Bacio Divino Pazzo 2005, Napa Red Wine

Here is another wine I purchased based on an email from The Wine Library. The review sounded great, rating was 91 from Robert Parker and the price seemed right so I purchased a case.

I opened a couple of bottles at my election night party. The wine had a great bouquet and full flavored fruity taste. This wine went down really well. Everyone at the party who tried it, liked it.

Here is Robert Parker’s review:

91 Points – Robert Parker (Wine Advocate)
“The 2005 Pazzo is a gorgeously hedonistic, flavorful blend of 73% Sangiovese and the rest small amounts of Petite Sirah, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and even a touch of the white varietal, Viognier. A fragrant perfume of sweet roasted herbs, kirsch, black currants, and pepper jumps from the glass of this supple-textured, fleshy wine. The ideal bistro-styled red, it will be fun to drink over the next 2-3 years.”

Astrale E Terra Arcturus, 2002, Meritage

I recently purchased 6 bottles of this wine from a daily email I get from The Wine Library. It scored 93 points from Wine Enthusiast. I am always on the look out highly rated good value wines. A few days after buying the wine I was making a beef stew with port and wine and decided to open this wine with it. I had a couple of friends over for dinner and from the first sip we all commented on just how great this wine was. I liked it so much that I went back online to the wine library and purchased another 6 bottles. I opened another 2 at my election night party and once again everyone loved this wine.

Here is the wine enthusiast review:

93 Points – Wine Enthusiast
Great Cab, but even at four-plus years, it’s young and dry, with gritty Atlas Peak tannins, so cellar it for four or five years and let it soften. Shows ripe blackberry, cassis and blueberry flavors, with a rich, spicy coating of new oak, and finishes thoroughly dry. Should develop for a decade and hold for another 10 years.

Here are comments from The Wine Library:

COLOR-dark; NOSE-very nice nose; a fruit bomb (raspberries, blackberries; plum, strawberries, cherries), but not over-oaked; TASTE-some greenness on the mid-palate (mint covered green peppers); this is Mint City, USA; menthol; Keebler Grasshopper; reminds me of Heitz Cabs; intense fruit, lots of blackberries, with a nice Junior mint action on the mid-palate; should last 8-15 years; a really good wine; WE-93; GV-90

J L Ivy, Princeton

JL Ivy is a pretty new restaurant in Princeton. The restaurant has a 3 1/2 star rating from The Star Ledger so things looked pretty promising. After finding my way to the restaurant, which wasn’t so easy due to confusion over a detour due to road works, I was looking forward to dinner because the restaurant is actually pretty nice. It’s a large space, tastefully decorated. I wasn’t too sure about what to expect food wise having not read the Star Ledger review and was going there with others from work so hadn’t asked anything about the place.

I’m not exactly sure how to classify this place. Confusion may be the best term for it. It’s a sushi bar, steak house and I have even seen it described as a French Bistro on Open Table (that one I don’t get). The menu is all over the place, with ribs, burgers, asian accented dishes, sushi, etc. I believe that this restaurant has multiple owners and it seems like they all wanted their own individual restaurant with their own theme and cusine but decided to put it all together. Unfortunately none of it is good. I tried the calamari which was average, the tamarind ribs were bad, the salmon was drenched in sauce and the sushi with some kind of Korean sauce wasn’t very good. The food seemed like it came from a bad episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Even my glass of Proseco was flat and had to be sent back. On the positive side, our waiter was very helpful. Shame, we really do need better restaurants in Princeton. My recommendation, ask Gordon Ramsay to come, do an episode of Kitchen Nightmares and get the owners to figure out the restaurant’s identity and fix the food.

BTW, what the heck was the reviewer from The Star Ledger smoking?

Degustation, NYC

Before I discuss my experience at Degustation, I have to make a confession – Grace Lamb who owns this place has been a friend of mine for over 10 years, well before her restaurant days started with the amazing Jewel Bako. Having said that, my review would probably be the same regardless of who owned the restaurant.

I got to the restaurant pretty much right on time for my reservation, but the rest of my party was over 30 minutes late. This really has no significance apart from the fact that this is a tiny restaurant, holding only 16 diners seated along the bar behind which you can watch the chefs cook your food. So standing around waiting until everyone turned up isn’t a real comfortable experience, plus I just hate waiting!

The space is pretty cramped, but somehow it seems to add to the intimacy of the dining experience. It almost feels like you have been invited to a friends home to experince their cooking repertoire, seated around the kitchen counter while they whip up some incredible food.

The menu is all smal plates and pretty eclectic. They do have a tasting menu of 5 or 10 courses which are pretty reasonably priced. I ended up going with an a la carte selection. I love the idea of small plates because of the variety of things you can try. Eating just one appetizer and main course is so limiting and boring.

My meal started with the croquettes which were stuffed with short rib and potato. Unbelievably good. What a great start. This was followed by grilled octopus with pork belly and a citrus and basil sauce. The octopus was perfectly grilled, another amazing dish. After a slightly longer break, we were offered a complimentary chef special, rabbit soup. This was refreshing and hit the spot. Our hostess recommended the quail with figs which we all orderded, definately a must try. And then finally I had the Wagyu beef cheesestak. The beef was tender, flavorful and a great way to end this incredible meal. All the dishes were put together really well, everything was flavorful without being overwhelming and nothing seemed over prepared. There just seemed to be a nice balance of flavors. This really has to rank pretty high in my eating experiences.

