by Christina Waters | May 11, 2008 | Home, Wine |
Here’s a red wine discovery you’ll enjoy. I first encountered Martella Syrah Hammer Vineyard 2005 on the Gabriella Cafe menu, and it was love at first sip. I found a bottle of this appealing wine at New Leaf Market.
Martella is Michael Martella, longtime winemaker at Thomas Fogarty who bottles some choice varietals under his own name. This is one of them and it belongs on your dining table.
Syrah loves lamb, duck, olives, almost any cheese – and goes nicely with a long sunset. In the Martella Syrah found meaty, smoky tones initially, with plenty of grip and a band of brambles sitting firmly in the center – brambles that expanded horizontally, on and on into a leisurely finish. Around $20 and worth its weight in American oak.
by Christina Waters | May 8, 2008 | Food, Home |
Fresh seafood gets star treatment at the hands of Sean Baker, who makes beautiful food at Gabriella Cafe.
Baker is currently running a variety of sculptural crudo appetizers involving artworks of oysters with baby fennel mignonette, uni interspersed with tart minced grapefruit (inspired!), and local halibut tartare in pools of chopped avocado, chili smoked tomato and Meyer lemon.
After dinner, I feasted on a spectacular saffron Pavlova meringue, drizzled with rose custard, sweet fresh strawberries and toasted pistachios. Gabriella pastry chef Jessica Yarr never fails to astound me.
by Christina Waters | May 7, 2008 | Home, Travel |
What’s not to like about New York? And since my mom and I both love the Big Apple, we spent a few quality days there last week – taking in a show, museums, the action in Central Park (in full spring bloom!), the NFL draft (my mother loves men in groups), and feasting on midtown architecture, old and new.
We decided to do the all-out tourist thing, so we stayed in the very conveniently-located midtown Hilton. Our room on the 34th floor offered a sprawling view of skyscrapers, theaters and verdant Central Park. A block away was the Museum of Modern Art, where we feasted on Monet, Rauschenberg and Pollock and then went upstairs to The Terrace cafe for lunch. Btw, the dominant language in NY these days is French! (Good euro, bad dollar.) (more…)
by Christina Waters | May 6, 2008 | Home, Travel |
Rockefeller Plaza is a magnet for visitors and celebrities and we had fun swilling coffee and some of the finest pastries in New York, at the chic Dean & DeLuca coffee shop that overlooks the “Good Morning America” crowds gathering to wave and scream for the cameras. This 25-foot mosaic/mural at the Plaza (left) was made entirely of throw-away cell phones!
The elegant WPA architecture of the Plaza’s suite of buildings and courtyards holds its own in a sea of contemporary super-skyscrapers. A few blocks away, the mighty Michael Graves’ postmodern landmark – once the Hancock building, now headquarters for SONY’s digital lab-theater – knocked us out. A true secular cathedral, this building was playfully “invaded” by a 40-foot floating sculpture of Spiderman.
Our pastry quest continued up at the lovely Cafe Sabarsky, inside the beautiful little Park Avenue mansion that Estée Lauder’s son turned into the Neue Galerie, home to the $138 million Klimt painting. Definitive apple strudel, mit Schlag of course, and a pot of black tea fueled us for the afternoon, and another cultural pit-stop at The Met.
by Christina Waters | May 6, 2008 | Food, Home, Wine |
The visually delightful, all-organic catering group founded by Heidi Schlecht and Amy Linstrom (who also operate the inviting River Cafe) continues to fuel some of our best parties.
Platters lavish with edible flowers, opulent proteas, and other eye-candy adorned the tables and decks up at the Vine Hill winery release party last weekend. Endive leaves were stuffed with roasted salmon, dill, and lemon zest aioli. Buffalo mozzarella and sage were wrapped in prosciutto and then grilled – that’s the sort of one step further thinking that characterizes Feel Good Foods’ catering style. Yet completely fresh and clear, nothing tricky or mysterious. The ripe cheeses and myriad olives shared plates with toasted almonds, (more…)
by Christina Waters | May 6, 2008 | Home, Wine |
Big enough for lamb, restrained enough for mahi mahi — this is one serious contender for terroir-defining Santa Cruz Mountains appellation pinot noir. After an initial wave of cola and spice, primarily cloves, this sumptuous wine offers a dark finish that goes into a subterranean realm of black velvet shot through with roses and ultraviolet.
After a half hour or so, the wine resolves into a midnight edition of moist earth, plum and tamarind. In other words, you will have sampled a deep slice of the region translated through the pinot noir grape. Contact Wines of Vine Hill for details about how you can order bottle for yourself – if there are any left. And kudos to Cumbre winemaker Salvador Godinez.
