Appeteasers
"We hear tell ..."
Wendy Jones has sold her two Mission Burritos to Mexican Restaurants Inc., which owns Casa Ole, Monterey’s Tex Mex Cafe and several other Tex-Mex chains. No word on what Jones will do next.
Jerry Lasco and Jonathan Horowitz, co-owners of the Tasting Room Wine Cafe, have more entrepreneurial irons in the fire. Besides their
third Tasting Room (going in near Fleming’s on West Alabama), they’ve announced another venture, Max’s Wine Dive, a sexy, yet laidback diner
featuring comfort food and wine. Located on Washington Avenue, it is scheduled to open in mid-November. Expect the menu to include Kobe beef
burgers, Southern fried chicken and pan-fried Texas redfish along with 150 wines, all available by the glass.
The buzz-generating Hotel ZaZa, now set to open around December 1 in the old Warwick location in the Museum District, has announced
Bradley Manchester, a culinary arts graduate of the Art Institute of Houston will run Monarch, the hotel’s 245-seat signatuare restaurant
and lounge. Manchester has been working at the Renaissance Hotel in Las Vegas and was previously at Hudson’s on the Bend and Four Seasons Hotel, both in Austin. His Monarch menu will include steaks and lighter Mediterranean fare, and he’s planning a Saturday (yahoo) brunch.
A La Carte
"Overheard at breakfast ..."
Hold your pepper shaker and don’t miss this one!
Love Caesar salad? Then you won’t want to miss the 22nd Annual Caesar Salad Competition on Friday, October 13th from 5-8 pm at the Doubletree Hotel at Allen Center. $35 entrance fee at the door allows you to view chefs from Houston’s finest restaurants prepare this classic dish plus taste each. The chefs will be competing for the following three coveted awards: Consumers’ Choice Caesar, Classic Caesar and Most Creative Caesar. A fine selection of wines will be served with the salads. The Doubletree Hotel is located at 400 Dallas Street. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Food & Beverage Managers Association Educational Endowments. The event is sponsored by the Food & Beverage Managers Association and, of course, My Table—Houston’s Dining Magazine.
We’ve heard that a well-known local restaurateur has his eye on the old fire station on Washington Avenue and has submitted a letter of intent
to buy. We’ll let you know if and when the sale is confirmed and what kind of eatery we can expect to go in there. As you know, Washington
Avenue is hot-hot-hot right now, with new restaurants and bars opening practically every week.
Chef Brenda Kieser emailed us to say, “After two years of serving the best homestyle cooking and making wonderful friends—I received more hugs and kisses in these two years than all my time in Houston— I have sold Just Lunch & Catering on Waugh Drive to Roger Turner, who will continue with my menu but will add some of his mother’s Cajun-style cooking.” Brenda went on to say that she will be running a spa on Harwin.
Cleburne Cafeteria, established, family-owned and operated since 1941, has announced that this year marks their 65’th year providing Houstonians with quality food and service at reasonable prices. On November 6, 2006 at 11:00am the Mickelis family, owners of Cleburne Cafeteria, will celebrate their anniversary by rolling back the prices of their delicious food to 1941.
Imagine tossed salad for $.10, fried chicken for $.39, baked fish for $.29 chicken fried steak for $.55, macaroni and cheese for $.10 and peach
cobbler for $.08. The Cleburne anniversary will also provide 40’s type big band entertainment in the parking lot for the customers in line as well as many other nostalgic touches promising to make this a very special “step back in time.”
Cleburne Cafeteria is located at 3606 Bissonnet and has been at that location since 1969. The original Cleburne Cafeteria was located in downtown Houston at 1018 Cleburne Street.
The Texas Department of Agriculture’s Food and Fiber Pavilion will pop the top on the interesting history of Dr Pepper the oldest major soft drink in the United States and a Texas original. In partnership with Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages, the Dr Pepper Museum will share its unique collection of memorabilia as part of a comprehensive exhibit on display in the Pavilion during the State Fair of Texas in Dallas, Sept. 29 to Oct. 22.
The exhibit will include vintage packaging, photographs, classic promotional items and other rarities from the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco, where the beverage was first developed at a pharmacy more than 100 years ago. Visitors to the exhibit on Oct. 14 will be treated to samples of Dr Pepper Berries and Cream and Dr Pepper Cherry Vanilla.
The Dr Pepper Gazebo Stage will play host to a wide range of twice-daily events throughout the fair, including musical groups, demonstrations and events such as “Have an Ice Cream Float Day,” which will take place every Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m. and feature Dr Pepper and Blue Bell Ice Cream.
Culinary Calendar
"Join the Mexico Culinary Trip"
Update—Culinary Trip to Mexico Now Going to Puebla
Click on the following link for all the details:
Mexico
My Recipe
"Zucchini Shrimp"
Serves 2
Ingredients
16 each, 21/25 Shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tsp Kosher Salt
½ tsp Black Pepper
1 each Zucchini, sliced 1/8” thick
½ cup Shrimp Butter
½ cup Sauce Provencale
2 orders Fennel and Onion Gratin
Procedure
Season shrimp with Salt & Pepper. Using a mandoline, slice the zucchini lengthwise, discarding the end pieces. Wrap each shrimp with a long strand of the zucchini. Skewer eight shrimp per order and refrigerate. Season again with salt and pepper before sautéing in shrimp butter. Cook until shrimp is cooked throughout. Remove from pan. Quickly sauté sauce provencale and serve shrimp on top of the tomatoes. Place Fennel & Onion Gratin and Grilled Vegetables on plate.
