[wine] Rhone Style at Town Talk

Greetings, Had some interesting wines at St. Paul Grill. Much of the food was very good. The Roast Beef Loin was rather boring. Lacked flavor, texture. Ribeye was fantastic. Pork chop looked to be excellent. This week, Rhone style grapes/wines at Town Talk Diner. Thanks to Warren for setting it up. TOWN TALK DINER, 2707 1/2 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, 612.722.1312; www.towntalkdiner.com. Yes: Bob Betsy Lori Warren/Ruth Chris Bill Jim France 44 Sale is on now. Ditto Haskell's "nickel" sale. Cheers, Jim Talkin' Bout Town Talk: Remember the good old days, when all the cars had fins, all the girls' hair was up in beehives, and all the malted milkshakes were health food for growing boys? Me neither. Nonetheless, I can't wait for the rebirth of the dear, long-departed Town Talk Diner. Yes, Minneapolis's most beloved and most photographed abandoned restaurant is about to light up anew, as...the Town Talk Diner. Not the old one, the new one. While the name will be exactly the same, everything else should be exactly different: The restaurant is the first by three young partners with more fine-dining experience than any other group of Gen-X/Gen-Yers I can think of: Tim Niver (the sweet, slick former general manager of the Minneapolis Aquavit), Aaron Johnson (onetime restaurant and bar manager of Cosmos, the Le Meridien hotel restaurant), and chef David Vlach, who spent two years working at California's beyond-legendary French Laundry and cooked at Levain for Stewart Woodman in that restaurant's opening days. These three young-uns, who have more rarefied, ultra-fine-dining experience than you'll find in many of our local white-tablecloth hot spots, are trading in an obvious future in squab and mother-of-pearl caviar spoons for a less obvious one in burgers, malts, "canned beer and hard-core American food," as Niver told me. Canned beer? From people who emerge straight from the world of kitchen-steeped fresh wasabi-aquavit and cauliflower panna cotta? Well, there will be bottled beer too, but I think it's safe to say you can expect a beverage program as ambitious as the ones at the big-ticket restaurants downtown, but built along everyday south Minneapolis lines. Think $3 and $4 everyday picnic wines by the glass, as well as homemade Cherry Coke floats (don't ask me, I don't know how that'll work either) and, for dessert, a few shakes and malts made with (don't tell the kids!) special grownups-only ingredients, like orange vodka in the Dreamsicles. "The general idea we're working with is, good and tasty, but also light and lively," explains Niver. To wit, options on the opening dinner menu will include crowd-pleasers like smoked-tomato soup with a grilled cheddar-cheese sandwich, as well as more highfalutin, but still down-home, choices like a bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin with endive jam and cherry sauce. If you remember the old itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny Town Talk space, you should know that the new diner will have an additional attached dining room, bringing the total seat count to about 80. "We're hoping that this will be the kind of place that people can come into three times a week and not break the bank," says Niver. "It will also have great, well-trained service. Hopefully people will sit there and think, I can't believe we're getting this incredible level of service in a diner." The new Town Talk is hoping to open in mid-August; keep an eye out for the big sign--when it's lit up, that will be your chance to see what our youngest generation of up-and-comers can do when they pay for the griddle, and thus get to decide what to do with it. (TOWN TALK DINER, 2707 1/2 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, 612.722.1312; www.towntalkdiner.com.) ----- Forwarded message from Russell McCandless <russellmccandless(a)frontiernet.net> ----- From: Russell McCandless <russellmccandless(a)frontiernet.net> To: wine(a)thebarn.com Subject: [wine] TN Rhone Grapes at Oddfellows 2-2-06 Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 12:31:13 -0600 Rhone Grapes at Oddfellow's - 2-2-2006 W1 - bashful nose (wine very cold), SO2; lacks fruit in the mouth; finishes appealing citric, surprising length, is this just closed? 2002 Elemental Cellars Viognier, Deux Vert Vyd, Willamette Valley. (Popular at the table, but just never opened up for me.) W2 - full gold; powerful floral nose, minerals, touch of honey, floral quality suggests viognier; midpalate minerals, smoke, considerable oak, this sure isn't all about the fruit, slightly odd mouthfeel; smooth transition to aromatically reticent finish, again I'd like to be finding more fruit, quite long though, interesting wine. 2003 Tablas Creek Roussanne, Paso Robles. W3 - light gold; attractive honeyed nose; midpalate soft, richly honeyed fruit, delicious in a very southern Rhone style; finesse transition to a minerally finish, excellent length, very nice wine overall. 2003 Tablas Creek Roussanne, Paso Robles. (My analysis is that W2 was corked, not enough for any of us - not even Betsy - to actually smell the TCA, but enough to kill the fruit a little and upset the wine's balance. Note that these two identical wines were not even the same color. The wood was quite obvious in W2, but much better balanced with W3's higher fruit level. W2 was shipped directly from the winery and went right into my cellar; so, the difference between the wines is likely to have been the corks.) 1.1 - light purple; sour note on nose, just a bit odd, gunpowder and bacon; tastes as it smells, mouthfilling flavor despite light body; finish lacks fruit (getting old?) but reasonable minerality and length. 2000 Cotes du Rhone, Perrin, Reserve. 1.2 - medium red; attractive smoky, bacony nose; very oaky and tannic in the mouth though, and excessive smoked meat flavor, body medium minus; dominant smoked meat on the finish, quite long. 1996 Lirac, Domaine de la Mordoree. 1.3 - medium purple; light fruit on nose; in the mouth, some richness and structure, finishes very light though; attractive small wine. 2002 les Baux de Provence (AC), Mas de Gourgonnier. 1.4 - medium-dark purple; oaky candied nose; sour flavor, light body, little finish. 1999 Cotes du Rhone Villages. (I failed to note the producer, who may wish to remain anonymous in any case.) 2.1 - medium purple; attractive primary fruit nose; lovely balance in the mouth, young fruit and smoke; finishes as it tastes, could wish for more length but this is quite young, very attractive overall. 2003 Tablas Creek Mourvedre, Paso Robles. 2.2 - inky; black fruits and menthol on nose, considerable depth; rich Aussie midpalate, big fruit, high deliciousness factor; smooth transition to a building finish, excellent wine. 2001 Penfolds RWT Shiraz, Barossa Valley. (This stood up well to a bite of the extremely spicy blackened salmon.) 2.3 - inky, but just a touch of age showing at the rim; bacony northern Rhone nose with some real breed; light to medium body, tastes like Cote Rotie, could be more concentrated, very good though; finish is best feature, fruit coming out, classy. 1993 Cote Rotie, Chapoutier, La Mordoree. (An off vintage, which Parker rates "appalling." Good example of fact that with sufficiently strict selection, fine wine can be made in almost any vintage.) 2.4 - medium purple; very clear cotton candy note on nose, with smoky fruit and bacon; medium body, this one tastes like Cote Rotie too, plenty of fruit; excellent aromatic finish although this seems to lack the power and concentration of a really big vintage. 1998 Cote Rotie, Chapoutier, Les Becasses. (Not quite the massively ripe year in the north that it was in the south, but it's hard to complain about getting served two Chapoutier Cote Roties back to back! Thursday night wine tasting is a tough job, but someone has to do it..) ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------ * * 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 *