Adding to the enjoyment of the food is being so close to the chefs and watching them prepare the food. You can see them working efficiently over each ingredient, putting your plate together as you build with anticipation and then finally getting to taste the complete dish.

Another great dining experience from Grace and her husband Jack,

Lobster and Pea Shoots with BUtter Fried Garlic & Ginger

I made this recently for our White Burgundy wine tasting. It turned out to be quite a hit with everyone. I had never made lobster before so I was particularly proud of how it turned out. The recipe itself is pretty easy and really quite tasty. The recipe is from Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Total Time: 35 Mins

Ingredients:

Two 1 1/2 lobsters
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large garlic cloves thinly sliced
3 tablespoons finely julienned fresh ginger
2 red thai chiles thinly sliced
Salt
3 1/2 ounces pea shoots or 4 ounce bunch watercress
1/2 cup finely shredded basil leaves

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add lobsters head first and cook until bright red, about 5 minutes. Transfer lobsters to a bowl. Pour out water, except 1/4 inch. Set a steamer basket in the pot, cover and simmer.
2. When lobsters are cool enough to handle, twist off the claws, then the heads and discard the heads. Using a large knife, cut the tails in half lengthwise and discard the intestinal veins. Loosen the meat in the tail shells, leaving it in the shells. Crack the claws so the meat can be removed. Remove the meat from knuckles too.
3. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Skim off the foam. Add garlic and cook until golden. Add ginger and chiles and cook over moderate heat for about 3 minutes. Season with salt.
4. Bring the water in the pot to a simmer. Add the lobster, cover and steam until heated through. About 1 minute.
5. Set a medium skillet over high heat. Add pea shoots and toss until barely wilted for about 1 minute; transfer to a platter. Top with lobster, garlic butter and basil. Serve.

Oktoberfest, with a Difference

Last night we got together for our wine club again, though this time we decided on Oktoberfest as our theme and went with beers. Since we’re not sticklers for “rules” we stretched the concept and went with beers, not necessarily German and the German food was not exactly German either.

Our core group includes the Pandya’s (Shailesh & Divya), the Mercando’s (David & Noreen), the Belgians (Leen and Johan) and us, the Patels. We usually have a guest or 2 or 3. This time Johan’s boss’ boss, Werner from Belgium was in town so we invited him to join us. I’d met him earlier that morning when we went to race cars on a track. He fit right into the group.

Our hosts for the evening were David & Noreen. Noreen, the tile grout looked really good, great job!

I’m not really a beer guy, just like I am not a white wine guy. Red wine is my drink of choice. Too many carbs & calories in beer with insufficient payoff in flavor for me. Though I do like Belgian beers which I discovered about a year ago at a get together at Leen & Johan’s.

We tried a number of different beers last night and as is usual, we rated them all. Onto the beer.

1. St. Pauli Girl (German) – 4 thought it was doable while Johan and I thought it was stinky. It was a pretty bland beer. The girl on the bottle promised so much and delivered so little, leaving me completely unsatisfied. Damn shame!

2. Samuel Adams, Octoberfest Seasonal Brew (US) – Considered doable/ok. Had a slight caramel like flavor, a little sweet, though not excessive.

3. Corsendonk Pale Ale (Belgian) – This is a cloudy beer and was voted as good by all. Best so far.

4. Corsendork Dark (Belgian) – Decent beer, but not as good as the pale ale. Considered ok.

5. Chimay Premier (Belgian) – Chimay is one of my favorite beers and was rated as good. There are 3 types of Chimay, I brought the red label and Leen informed me that I should have brought the blue label. I guess I screwed up.

6. Duvel (Belgian) – My favorite beer. This one got some mixed ratings, including 1 ok, 1 good and 3 very goods. It’s a pretty strong beer.

7. Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence (US) – This beer has chocolate. I was a little afraid to try it thinking it would be sweet. The concept just didn’t make sense to me. The first taste was a complete shock. The beer is dark and bitter, like a stout. Kind of reminds you of Guinness which I really like. I think the shock of the 1st taste made me dislike it but it grew on me and I ended up liking it quite a bit. We forgot to rate this one so I’ll say it was good.

8. St. Barnardus (Belgian) -Rated as a good beer.

9. Golden Carolus (Belgian) – David noticed a hint of molasses in this. 4 of the group considered it very good while 2 others thought it was good.

10. Franziskaner Weissbier (German) – A pretty mild beer and considered ok.

This was more of a Belgian Oktoberfest than a German one, but atleast it was beer. I am ready to move back to red wine after doing white wine and beer for the last 2 get togethers. Though I must say that the beers were generally pretty good and I don’t even have a hangover!

In terms of food, we had:

- Bratwurst – very good
- Squah soup – I didn’t taste this
- Goulash – very good. Best German Goulash I have eaten, but where were the fries Leen?
- Veal Schnitzel – I made this and liked it
- Selection of German cheeses
- Pear Cake – very good.

