Tour de Soft Serve 2.0

Well, I have pretty much abandoned this blog, mostly because there are already quite a few fantastic bloggers in the area, and also because I've have prioritized other things (like work, family, friends, binge watching Game of Thrones, etc., not necessarily in that order) However, today Matt and I had a fun time exploring some of Saratoga County's little soft serve stands. I couldn't resist posting some highlights, and a link to Matt's public photo album from today: Tour de Soft Serve 2015
He was our driver and photographer, while I helped to navigate and take notes. (Go team!)
The itinerary had 5 ice cream stops:
1. Devoe's Rainbow Delights (Rte 9 in Clifton Park)
2. JJ's Snack Bar (Rte 50 in Ballston Spa)
3. Humpty Dumpty (West Ave., in Saratoga Springs)
4. Dairy Haus (476 Maple Ave. in Wilton)
5. Farmer's Daughter Drive-In (882 NY-29, Saratoga Springs)
We also made two savory stops on the way (one planned, one spur-of-the-moment)
1. Kelly's Mini Hot Dogs (for mini-dogs, what else?)
2. 9 Miles East Farm (for pizza)
Highlights:

• Although I prefer frozen custard and hard ice cream to soft serve, I realized that the addition of a topping significantly enhances a plain-jane dish of soft serve. We asked for 'Heath Bar' topping for all our dishes of chocolate-vanilla twist. (4 out of 5 places gave us 'toffee bits' instead of Heath bar candy, though.) Kids seem to understand this well, as nearly every kid I saw had sprinkles or a dipped cone. Soft serve is also a better vehicle for toppings than ice cream, since the softness allows more topping to stick.
• There was no truly bad soft serve in the group we tested, although textures varied a little bit, and depth of chocolate flavor varied quite a lot. 
• The biggest surprise to me was how much the size of a 'kiddie cup' varied. The one at Humpty Dumpty's was tiny and the ones at Dairy Haus and Rainbow Delight were huge! 

Bonuses:
After the 2nd ice cream stop, we made an impromptu stop at Kelly's Mini Hot Dogs in Ballston Spa. At $1.10 a piece for 'works with cheese' it was quite possibly the best value of the day.

Seems like Kelly's is a local favorite, but it's a tiny place, kind of under the radar.
I'll wait for The Profussor to summarize and reveal the results of the comparative tasting of the ice creams. I definitely have my opinion, though.
After five servings of sweet sweet soft serve, we headed out to Nine Miles East, where they let us sit and enjoy some freshly baked pizzas (cheese, sausage and cheese, and the seasonal pizza with farm fresh garlic, basil, and onions.) These pizzas were excellent, especially when it came to flavorful sauce and toppings. Their crust is pretty unique, and it was tasty as long as the pizza was hot. Once it cooled down, it was much more dense and kind of lost it's appeal. Freshness counts, as usual.

The staff there were super friendly, allowed us to eat right at the farm and even introduced us to a beautiful flock of chickens. (Zero didn't get to meet them - that would not have gone well for the chickens!) Although the eggs aren't for sale, we did get to take some home with us!

Saratoga Beer Festival

Back in January, a coworker alerted me to a groupon for 'some beer thing in Saratoga' that we might want to check out. It looked like a pretty good deal - $10 per person for a four hour session at the 'Beer Summit'. If the beers were at all good, it would be hard not to get our money's worth, we thought. So, we bought in, and then promised to remind each other six weeks later that we had tickets to beer tasting in Saratoga. Luckily, one of us set a reminder in her cell phone, and there we were at noon on a Saturday ready to do some drinking at the Saratoga City Center. The tasting was well-attended, and it seemed like people were having a pretty decent time, but there were definitely some highlights and lowlights.

First, the lowlights:

1. Our 'souvenir tasting glass' was one of those "5.5-oz" things that usually only get filled with 3-4 ounces of beer. I'd rather have had a more reasonable size 'taste', and it would be much better advertising if they gave us functional pint glass that we'd actually use.

2. Four beer tokens were included with admission, which would be great, except that the nicer beers from Ommegang, Brasserie Dupont, Chimay, and other 'special' beers required two tokens apiece. Considering the paltry quantity of beer in each taste, the double-charge seemed kind of lame. Those beers didn't seem to be selling very well, either. We ended up buying additional tokens for $2 per piece.

3. The price of admission at the door was $30 per person, and a lot of the beers were not very interesting. I would have been unhappy with paying $7.50 for 4 ounces of beers like Blue Moon, Yuengling, Sam Adams, and Shock Top. We happened to meet some friends who had paid the door price, and I felt kind of bad for them.

4. Most of the beers were being served by volunteers instead of reps from the breweries, which meant that we didn't really get any special background about the beers.

5. The tasting was scheduled to go until 4 pm, and last call was at 3:30pm, which was not communicated from the get-go. We had to scramble and beg the servers to exchange our last tokens for beer. Again, I felt kind of bad for the people who paid $30 for the event.

