My trip to NY - Part 1

I flew to NY to see family and a few friends a few weeks ago and was able to drink some great wine and beer and had some great food as well. My first full day there, I took the train down to Manhattan to meet my brother, but first stopped at Park Avenue Liquor where I used to work (I left there about 14 years ago, but still recommend it as one of New York City’s best wine and liquor shops). I still have a good friend, Peter, working there and stopped by on the way to my brother’s office to pick up some wine. In NY, liquor stores can sell wine and liquor but not beer. I told Peter I wanted two reds and a white all in the $15 range. He recommended a 2005 Arrocal from Ribero del Duero in Spain (about $20) and a 2005 Delas Cote du Ventoux ($12) for the reds, and a 2006 Saint Bris Sauvignon Blanc from Brocard ($14) for the white. This last one was unusual. Saint Bris is at the northern end of Burgundy near Chablis, but it’s Sauvignon Blanc and not Chardonnay, which is the most widely planted white in that area. I met my brother at his office and we took the bus over to New Jersey where he lives.

We got in about 7:00pm and chilled the white, but spent a fair amount of time with my nephew who I hadn’t met yet (they had been living in London for the last two and a half years). We didn’t start coking anything for dinner until around 8:00 and kept it simple. In this case it was ravioli in red sauce, but I opened the Saint Bris while we got everything ready. The wine was a revelation. My brother doesn’t normally drink whites, but even he was happily impressed. The fruit was very pure but had the steely quality you expect in great Chablis. It had great acidity and finished very crisp and clean with great length to the fruit. We drank part of it as an aperitif, but it would be a standout with food as well. At $14 retail, it’s a complete steal. I don’t know if it’s available in Oregon, but it’s worth seeking out. If you’re in NY, go to Park Ave. and get some of it. It’s that good.

With dinner, we opened the Arrocal which was tremendous but too big for pasta. The wine was deep purple and inky. The nose was filled with tarry, black fruit, and hints of leather and earth. It was well balanced and round, but a massive wine that would have been better with roasted lamb or beef (even though my brother is a vegetarian), but still completely delicious. It overwhelmed the food, and was a real show stopper. It will definitely age well for several years, but unfortunately, I only bought the one bottle. It seemed more muscular than many wines from this region, but had a velvety fruit quality that seems to be a hallmark of the best wines from this region.

The next day, we hit one of the local liquor stores to look for some local beer (because in New jersey, liquor stores can sell wine, liquor and beer). We were lucky to get find a knowledgeable “beer guy” in the store. There’s not nearly the selection of local beers that we have here in Oregon,
But I was able to find some unusual things from the East Coast that I can’t find here.

I found a Farmhouse Ale from Smuttynose in New Hampshire, which is a conditioned Saison style. I also picked up a fourn pack of Imperial Espresso Porter from Flying Fish (Cherry Hill, NJ), a six pack of Stoudt’s Golden Lager (a Helles style from Pennsylvania), and a growler of Climax Brewing’s IPA which was a small brew pub in Roselle Park, NJ (and the most local beer I found). We picked up some food at a local organic supermarket and had triued a few beers with lunch. The Stoudt’s was very impressive and as good as everything I’d read about it. If it was served to me blind I would likely guess that it was a true Munich Helles. The Flying Fish Imperial Porter was also very impressive, which didn’t surprise me as I’ve always been impressed by all of their beers that I’ve tasted. It was certainly “imperial” in alcohol, but was well balanced with great chocolate and mocha notes and without a real dark malt bite to it. It was round and deep and incredibly delicious.

That night I was back in White Plains at my parent’s house and we went to Ernesto’s, an incredible local Italian restaurant, which I opted to write up separately. The next day, I went back to NY to Park Avenue to meet Peter for lunch. We traditionally have gone to lunch around the corner at O’Casey’s which is a great Irish pub and restaurant which has great corned beef and an impressive tap selection. Although Peter had brought a bottle of wine, we actually started with a pint of Leffe, a Belgian Blonde Ale, that I don’t normally find on draft in Portland. It was delicious. We opened the wine with lunch and I’m afraid to say that I don’t recall the grower but it was a Bourgogne Blanc from a grower in Meursault. Peter told me it was essentially declassified Meursault that hadn’t made the final blend. Park Avenue had bought 50 cases of it because it was so good and an amazing value at $25 a bottle. White Burgundy has never been cheap, but this was an incredible value given the quality. After lunch we went back to the store and I bought a few more bottles for the rest of my stay.

