A Glass of Rose for Summer

We've said it before, and we will say it again: Rose is an amazingly versatile wine.

A new restaurant has opened not too far from us, Pacifico's Fine Foods. We liked the look of the menu: finely crafted dishes with a South American bent. But with an international menu, we didn't expect much in the way of local wines. It was a pleasant surprise then, when we found two different glasses of wine from Channing Daughters on the menu--a white and a rose.

When we are looking for a complicated bottle of wine to linger over, we often turn to red. When we want something simple we can just sip, a light white is in order. But when we are looking for something that blends the two--that has some complexity but is still light enough that it goes down easily--we seek out a nice rose. And Channing Daughters manages to deliver. Making just a few hundred cases of their Rosato's each year, we've started to look forward to catching these wines wherever we can each summer. So as fall approaches, it was great to find yet another chance.

The South American cuisine was an interesting twist for us. The menu was small, with only half a dozen entrees, and even fewer appetizers. Since we were starting with our wine choice and working from there, it limited our choices even further, but it seemed easy enough to find some good pairings. Pork and yucca seemed to fill the menu, along with some spicy sauces. Hoping for a bit of crisp to combat the heat of the sauces and the fat of the pork, with maybe a hint of earthiness to match the yucca, we were optimistic.

In this case, it worked, but maybe not much more. The wine was great. The food was great. In combination, they worked. It wasn't a sublime experience, where the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. But that's okay. We were looking for a good, casual dinner and we got that. Maybe there were subtle flavors that didn't mesh, or maybe we were just more focused on our evening out than analyzing the complex interactions of our food and wine. We enjoy that, but sometimes just enjoying a fun night out is enough.

Finger Lake Wines at The Clam Bar in Syracuse

With national clients, sometimes my work means an interesting trip to look at a space in DC or Las Vegas. And sometimes it's to check out a space in a strip mall in Syracuse, NY. It may not be a bad place, but if you manage to get stuck there overnight, as I did, you might run out of well-known restaurants once you've visited Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. Spending the night alone at an airport hotel, I needed to find a place to get out for a few minutes, so I asked if they had any recommendations for dinner. It was either Applebee's or a local joint called The Clam Bar, so...seafood it was.

Walking into the place, I felt like I was entering someone's den in the 1970s. Wood paneling was barely visible beneath all the photos of sports stars. It was divey, but welcoming, so I grabbed a seat and a menu and got down to enjoying my evening. A cocktail, their version of an extra spicy Bloody Mary got the night started off right. Maybe it wasn't as spicy as the drinks I enjoyed in Mexico, but it was pretty well-crafted, and cheap in comparison to anything I could get in NYC. The caesar salad was nothing special, but a good place to start the meal. A plate of Steam Clams Provencal was much more interesting: sweet, salty and herbal. The Riesling I selected turned out to be from the sweeter style--way too much for the food, but not a bad drink on its own.

The most interesting thing for me was seeing New York wines on the wine list. Outside of the Finger Lakes, and a handful of restaurants in NYC that specialize in locally-sourced foods, we seldom encounter NY wines, even in cities as close as Rochester and Syracuse. But this is the second place on my second trip upstate this year that I have found Finger Lakes wines in an unexpected place, and it gives me hope that more Finger Lakes wines are making it into the daily conversation.

Wine and Indian Cuisine in a Different Style

Friday nights at home, we eat a lot of Indian take-out. It's quick and easy, and can be tasty in a simple way. But real Indian cuisine can be something quite different. Done with care and skill, the flavorful spice mixtures and sauces can rival the best French cuisine. Of course, it's a bit more rare, but in NYC you can find anything, including some great Indian restaurants.

On a recent Friday night out, we decided to switch it up, and go out for Indian food. Manhattan's trendy Tribeca neighborhood has a lot of interesting restaurants, including an outpost of the Tamarind empire. A formal, spacious restaurant, it was quite a bit different than our usual restaurant adventures these days. We where there early, but the space filled quickly with a younger, boisterous crowd. Before the tables filled in, we faced that rare problem in NYC: a server a bit too solicitous, who asked if we needed something just a bit too frequently. This left us feeling a bit rushed.

