Archive for the 'Opinions and Commentary' Category

Once upon a time, a working knowledge of moo shoo pork, California roll, and pad thai got you through most Asian restaurant experiences.

Today, if that’s all you’ve got on your mind’s menu…..your little white take-out carton is intellectually empty.

There are now more Asian restaurants than ever in the U.S.–indeed, more kinds of Asian restaurants than ever!–and, as the movement rolls, more of us are patronizing them more frequently.

But the anchor dishes we once depended on are increasingly surrounded by waves of other things. And, for most of us, sticking with General Tso, no matter how you feel about loyalty, seems positively antediluvian.

So the crunch is on: to get maximum enjoyment, we need to know more about Asian cuisine. How to acquire it? Precisely at this delicious moment, along comes a fine way to do so: a new book by super-foodie Steven A. Shaw, the eGullet founder, called Asian Dining Rules (William Morrow, 2008).

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I’ve said it again and again…..one of my favorite regional dishes in Europe is a platter of choucroute garnie (garnished sauerkraut), as served in Alsace, France. The difference from choucroute garnie as served in American bistros and brasseries is enormous. Oh, sure, we do fairly well on our shores in keeping up with the kinds of cured meats and sausages that ride on top of the sauerkraut. But where we fall down, time and time again…..is in the sauerkraut itself! Alsatian sauerkraut is remarkably light, almost fluffy–much of which derives from its incredibly thin cut. Forgive my cross-cultural stretch, but choucroute in Alsace seems like angel hair compared to the thick, spaghetti-like sauerkraut we see here. It truly makes all the difference.

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Whenever I tell people what I do for a living, the most common response I get is, “how on earth did you ever get that job… and do you need any help?”  While I could go on to tell people about the wine education classes I took in college, the experiences I had working in the hospitality or retail industries, or the continuing education classes I’m enrolled in now, I know deep down inside that there is only one true answer to that question: my father.

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Recently, a friend passed on a thought-provoking article to me from the New York  Times. In the piece, Frank Bruni took stock of the current state of gender roles in the dining out culture. In a time when women seem to be filling up just as many (if not more) seats at colleges than men and climbing high on corporate ladders in many spheres, it’s surprising that old-fashioned restaurant etiquette continues on. But is that a bad thing?

Personally, I never argue when served my meal first or when a chair is pulled out for me.  I’m fine being offered the banquette so that I can see a view of the room, a ritual of fine dining. If the temperature is warm to accommodate me, I won’t demand that the thermostat be turned down. The fact is, it’s nice to enjoy these perks. And it’s chivalry. Right?

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One of the big events around our Mount Kisco offices takes place every Friday at 5 pm. No, it’s not quitting time–our work day doesn’t officially end until 5:30, and many folks stay at least til 6–it’s our weekly dispersal of extraneous wine samples. Employees are invited to wander over to our tasting room and help thelmselves to a bottle of wine for the weekend. Because we normally receive two bottles of each wine we review and often we only open one, we accumulate hundreds of bottles over the course of the year that we need to find homes for. Some end up at charity events or our annual halloween party, but others go home with staffers every Friday.

I find it fascinating to observe people picking out a bottle that’s just right for them. Many seem to know what they like and instantly gravitate toward those wines week after week. One guy always goes for Italian reds, while another employee invariably grabs a tall skinny bottle, because she’s learned those wines are often sweet. Some “shop” by looking for a pretty label, others look for specific grape varieties on the label. Pinot Noir must still be hot, judging by the reaction that it continues to draw from our office crowd. I should note that the staffers work in various departments of our multi-product company (we also produce an accessories catalog, run a large warehouse etc) so the level of wine knowledge varies widely, just like it does in the real world.

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You can determine a lot about a profession based on the kind of people who choose to do it. I’ve worked in various fields: luxury retail, adventure travel, magazine publishing, even holistic health. I’ve encountered myriad eclectic people along the way, from the horror novel-writing wine editor to the massage therapist who based her day on the number of red lights she encountered on her drive into work (more than two meant the day was inauspicious). But in my experience, no field attracts more interesting, some would even say inspired, characters than the wine business.

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The biggest buzz in the brewing world at this moment in time has to be the recent acquisition of Anheuser-Busch by the Belgium based InBev. For those of you living under a rock (or perhaps just avoid reading newspapers, watching the news on tv, or subscribing to cnn.com news updates), Anheuser-Busch shareholders will receive $70 a share in cash, translating into a total purchasing price of 52 billion dollars. The combining of the two companies, to be named Anheuser-Busch InBev, will form the world’s leading global brewer and one of the world’s five largest consumer products companies. Yes, it’s true: the great American lager is no longer owned by Americans… but what exactly does that mean?

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Recently I made my first trip to the North Fork for some touring and tasting. I took a couple of friends and we explored Route 25, experiencing the best that Long Island Wine Country has to offer. I was impressed by elegant, concentrated Cabernet Franc and steely, unoaked Chardonnay. I enjoyed picturesque views and chatting with honest winemakers about anything from screw caps to their hopes for the region’s future.

But I found one recurring theme troubling: the slavish comparison of Long Island wine country to California.  I’m not here to argue which region is better but I think it’s safe to say that California has been an established wine region for decades, while Long Island is in the “up and coming” category. It’s pretty unfair to compare the two, so why do people feel it’s necessary?

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People who know me know that I love to talk about how we, as a species, have managed to remove ourselves completely from the natural order of things in the wild. Traveling through remote parts of India, Africa and Central America, guides have told me time and again of witless vacationers who have jumped out of jeeps to snap a pride of lions, stuffed a poison dart frog in their pockets, or taken a stick to a deadly pit viper.  Where is their natural alarm? It makes you wonder if that thing called Darwinism is really such a bad idea after all.

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As an avid but earthy lover of premium wine and beer, I’ve thought about the difference between discernment and snobbery, and I understand why Managing Editor Tim Moriarty felt persecuted for standby favorites as mentioned in his recent entry Budweiser and Beaujolais. But red flags go off for me when I hear that standard call of retreat of “leave me alone and let me drink what I like.” I’m under 30, and represent a generation of drinkers who like to experiment–to familiarize themselves with current offerings in the vast and ever-expanding beverage world. All too often, I see people of an older generation pulling reverse snobbery and steeling themselves against trying something new—maybe a little more expensive. It makes you wonder if it’s true that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

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