Country Roads and Hidden Treasures

We spend a lot of weekends in VT enjoying my family’s vacation house. Just like at home we tend not to eat out much, but when we do finding a new place is always a fun way to enjoy somebody else’s cooking.

Because the area where our house is located is near several large ski resorts there are lots of restaurants to be found in the high traffic areas, but the random find seems to be the best way to get out for a local bite. This weekend we happened upon Stoddard’s in Londonderry, VT. Mom & Dad had a gift certificate from the Fireman’s Auction in 2010, but didn’t know where the place was. It turns out we have driven by the place hundreds of times, never registering it was a restaurant; and all day breakfast & lunch diner at that!

I had a club sandwich with fries, and everyone else had a burger. Margot opted for onion rings which turn out to be a great measuring stick of a restaurant. Both the rings and fries were perfectly cooked and very clean tasting with minimal salt. There was no commercial packaged food here and the bacon on my club and my parents’ burgers had been deep fried! The burgers were the real deal, made by hand on site. When paired with the deep fried bacon and some VT cheddar cheese they easily satisfied our crew.

Next time you are in the Londonderry, VT area check out Stoddard on Main street right near the junction of routes 100 and 11.

Cheers!

Jason

Gloria Ferrer 2007 Carneros Chardonnay

This was a random pick for me. I saw it there as I was looking for something new and brought two home. I am so surprised with the complexity of it and really enjoyed it. I know people are split on oaked CA Chardonnay, but I think this one goes in a spicy direction that is worthy of a taste.

Toasty nose w/ pear and tropical notes. Lots of spice, and full bodied even for a Chardonnay. It has a spot right in the center where it is very full. Citrus in the finish. Great texture with a medium dry finish

Cheers!

Jason

Nero di Troia – A Great Wine You’ve Likely Never Heard Of

( Donato Antonio Giullani pouring his Cantine Teanum wines for the audience. )

I attended both the Wines & Cheeses of Puglia and the #RWTastingCrew last night at WGBH. These events were part of a thrust to promote wines from Puglia in the states and determine the interest that might exist for bringing them here, some for the first time. I am going to write more about the events in an upcoming post, but I couldn’t wait to share my experience with the still very unknown style of wine, Nero di Troia.

This grape and the wine made from it only come from Puglia on the Southeastern tip of the Italian peninsula. From the private conversation a group of us had with several of the winemakers (thank you Cathy!) I learned that the grape was brought to the region by the Greeks 2500 years ago and is only grown and vinified by about 20 producers. It is a late harvesting grape sometimes into early October. This is considered one of the keys to the wine’s more fruit forwardness. It was noted by multiple winemakers that Nero di Troia is a hard grape to work with both in the vineyard and during fermentation, especially when it comes to extraction. My understanding is that a mere difference of day of skin contact when making wines with this grape can add considerable aging needs to soften the tannins.

There were 3 selections of Nero di Troia to sample all of which I highly recommend. They were all different in subtle ways, providing a nice survey of what the wine can be.

Masseria Celentana – Querciagrande

This was my favorite of the three. I immediately picked up cherry, chocolate and a little smoke. The color was much deeper on this one and the spiciness was a bit lower. I could see pairing this with every grilled piece of beef I put on the grill all summer! I got to taste it with fresh cheese and found very worthy partners. The clean, simple flavors in the cheese were stuck right up against the wine which has considerable heft.

Casaltranita – Nero di Troia

This one drew aspects from the others into a nice balance. Great fruit (red berries), chocolate and some smoke were easily detected. I got twinges of balsamic vinegar (it was on the wine specs so it stuck in my head) and hints of dried fruits more in this one than the others. I started thinking about beef with blue cheese and a red wine reduction on it.

Cantine Teanum – Nero di Troia

The first thing that thought of when I tasted this wine was the spiciness in Shiraz. I hadn’t expected them from an Italian wine and I found it well fitting. I picked up cherry & red berry flavors, something dusty and acidic (graphite?) with a good deal of concentration and moderate tannins. The finish was medium to long and clean. Is it dinner time yet? A nice steak and a bottle of this wine sounds fantastic.

( Alberto Longo talking about the Masseria Celentano wines. )

I feel like these wines will continue to be best coming from small producers with good, but not stratospheric distribution so its charms aren’t diluted by excessive demand. I definitely want to have them, the fact that I can’t in the US yet is no fun, and look forward to getting some and trying some of the food pairings that came to mind.

I look forward to taking another stroll through my notes and recollections of the wines (including the whites, additional reds and the Gravisano Passita dessert wine), cheese making demo and great conversations from the events to share more of Puglia with you again soon.

Cheers!

Jason

Hippo de Mayo Taco Fest – Manchester, NH

How does running from joint to joint in downtown Manchester, NH sampling different kinds of tacos sound? I wasn’t exactly sure when we first heard about the event so if you are a little skeptical I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.