There were a few highlights:

1. The music was great -  the awesome guitar duo of Tequila Mockingbirds.

2. The Long Trail and Otter Creek reps did a great job of presenting their beers, and both brought some special brews that aren't widely available.

3. It seemed like the other events of the 'Beer Week' might have been more enjoyable. One of our friends went to a Sierra Nevada event at the Seven Horse Pub, which was free to enter, and got to try some unusual and delicious (according to him) brews.

4. After the 'summit' is over, w were in Saratoga, which isn't a bad place to be for good food and drink. We went to the Seven Horse Pub for some pretty good pizza (and more beer) and then up the Circus Cafe, which makes a damn fine cheeseburger (an actual medium-rare if you want it!).

All in all, I had fun, but I probably wouldn't be saying that if I'd paid the door price. Next year, if I go at all, I'll probably skip the 'summit' and go to the events specific to the particular breweries I'm interested in.

A Breakfast Tour

Even though we've pretty much dropped out of blogging, the Profussor (who else?) has yet again managed to inspire us to eat and write about it.
Last Saturday, we joined Professor Fussy’s latest exploration of the capital district’s food-type treasures. Since the objects of our attention would be egg and cheese sandwiches, it seemed sensible (???) to start at the breakfasty hour of 7:30 in the morning. Slightly behind schedule, we were the last ones of the group to arrive at Jack’s Diner, on Central Ave. We ordered, and were cheerfully served this lovely sausage, egg and cheese sandwich.

For cheese, we ordered cheddar, but it looked kinda marbled like Colby-Jack. Overall, it was actually our favorite sandwich, getting lots of points for the a good amount of tasty cheese, nice natural-casing link sausage, and two eggs that were just lightly scrambled on the griddle, so you got some medium-cooked yolks mixed with the whites.  Where Jack’s Diner loses points is in the competition for value, since this was the priciest sandwich of the day, at $4.99 plus tax and tip. That seems a little high, but it was a pretty hearty sandwich  

Next up was McCarroll’s, in the Delmar Marketplace, which served up a foil-wrapped sandwich with a sausage patty instead of links. The poppy seed-dusted  roll on this sandwich was a little bit overly greasy from being toasted on the grill (and maybe also from the sausage), and the egg was a little bit overcooked to us. This sausage left a stronger, more persistent peppery taste behind, and dominated the flavor of the sandwich overall. McCarroll's is a grocery store, so the seating is pretty minimal, and allows you to be tempted by such things as cheesecake from the Nuns of New Skete. 

At this point, I started to wonder if it was a good idea to have our egg and cheese sandwiches with sausage. Both Jack’s Diner and McCarroll’s sell egg sandwiches with two eggs each, and a generous amount of sausage, and our hunger was pretty much gone after the second stop. We were a little worried about seeing this through with three more sandwiches!

Next stop: Stewarts.  Not surprisingly, this was our least-liked sandwich of the tour. There really was nothing to like about it, except the fact that it was ready for us before we even arrived, riding around a glass-case carousel, and we enjoyed the outdoor seating on this wierdly mild-weather day. The dog thoroughly enjoyed this sandwich, and other leftover bits (including some circle bacon!) from more than one other sandwich.

Latham's Bella Napoli served up a double-egg sandwich on griddled house-made rolls that were sweetly buttery. No cheddar available, and this sausage was more mild than the one at McCarrolls This was our second-favorite sandwich of the day, mostly because of the quality bun and nice egg cookery. We also picked up some delicious Italian almond cookies. 

Last but not least, we stopped in at Famous Lunch in Troy. Even though we’ve lived in the area for half a dozen years, we had not yet ever visited this popular place, famous for their mini-dogs. Despite the fact that we were no longer the slightest bit hungry, we dug in to four mini dogs (1 'works', 1 plain for each of us) before sampling the breakfast sandwich. Our piping hot sandwich, which arrived on our table approximately 2.5 seconds after leaving the griddle, had just a single egg, a sausage patty, and American cheese (no options here). Nothing fancy about it, but it was done right, served quickly, for not much money, and the place has a lot of character and an overall fun vibe.

Those were the ups and downs of our egg sandwich tour. I had kind of expected them to be served on hard rolls that were, well, more crackly hard, but all were pretty soft rolls. We may have had morethan one gram of cholesterol for each of us in just under 4.5 hours, but we also had of fun and checked out some places we'd never been. Thanks, Profussor!

P.S. Maybe we'll update this blog more than twice this year.

Tour de Fish Fry in Cross Section

Led by the unstoppable Professor Fussy, we tasted the following five 'Fish Fry' sandwiches with a group of other taster-raters on Saturday. We had never had a single such sandwich in our lives, and I can't say it has earned a place in our hearts, but we sure had a fun day getting to know this Capital District Specialty.

At Gene's Fish Fry, we were put off by the weird sauces (maybe we should have customized them), but we liked sitting outside, and the fish was tender and moist:

Off Shore Pier has a great deal of nautical decor, the fish fry is similarly tender and tasty, and the sauces were very conventional, in comparison to Gene's:

At Bob and Ron's Fish Fry, we appreciated the offering of malt vinegar and hot sauce as alternatives to the usual sauces, but the fish was underseasoned and a little watery. Also, someone came out to ask us directly how the food was before we even had a chance to taste it, which was somewhat poor form.