Another good evening, though a little tame by our standards. We even ended before midnight.

Ganges, Princeton Junction, NJ

I recently joined a number of my work colleagues for lunch at nearby Ganges. Generally, I have a pretty poor opinion of Indian restaurants in the area. The food usually is pretty underwhelming, bland and appears to be put together by non chefs – cooks who know the ingredients but really can’t cook well, they can do just enough to get by. I will say that my standards for Indian food are extremely high since both my wife & I can really cook good Indian food.

We had about 8 of us going to lunch. Kedar, Danielle and I left the office on time and waited, and waited, and waited for the others to turn up. Turns out Bill kept everyone waiting. I would have just left him behind.

Anyway, onto the food. We did the buffet which is the typical Indian lunch thing. The assortment wasn’t great. They had the typical chicken tikka masala which seemed watered down, a few vegetable dishes, tandoori chicken (usually the worst thing to eat in a buffet and Ganges did not disappoint). There weren’t any lamb dishes – what the heck! They did have masala dosa if requested, which we obviously did. But it took them forever to bring out the right chutney. I was done with my dosa by the time it came out.

Dessert was way too sweet as is usual with Indian desserts. We ordered the chai which was excessively milky and short on spices.

The others seemed to like this place somewhat more than I did. All I have to say is either they don’t know Indian food or their standards leave a lot to be desired. I for one will not return.

11 Madison, New York

I recently went back to 11 Madison for lunch after an absence of 3 years. I had been a number of times previously since I worked just around the corner but now that I work in New Jersey I just don’t get into the city as much, though I hope to rectify that. From the moment you walk into 11 Madison, you feel that you are walking into a really good restaurant. The restaurant is in a gorgeous space with high ceilings, all very tastefully furnished. Just a great space.

Service is perfection too. Service is attentive but not intrusive. Just the right balance. After all this is a Danny Meyer restaurant. The man really knows how to create and execute perfection when it comes to restaurants. His other restaurants Tabla, Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern rank pretty high on my list of favorite restaurants.

Moving on to the food, I had bone marrow crusted beef tenderloin with beef cheek. I was a little apprehensive but it intrigued me enough to order it. It was amazing. I haven’t been able to stop talking about this meal. It was cooked perfectly and tasted great. The amuse bouse was watermelon gazpacho. That was unbelievably good too. My lunch companion had the lamb sausage which she enjoyed too. We skipped dessert since we had a business meeting to run to, just coffee (decaf for me – you don’t want me on caffeine).

I think I need to return for dinner.

Celler De L`encastell Marge 2006

If you have kept up with my blogs on wine, you will know that I absolutely love Spanish Priorats. I discovered Priorats about a year ago and just fell in love. I now have a decent collection of Priorat’s. It really is my favorite right now. The problem has been that these wines are typically difficult to find since they are small production wines and usually expensive, running in the $50 or higher range. Well, I recently got my daily email alert from The Wine Library which had a Priorat for under $25 and I had to jump on it. It was rated 92 points by Jay Miller of The Wine Advocat.

I tried the wine last Monday night with Johan while watching my sorry Jets lose to the Chargers. This wine was amazing. What great value. Here’s what Jay Miller had to say about the wine:

“The 2006 Marge is 60% Garnacha, 14% Syrah, 13% Merlot, and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 8 months in French and American oak. Purple-colored with a ruby rim, it has an enticing nose of lavender, violets, garrigue, cherry and blueberry which jumps from the glass. Smooth textured, spicy, and full-flavored, the wine has terrific depth and length. Give it 2-3 years to blossom and drink it through 2020.”

Here’s a link to the wine. Buy it if you can.

http://winelibrary.com/reviewwine.asp?item=41275

White Burgundy Tasting

We had another wine club get together last night at Leen & Johan’s place. As is customary, your place, your choice of wine and food. After deliberations that seemed to have gone on for an eternity, Leen finally decided on White Burgundy. I am not really into white wine, more of a red wine snob, but the great thing about the wine club is you get to try some many different wines and learn to appreciate the subtleties of the different wines.

It was another great night, good wine, good food with good friends. We ended up spending 6 hours, the longest yet. I guess the conversation was highly entertaining, though I decided to steer clear of politics this time (I am the contrarian in the group with no one else sharing my political point of view). We even adminstered a sobriety test on Divya, I think she flunked but she denies it.

On to the wine:

1. 2005 Mercurey Premier Cru, Domaine Michel Juillot – this was a refreshing, decent, light wine with a long lingering flavor profile. We initially rated it as very good and after tasting the others we revised the rating to ok/good. Johan was a disenter, claiming that “this wine does not excite me”.

2. 2006 Bourgogne Blanc, Chardonnay – we finally agreed with Leen (probably the best wine palate in the group) that the wine did smell corked, though not in taste. This wine was fruiter and better than the first. Rated as good.

3. 2005 Mersault, Bouchard Pere & Fil – we were really looking forward to trying this wine and the first sip left us all disappointed. Noreen even hated this wine. We did go back at the end of the night and retried this wine and it was completely different. It was actually really good. The problem seems to have been that it was too cold originally which diminished its flavor.

4. 2004 Chablis Premier Cru, La Foret – Cheapest wine of the night and was considered to be good / very good. Best price value relationship.

