A La Carte
"Heard over a margy....."
- A recent study from the Netherlands shows that drinking up to two glasses of wine daily could extend a man’s life expectancy by alomst four years. About half a glass of wine per day offered the greatest benefit. Moderate drinkers, consuming one to two glasses per day, also lived longer than nondrinkers.
- For more than two decades, the Black Swan, located in the Omni Houston Hotel at Four Riverway in the Uptown/Galleria area, has been one of the city’s most popular bars for locals and visitors alike. It recently completed interior renovations that give the gem a polished new look with visual appeal and upgrades to please guests, old and new.
The bar’s signature black marble swans remain to welcome guests at the private outdoor entrance. Inside, the popular venue has been refreshed with a decidedly 21st-century shine. A welcoming fireplace adds cozy comfort to the already inviting space, which features warm beige walls with new sconces, and rich wood flooring that shines with a new patina. The former bar was demolished and replaced by a new, elegant one, now 25 feet longer than before and topped with rich, dark granite and fronted with hammered copper.
With a combination of “snuggeries” including cozy, u-shaped seating nooks behind sheer curtains and cushy banquettes with comfortable new seating and granite-topped tables, Black Swan encourages guests to settle in for an evening of fun, whether with a group or in a more intimate gathering.
Always a place to dance the night away, the Black Swan now boasts an expanded dance floor. And new food and cocktail menus complement the new space. For general information or to reserve the Black Swan for a special event, call 713-871-8181.
- Is your glass getting empty and you can’t catch the waiter’s eye? We hear that Mitsubishi’s Electric Research North American R&D lab has developed iGlassware, technology aimed at helping bolster restaurant beverage sales. The system utilizes glassware equipped with sensors to alert servers when a beverage is getting low.
- Tired of your celery, lettuce, water diet? According to the National Restaurant Association, comfort foods, pastas and artisanal baked goods are making a comeback across the country, after several years of suffering from low-carb diet fads. Sales of artisanal bread, for example, have increased an average of 4% annually over the past three years.
- To go along with those breads, how about some butter? Land O’Lakes is offering a revamped butter package for its West Coast customers. Instead of long sticks of butter, it will sell a “stubby” shape, which is shorter and wider. Does something seem just terribly wrong here?
Culinary Calendar
"A Seminar, Brunch and More"
- On Tuesday, April 17 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Chef John Sheely will be leading a seminar on “Energizing Your Business.” The seminar is sponsored by the University of Houston Small Business Development Center and will be held at the UH Hilton Hotel, 4800 Calhoun at entrance number 1.
John Sheely, Chef/Owner of Mockingbird Bistro Wine Bar, has been named 2006 Restaurateur of the year, 2006 Chef of the Year, and his restaurant voted “One of the Best New Restaurants in America” by Esquire Magazine. He will address the top five ways to build customer satisfaction, secrets to getting customers in the door, and tips for maintaining customers for life.
Call 713-752-8488 to register. Seats are $30 in advance and $40 at the door. Lunch is included. Free parking will be provided in the hotel garage.
- Owner and chef Pat Kiley of PK’s Blue Water Grill, located at 6401 Woodway near Voss, introduces an exciting new South-Texas style brunch at his eponymous restaurant specializing in mesquite-grilled, Gulf Coast seafood. Kiley’s new brunch takes its cues from the robust flavors of Gulf Coast cuisine.
Dishes offered range from traditional New Orleans-style Creole egg dishes to the popular South Texas mesquite-grilled quail and egg dishes to Tex-Mex breakfast standards. And don’t miss the irresistible desserts such as Key Lime Pie, Gourmet Turtle Cheesecake and Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie.
Brunch is served Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The restaurant is open every day for lunch and dinner, with Geoff Allen, one of Houston’s most popular jazz pianists, entertaining guests in the piano bar Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. to midnight.
PK’s Blue Water Grill is located at 6401 Woodway in Houston. For reservations or more information, telephone 713-339-3663, or visit the website at www.pkbluewatergrill.com.
- For more events, check the latest Calendar of Culinary Events from My Table by clicking on Calendar
Kitchen Stuff
"Stop Crying and Prepare for a Sweet Surprise"
Sweet to the taste and dry to the eye, Texas sweet onions are the mild-mannered cousins of the sharp-tasting onions that so famously make us cry.
