Visiting Beantown

I've been on the road a lot lately ... mostly for work (day job) ... mostly in cities that are not food friendly ... and mostly with no free time for exploring. That was not the case last week when I got to visit Boston, a city with many well known ethnic and eclectic neighborhoods, many of which are known for their shops and restaurants.

Since I've been to Boston several times before, I opted to skip the historical sights and focus on food this time. My first memorable meal was at Eastern Standard in the Kenmore Square area on Commonwealth Avenue. The coziness of the outdoor dining area and the vibe in the restaurant bar hinted at the pleasant dining experience ahead. The menu was a little bit French brasserie (with standard offerings of foie gras, steak frites and duck confit ravioli), a lot of raw bar, some comfort food (grilled cheese and roasted chicken) and touch of weird (BTLT which is beef tongue lettuce and tomato).

As much as I love classic french food, I opted for seafood choices starting with the Maine lobster in puff pastry. Served in a shallow soup bowl, large pieces of lobster meat in a puff pastry shell sat in a creamy pool of roasted corn and shitake mushrooms that was flavored with bacon. I used a spoon to eat this. Then the server surprised us with fresh oysters, so fresh it seemed you could taste the salt water. For dinner, I had the grilled swordfish which was served with heirloom tomatoes and seasonal vegetables (fennel and baby eggplant). The swordfish was cooked and seasoned perfectly! Wine for the meal included a glass of rose champagne and a glass of pinot noir. Service was fantastic.

The next memorable meal was the following night at Tapeo, a tapas restaurant on Newbury Street in the Back Bay area. The restaurant had three distinct dining areas, the outdoor patio, a traditional dining room and a cozy bar area that was decorated in colorful tiles. The menu had over 40 tapas which were divided by hot, cold and signature dishes. We started with a plato mixto which included serrano ham, Manchego cheese, roasted red peppers and olives that were flavored with garlic and cumin. I need to try that at home ... the cumin added a very earthy flavor. Baby lambchops in an apricot sauce was next, followed by prunes stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon (which tasted so much better once they cooled down). Dessert was rice pudding with a twist ... made into a custard with a caramelized sugar crust similar to creme brulee. The food was very good but the wine was fantastic ... a sparkling Pinot Noir from Spain called Aria.

My last memorable meal was in Cape Cod. I had the day to myself so I decided to do some exploring and headed south. After a quick stop in Plymouth, I went in search of my first lobster roll. I stopped at the Barnstable Restaurant and Tavern and tried their tomato crab bisque which was a bit spicy with corn and bits of potato. Yum! Their rendition of the lobster roll was lobster salad on crostini served with mesclun greens and cherry tomatoes. I really don't get why they would do that to lobster ... such an exotic food served so bland. Good thing I didn't have the traditional lobster roll on a hot dog bun.

On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at the Tea Shoppe for a cup of Earl Grey and an almond macaroon to wrap up my day.

And by the way, Boston may have been called Beantown years ago because of their love for baked beans but today I think it's called Beantown because there's a Starbucks and a Dunkin Donuts on every corner!

What is the Bacon of Wine?

My latest obsession (of many) is with Food and Wine magazine, both the print and online versions. I recently subscribed to the print version and have been putting that ahead of the other cooking magazines in the review cycle. And between issues, I surf the online version frequently!

The October issue arrived earlier this week and I showed remarkable restraint in leaving it in its plastic cover until last night (Friday night). This issue focused more on wine than previous issues and had a few interesting articles including food and wine pairings and the best classic wines under $15. I flipped through most of the articles paying attention mostly to the recipes.

There was one article, however, that caught my attention and got me thinking that the writer's thoughts were worth sharing. It was written by Salma Abdelnour who is more comfortable talking about food than she is about wine even though she drinks it everyday. Despite her desire and joy to learn about varietals, regions and producers she is intimidated by the lingo and the ever changing trends. So she tends to second guess her tastes and instincts and stays quiet during conversations about wine. I'm sure we've all been to one of those events when there was one blowbag in the crowd who was a know it all about wine (and if I was the blowbag I blame it on the wine!).

To overcome this, she did conducted an experiment ... she took the food and beverages she was most comfortable with and asked experts (wine directors of respectable restaurants and wine importers) what would be their eqivalent in wine.

She started with burgers and asked what would be considered the White Castle of the wine industry -- meaning what do the snooty mc snoods drink that they don't want anyone to know. The answer was Pinot Grigio. It seems most sommeliers would not admit to drinking Pinot Grigio but in a blind taste test would associate it with more exotic whites with a similar taste profile like Gruner Veltliner Federspiel, Chabblis or Albarino. The other wine that professionals do not like admitting to drinking is Zinfandel (the red kind!) mostly because it is a New World wine. And if you don't know what a New World wine is you need to come to our annual Old World, New World Wine tasting!

The second food she used for comparison was bacon. Her justification was that everyone is happy when eating bacon -- it is so basically delicious that you don't have to think much about it. The experts came back with two responses. The first was Pinot Noir and the second was Merlot which was described was "an easy wine to drink", "like a bear hug from your grandma" and "safe and warm".

The last wine correlation was for coffee ... she wanted to find a wine that was "versatile as it was reliable", something that she could drink every day as she would coffee. The experts came back with Sauvignon Blanc more than any other varietal. It was picked for how well it pairs with food and the low probability it would be tainted (due to being refrigerated during storage and its acidity). Wine director Alpana Singh of Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants stated " There's a big difference between good and bad coffee, but if you really need caffeine, you'll drink bad coffee. It's the same with Sauvignon Blanc". To test theory, the write drank Sauvignon Blanc for an entire week experimenting with wines from various growing regions and with different cuisnes and she found that it was a "fantastic utility player". There was one night the Sauv Blanc did not deliver and she figured what she really needed was espresso rather than coffee.

Here's a link to the article: http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/wines-for-drinking-not-overthinking