By Kevin Finch on October 24, 2010
In her blog, All You Can Eat, Nancy Leson did a great job describing a night at Seattle’s recently-opened Book Bindery which sits next to the ship canal on the north flank of Queen Anne Hill. Your typical big box warehouse this is not. Most of the footprint is taken up with the Almquist winery and distillery, but the end of the building formerly used to make books is now a restaurant. Not just any restaurant either. The space manages to be both casual and elegant and the food Shaun McGrain is sending out of the kitchen suggests that the Book Bindery is poised to slip past many of its culinary neighbors to claim a top spot in the local ranking of fine dining establishments.
Order a glass of the Almquist Family Vintners wine and start with the simply stunning Compressed Watermelon with Crispy Pork Belly and Garden Basil. At $12 it just might be the best appetizer I’ve had all year. Check out the food images posted on the the restaurant website for the full food porn picture of this amazing dish.
No doubt Seattle will deluge the Book Bindery so if you have the chance to book a reservation soon… do it. With nearly all the entree prices in the twenties, it is truly a fine dining find.
Then there is their decision to close Sunday night and stay open on Monday evening. This seems like a possible stroke of genius and insures them a steady stream of other chefs and industry professionals looking for a great place to go on the one night of the week nearly everyone else is closed.
Posted in dining, wine | Tagged Almquist Family Vintners, Book Bindery, Nancy Leson, Seattle, Seattle restaurants, Shaun McGrain |
By Kevin Finch on November 10, 2009
Last night the table was set for 28 guests – nearly all of them connected to the restaurant and hospitality industry. I’m sure I’m biased, but it was a brilliant evening with wonderful food from Jeremy Hansen at Sante, an amazing space compliments of the Brad and Sara Greene of The Purple Turtle, and an actual Big Table due to the creativity of Chris Olson of NOC Architects. We will post more pictures soon, but here is one from the evening.
Posted in dining, play, wine | Tagged Big Table, Chris Olson, Jeremy Hansen, non-profit, restaurant industry, Robert Karl Winery, Sante, Spokane, The Purple Turtle |
By Kevin Finch on September 5, 2009
DEFINTION: Cuvée – [KOO-vay] a word derived from the French “cuve” meaning “contents of a vat” that outside of France usually refers to a blended wine produced using a special (and often secret) formula. A cuvée can be comprised of wines from different vineyards or different grape varieties.
This past week I discovered a great bottle of wine in the cool basement cupboard that masquerades as our wine cellar. It was (or is) the 2005 “Sarah’s Blend” from Marquis Philips.
I didn’t buy it so I’m guessing it arrived as a gift from a friend over for dinner. I would check for fingerprints and run the prints against my extensive database of chefs and foodies, but by now my own prints are all over the bottle.
The problem is that I’ve only been able to nurse this one bottle for a few nights, and now I’m down to the dregs. I want more. Thus the APB: All Points Bulletin. If you happened to be the one who brought it over for dinner, let me know. If you know where I might still find a few bottles from the 2005 vintage, let me know.
And since this is an APB I should include a description as well as a picture. Here is how the the Wine Advocate describes this bottled beauty:
“One of my favorite Marquis Philips cuvees is the 2005 Sarah’s Blend, a concoction of 60% Shiraz, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, and 3% Cabernet Franc fermented in wood and aged in both new and one-year-old French and American oak. Its deep ruby/purple hue is accompanied by aromas of flowers, spice box, blueberries, black currants, and smoky oak. Opulent, voluptuous, and full-bodied, with low acidity and sweet tannin, this is a blockbuster red that sells for a song. If you like fruit, flavor, and character, this is a big-time winner to drink over the next 3-4 years.”
Posted in drinks, wine | Tagged 2005 Sarah's Blend, APB, Australian wine, blended wine, cuve, cuvee, Marquis Philips, Wine Advocate |
By Kevin Finch on August 27, 2009
Seattle, WA: Wine flights typically are wine tastings where you receive small amounts of multiple wines in order help those new to wine begin to make distinctions or for the more experienced who are interested in learning more about the wines of a specific region, a particular vintage, or one varietal. Yet my sister… a brilliant cook and consummate interior designer… appears to have decided to play around with the idea of a wine flight.