Of course, the other big difference from our usual Friday night was the quality of the food. Take-out Indian is one thing, but a carefully crafted dish, cooked carefully and with quality ingredients in the same Punjab style is a world apart. A fish curry, made with a Goan sauce of spices in tomato and coconut was sweet and spicy. The last big difference from our usual Friday night was the wine options. In this case, a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand brought some sweet tropical flavors that matched the coconut and cooled the hot peppers. Always important with Indian food.

When thinking about food and wine, everyone thinks about Western food. Its good to remember that wine works with just about everything, if the food is prepared right and you pick a good wine that complements it.

Unfamiliar Pairings at Moim Restaurant

Even after all our time here in Brooklyn, we are still pleasantly surprised when we discover the unexpected. Stumbling upon neighborhood gems like Moim--hidden in the nooks and crannies of the neighborhood, a recognizable storefront often bypassed--remind us why we choose to live here.

On a side street in a basement space off the main drag in Park Slope, it's not so much of a surprise that we had never tried Moim Restaurant. Once we had, given the quality of the meal, we were surprised that we hadn't heard more about the restaurant. A modern take on Korean food, in a modern space, it's a unique addition to the neighborhood. Assuming you're not intimidated by Korean dishes, the fairly simple offers a nice selection of Korean BBQ dishes. For us, the best part might have been the fact that they offered New York wines.

As you know by now, readers, we love to find New York wines at restaurants. Although we've paired New York wines with all sorts of takeout food at home, we can't recall a time we've found New York wines on a restaurant menu that feature Asian dishes. There was no way we could pass this up. We picked a bottle of Rose of Merlot, hoping for a flexible wine. The earthy and spicy notes mirrored the funky, spicy dirt flavors of the fermented cabbage in the Kimchi Tofu, and its crispness offered a much needed counterpoint to the rich seafood in the Korean Bouillabaisse. A regular Merlot would never have worked.

While we love to talk about the natural pairings of local cuisines with local wine, it's good to be reminded that good food and good wine from anywhere, working together harmoniously, can make for a great meal.

Coming Back for More at Bar Corvo

It's become important for us to have regular restaurants. If we find ourselves with a little free time on a Saturday, we can't waste it wandering the neighborhood trying to find something new. Every second seems to count these days. Instead, we rack our brains for the places we've had good meals recently, so we know where we can expect a good time.

We've been to Bar Corvo a few times. When the chef of renowned al di la Trattoria of Brooklyn opened a family friendly bar and restaurant around the corner, we could never manage to beat the dinner rush to get a table. Now, it's original "new-ness" having worn off, it's a bit easier to find a seat. Of course, it helps that we are now usually the first ones there at opening time. (We have early dinners now to ensure we can keep to our daughter's bedtime schedule.)  

The space is welcoming as you enter through the door, opening on to the bar and a large common table. Low lighting and smaller tables in the back keep the restaurant feeling intimate, and an eclectic selection of music keeps a pleasant background noise level when you have families and couples over lapping. And of course, the food is great.

Fritto Misto

We decided to share a bottle of wine for the evening, but that's always a bit of a trick to find a wine flexible enough to complement a range of dishes. Starting with a plate of fried veggies, or Fritto Misto, we needed something with a hint of acidity to cut through the fat oiliness. We had to consider how we'd pair deep fried lemon slices from the appetizer dish, refreshing and savory at the same time. Our main courses of pork chop with kale and polenta and wild boar pasta also promised fat, but instead of an acidic wine, we would prefer a red wine to match the pork.

We finally decided on a Primitivo, for its combination of fruit and spice flavors. In this case, our choice was too big for the light vegetable flavors of the Fritto Misto, as expected. However, the sweet red fruit flavors helped brighten the kale and the sauce for the wild boar, which were both on the bitter side.

That is the difficulty with picking one bottle for multiple courses--finding that flexibility. In this case, the appetizer was a miss for our wine selection, but the main courses worked well. Maybe we will have to go back soon to try a different combination.

Pork Chop with Kale and Polenta

Special Treatment at Vitae

We're getting out less these days. So when we do, we try to do something extra special. That may be something as simple as trying a local restaurant we find it difficult to get into with a small child, or some place like Vitae when we have a night in Manhattan and want to be treated special.