Organized by the Hippo Press, the local culture and style newspaper, nearly three dozen Manchester restaurants formulated taco ideas (some inspired by existing menu items) to serve to folks crawling between the shops. $2 each! Every establishment was assigned a charity and proceeds from the taco sales and drawings held on site would go the charities. The winning taco, as voted by texting fans, would net a $2,000 donation to the charity assigned to the winning shop.

Some of What We Ate

The Smore Taco at Portland Pie company. It was messy and didn’t photograph well. We liked it but it wasn’t the best lead off.

The El Tiante at JW Hill was incredible! Orange chipotle pork in a puffy tortilla shell. The meat was so juicy and flavorful. We should have gotten seconds or to go!

The El Pato taco at Z was a great follow on to that, especially with a bit of a wait. Duck confit with avocado, pickled cabbage and Siracha sour cream. It was a little messy to eat on the run, but I got over it!

While we waited in line at Z we got to chatting with Sarah-Jane Chaplain and Dick Webster (Sarah’s father-in-law) from Candia. They were planning on hitting 6 or 7 places and had so far their favorite was the Peach Pork taco at the Pattie Shack. When we asked about how they found about the event, they indicated that they saw it in the paper and thought that it looked like fun, so they came out to check it out. They were both intrigued by our comments on the Smore Taco. Our only recommendation was to get more napkins before they started!

Dick and I chatted about home brewing as he was just getting back into brewing with his son. They had recently gotten a clone of the Sam Adams Boston Ale going with great expectations for the outcome.

The Rest of What We Ate

As mentioned above we hit the Pattie Shack and they were between tacos. It was dinner time and anything else they made was ready to order. We tried the BBQ Buffalo Burger, beef with blue cheese and firey BBQ sauce. It was well made, hot and oh so tasty. Sweet and spicy with that blue cheese funk and some lip smacking goodness!

We ended out journey after meeting up with Margot’s new co-workers, at Strange Brew. Strange Brew is a solid beer bar in its own right so I led off with a Dog Fish Black & Blue and an Allagash White. Loaded for bear! They had a smoked pork taco with cheese and an Indian spiced one as well. I couldn’t exactly tell what all was going on here, but it did taste fantastic and went great with the Allagash beer. We hung for a while longer while I finished up the drinks. The Dog Fish Black and Blue is a high alcohol Belgian golden ale with real black and blueberries fermented in it. The fruit is very accessible and the malty sweetness in the middle was intense and nuanced with fruit and spice.

There was definitely considerable demand for this event based on the lines at some restaurants and the quickness with which some others ran out of food. While this could be considered a logistical nightmare and a downer for the event I submit that it is merely food for thought when planning the 2012 incarnation of the event. We did hear complaining but no matter how well it went I expect we would have heard similar words if it was just an issue of waiting in line. The guys at the Pattie Shack had a fantastic attitude about running out of ingredients twice, go get more and keep the train rolling! I think they genuinely liked the traffic even if some folks turned around and left rather than wait. We opted to try something off their regular menu (we hadn’t been there yet) and found it to be fantastic. They get our vote as a great place to check out in the city tacos or not!

This week’s Hippo indicated that 15-20K tacos were served to 5-7K people. Damn! That is a lot of tacos and I hope a lot of funds raised for the participating charities.

We tweeted the crap out of this event and had hoped for more online action to build the hype, but in the end we still had great fun and can’t wait to do it again next year.


Cheers!

Jason

Mother’s Day Dinner - Baked Stuffed Salmon

Making dinner for mom can be a challenge. She taught me how to cook when I was very young and since we have enjoyed many years of swapping tips, recipes and cooking together. With years of additional experience and having enjoyed meals in many destinations I have yet to get to, Mom has a broader palate than I do. Figuring out what to make that might offer something new as well as the enjoyment of a well prepared meal can be nerve wracking. But I take that challenge head on as often as I can. Cooking for others who appreciate the nuance of creating in the kitchen is one of life’s true joys for me.

Baked Stuffed Salmon is what I landed for the honor of making dinner for Mother’s Day. I waited until a few days ahead to announce my choice and was so happy to hear it was something she had never had. My challenge was clear. As I often do I searched around on the web for inspiration from what others had done before. If I could even stand on the shoulders of those “giants” for just a few minutes I knew I would feel good about the outcome. I took ingredients and preparation from several different recipes. The recipes that use a whole fish are intriguing and something that is on my list to try another time.

I complimented my main dish with a light version of Scalloped Potatoes and a sautéed asparagus with Garam Masala that has been making me happy of late.

