Category Archives: Chicago food and drink

Save the date – Compassion, Fashion & Cocktails 2015

It’s a funny name, but football fans know it well. Israel Idonije. He played for the Chicago Bears for ten seasons. He had a Super-Bowl season. And now he guides a Chicago foundation to help under-served kids.

Mark your calendar now for October 29th for an evening of culinary delight and artistic flair that benefits this worthy Chicago charity. Join professionals, entrepreneurs, media, sports and entertainment personalities for Compassion, Fashion & Cocktails 2015, a fun event to raise money and awareness for several kid-oriented projects of the Israel Idonije Foundation.

“IFF programs focus on helping kids further develop social and emotional life skills in the hope that every child  achieves his/her goals.”  Even though you’ll hang out with many of Chicago’s who’s who to enjoy the fashion show and great cocktails and food from local restaurants, the best reason to go is to support this Chicago-based foundation.

The event will be Thursday, October 29, 2015, at The Godfrey Hotel Chicago  | I|O Urban Roofscape, 127 W. Huron St. at LaSalle St.  VIP private cocktail reception (5:30 – 6:00 pm) with Israel Idonije. Private cocktail reception from 6:00 to 7:30 pm for general ticket holders, followed by a runway show with fashion by international designers Zadig & Voltaire, hair by George the Salon (George Gonzalez), and makeup by Makeup by Aga (Aga Kaskiewicz) at 8:00 pm.  The event features light hors d’oeuvres from a collection of local restaurants, a wine tasting led by advanced sommelier Jim Bube from Heritage Wine Cellars, and a raffle for cool donated items.

Purchase tickets in advance (prior to 10/26) for just $50. Tickets may also be purchased at the door on the night of the event for $65. A VIP Patron ticket ($100) entitles you to a private meet-and-greet cocktail reception with Israel Idonije, a gift bag, 5 raffle tickets and reserved seats.  To reserve your tickets in advance, visit www.compassionfashioncocktails2015.eventbrite.com. I’ll see you there.

Wine terms and picks from Ste. Michelle fine wines

Ste. Michelle Estates winery
This is the picture that you see in most bottles of Chateau Ste. Michelle wines from Washington state. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Titled “Women in Wine: Sip Summer Tasting,” a recent portfolio tasting of Ste. Michelle Estates’ wines took place inside the cool and elegant confines of City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph St. The showcase, meant to celebrate the influence of women on wine making, featured a series of booths designated by place of origin and staffed by experts in each of the wines displayed. Presenters offered generous samples of their wines to enjoy with unique and tasty appetizers chosen specifically by City Winery’s chefs to pair with each set of wines.

A couple of the experts manning (and womanning) the tables defined some terms we hear all the time but may not know the precise meaning of. “Fruit forward”–a term that’s become very popular recently–simply means, according to one expert, that fruitiness is the first thing you notice when you smell or taste a wine.
“Legs” refers to that phenomenon whereby when you swirl the wine in your glass you notice long “legs” of it remaining on the side of the glass after the main portion of wine re-settles at the bottom. The longer and thicker the legs, the fuller, more viscous the wine is–and that’s often the most noticeable visual difference between a $10 bottle and one that goes for $20. Wines with legs are said to have great staying power and can be aged longer.

Tannins is another term used constantly in the wine industry. Naturally occurring substances found mostly in grape skins, seeds and stems, tannins can give young wines a mouth-puckering bitterness and astringency, but some tannins are desirable in red wines to give them structure. Generally, wines with high levels of tannins can take a long time to mature. For more about the language of wine tasting, check out the Gallo glossary of wine terms online.

 The Ste. Michelle portfolio is extensive, so it can help to have specific recommendations when you shop:
 To find retailers who carry Ste. Michelle wines, use the handy “Find Our Wines” feature on their website. There are hundreds of outlets in Chicago that carry at least some of these wines, including many locations of Walgreens, CVS, Mariano’s and Jewel/Osco, among others.