When we first sat down at Vitae, we were a little concerned it was too hip for us. Surrounded by an artfully decorated space, filled with romantic young couples and noisy groups of friends, we felt a bit out of place. But the menu was approachable, and the wine list was interesting, so our cares were quickly forgotten.

It helped that they treat everyone like a special guest. While we contemplated our order, we were treated to an amuse bouche of a sweet butternut squash soup with winter spices, perfect to get the taste buds warmed up for the evening. While we waited on our food, we were served warm rolls brushed with duck fat and sea salt. And before dessert, a grapefruit mint soda to cleanse the palate. These are the little touches that can make any meal something really memorable.

Of course, dinner was great too. A appetizer of spicy pork tacos got things started with a careful blend of heat and flavor. A chestnut pasta was a rich, earthy counterpoint to a crisp glass of white wine, while the duck breast was fatty and delicious, with a fruity red.

Date night can make for a special sauce all its own, turning even the most simple dinner out into a wonderful evening. Finding a great restaurant on your rare night out, however, is its own magical experience.

Brooklyn Heights Dinner at Colonie

Brooklyn is a strange place. Small geographically, at less than 100 square miles, it is the most populous county in the US, at about 2.5 million people. It packs diverse ethnic backgrounds and a wide range of urban environments close together. Not far from the new Barclays Center, the sprawling retail buildings and office towers give way to the old Brownstones of Brooklyn. Here, restaurants that have been in the same place for fifty years sit next to newcomers who've only opened their doors in the past few years.

In 2011, the owners of Colonie opened their doors with the goal of bringing great food to the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. While nearby neighborhoods were undergoing a culinary renaissance, they felt that a neighborhood known for its amazing historic homes and stunning views of Manhattan needed some quality food. The restaurant embraces history and modernity. Rustic wood tables and exposed brick, contrasted against an open kitchen with a tasting bar watching over the chefs cooking. While we enjoyed our meal, the restaurant filled with a mixed crowd: couples enjoying a romantic evening, families savoring their favorite food, and a party that could have been made up of old regulars from the neighborhood.

Perched at the bar overlooking the kitchen, we enjoyed a meal of fresh spring ingredients. Rare among restaurants focusing on local ingredients, Colonie had a wine menu stocked with glasses of New York wine, something we always appreciate. Pate, leeks, crab: everything we ate worked well with the lighter wines we picked to start our meal. Spring is a great time to remind ourselves that not every food is a root vegetable, and not every wine needs to be a full bodied red.

Possibly our favorite part of the meal was dessert. We shared a Sticky Date Cake with Creme Fresche Ice Cream. Breaking all the rules, we skipped dessert wine and drank a couple of glasses of red wine. After the light dinner menu, the dessert was heavy and filling, and the ice cream was an unexpected salty and savory note.

Local Food at Blue Hill

As much as we love wine, we love good food. Living in New York City, we may be a bit removed from the day to day of the wine making industry, but, in exchange, we get to follow a cutting edge food scene.

With our obsession with all things "local," we are always on the lookout for restaurants that embrace  "localvore" food--dishes composed of food from nearby sources. There are various economic and environmental reasons to follow the practice, but for us we simply prefer fresher food. An apple eaten straight off the tree tastes better than one picked, sent to a processing center, then to the grocery store, then on to our kitchen. In terms of wine, although grapes are usually grown close to the production facilities, we still prefer to drink as local as possible in an effort to support the local wine community. Local is simply important on so many levels.

When we heard about Blue Hill, we knew we had to go. Inspired by the farm on Blue Hill Road, they work with farm fresh seasonal ingredients under their "Know Thy Farmer" philosophy. Knowing this, we were willing to try their chicken. This may seem like an odd statement, but we seldom bother with chicken at a restaurant. It's such an ubiquitous ingredient, but chicken is normally bland and dry (or the accompanying sauce or side dish is the star of the show). We're also not wholly comfortable with how chickens are raised on large commercial farms. A farm fresh chicken is a thing of beauty: rich, succulent, and full of tasty juices. Once you have had a well-prepared breast just a few hours past butchering, it's hard to go back. You're reminded of a different time, when things were done more slowly. At Blue Hill, a simply prepared chicken with seasonal vegetables was perfection on a plate, especially with a nice, crisp New York Riesling with bright flavors that made the sweet chicken pop.

