MARIANI’S
August 1, 2004
NEWSLETTER
~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EDITOR'S NOTE: Readers may now access an Archive of all past newsletters--each annotated--dating back to July, 2003, by simply clicking on ARCHIVE .
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~
Cover Story: Chicago, Part One, by John Mariani
New Yorker Corner: Masa by John Mariani
QUICK BYTES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHICAGO, Part One
by John Mariani
Photo: Robert
Cameron
NEW YORK CORNER
MASA
10 Columbus Circle, 4th Floor
Tel. 212-823-9800
What
price glory? In the case of Masa, start
with $300 per person, plus beverages, an automatic 18% service charge,
and NYC sales tax. So figure on about $400, or more. If you
have a problem
spending that much money on a meal, I feel your pain. It is a
helluva lot of dough to expend over an evening for the delectation of
one's palate. Yes, I know that courtside Knicks tix can cost
$1,000 a seat (if you find a charitable scalper), and there are women
who giddily spend
$600 for a pair of shoes they may wear once in a season.
So, if money's no object in such matters, I absolutely, positively urge
you to enjoy yourself at Masa,
which is quite possibly the best Japanese restaurant in America.
If, however, you are offended by such an extravagance, Masa is testament to just how profligate dining out has become in some quarters, in this case the new Time-Warner Center at Columbus Circle, whose fourth floor is home to Thomas Keller's Per Se, where you' can easily spend $300 per person for dinner, and V Steakhouse, where a porterhouse goes for $62. Having therefore given you fair warning, let me proceed to tell you about the Masa experience.
Since a mighty reputation precedes Masa Takayama (above, left) as the former sushi master at Beverly Hills' Ginza Sushi-Ko, where meal tickets were only slightly less expensive than in NYC, everyone expected that obtaining one of the ten seats at the counter here would be tantamount to getting a front row seat for a new Broadway hit the night after the rave reviews came in. Yet when I visited mid-week, I found Masa nearly empty at 7:30: There were only four people at the sushi counter (one was Rocky Aioki, founder the the Benihana restaurant chain), and by 9 PM there was just my wife and I and one other couple, eating in near silence. (There are two small, dull rooms also available for private dining; one was taken that evening.) A lone straggler--who happened to be one of Miami's finest chefs--wandered in and was immediately seated without a reservation; later, upon presentation of the bill, she went into serious sticker shock.
The nicely lighted counter space is extremely simple and quite refined, though not so different looking than many other sushi counters around town. The smooth, beautiful counter is made from Masa's favorite wood, hinoki, and all design elements, by architect Richard Bloch, of wood, stone, and bamboo have been specially brought in from Japan, as is most of the seafood Masa uses. This importation, in fact, is what Masa contends sets his food apart from the rest: the ingredients are exceedingly expensive (thank the gods for Fed-Ex and DHL, but at these prices I trust the fish flew first class). A smiling, congenial Masa (above) stands before you, and he has sworn he will always be there--"It is the respect I owe my customers," he told me--unlike his globe-trotting colleague Nobu Matsuhisa, who flits among his dozen or so namesake restaurants while also doing celebrity cooking stints. Indeed, this makes Masa even more special: the man is all yours for the evening, and you are all his.
His English is halting but earnest (other staff members, who barely earn that 18% service charge by doing little more than to bring and remove your plates, help with the translation of fish species). You are poured a little sake from a green bottle in a cypress cup, at which point I began to feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland, for, as a Japanese magazine explains, "The cup, which holds only 60 milliliters, is so tiny that it will spill its contents unless extreme care is used when filling it. The bottle has been meticulously designed and crafted so the precise contour of the neck controls the amount that can be poured, and the cup will not overflow. The sake cup itself was carved to less than 1 millimeter in thickness with the craftsman's most delicate touch. When lips meet the edge of the cup, the subtle aroma of cypress drifts into the nostrils, enthralling the sipper with simultaneous pleasures of touch, taste, and scent." Ri-i-i-ght!
Over the course of the next two or more hours, Masa and his assistants prepared an array of sushi and other dishes of sheer delight. Of more than 20 items, not one was less than stellar, beginning with a little dish of shredded, pickled seafood. Next came toro belly tartare with a touch of caviar and toast; the fish's pristine quality and high fat content drove me to crave another bite. But Masa had other ideas: Sea bass with sprouts and tape leaves, vinegar, and salt (which sushi chefs call namino hana--"flower of the waves"), a dish that left a bitter-salty tingling sensation on the tongue that lingered for minutes before the next course, ainame, a very meaty greenling cod with shishito pepper (forgive my attempts at rendering Japanese ingredients into English, not all of which I could find in my Japanese culinary dictionary).