Book review – Addiction underbelly of restaurant industry

Battling addiction in the restaurant industry
Battling addiction in the restaurant industry

The restaurant industry is a rough place to work. If you pick up Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, you’ll read a brilliant account of the details of the seamy side of life as a restaurant employee—cook, line prep, server or whatever—and you’ll never think about the “back of the house” the same way again.

Recently received a review copy of another book about the dark side of the industry. Called Torn Together, it chronicles the life and times of a married couple as they navigate the choppy waters of addiction and recovery, and condemns how the restaurant industry tends to promote a life of abuse and addiction for its many members.

Authors Scott Magnuson and his wife Shaaren Pine co-own the Argonaut Tavern—a place twice recognized by local Washington, D.C. magazines as one of the city’s best bars and family-friendly restaurants. Magnuson writes as someone who’s recovering from alcohol and drug addiction that started when he was 14 years old. Pine writes as someone who’s had to hold the business and the family together during the worst of it.

The couple founded a nonprofit called Restaurant Recovery that works to assist restaurant employees and their families who need help finding and paying for reputable drug and alcohol treatment programs. The book is intended as a cautionary tale for those fighting addiction and as a call to action to the restaurant industry to change the culture of permissiveness that allows and encourages employees to overindulge. Read more at http://www.torntogetherbook.com/

An edible idea for back-to-school fun

Magnolia Bakery, 108 N. State St #128, home to some truly delicious cupcakes, has a bright idea for back-to-school fun–personalized image cupcakes. Think about how fun it might be for a kid to take her new teacher a super-luxe frosted cupcake with the child’s picture on it?  Even  if the teacher is a hidebound, I-never-eat-sugar type, s/he’s bound to enjoy such a charming and thoughtful gift.

Magnolia bakery makes personalized photo cupcakes
Magnolia bakery makes personalized photo cupcakes

Or how about you give your first-time-in-school grandson one with a picture of his mom or dad or even yourself on it? So he’ll know you’re with him in spirit.

 Here’s the deal: One week before you want to give it to your giftee, you provide the friendly folks at Magnolia with a picture of whatever you want to appear on the cupcake–even the kid’s favorite toy or a pet–and they print it out on edible paper. When you pick it up, the image that comes out on the cupcake looks identical to the picture you provided.
I can even imagine putting the kid’s picture on one and having him give it to his mom–and telling her “This is so you won’t miss me so much!” But hey, this idea sounds great for lots of other occasions, too. How about a child’s or friend’s photo on birthday cupcakes? Or a family picture on holiday cupcakes? At $5.25 apiece, this is a unique and affordable gift.
P.S. Cupcakes with cute, back-to-school decorations (see photo) and that fabulous buttercream frosting are $3.50.
Free lunchbox notes from bydawnnicole.com
Free lunchbox notes from bydawnnicole.com

And while you’re at it, how about some free pre-printed lunchbox notes you can surprise your school-age kid with?  Did your mom ever put a note in your lunchbox? I don’t think mine did. What a neat idea. Check these out at bydawnnicole.com.

Meet celebrity chef host of RedEye Burger Battle bash 2015

Jeff Mauro, Food Network celebrity chef
Jeff Mauro, Food Network celebrity chef (Photo credit: Food Network)

Food Network star Jeff Mauro (The Kitchen, Star Salvation, Sandwich King) took time out from his crazy-busy schedule recently to host the 3rd annual RedEye Battle of the Burger presented by Amstel Light. More than 500 guests enjoyed the beautiful summer evening on the patio of the Chicago History Museum where they sampled the between-the-bun, mainly-beef specialty offerings from nearly two dozen of the city’s well-known eateries and cast their votes for Chicago’s best burger. Winning burgers are at the end of this article–and man, they taste good with Amstel Light.

Jeff was kind enough to do a brief Q&A about being a Food Network star. Jeff originally wanted to be a comedian, but after years of cooking and working in delis and four years as a private chef in a big corporation, he also knew he wanted to be on Food Network. So, on his third try at the contest, he finally got cast.