And that brings us to the other reason we felt compelled to try Blue Hill--local wine. All too often, high end restaurants are afraid to offer any wines from outside France or California. Thankfully this place that celebrates the meat and produce of New York is also willing to embrace the State's wine, offering bottles from several of our favorite producers. To get a glass of great local wine with some great local food is a great night out.

Enjoying Crown Heights at Mayfield

After moving to our new neighborhood, we've been exploring in search of the best restaurants. These days, normally with our little one in tow, our criteria has changed a bit. We need places with a little bit more space to park a stroller next to our table. We need quieter places, where the music and conversation doesn't overwhelm the baby. We need early dinner hours, so we can get in and out before the baby's early bed time. We need big bathrooms with changing tables. And we still need good food and good wine. That's a lot of requirements!

So, we've been fortunate to find a restaurant like Mayfield so close to home. It has most everything we now look for in a top notch restaurant: space, early dinners, and...the food. Fresh, seasonal ingredients. A menu with both simple, comforting items as well as some more adventurous fare. A diverse and interesting wine list (but nothing local, unfortunately).

We snuck in a little before dinner hour one night, grabbing a couple of glasses of happy hour wine before the kitchen opened. A Tempranillo got our taste buds watering, ready for dinner. With an appetizer of sweet and smokey roasted brussel sprouts, the wine was a fruity counterpoint to the earthiness of the sprouts. Dinner was Buttermilk Quail with garlic and greens with dipping sauces, and Fish and Chips. The red wine was suited to the quail, a sweet fruitiness to add to the sweet buttermilk. It didn't seem right for Fish and Chips, so a glass of Torrontes was in order. A light bodied wine with a big mouthfeel, it had some crisp tropical fruits that were expected, but also some floral notes that were surprising. Those floral notes didn't pair well with the fish, but the meal wasn't a complete loss.

We like to explore new restaurants, but it's important to have favorites as well. A place you know what you are getting when you walk through the door, and that you know will give you a happy evening. We are still exploring, we'll be happy to return to Mayfield again soon.

Best of 2013: Readers Favorite Adventures

Over the past year, we have had some great adventures that we have shared with you. Of course, one of your favorite stories is an old one, a great evening we enjoyed at Beecher's Handmade Cheese in Manhattan. Maybe because it really emphasized what we love about wine; enhancing a great evening, even a casual one. Or maybe its just because cheese makes everything better.

On the other hand, enjoying a casual glass of wine at home seems a popular topic, with our story on pairing Chardonnay with takeout Sushi, and pairing wine with fried chicken piquing your interest. We love reminding everyone that wine isn't just for an exquisitely crafted three course meal. A good glass of wine can make even take-out dinner or greasy fried food something a little special.

And of course, everyone likes to see others fail. We tried our best to see if we could guess the difference between a Reserve and regular Chardonnay, and you got to see why we made the assumptions we did, and how they were wrong. It's good to be reminded that there is always more to learn about wine.

Here is to sharing some more great adventures with you in 2014!

 

What Are We Thankful For?

It's that time of year again to acknowledge what we are most thankful for. We could just say "Wine!" and it would be pretty accurate, but there are things about wine that we are exceptionally thankful for.

Talking about wine, we find a few people who want us to talk about their wine. We are thankful for all the great wine that we get to try. Some of it we might try on our own, but some we would probably never try on our own, and some we've tried previous vintages.

Always on the lookout for new food and wine, we explore a lot of different restaurants. We are thankful that NYC has so many choices, and that we have a chance to travel and try wine in new and exciting places.

Wine makes for a great addition to any celebration. We are thankful that we have had so much to celebrate: a new home, a new daughter, and big family events.

Dinner and History: Red Owl Tavern in Philadelphia

We've been stuck in NYC for a while now. With the new addition to our family, travel has been intimidating. Luckily, we have some great destination options an easy train ride away. We decided our first trip away from home would be a quick day trip to Philadelphia to see a few museums, and, perhaps more importantly, to take advantage of the hotel's babysitting service while we enjoyed a romantic evening at the  in-house restaurant.

Because it offered everything we were looking for, we decided to stay at The Hotel Monaco, overlooking the Liberty Bell. With easy access to the great historical sites of Philadelphia, we were ultimately most interested in the Red Owl Tavern downstairs. While we normally avoid steakhouses, it seemed appropriate to enjoy a great American meal in the most American of cities.