5. 2004 Chateau Fuisse, Pouilly Fuisse – The most expensive wine of the night at $48. It had a fabulous bouquet and was rated as excellent. Best of the night.

6. 2006 Frederic Trouillet, Pouilly Fuisse – decent wine rated as ok / good.

The wine was paired with:

- Linguine with clams on the shell
- Shrimp
- Scallops
- Lobster with ginger, garlic, chilli butter and pea shoots

And since Leen and Johan are from Belgium I practically forced Leen to make Belgian fries with homemade mayo. Belgian fries are the very best! Somehow I ended up cutting the potatoes and doing the double fry. How the heck did that happen?

Another successful night. These really are the best neighbors anyone could hope for. Next up, we’re at David & Noreen’s beach house to experience Oktoberfest.

Greg Norman Estate Wines

Greg Norman Estates:
Don’t be fooled by this golf legend dabbling in wine. Greg Norman takes his wine making as seriously as his golf game

2005 North Coast Cabernet
The 05 cab needed a little time to open but for a young wine, it drank quite well. The majority of the grapes come from Sonoma so it’s no surprise this wine had a lush fruit profile. The aroma of berries was pleasing and a hint of vanilla and cassis added to its character. I thoroughly enjoyed the wine and the $15.00 price is a bargain for this quality. I highly recommend it.

2005 Lake County Zinfandel
If you’re a fan if zins you’ll enjoy this wine. You instantly delight in the peppery spice and earthy nature of this wine. Blackberry and red raspberry dominate this wines character and it finishes quite nicely. To preserve its fruity character the winemaker kept the wine in small oak barrels for a short six months. My first love is big, bold reds but I enjoy an occasional light and spicy red. This wine fit the bill nicely. I recommend it.

Reviewed by guest reviewer Rick

Nha Trang One, New York

I first experienced Nha Trang way back in January 1994 during my first week at business school in New York. Patrick had been going there for some time with his then girlfriend Jennifer (now wife) and he raved about the palce. We went there with a few others as a team bonding thing. From my very first Pho and fresh shrimp roll I was hooked. I ended up going there every few weeks with Patrick & Jennifer. It became a regular thing for us. And I kept going after business school until I moved to the New Jersey burbs a few years ago.

This place is quite simply amazing and amazingly cheap. It is a dive, decor and service aren’t anything worth writing about, but the food is just brilliant! If you like Pho, this is the place to go. Since moving to the burbs I have sought out other vietnamese restaurants but nothing really compares well. My typically menu includes fresh shrimp rolls, pho, shrimp with salt & pepper, fried spring rolls, beef with tomatoes and chicken with chilli and lemon grass. Obviously not all in one dining session, but I usually rotate through on my visits and we always go family style (except for the Pho).

I hadn’t been back for probably 2 years, but just last week had lunch with Pat here who I hadn’t seen for way too long. And I’m happy to report that the food is still as good as ever. I need to go back more frequently. I really had forgotten what I was missing. Lunch for 3 was $45. Great deal for the quality of food.

There are a couple of other Nha Trang’s in Chinatown. Go to the one at 89 Baxter Street, just off Canal. It’s the original and the best.

Bordeaux Night

It’s been a while since I wrote about one of our wine tasting nights. Last month we did martini’s instead of wine but this month we’re back on track again. The way this works is that we are four couples in our self made wine club and we rotate through a different couple’s home once a month (though a lot more regularly lately). The host couple gets to decide the wine theme and food theme for the night and everyone brings 2 bottles plus 1 dish consistent with the theme. We started this back in October last year and it’s something we all look forward to very much.

This time around we were at my place and we’d selected Bordeaux’s plus grilled food. We tried 8 Bordeaux’s and then hit my collection for an excellent Priorat (I love Priorats) and a Napa Cab. We did have 4 guest attendees, we usually do though the core of the group is the 4 couples.

My love affair with wine started just a few years ago and has been much more serious in the last 2 years. As a result I really haven’t made it around the wine world. I started on California Cabs and gradually moved on from there, trying different wines and developing my palette. The wine club has been a great way to accelerate the learning. I have never really tried much Bordeaux and I must say I like it, though not as much as I like Cabs, Rioja or my favorite Priorat.

Onto the wine (in order of tasting):

1. Chateau Cote Du Baleau, Saint Emilian Grand Cru, 2005 – Generally rated as good. It had an initial bitter taste and a very long flavor profile with the flavor moving from the sides of the tongue to the center. Leen thought the wine was a little corked, she probably has the most sensitive palette and sense of smell.

2. Chateau Saint Marie, 2006 – good, smooth, but the 1st wine was better

3. Chateau Pierrail, 2006 – good, best so far. It was a smooth cab like wine

4. Cheval Noir Grand Vin, 2003 – This was rated as just ok, a classification just above “doable”.

5. Chateau Saint Michel, 2005 – Considered to be good, almost very good. Thank you Shailesh & Divya

6. Chateau Du Moulin Rouge, Haute Med, 2005 – This wine was doable/ok. Not worth buying really.

7. Chateau Beaumont, Haut Medoc, 2001 – worst wine of the night, also the most expensive. Rated as stinky

8. Chateau Mont-Perat, 2003 – rated as doable

That was the Bordeaux’s. We still had some steam left in us so with help from my gorgeous neighbours (the women, not the guys – Divya was looking pretty hot!), we selected 2 more wines from my collection.