Ted's Fish Fry was the only one of the five to offer to sell us a t-shirt. It was clearly a neighborhood joint, as illustrated by the ladies who, after eating their meal happily, informed us that Harbor House in Clifton Park has the best fish fry (which implies they must have gone to Ted's for the sake of convenience). The staff are super friendly, the fish was good, the cocktail sauce had a delicious bite, but the chili sauce was too sweet.

At Matt's Fish Fry, the lacy curtains made us feel a little like like we were at Grandma's house, and the huge planks of haddock were a little on the dry side:

In the end, Off Shore won the overall rating competition, but it was very very close. If I went back to one of these places, it would probably not be for fish fry, but probably something else from the menu. As non-natives, perhaps it isn't surprising that neither of us fell in love with this local specialty enough to go out of our way for it, and in fact none of these places are convenient to either work or home. The tour was a fun time, though, and we got to try something new that we would never have known to try with the Prof. Fussy's fearless leadership.

Dinner at the American Hotel

To celebrate the fourth anniversary since we began our adventure in wedded bliss, we decided to get dressed up and go for dinner at the American Hotel, in Sharon Springs. We had been there a couple of times before, to take visiting relatives for Sunday brunch, and the food was amazing (in particular, the corn cake stack layered with sauteed apples and bacon, and topped with real maple syrup). They emphasize local and seasonal ingredients, and the atmosphere is slightly elegant and fit for a special occasion while still being friendly and homey.

Sharon Springs gets a boost during the summer from tourism to nearby Cooperstown and the Glimmerglass Festival, as well as the more local draw of the Fabulous Beekman Boys' farm. So, even though it's out in the middle of the countryside, the dining room was fairly full on the Saturday night of our anniversary. The prices are comparable to what you'd pay for an upscale restaurant in Albany, in the $30-$45 range for entrees, so we were hoping for a really special dinner.

We were greeted warmly and brought to our table right away, and given a few minutes to ponder the menu while nibbling on some warm sliced bread and a little dish of pickled carrots. We chose wines: an Argentinean Malbec for the gentleman, a NY Riesling for the lady, but we skipped the appetizers, even though we were seriously tempted by the beef poutine: prime sirloin served over homemade french fries and topped with horseradish cheese curds and gravy. (We're getting this next time.) Every entree comes with your choice of salad, and one of us went with the conventional mixed green salad, the other of us had one of the night's specials: a watermelon and feta salad with pickled red onions and jicama, over boston lettuce. The dressing was some sort of creamy vinaigrette - maybe sesame?

For entrees, we chose 1) filet mignon with a baked half-lobster and 2) scallops, shrimp and baked half-lobster.

The entrees were each served with appropriate, but unremarkable sides (rice pilaf or mashed potatoes, sauteed greens, a buttery sauce). The filet was cooked correctly, with a narrow border of sear and a deep pink interior, but in a perfect world it would have been just a bit more on the rare side. The scallops were cooked perfectly, but the shrimp, though tasty, was overcooked. Both baked lobsters were good, but not quite as moist and tender as we are used to from boiled lobsters at home. On the other hand, the lobsters here are always removed from the shell before serving, which is a lot more elegant than digging into a steamed lobster at home, with a garbage bucket to one side and a roll of paper towels to other.

While we were enjoying the meal, one of the owners visited each table in the dining room, making sure that we were happy, as in fact we were. Dessert made us even happier: creme brulee for one of us and goats milk cheesecake (courtesy of the local Beekman 1802 Farm's goats) for the other:

My only criticism about the cheesecake was that the cherries and sauce looked kind of tired and overcooked, even though they tasted great. Looking back on all my pictures, I'm surprised at how rustic the plating is. In a way, the plating reflects the whole unfussiness of the experience of being at the American Hotel. We wore more-or-less business casual, and we were probably the most dressed up people in the place. There was a family of 8 dining together nearby us, including several children, and it didn't faze anyone. We'll definitely be back when we're in the mood for a lovely restaurant experience without any superficial fuss. We love the welcoming atmosphere, the integration of local ingredients, and the fact that it's out in a peaceful rural setting. Next time, we're definitely getting the poutine.

Brunch at Sheldon Farms

Today’s weather forecast wasn’t very promising for an outdoor brunch – overcast and sticky-humid, maybe even a thunderstorm – but our weather worries dissipated as soon as we arrived at Sheldon Farm in Salem, NY. That relief was partly due to a refreshing cool breeze, but mostly it came from our delight at the fantastic spread of food, prepared by Chef Chris Tanner. We were at an annual Brunch on the Farm, hosted by Slow Food Saratoga, an organization of food lovers, farmers and chefs who are interested in promoting good, clean, fair food. In particular, their aim is to connect eaters with the people who produce and prepare their food.