Camped outside, watching the last of the tourists shuffle home for the evening, we enjoyed some great wine and some amazing slabs of meat. A wide range of American wines--even a handful of Finger Lakes offerings--made us feel right at home. A menu of locally sourced produce showcased the quality of American meats. Easy, fun, and comforting, the perfect combination for a very special evening.

A Less Casual French Meal at DB Bistro Moderne

French food can be casual, but it seems to be the go-to high end cuisine of American restaurants. We usually enjoy more laid back experiences, but every once in a while we look for an amazing meal. For a special night out in Manhattan, we decided to check out DB Bistro Moderne after hearing good things about their wine menu.

We joined the pre-theater crowd on a busy Saturday night. Busy and trendy is not our usual scene, but we were impressed with the selection of French wines, and the classic French dishes weren't too overwhelming. Like French wine, French food can come off a little opaque, but a little bit of knowledge goes a long way to finding something you'll enjoy. Our waiter was extremely helpful in deciphering our dishes and the wine list, and we ultimately chose their 3-course prix fixe and were not disappointed.

A great dish to look for, if you want a glass of red wine, is Coq au Vin. "Old Rooster in Wine" may not sound too appealing in English, but slow cooking a tough meat in red wine is a great use of ingredients in any culture, and gives you one of the few chicken dishes that can handle a big red wine.

That is a wonderful thing about French cuisine. Years of culinary tradition have turned humble peasant dishes into amazing food. DB Bistro Moderne seemed to embrace that, serving amazing variations on dishes that can be found in any casual French bistro. The extensive wine menu did let us find a bottle at a reasonable value, and stick with wine that has been grown to match the traditions of French cuisine.

Comfort Food at Chez Oskar

We are fortunate to eat at great restaurants in New York City regularly. Never the "need to reserve a table six months in advance" level of fancy, but some fancy, popular places none the less. But when push comes to shove, we tend to look for homey comfort food instead of preciously crafted plates.

This is never more true than when we are wandering around our home grounds of Brooklyn. On a casual weekend evening, we like to find some quieter place to enjoy a long and easy meal. We love it when we find ourselves in a place like Chez Oskar. While the have a reputation for hoity-toity cuisine, there is just as much history of rich, hearty peasant food in their culinary tradition. A good French bistro like Chez Oskar can fill your belly with meaty stews like Beef Bourguinon, or even a great burger and fries.

Like the food, French wine has grown to reflect the needs of those farming the countryside as much as the elite. The big, bold flavors of a Bordeaux can bring layers of complex flavors to dishes rich in their own. In a dish like Beef Bourguinon, the slowly simmered stew can benefit from some of the darker flavors found in some Bordeaux wines, like chocolate, mushrooms, or tobacco. Of course, it helps that the recipe calls for a bottle of wine.

Chez Oskar was our kind of place. The space was intimate, but it was filled with a range of customers--from other couples to a huge family gathering. And with a great French meal, we were forced to enjoy a few great glasses of French wine.

Wine and International Cuisine at Junoon

With European food, there is a long history of pairing food with wine. If you know a bit about wine, it's not impossibly difficult to pick a wine to match your meal at a French restaurant. But for more international cuisine, it can be a bit tricky. Thankfully, we have the old standby of Riesling to meet all our adventurous dining needs.

While European dishes may develop some complicated flavors in their sauces, many Asian dishes rely on a depth of spices seldom seen in Western cuisine. At a quality Indian restaurant like Junoon in Manhattan, a dish may simmer in a dozen spices, including hot peppers. Riesling offers simple, crisp flavors that can't compete with the flavors of a spicy meal. Even better, that hint of sweetness from the grape will often soothe the heat from the spice.

In the cavernous restaurant, we sat down amid the trendy crowd, feeling like we were having dinner in the middle of some big party. Amid it all, a handful of plates drifted across our table, a wide range of flavors to match the bottle of Riesling we'd ordered to share. Against the spicy shrimp, we saw the real benefit of Riesling, as the sweetness of even a semi-dry can play well with heat. With chickpeas though, the wine could have stood to be a bit more dry to counteract the fattiness of the beans. The wine was far too big for the lamb in light sauce, but offered a nice sweetness to match the sweetness in the cauliflower steak.

