Dry Lambrusco and Salumi. Yumm!

I was really enjoying myself the other day at Bar Bambino in the Mission District of San Francisco having one of the most heavenly pairings that's a tradition in Emilia-Romagna, a cool glass of dry Lambrusco and Prosciutto. But the latter was not from Parma but La Quercia Farm's superb American Prosciutto.



Similar to Spain's Jamon Iberico de Bellota, La Quercia's Prosciutto is from acorn-fed, free-range pig (100% Berkshire not the black-hooves of Spain). Robert Parker (yes, the wine guy) compared it favorably to Spain's best Jamon de Bellota, Joselito's Gran Reserva. I've had Joselito's Gran Reserva a few times, but to my taste Sanchez Romero Carvajal's Cinco Jotas Jabugo is the best jamon. But I digress.


Bar Bambino also features house-cured salumi, which totally surprised me by how good they were. Even next to the La Quercia Prosciutto, I found myself picking on the house-cured salumi more. I was told they're made from scraps of meat! Goes to show that left-overs taste better.


But what really enhanced the salumi and elevated my nibbling was the spectacular 2008 Lambrusco-Emilia IGT from Mauro Zini. So it is not your grandfather's sweet, mass-produced Riunite Lambrusco. This is the dry Lambrusco made from Lambrusco Salamino di Santacroce, with a bit of Malbo Gentile. Appropriately, the tiny berries of this particular Lambrusco is said to resemble a salami, hence Salamino. It is made with skin contact for over 72 hours for a deeper extraction of color and flavor. Served on the cool side, not chilled, this Lambrusco's distinctive scent of iron and rust, slight fizz, bright black cherry flavor, and hints of mineral and plums marry so well with the assortment of salumi.


Watch for the arrival of the 2008 Mauro Zini Lambrusco-Emilia at Vineyard Gate soon!

Mooncake Festival

Last night's eve of the full moon was the Mooncake Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional celebration of the harvest moon in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, and among the Chinese in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. 2009 is looking to be a vintage-of-the-century type year in the wine regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, California, and Piemonte, and so this year's harvest moon is truly auspicious.

As expected all the best Chinese restos in the Bay Area were booked solid last night and we had no reservations. But luck smiled on us as my friends and I found a table at the Crouching Tiger Restaurant in the old downtown of Redwood City. Nothing could have been more heartwarming on a chilly, blustery night than the spicy Sichuan and Hunan dishes of eastern China that the resto specializes in.

We started with a plate of Sichuan Cold Noodles ($6.45) dressed in chili oil and Sichuan peppercorn, and also ordered companion plates of cold Spicy Beef Tendon ($6.95) and warm Spicy Pork Dumplings ($6.95). Together these fiery starters were numbing and irresistible to the palate! Relief came in the cool and refreshing Domaine François Jobard 2001 Bourgogne Blanc that I brought. A genius pairing: white Burgundy and Sichuan food.

By this juncture we could have ended the meal, as we were quickly getting full, and paid the resto a little over $20 plus tax and service for four people! But we forged on, determined to explore other dishes and to discover how a couple of 2000 red Bordeaux tasting-left-overs that I also brought would pair with the food.

The tasty Hunan Preserved Pork ($8.95), stir-fried slices of ham and cabbage, together with a half-order of house-special Tea Smoked Duck ($9.50) paired gloriously with the garagiste 2000 Château de Valandraud ($248.00 at Vineyard Gate). I found the velvety, dark ripe fruit and oaky flavors of the modern-style St.-Emilion complementing the sweet, smoky, mildly spicy duck and pork dishes.

But one of the clearest reasons for returning to Crouching Tiger is the Xingjiang Lamb ($10.50). Another fiery dish that's fragrant with cumin. What a perfect pairing with the powerful and elegant 2000 Margaux from Château Palmer ($195.00 at Vineyard Gate). I savored the long, graceful finish of the Palmer while gazing at the old painting on the wall of Shaolin monks practicing wushu, then I understood. These unexpected and clever wine pairings are what "crouching tiger, hidden dragon" is all about.




Crouching Tiger Restaurant
2644 Broadway Street
Redwood City, CA 94063
Monday thru Thursday 11:00am-9:30pm
Friday thru Saturday 11:00am-10:00pm
Sunday 11:00am-9:00pm
Phone: (650) 298-8881

Weekend Brunch

Bistro Luneta's new weekend brunch offers standard American fare, like pancakes and eggs benedict, alongside Filipino faves, like longaniza and tapsilog.

This east-west juxtaposition is common to eateries in Asia. However, Luneta's kitchen composes the Filipino dishes with a contemporary flair for a seamless fit with the American selections.



The house longaniza ($10.95) is made of very lean ground pork flavored with vinegar and garlic in the sour-tasting Vigan-style, as opposed to the sweet Pampanga version.