  1. What’s your favorite story about how you got started?

“I was in NY for 11 weeks. My son was 2 years old. We just got done living in the basement with my in-laws. It was so stressful leaving, but I was pursuing this dream. When I came home from the call, I was in the top two and I knew I was going to make it. I went to my house—that I’d saved up for so long—and after thirteen years, my house, family, son. I was elated to be with my family again.” He went on to win the  Food Network star competition.

  1. How do they choose contestants for competitions on Food Network TV?

“The show’s producers hire a casting company and these folks do an incredibly thorough job of vetting contestants. First, you make and submit a video, then you wait for a casting call. Then you go and then wait for a call back, then you compete. They do background checks, psychological testing, incident testing, on-camera test, ask very personal questions, and so on. They want to be very sure that this person will make a good appearance on television in terms of behavior, attitude and strength of character. It’s a long process. But my wife just knew that last time that I’d make it. She told me, ‘This video is going to get you there. Your life is going to change forever.’ She was right.”

  1. How did you become known as the “Sandwich King”?

“When we were in the midst of the competition and I’d been mentioning all the diners and delis I worked at, Bobby Flay said to me, ‘So, you’re gonna be the sandwich king, eh?’ And it stuck. That became my name henceforth. That had been my point of view for years as I went from butcher shop to sandwich catering company. I knew I was good at constructing those.” For handy hints on making a non-slip sandwich, visit Mauro’s Sandwich King web page.

  1. What do you enjoy most—besides money!—about being a Food Network star?

“All the travel is hard, but it’s great that I can include my family and travel places and experience foods. You get treated a certain way in restaurants. It’s unique. I don’t take it for granted. We still live in the same house and same neighborhood. I love making television. I’ve been doing it four years now.”

  1. What do you like most about Chicago as a foodie heaven?

“I’ve been in LA and NY. I’m in New York four to five times a month. I go to all the great restaurants everywhere, but I absolutely adore Chicago. It is a place where chefs can exercise their creative chops without the intense pressure that chefs in, say, New York have to face every moment when they’re paying tens of thousands of dollars a month in rent. Chicago allows chefs to experiment and feel comfortable with trying new things, without always worrying about being first or how high they are in the competition.”

  1. What are some of your favorite restaurants in the Chicago area?

“I’m a neighborhood guy as opposed to downtown. I like, for example, Boka (Michelin star 2015) is one of my favorites right now. Boho (Bohemian House)—phenomenal schnitzel and housemade sausages. Jimmy’s Place in Forest Park for pizza, Vesuvio Bakery and sandwiches, Gibson’sHot dogs at Gene and Jude’s, in River Grove. Johnny’s Beef & Gyros.”

  1. Jam Restaurant in Logan Square is owned by a Jeff Mauro, but that’s not the same guy.

“Yeah, it’s a different Jeff Mauro who owns Jam Restaurant. I actually had him appear as a guest on my Sandwich King show.”

  1. What would you say to anyone who aspires to become a famous chef?

“Work in the kitchen at a restaurant for a summer. That’ll tell you whether you really want to cook and whether you can stand the life. Short order cook, work the line, whatever—for free most likely. Save yourself 30-40 grand for culinary school.”

  1. Is there a book in your future?

“Maybe. Probably a memoir, though, not a cookbook. Anybody can get my recipes from TV. If I do write one, it’s more likely to be the story of my life.”

  1. Anything else you’d like to say to our readers?

“God bless America!”

Top 3 winning burgers

3rd Annual Redeye Battle of the Burger sponsored by Amstel Light

  1. Leadbelly (Portage Park and Gladstone Park): Old Time Religion Burger – Roasted tomato, goat cheese, arugula and truffle aioli (and I might add, try their fabulous  housemade butter cookies).
  2. Beef & Barley, 3001 N. Ashland: The “Smang It” Burger – Chipotle mayo, Spanish chorizo, avocado, jalapeno, lettuce, tomato and pickle.
  3. Whisk, 2018 W. Chicago: House Burger – Chihuahua cheese, chipotle mayo, guacamole and tortilla strips.

 

French wine expert Patrick d’Aulan on appreciating wine

Whether you’re new to enjoying wines or an old hand, it’s always nice to hear what an expert has to say—especially one who grew up in the midst of the French champagne mystique. Such a man is Patrick d’Aulan, who recently visited Chicago.