9. Masperla, Priorat, 2005 – this is a 94 point Robert Parker rated wine and it’s fabulous. If you’ve never tried Priorats you have to try them. The only downside is that they are expensive. It’s more of an indulgence wine.

10. Anderson Conn Valley Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 – This is another highly rated wine and is an excellent example of a good Napa Cab.

The Bordeaux’s ranged in price from $15-$25. That’s typically of our wine club selections.

The food last night was great too, nothing was bad. We had whole leg of lamb, jerk chicken, chicken kebabs, ribeye, cheesecake and watermelon.

Another fabulous night, good friends, good wine and food.

Buddakan, New York

I went to Buddakan a few weeks ago because Dale, one of the contestants on Top Chef was a chef at the restaurant. His food seemed really interesting and inventive so I figured I should check it out. Talking about Top Chef, is there a more georgeous woman on TV than Padma Lakshmi? That’s another blog I may write sometime.

The food at Buddakan is asian, but modern asian – basically asian fusion. Buddakan also has locations in Philadelphia and Atlantic City. As is obligatory, I checked out the Zagat review just in case it was lousy, which it wasn’t. Getting a reservation 24 hours before dinner was pretty easy.

Buddakan is one of those cool, trendy places where the staff and patrons are pretty attractive. It seems to be more about the cool and trendy, a place to be seen at the bar rather than the food. The restaurant itself is a huge space, even the hostess space is like a trendy hotel lobby.

After a martini at the bar while we waited for Michelle, we were escorted to our table. From my other posts, you’ll know that I like to try a bunch of things rather than being boring and just having 1 thing so we ordered a number of appetizers and mains which we shared. Our waiter was extremely helpful in helping us decide what to order and we were not steered wrong. The steak, cod and short rib were all excellent – tasty and perfectly cooked. The steak was probably the worst thing we had and it was pretty good. The cod was outstanding. We shared a couple of desserts which too were good.

Overall the food was better than I had expected and it was also very reasonably priced – all in all a very good experience and one I will repeat.

Yuva, New York

Anyone who has been to Delhi and eaten at Bukhara at The Maurya Sheraton hotel realises how good Indian food can be. The food at Bukhara is referred to as northwest frontier cuisine (the border between Pakistan & Afghanistan) with lots of succulent, melt in your mouth kebabs cooked in a tandoor. These are quite simply the best kebabs in the world. Bukhara has been voted one of the best restaurants in the world.

I have only been once, way back in early 1993 and since then I have been hoping they opened a location in New York. There have been other restaurants by the same name but that’s all they were. Well, finally it looks like my quest is over. While Bukhara hasn’t opened a New York branch, a former chef from Bukhara has recreated the menu at Yuva and when I heard this, I had to go try it out.

A couple of weeks ago during Restaurant week, Kedar and I were looking for somewhere to go, some new restaurant to try. He sent me a short list of restaurants with brief descriptions and in that list was Yuva. As soon as I read that the chef was formerly at Bukhara, that was our choice.

We checked out the restaurant week menu and it looked good but after perusing their regular menu we both had to order the Yuva platter which included 2 types of chicken, 2 types of lamb, shrimp and afghani kebab. Basically this was a mixed grill. And…it was amazing. The meat was the most tender, ever and tasty too. At lesser restaurants, the meet is overcooked and dry and also overwhelmed by the spices. Not so here. Should I say it was perfect? We had another in our party who ordered daal and lamb in a cashew sauce – also amazing.

The restaurant itself is a little small and service is slow, actually too slow but these don’t detract too much from the food. Located on East 58th street it is next to Chola and Dawat, both good indian restaurants.

Yuva, along with Devi has become my favorite Indian restaurant.

Mediterra, Princeton, NJ

For the last few years I have resisted going to Mediterra, ever since I had lunch there once. The burger I had wasn’t great and the service was worse. I’m happy to report that things were way better this time around. I try to give restaurants atleast 2 tries, especially if during my first visit I didn’t try the specialties of the house.

It was late in the evening and I wanted to have dinner where I could sit outside and enjoy the weather. Mediterra is located just by Palmer Square on Hulfish Street in a great location so I surpressed my original opinions of the place and decided to go there. Mediterra bills itself as a casual, upscale restaurant serving food from the 21 countries surrounding the mediterranean.

We were three for dinner and were seated outside. The weather was just perfect. The only annoying thing was a lone diner on the table next to us who spent most of dinner talking loudly on his phone and then yelling across to some people he knew as they walked by. Boy was he annoying as hell. I think cell phones should be banned in restaurants, though I did get a call and quickly ended it, probably in under 30 seconds.

For once I decided to skip the appetizers and just eat the main course. I need to watch the calories! I ordered the Paella which was excellent. Just the right size portion and perfectly seasoned and flavored. One of our party ordered the cod which he said was excellent. The 3rd in our party wanted to go off menu and got a bespoke pasta dish which the chef was happy to do. That too was very good. I had a red wine sangria to acoompany my meal, very refreshing.