That night at my parents we had some beautiful rib eyes and I had more of the Flying Fish Porter, which was even better with substantial food like that. After dinner, I tried the Smuttynose Farmhouse Ale, which was slightly sweeter and less hoppy than Saison Dupont, but which had very authentic flavors and aromas. There was a lovely orange spice note to it and had delicious sweet malt in the finish. I had only bought a single 22 oz bottle of it but would gladly have drunk more of it. I did try the Climax IPA and it was very nice, although like most east coast IPA’s was substantially less hoppy than what we produce on the west coast. It had a good malt backbone and seemed to favor “old school” American hops, like cascade for its hop profile. I fear it was a little past its prime, because it did taste a little tired. I’m not sure how many growlers of this get sold at that liquor store, but I’d like to try it at the brewery to compare. Still it had good flavor and was nicely balanced. I would love to try more of their beers at some point.

Ernesto's: Incredible Old School Italian Food

I’ve been in NY visiting family for a few days and I’m trying to hit some of the highlights of NY food that just aren’t available in NY. One of these things is Italian food. Don’t get me wrong, Portland has good Italian food, but it doesn’t have good Italian American food, particularly of the type served in small neighborhood restaurants that exist throughout the NY metro area. My parents have been customers of Ernesto’s in White Plains for many years. It’s close by, and has great food and service.

Ernesto’s is old school. The room is very nice; the waiters wear suits and bow ties; the bread comes with butter and not olive oil; there’s Dean Martin and Tony Bennett playing quietly in the background; the waiters and Ernesto himself know the patrons. The menu is a little more upscale than most Italian American places, but it’s still an old school menu. They gave us a plate of focaccia with tomato sauce, which I assume is the same dough and tomato sauce they use for their pizzas next door in the pizzeria (there’s a pizzeria and the dinning room). We started with an order of Mussels, which were steamed with tomato sauce and garlic. Nothing fancy, but the mussels were perfect, the sauce was rich with a nice roasted garlic undertone. A single appetizer easily fed three of us. It was simplicity itself, but it was perfectly done. For dinner, two of us had the pollo tasca, which is chicken breast pounded thin and then rolled up with a slice of prosciutto, a layer of mozzarella cheese, and spinach. It’s sautéed and served in a mushroom, stock and (I believe) Marsala reduction and had a side of green beans with olive oil and garlic. It was amazing, and considerably more food than any one person should eat. My father has the sea bass special which came in a light, slightly sweet tomato sauce with mussels and clams on the side. The fish was perfectly cooked and incredibly fresh. The whole dish was light and balanced but also served in an enormous portion. We washed it all down with the house Trebbiano and Montepulciano. Both are work horse wines that went perfectly with the food. The meal was fabulous, and reminded me of other great Italian meals I’ve had in NY, but sadly, never in Portland. In Portland, all of the Italian food is New School, which, although it may be closer to “real” Italian food, can’t compare to the homey goodness of places like Ernesto’s. Plus, there was no snob factor. The service was great. The Maitre d’, Ernesto himself, and the floor manager all came by at different times to say hello and make sure we were happy. I told Ernesto how good the food was and how we couldn’t get food like this in Portland. He bought us a round of wine as well. Food snobs can keep talking about their “authentic” and “real” Italian food serve elsewhere for much more money. I’ll take a meal at Ernesto’s or any of the other great neighborhood Italian American places in NY anytime. And they’ll make me feel like family every time. When was the last time you had a meal like that in Portland?

Keema and Hair of the Dog Adam

My wife still has the sinus infection from hell and it hasn’t completely gone away, so we continue to do the hot and spicy foods. Last night I was supposed to work and she was going to cook, but the plan got changed so she wanted me to cook instead since I would be home. She was planning on doing something with ground beef but had no plans. I suggested keema, and Indian dish made with ground lamb or beef and often potatoes. She agreed so we went that route.

I browned some sweet onions in a little oil until they cooked down and had turned deep brown. Then I added minced ginger, garlic, and chiles and cooked them slightly. Next I added the beef and browned it and added a blend of ground coriander, cumin, fenugreek, a pinch of fennel seeds, and more dried red chiles. I deglazed the pan with water and added a bunch of quartered, peeled red potatoes, lowered the heat, and let it cook. After a few minutes, I realized it would take a while for the potatoes to cook with so little water, but was wary of turning my keema into a liquid stew. I did want to eat at some point that evening, so I did add more water, and ended up with something that was more soup or stew like than most keema. As that cooked, I got some tomatoes out of the garden (because we’re deluged right now), and blanched them in boiling water for a few seconds to remove the skins. I chopped them coarsely and added them to the pot once the potatoes were tender. I also added some garam masala, which is a traditional, aromatic Indian spice blend, and some chopped cilantro. I let the whole sit over low heat for about another three minutes and then served it with rice.