Matthieu Grassin and Patrick d'Aulan enjoy talking about wines
Matthieu Grassin and Patrick d’Aulan enjoy talking about wines

Patrick d’Aulan (right in photo), owner of both Altamana Chilean and Alta Vista Argentinian wineries, comes from a family with 150 years of winemaking experience as owners of Piper Heidsieck champagne. But all that time and even after selling the company, d’Aulan said his father was always looking for new challenges. “He was the first to make sparkling wine in India,” said d”Aulan. “He had already gone to Sonoma and established a presence there with Piper Heidsieck.” He said his father believed in starting early to instill the appreciation of wine in his children.

“My father began teaching me and my sister to taste wines when I was 5 or 6 years old. On Sunday nights he would give us a small glass of wine, then blindfold us and put a covered plate of fruit in front of us. Smell the wine, then smell the fruit, he would say, to notice the relationship between the two.” D’Aulan recalled how early Chardonnays were always associated in his mind with pineapple.

“The fact that he made it fun really helped us learn how to taste wines,” said d’Aulan. “But I really began to learn about wines seriously from my uncle. He had a library of wines. He started me early in life by giving me a little bit of wine and a lot of water. Then each year he would increase the wine a little and decrease the water. Once I reached 18, he told me I had the right to go into his library of wines. Later, I gave him a bottle of my first wine which he had agreed to put in his library.”

“People tend to confuse the idea of having wine as part of your lifestyle with the excesses of alcoholism,” said d’Aulan. “There is no comparison. Giving a kid wine early on is a great way to introduce that child to the appreciation of wine for a lifetime.”

Technology can help, and education is very important. Matthieu Grassin (left in photo), winemaker at d’Aulan’s Alta Vista vineyards in Argentina said, “We use technology to enhance our ability to make good decisions while making our wines.” Grassin said they use an app that shows the slope and temperature variations over every square yard of their vineyards. But that’s just a tool in their winemaking scenario, D’Aulan said. He hired Grassin not just for his formal education in oenology and viticulture, but also because he had significant hands-on experience in the trenches—personally working the vineyards. “I would not trust someone who did not have this kind of experience,” said d’Aulan.

D’Aulan is proud that Alta Vista’s three single-vineyard Malbec wines are considered benchmarks of Mendoza’s old Malbec terroir wines. To help Argentina build its reputation—and so that his own wines will be part of it—he has gifted the trademark concept and use of “single vineyard” Malbec to the Argentinean National Viticulture Institute.

More memorable remarks from Monsieur d’Aulan:

  • Technology can help with changing climate conditions, but good winemakers know how to make good vintages in all kinds of weather. “When nature is not generous with us, we have to deal with it. It is the heart and courage of the winemakers that makes the difference,” said d’Aulan.
  • Global warming isn’t just a temperature threat. More frequent storms, especially hailstorms, are an even greater threat to a vineyard. They can destroy the green-leap canopy and damage the vines for the next year as well. Our protection against hail is emergency nets; against frost, it’s setting fire pots around the vineyard. One winemaker hires a helicopter to fan the air circulation against frost. These attacks cannot be predicted but rather are always completely random.
  • Cutting down on nature’s interference may make less work for a winemaker, according to d’Aulan, but a very clean vineyard is not a good sign. “It should be wild and a little dirty, with flowers and creatures.”
  • D’Aulan believes that apps like Vivino make sense. “I like to get feedback from consumers, expert or not.”
  • Winemakers usually add SO2 (sulfur dioxide) to their wines to purify them. But this is not natural. D’Aulan’s Altamana vineyard is working towards adding no SO2 to become a totally natural wine. No pesticides.

Read more about d’Aulan’s extraordinary Altamana and Alta Vista wines here.