A little bowl of foie gras and a sharp-toothed eel called hamo came in a delicate soy broth, a signature Masa shabu-shabu-style dish that deserves its fame--the velvety foie gras barely melting in the broth, the fish adding briny nuance to the fatted morsel. To clear the palate another broth was presented, this made with dry seaweed. Then an array of fabulous sushi of a quality I have rarely tasted in this country. There was pale pink, fatty toro tuna, shimaji (striped jack), tai (sea bream), aoyagi (clam), ebi (shrimp), red clam, hotategai (scallops), and ohada (herring), all of which change on the menu by season. As Masa explains, "I want to know what the food is eating," meaning that whatever the fish consume will affect their flavor when served raw.
We were far from finished: Grilled shiitakes came next, followed by a sweet shrimp just barely cooked and still translucent, then grilled saba (mackerel), and shako (crayfish), Santa Barbara sea urchin, cooked tuna, and, a little surprisingly, some make-sushi rolls. One would think by then we would be either bloated or growing gills, but in fact, we felt completely satisfied, sated but not uncomfortable, which is a great credit to Masa's sense of balance. By the same token, I don't think I would have wanted a single morsel more, so I left Masa believing I'd had a perfect meal.
If perfection comes at so high a price (with wine, our bill came to $900), it is an experience I will treasure. I just don't have the treasure to enjoy a meal at Masa very often.
Incidentally, I reviewed Bar Masa, a more traditional, moderately priced Japanese restaurant next door to Masa, in this newsletter in April: : //pages.prodigy.net/johnmariani/040405 .
POLICE SHOULD BE ON THE LOOK-OUT FOR A MAN WITH A GOATEE, WEARING A FLOPPY WHITE HAT AND A WHITE SHIRT STAINED WITH MANGO PUREE. MAY BE ARMED WITH A SIX-INCH BONING KNIFE
"Johnny Vinczencz glides among venues like a
cat
burglar, stealing the hearts of diners from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach
counties, leaving behind only discarded aliases and wistful
memories of his bold kitchen antics. Vinczenz, a.k.a. "Johnny V,"
was first noticed in the early '90s as sous chef at Max's South Beach,
then gained notoriety as head chef at the chic Astor Place Restaurant,
where his robust, tropical-inspired New American Cuisine placed him
onto the public's list of most-wanted chefs."--From a review of Johnny
V Restaurant by Lee Klein in New
Times (Feb. 5-11, 2004).
BUT AT LEAST ONE WAITRESS GAVE THE GATOR HER PHONE NUMBER
New Yorker Corner: Masa by John Mariani
QUICK BYTES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHICAGO, Part One
by John Mariani
"Show
me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and
coarse and strong and cunning,"
wrote
Carl
Sandburg of Chicago in 1914, and the sentiment still rings true. Here
is
America's most majestic city, hardworking and well run, possessed of
spectacular architecture and a lake that stretches its immensity across
a blue-gray horizon. Its sobriquet as the "Second City" has been
well earned in the arts and business, and its gastronomy draws on a
spirit of largess. Chicagoans expect a square meal for a square
deal, and restaurateurs are careful to give it to them.
The city's restaurant scene is indeed dynamic; only New York opens more new dining rooms each year, and Chicago's huge convention business packs both the tried-and-true, like Gene & Georgetti, The Berghoff, and Gibsons and the very new, like Pluton (French), Opera (Asian), Japonais (Japanese), and Vermilion (Indian-Latino). Having had three delightful visits to the Windy City in recent months, I have barely had time to cover all the new places and to visit the best of the established restaurants, but here goes.
Unquestionably
one of the finest Italian restaurants in the U.S. is Spiaggia (980 Michigan Avenue; 312-280-2750),
a posh dining room
overlooking the Magnificent Mile, with an adjacent Spiaggia Café (312-280-2755), where I had a
thoroughly
enchanting lunch not long ago. This is the more casual and
considerably less expensive alternative to the posh main dining room,
both overseen by chef Tony Mantuano, who was the first chef at Spiaggia
when it opened back in the 1980s, then returned to the stoves here
about four years ago.
