[wine] Aussie winest at Muffies TONIGHT

Mostly an update, and some fodder for the mill on the restaurant business from the NYT. Also a bit on Petite Syrah. Not sure if they grow any of that in Australia. Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 15:12:28 -0600 From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> To: wine(a)thebarn.com Subject: [wine] Aussie at Muffies Greetings, Happy New Year, Bah-Mitzvah! Had some truly fantastic food at Alma. The three course, $39, prix fixe was the order of the day for most of us. Alma tasting option is unusually flexible. Diner's are able to pick "one form each column". That is any starter, any primi/pasta and any entree. Local pheasant and the risoto were very good. This week, we've been invited to Muffuletta. Muffuletta Cafe 2260 Como St. Paul, 55108 St. Anthony Park 651-644-9116 Style du jour is "Australian". Yes Warren/Ruth Betsy Bob Russ Lori Jim Louise is a maybe... Guess: Nicolai Karin Directions: Take Hwy 280 to Como, go east up the hill and then to the second light (Carter). Alt: Take Snelling to Como, West to Carter. Cheers, Jim January 11, 2006 Critic's Notebook Creeping Up on Diners: Stealth Charges By FRANK BRUNI IF you want some red wine with dinner at the opulent new restaurant Gilt in Midtown Manhattan, your options typically rise from a minimum of $20 to a maximum of $1,000, with a median of $55 and an average of $246. That range is about what you would expect, but for this: It's not for red wine by the bottle. It's for red wine by the glass. And while Gilt's pour may exceed the usual, this munificence is a matter of only a few droplets, judging from a $24 glass of 2004 Cakebread sauvignon blanc I had recently. I could have chosen a lesser sauvignon blanc for the veritable pittance of $18, the cheapest alternative among nine whites and the only alternative under $20. But I also could have spent up to $225. Is Gilt an aberration? Yes and no. You'll find few New York restaurants at which Bacchus is such a bully and a snob. But you'll find more and more with tactics, which sometimes seem like tricks, for making a meal costlier than it first appears to be. With add-ons that stealthily add up. With menus like minefields, financially perilous to anyone who strays broadly and heedlessly across them. At Gilt, an extreme case in point, an advertised fixed price of $92 for two savory courses and dessert turns out to be fiction, even apart from the wine. When I dined there, three of eight appetizer options entailed supplemental charges, and those supplements weren't paltry, ranging from $18 to $28. One of seven entrees had a supplement of $16, while another had a surcharge of $18. When I dined at the new restaurant Telepan on the Upper West Side, I spent $15.50 on roasted cauliflower with a special herb oil and crushed heirloom shell beans. Granted, the cauliflower came in three kinds and colors, and it was exceptional cauliflower, undoubtedly artisanal cauliflower, for all I knew the Kobe of cauliflower, hand-massaged and moistened hourly with atomized Evian. But still, it was cauliflower. And as noteworthy as its price was its placement on the menu in a category of "Mid Course" dishes, which was printed after the appetizers and before the entrees and planted the suggestion that a diner who wanted to experience the restaurant fully needed three savory chapters, with respective average costs of about $13, $17 and $27. The structure of the menu at Telepan, which opened in December, recalls the structure of the menu at Thor, which opened in September. Like Telepan, Thor points diners toward two courses prior to the entree, dividing what other restaurants might label appetizers into distinct categories called "Cold Plates to Start" and "Warm Plates in the Middle." Thor has yet another category called "From the Market on the Side," which is where items like roasted or pur�ed potatoes lurk, entailing surcharges of $6 each. Thor's chef, Kurt Gutenbrunner, said in a telephone interview that despite the semantic cues "to start" and "in the middle," the menu is not some culinary bait-and-bait designed to fatten checks by persuading diners to order a little from here, a little from there and, while they're at it, some quark spaetzle or fennel and figs from way over there. Like other architects of today's increasingly segmented menus, Mr. Gutenbrunner said his goal was to give diners more