What do Joy the Baker, Venice Beach, Pow Blop Wizz and some damn fine waffles have in common? The next BHMF Neighborhood video!

The LA neighborhood food and drink crawl continues! Claire and I touched down in WeHo then we rolled over to Venice for a Joy the Baker style afternoon. I paired a wine to the essence of the Venice that Joy lives in, the way she sees it. And she made some freaking incredible cornmeal and chive waffles with a fried egg and salsa on top. I mean, come on!

The Super bowl is tomorrow and I personally don’t give a hoot. I mean, I had to Google who was playing…

But, the other day NBC cameras were all up in Domaine LA filming a little segment about what to eat and drink on Super Bowl Sunday (it’s become the Thanksgiving of February). Jill and I came up with some fun wine options for your hot wings, Doritos and chips & guac. Because, you know what? Why the hell not. Check it out! I come in right around the 1 minute mark.

Wines featured: NV German Gilabert Cava (buttered popcorn) // 2010 Etz Gruner Veltliner (chips and gaucamole) // 2007 Pecina Blanco (cool ranch Doritos) // 2010 Punta Crena “Pettirosso” (buffalo wings)  2010 Field Recordings “Fiction” Red (Chex Mix)

I was thinking of doing the 2001 Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia Blanco with the Cool Ranch Doritos because of its oxidative, viscous, herbacious vibe. Trying to keep the cost of the bottle down, Jill suggested the incredibly affordable Pecina. Pretty dope with the Doritos. Just sayin’.

Mega-girly side note: I’ve found my one true lipstick love (for now). It’s the NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in “Mexican Rose.” I was wearing it in the video above. It’s the perfect balance of opaque/sheer and matte/gloss and it stays on FOREVER. After the initial application, it settles in and becomes more of a stain. I’ve been rocking the Mexican Rose while working at the restaurant and it lasts for most of the shift. Good for ladies that are always putting their lips to a wine glass. Recommended!

Favorite cocktail or spirit: Pastis

And our rhymes is tight.

I just went there. It happened.

The Terroni lady sommeliers (and a few other lovely friends) met up last week for a little “ripping and sipping”. And eating. And laughing. Christine hosted and made a fantastic meal for us. The rest of us contributed booze.

Remember way back in the Fall of 2010 when the Proof guys gave me these bottles of ’79, ’80 and ’81 Sanford & Benedict Pinot? Well, I FINALLY got around to opening them. I wasn’t expecting much as the boys already told me they were pretty dead.

I thought it would still be fun to open them and see what was inside. It was like some kind of archaeological dig/science experiment; uncovering mold, debris, sediment, effed up corks…I even had to improvise and use a coffee filter to decant what basically looked like Coca Cola.

The ’79 was completely mold-infested and smelled disgusting. The ’80 wasn’t much better, but I at least put that one in my mouth. It was almost like a Marsala meets Chinato by way of root beer- pretty far gone. The ’81 (my birth year- hollerrr!) was surprisingly not horrible.

It still had some acidity and nothing incredibly offensive about it. Special bottles I’m sure, but not anymore. I wish I could’ve tried them back in the day.

So. Food! Sally brought some awesome cheeses from The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, one of which was a walnut studded beauty rolled in semolina. Loved. It. Francesca made some chicken liver pâté with lavender (!) and it was really delicious and so subtly floral. She explained how easy it was to make, but I’m still skeptical. She’s Italian and I’m not. She’s just always gonna be better than me at effortless cooking.

The main event was the lamb pie Christine made- a recipe from her mother and a traditional South African dish. She served it over rice seasoned with caraway seeds. I had seconds, possibly thirds. No one knows for sure.

This is when the wine situation greatly improved. One of my favorite food and wine pairings anywhere ever is lamb and Sagrantino. It’s never a bad idea. I dare you to tell me that it’s not amazing.

Francesca brought this lovely bottle of Antonelli for us to enjoy!

I also schlepped another wine that was given to me as a gift- 1995 Felsina Berardenga Rancia Chianti Classico Riserva.

It was good, nothing life changing. The wine that I poured myself more of was the Sagrantino. Fun to try some older bottles though! Every time I do, I always think about what I was doing that year. In 1995, I was a freshman in high school and I had a crazy crush on a guy named Ali (or was it Muhammad?) that I never spoke a single word to. I lived for the J. Crew catalog, really wanted to be in West Side Story and ate french toast sticks for breakfast.

The end.

This was my view for most of the night this past Friday.

Lights, cameras and Bizarre Foods action!

I was the sommelier for a one night dinner created by Andrew Zimmern. He was hopping around town shooting all over LA last week with the finale being a 5 course spread at Royal/T. All proceeds went to charity and some of LA’s best chefs were in the kitchen lending a helping hand- Michael Voltaggio, Lee Hefter of Spago and Ari Rosenson of CUT (my Wolfgang Puck homies from back in the day!), among others.