I had a sumptuous lunch in the Café (left), one so delicious that I wondered if I ever needed to spend so much more money in the main dining room, allowing that its menu is more extensive, more creative, and exquisitely served, with every amenity. The wine list available in both venues, overseen by Henry Bishop, is one of the greatest in the U.S., and Mr. Bishop is one of those sommeliers who simply won't ever let you make the wrong choice, whatever your wine budget is.
From my first sip of a 2002 Stony Hill "Landmark Vineyards" Tocai Friulano, I knew I was in good hands. Things got even more interesting with bottlings like a superb 2002 Rene Favre Petite Arvine, and a fine Isonzo del Friuli Pinot Nero 2000; only a Pelissero Long Now 2000 was disappointing, being over extracted and unctuous.
Mantuano, along with executive chef Missy Robbins and Café Chef Richard Camarota consistently hit the nail with simple but richly flavorful classic Italian dishes of a kind somewhat above the trattoria level but still keeping simplicity foremost in mind. Nantucket bay scallops, lusciously sweet in their own right, were lightly marinated with lemon, olive oil and a sprinkling of thyme; grilled sardines were treated to a fresh salsa verde; the Abruzzese spaghetti alla chitarra came with a lusty sauce of braised duck, while fat agnolotti were stuffed with fennel pollen and crispy veal breast; the two main courses were a wood-roasted flatiron steak with creamy polenta and porcini, and saddle of lamb with spinach and white beans. Desserts included a bittersweet chocolate semifreddo, and happy little Italian sweet fritters with a moscato grappa zabaglione. Geez, it was a terrific meal.
Appetizers in the Café run $7-$14, entrees $20-$27.
I also had the pleasure of returning to Seasons at the Four Seasons Hotel (120 East Delaware Place; 312-649-2349),
where'd
I not dined since the great Mark Baker left the kitchen two years
ago. I was happy to find that his replacement is every bit as
wonderful and very much steeped in the long tradition of this
impeccably run hotel dining room, which, though quite formal and
flowery, is nonetheless one of the most romantic in Chicago.
Chef Robert Sulatycky came to Chicago from the Four Seasons in Toronto, with previous experience at Marco Pierre White and Le Gavroche in London, and Jamin and the Hôtel Ritz in Paris, and he shows the sure touch of one trained as much by precision and restraint as he is touched with imagination. Thus, although his cooking can be complex, none of his creations skids into affectation, starting with a terrine of lobster and scallops in a cucumber gelée, with a salad of delicate frisée and white asparagus. The texture of his terrine of foie gras is enhanced by the addition of rabbit meat, with a fig preserve and brioche that keeps the fat in balance. Perfectly roasted, juicy white halibut in a light pea broth with morels and favas was a true taste of the season, and American wagyu-style beef tenderloin with spring vegetables and Madeira was among the first of this marbled grade of meat I've really thought meets the Japanese model.
An admirable array of cheeses is offered at Seasons, this day a Petit Crème, a Humboldt Fog, a Romano, and a Fourme au Sauternes, all in peak condition, followed by a trio of delectable rhubarb desserts.
Seasons wine list is one of the best in the city, on the pricey side (there's very little here under $50 a bottle) but both deep and broad.
À la carte, appetizers run $12-$18 and entrees $29-$54, with tasting menus at $76 for 5 courses (with wines $106) and $125 for 8 courses (with wines $166).
If there was ever any worry that Seasons might have lost its luster when Mark Baker left, it has certainly evaporated in the face of Sulatycky's great cooking. I would certainly rank him among Chicago's top chefs.
The city's restaurant scene is indeed dynamic; only New York opens more new dining rooms each year, and Chicago's huge convention business packs both the tried-and-true, like Gene & Georgetti, The Berghoff, and Gibsons and the very new, like Pluton (French), Opera (Asian), Japonais (Japanese), and Vermilion (Indian-Latino). Having had three delightful visits to the Windy City in recent months, I have barely had time to cover all the new places and to visit the best of the established restaurants, but here goes.
Unquestionably
one of the finest Italian restaurants in the U.S. is Spiaggia (980 Michigan Avenue; 312-280-2750),
a posh dining room
overlooking the Magnificent Mile, with an adjacent Spiaggia Café (312-280-2755), where I had a
thoroughly
enchanting lunch not long ago. This is the more casual and
considerably less expensive alternative to the posh main dining room,
both overseen by chef Tony Mantuano, who was the first chef at Spiaggia
when it opened back in the 1980s, then returned to the stoves here
about four years ago. I had a sumptuous lunch in the Café (left), one so delicious that I wondered if I ever needed to spend so much more money in the main dining room, allowing that its menu is more extensive, more creative, and exquisitely served, with every amenity. The wine list available in both venues, overseen by Henry Bishop, is one of the greatest in the U.S., and Mr. Bishop is one of those sommeliers who simply won't ever let you make the wrong choice, whatever your wine budget is.