I had thought about what Alan Sprints from Hair of the Dog had said about dark sweeter beers with spicy food and picked up a bottle of Adam when I was at the supermarket. Alan’s web site describes Adam as “top fermented and cold conditioned to give it a rich and mellow smoothness. The unique garnet color is derived from specially roasted barley, and the intense hop profile is provided by the use of only the finest whole hop flowers. It is 8% alcohol by weight (10% by volume).” It uses a small amount of peated malt (I believe) which gives it a subtle smokiness. The smokiness was more apparent with the spiciness of the food. It’s intensely rich (Michael Jackson said it was as rich as any port), and has the body and sweetness to stand up to seriously spicy food. It was a remarkable match with the food and a joy to drink on its own as well. It’s another beer that I have a tendency to overlook because it’s generally available in many supermarkets and in all serious bottle shops. Only in Portland, can you overlook such an incredible, world class beer just because it’s so readily available. It’s always a pleasure to be reminded of how lucky we are to live and drink in Portland.

Henry's Tavern

We went to Henry’s Tavern on Labor Day after a quick trip to Powell’s, where I was able to score a copy of Anya Von Bremzen’s terrific book The New Spanish Table on sale for $10, which gets me pretty much current with all the Spanish cookbooks I’ve been coveting over the last year. Henry’s is a corporate chain restaurant which is owned by the same parent company that owns a few other chains in the Portland area. I had been given a gift card by a very nice client, and was happy to see that it was good at a place that has real beer.

Henry’s has 100 taps, which is impressive, even in Portland, but unfortunately, there aren’t many things on it that you won’t find somewhere else. Still it is an impressive list and two blocks from Powell’s. We had been there once before for afternoon snacks and beer and had a good experience. They have gorgonzola fries which are essentially waffle fries covered with melted gorgonzola. It’s a huge portion that has enough calories to feed a small village but is a perfect snack with a couple of pints (assuming your splitting the order). We’d also had a perfectly acceptable salad. The food was good, the beer was fresh and the service was good.

When we went on Labor Day, we got there around 1:30 at the end of a huge lunch rush. We were able to get a table but the wait staff looked harried and I knew they were trying to get through the end of a large lunch rush (apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought that a trip to Powell’s and Henry’s was a good idea). We got our menus and I chose a pint of Pelican Doryman’s Dark, which I wanted to try last time but which was unavailable. My wife ordered an ice tea. The ice tea came within minutes. The beer didn’t. After five minutes, the waitress came back to say that they were very busy in the bar and it would just be a minute. Ten minutes later (with no other appearances from the waitress), my beer finally arrived. About a minute later, the food showed up. The Doryman’s Dark is a great beer and well deserves the honors it’s gotten. Brown ales are overlooked in this country which is a shame because they’re such good, subtle beers with food. My wife needed another iced tea and again it showed up in minutes.

We started in on the lettuce chicken wraps and fries and my beer was quickly gone. But, alas, where was our waitress. After waiting vainly for more than fifteen minutes, my wife flagged down the hostess and asked if it was possible that we could actually get our waitress. About five minutes later, she showed up, apologetic, and asked what we needed. I ordered an Amnesia IPA and she went to get it, but returned several minutes later to say they had blown the keg, and were too busy to be able to change it, so I ordered a Ninkasi IPA instead, which actually did show up about a minute later. Of course the food was completely cold at this point. Another waitress came by and asked if we needed anything, and I told her, politely, that this was the worst service I had gotten any place in a long time. She explained that our waitress had been pulled down into the bar area because it was so crowded but also said we weren’t the only ones who had complained about the service that day.

At this point we were ready for the check and I was ready to leave absolutely no tip since the service had been deplorable. I don’t do things like this lightly, but I felt it was well deserved. The waitress brought our bill, I put my gift card out, and she went to go ring it through. We had been there well over an hour for two appetizers and two drinks each. The manager did come over and talk to us without being summoned. He did explain again how the bar was crowded and did say that was no excuse. He took the bill and said "let me correct this" and came back a few minutes later. I was expecting him to comp a pint of beer or two, but he actually comped the entire bill. I have to admit that I was very pleasantly surprised and told him as much. He said he didn’t want us to judge them poorly based upon this and said that the service had been unacceptable.