Baked Stuffed Salmon

2 – 1 lb salmon filets, skins on (approx. the same size)
6-8 slices wheat bread, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp capers, drained
2 Tbsp Basil, chopped
2 Tbsp Dill, chopped
2 Tbsp Parsley, chopped
¼ cup melted butter
¼ cup olive oil
Salt & pepper
1 lemon, for zest
Butchers twine
Water

Place the chopped bread in a large bowl, adding water 1 Tbsp at a time till it begins to moisten. Add the onion, capers, herbs and melted butter. Use additional water if necessary. The stuffing should be most, but not liquefied. Lay out one long strand of butcher’s wine that will run along the long side of the fish. Lay out 5 strands of butcher’s twine with about 1 inch between them over top. Exactly how long each is going to depend a lot on how thick your fish is and how much stuffing you make. More is better here. Place 1 salmon filet on an oiled surface, salt and pepper lightly. Place over top the twine. Zest lemon rind over the fish. Mound the stuffing up on the fish. Zest lemon rind over the stuffing. I squeezed some lemon juice over it for more zip and it did work well. Oil the outside of the second filet and place it on top. First tie off the 5 strands of twine, then finishing with the longest and last one. Place the stuffed salmon a foil line baking pan. Add any remaining stuffing over the fish and garnish with a few lemon slices. Bake until the fish flakes and the internal temperature is at least 125 and likely a bit higher to taste. We cooked it about 40 minutes or so and then began taking the temp and it was done not longer after.

I did pair several wines with dinner, including a pre-dinner aperitif of some of my homemade 2010 wild Concord rose. Mom liked that one the best and I left her the bottle to finish over the remainder of her leisurely weekend in VT. I wrote about my wine pairings for The Unreserved earlier in the week with the title “Pinot, but not Noir”. I used a Pinot Blanc and a Pinot Gris from two different parts of the wine world and had good experiences with both. The King Estate Pinot Gris is especially good with salmon, something we found last year when we were visiting the area. We are so excited to be going back, and this time we will be visiting King Estate with local friends.

For dessert I recreated a great closer that Francoise served at our recent trip to Montreal, sorbet with fresh fruit. I used a lemon sorbet from Hagen Daas with fresh cut strawberries that were tossed with a little lime juice and sugar.

With dessert I served a mixed drink from the March/April 2011 issue of Imbibe magazine, the Cheerwine Cocktail #1. Cheerwine is a cherry flavored soda that hails from NC which my parents found for me on their trip back up the East Coast in March. With some gin, lime and over ice the soda really shined. I can see why there is a faithful consumer base for it.

I pretty much figure this challenge worked out splendidly and as good as it could have. We all did enjoy the meal and I heard the leftovers were securely eaten.

Cheers!

Jason

On Owning It

I'll take a quick break from the wine and food to offer the following in consideration of wanting to own your life. I hope even one ounce of support is taken from it so that someone can take another step to being the person they want to be and own it the whole way.

{originaly posted to FaceBook friends}
"This isn't a song, it's a riot!" - some of you might know that I listen to a good deal of urban influenced music , like Nu-Jazz and Downtempo. I tend the home bar to it on Friday nights, and plan my meals, vacations and beverage adventures to its memes. It gives me times to think, times to dream and times to kick back. Inevitably I run into many lyrical conventions that have powerful energy and profound meaning if you can put them in the right context. The imagery you can attach to the concept of flowing in the contemporary urban vocal artist context is 100% tied to the natural world. A flowing river with power, grace and surprises comes easily to mind. The lead off quote is from a song by the Ancient Astronauts. I have been listening to it now for a couple of weeks and that line keeps coming back. As I thought about what it meant, all sorts of scenarios where a protagonist rises and shows you what they are made of kept coming to mind. I see this lyric as a very strong example of the concept of "owning it" or for you Gary V. fans, "#crushit". I offer this as a way to visualize the future where you are your own story's protagonist, totally owning the moments you find yourself in.

With that I am off to move some 0's and 1's around at work.

Jason

Washington State Merlot

Just about one year ago Margot and I were getting ready to head off to the WineMaker Magazine Annual Conference for the first time. It was being hosted in Stevenson, WA situated on the Columbia River along the Oregon border. We had been to the state before, but not its winemaking areas, and didn’t have a chance on earlier trips to visit any wineries for tastings. Our plans included those activities on this trip, and we packed with much excitement.

( Great place to hang and drink! )

One of the types of wine we had the chance try from a number of difference sources was Merlot. I had heard many great things about WA Merlots and had never really explored them. My favorite from a winery visit was the Ethos Merlot at Chateau Ste. Michelle. The night of the swap meet we tried Merlot varietals and Merlot based blends from a number of local wineries and winemaking clubs. We enjoyed several homemade versions shared by local-area conference attendees. All together I felt I had gotten to know the style much better. Across all the selections we tried we found a great balance of fruit and earth with dark berries and cherry wrapping touches of chocolate, spice and smoke. The smooth textures and manageable tannins made these wines so very approachable and great casual drinkers. I kept thinking about food pairings and what I wanted to try at home with wines we would bring back.