Onions are the leading vegetable crop in the Lone Star State and with Texas sweet onions arriving as early as March, springtime is a great time to take your pick.
Early to the produce aisle and packed with flavor, juicy Texas sweet onions are a terrific addition to any kitchen. They also carry reduced amounts of pyruvate, which is the natural chemical that makes eyes water. Peel back the layers of great taste, and Texas onions offer even more benefits.
“Texas onions not only taste great, they’re also low in calories,” said Richard De Los Santos, the Texas Department of Agriculture’s state marketing coordinator for Horticulture, Produce and Forestry. “Onions have naturally occurring compounds that lower blood pressure and reduce cholesterol. They also have cancer-fighting antioxidants and are rich in vitamin C.”
Texas sweet onions are a terrific addition to any kitchen. They also carry reduced amounts of pyruvate, which is the natural chemical that makes your eyes water.
When shopping for Texas sweet onions, look for shiny, thin skins and tight, thick necks. Large, single center onions make the best onion rings and also taste great raw. Smaller onions and those with multiple centers can be sliced and diced, grilled or raw, and add mildly sweet and zesty flavor to salads, sandwiches, Mexican food, chili and omelets.
When storing, keep onions in a dry, well-ventilated area and separated as much as possible for optimum air circulation. Store in nets or flat layers and avoid bagging in bunches. When properly stored, onions will often stay fresh for 30 days. If an onion is sliced, wrap the remainder in cellophane and refrigerate. Also remember that onions emit odors that are absorbed by other fruits and vegetables so it is best to keep them separate.
My Recipe
"Orecchiette with House-cured Pancetta, Rapini, Treviso, Leeks, Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Lemon"
Serves 5-6.
4 oz pancetta, diced
1 tbs chopped shallot
1 tbs chopped garlic
1 pound Orecchiette pasta, cooked al dente
1 bunch rapini, chopped
1 head, Treviso radicchio, chopped
1 leek, sliced into thin into rings
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Shaved Granna cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
In a large sauté pan, render pancetta then add garlic and shallot and cook for one minute. Add rapini, treviso and leeks and sauté until slightly wilted. Lastly, add the pasta with a little of the pasta water and toss together with the extra virgin and lemon juice. Top with shaved Granna and enjoy.
From the Wine List
"A Port for Any Storm"
For anyone who’s ever been on rough seas, the wisdom of the old sailor’s adage “any port in a storm” is known only too well. Less well known is the history and production method of Port, one of the world’s oldest wines.
Oporto is the coastal city in northwestern Portugal that lends a version of its name to the sweet, velvety, fortified wine made from grapes grown upstream on the Douro River. Over 80 grape varieties may be used to make the wine. Port offers two key features: richly flavored sweetness and high alcohol content.
How do they do it? By “fortifying” the wine via the addition of neutral grape spirits (or brandy) midway during the fermentation process. The spirits pump up the alcohol content to about 20% by volume and kill the yeast, leaving unfermented sugar and residual sweetness.
If you think this was solely a Portuguese invention, credit the British too. Portuguese wine was regularly fortified with a small amount of spirits to make it more stable on its way to England (the British had turned to Portugal for much of its wine needs during its tariff fights, and ultimately war, with France). But in 1820 a remarkably sweet vintage sold extremely well. Port shippers, themselves mostly British, increased the alcohol content in successive years to try to replicate that vintage and keep sales high.
True Port comes only from the Douro Valley in Portugal (just like true champagne comes only from the Champagne region in France and real barbeque comes only from Texas). But many wine producing areas, including Texas, produce “port-style” wines, although usually made from different grapes than in Portugal.
Here are the five top-rated Port and Port-style wines from the recent tasting by Chuck Jenkins and me. To read all of our tasting report, get the April/May issue of My Table.
- 2003 Quinta Do Vesuvio Vintage Porto, Portugal
- 1996 Dow’s Quinta Do Bomfim Vintage Porto, Portugal
- Trentadue Chocolate Amore, Sonoma County
- 2000 Graham’s LBV Porto, Portugal
- Talijanicich “Julian James” White Solero 10 years, Western Australia
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Copyright My Table magazine, 2008
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