The iconic tapsilog ($10.95) originated in the early 1970s Martial Law days as a late-night street-food for famished jeepney drivers on their way home before curfew. It later became the king of Filipino brunch. Akin to breakfast steak and eggs, Luneta serves the air-dried beef in strips, while the classic is thin flat slices. Still irresistible, though.



Bottomless mimosa ($12, a calmansi juice/orange juice/prosecco concoction) is eagerly promoted for brunch. A terrific idea! But proprietor, Jon Guanzon, needs to work harder on the wine list. He recruited a Master Sommelier, yet I find the list dull at best--filled with selections from your neighborhood Safeway. C'mon, offer us a Spanish rosé, a Grüner, definitely Vouvrays, and some Sicilian wines!

Also, I appreciate the house-baked pan de sal, but on its own not terribly exciting. A huge improvement would be a side of queso de bola, as well, and with a cup of thick tsokolaté (hot chocolate) that would be a heck of a brunch!


Bistro Luneta
615 E. Third Avenue
San Mateo, CA
650.344.0041
Weekend Brunch:
Sat & Sun 11am-2:30pm

Late Night at Little Shanghai

When I'm tired of bland food my fix is to head to Little Shanghai with friends to chow down on rich, fatty, oily dishes and drink a bagful of wines.

Usually, I bring a Riesling and a red Burgundy, but I find that Shanghainese dishes, with their sweet, oily tastes, are versatile with very ripe, powerful wines, like a Biale Zinfandel (particularly with tipang), Amarone or Barbaresco (which is the sweetest of the Piemonte Nebbiolos).

On the other hand, when it comes to the much-adored xiao long bao, a dash of black rice vinegar (Chinkiang) is sufficient pairing.


Little Shanghai Restaurant
17 E 25th Ave
San Mateo, CA
650.573.7161

Porchetta Sandwich and a Glass of Pinot Noir

The weather has been so sunny and clear in San Francisco lately that one morning, on an impulse, I rushed to the Ferry Plaza farmers' market to get a Porchetta sandwich from Roli Roti.

I was in luck, a porchetta just got done cooking when I arrived and the Roli Roti guy himself, Thomas Odermatt, was to do the honors of preparing the first sandwich of the day for me. I excitedly told him that I've never had one of his sandwiches before. He smiled in delight and asked permission to do my porchetta sandwich his way, a sort of omakase option.




So off he went carefully slicing the porchetta, making sure it's cut down to the size of the ciabatta bread and there's good layering of the moist meat and crackly skin. He smeared his magic spread on the meat--what I would guess consists of caramelized onions, garlic, anise or fennel, and maybe a fruit jam--and put a pile of fresh rocket on top (I guess the Swiss love rocket) before closing the sandwich.




I munched the porchetta sandwich for lunch later that day with a glass or two of the elegantly fruity and spicy 2007 Pyramid Valley Eaton Family Vineyard Pinot Noir ($38 at Vineyard Gate), made by my friend Mike Weersing from a biodynamic vineyard in New Zealand's Marlborough region. Everything was yumm!

2009 Vintage Weather

Source: Chateau Palmer


If weather is the sole indicator of a vintage's quality, then I must say 2009 is looking very good at Chateau Palmer in Margaux!

The above chart shows temps and rainfall over the past 30 days (08-11 to 09-09) in the left bank averaging a mild 22 C (72 F) for most of August with minimal and well-spaced rainfall.

By the time September kicked in, there was a good amount of rainfall that watered the vines, which turned out to be timely as the weather has shifted to a sharp warming trend as harvest begins. Today, temperature hit 29 C (84 F) at 1300H (1pm).

If the warming trend continues temperatures would be higher over the next several days, ensuring good ripening of the Merlot and Cabernet, or so it seems.

Tasting Coffee

I'm always on a quest for a great flavor experience. Food and wine, of course, provide endless flavor fascination, but tea and coffee also blow my mind.

I've heard enough local coffee fiends rave about a little-known Bay Area coffee roaster called Blue Bottle Coffee Co. And I've tried a cup of its coffee at a San Francisco resto and remembered liking it.

Finally, I got some of its best beans in my hands, ground them manually at home, and brewed the coffee my way. The Misty Valley, Blue Bottle's very limited, top-of-the-line bean these days from Ethiopia, cost me $8.75/half-pound and was roasted the day before. It has an intense bouquet of coffee cherry, and the flavors hint of chocolate and blueberry, with a winey, fruity aspect. I love it! Exotic, intense, and memorable.

For contrast, I purchased another type, the Bella Donovan, less expensive at $7.50/half-pound. I swear it's almost a ringer for my favorite Philippine coffee, the Barako, which unfortunately is not available in the States. However, the Bella is a Ethiopia/Sumatra blend. Like the Barako, it is intensely earthy and volcanic, and laced with fresh-ground spice. I loved it, too; not seductive as the Misty Valley, but quite masculine in character.