One of the things we found so interesting were subtleties between the single vineyard Merlot bottlings at the Columbia Winery. They presented the wines from varied growing areas, conditions, the differences and we found so much of it to be accessible. At the conference I shared a rose I bought made from Merlot at Phelps Creek Vineyard (no relation) from just over the border in OR. At first folks didn’t seem interested, but once the first person at the table said something good about it, it was gone. Check out what we wrote back in June of 2010 from our trip notes.

So it was with great excitement that I was assigned a WA Merlot for a recent group tasting with the Boston Sommelier Society. I felt like I knew it better because of my experiences and knew more about the region giving me a good basis to search for. I considered the CSM Ethos but opted for something else and stayed within the CSM family. I came across the 2006 Canoe Ridge Merlot and grabbed a couple bottles to try. At $20 a bottle it should be a solid performer, but not an everyday drinker. I found a healthy dose of cherry, vanilla and a dusty soil note. The tannins are there but softening and really helping to define the wine. I bet this 2006 will be much better in 3-4 years.



Washington Merlot started stalking me at this point and this time in the form a perk from the Kloutperks Influencer program. As an influencer I received a $100 credit to Lot 18 and found wine and olive oil that would make for great adventures back at Ancient Fire Wines. The Pepper Bridge 2006 Walla Walla Merlot two-pack was a steal. The wine is good, but needs more time to mellow.

It is garnet in color with a touch of purple. The rim variation has a slight brown shift and the staining and viscosity are low inferring a lighter wine. The alcohol is up there, 14.1%, but noticeable, and makes the chocolate, cherry, spice, pepper and soil flavors a bit hard to completely pin down. The tannins are moderate, but feel like they are softening and time may be an asset here.

We are again getting ready to head off to the WineMaker Conference, this time in Santa Barbara, CA, home to several winemaking regions that will be worth visits. Pinot Noir perhaps, or Sauvignon Blanc or Viognier, oh my! We’ll be live tweeting from the conference, including the awards dinner. We won 9 medals last year and we have more chances than that again this year! Wish us luck!

Cheers!

Jason


I was given a free product or sample because I'm a Klout influencer. I was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.
http://klout.com/perks/disclosure

Wise Words Woven by Women Winemakers

Last Tuesday I attended the Red White Boston (RWB) event “Putting the I in Team: Women Winemakers.” The theme for evening went back to an interview Cathy (found of RWB) had done with Janet Myers, director of winemaking at Franciscan Winery, a few years prior. During the interview Janet had shared her team approach to winemaking and her actions to give each individual on the team meaning for their contributions. This message stuck with Cathy and recent considerations of the ideas resulted in the genesis of another great RWB event.

The special guests for the evening were Janet Myers of Franciscan Estates and Maureen Martin of Clos du Bois, both of were interested in sharing messages about empowering people to understand their work and be successful in a team environment. This topic is of particular interest to me right now as I find myself in the midst of several staffing transitions at work, including a retirement that resulted in my taking over the leadership role. I am just now setting about to augment and re-shape a team of energetic and knowledgeable software engineers, so I have much to gain from new ideas about teamwork and helping individuals be successful working on a team.

Sandrine’s Bistro in Harvard Square was the location for this event. I don’t get to many Boston-area restaurants so to say I didn’t know this one might infer I knew many others. But I digress. I arrived a little early and was able to catch one of the chefs preparing flammekueche for the evening. The bar area at the front of the restaurant has a large pizza oven and prep area adjacent to it, making for a great vantage point for the action. While I waited I met Rich Huhm, another event attendee, and we got off talking about wine, food, my part time wine & food writing and our expectations for the evening.

As the flammekueche was passed around we sipped on the Franciscan 2008 Sauvignon Blanc. The best way to describe this wine, and it is all positive, is acidity wrapped lime and greens. The aromas of lime & greens were a hint to me that I was going to enjoy this crisp refreshing wine, and the taste didn’t disappoint.

( I asked if I could take photos and got a slanted eye. Yes, it's going online! )

( The bacon on this one was some of the best I had ever had! )

We took our seats and continued socializing. I am bad with names so I am mildly proud that I can recall meeting, Rich, Julia, Meghan, Eric, Dan, Maureen and Elina. I didn’t meet Janet and saw return faces in Justin and Cathy. Let’s just hope I recognize them all when I see them again! Our table was honored to host Maureen who was visiting Boston for the first time. Lots of ideas for things to do while in Boston were bandied about. At first it looked like our guests would roam from table to table sharing their team winemaking approaches and so Maureen got started with us. It turns out each presenter did address the whole group so we got to enjoy Maureen’s insights twice!

