It All Began at Hattie’s
How often do wine stories in major national newspapers begin with a local restaurant? What makes this especially big news for me is that John and Dottie from the Wall Street Journal are two of my favorite wine writers, period.
They have a great approach to the subject. Instead of finding a few specific wines and writing lascivious lists of aroma and flavor profiles, then scoring them on a cheap and tawdry 100-point scale, they do something different.
The two of them conduct broad and blind tastings of a category of wines. Sometimes it is high-end stuff, like first growth Bordeaux or U.S. chardonnay priced between $40 and $70. Other times, like they did yesterday, they will do a tasting of an emerging grape that is just starting to see widespread distribution.
And the ultimate goal is not to send the reader searching for a specific bottle, but rather to give one the sense of how likely it is to pick up an interesting bottle from a specific section (and price point) of a reputable wine store.
So the two of them shared a bottle of carmenere at Hattie’s in Saratoga Springs over fried chicken and greens, and were so moved by the experience it inspired them to conduct this week’s tasting.
A Spirits Question from the Discussion Board
It’s been a while since Friday was a cocktail post. But it’s high time that I start again. Especially now that my interest in the subject has been reinvigorated from a question I was asked on the FUSSYlittleBLOG discussion board.
Did you know that the FUSSYlittleBLOG had a discussion board? Neither did I.
But then I went and clicked on a mysterious tab on the FUSSYlittleBLOG Facebook fan page, and there were two topics underway. Both were from readers, and both were waiting an unfortunately long time for a response.
I feel terrible about my first real social networking blunder. So without any further ado, Rod, here is your answer.
The Most Delicious Split Pea Soup in the Known Universe
Mrs. Fussy keeps a small spiral bound notebook of meaningful recipes. Most of the pages are empty. And every recipe that is in the book is transcribed from the original source by her own hand.
The book includes “Daddy’s Pancakes” which are the pancakes her father is famous for making from an old family recipe. The original was written on a small scrap of paper. And although it was wisely laminated, that did not prevent fading. Luckily we have it captured in the book.
It has been made very clear to me that this family recipe is not to be shared. Sorry.
But I wanted to give you a sense of the gravitas of this recipe book. I really only grab for the book when making one thing: Split Pea Soup. The version I am about to share with you is one of Mrs. Fussy’s favorite things to eat. And I think it’s pretty fantastic too.
Ice Cream Season
Last week I wrote about Troy in Winter. I suppose officially it’s still fall, but I lived most of my life in Florida and California, so cut me some slack. Anything under 40 degrees qualifies as winter weather in my book.
Let’s just say I’m getting myself psyched up.
Because winter really isn’t that bad. The Troy Market moves indoors, long-braised dishes are back on the menu, the cozy blankets are piled on the bed, and you can eat ice cream free from worry that it will melt.
Okay, that last one might just be me. But I’m going to take a moment to try to change your mind.
Extreme Carryout
People get fired up about pizza. And I can’t blame them. It’s a passion point for me as well.
As a judge in this year’s All Over Albany Tournament of Pizza, I had the rare opportunity to eat several different pizzas in a sitting. And just like in wine tasting, sampling a few items side by side really highlights the differences between them, and more clearly shows their strengths as well as their faults.
Every form of analysis is going to have its pros and its cons. I do really like the tournament style, especially the progression of rounds, each with a greater challenge. However, we have also seen the capriciousness of the brackets (had Pasquale’s gone up against Nunzio’s in the semifinals, they certainly would have been bested).
So I think one has to be clear about the conclusions that can be drawn from winning a tournament.
But there was one commenter from the AOA boards who was vehemently opposed to the tournament on its face. Lou Quillio said that as it’s currently structured, the contest is about, “extreme carry-out.”
One Minute Per Guy
If you made it all the way through yesterday’s post, you would know that today I am going to tell you a story. Specifically a story about how I promised the area regional manager that I would return to Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries.
It’s surprising, I know, since I love Five Guys. Why would I be talking to the regional manager? Why would I need to promise to return?
Despite my fussiness, I rarely complain – that’s a whole separate story. But it is because I love them so that I felt compelled to submit a complaint online after a bad experience in the Schenectady location [insert snide comment about Schenectady here].
Maybe it’s because I’m watching too much Fringe or Sarah Connor Chronicles on Hulu, but I see a war coming – off in the distance. A battle of burgers that will pit the eastern Five Guys against the beloved western In-N-Out. And I want to see Five Guys come out on top. But for them to win, they must be prepared.
As the chain expands at breakneck speed, I fear for its future. So what started off as a note turned into more of a letter. Just because I know some of you will be curious, I have appended the text of the letter at the end of this post.
Because this post isn’t really about my bad experience. It is really about the restaurant’s reaction.
Broad vs. Deep
Here is a real conundrum. The economists would say it’s an opportunity cost. I say it is a matter of tradeoffs.
How do you know if something is good?
I would argue that if one has a breadth of experience and has sampled numerous examples of a particular thing, then that person is capable of evaluating item X against their knowledge of similar items.
There is clearly a benefit to broadly trying foodstuffs.
Yet it is a fallacy to assume that one can really know something by sampling it once, or even a handful of times. To truly know what a restaurant, or a winery, or a bartender is capable of producing, one needs to have a depth of understanding that comes from repeated visits over a long period of time.
There is clearly a benefit to having a deep understanding of foodstuffs.
I think most of us tend to emphasize the importance of a broad spectrum of food knowledge and awareness. So I am going to talk a bit more about the value and joy that comes from focusing on going deep.
Pigging Out
I’m no prude. Sure, I have a bunch of rules. But every now and again, I let go.
It has been a while since we were talking about restaurant portion sizes, and different levels of satiety. And I still maintain that the measure of a restaurant should be the quality of what it feeds you, and not how it stuffs you to the gills and leaves you with meals for the week.
That is not to mean that I do not appreciate a good gorging. Just this week, I had lunch with some fellow bloggers at an Indian buffet, and ate a silly amount of food. Part of the problem was that I walked into the restaurant starving, having inadvertently skipped breakfast.
For under $10, I walked out having consumed two full plates of food, a small plate of dessert, and a cup of tea. It was a lot of food, and I really could have used a nice nap. Still, it was not the most damage I had perpetrated at an all-you-can-eat Indian buffet.
Chocolate Malts
Here is something I have never understood. Why would someone have a chocolate milkshake when they could have a chocolate malt?
And let’s put aside the regional specifications of milkshakes, frappes, and the like. I’m talking about ice cream and milk, blended with malt powder. A chocolate milkshake is fine and dandy, but it never really goes the extra mile. Let’s be honest. It’s really just plain ice cream that’s been thinned out so it can be sipped through a straw. But put in a few scoops of malt powder, and it is transformed into something else entirely.
I learned about chocolate malts as a boy at the elbow of my grandfather Pop-Pop. He took the creation of chocolate malts seriously, even going so far as to buy a soda-fountain-style blender with a metal tin to ensure a proper consistency.
There were two big lessons I took with me.
Read more…
Buffet Rules
I may or may not be off to a buffet lunch later today.
Just in case I do go, I would like to get all of this out in the open beforehand, lest my dining companions think that I wasn’t paying full attention to our conversation, but rather thinking about a blog post throughout the meal.
That would be terribly rude. While I may be fussy, I do know how to act in polite society. Whether or not I choose to do so is another matter entirely.
It would be a safe assumption that I am not a fan of buffets. But that is not entirely true. There are good buffets and not so good buffets. And there are ways of stacking the deck in your favor.
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