SO. The menu…

The menu was all about introducing the average diner to sea creatures and parts of animals they might not be accustomed to. There was uni, geoduck, pig-face bacon, pig’s blood, lamb and cow tongue, pig intestine among other things. What wine to pair with such fare? How about wines the average drinker might not have ever tried or would think to try; a 12 year old rosé, a sans soufre red blend from a whacky Spaniard, a grape called pignoletto, a pink pet nat topped with a crown cap…

Jill and I came up with the following, in order of course pairings:

2009 La Grange Tiphaine “Rosa Rosé Rosam” // 2009 Tedeschi Spungola Bellaria Pignoletto

2000 Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Rosado // 2010 Mendall “Poc a Poc” // De Bartoli 10 yr Marsala

Everybody loved everything! Warren Sapp, even.

PS- Pardon the truly shitty photos. But guess what? This is the last of the BlackBerry Chronicles. Why? Cause momma got an iPhone. Prepare yourself for Instagram Tales! Memoirs of an iPhone? I’ll figure something out.

While we’re talking stylish wine ladies, here’s another! Talia Baiocchi is one of my favorite wine writers out there right now. She’s young, she’s funny, she’s way smarter than me, has great taste and a super fresh perspective on all this wine stuff. She is currently the wine columnist at Eater.com and contributes to a whole bunch of other online and print publications like The San Francisco Chronicle, Bon Appetit and Serious Eats.

So, let’s do this here thing!

Name: Talia Baiocchi  Hometown: Laguna Beach, CA  Current location: Brooklyn, NY

Favorite Winter beverage: Sherry. Still have some La Bota #15 Fino that I dig into every now and again. Also loving Lustau’s Manuel Cuevas Jurado Manzanilla Pasada and Colosia’s Sangre y Trabajadero Dry Oloroso for everyday.

Favorite cocktail or spirit:  Rye Manhattan

Favorite place to grab a drink:  For wine: Terroir, Anfora, Balthazar. Cocktails: Maison Premiere, Keens (for the classics), Death & Co.

Favorite toast: I prefer to defer to someone else, because I am pretty sure I’ve never given a toast that wasn’t incredibly awkward for all involved. In other words, I suck at toasts.

Favorite post-dinner quaff: Amaro. Always. Nonino and Varnelli Sibilla are favorites.

Favorite food & beverage pairing:  Champagne + cured pork items.

If you could travel to one region of the world right now for its food and/or drink where would you go? I’d probably go back to Sicily. I was just there in September for the first time and the trip wasn’t long enough. The cuisine is uniquely its own thing and the wines have never been better. Also: pretty beaches.

What’s for sipper? I am writing a story about Sicilian white wine at the moment so I am deep into Carricante and Grillo as of late. So, tonight I’ve got the Grillo Integer from Marco de Bartoli on deck.

And here’s Talia with Kyle MacLachlan drinking his wine. You know, cause that’s the kind of stuff you get to do when you’re Talia.

My friend Bisquite PowerPoppin is to thank for the title of this post. If you don’t speak Bizzy, let me translate: 2012 Breakfast! I ate one with a bunch of amazing people. And my dear friend Joy did all the cookin’! I sure do love me some Joy Food.

There were instant photos, gemstones and wooden eggs.

There was a waffle bar.

A bloody mary station.

A mimosa situation. Eggs and breakfast potatoes cooked TOGETHER.

Momofuku cereal milk. For general sipping, coffee additions or waffle palate cleanser.

There was bacon, of course. And this foxy little wine.

I’ve mentioned Philipe Bornard on the blog before. This Jura winemaker is one you need to know about! Drink his wine. Just do it. This delicious 100% chardonnay bubbly is now maybe in my top 10 wines perfectly suited for daytime wine consumption/brunch. ‘Cause that’s a list I keep, best believe.

And look- another sunset! It’ll be 2013 before we know it…

Anyone else see too many productions of Fiddler on the Roof as a child? No? OK- maybe it’s just me, but whenever I start thinking about how fast time flies, the chorus of “Sunrise, Sunset” creeps into my brain…Sunrise, sunset. Sunrise, sunset. Swiftly flow the days.

News alert! There’s been a whole buncha sunrises and sets and it’s about to be 2012! Can you even believe it?

I thought I would summon my inner Tevye and reminisce. Here are just a few of my favorite moments/posts from this year:

Ladies Who Brunch // Americano // Wine Wear Daily IV // Octopus BBQ

Birthday Lanterns // 4th of July in Brooklyn // Ojai Campfire & Whiskey Cocktails // Laureano

Pretty great times were had in ’11. Dang. Next year has a lot to live up to! Let’s make it truly SPECTACULAR, shall we?

Happy New Year errrrbody!

So, I got to attend TWO kick ass Holiday staff parties this year! Hollerrrr.

Max was kind enough to take all of us Terroni sommeliers out to dinner at Mezze. We ate some delicious Middle Eastern inspired food, had a blind tasting of wines from our all-Italian cellar and then exchanged gifts; pretty much everything that constitutes a perfect evening in my book. If you threw in a chocolate fountain and someone giving 90 minute massages my brain would have exploded, but that didn’t happen. Let’s not get carried away.