Chef Tanner, a chef, educator, and charcuterie specialist, made several dishes featuring local pork that he aged and cured himself. In the photo above, you can see cantaloupe with lardo and honeydew with a prosciutto-type ham. We were also treated to his home-made pancetta in a dish of perfectly pillowy gnocchi in a creamy sauce with bits of fresh tomato. To celebrate the first weeks of Sheldon Farm’s sweet corn harvest, we had some delicious fresh corn fritters, sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with maple syrup on the side. I couldn’t get enough of these little cuties, despite the fact that there were also croissants and bread from Mrs. London’s and a succulent duck-confit potato hash.

Notice that omelet? It had squash blossoms and sausage in it, and needless to say, it was also great! But, man oh man, those potatoes deserve a close up:

The great thing about being with people who love food is that no one has any qualms about eating and enjoying great food with gusto, leaving many of us wishing we had more room in our stomachs.

The president of the local Slow Food chapter, Rocco Verrigni, said some words of thanks to the farmers and chefs, and plugged upcoming events, including a dinner at New World Bistro in August and a Labor Day potluck in support of real food in our public schools : the ‘Time For Lunch’ campaign

If you’re interested in supporting Slow Food through membership or a contribution, registration is available online. In any case, the events are open to all, with only a slightly higher price for nonmembers. You can read more about their philosophy online or request the book ‘Slow Food Nation’ from your favorite library or bookstore.

If you just want to enjoy food by the awesome chef who masterminded this brunch, he’s cooking at the SPAC Patrons Club (not just for patrons any more), Wednesday-Saturday, Aug. 5-22.

Sheldon Farms products, and many more extra-special local and imported foods, are available every day from 10-6 , all summer long at their cute little market, and Saturdays at the Saratoga Farmers Market.

Alice Medrich’s Chocolate-Pomegranate Torte

To save up some money for the holidays, we’d been staying in and cooking at home recently, so I don’t have big restaurant meals to review lately. A couple interesting things have appeared in our kitchen, though, so these next few blog posts will be of the ‘at home’ sort.

This week, I, like many people, stepped onto the bathroom scale and sighed deeply. Holiday weight gain is one of those things that, despite every good intention, always manages to put a damper on the spirit, even as I’m already struggling to get back to work after time off. Fortunately, I have lots of happy and delicious holiday memories to recall as I slog to work next week.

One of them is this Chocolate-Pomegranate Torte pictured above from the cover of December’s Fine Cooking magazine. It’s a recipe by Alice Medrich, the so-called ‘first lady of chocolate,’ and her article is called “The Dark Side of Chocolate.” The glossy cover photo of this cake is so beautiful and tempting, I almost went over to the dark side and paid the cover price to buy a copy of the magazine. In the hopes of saving a tree (and a few bucks) I found the recipe online (for free!), and gave it a try. I would say that this is not a totally easy recipe, since it involves whipping egg whites and folding them in as well as controlling melted chocolate, but I managed to do it without screwing up too badly, and it was really delicious. 

One strange thing is that the recipe calls for 12 cranberries, which I thought might have been a misprint (does she mean 12 oz.?), but indeed 12 cranberries was just the right amount. I absolutely loved the sweet gel of pomegranate juice, pomegranate, apple and cranberries, underneath a smooth chocolate glaze. Tastes divine, and definitely suitable for other dessert applications.

As for the chocolate cake itself, I thought maybe it was just a little bit dry, but I used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate, which isn’t quite up to the 70% cocoa level that Alice recommends, and I didn’t have exactly the right pan size, so that could account for a variation in texture. And, of course, my technique with spreading chocolate is not tippy-top, so my cake was no cover model.  The sprinkling of ruby-like pomegranate seeds made up for the visual defects, but I didn’t really like their crunch alongside tender cake and gooey jam and glaze.

Now I ask myself, how many laps do I have to swim to burn off this indulgence? (and of course I didn’t eat just one piece!) And what about the Pom-tini’s we had with the leftover pomegranate juice? (Thanks, Martha!)

JT Baker's Beer Pairing Dinner

Thank goodness the election is over! Now I can move on to obsessing about some other question - like “Who will be the next Top Chef?” 7 days to the season premiere!

We had a quite fabulous dinner at JT Baker’s a couple weekends ago, when some family was visiting from out of town, and one of our dinner guests said it reminded her of ‘Top Chef.’ As expected, it was totally worth the long drive to Greenwich for Jason and Suzanne Baker’s food: a molecular gastronomy-tinged beer tasting dinner, in 5 courses. For just the pics go here, or read my recap below.

After a little cup of miso-tarragon consomme to whet our appetites, the first course delivered a salty punch in the form of “Fish and Chips” made with juicy escolar and topped with malt vinegar jam and jalapeno salt. (Don't worry, the serving of escolar was small, not enough to cause, um, problems) The malt vinegar and the spicy-saltiness of the dish complemented the beer pairing, a malty, hoppy White Hawk IPA.