And I guess she considered these particular bottles something of a flight risk.
Posted in play, wine | Tagged bird cage, Kimberly Crispeno, Seattle WA, wine flight, wine tasting |
By Kevin Finch on August 19, 2009
Does one of these new wine cubbys at the Rocket Market on Spokane’s South Hill have your name on it?
Wine guru Carl Carlsteen says they are just about ready to launch their wine-of-the-month club, and soon these cubbies will be home to specially selected wines each month. Details are still being finalized, but if your tastes in wine match Carlsteen’s passion and palate you might want to consider joining the club and score a cubby.
Posted in drinks, wine | Tagged Carl Carlsteen, Rocket Market, Spokane WA, wine, wine of the month club |
By Kevin Finch on July 22, 2009
Last year a friend who calls herself a “chef and food wrangler” invited me to spend four days working in the campus kitchen for Linfield College alongside some of the best chefs from around the Northwest. “We don’t pay you, but we give you room and board. The wine is not bad, and you’ll get to meet some amazing chefs.”
I went. The event is called the International Pinot Noir Festival and for the better part of the week each summer the IPNC folks take over the college in the heart of Oregon’s Williamette Valley. The wine is excellent and the food is as well.
Today I’m headed back for more 10 hour days in a hot kitchen for no pay and I’m looking forward to it. My friend describes it as “summer camp for chefs” and most of the other volunteers in the kitchen (who actually are chefs in their own right) agree. They keep coming back because it is fun.
Last year I kept a running record in pictures of the bottle bin in the back. I might do so again. Over the course of the long weekend it goes from empty to overflowing.
Posted in culture, dining, play, travel, wine | Tagged Ann Nisbet, International Pinot Noir Celebration, IPNC, McMinnville OR, Northwest chefs, Oregon wine, pinot noir, Williamette Valley, wine |
By Kevin Finch on June 5, 2009
New England Trip #3
I need to get a cardboard sign made up that announces “Will travel for food.” In fact, distance doesn’t seem to matter if the food waiting at the destination is unique or simply very good. On Memorial Day (May 25), all it took were rumors of brilliant food at The Hermitage to inspire a trip north through three states in New England for a tour of a restored country inn and lunch.
I believe the destination was Michael Hyman’s idea. He had been on-site last fall as the inn was about to reopen and had helped in the process of hiring the innkeeper Steven O’Hern.
This connection led to a full tour of much of the inn before we sat down to eat, including access to the expansive wine cellars in the bowels of the old inn. The relationship between Michael and Steven also triggered a visit from Executive Chef Josh Tomson to the table and a couple of off-menu suprises complements of the kitchen. I heard no complaints at the table.
Surprise # 1 turned out to be tiny skewers of tomato and mozzarella with puddles of a thick balsamic reduction on the plate and herbal hints along the lines of a caprese salad.
On the heels of the skewers came the kitchen’s rendition of calamari in a light, almost tempura, batter.
Following the calamari were a 1/2 pound Boyden Farms Angus Beef burger with Vermont Goat Cheese, a Smoked Chicken Quesadilla with Chipotle Cream, and a blistered crust artisan pizza topped with local goat cheese and fresh herbs. Of the three, I would have skipped the Quesadilla if not for Tomson’s recommendation, but it was brilliant and the burger and pizza were not far behind. The lunch menu at the Hermitage isn’t complicated with French culinary terms or obscure ingredients. Instead what is listed is simple, almost pub food, but the quality is striking.
This made the second surprise from the kitchen that much more unexpected.
Fresh oysters on the half-shell with an icy fruit granita on top that set off the light brine of salt water perfectly. Thanks, Josh.