National French Fry Day – Local take and survey winners

Wavy French fries sold in a Canadian supermarket.
Wavy French fries sold in a Canadian supermarket. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

National French Fries Day (July 13) was yesterday. Sorry we missed it, but over at this Gold Coast eatery, The Local Chicago, 198 E Delaware Pl., they’ve kicked off the celebration with a new french-fry-based dish, Cherry Pepper Poutine. Made up of hand-cut fries, rich brown gravy, Wisconsin cheese curds and fresh cherry peppers, it’s then topped with pork belly and an over-easy egg sprinkled with tasty chives. A filling meal-in-a-dish for $14.

French fries covered in cheese
French fries covered in cheese (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Whether fast or fancy, some people have been known to judge a restaurant almost exclusively on how good its French fries are. Either way, it’s an honorable dish in the U.S. (deep-fried potatoes are known as chips in Great Britain), despite the French nomenclature. Read more about the history of French fries here.

Meanwhile, also in honor of National French Fries Day (July 13th), Ranker.com (crowd-sourced rankings) released results of its public poll asking voters to rank The Best Fast Food French Fries to determine which ones are a cut above the rest. Here are a few highlights:

  • McDonald’s French fries Take #1 Spot
  • Millennials prefer Dairy Queen French Fries and Chick-fil-A waffle fries
  • Women favor Rally’s/Checker’s seasoned fries and Culver’s fries
  • Men’s top picks included KFC Potato Wedges and Dairy Queen french fries
  • Baby boomers like Arby’s curly fries and White Castle fries

 

Chicago q brings barbeque to dizzying heights

Chef Lee Ann Whippen with a hunk of Wagyu beef
Chef Lee Ann Whippen with a hunk of Wagyu beef

I was recently invited to sample new menu items at Chicago Q on a complimentary basis. I’m delighted to report my experience was exceptional in almost every way. Kyle, our server, gave attentive service that didn’t overwhelm, and he was happy to share his extensive knowledge of the food. Plus, he told us a great story about how he came to work at Chicago q. Seems he worked at a nearby establishment when the manager there decided to take the employees out for a team-building lunch. It so happened the lunch was at Chicago q. Kyle was so impressed with the food and the place that within three weeks he jumped ship at the other place and came to work here.

I can see why. Almost everything we tasted here was not just delicious but also non-greasy (who gets to say that about barbeque ribs?) and exceptionally flavorful.

Complimentary B&B pickles and Pig Powder Chips
Complimentary B&B pickles and Pig Powder Chips

As soon as you sit down, your table gets a complimentary bowl of house-made sweet Bread and Butter pickles (we saw a vat of those marinating from scratch with garlic and onions) and another of their proudly Pig Powdered potato chips made in-house and flavored with the restaurant’s signature rub, made from Chef Whippen’s father’s recipe from long ago. A smart tip from Kyle: These are delicious, addictive and filling, so control yourself! You do not want to miss out on experiencing some of the other delicious menu items.

New among the starters: Pork Belly Corn Dog (made with in-house brined and smoked pork belly), Pig Powder Fries, and Smoked Alligator Sausage (clove-y, gently spiced, tender, fall-apart meat inside a traditional sausage casing, served nestled in a bed of chunky Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes). The Select-a-Style sides are new: two bucks a side for your sandwich that include a choice of: Memphis style with coleslaw, house-made B&B pickles, and a mild barbeque sauce; or Chicago style with caramelized onions and peppers and American cheese; or Southern style with crispy bacon, a fried egg and American cheese.

Two massive Southern-style smokers in the kitchen give the royal rotation-smoking treatment to everything from ribs to pork belly to whole brined chickens (brining makes the breast come out just as juicy as the dark meat).

Other new items include the Steakhouse Wedge salad, sides of grilled vegetable skewers (crisp-cooked onion, pepper, zucchini), Elote Grilled Corn with herbs, Cotija cheese and chipotle sauce (maybe slightly overcooked but lovely to look at and very tasty). Other new dishes include Shrimp Brochettes (wrapped in bacon and stuffed with Monterey cheese and poblano peppers), and the CAB house-cut Ribeye. This is just the heart of the ribeye steak, cooked

Gorgeously charred CAB ribeye
Gorgeously charred CAB ribeye (Sorry about the blur)

to your desired doneness inside a sugar-char-crust that makes a heavenly complement to the tender, juicy medallion of meat—served with house-made chunky Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes with the natural sweetness of good potato flavor and a tiny tang from the buttermilk. Don’t know how they manage to get the crust so dark and crunchy and still have the meat come out medium rare. Meltingly delicious. Another new item is the Bourbon Vegetable Kebabs (grilled zucchini, mushrooms, red onion, green pepper and tomato with a Kentucky Bourbon glaze).