Live music was playing at the restaurant. It wasn’t too loud and quite pleasant. Our waiter, Pedro was very attentive and chatty. He took his job seriously which is what I like to see. He was so eagar to make sure everything was perfect. We skipped dessert and went somewhere else for some excellent ice cream. Dinner for 3 turned out to be under $70. Great value.

I may have to start changing my opinion of Princeton area restaurants.

http://www.terramomo.com/restaurant/mediterra/index.html

McCormick & Schmick’s, Bridgewater, NJ

Since the last days of school are easy my family decided to take a trip to the mall and I met them there. We decided to eat at the restaurant called McCormick & Schmick’s at the Bridgewater Commons restaurant. The restaurant seemed smaller then I remembered it the last time we went there. We picked the 4 person booth, for a more cozy experience, to eat our meal. The menu had the day and date on it signifying that they prepare a new menu everyday depending on the fresh fish of the day. The wine menu on the reverse offered a variety of choices to match the choice of food. Divya ordered the Chateau Michelle Riesling and I ordered a Sam Adams. For Appetizers, we decided to order the Large Sampler of the Oysters and we decided to rate them so that the next time we come we can get that plate. My daughter’s Meghan and Isha passed on the Oysters but enjoyed a bowl of the Seafood and Corn Chowder which was a delight.

-Hama-Hama Oysters – A little fishy for us.
-Chiconteague Oysters – Good
-Blue Diamond Oysters – Good
-Salty Aire Oysters – Very Good
-Jorstad Creek Oysters – Doable
-Blue Bayon Oysters – good size and better than good.

Verdict the next time we will order the Salty Aire Oysters or the Blue Bayon.

Since we do not have a very large appetite we decided to share three entrees.
Isha tried the Fried Shrimp Platter which came with fries and a cocktail sauce. The shrimp was cooked just right and the batter was crispy the fries complimented the shrimp perfectly.

Meghan decided on the Crab Cake Duo which we also enjoyed but we felt we have had better at the Cheesecake Factory which will be my next review.
Lastly my wife Divya and I decided on the Miso Cod Kodiak Alaska, which I must admit we absolutely loved. The Cod reminded me of the Chilean Sea Bass and it was moist and flakey. It came with some crispy fresh leafy vegetables and a lemon flavored sauce to me mind it was the best dish we ordered. This is a very upscale sea food restaurant and I am sure we will visit it again soon.

Review by guest reviewer Shailesh.

A night of Riojas and more

We had another get together for the neighborhood wine club this past Friday. This time our hosts were Johan and Leen. As is customary with our wine club, the host determines the varietal of wine we’ll be drinking and also the food theme for the evening. Everyone then supplies 1-2 bottles of wine and a dish. They selected Rioja’s and Tapas.

While I have had some Rioja’s, I really haven’t had them since I started getting serious about wine. That’s the great thing about the wine club – it forces you to try different wines and appreciate the differences between them. We all look forward to these evenings which have now been going on for about 6 or 7 months.

My general feeling after Friday night is that I need to drink more Rioja’s and add them to my wine collection which is now around 150 bottles (mainly cabs and syrah’s). We tried a number of Reserva’s and Crianza’s, with the reservas being better than the crianza’s as they should be. I had never really appreciated how wonderfully complex and tasty rioja’s can be.

On to the specific wines:

1. Palacio Quemado, Reserva 2001 – soft, smooth, strong flavor and nose and rated as good. One of the best of the night.

2. Herederos Del Marques De Riscal Reserva, 2003 – we ended with all 4 couples buying this wine. This has never happened before. We decided to drink 2 and swap out the other 2. This wine had a strong nose, not as smooth as the first wine, bolder taste, a little smokiness. Was considered the favorite of the night by a few people.

3. Marques De Vargas, Reserva, 2003 – Strong bouquet, unbelievable legs, rated as good too.

4. Ursa Maior, Crianza, 2004 – a little sour, rated just ok.

5. Marques De Caceres, Crianza, 2004 – light body, not really memorable, just ok, not bad for casual drink.

6. Primavera, Bairrada, 2003 – not a rioja (we swapped it out for #2). Rated stiinky, the worst wine of the night.

7. D’arenberg McLaren Vale d’arry’s original, Shiraz Grenache, 2004 – this is an Australian winery that produces great wines which range in price from $15 to $100. This particualr wine was good, even folks who didn’t like shiraz’s liked this one.

8. Terra Barossa, Shiraz, 2006 – An ok wine, the D’arenberg was much better.

Once again we had a great eveining with friends, good wine and food. I really like this neighborhood – what more could you want?

East, Plainsboro, NJ

East is an asian restuarnt that serves a pretty large menu of Chinese and Sushi items. Occassionally it also serves some Thai items too. The restaurant hasn’t been open too long, located in Plainsboro Village Center. I was pretty excited to try the place because I have been looking for a sushi place close to work – somewhere I could get to and from quickly during lunch.