It's tough to match a bottle of wine to multiple courses, and even more difficult when you aren't as familiar with a cuisine. At a time like this, you can always fall back on what you are familiar with. We like to be adventurous with our wines, but sometimes the meal is adventure enough.

Cuisine at Hecho en DUMBO

Somehow, it always surprises us when we end up eating Mexican cuisine. Maybe it's because the country seems stuffed full of Mexican restaurants that try to convince us that rice, beans, and tortilla can be combined in enough different ways to make up a couple of dozen items on the menu, but, when we find ourselves in a restaurant that uses carefully crafted, slow-cooked sauces to complement a menu of interesting dishes, it always leaves us happily surprised.

Hecho en DUMBO, which means "Made in DUMBO," is not actually located in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. The chef got his start there, with a small pop-up dinner in a café there, but now he's managed to find a permanent space in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Using fresh, local ingredients, he is making small shared plates influenced by the cuisine of Mexico City.

Small plates and local ingredients. How could we resist? We found ourselves there for an early dinner, fighting our way past the happy hour crowd at the bar to a table in the back. Another benefit of Mexican Cuisine? The margarita menu. Instead of pages of the usual sugary, fruity slush concoctions one finds in most Mexican restaurants, here the cocktail was simple and focused on the tequila. Like a good whiskey, tequila can create some dark, complicated cocktails, which can be a great way to sit and ponder a dinner menu. After such a hearty drink to start the evening, we wanted a hearty dinner. So instead of sharing a few small plates, we decided to share one giant plate, piled high with meat. The Parridilla Yucateca is a house specialty: a plate of half a dozen different grilled meats, with a little bit of cheese. We ordered a salad of garbanzo beans to make it a healthy dinner, and a Malbec to drink, because what other choice is there for a pairing with a pile of meat? It was amazing. Hearty, smokey, meaty goodness filling the table in front of us, paired with a wine that always manages to hold its own against the strong flavor the grill, while bringing a balance of spice and fruit of its own.

Like finding a great wine from an unexpected region, it's wonderful to be reminded that good food isn't about some stereotypical interpretation. Good ingredients, careful preparation, and the deft hand of a skilled chef are universal to all cultures, and can give us amazing dishes in every corner of the world.

Vacation Adventures at The Forge

We spend a lot of time in New York, but when we do get a chance to get away, we don't change our habits much. Good food, good wine, and always looking for something new. When we end up at the resort hotels in Miami's South Beach, we find a bit of a mixed bag. With a handful of excellent restaurants under one roof, we have options, but over the course of a long vacation, we can get bored of the same few choices.

Thankfully, hidden behind a non-nondescript storefront on a quiet retail street not far from Collins Avenue, there is a wonderful option. The Forge is an historic fixture of Miami, a steakhouse from the earliest days of the Miami resort scene. After a major renovation in 2010, it has re-invented itself as a high quality farm-to-table restaurant with a unique menu for the area. Thankfully, through all the changes it has maintained its world class wine menu. Taking advantage of the renovation, they even made the wine more approachable, with an amazing Enomatic system dispensing a wide range of self-served wines by the glass.

We enjoyed a winter menu without the bone-chilling cold of our home city. The winter dishes meant we could pick some bold red wines. A beet salad with Gorgonzola and  pumpkin seeds worked well with a fruity Merlot. The fruit notes of the Bordeaux were unexpectedly well balanced against the popular crab claw dish, as the mustard sauce brought a spice that pulled out the sweet fruit of the wine the match the sweetness of the crab flesh. The main courses were big and bold, and needed to be paired with bigger, more aggressive wines. A venison steak piled with smoked mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, and juniper berries was suited to a big, fruity Californian Zinfandel.

The Forge was a great change of pace. The hotel restaurants are great, and convenient. But for us, a menu that never changes from year to year can grow wearisome, so to find a great restaurant with a focus on seasonal ingredients is just what we need to make a vacation that much more special.

Confusion at CraftBar

Even with everything we have learned about wine in the last few years, we still make mistakes. While it's almost impossible to pick a "bad" wine at a nicer restaurant, it is possible to make an uninformed choice, resulting in a wine poorly matched to your meal. Your evening won't be ruined, but it might reduce your overall enjoyment of what could have been a great meal.