The second course was listed on the menu as “Burgundy Escargot” with the subtitle, Snyder Pretzel consomme, dunnhill gel, sous vide rutabaga. We were puzzled about what a ‘dunnhill’ was until we asked, and found out that the tiny cubes of gel were in fact infused with the smoky essence of Dunnhill cigars.

Unlike the first course, these flavors played much more subtly, for example, the pretzel flavor (we expected yeasty or buttery) was very light, not a really significant note in the dish, and the various textures brought most of the interest to the dish, which was complemented by a smooth, dark Warsteiner Dunkel:

This play in textures came followed by a palate cleanser that made us giggle: caramel corn in the form of a cold drink.

I can’t say I wanted any more after that one little glass, which was more watery than starchy, but it was enjoyably interesting anyway.

The third course was beer and cheese soup, made with local cheese (Dancing Ewe’s Caciotta) and Ommegang Witte, and garnished with tempura zest.

The soup was smooth, creamy and delicious, with no ‘sheepy’ flavors, and the zest tied it together with the glass of refreshing Witte, which is brewed with orange peel, among other flavorings.

The fourth course was a Tamworth pork tenderloin, prepared sous vide and served with salted beer nut emulsion and pumpernickel pudding.

This was the table’s favorite dish of the night, because it had the best overall appeal in flavor, texture, and balance. The pork was extremely tender and tasty, though lean and mild, and the savory pumpernickel bread pudding is something I’d definitely try making at home. The emulsion was not too salty, and the richness from the nuts tied the dish to its beer pairing: Anchor Porter.

The dessert course was the weirdest sounding dish on the tasting menu, but it just blew us away: “Pumpkin capsule” with maple crumble, vanilla cake puree, allspice cream, paired with Ommegang’s Three Philosophers.

The capsule was a frozen hollow cylinder, partially filled with a sweet cold allspice cream and pumpkin seeds:

Everyone loved the play on textures and the flavors, which were autumnal yet somehow also light and breezy on the palate. We love 3 Philosophers at home as a dessert on its own or with a Green and Black’s Hazelnut-Currant Chocolate Bar, but the cherry notes in the beer were somehow not absolutely perfect for me with this dish, so I drank the beer and ate the dessert separately. It was a terrific end to the meal.

Tasting menus at JT Bakers run on the pricey side for most people, but they’re running a “Recession Special” dinner for two, which is great at only $50. Greenwich is a cute little town, and with the price of gas coming down, the deal looks even more attractive. Of course, once you get there, you may be tempted to order a longer tasting menu. So, just go prepared with an excuse, such as something to celebrate (like a new political era!)

We are NOT ready for the Eat Local Challenge.

The month of October has come, and lots of food bloggers seem to be signing up for the Eat Local Challenge to eat entirely within your local foodshed for 1 month. I totally respect the 100-mile diet philosophy, even though I live in a climate where harsh winters make it a little different from the same diet on the west coast. The autumn bounties available in the Schoharie, Mohawk, and Hudson valleys are actually pretty impressive. It really easy to find local farms and dairies, and the cost is not nearly what you might pay in areas where the cost of living and land-owning is much higher (i.e. California). We recently moved out of the city to a rural area, and now we have neighbors who are farmers - it's such a peaceful pleasure to watch the herds of cattle grazing in the pasture in the morning when I walk my dog. I've been going out of my way to find the retailers for the family farms that seem so plentiful, and so far I've been pretty lucky. 

I love-love-love the milk from Meadowbrook Farms in Clarksville, which I've been buying in a reusable glass jug. It tastes fresher, cleaner, and sweeter than milk from the supermarket. Their heavy cream makes the richest, creamiest homemade ice cream that I've ever had. 

Schoharie Valley Farms is only a 6-minute drive from our home, although I never make it there before 6pm on the weekdays, so I calways end up mixing with the weekend crowds. Besides the  Carrot Barn carrots, I get lovely local fruit from SVF, not to mention fresh hot cider donuts (mmmm, donuts). King's Roaming Angus farm, in Cobleskill, sells great cage-free eggs, whose yolks stand right up in the frying pan, and their beef is tasty and not as expensive as you'd expect for pasture-raised Angus beef. We've also had bok choy, scallions and tomatoes from Wintergreen farm in Sharon Springs, whose owner is always super-friendly and cheerful at the Saturday farmer's market.

Why aren't we ready for the Eat Local Challenge? One big reason is that we just haven't done enough research to find good replacements for most of our staples. Just thinking about the Eat Local Challenge has made me realize how we take for granted so many trucked-in dry goods, like corn chips, raisins and pancake mix. So, instead of taking the a leap into the locavore pond, we've decided to dangle our toes. Our goal this month, rather than eating 100% locally, is simply to eat at least one local product per day. It's going to take some planning to make sure we don't forget to shop locally regularly, but who knows, it might be good for us, and it might just become a pleasurable habit. 

Cella Bistro Pig Roast/Wine Dinner

Since we have had only good experiences at Cella Bistro, we jumped at the chance for a wine-paired tasting dinner there a few weeks ago. What a great meal! The diners numbered only 35 or so, and many seemed to have some personal or professional connection to the Cella family, making for a convivial atmosphere. If I were Italian, I imagine this is what family gatherings would be like. At the table, my eyes got a little bit bigger when met with the shining array of wine glasses standing at attention in preparation for the meal to come.