Our first course was a Spring Pea Soup with smoked mussels. It was served with the Clos du Bois Calcaire Russian River Valley 2007 and the Franciscan Cuvee Sauvage 2007 Chardonnays. The Clos du Bois presented green apples and an unexpected minerality. I detected the oak, but a very restrained amount. This wine is very crisp and lighter than many California Chardonnays. I was fascinated by this balance and elegance in a Chardonnay. The Franciscan Cuvee Sauvage presented the oak up front with hints of pear and apple, a medium body, and crisp clean finish with some citrus on the way out. I found it to the better pairing with the soup, especially where the smoked mussels and oak aromas and flavors in the wine mixed.

Both Janet & Maureen demonstrated their leadership qualities as they presented during our meal. Maureen has presence. I took this from a combination of factors including the passionately driven words about having context for your role, the powerful example she gave in having growers come in to sample the newly tasted and categorized wines, as well as her comfort when she captained the room. Janet takes a different approach. She comes to you, sits down and appeals to you with considerations like “the grapes don’t know if you are a man or woman” when asked if being a female winemaker is an advantage. Janet is also very passionate and broke her approach down into considerable detail. She owned the problem AND the solution in the way she described it, and that has got to be a winning play!

Dinner was a sizable piece of medium-rare beef with a black pepper & Cabernet reduction alongside a spinach and mushroom ragout. It was so tasty on its own that I nearly ate way more than was going to be healthy! The wines with the beef were the Magnificat 2006 and Mt. Veeder 2005 reds from Franciscan. I drank the Magnificat way too fast. It was so full of fruit, spice, wood and a little earth, it was hard not to. It is a Meritage blend so I shouldn’t be surprised that I liked it.

The Mt. Veeder Reserve Cabernet was super rich with a healthy blend of fruit and greens, and all sorts of finesse. The tannins were already softening which added the right amount of structure.

A transitional course of a Pear and Gorgzonla was a change of pace for me, and while I found the wine paired with the salad fantastic on its own I wasn’t sure I thought the salad was a good match for it. Except the Gorgonzola cheese! The Clos du Bois Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir Reserve 2006 was a great wine to finish the meal with, and one I look forward to trying again. My tweet on this wine was “Great ruby color, hearty combo of fruit and earth.”

We finished with a Lavender Crème Brulee which deserved to be eaten in full. I have had crème brulee many times, but never flavored with lavender. I’d expect to make this sometime next month, maybe my anniversary!

New friends said their goodbyes and a group of us headed back toward South Station, actually to drop me off for my bus. I have to thank Meghan and Eric for the kind offer of the ride, which gave us more time to talk. Elina made merry with us as well. I couldn’t have asked for more good vibes in an evening. Much thanks go out to Cathy, Janet and Maureen for sharing and bringing together a great group enjoy their wines and their company.

Cheers!

Jason


{ Other Posts About This Event }

Cathy at RedWhiteBoston - http://www.theredwhiteboston.com/blog/bid/61399/Lessons-in-Social-Media-and-Leadership-Plus-Wine

Meghan from Travel, Wine & Dine - http://traveleatlove.com/2011/05/women-winemakers/

Justin from F2%! - http://f2percent.com/2011/05/04/red-white-boston-wine-dinner/

Seven Barrel Brewery & Brewpub – Lebanon, NH

Check out my friend Meghan's Kerrygold giveaway at Travel Wine & Dine Kerrygold Giveaway for a great chance to wine some great products.

Margot enjoyed beers and food at Seven Barrel Brewery in Lebanon, NH about 10 years ago, but we’ll be damned if we can remember what trip we were on. But we remember being there, and have told at least a few people about it since.

As we were cruising home from Montreal last weekend, the need for lunch arose. We were making great time and Margot agreed to make for Lebanon with the Kid Rock blaring. I knew where we were going to go and certainly hoped they were open when we arrived. It was a warm spring day in Lebanon and the area right around the interstate exit was made busy because it is seeing a good deal of road work. Not the prettiest sight, but what can you do? And as hope Sven Barrel was open.

We were greeted right away and sat at one of the old style wood booths in the main dining area. Jameson, our server, was enthusiastically telling several other patrons about their beers when we were seated. I heard something about two season beers and my interest was again peaked.

As we got to talking to Jameson we relate the laugh about our prior visit, our love of craft beers and of course ordered the sample paddle. I had a driver so I could dig in. The paddle is made for 6, their usual offering, but there were two more that would be included to celebrate spring. The lineup ended up being Maibock, Marzen, Queeche Cream Ale, Ice Rock Canadian, New Dublin Brown, The Red #7, Champion Reserve IPA, R.I.P. Stout. Quite a selection indeed!

We ordered lunch and I set about snapping some photos (I asked if I could, which a typically do) of signs and beer serving area. Jameson asked if I wanted to see the small brewing setup in the front of the building and I said sure! I got a several nice pics of a rustic, small batch and fully functional all-grain brewing setup.