Conveniently located off Union Square, just a few short subway stops from our New York City home, we've managed to stop in at CraftBar several times to enjoy their wine. With a seasonal menu full of fresh ingredients and an extensive and interesting wine menu, it was only a matter of time before we sat down for dinner, too.

Looking over the menus, I though I had it all figured out. The cod stood out to me, so despite the cooler day, I chose a white wine to go with it. I picked a Chardonnay, hoping for a balance of crispness and richness. Rule of thumb: white wine with fish, always. Right? With the fish, that held true. But, the cod was accompanied by an earthy cassoulet of sausage and beans that really proved to be the main flavor of the meal. I realized right away that the meal would have been better paired with a red wine.

This incident served to remind us of the importance of proper pairings. We always feel that good quality food and good quality wine make for a better meal, and that one shouldn't hold too much stock in getting the "right" wine. The truth is, though, that if the two don't work well together, you lose something in the result. It's disappointing when an expensive glass of wine becomes overpowered by that steak you ordered, or the sweet dessert wine obliterates the flavors of the delicate mousse you've picked for dessert.

So, if you're not sure what the menu means, say, by "cassoulet" (the situation in my case), ask your server to explain and to even give you a wine recommendation. It's okay to admit you don't know, and it's certainly better to ask if it means you will be assured of enjoying your meal that much more. You want the ultimate experience, especially if you're paying top price for it. We look forward to our next pairing opportunity at CraftBar, for sure.

A Quick Stop at Lillie's

We have a handful of favorite places to visit when we go into Manhattan, but there is always a benefit to trying something new. While the old tried-and-true places deliver a comfort that comes with something known, a little adventure can lead you to something new and exciting.

After brunch with some friends at a popular wine bar and restaurant, we found ourselves with an afternoon to kill in Manhattan. We wandered about, shopping and people watching, but eventually we needed to seek refuge from the mean streets. Venturing off the beaten path near Union Square, we came across an interesting little place, a small "Victorian Establishment" by the name of Lillie's. Between the Victorian decor and the live Celtic Folk band playing at the entrance, we thought we might have found an Irish Pub, but the varied and international wine list let us know we were in the right place. We find it rare for such a casual bar to offer such a varied wine menu, it's typically "red" or "white" or at best "merlot" and "chardonnay." Not here: the selection was well-rounded and diverse.

We sat at the bar and enjoyed a couple of glasses, listening to the music. We didn't get a chance to try any food, but the pub menu looked comforting. All told, it was nice to find an alternative to the big named restaurants of the neighborhood, and an opportunity to enjoy some interesting wine in a more casual setting.

Lillie overlooks the scene.
Courtesy unionsquare.lilliesnyc.com

Adventures in Brooklyn, Allswell Restaurant

Brooklyn is an odd place. Once of the largest cities in the US in its own right, Brooklyn a patchwork of different neighborhoods that grew up as suburbs and manufacturing districts around Manhattan. These days, that patchwork shows itself in the poor network of transportation between neighborhoods: the trains were constructed for the Manhattan commute. Sometimes, the only way to get between (for those of who don't drive or ride a bike) is to ride a train into Manhattan to come back into Brooklyn. From where we are, any trip to the trendy neighborhood of Williamsburg is an adventure. These days, it's tough for us to pack everything we need to spend a day out there, so we made sure to take a few extra trips before our child was born, to see what was happening.

Thankfully, it's easy to find something to make the entire trip worthwhile. Back when NYC was still frozen, we decided to venture to Williamsburg. The cold weather, while appealing now, left us unwilling to just wander, so I looked for a dinner option that would suit us: local food, carefully prepared, in a casual environment. After an afternoon of darting from store to store in a desperate attempt to outrace the brutal winds, we were glad to have a plan for dinner, the restaurant Allswell.

With a mixture of hearty, meat-centric dishes, the menu was stuffed with British, German, Italian, and French dishes in an American comfort food style. The big, hearty plates were perfect for a cold winter night, and the menu changes daily based on available fresh ingredients. Some interesting beer and a list of Old World wines let us select something confidently. The crowd was younger and the prices lower than many options in our stretch of Brooklyn, but the menu born out of their fresh and local philosophy was right up our alley. If only it were a bit closer, we would be back often.