Shrimp Butter
Ingredients, yields 1 pound butter
1 lb Shrimp Shells
1 lb Butter
Procedure
If you don’t have 1 pound of shrimp shells, use equal parts of shells to butter. Saute shells until orange in color. Add in butter over medium heat. Rough puree shells into melted butter with emulsion blender. DO NOT BOIL BUTTER. Once butter turns an orange color and oil has formed on the top, it is ready (20-30 min). Strain through a chinois and press out all oils and butter.
Sauce Provencale
Ingredients: yields 1 cup
1 cup Roma Tomato, seeded, peeled, diced
1 tbls Basil, chopped
1 tsp Garlic, minced
1 tbls Olive Oil, to sauté
1 tsp Lemon Juice
¼ tsp Kosher Salt
Procedure:
Peel, seed and small dice the tomato. Add basil chiffonade, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and Kosher Salt. Mix well, cover and refrigerate.
Fennel and Onion Gratin
Ingredients: yields 12 servings
4 each Fennel Bulbs, trimmed
1 cup Yellow Onion
1 tsp Garlic, minced
1 tbls Olive Oil, Pure
3 tbls Gruyere Cheese, grated
3 tbls Heavy Cream
1 tbls Kosher Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
½ cup Parmesan, fine grated
2 tbls Breadcrumbs, Panko
Procedure
Place the Fennel bulb into cold water and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from the water and cool. Cut in ½” and cut into ¼” pieces. Sauté onions until lightly golden over medium heat add garlic, about 10 min. Spray the inside of a casserole dish with bake release and place 1/3 of the onions on the bottom of the pan. Place 1/2 of the Fennel on top of the onions followed by half of the Gruyere. Lightly pour half of the Heavy Cream over the top. Season with salt and pepper.
Repeat the layering and finish with onions on the top. Mix together the panko and the parmesan and spread it over the top of the mixture. Wrap with foil and place into convection oven for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees, rotating once. Remove foil and return to oven for about 20 more more minutes, rotating once. Allow to fully cool before serving.
From the Wine List
"Understanding German Wine Labels"
Do those longwordstahtseemtogoonforever on German wine labels drive you crazy? I know it’s hard to believe, but they actually tell you more than most about what’s in the bottle.
German labels usually give you the name of the producer, the grape variety, where the wine comes from, its quality level, and the degree of ripeness of the grapes used to make the wine. Since most of Germany is at latitudes similar to that of northern Canada, it’s a wonder that grapes grow there at all and explains why there are more whites than reds and why riesling, a grape that grows well in colder areas, is so popular. Grape ripeness is a key factor for German wines since ripeness equates to sugar content, a necessary ingredient for yeast to make alcohol.
To comprehend German wine labels, we must understand that the suffix “er” means “of” or “from.” So “Piesporter Michelsberg” is wine from the large collection of vineyards known as Michelsberg near the town of Piesport; similarly a “Bernkasteler Riesling” is a wine made from riesling grapes from the district of Bernkastel. If we used this system in Texas, we’d have wines named “Baytowner” and “Galvestoner.” So don’t be scared of those long German words—usually they are just the name of the region or town that the wine comes from.
German wines also indicate a quality designation. At the lowest level is table wine or Tafelwein. If the wine has at least half a percent more alcohol, it may be called Landewine, or land wine.
Next up are “quality wines” or Qualitätswein, and there are two levels of quality. First is Qualitätswein bestimmte Anbaugebeite, or QbA, which includes the largest quantity of German wines. A QbA designation indicates that the wine is from one of 13 specified regions in Germany, is made of the approved grape varieties, and has reached sufficient ripeness for a “quality” wine. Above QbA is the Qualitätswein mit Prädikat, or QmP, designation that means “quality wine with attributes.” Those wines that obtain a QbA or QmP designation receive a certification number, the AP (or Amtliche Prüfungsnummber) number, that will be printed on the label (example AP 123456789).
Since increasing ripeness of grapes will lead to (1) a higher alcohol content if the sugars are fermented fully, or (2) residual sugar and thus sweetness if the sugars are not fully fermented, the words on German wine labels indicating the degree of ripeness of the grapes at harvest are important. Whether the wine is dry, medium-dry, sweet, or very sweet depends on what style of wine the winemaker is trying to produce. The Prädikat designations are as follows:
- Kabinett: light-bodied wines averaging 7-10 percent alcohol that are made from ripe grapes. These wines may vary from dry to sweet. (If the wine is dry, Trochen will usually be on the label; Halb-Trochen would indicate “half dry” or medium-dry.)
- Spätlese (“late harvest”): wines made from grapes picked after the ordinary harvest. The longer hang time allows the grapes to ripen more which increases the “maturity” or intensity of the flavors. The wines may be dry, medium-dry, or sweet.
- Auslese (“select picked”): Very ripe bunches of grapes are harvested. This additional ripeness adds intensity of bouquet and taste. Although these wines are often sweet, they are not always so. When dry, alcohol content may be 14 percent or more.
- Berenauslese (“berries selectively picked”): Individual grapes are hand-selected. The grapes are very, very ripe and make delicious, sweet dessert wines.
- Trockenbeerenauslese (“dry berries selectively picked”): These grapes are shriveled by “noble rot,” or edelfäule in German, caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea. With a loss of water caused by the fungus, the sugars in the grapes are extremely concentrated. Sweet, honey-like dessert wines are made from these grapes.
A special prädikat is Eiswein, or Ice Wine. These wines are very high in sugar and acidity, with the concentration a direct result of very long hang time and the freezing of the grapes on the vine. They are picked and pressed while frozen so that the lower-freezing-point juice runs from the press, leaving the frozen water behind. These wines are very sweet, but with high acidity they are also refreshing.
Hopefully, this information will help you choose a German wine to fit your tastes. Obviously, German wine labels are chock-full of information. But touching the wine to your lips should turn information into delight.
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