Of course, there was more to the day than food. There were the stunning green hills of Vermont, a series of colonial towns in eastern Massacusetts, and the surprisingly rural countryside of central Connecticut. But the most memorable part of Memorial Day this year was easily Steven, Josh, and the food at a restored country inn. I will travel for food and suspect I will travel back to the Hermitage for more from Tomson’s kitchen soon.
Posted in culture, dining, travel, wine | Tagged calamari, Chef Josh Tomson, Memorial Day, Michael Hyman, New England, oysters, quesadilla, Steven O'Hern, The Hermitage, The Hermitage Country Inn, Vermont, Vermont goat cheese |
By Kevin Finch on April 7, 2009
In between the massive winery operations and the hobby mom-and-pop bottle-by-hand operations is Tony and his truck: a mobile bottling operation that rolls up to your winery to fill, cork, foil, and label thousands of bottles an hour.
I spent today in inside the Wino Semi (officially the “Signature Mobile Bottlers” truck) working with a crew from Robert Karl Cellars locally to bottle hundreds of cases of Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Rose, Merlot, and Syrah. From 7 am until 1:30 pm I loaded empty bottles onto the snake of a conveyor belt that runs up to the front of the semi trailer and back out. Along the way each bottle spins through a gauntlet and ends up shot full of nitrogen, pumped full of wine, corked, capped, spun, and labeled. Picture a semi full of shining metal equipment, and then add in the hiss of pneumatic pumps, the roar of machinery, and the almost deafening clatter of a hundred or so bottles banging against each other as they are funneled into a single bottle chute at the beginning.
I suspect I won’t be able to lift my arms above my waist tomorrow. I may have lost some hearing in my right ear (the one closest to the bottle chute). My hands are covered with paper cuts from manhandling cardboard bottle cases as fast I could for six and a half hours straight.
That said, I had a blast and I’d do it again tomorrow. Well, maybe not tomorrow. I’ve got a date tomorrow with Icy-Hot.
But today was a wonderful day.
Joe and Rebecca Gunselman produce great wine and after drinking a number of their bottles over the years it was a treat to help out. I wasn’t the only one. They pull together a crew twice a year to bottle wine. Fall is a massive operation focused on their Claret. The spring bottling puts up smaller amounts of the other wines offered by Robert Karl.
My station for the day, just inside the back of the truck was both the beginning and the end of the line. Empty bottles head in and the full bottles come back out to be packed into the cases so recently vacated by empty siblings. I got to work today with Karl (Joe and Rebecca’s teenage son), Mia, Gordon, and Ken. Karl, Mia, and myself kept the bottles headed into the mobile bottling beast while Gordon and Ken packed every single one of those bottles back up and sent the cases out of the semi and down another chute into a second truck to be carted off to storage.
Part of the fun of the day was simply understanding. Now I have a picture in my head of one critical step in the work of a winery. Hundreds of steps took place before bottling to make the wine worth the effort of the day, but that only made the process of getting the juice into glass that much more worthwhile.
If you haven’t yet tried a Robert Karl bottle, do so soon.
[caption id="attachment_394" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Part of the Karl Crew: Mia, Gordon and Ken"]
[/caption]
Posted in culture, play, wine | Tagged Joseph Gunselman, mobile bottling, Rebecca Gunselman, Robert Karl, Robert Karl Cellars, Robert Karl Winery, Signature Mobile Bottlers, Spokane, Spokane winery, Washington state wine, wine bottles, winery |
By Kevin Finch on March 31, 2009
For an article I’m writing entitled “A Beginner’s Guide to Wine” I spent time this past week talking to the wine guru at the Rocket Market, Carl Carlsteen. Near the end of the conversation he mentioned a Chilean producer that has impressed him with a number of their wines. The name, I’m sure somewhat tongue-in-cheek, is Cono Sur.
Carlsteen pointed out one Cono Sur bottle on the shelf featuring a grape I’d literally never heard of: Carmenere. Yet on the strength of his recommendation I snagged a bottle for $9.99.
