A La Carte
"Heard over Coffee & Muffins"
We hear that Alberto Baffani is back in town and will be working as lead chef at a new restaurant that will be opening soon called Bohemia. The new restaurant will be located at 10850 Westheimer (Walnut Bend and Westheimer). It is a European restaurant/club owned by Laura Papkov. Look for more details in the next edition of My Table.
Heard through the grapevine that both of Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants in Houston have closed. More info to come.
According to the Houston Restaurant Association, the Texas Senate recently amended H.B. 3319 to allow a city to increase the sales tax by ¼ cent to buy down (aka lower) property taxes. HRA notes that this effectively puts the burden of supporting schools on the backs of restaurants and will have a negative impact on consumers since food sold in restaurants is subject to sales tax. The bill now goes back to the House for approval and the amendment is known as the “Eltife amendment to H.B. 3319.” If you want to voice your opinion on this issue to your State Representative and aren’t sure who that is, go to my rep
According to the May 30, 2007 issue of Wine and Healthy Living, a Wine Spectator online publication, a wine compound was found to potentially add to your health. “A pigmentation chemical that makes grape skins and wines red has been found to kill human leukemia and lymphoma cells cultured in a lab, according to research published May 4 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. However, the compound, a type of anthocyanidin common in plants, left healthy blood cells alone.”
- “’Current treatments for leukemia, such as chemotherapy and radiation, often damage healthy cells and tissues and can produce unwanted side effects for many years afterward,’ said coauthor Dr. Xiao-Ming Yin, an associate professor of pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. ‘So, there is an intensive search for more targeted therapies for leukemia worldwide.’”
Love tomatoes? Then check out the Third Annual Tomato Fest on Saturday at the Bayou City Farmers’ Market, a project of Urban Harvest. You can also get other fresh, local produce, fruits, baked goods, and meats. The location is 3000 Richmond in the back parking lot. Hours are 4-7 p.m. on Wednesday and 8 am to noon on Saturday. For more info, click on harvest
My Recipe
"Panna Cotta"
Panna Cotta
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 cups of whipping cream
1 cup of whole milk
Zest of ½ lemon and ½ orange
½ fresh vanilla bean
1 cup sugar
1 ½ gelatin sheet
1 cup fresh bluberries
Fresh squeezed juice of 3 large oranges
Directions: Whip cream to achieve a peak and set aside. Combine milk, zest, vanilla bean, and sugar into sauce pan and heat to first boil; remove from heat and strain through metal colander. Ad gelatin sheet to heated mixture and stir to disolve. Let this mixture return to room temperature and fold into prepared whipping cream. Pour mixture into round 2 ½ inch tall forms on cookie sheet and place in freezer for at least 4 hours to achieve solid form. Remove from forms and plate. Saute bluberries and fresh orange juice over medium heat for approximatley 2 minutes; place in refrigerator to cool; spoon over dessert when serving.
From the Wine List
"Cool, Dry Riesling for the Summer"
Are you the type of person who loves to sit around the fire in wintertime with a good glass of wine to warm your tummy as well as your soul? Do you enjoy a wine with lots of aromas and fresh fruit flavors to tantalize your palate? Then you may be a candidate for a chilled, aromatic and fruity white named Riesling when you sit around the pool during summer.
Riesling has had a bad reputation for many years among beginning wine drinkers. Poor quality and cheap, sickly sweet Rieslings turned many of us off and that type of wine is not appealing for a crisp, hot weather pick-me-up. Sure, there are many deliciously sweet Rieslings that make great aperitifs or dessert wines (winter or summer or in between), but these are not the ones I recommend for cooling refreshment during Texas’ blazing hot summers.
Summertime refreshers need low alcohol and crisp acidity along with pleasing fruit aromas and light body. Dry or semi-dry Riesling fits the bill nicely. It also sometimes offers a slight nose of petroleum, a characteristic of the grape, which should not be considered a fault.
Riesling, the wine made from the same-named grape, is indigenous to southern Germany and the Alsace region of northeastern France. You probably have heard of or tried some from German regions such as the Rhine River Valley, the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer (M-S-R) valleys, or the Nahe or Rhinehessen areas. These regions in southwest Germany and France’s northeast are quite cold and the Riesling grape grows well in such conditions. Riesling has also found a home in Washington State and a few areas of Oregon and California, plus New York and some other spots in the U.S. where the soil is appropriate and the weather cool to cold most of the year.
Several weeks ago I tasted several Riesling wines at a seminar in Round Rock, north of Austin. Here are my notes on the wines tasted:
2005 Clean Slate, M-S-R, $11, 10.5% alcohol. Peach, yeast and apple aromas and flavors; good acidity, slightly sweet. A hint of effervescence.
2005 Bridgeview “Blue Moon,” Oregon, $13, 12% alcohol. Slight off odors at first, followed by peach, earth, and a light hint of petroleum. Dry with peach and mineral notes.
2004 Selbach, M-S-R, Piesporter Michelsburg, $14, 10% alcohol. Smells “dry” with muted fruit aromas (may have been too cold). Slightly sweet with citrus, apple and pear flavors. (This wine is from the village of Piesport and its famous Michelsburg vineyard in Germany.)
2005 Domain Rieflé “Bonheur Convivial,” Alsace, $20, 12.5% alcohol. Floral with light, sweet fruit aromas. Dry and minerally on the palate with high acidity, pear flavors, and hints of gravel.
2005 Peter Brum Spätlese, Rheinhessen, $14, 10% alcohol. More concentrated than the other wines with a peach nose. Intense peach flavors, medium-full body, with a touch of mineral. And a unique red bottle. (Spätlese means “late picked,” so the grapes have more sugar at harvest. This selection will please those who like a sweeter, fuller bodied wine.)
These wines pair well with spicy and full-flavored cuisines such as African, Asian, Indian, Jamaican, Thai, and Moroccan. They also complement chicken and pork dishes as well as fish and scallops, and even BBQ. If you haven’t given cool, dryer Rieslings a try, summer awaits!
Editor's Table
"SideDish Summertime Schedule"
During June, July and August when many folks take off for summer vacations, we’re going to lay back a bit also. For these months, SideDish will be published only once a month instead of our usual (sort of) twice a month schedule.
Enjoy the summer, your vacation, and a monthly helping of SideDish to tide you over until the August/September issue of My Table and the coming of fall. Our best to you from SideDish and My Table.
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