( Right from the tap! )

( Ode to the R.I.P )

( Copper brew kettle. )

( Malted grains ready to go. )

( Celebrating 17 Years! )

Back at the table I continued tasting beers and picking out all the different flavors and textures present. Both the Maibock and Marzen felt like they might have had some honey influence, but that could also be grains, malt or hops giving us something different. I enjoyed both and can see how celebrating beer with spring is as old of a custom as it is.

The New Dublin Brown went great with my Cock-a-Leekie pie (chicken, leeks, root veg topped with pastry) and all of the earthy flavors in it. Definitely one of my favorites.

I love a good IPA and the Champion Reserve is no slouch. Lots of hops (as advertised) with citrus coated grains in the middle through the finish. Very refreshing and one I would definitely go for again. The malt and hops are there in the Red #7, but not in an epic struggle for your taste buds. The pine in the finish was slightly mentholating. The Queeche Cream Ale would be best with a lemon slice, and the Ice Rock Canadian was well balanced and refreshing, just not very notable for me. The last one of the beers was the R.I.P Stout, named for its roots from a Rich Imperial Porter recipe. It was black with a healthy balance of chocolate and coffee aromas/flavors, a certain degree of earthiness and lingering finish. I really enjoyed this beer as well. Margot (the stout expert) took a sip and gave it a thumbs up as well.

Margot was ooohing and ahhhing over her Pastrami Reuben and onion rings, the latter of which were good with several of the beers. All of the food was hot, prepared exceptionally and came from a menu that we would recommend trying many things from. The beers were a great bookend to our weekend and a great way to stir up some old memories. Can’t beat that!

Cheers!

Jason

Our Family in Montreal

Whenever we cross the Canadian border the stated purpose of our trip is to visit family, which is true. Margot’s uncle Gerry, a priest ordained for almost 50 years, lives at the Grand Seminary on Sherbrooke right in the heart of downtown. We always have a meal with him when we are in town.

In one of my posts about our trip to France in February I introduced Eloy, Gerry’s friend. Eloy lives in Broussard right outside Montreal. Our custom as long as Eloy is in town has been to dine with he and Gerry either in the city or at Eloy’s house. Several times we have enjoyed dinners with Eloy’s family or friends from Miami. A true pleasure for everyone! Paella has been served more than once, and rum, wine and lots of laughter are always in large supply.

Eloy & Francoise (married during our trip to France) are back in Broussard enjoying some time with Eloy’s local friends and hosting family and friends from France. The goal is to move to France once the house is sold, but I am sure having fun in the meantime is high on the list. As luck would have it everyone was available for a Saturday meal, and Eloy offered to host. We were also lucky enough to have caught Marc (a friend of Eloy’s that we made on the France trip) free and he joined us as well. What a family!

We talked, laughed, looked at pictures and enjoyed snacks and wine for quite a while. Gerry was making us laugh with stories of watching the Royal Wedding the day before. It reminded Margot of her Mom, a fact that Gerry takes as a quite an honor. One this whole group shares is a fondness for enjoying difference kinds of wines. You know how happy that makes me! For snacks we brought a couple different whites and gave hosts choice to what was opened. The option on the Willm Pinot Blanc was exercised. I hadn’t had this particular Pinot Blanc before, but was fully expecting a nice subtle wine to meld with a variety of different food based on recent experiences with the style. We were rewarded with very fruity aromas, a wonderfully balanced medium to light wine with citrus on the way out. Francoise made guacamole and the creamy avocado with the wine was a great match. I could see Francoise savoring her sips with a smile

Dinner was a special request for Gerry. He didn’t make the trip to France on the count of his ongoing battle with cancer. We all were heartbroken, but went with a greater sense of purpose because of it. Since he missed the trip he requested a Provencal style dish with pork in it. Having had this prepared by Francoise in her home and knew what he was going for and clearly was looking forward to what she came up with. She made a Pork Tenderloin en Croute or something akin to it. She actually made two. She clearly has known all of the people involved here either in this life or a past one! The pork was perfectly cooked with puff pastry, onions, seasonings, mushrooms working together all over the place.

For dinner we went Cotes du Rhone to whole way. Francoise was gracious enough to share it with us and her family when we were there and when she cooks as she does the wine must live up! We found the 2008 Parallel 45 from Paul Jaboulet Aine. Eloy actually came and asked me where I got it for future reference. It was a slam dunk with a bit of pork, pastry and mushrooms, just like being back at Le Petit Trentin (Francoise’s house). The wine is very hearty with complex flavors and that hit of acidity to make the flavors pop. Francoise and Eloy opened a bottle of Chataeau de Grezels 2008 Cahors, a Malbec/Merlot style. The wine was good but seemed to be missing its edge. Francoise was the first to notice it though, it became Cahors with the food. And indeed the same bite from above brought this wine out to the place I expected to find it. Very nice!

The red wines were enjoyed through the cheese course which Margot and I were honored to have been asked to bring. We loved participating in this facet of family meals in Provence, and couldn’t imagine not recreating it here at home.