The macaroni and cheese sports a crispy Panko breadcrumb topping and a mix of cheeses enrobing the curly macaroni pasta. Kyle explained that the small order we asked for was not as cheesy as the full orders. Although we couldn’t finish the skillet because of all the other excellent dishes we had, I sure enjoyed the hell out of the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. Plus you can get the Mac’n’Cheese Pitmaster style: mixed with your choice of bites of one or more of Baby Back Ribs, American Kobe Brisket Burnt Ends, Pulled Pork, Pulled Chicken, Bacon or Smoked Corn.

Charcoal-grilled bacon slabs
Charcoal-grilled bacon slabs

The Q Bacon appetizer takes a seriously thick hunk from the same spot on the pig that your grocery-store bacon comes from but then performs a small miracle with it. Think a quadruple-thick-sliced, maple-glazed chunk of smoked pork grilled on a super-hot charcoal grill. This is not your mother’s bacon, people. The leftovers next day made a scrumptious dinner with a baked potato and steamed green beans.

Did I tell you Chef Lee Ann Whippen wears earrings with little dangling gold pigs? She grew up visiting a hog farm that one of her relatives owned, and she does not kid around about her love of all things pig.

Honey Butter Cornbread pleases everyone!
Honey Butter Cornbread pleases everyone!

The Honey Butter Cornbread was a huge hit for us—and with our 8-year-old lunch companion, who by the way also inhaled her grilled hamburger—while the more savory version of the cornbread, Poblano Cheddar, promised to be equally rewarding. The Watermelon Feta Salad sounded appealingly refreshing. And then there was an intriguing list of other sides: Bruleed Mac’n’cheese, American Kobe Brisket Baked Beans, Red Bliss Potato Salad, and Braised Greens. Heck, you could make a satisfying meal just out of sides here.

Q'x Competition Ribs and veg skewer
Q’x Competition Ribs and veg skewer

As for the ribs, we had to try the Chef’s Competition Ribs (at $38 for a full slab a bit pricier than the regular ribs at $20/$29), but for good reason. The rub on Competition Ribs is bolder than the signature Pig Powder used on the regular ribs. The meat is cooked two hours longer at a lower temperature, plus the Chef adds other ingredients that make these ribs even tenderer and spicier. Chef Lee Ann Whippen wins competitions all over the country with this recipe. And it’s clear why. Incredibly tender, sweet meat falls effortlessly away from the bone yet maintains a firm texture and an integrity that surpasses any we’ve tasted before. Thanks to Kyle’s suggestion, I dipped this beautiful meat into a combination of the Kansas City spicy sauce mixed with a little of the mustard sauce. Perfection. Really. I rarely eat meat and never as much as I happily consumed at Chicago q that day.

Irresistible Oreo-crusted peanut butter pie - we'd already started eating before we remembered to take the photo
Irresistible Oreo-crusted peanut butter pie – we’d already started eating before we remembered to take the photo

Oh, and the Chef insisted we save room for dessert and had us try a piece of her justly famous Peanut Butter Pie. A thick, firm crust made from Oreo cookies plus the filling formed the container for an exceptionally light-yet-rich filling made of undisclosed ingredients (maybe including cream cheese with fluffy beaten egg whites to lighten it?) whipped together and delicately flavored with peanut butter. We, I’m embarrassed to say, ate the whole thing.

All in all, this is a place I will definitely come back to and am already recommending unreservedly to friends and acquaintances. My companion, whose husband’s ribs have been her total favorite for many years, insists she is bringing him back here with her ASAP (they live in Cleveland so it’ll be a long way to come to learn that your ribs are no longer the fairest in the land).