From my first sip of a 2002 Stony Hill "Landmark Vineyards" Tocai Friulano, I knew I was in good hands. Things got even more interesting with bottlings like a superb 2002 Rene Favre Petite Arvine, and a fine Isonzo del Friuli Pinot Nero 2000; only a Pelissero Long Now 2000 was disappointing, being over extracted and unctuous.
Mantuano, along with executive chef Missy Robbins and Café Chef Richard Camarota consistently hit the nail with simple but richly flavorful classic Italian dishes of a kind somewhat above the trattoria level but still keeping simplicity foremost in mind. Nantucket bay scallops, lusciously sweet in their own right, were lightly marinated with lemon, olive oil and a sprinkling of thyme; grilled sardines were treated to a fresh salsa verde; the Abruzzese spaghetti alla chitarra came with a lusty sauce of braised duck, while fat agnolotti were stuffed with fennel pollen and crispy veal breast; the two main courses were a wood-roasted flatiron steak with creamy polenta and porcini, and saddle of lamb with spinach and white beans. Desserts included a bittersweet chocolate semifreddo, and happy little Italian sweet fritters with a moscato grappa zabaglione. Geez, it was a terrific meal.
Appetizers in the Café run $7-$14, entrees $20-$27.
I also had the pleasure of returning to Seasons at the Four Seasons Hotel (120 East Delaware Place; 312-649-2349),
where'd
I not dined since the great Mark Baker left the kitchen two years
ago. I was happy to find that his replacement is every bit as
wonderful and very much steeped in the long tradition of this
impeccably run hotel dining room, which, though quite formal and
flowery, is nonetheless one of the most romantic in Chicago. Chef Robert Sulatycky came to Chicago from the Four Seasons in Toronto, with previous experience at Marco Pierre White and Le Gavroche in London, and Jamin and the Hôtel Ritz in Paris, and he shows the sure touch of one trained as much by precision and restraint as he is touched with imagination. Thus, although his cooking can be complex, none of his creations skids into affectation, starting with a terrine of lobster and scallops in a cucumber gelée, with a salad of delicate frisée and white asparagus. The texture of his terrine of foie gras is enhanced by the addition of rabbit meat, with a fig preserve and brioche that keeps the fat in balance. Perfectly roasted, juicy white halibut in a light pea broth with morels and favas was a true taste of the season, and American wagyu-style beef tenderloin with spring vegetables and Madeira was among the first of this marbled grade of meat I've really thought meets the Japanese model.
An admirable array of cheeses is offered at Seasons, this day a Petit Crème, a Humboldt Fog, a Romano, and a Fourme au Sauternes, all in peak condition, followed by a trio of delectable rhubarb desserts.
Seasons wine list is one of the best in the city, on the pricey side (there's very little here under $50 a bottle) but both deep and broad.
À la carte, appetizers run $12-$18 and entrees $29-$54, with tasting menus at $76 for 5 courses (with wines $106) and $125 for 8 courses (with wines $166).
If there was ever any worry that Seasons might have lost its luster when Mark Baker left, it has certainly evaporated in the face of Sulatycky's great cooking. I would certainly rank him among Chicago's top chefs.
NEW YORK CORNER
MASA
10 Columbus Circle, 4th Floor
Tel. 212-823-9800
What
price glory? In the case of Masa, start
with $300 per person, plus beverages, an automatic 18% service charge,
and NYC sales tax. So figure on about $400, or more. If you
have a problem
spending that much money on a meal, I feel your pain. It is a
helluva lot of dough to expend over an evening for the delectation of
one's palate. Yes, I know that courtside Knicks tix can cost
$1,000 a seat (if you find a charitable scalper), and there are women
who giddily spend
$600 for a pair of shoes they may wear once in a season.
So, if money's no object in such matters, I absolutely, positively urge
you to enjoy yourself at Masa,
which is quite possibly the best Japanese restaurant in America.If, however, you are offended by such an extravagance, Masa is testament to just how profligate dining out has become in some quarters, in this case the new Time-Warner Center at Columbus Circle, whose fourth floor is home to Thomas Keller's Per Se, where you' can easily spend $300 per person for dinner, and V Steakhouse, where a porterhouse goes for $62. Having therefore given you fair warning, let me proceed to tell you about the Masa experience.