Chef Michael Cella collaborated with Banfi Vintners to create a menu of dishes matched to each specific wine, which was introduced by Janine Stowell, the rep from Banfi. We were welcomed to the dining room with a festive, simple and surprisingly dry glass of Maschi Prosecco Brut, Non-Vintage .
The first course soon arrived: Gramma Cella’s Swiss Chard Torte: made with a hint of cream cheese, in a firm, somewhat rustic pastry crust.

I don't claim to be an expert on wine and food pairings, but I suppose the freshness of the chard, perhaps even a little sweetness, was more evident because of the dry wine. The careful plating of the dish, with its garnishes of green olives, shaved cheese, basil and oil, showed that the chef had really put a lot of care into what he had in store for us.
The second course was a seafood speidini of spice-rubbed grilled lobster and shrimp, on melted herb butter, garnished with cute little sprouts (green pea, I think?), accompanied by a 2007 Natura Organic Sauvignon Blanc from Chile’s Casablanca Valley. This wise was a nice, fresh citrusy match to the seafood, which was spiced in a warm garlicky way rather than a 3-alarm habanero way. I’ll take a quart of that melted herb butter, though, if you don’t mind.
The third course was handmade mushroom ravioli with parmagiano-reggiano and a porcini-truffle tomato sauce, served with a 2006 L’Ardi Dolcetto d’Acqui. I probably don’t need to tell you that the ravioli was awesomely earthy and fragrant. The chef really let the ingredients shine.

As for the wine, Nebbiolo and Barbera are perhaps the more well-known grapes from the Piedmont region, while Dolcetto was a varietal I'd never had. It was light bodied and fruity, with a little spice and earthiness, and good length to match nicely with the food.

The fourth course was a salad that would please even reluctant salad-eaters. Perched above slices of hearty bread, homemade mozzarella and summer tomato, the greens gazed enviously (get it, green with envy, ha) at several mouthwatering chunks of applewood-smoked bacon, which had been smoked on-site.

How about a close-up of that bacon?

Oh yeah, there was a wine too (2006 Cecchi Bonizio Sangiovese di Maremma.) Honestly, by the this time of the evening, I was having a pretty good time, and my wine-tasting acuity started to lag. The body of the wine was still somewhat light like the Dolcetto, which I suppose makes it appropriate to a green salad, but with more of a black cherry and earth flavor.
The pinnacle of the dinner was the fourth course. This was the one we had all been waiting for: Toasted Fennel Spice-Rubbed Pork Roasted Whole in a Caja China, with porchetta stuffing.

Accompanied by a 2004 Sartori Montegradella Valpolicella Classico Superiore, a significantly more robust and dry wine than those that preceded. Having been aged in oak for 24 months, it's dryness and smoky flavor really stood up to the richness of the pork . The roast pork was tender, moist, and flavorful, and garnished with tasty crisped skin and cooked red onions. The chef had to borrow a caja china, a specialized roasting box, and start roasting the pork low and slow in the morning in order to have it ready for tonight. The stuffing was delicious, but I can’t figure out what “porchetta stuffing” means. If porchetta is roast pork, then I guess we had roast pork stuffed with roast pork. Awesome.
Lastly came dessert. To ice cream, I never say no, but I was a bit stuffed like that pig and not a little tipsy from the generously poured "tastes" of wine. As I read the dish description again today, my mouth still waters: Butter-roasted peaches with almond-biscotti crumble, frozen vanilla bean custard, marsala caramel.


As an avid homemade-ice-creamist, I will dare to say that the frozen custard maybe needed a few more egg yolks to attain perfect creaminess. That didn't stop me from helping out my dining partner finish to his dessert. On the other hand, the non-vintage Florio Dolce Marsala Ambra was a little too much sweetness to drink straight up. I'm admittedly a very infrequent drinker of sweet wines, but I definitely recommend it as a dessert component, like Chef Cella’s marsala caramel sauce.
The chef reluctantly made an appearance with his kitchen staff in the dining room after this splendid meal, to a round of applause. He described how, on a trip to Italy, he was excited by a simple porchetta sandwich from a market, at 9 o’clock in the morning. I guess that was some good breakfast sandwich! This meal was the most Italian-inspired one that I’ve ever had a Cella’s, and ranks among some of my best dining experiences ever.
It does seem like the chef really put heart and soul into the cooking, not that it was just part of some marketing scheme sponsored by Banfi. Although we weren’t entranced by any of the wines, they all seemed decently well-made. According to their rep, you can find them at many wine stores in the area, and online prices were all in the $11-$18 range, which make them pretty accessible dinner wines.