Q's chalkboard list of bourbons
Q’s chalkboard list of bourbons

In fact, Chicago q is having a Woodford Reserve Bourbon Dinner this July 7. It’s only $65, including cocktails, and my friend and I already have reservations. I don’t even know the full menu yet, but I can almost guarantee, if you appreciate barbeque at all, you’ll love it.

P.S. They have a cool upstairs for private parties and a BYOq (Build Your Own q) catering menu of all their specialties. And their weekend brunch sounds great with items like Carrot Cake Pancakes, Cheddar Chive Biscuits & Gravy and more. Saturdays and Sundays 10 to 3.

Wine, women and wonderful food

More and more women are becoming prominent characters in the great pageant that is the food and beverage world. Below are three of note.

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Viktorija enjoys sharing her knowledge
Viktorija enjoys sharing her knowledge

Viktorija Todorovska is an author, chef and level III sommelier who owns and operates OlivaCooking.com. She is skilled in the art of helping people appreciate fine wines, including sharing her knowledge about pairing them with food. Her goals are to help make wine approachable and to illuminate the cuisines of other countries.

To those ends, Viktorija regularly conducts seminars and workshops on her own and in conjunction with fine restaurants around the world. During a recent session held at Kendall College in Chicago, her audience included both professionals and amateur wine buffs. She broke down the intricacies of origin, growing conditions and tasting for 2013 vintages of white Burgundies from multiple locatons in Bourgogne, France. She was a model for the proper technique for tasting (roll it around your whole mouth and then spit it out rather than swallow), and explained which tastes are detected by which parts of your mouth and tongue. She showed where the premier (1er) cru and the grand cru wines are grown and explained how the individual climats (delineated plots of land with specific geographical and climate conditions ) determine the characteristics of wines from particular areas. This region is where all seven of the grand cru white burgundies of the world are made. Heady company.
Viktorija is not only incredibly knowledgeable but she’s also an expert at making complex information understandable. For anyone who didn’t already know about white burgundies from St. Aubin or Puligny-Montrachet (do NOT pronounce the “t”) or Chassagne-Montrachet, they were bound to walk away feeling more confident about asking for one of these in a shop or ordering one in a restaurant. In addition, Viktorija is an accomplished chef. Look for her cookbooks—The Sardinian Cookbook, Provence Food and Wine, Risotto Made Easy and more.
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Renee Erickson's delightful cookbook
Renee Erickson’s delightful cookbook

Another woman of note, Renée Erickson, came through our city recently where Shaws Crab House Chicago held a full-scale wine dinner to honor her recipes and promote her gorgeous new cookbook, “A Boat, A Whale and A Walrus.” Renee is an acclaimed, James-Beard nominated chef and the owner of several Seattle restaurants: The Whale Wins, Boat Street Café, The Walrus and the Carpenter, and Barnacle. The funny name of the book derives from the names of some of her restaurants. Her cookbook is written in her own voice – a voice that’s gentle, and wise, and clearly in command of the kitchens she oversees in her restaurants. She speaks about the human qualities we all possess, in kind and caring ways that make her seem like someone I could actually enjoy having as a boss.

I love how she explains the tools and techniques she uses and gives a serious resource list for obtaining the ingredients and materials she recommends. She emphasizes that food is all about bringing people together. But clearly taste is important to her – she uses heavy cream in her creations with the same abandon that Jackson Pollock used paint on canvas.
Her book groups recipes by season. For example winter ingredients includes carrots, citrus and kale as well as onions and potatoes. She gives several ways to use each item in dishes that can comprise part of many different menus.
Warning. This cookbook is not for beginners. But it will certainly reward the good cook with creative ideas, fabulous recipes and heart-warming stories.
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She carries the spirit of Mia wines around the world
She carries the spirit of Mia wines around the world

Gloria Collell is a beautiful woman who is also the spirit of Mia wines. Freixenet CEO Pedro Ferrer approved her idea for this line of fresh, young wines and entrusted her with its stewardship. She brings to her role as winemaker a deep passion for the process and the life—her initial foray into studying for the law proved less than inspiring—and the traditions of her Barcelona family’s love for and work with wine. Mia is Freixenet’s newest concept—fresh, approachable, slightly sweeter wines designed to appeal to Millennials, many of whose taste preferences run towards craft beers and cocktails mixed of spirits with juices, sodas and other ingredients. The idea was to create wines that are lighter and easier to drink yet still have enough acidity to pair beautifully with foods of all types.

