't always readily available, especially on older wines that have been stored awhile, and then it isn't necessarily pertinent anymore anyway.

I love the half-bottle format and buy them whenever I can find worthwhile bottles. I particularly like them with a simple weeknight meal. I don't have the patience to not finish a bottle of wine when it is opened. I also like ordering a half-bottle per course when in a restaurant with just my wife. Unfortunately, a good half-bottle selection is difficult to find. Some wines I have in.375's include Chateau Montelena Estate 1997 (still drinking nicely), Ridge Lytton Springs, Allegrini Amarone, Carmenet, guigal Brune et Blonde, Ch. Vieux Telegraphe CDP and others. They are available, just hard to find.

This quote convinces me even more that the Greenmarkets must change.

some more: Pantelleria - capers Ustica - lentils Perigord - fois gras

Italy - Parmaggiano (if I had to pick one ingredient to represent all of Italy) Washington State - oysters Maryland - crabs (blue) New York - Fois Gras England - cheddar New Mexico - Blue Corn Georgia - Peaches or Vidalia Onions Sicily - swordfish or sardines Naples - tomatos or mozzarella di bufala Modena - balsamico tradizionale Rheims - champagne Bordeaux - Bordeaux piemonte - Truffles Alaska - Salmon Chicago - sausage Iowa - pork Hungary - paprika Nebraska - wheat Brittany - butter Portugal - bacalao Navarra - Asparagus Long Island - clams Tuscany - porcini or cinghiale that's all for now.

Whenever I'm back in Brooklyn I always make a pilgrimage to Esposito's. Their sausage is as good as Italian sausage gets as is the soppresata. My favorite sausage of theirs is the chevrilade with cheese and parsley. That on the grill is true comfort food. Their mozzarella isn't too shabby either. Other great neighborhood stores include Court Pastry, home of the best cannoli amongst other pastries and Caputo's for Italian bread and cookies. Unfortunately, I don't get back to Brooklyn too much any more. It would be a real tragedy if any of those stores go out of business. Latticini Barese was never a store that I frequented so I can't really comment other than to say it is sad to see any business like that go under. I suspect that it is due to the evolution of the neighborhood as the older Italians die or move out to be replaced by people who don't really understand the treasures they have in their midst.

Now this is interesting. Does anyone know more about this?

These rules are pretty intense, however, they would make for a very interesting market if there is sufficient diversity of production in the region. This might be difficultmore difficult to achieve in the US due to local laws regarding production, although I might be wrong. The only rule I question is that of the cheesemakers. Is it essential that the cheese be made by the same farm thatraised the animals and did the milking? I would think that cheesemakers could easily fit the bill as secondary producers so long as they identified the source of their milk and it was from within their region.

Carolyn, this continues to be a fascinating and valuable blog. By the way I love your new avatar.

The issue is not necessarily whether or not to cook a live vs. dead crab. Just don't buy dead crabs since you don't necessarily know how long they have been dead, therefore you don't know how fresh they are.

When I make a pasta sauce with blue crabs I kill them by pulling off the top shell, clean them then stuff them with herbed bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. I replace the shell and tie some twine around the crab to keep it together. They then simmer for a couple of hours in tomatos sauce (with sweated onion) over low heat. This is sublime and my favorite dish in the whole world. Softshells are usually "cleaned" then cooked.

I'm not sure why you are having a particular problem with Ravenswood zins and not other wines, but I suspect it may not be the sulfites that are the problem. From the Ravenswood website , It is possible that you may have a sensitivity to some of the wild yeasts from that area or yeasty byproducts. Is your problem true with all Ravenswood zins or just some? They have a wide range of grape sources. For example, do you have the problem with "Napa" and not "Lodi" or vice versa? What about other zins? I'm not sure that I would be terribly concerned about potential anaphylaxis unless you were having symptoms in addition to itching. I certainly would be very concerned if you concurrently had any difficulty breathing.

Cool.

I would be interested if the timing were right. I think a good fresh fish market is a wonderful thing. I think a little character of lower Manhatten wil be forever lost.

There is value in that. Is there any role for serious collectors there?

I don't know, Craig. It may be the place to be to get a sense of the full scope of Italian wine, but it sounds like if one is not "connected", one might be better off focusing on more approachable ways to get a handle on these wines - like reading Raccolta or Wine Camp. In other words, it doesn't sound like my cup of tea. Ironically, I have thought about attending in the past, but your article convinced me not to. I think I would rather attend a Slow Food salon de Gusto and get a sense of the wines from that.