For dessert Francoise served berry sorbet with fresh cut strawberries on top. Marc shared a bottle of Peller Estates 2006 Late Harvest Riesling. What a great glass of wine. My love for sweet and dessert wines is no secret, and this one was certainly an overachiever! A very perfumed nose with honey, dried fruit sand a profound sweetness in the center. It went fast, but great minds think alike!

We talked again for a while before everyone needed to head on back to their homes for the night. Margot and I would be getting up early the next day to head home, and although I would be staying up for a while at the hotel, it is nice to be able to kick back with a beer after driving home.

We look forward to our next trip to Montreal. We can never really get there enough on the count of all the other adventures we end up in the middle of. Till then, we have the memories.

Cheers!

Jason

Saturday Afternoon at Atwater Market

Returning to Montreal again this spring brought us back to several of our favorite ways to enjoy the city and the greater-Montreal area. In my last post I shared our 3rd annual pub crawl and beer tasting adventures. We had a lot of fun and tried a bunch of beers that were new to us and made to please!

On Saturday afternoon we walked down Rene Levesque and made our lunch stop at Buffet Maharaja (near the Guy crossing) for Indian lunch. We definitely recommend it and were told that Saturday night is even better because of a different chef cooking. The food was hot, well cooked and there were dozens of selections. The Butter Chicken seems to be what they are known for, and it didn’t disappoint. The fresh Naan bread was soft and made for a great fork!

During lunch Margot asked where we should go next. It was one of the most beautiful days we have had yet this spring, so I suggested we keep walking down to the Atwater Market. As we walked we came upon an architecture-laden public park. The reason was a celebration of local architects and artists by a trade organization that acquired the land. We had fun walking around and checking out each of the exhibits.

A few blocks later we met up with Atwater Ave and headed down the hill and right past where Margot’s maternal family is from. The streets were busy as we got closer, it would seem like we had a pretty popular idea. We arrived to the bustle of the market and leisurely walked around. We have stopped in here going back 5 years now and relish finding treats to share with friends while we are in town or to take home for us and others.

I bought some Fee Brother’s bitters and an Elderflower cordial mixer to play around with at the home bar. We also picked up several items for a nice Mother’s day gift, but since Mom reads my blog I can’t tell you what just yet.

I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Cheers!

Jason

( Fresh Gnocci )

( Can't beat pre-marinated meats of all kinds! )

( My favorite market stop! )

( Sausage anyone? )

( A stop at Premiere Moison is always a good idea! )

( Like a kid in a candy shop I tell ya! )

( We have bought flowers here more than once. )

( The fruit sellers were very busy this day. )

( You can't have a Montreal market without maple! )

Montreal Beer Adventure 2011

This year marked the third annual Montreal pub crawl and beer quest for Margot and I. A few years before we started formally doing this we had remarked that Quebecers love their beer and celebrate it in a very local way with small brewpubs in neighborhoods all over the city. The pub crawl we created is pretty simple. I pick several pubs with Metro access and we pop in to sample their beers. Many of the pubs serve beer brewed on site, and others serve a combination of local & regional brews along with foreign imports that are not the typical that we get at home.

This year we visited Bar Barouf on St. Denis and Dieu du Ciel! on Laurier.

Our stop at Bar Barouf was random after not walking quite far enough to find Le Saint Bock, also on St. Denis. The place was almost completely full and quite noisy. This is typical for bars almost any night of the week in Montreal, but a guarantee on a Friday night. The décor is very modern and the long bar has taps along a significant portion of it. The beer selection was a combination of local brews and imports presented in European fashion by style (blanc, rouge, noir, etc.) Margot has determined she is a stout girl and requested something dark and chocolately. The St. Ambroise Noir fit that request nicely. St. Ambroise is a Montreal-based brewery that has been steadily growing since they came on the scene in the first generation of craft breweries in Quebec. The St. Ambroise brewery and brewpub are not far from the city center and will make for a great stop on a future crawl. I opted for the Grimbergen Abbey Ale. Grimbergen is an old Belgian line of beers first brewed by monks who became known for their hospitality and beers.

St. Ambroise Noire
Black in color with a huge Guinness like head.
Lots of dark chocolate flavors with a smooth finish

Grimbergen Abbey Ale
Reddish brown in color with a short head
Sweet and malty with fruit and spice flavors
Not a lot of obvious hop influence

Our next stop was Dieu du Ciel! Dieu du Ciel! represents the new generation of Montreal craft brewers offering a range of styles and beers with unique ingredients. We are familiar with some of their beers from Montreal grocery stores, but not all of their styles make it into the bottle and sampling them fresh from the tap is ideal.

The menu in the photo above greets you when you arrive. You can’t really go wrong starting off like that! The place was jam packed with a small amount of room near the bar to stand and wait for a table to free up. The first two styles we tried were the Grande Noirceur and the Gaelique.