In my mind, it turned a bad experience into a tolerable one. It had been aggravating, but when confronted with it, he was very gracious and more than fair. Because of him, I left the waitress a 20% tip (it wasn’t really her fault that she got pulled into the bar and only had our table left in the main dining room). I will go back again and with an open mind knowing that they tried to take a horrible experience and turn it around.

Merle Gilmore - RIP

The beer world lost Michael Jackson only a few days ago, but today the Portland beer world lost Merle Gilmore, who is far more important to me. Who was Merle? I would have to confess that I didn’t know Merle nearly as well as I should have, so it’s hard for me to try and sum him up.

Merle was a master homebrewer, fabulous mead maker, confectioner extraordinaire, and tireless volunteer in the world of Portland craft brewing. Merle was the kind of guy you would invite for Thanksgiving dinner and would show up with a rib roast, a few pies, and some incredible beers because he didn’t like to show up empty handed. My wife loved the fact that he wouldn’t ignore people in a conversation when it fell into heavy beer nerd mode; he would always do his best to keep everyone in the conversation. Anyone who attended one of Fred Eckhardt’s Chocolate and Beer Tastings knew and had sampled Merle’s fudge (exemplified by his Habanera Fudge that had to be tasted to be believed).

I learned about Merle’s death about an hour after he died. He had fought a two year battle with leukemia and in the end it beat his body but it never conquered his spirit. I had known Merle for some time through our mutual connections in the beer world, but our first real interaction with each other was when I traded him five pounds of homemade sausage for two cases of beer. We both walked away from the deal thinking we had gotten the better end of the bargain but neither of us felt we had “taken” the other. Amongst those two case of beer were two six packs of Saxer’s Jack Frost Dopplebock. When he gave them to me, he pointed that these were from the original Saxer lots, not the ones brewed later at Portland Brewing. At the time I had no idea how valuable these beers were, but I was told before I drank them all and I kept one bottle of it for a special occasion, and what better occasion than this.

Someone on my club’s listserve had suggested that we all toast a pint of great beer to Merle. I did that this afternoon with friends at the Lucky Lab, but it seemed so inadequate a tribute to such an incredible person. What beer can you drink to memorialize and adequately pay a real homage to someone like Merle? Frankly, I don’t have enough great beers to describe or memorialize him, but when I cracked this last bottle of Jack Frost and thought about Merle, I thought about how fitting a beer it was. The beer was incredibly alive, with a deep, rich, complex character. The body was sweet, intense and complex, but incredibly accessible. The finish was long lasting and it beckoned you to go back and experience it again. It was a joy to be around and to experience, kind of like Merle. A beer can never describe a person as incredible as Merle, but, perhaps, it can shine a small light on his goodness and kindness.

Merle, you will be missed. I only hope the angels appreciate your company and fudge as much as we did.

Vindaloo and Doppelbock

My wife has been sick for several weeks. She had a cold that turned into a bad sinus infection and has been suffering from it for a couple of weeks. Antibiotics didn’t help and although she’s getting better, I’ve been trying to make a lot more spicy food of late in the hopes that the heat will help to temporarily unclear her sinuses. We had done some hot and sour soups and various Thai dishes and decided today to do Indian food. I love Indian food and actually cook a fair amount of it at home, but not always in the summer since a lot of the Indian dishes I like require long simmers.

Since it’s not too hot here I decided to make a truly spicy dish that I love: Pork Vindaloo. Vindaloo, to many people, is synonymous with anything Indian that’s insanely hot, but it is a specific dish with an interesting history. The dish was developed in Goa, which was a Portuguese colony for several hundred years. Vindaloo is traditionally made with pork, which is unusual in Indian cooking and uses vinegar which is another non-traditional ingredient. It is a spicy dish, even by Indian standards, but some of the heat comes from mustard oil and the vinegar helps to accentuate the spice of the chiles. Vindaloo also uses some sweeter spices like cinnamon and cardamom, which is reminiscent of the Moorish influence in Iberian cooking.

The basic recipe calls for creating a spice blend of cumin, cinnamon, chiles, mustard seeds, fenugreek (in many versions), and black pepper. This is mixed with vinegar and the meat is marinated in the resulting paste. Later it is cooked with onions, more chiles, garlic, cardamom and occasionally ginger. The resulting dish is spicy but slightly tart form the vinegar bit also sweet from the spices. It’s a definite head clearer and I thought it would be good for my wife’s sinuses.