Since a mighty reputation precedes Masa Takayama (above, left) as the former sushi master at Beverly Hills' Ginza Sushi-Ko, where meal tickets were only slightly less expensive than in NYC, everyone expected that obtaining one of the ten seats at the counter here would be tantamount to getting a front row seat for a new Broadway hit the night after the rave reviews came in. Yet when I visited mid-week, I found Masa nearly empty at 7:30: There were only four people at the sushi counter (one was Rocky Aioki, founder the the Benihana restaurant chain), and by 9 PM there was just my wife and I and one other couple, eating in near silence. (There are two small, dull rooms also available for private dining; one was taken that evening.) A lone straggler--who happened to be one of Miami's finest chefs--wandered in and was immediately seated without a reservation; later, upon presentation of the bill, she went into serious sticker shock.
The nicely lighted counter space is extremely simple and quite refined, though not so different looking than many other sushi counters around town. The smooth, beautiful counter is made from Masa's favorite wood, hinoki, and all design elements, by architect Richard Bloch, of wood, stone, and bamboo have been specially brought in from Japan, as is most of the seafood Masa uses. This importation, in fact, is what Masa contends sets his food apart from the rest: the ingredients are exceedingly expensive (thank the gods for Fed-Ex and DHL, but at these prices I trust the fish flew first class). A smiling, congenial Masa (above) stands before you, and he has sworn he will always be there--"It is the respect I owe my customers," he told me--unlike his globe-trotting colleague Nobu Matsuhisa, who flits among his dozen or so namesake restaurants while also doing celebrity cooking stints. Indeed, this makes Masa even more special: the man is all yours for the evening, and you are all his.
His English is halting but earnest (other staff members, who barely earn that 18% service charge by doing little more than to bring and remove your plates, help with the translation of fish species). You are poured a little sake from a green bottle in a cypress cup, at which point I began to feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland, for, as a Japanese magazine explains, "The cup, which holds only 60 milliliters, is so tiny that it will spill its contents unless extreme care is used when filling it. The bottle has been meticulously designed and crafted so the precise contour of the neck controls the amount that can be poured, and the cup will not overflow. The sake cup itself was carved to less than 1 millimeter in thickness with the craftsman's most delicate touch. When lips meet the edge of the cup, the subtle aroma of cypress drifts into the nostrils, enthralling the sipper with simultaneous pleasures of touch, taste, and scent." Ri-i-i-ght!
Over the course of the next two or more hours, Masa and his assistants prepared an array of sushi and other dishes of sheer delight. Of more than 20 items, not one was less than stellar, beginning with a little dish of shredded, pickled seafood. Next came toro belly tartare with a touch of caviar and toast; the fish's pristine quality and high fat content drove me to crave another bite. But Masa had other ideas: Sea bass with sprouts and tape leaves, vinegar, and salt (which sushi chefs call namino hana--"flower of the waves"), a dish that left a bitter-salty tingling sensation on the tongue that lingered for minutes before the next course, ainame, a very meaty greenling cod with shishito pepper (forgive my attempts at rendering Japanese ingredients into English, not all of which I could find in my Japanese culinary dictionary).
A little bowl of foie gras and a sharp-toothed eel called hamo came in a delicate soy broth, a signature Masa shabu-shabu-style dish that deserves its fame--the velvety foie gras barely melting in the broth, the fish adding briny nuance to the fatted morsel. To clear the palate another broth was presented, this made with dry seaweed. Then an array of fabulous sushi of a quality I have rarely tasted in this country. There was pale pink, fatty toro tuna, shimaji (striped jack), tai (sea bream), aoyagi (clam), ebi (shrimp), red clam, hotategai (scallops), and ohada (herring), all of which change on the menu by season. As Masa explains, "I want to know what the food is eating," meaning that whatever the fish consume will affect their flavor when served raw.
We were far from finished: Grilled shiitakes came next, followed by a sweet shrimp just barely cooked and still translucent, then grilled saba (mackerel), and shako (crayfish), Santa Barbara sea urchin, cooked tuna, and, a little surprisingly, some make-sushi rolls. One would think by then we would be either bloated or growing gills, but in fact, we felt completely satisfied, sated but not uncomfortable, which is a great credit to Masa's sense of balance. By the same token, I don't think I would have wanted a single morsel more, so I left Masa believing I'd had a perfect meal.