The restauarant is nice and bright and very clean, though the tables are really small. I think they can barely fit 2 entrees and drinks. I went in a party consisting of my 2 kids, 2 neices and my wife. We all tried something different. The kids had chicken lo mein and hot & sour soup, the girls had fried sushi (i’d never heard of such a thing until this lunch – there’s something very wrong with having friend sushi!), I had traditional sushi, including a spicy tuna roll and hand roll and my wife had some thai noodles. The soup was good, lo mein was awful, the thai noodles not so good, the fried sushi was overwhelmed with a sticky brown, sweet sauce and my sushi was acceptable, though knife skills leave a little to be desired.

The servers were eagar to please though english seemed to be an issue for our waitress. I was worried I wasn’t going to get what I had ordered.

The restaurant was pretty busy for a late saturday lunch so it appears to have built up somewhat of a following pretty quickly. I’ll probably go back once to try the chinese items, but on current form we now have another bad chinese addition to New Jersey – like we need any more! For sushi, I’ll just stick to Whole Foods for now.

Cactus Creek, 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon

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I picked up a case of this wine a couple of days ago, splitting it with my neighbors. I had read about it in an email from the Wine Library and it sounded worth trying, especially considering the price which was under $12 for a Napa Valley cab. I needed an everyday cab since I was running low in the sub $20 wines. I expected a decent wine, nothing to write home about but I was pleasantly surprised. It was more than I was expecting for $12. The wine is smooth, lots of fruity flavor – plums and berries, a little on the sweet side though not a great nose. This is a wine that compares well to wines in the $20-$25 range. It’s a good wine to just sip casually sitting at home.

Here are the tasting notes from The Wine Libray:

“Too good to be true? Think again! Yes, this is high quality Napa Cabernet for only $12! Ripe with great strawberry, raspberry, black currants, plums and black berry, with great tannins and a long, dusty finish. This is a must try! Fans of Twenty Bench and Franciscan will love this!”

Here’s a link to buy it:

http://winelibrary.com/reviewwine.asp?item=38933

The Perfect Burger at Stage Left, New Brunswick, NJ

So I finally got over to Stage Left last Friday to try their cheeseburger which is modestly called “The World’s Best Cheeseburger”. I heard about the cheeseburger at Stage Left in New Brunswick probably three years ago and since then I have been thinking about going to try it. The problem is that they serve it for lunch only and they are only open on Friday for lunch. Plus, it isn’t exactly conveniently located to my office so I can’t go and have lunch there unless I want to take a two hour lunch. Though I did learn that they serve it at the bar in the evening too.

I have always been on a quest to find a great cheeseburger. I love cheeseburgers but the guilt associated with the calories, saturated fat and the carbs (well you have to eat fries with a burger!) mean that I only eat a burger when I know that it will be good enough to compensate for the guilt. The problem with most burgers is the excessivelly sized bun where the bread overwhelms the meat, or an under-seasoned patty or something that is just a sloppy mess. My reigning favorite was the burger at Union Square Cafe but the Stage Left burger is probably as close to perfection as you’re going to get.

First off, this burger makes an entrance – it looks intimidating. The patty is massive. As you sit there contemplating it you think to yourself that there is no way this thing will fit in your mouth and how the heck can you finish it? Trust me you can, or atleast you’ll want to. It comes covered in aged cheddar and excellent bacon, onion, lettuce and tomato. The burger was perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned. The bun was even perfect – not too big, slightly toasted and just right. From the first bite of the burger you just realize how good this burger is. Perfection extends beyond the burger to the fries. Calling them fries seems like an injustice. They are massive chunks of fried potato slices and boy are they good. The burger and fries are $16 and well worth it.

I have truly found my burger.

Red Zinfandels

This past Friday our monthly wine club got together at David & Noreen’s. As is our custom, the host decides what wine selection we will be drinking and also what food everyone needs to bring. This was our night for red zinfandels.

We tried a selection of 7 different wines. I got serious about wine about 18 months ago, starting with California cabs, syrahs and pinot noirs so have not really been familiar with red zins. The great thing about the wine club is that rather than being stuck with a particular type of wine, we end up trying a lot of different varietals based on everyone’s tastes. You end up really learning what you like and don’t. It’s a great way to explore the confusing world of wine. Also a great way to bond with your neighbours.

Onto the wine:

1. Cheyanna, 2004, Napa Valley – good, light wine. Great value at $10, make that amazing value. This wine had a 92 rating from Wine Advocate. Best of the night.

2. Hartford, 2005, Russian Valley – another good wine, but not as good as the first wine. Also much more expensive at $24.

3. Neal Family Winery, 2006, Napa – stronger, fuller flavor than the previous 2 wines, more like what I was expecting from a red zin. Another wine that cost $24. This wine was ok.

4. Earthquake, 2005 – A very heavy, strong wine. Even the bottle was heavy! Rated as just ok.

5. Cline, 2006 – This wine was $15 and rated the worst of the night. It was a struggle finishing this wine. Probably our first stinky wine of the wine club – sorry Johan.

6. Farleigh, 2004 – This wine has grapes from 2 counties in California, with 50% coming from Mendocino and the other 50% from Amador. This wine is decently rated though we thought it was just ok. It cost around $10.

7. Seghesio, 2006 – We rated this as just doable which falls below ok and above stinky.

The surprising thing is that the wines were pretty erratic in their quality, with price not really being a good indicator. The best wine cost only $10 and some of the more expensive wines were just ok.