My bankable wine knowledge is still quite limited and I love tasting wine with others to see what they pick up that I may or may not have noticed in my sniffing and sipping. Yet I’m going to make an exception with the 2007 Cono Sur Carmenere. BUY THIS BOTTLE. I loved it.
I’m still weak on describing what I taste in a given wine, but this Carmenere tasted spicy/smoky in one moment, sweet in another, and has a depth missing from a lot of big American reds.
The grape, it turns out, is a kissing cousin in the Cabernet family and was originally planted in France’s Bourdeux region. Yet it fell out of favor.
Across Europe the Carmenere vines were torn out and replaced with other varieties. Thankfully though, this took place only after Carmenere vines had been introduced to South American vineyards in the mid 1800s. Almost all of the current Carmenere comes from Chile, but I would put money on a comeback elsewhere.
In the meantime, buy this bottle.
Posted in wine | Tagged 2007 Cono Sur Carmenere, Bordeaux, Carl Carlsteen, Carmenere, Chilean wine, Cono Sur, Cono Sur winery, Rocket Market, wine, wine guru |
By Kevin Finch on March 26, 2009
Last night at an undisclosed location in the Inland Northwest, I ate the best foie gras of my life.
For the sake of accuracy I should note I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten foie gras in any noticeable quanity before, but for a lead sentence I prefer hyperbole to accurancy nine times out of ten.
This confession allowed, it was stunning. Hand-carried in from France for a private dinner last night, the foie gras was served with toasted baguette, fig-orange preserves, and a glass of Sauternes. The Sauternes is the classic sweet white wine paired with the decadent fat of a fine foie gras. Last night’s slice fit the definition of fine, and it didn’t hurt to be eating it in a room with actual Louie the XIV furniture.
There have been several times recently I’ve felt more sophisticated than I have any legitimate right to feel; last night was one of them. Still, I’m conflicted. Is foie gras one of the highest pinacles of haute cuisine or is it obscene given that the traditional method of preparation requires the duck or goose about to donate its liver is confined and force-fed for several months before slaughter? I have yet to decide, but I’d be curious to hear your input. Where do you come down on the grand question of foie gras?
Posted in cooking, culture, play, travel, wine | Tagged duck liver, foie gras, French cuisine, goose liver, haute cuisine, Louie the XIV furniture, Sauternes, sweet white wine |
By Kevin Finch on February 1, 2009
Most among the food-obsessed are familiar with food and wine pairings. Almost as many admit that certain beers complement pizza or Mexican fare. But my first exposure to soda pop designed to be paired with food came today at my sister’s Seattle home during a lull in the SuperBowl Steeler-Cardinal match-up.
The swank soda seeking to transcend the plastic taps at 7-Eleven is Seattle-based Dry Soda, and just a glance at the flavors they offer and their intended market niche should be clear.
Lemongrass
Lavender
Rhubarb (my selection today to go with potato chips)
Vanilla Bean
Juniper Berry
Kumquat
I couldn’t pick a Kumquat out of a fruit line up if I wanted to, but I like the sound of the word enough that I just might order it simply to be able to use it in a sentence. Here is the pitch on Dry Soda’s website:
“Seattle-based DRY Soda Co. offers today’s consumer a modern alternative in refreshment — a line of all-natural, lightly sweet sodas, flavored with fruit, flower or herb extracts, and sweetened with a small amount of pure cane sugar. Combining the subtle essence of nature and the kitchen, DRY’s unique design and clean finish make it the ideal soda to pair with a great meal or a refreshing beverage on its own. DRY Soda also makes a distinct and sophisticated mixer.”
Go figure. What should I order with my roast quail tonight? White? Red? Lager? Stout? Or… Kumquat?
Posted in culture, play, wine | Tagged Dry Soda, Dry Soda Company, food wine pairings, juniper berry, kumquat, lavender, lemongrass, pop, rhubarb, Seattle, soda pop, vanilla bean |