Spring Break: Keuka Lake Wine Trail

We had perfect weather last weekend for our first ever visit to the Finger Lakes wineries. The ‘World Tour of Food and Wine’ event at Keuka Lake seemed like a good place to start, since it included the most well-respected Finger Lakes winery, Dr. Konstantin Frank. Besides the wine and food, the scenery made for a beautiful drive. Under gorgeous clear skies, every single winery had spectacular views of the lake and the vineyards shone bright white thanks to a recent snowfall.. There were plenty of people in the tasting rooms, but none of the tour buses or huge groups that can lead to long waits during the height of the tourism season. For dinner, and for beer drinkers, we recommend the Village Tavern in Hammondsport for its warm and convivial atmosphere, good food ranging from burgers all the way to seafood and steaks, and imported beers on tap (Chimay Tripel, Lindeman’s Framboise, Boddington’s, many more). If you're planning a trip, the event is being repeated April 19-20. Before you go, check out some tips on vineyard tours by Kathleen Lisson.

Each winery offered a small plate of food, a small glass of wine to accompany it, and your choice of 4 or 5 other wines to taste from their collections. The food was not, ahem, a fount of epicurean delight, but it's difficult to expect more when you know that the budget is limited and the food had to be held for as long as 5 hours each day. It was also, for the most part, a tour of Western Europe, with several continents left out. We were there for the wines anyway, and we spread our visit out over two days – one day on each side of the lake. There are other wineries and tasting rooms on Keuka lake which were not part of the wine trail event, but we didn’t make it to any of them.

East Shore Wineries:

Keuka Spring Vineyards
Poland: Pierogi, Kielbasa with dried fruit compote and Rye bread.
Wine Pairing: Off-dry Reisling.
The most satisfying wine we tasted here was the ‘Crooked Lake Red’, an off-dry blend based on the French-American hybrid Rougeon grape, but at the $20 price point, we couldn’t see ourselves choosing it over most $20 reds from the west coast.

Rooster Hill Vineyards
Italy: Involtini (Grilled Eggplant slice wrapped around goat cheese, with tomato sauce), Gnocchi with Vodka sauce, Chocolate Biscotti
Wine Pairing: Merlot
The Merlot was okay, but they raved about their Chardonnay which had garnered an 85-point rating from Wine Enthusiast. It’s fairly rich in flavor, has some oak, and is generally well-balanced, so we did buy a bottle for $13.99. The other interesting wine here was the Lemberger, a red varietal that smelled so pungently of a musty barn that we weren’t too sure we wanted to drink it! Yes, it’s earthy and fruity in flavor, but a bit too reminiscent of barnyard refuse for us.

Barrington Crest Cellars
Paraguay: Tallarin (spicy chicken with pasta – according to Wikipedia, ‘tallarin’ is Spanish for tagliatelle), Arroz con Leche (rice pudding)
Wine Pairing: Dry Riesling
The choice of Paraguay was a nice surprise – the owners have family connections there. Their Raptor’s Red, a blend of Pinot Noir and the hybrid Baco Noir, was good, and their fruit and ice wines are nice, if you like sweet wines. We preferred the Buzzard’s Blackberry with our Arroz con Leche.

Ravines Wine Cellars
Switzerland: Quiche with swiss cheese and bacon.
Paired with your choice of a Dry Riesling or the Cayuga Table White.
I was looking forward to the Cayuga White after reading a nice review of it at Lenndevours, but the wines were too cold and just came off as crisp and non-aromatic. Plus, there was an extra charge for tasting their other wines. Poor form! We declined.

McGregor Vineyard
Greece: Dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), chickpea salad, pita chips with reamy parmesan pesto spread, baklava.
Wine Pairing: Cayuga White.
McGregor is quite some distance off the road that rings the lake, but it’s a really nice place for a tasting. The food was the best we had at any winery, and, for once, we got to sit down while we tasted the wine leisurely. Our overall impression here was that all their wines had a lot of finesse, but came with higher price tags than the other wineries. We bought a bottle of their 2006 Pinot Noir, for $27.99, which had more grip and flavor than any other wine we tasted. The $39.99 Meritage-style Rob Roy Red is decent, too, with strong cedar notes, and I even can see why the Black Russian Red, even at $59.99, is a popular bottle. The Black Russian is made from Ukrainian vinifera grapes, Saperavi and Sereksiya Charni, whose rootstocks were brought by Konstantin Frank in the 1950’s and given as a gift to the vineyard owner. These vines are so rare and prized that their location on the vineyard is a secret even to many of the employees. The goal of the winemaker in using these grapes is to make a wine that will age well, even up to 50 years. Although we tasted mostly fruit in the latest bottling, it would indeed be interesting to see what happens to this wine over the next ten years of cellaring.

Next week I'll wrap up with the Keuka Lake west side: Heron Hill, Dr. Konstantin Frank, Stever Hill, and Hunt Country.

Return to Blogging

This blog had to take a long hiatus from publishing, thanks to pesky job responsibilities, but we were still eating, and now we're back and hungrier than ever.