Grande Noirceur (Imperial Stout)
This beer had lots of roasted malt flavor in it and living up to its Imperial name, lots of alcohol. It was smooth and enjoyable but not the kind you could sit around (or not at least I) drinking all night.

Gaelique
After a long car trip, walking back and forth to the grocery store and her first beer, Margot was praying for a second wind at this point. Because of that she only offered “it’s good” for this beer. It is a red (Irish perhaps?) ale with a good deal of earthiness. It enjoyed a few sips, but didn’t pay it much mind.

A table opened up and we grabbed it as soon as we could. We queued up tastings (6 oz each) of 5 additional beers, including the Saison St. Louis, Aphrodisiaque, Clef De Champs, Resurrection and Peche Mortel.

Saison St. Louis
Gold/orange in color and not as "funky" as I would have expected. The bitterness and citrus in the body were refreshing, but I thought it was only ok.

Aphrodisiaque
This was the highlight of the visit to Dieu du Ciel for both of us. A chocolate and vanilla stout. It SO lives up to its name. The flavors are captivating and taste like the real deal. Margot suggested it tasted like real chocolate pudding, and not the fake Jello stuff. This is a beer I hope to have the opportunity to try again. There was just a hint of sweetness to make the flavors pop and shift you to a dessert frame of mind, and a good match for a chocolate dessert as the finishing course of a great meal.

Clef de Champs
I picked this beer solely from the description, a rye beer made with herbs. I picked up the aroma of cannabis while I was giving it a good smell. I am sure there were other herbs in there but that one stuck out. It was interesting and made me think of a beer pairing with salad that included field greens. I wouldn’t consider it an everyday drinker, but was a fun left field selection to throw into the mix.

Resurrection
This was listed as a porter and I was looking for that signature smokiness which I definitely found. It is very dry and black in color. My notes say “it stands up” and my vague recollection is that this beer is no slouch and demands your attention when drinking it. The hour was getting late for us and I had been putting them back for about 4 hours already so what can I say!
Our final beer while at Dieu du Ciel was the Peche Mortel, and one we were familiar with from the 6 pack we took home with us in 2010.

Peche Mortel
Black in color with pungent coffee and chocolate aromas. This is their best stout (an Imperial Coffee Stout with fair trade coffee infused into it) and a beer of uncompromised character. It is far better fresh from the tap than from the bottle, but I’ll take either whenever and wherever I can get it. The depth of the flavors and how smooth they go down is a testament to passion in the process of crafting this beer.

The sign above was just outside the brew room at Dieu du Ciel! What a tease, since I won’t be back soon enough to try them!

Neither of us tend to stay out very late so I buy some beers to have back at the hotel while we wind down and otherwise hang out. I picked up two different selections, a Maple Scotch Ale from Dieu du Ciel and a mixed pack (Cannon, Loch Ness and Titanic) of strong beers from Les Brasseurs RJ Inc, also from Montreal.

Cannon
This is a Dopplebock and true to the style it is a rich brown color, heavily malted, with a sweetness right in the center. At 7.6% ABV you could make a pretty good go of an evening with these!

Titanic
This was presented as a strong beer aged on the lees. It was lighter brown in color with a nose full of yeast, bananas, cloves and other spices. Margot said the aromas for too pungent and would turn some folks off. I’d bet she is right. The flavors were very well developed and rich from the sur lie aging. I definitely enjoyed this beer and will gladly drink the one bottle I brought home real soon!

Loch Ness
This was labeled as a Scotch Ale. It poured red/brown with yeasty aromas and some malt and spicy aromas. I did find some of the characteristic acidity and bit to the style, but not as much as I would have expected. This drank well, but didn’t really impress.

Dieu du Ciel Equinoxe de Printemps
(Maple Scotch Ale)

This was my favorite of the beers I tried back at the hotel. It poured hazy with a solid brown color. The head stuck around for a while and was off-white in color. The maple flavor was subtle and restrained and the beer finishes with a good deal of acidity. The hops leave a little bite in the finish. It reminded me of my own homemade maple brown ale where it was just ever so slightly sweet and a little earthy, but not far away from the beer of the same style without the maple.

Don De Dieu

The very last beer I tried while in the city was the Don De Dieu made by Unibroue in Chambly, Quebec. I purchased a bomber (22 oz) of it at a local 24 hr convenience store on my way back to the hotel from dinner with family and friends. It was billed as a strong bottle conditioned Belgian style pale ale. I’d suggest that was correct, although with a lot less of the spice and malt than I would have expected. I may have picked up a bad one or have been fatigued after the prior day’s events, I’m not sure! I enjoyed it, and I slept well after drinking it, but I am not sure it was 100% correct.

So as you can see we take this quest quite seriously. After trying 14 beers (13 of them new to us) from several new-to-us brewers, we have to once again say: “Quebecers Love Their Beer!” And we love them for it.

Cheers!

Jason