If perfection comes at so high a price (with wine, our bill came to $900), it is an experience I will treasure. I just don't have the treasure to enjoy a meal at Masa very often.
Incidentally, I reviewed Bar Masa, a more traditional, moderately priced Japanese restaurant next door to Masa, in this newsletter in April: : //pages.prodigy.net/johnmariani/040405 .
POLICE SHOULD BE ON THE LOOK-OUT FOR A MAN WITH A GOATEE, WEARING A FLOPPY WHITE HAT AND A WHITE SHIRT STAINED WITH MANGO PUREE. MAY BE ARMED WITH A SIX-INCH BONING KNIFE
"Johnny Vinczencz glides among venues like a
cat
burglar, stealing the hearts of diners from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach
counties, leaving behind only discarded aliases and wistful
memories of his bold kitchen antics. Vinczenz, a.k.a. "Johnny V,"
was first noticed in the early '90s as sous chef at Max's South Beach,
then gained notoriety as head chef at the chic Astor Place Restaurant,
where his robust, tropical-inspired New American Cuisine placed him
onto the public's list of most-wanted chefs."--From a review of Johnny
V Restaurant by Lee Klein in New
Times (Feb. 5-11, 2004). BUT AT LEAST ONE WAITRESS GAVE THE GATOR HER PHONE NUMBER
Diners at
Café Creme in Port Lucie, FL, were put off their feed when a
4-foot alligator wandered into the back door of the restaurant.
Animal control officers removed the creature, contending that it was
breeding season and that the gator was probably searching for a mate.
QUICK
BYTES
* From October 17-29
John Mariani, publisher and
editor of this newsletter, will be a host aboard the Crystal Serenity
cruise ship, from Athens to Barcelona, with stops in Dubrovnik, Zadar,
Venice, Taormina, Monte Carlo, and Barcelona. On Oct. 19 he
will welcome guests for a cocktail reception and 6-course tasting menu
with wines in the Private Vintage Room. On Oct. 26 he will host a
dinner at La Chévre d'Or (two Michelin stars) in Monte Carlo
with a
6-course meal with fabulous wines. Other activities to be
announced. For info call FESTIVALS AFLOAT at 1-800-297-8505.
*
From Aug. 3-9 Mr. B's Bistro
in New Orleans offers "Gone Fishing" week with complete dinners for the
price of an entree, from$26-$29. Call 504-523-2078.
* On Aug. 11 Serenade in
* On Aug.
14 Fulton's Crab House
in Orlando will host a Chef's Showcase, featuring summer seafood
and wines from NY's Palmer Vineyards, presented by winemaker Tom
Drozd. Call 631-722-9463.
* On
August 21 the Monterey Vintners
& Growers Association will present "Winemakers United by
Wine,"
with more than 40 local wineries, food, music, and fun. $30 pp in
advance, $35 at the door. Call 831-374-9400.
*
Chef Paul Wildermuth begins a series of Asian dinners in Chicago
on
Aug. 16 at Red Light,
with wines from Qupe; Aug. 23: Saiko,
wines
from the Australian Premium Wine Collection; Aug. 30: Opera, with
wines from Château Routas; Sept. 13: Red Light, with
Laurent
Perrier. The cost of the first three dinners is $75; the final
gala is
$100; Call: Red Light 312-733-8880; Saiko
312-922-2222; Opera 312-461-0161.
* For
three weeks in August La
Panetière in Rye, NY, celebrates its 19th anniversary
with a special 6-course menu at $70 pp. Call 914-967-8140.
*On Aug 28 Wine Spectator's 2nd Annual Long Island
Wine Classic will be held in Bridgehampton, NY, to benefit local
hospitals. It will include a Grand Tasting at $175 pp, with a sampling
of food by more than 25 Long Island and NYC chefs, Call 631-537-3177;
www.liwine.com .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EDITOR'S NOTE: This newsletter is
also available on the very
comprehensive food site www.sautewednesday.com
which has dozens of other links to food articles
from
around the world., and www.gayot.com.
New York Corner reviews
are also available at www.nycvisit.com/johnmariani
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL
GOURMET NEWSLETTER is
published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John
Mariani.
Contributing Writers: Robert Mariani,
Naomi
Kooker, Kirsten Skogerson, Edward Brivio,
Mort Hochstein, Lucy Gordan. Contributing Photographers: Galina
Stepanoff-Dargery,
Bobby Pirillo. Technical Advisor: Gerry
McLoughlin.
copyright John Mariani 2004