Recap of Maple Tour Dinner at JT Baker’s in Greenwich

Signs of spring:
All those dirty piles of snow at the curb have melted away.
Raking yard debris and uncovering tulip bulbs sending up green shoots!
The end of the winter term.
Birthday barbecue of
filet mignon and tender asparagus
Sap running from maple trees and, mmm, maple sugaring weekends


There’s nothing like plate of pancakes to serve as a vehicle for consuming unhealthy quantities of maple syrup, and we thought about diving into the usual plates of the pancakes and maple sausage, but, on second thought and a glance at a blog, we decided drove over to Greenwich. That’s where culinary experimentalist Jason Baker has created a special menu to celebrate maple sugaring weekends. The regular menu at JT Baker’s New Cuisine is still available, and while several of the special Maple Tour Menu items are available a la carte, we were enticed by the maple-themed 4-course tasting menu comes with a special price and optional wine pairings.


The menu starts out with a slice of hearty house-made bread, accompanied by whipped butter and flaked sea salt and pepper, served just ahead of the amuse-bouche: an espresso-sized cup of delicately flavored cauliflower and truffle consomme.




The first course is a parsnip, maple and parmesan bisque. These simple ingredients could easily be overwhelmed by the sweetness of the maple syrup, but the maple flavor was pleasantly well-integrated in the bisque, which was creamy and smooth but not too heavy or filling. The nutty saltiness of the parmesan was a welcome counterpoint to the sweetness. A dry unoaked Oregon Chardonnay was the wine pairing.




The second course was a mutton crepinette served over a maple emulsion, with a swoosh of smoked paprika sauce on the side. The mutton was from Elihu Farm, and the casing of the meatball was caul fat, which is the thin membrane that covers the organs of the animal's abdominal cavity. The caul fat casing is nearly imperceptible (no snap like a regular sausage), except for small streaks of fat. The plating was very attractive, although we had to admit we weren’t stunned by the quantity of food being served. What it lacked in quantity was more than compensated by the quality of ingredients and preparation. As with the bisque, the maple emulsion played a well-proportioned role in the overall flavor. The wine paired with the second course was a delicious California Cabernet Sauvignon from Two Tone Farms. The dry and robustly tannic characteristics we look for in Cabernet were very present, but the wine still had balanced fruit and acidity and good length.





Before the third course, we were served a palate cleanser of cold grape and lavender consomme, served in a tall shot glass. Our palates were refreshed, but neither of us is terribly enamored of lavender or rose-flavored food and drink. When the floral aroma and flavor plays a strong role, it just reminds us a little of Grandma’s perfumed bath salts.

The third course was a seared, maple-glazed, yellowfin tuna filet accompanied by edamame puree, beet pudding, and a bit of baby bok choy. Again, the maple flavor gracefully entered the picture on the back of the meaty tuna, without the overwhelming caramelization we expected based on our experiences of maple glazed salmon. The beet pudding was like soft and smooth puree, but firm enough to slice into several bites - delicious flavor and pleasant, interesting texture we weren't expecting from beets. The accompanying wine for this course was a 2003 Chateau Lagarosse Bordeaux. The strong meatiness of the tuna stood up well to the wine, which had hints of stoniness and must, with a pleasant finish.




Overall, we weren’t completely blown away by the extravagance of any of these dishes, but we were impressed by the perfect execution of every detail -- the artful and elegant hand of the chef in highlighting maple flavors without letting them steal the whole show.


Desserts at JT Baker’s are made by Suzanne Baker, and this night we were served maple cheesecake on a brownie crust, with garnishes of maple cream and candied peanuts, and sliced pear, as well as a broad streak of dark chocolate sauce on the plate, and a crumbly chocolate topping. At home, we’ve made cheesecake on top of a brownie before, by baking the brownie and letting it cool, then baking the cheesecake on top of that, but often the brownie becomes soggy from the moisture that seeps from the cheesecake. By incorporating a slightly more dry, crunchy brownie crust, the dessert we had at JT Baker’s maintained good textural contrast between the creamy cheesecake and the crust. The maple cream and candied nuts formed opposing sweet and salty points on the maple dessert that were rich and delicious. The dessert course was less elegant and restrained than the first three courses, but we didn’t mind at all. We loved this dessert (I mean, how can you go wrong with brownie and cheesecake?), and the accompanying wine, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc whose bouquet reminded one of us of litchi fruits and the other of us (who had never had fresh litchi) of a blend of pink grapefruit juice and fruit cocktail syrup. The wine itself was more dry than we expected from the nose – nicely refreshing during the dessert course.





JT Baker’s New American Cuisine doesn’t look impressive from the outside, or from the inside for that matter, but the food is the star here and what you get is pure, impeccably executed modern cuisine. We appreciated that the Maple Weekend-inspired menu was just that, inspired, rather than gimmicky and over-the-top. Maple syrup is as truly North American as flavors come, and this was true American food on the same level of many great chefs now reinterpreting the classic elements of European cuisine. JT Baker’s is a gem of a restaurant and we hope that it stays around for a long time, because we’d like to take advantage of their longer tasting menus and other regular dishes, as some of the other diners did that night at the restaurant. The Maple Tour menu is also available the last weekend in March, but there aren’t many tables, so reservations are advisable. Phone: (518)-531-2000