Gloria Collell visits Chicago to share the story of Mia wines
Gloria Collell visits Chicago to share the story of Mia wines

Mia wines include white and rosé sparkling moscatos as well as still wines: white and rosé and a hearty red made with Tempranillo, the ubiquitous Spanish grape that also comprises part or all of the base for so many of the country’s finest robust dry red wines. Mia’s still white wine is a multi-layered blend of four types of grapes indigenous to the Penedés region of Spain. All go beautifully with Spanish tapas of all types. Visit Paolo’s Vinum, 328 S. Jefferson, Suite 120, on Chicago’s near south side to enjoy tapas and Mia wines in a restaurant with charmingly modern yet unassuming Spanish decor and a warm ambiance.

  When asked what brings her the most pleasure from life, Gloria responds, “I suppose you could say I have three passions in my life today – first of course my family, but followed closely by winemaking and the lifestyle of this region, particularly Barcelona. It’s such a wonderful mix of the traditional and the modern. Full of creative people, life, and of course wonderful food and wine.”

The can’t-miss Father’s Day gift–fine spirits

Somehow it didn’t occur to me when I was young (dad tended to buy his own I guess), but now that I’m way on the other side of 40, I think of alcohol as a really nice Father’s Day gift (unless of course your dad is a teetotaler or just doesn’t enjoy spirits). Beats ties and underwear, for sure.

And I know it’s hard to know what to get – unless dad has specific favorites. And even if he does, it can be nice to surprise him with something he might not have thought of by himself. So I’m happy to share a little bit about some spirits I’ve tasted recently and found very enjoyable.

Angel's Envy bourbon - Wine Enthusiast LOVES it!
Angel’s Envy bourbon – Wine Enthusiast LOVES it!

Bourbon is often a favorite of guys. Try giving Angel’s Envy, a super-premium bourbon that’s aged 4 to 6 years in American white oak barrels and finished in hand-selected port casks for another 3 to 6 months.  Wine Enthusiast Magazine awarded Angel’s Envy 98/100 points – its highest-ever rating for a bourbon.   This is smooth enough that I can sip it straight as a nightcap, but it also blends nicely with whatever you like in the way of mixers. ~$50 Or there’s Angel’s Envy Cask Strength, which Paul Pacult of Spirit Journal named the “Best Spirit in the World,” giving it five stars. Or try Angel’s Envy Rye, another award winner that’s finished in hand-selected Caribbean rum casks. (Love their curvaceous bottles!)

Rum that's good enough to sip.
Rum that’s good enough to sip.

This one’s even got a cool name for Father’s Day: Papa’s Pilar rum. It’s a premium rum crafted by artisans inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s spirit of adventure. It comes in Dark & Blonde versions and is made from fine rums from the Caribbean, Central America and the U.S. It’s both pot stilled and column distilled and is blended from rums up to 24 years old.  Caribbean Journal 2014 called it “Best Rum in America,” and it won “Double Gold” at the 2013 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.  I like to mix this with club soda, fresh lime juice and a splash of diet lemon-lime soda. A refreshing sip on a warm early-summer day. But it’s good even by itself, especially the dark version. ~$40 (Dig the chain-linked caps.)

Strictly British-made gin
Strictly British-made gin

Boodles Gin, strictly British-made with a blend of botanicals – sage, rosemary and nutmeg, but no citrus – that give it an understated aromatic nose and taste. Rumored to have been named after the head waiter at the world’s second oldest English private members club’s head waiter (esteemed members include Sirs Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming). Made from English wheat, it’s distilled in a rare Carter Head still in Cheshire, bottled in Essex and packaged in Scottish glass with labels from Wales. ~$24 (Serve dad his gin and tonic in butler-style white gloves…)