On the side I planned to have basmati rice, pepper rassam, a fresh mango chutney and tomato chat masala. Pepper rassam is like a thin soup made with toor dal, onions, and tomato and is spiced with chiles, cumin and mustard seeds and is soured with tamarind. It’s delicious on its won or over rice. The mango chutney would be fresh mangoes, with shallots, lime juice, chile and mint. The tomato chat masala is fresh cherry tomatoes tossed with a spice blend that consists of cumin, chiles, black salt (which has a distinct sulfur taste but is still salt, mango powder (which is actually tart), and black pepper. This would spice the tomatoes but not overwhelm them.

There’s a lot of debate about what beers or wines go with very hot and spicy food. I used to try a lot of things, like pilsners, weiss beers, Belgian goldnes and saisons, but to truly beat the spice and heat nothing beats sweeter darker beers like bocks, Oktoberfests, and Baltic porters. Sugar cuts chile heat like nothing else. The one who enlightened me to this fact was Alan Sprints from Hair of the Dog Brewing. Several years ago on our list serve, someone asked what to serve with a traditional Mexican meal. Opinions varied, but Alan insisted on dark sweeter beers. I tried it and he is in fact correct. Hoppy beers (without the sweetness) don’t cut it. Dry beers like Saison Dupont or Duvel don’t cut it. Malt sugar counteracts chiles like nothing else.

Not having any of these beers on hand, I went to look for some German Doppelbocks, as well as some Baltic porter. Both are well suited to hot food. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find fresh examples of both. I was able to find an Aktienbrauerei Doppelbock and am Obolon Porter from Lithuania. Both were good with the food. I’ll be honest the subtleties of the beer were overwhelmed by the spice, but the body and sweetness made both quite nice with the food. The Doppelbock was all about deep rich maltiness. The porter had good dark fruit flavors, as well as an intense molasses and dark sugar flavor. Both were over 7% alcohol and had enough to stand up to the spiciness of the food.

Don’t believe it? Next time you have spicy food, dump the lighter hoppy beers in favor of a good sweet dark beer. You’ll likely be surprised by how well the beer and food come together.

Michael Jackson

I was at my friend Max’s place to meet a friend and discuss our club’s prep class for the BJCP exam. They were swamped and between all of his running around I had the unenviable task of telling Max that Michael Jackson had died. Michael Jackson, for those who don’t know, was, perhaps, the most influential beer writer of our times. He began writing about beer in the 1970’s and was a tireless advocate of real beer, and was an inspiration to a new generation of beer writers. He writings began at a time when beer was given no respect and at a time when many traditional beer styles were dying out. His writing certainly helped to preserve and save these styles and also helped to lead to the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in England and the craft brewing revolution in America. He will be sorely missed. I’m sure many a pint of many excellent beers were raised in his honor on Thursday night.

My clubs list serve was filled with Michael Jackson stories, anecdotes, and quotes, but Max isn’t an online kind of guy and had been so busy all day that he didn’t know until I told him. Max had given me a sample of his Gluteus Maximus barley wine and it seemed an excellent choice to use in a toast to Michael Jackson. Max told us the story of having lunch with Jackson in 1995. I had never met him personally and didn’t attend a tasting he held at Rogue’s brewpub here in Portland a few years ago. I was tight on cash and figured I would have another opportunity to meet him, because I didn’t expect him that he would die at such an early age (he had Parkinson’s and other health issues).

I drank through the sample of barley wine and had a pint of Farmer’s Daughter, which is Max’s Belgian Golden Ale, which falls somewhere between a Saison and Golden Ale. Frankly, I don’t care what style people want to place it in. It’s a fantastic beer that’s filled with exotic spice and fruit notes and finishes very dry (far drier than most American made Belgians). It’s become his flagship beer and I’d happily drink a pint of it any time. I also did have his excellent Belgian IPA, which uses the same yeast as the Farmer’s Daughter, but the same grain bill and hopping schedule as his traditional NW beer. It was another good choice for toasting Michael Jackson, who loved the hoppy beers that the NW is famous for and was also an authority on Belgian beers (he literally wrote the book on it).




John Foyston, the beer writer for the Oregonian has a wonderful tribute of Michael Jackson stories on his blog, The Beer Here. It’s a far better tribute than I could write, so I’d encourage you to read it. In any event, the beer world will never be the same with his passing.