options and control. "When people are going out, they know exactly how much they're going to spend the minute they walk out the door, and they're not going to spend more," he said. "And if you somehow make them, you've lost a long-term customer." But what if it's only a little more? Vicki Freeman, one of the owners of Cookshop, which opened in Chelsea in September, said the existence on its menu of an appetizerlike category for "snacks" has not prompted the diners who order snacks to forgo conventional appetizers, which still have their own category. It has prompted them to explore both categories, and a check for a table of two is $5 to $6 higher as a result. The broadening presence of snacks on menus - Taku, which opened in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn in June, also has them - provides just one example of rampant category inflation. A few blocks north of Cookshop, at D'or Ahn, which also opened in September, there are four savory categories ("raw," "cold," "hot," and "side") for modestly portioned dishes, in addition to a category for entrees. Italian restaurants all over the city separate the crudi from the appetizers and the verdure, or vegetables, from the salumi, and before you know it, your $15 pappardelle has become a $50 production. Restaurant consultants and industry observers say that actual prices of appetizers, entrees and fixed-price multicourse meals at upscale restaurants haven't been rising as fast as inflation. But perhaps because of that, they say, some surprising surcharges have popped up. When I ate lunch a few months ago at Bann, a new Korean restaurant in Midtown, the lettuce and miso paste that other Korean restaurants consider a complimentary accouterment to barbecued meat entailed an extra $3. Over the last year, I've been struck by how cunningly many servers push bottled water, asking diners if they want "still" or "sparkling" without ever mentioning a less taxing possibility. In restaurants, apparently, "tap" is a four-letter word. I've had servers wordlessly replace finished bottles of water with new ones, so that my companions and I realized only when the bill arrived that we'd had five bottles at a cost of $60. That's insidious, and that's insane. But it's indicative of the sneakiness at loose upon the restaurant landscape. Sneaky is a fair word for Gilt (where, it should be noted, wines by the bottle aren't as shockingly expensive as by the glass). Gilt opened in December in a series of sumptuous rooms inside the New York Palace Hotel, replacing Le Cirque 2000. While other fixed-price menus have dishes with supplemental charges, I have not seen another New York menu on which the percentage of those dishes is so high. Or on which the charges seem so odd. There's no supplement for lobster, but there's $16 for lamb and $18 for a portion of Dover sole that, when I sampled it, could be consumed in fewer than 10 bites. Gilt may present itself as comparable in price to Jean Georges and Le Bernardin, both of which charge $95 for three savory courses and dessert. But tack on the surcharges and a glass or two of white - at Jean Georges you can get one for $9, at Le Bernardin for $13 - and Gilt has lofted you to unexpected stratospheres of spending. It's hardly the only New York restaurant these days that takes you there. THE CHRONICLE WINE SELECTIONS California Petite Sirah - Linda Murphy Thursday, January 12, 2006 There is nothing petite about Petite Sirah. This black grape, grown throughout the warmer regions of California, produces teeth-staining, brawny wines with dark berry and plum fruit, a grind of spice (usually black pepper) and sturdy tannins. Once considered a rustic wine, California Petite Sirah has become softer and more polished in recent years, as winemakers have learned to tame the tannins and astringency with various techniques in the vineyard and cellar. Petite Sirah -- intentionally misspelled "Petite Syrah" by some producers -- is the same as Durif, a workhorse grape of southern France. Petite Sirah is also related to "regular" Syrah; Syrah is Petite's father, Peloursin the mother. Despite their common genes, Petite Sirah and Syrah are very different wines -- the "petite" son has more muscles and hair on his chest than Dad. Here are our favorites from the 65 Petite Sirahs tasted for today: TWO AND A HALF STARS 2003 Chiarello Family Vineyards Roux Napa Valley Petite Sirah ($50) Napa