Each of us got to choose ANY bottle from the Terroni cellar. THREE people ended up bringing Etna Rosso. We sure do love us some Sicily. But, we started off with some bianco from Campania and Piemonte.

We tasted each wine one by one. Made our (usually) completely wrong (and sometimes spot on) guesses and then unveiled the bottle beneath its tin foil cocoon with gusto.

If I could only ever eat one salad for the rest of my life, it would be fattoush. It’s the salad of my people!

Warm, homemade pita glistening with honey and butter. Aaaaand SCENE.

Max brought an extra treat- a bottle of 2002 J. Lasalle Special Club Champagne. ‘Cause he’s THE BEST.

A little Slovenian/Italian Pinot Noir by way of Simcic, shall we? Yes we shall. PS- this wine was damn good with the above pâté.

Francesca unveils the Biondi M.I. she brought.

Max reveals his wine, another Etna, Salvo Foti‘s I Vigneri “Vinupetra”. Embarrassing fact- A lot of us kept thinking these Etna wines were possibly Piemonte nebbiolo. Seriously. We suck.

I thought the color of the Biondi M.I. definitely did not look like a nebbiolo (not rusty enough) and the others didn’t really either, but the lighting in the restaurant was a bit golden and dim as you can tell from the photos. Add in the fact that we were all consuming a lot of WINE and our hypothoses for the identities of the wine started to not be so awesome. Oh well.

But, we sure were having fun. I made a moving GIF of Dave revealing his Tenuta delle Terre Nere. It seemed like the right thing to do.

 

Lamb shoulder over smoked oatmeal. Very interesting combination, but delicious.

Heavenly brussel sprouts. How come I only like brussel sprouts when other people make them?

The wine I brought! 2001 Quintarelli Valpolicella. This one was unmistakable. As soon as we started drinking it, everyone started saying “Veneto”, “corvina”, “passito maybe?”, “high alcohol”. Ding ding ding!

Guiseppe actually reached into his own cellar for our oldest bottle of the night- 2000 Marchesi di Gresy Gaiun Martinega Barbaresco. A small parcel within a single vineyard- our boy Dave guessed that right. Freaky genius wine geek psychic!

We ended the evening with this delightfully warm little sweet bite- kind of like the love child of a churro and a doughnut hole. Dang! So. Good.

What a wonderful night! It’s safe to say I learned quite a bit. And left feeling even more proud to call all of these people my colleagues. Grazie to you Max and Francesca for such a delicious experience, in every sense of the word.

Happy holidays to you all! I hope everyone gets to sit around a table with the ones (and the wines) they love.

Staff holiday party!!!

Jill, my boss, happens to be totally hip and with it. So, naturally, she reserved us a table at the one night only porc extravaganza with Chef Ludo at Gram and Papa’s. It was a veritable porchetta FEAST complete with Southern style fixins.

There was a massive wait and many eager bellies, as to be expected with Ludo. Downtown LA is as interesting a place as any to have to wait on the sidewalk. Side note: a homeless man approached our group as we were leaving the restaurant and before he uttered any words I turned him away. Like an asshole. Then he said, “Man! I was just gonna ask what time it was!” #downtownLA

Hello Kathy Bates!

Hello kitty!

Hello Chef Ludo!

BTW- can you tell I got a new lens for my camera…that I am OBSESSED with?? I couldn’t put the camera down. It was probably annoying to my dinner companions.

All right. What wine did we drink? Awesome wine is what we drank. We started off with a duo of two bubblies. First, Olivier Lemasson‘s playfully named Pow Blop Wizz- a grolleau and pineau d’aunis fun fest. I really enjoyed this wine. A LOT. All of us did.

If you’d like to be further entertained, please watch this rather funny video of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. It helps to explain the name of the wine.

Our other sparkler? None other than the pure, spectacular beauty of Cedric Bouchard. This grower Champagne is the gateway drug to Champagne of a higher level of bubbly consciousness.

This current vintage is more toasty than last year’s. It has a little more depth and richness to offset that always present razor focus and bright acidity.

Oh, hello there Lopez de Heredia! You were delicious with the the herbed porchetta and ALL of the side dishes (grits, charred greens, crispy potatoes and baked beans). This wine, which I like, became much more enjoyable with the food before us.

And the food before us was….THIS!

And definitely this.  A bowl of grits! An empty bowl. That I housed. Courtney, a Tennessee gal, and myself proclaimed this to be maybe the best grits we’ve ever had. Sacre bleu! Grits made by a Frenchman. I know, I’m as shocked as you.

Caption contest! This was our dessert….

It was a baked apple. I’m also referring to it as a decaying tennis ball and a twice baked apple potato. Regardless of its appearance, it was highly edible.

Thank you Ludo for the eats. Thank you Jill for the wine (and the eats)! What a great year. I’m almost scared of how good 2012 will be.