We next meet at Leen and Johan’s in a few weeks. The plan is to try a bunch of Rioja’s.

Nova Terra, New Brunswick, NJ

I recently went to Nova Terra with my team for dinner. Been meaning to go there and try the rodizio for a while. I am a huge fan of rodizio at Churrascaria Plataforma in New York. I have been going to Plataforma for years and it is the gold standard when it comes to rodizio. If you haven’t tried rodizio, it’s a fun thing to do with a group of people. I typically try to go with a large group, though they have to have hearty appetites. I made the mistake of going with Radhika, Melissa and Stephanie to Plataforma – just wasn’t their thing. Doesn’t help that Melissa is a vegetarian.

The rodizio is only available on Wednesday evenings and costs $30. It includes a bunch of appetizers, the meat selection and grilled pineapple. Drinks and dessert are extra as is normally the case. Once we were seated the eagar, friendly waittress explained the process. We were given dials that are green on one side and red on the other. Green means bring it on and red means stop. We were given salads to start and than a selection of appetizers. The appetizers are tapas like and were very tasty. After this came the main event – the meat. We started with chicken and sausage – the cheaper cuts of meat come first. After that came pork loin, lamb, beef, ribs, etc. The selection was pretty narrow compared to Plataforma but everything was very good, surprisingly good. The meat is brought out on skewers by the wait staff. Unfortunately their cutting technique really wasn’t up to par, but what the heck it was still tasty.

The restaurant is located in downtown New Brunswick on Rt. 27 near the train station. It’s a pretty large space with a bar at the center of it. I had a very good martini while I was waiting for the others to turn up. The place is nicely decorated, trying to be hip, but just lacking a little something compared to places in major metro cities. It’s probably a busy bar scene on friday and saturday evenings, filled with a young, single, professional crowd.

Bottomline, I like this place. I’ll be back for the rodizio which will save me a trip into New York. I guess I should also try the other stuff on the menu.

Link to restaurant: www.terramomo.com/restaurant/novaterra/index.html

My review of Plattaforma: www.foodielifestyle.com/2007/12/10/churrascaria-plataforma-new-york/

Sotto 128, Princeton, NJ

Sotto is a surprisingly good italian restaurant in Princeton on Nassau Street. I had previously been there for drinks after work and had some of their bar food which was decent but not memorable. I went back again with some folks from work for dinner this time and I was pretty surprised and impressed.

Upon entering the restaurant you need to walk downstairs to the restaurant and bar, which is subterranean. The restaurant is pretty large though it isn’t much to look at, kind of like a nicer version of your local pasta joint. The place was pretty empty that evening. The table we sat at hadn’t been cleaned properly, there was some spilled oil where I was sitting. Our wonderfully helpful and friendly waitress cleaned it up without complaint, almost happily.

Their wine list is pretty interesting. They have a selection of South African wines from Olsen Wineries. The waitress informed me that the owner of the winery comes in for dinner a lot. We ordered their Pinotage which was only $38 for the bottle and pretty good. Great value. I’ve been looking to buy more of this wine but haven’t been able to find it. Bummer!

The food is definately the highlight here. We ordered an appetizer sampler which included a lot of stuff, including mussels, calamari, eggplant rollatini, etc., most of it very good. I had a pasta with italian sausage and broccoli rabe which was excellent, a great recommendation from our waitress. The others tried pasta with vodka sauce, veal and some of their vegetarian dishes. Everyone seemed to be happy with their meals. While the food tastes very good, it seems to have been prepared by a good home cook, not a professional chef – the food doesn’t have the refinement you would expect from a restaurant in downtown Princeton. BTW, the tiramisu was very good.

Overall, a good food for dinner and drinks. Definately worth going to again.

www.sotto128.com

Kaesler The Bogan, 2005, Australian Shiraz

Lately I have been enjoying Australian wines a lot, especially Cabernet Sauvignons and Shiraz’s. The wine from Australia is high quality and great value. I purchased this wine some time ago and finally got around to opening it earlier this afternoon. Am I glad I tried it. This wine is from Barossa Valley. Kaesler has been growing grapes since 1893. The fruit for this wine was sourced from vines planted in 1899 and 1965. The wine was stored in American and French oak for 15 months.

I really enjoyed this wine from the very first sip. The wine had a beautiful dark purple color, and a great nose. As we drank the wine over a couple of hours it changed it’s character and tasted different but a good different. This is a seriously good wine with a nice strong, full bodied flavor – just the way I like my wine.

The wine was rated 96 points by Robert Parker for the Wine Advocate. Here’s his review “Aged in new and one-year-old American oak, and made in a completely different style, the 2005 Shiraz The Bogan (from 25- to 105-year-old vines) is a dense purple-colored effort displaying an exuberant nose of toast, blackberries, cassis, cherries, and damp earth. It is full-bodied and powerful with fabulous purity and texture as well as a blockbuster finish. This is a classic example of Barossa Shiraz at its finest. Enjoy it over the next 12-15 years.”

I picked this up at The WIne Library, here’s a link to the wine.

http://winelibrary.com/reviewwine.asp?item=33834