Valley chef and Food Network star Michael Chiarello produces this wine, which despite its somewhat high 15.2 percent alcohol, tastes balanced and bright with crisp acidity. Racy raspberry, blackberry and cassis flavors are enhanced by black peppercorn, black tea, mocha and toast notes. If Petite Sirah can be pretty, this is it. TWO AND A HALF STARS 2003 Concannon Central Coast Limited Release Petite Sirah ($15) Sweet vanilla and black-fruit aromas lead to a ripe, blueberry- and black cherry-filled wine. It's spicy and toasty, yet refreshing thanks to brisk acidity. TWO STARS 2003 Foppiano Vineyards Estate Russian River Valley Petite Sirah ($23) While toasty oak dominates the nose, the palate delivers rich, ripe wild blackberry and black plum flavors and an intense black-pepper spice. There is a slight mid-palate dryness, though a burst of juicy raspberry fruit and crisp acidity plumps up the finish. THREE STARS 2004 Michael-David Earthquake Lodi Petite Sirah ($28) This is the big one, with massive, jammy fruit (blackberry, black cherry and pie cherry), powerful tannins and a Richter-scale 15.7 alcohol content. Rarely are wines of this size balanced, yet Earthquake maintains its equilibrium and offers fine complexity in its toast, smoked meat, cola, vanilla and white-pepper notes. TWO AND A HALF STARS 2003 Mitchell Katz Ruby Hill Vineyard Livermore Valley Petite Sirah ($16) Yes, Virginia, the Livermore Valley can produce great wine, and here's proof. This wine is incredibly smooth and fine-textured -- full, rich and concentrated in its blackberry, blueberry and cassis flavors with vanilla and black pepper accents. It has great balance, firm acidity and a lingering finish that does not taste hot, as the labeled 15.4 percent alcohol might suggest it would. Great price, too. THREE STARS 2002 Quixote Panza Stags' Leap Ranch Napa Valley Petite Syrah ($40) Carl Doumani, who made Petite Sirah fashionable in Napa Valley when he owned Stags' Leap Winery (he was also the first to purposely spell it "Syrah" on the label), now makes the varietal at his Quixote Winery nearby. His 2002 effort, sealed with a screw cap, is inky-purple in color, toasty in aroma and tastes intensely of black fruit. There are also hints of blueberry, spice, coffee and chocolate, wrapped in supple tannins. TWO AND A HALF STARS 2003 Quivira Wine Creek Ranch Dry Creek Valley Petite Sirah ($24) Black never goes out of style, as demonstrated by this blackberry/black plum/black licorice-loaded wine. While it's deep and dark, there's no brooding here, as the juicy fruit, peppery spice, gentle toastiness and moderate 14.2 percent alcohol content give the wine a sense of elegance not often found in Petite Sirah. THREE STARS 2003 Rosenblum Pickett Road Napa Valley Petite Sirah ($28) Lush blackberry and blueberry fruit, black pepper and licorice notes, rustic earthiness and big, chewy tannins make this the powerhouse that Petite Sirah aficionados seek. Despite its size, the wine has wonderful balance and palate-cleansing acidity. The alcohol is a heady 15.6 percent, yet there isn't a lot of heat on the palate. TWO AND A HALF STARS 2003 Rosenblum Rockpile Road Vineyard Rockpile Petite Sirah ($36) Deep purple and intensely fruity -- almost Port-like -- this wine pushes the envelope with its very jammy blackberry and black plum fruit, yet has enough acidity, peppery spice and worn-leather complexity for balance. At 15.4 percent alcohol, it packs a punch. TWO AND A HALF STARS 2002 Vina Robles Jardine Vineyard Paso Robles Petite Sirah ($26) Stop reading if you don't like big, hedonistic wines, because this one is huge, loaded with wild, brambly blackberry fruit, black pepper, espresso, toast and vanilla flavors. The tannins are muscular and the palate is ripe, with a touch of residual sweetness. TWO STARS 2004 Vinum Cellars Pets Clarksburg Petite Sirah ($14) "Pets" is what some producers call Petite Sirah, and this wine is as easygoing as the family golden retriever. It's packed with juicy blackberry and blueberry fruit and notes of spice, chocolate, saddle leather and vanilla, with medium tannins. A portion of the sales proceeds go to the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Key: FOUR STARS Extraordinary THREE STARS Excellent TWO STARS Good Page F - 3 URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/12/WIG74GL8G71.DTL ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *